Years of Fear
Sixteen years, sixteen whole years Noel had missed out on thanksgiving with her family. Sixteen thanksgivings by herself sitting in her room all alone with nothing but her thoughts and a cold plate of turkey, that her mom had prepared for her a head of time, that she and everyone else knew would never get eaten. Every year was always the same, “Are you sure you don’t want to go?” her mom would ask. The answer would always be no, no despite what her mom would say or do to try and convince her to go.
Noel is the daughter of Scarlett and Robert Smith, very successful people. Her dad is a lawyer and her mom who doesn’t have to have a job but does works as a real estate agent. With these jobs they have been able to provide way more than just the necessities for Noel and her siblings this is especially important to Noels mom because growing up she didn’t have much and she wanted her kids to experience things that she didn’t get to and have things she didn’t.
One of the things Noels parents wanted them to experience was going to the Macy’s Thanksgiving Parade. Scarlett, Noels mother, always dreamed of going but her mom could never afford it so she swore from that day on whenever she had kids she would do whatever it took to be able to take her kids. That’s exactly what she did when they were old enough, but before taking them, Scarlett and Robert would show their kids an old showing of the parade to show them what they were going to see and that’s when it all came crashing down for Noel.
Noels parents decided she was ready to start going when she turned 6, so they showed her the showing expecting the best, but receiving the worst.
“I am not going to the parade” Noel stated.
“Why not?” her mom asked looking very confused.
“All of those floats are going to crash together!” yelled Noel.
“Oh sweetie no they aren’t!” Noels mom said trying to reassure her daughter.
“How do you know that?” Noel asked questioning her mom
“Because it has never happened before!” Her mom said very confidently
Every year it was always the same argument, nothing could be done to change Noels mind. The only person that could change Noels mind was Noel herself, but every time thanksgiving came around her fear just grew bigger and bigger with the passing years. She would ask herself “Is something wrong with me?” and she really thought something was because she could never build up enough confidence to get over her fear and go. Her older brothers would always make fun of her and tell all of their friends how their little sister was afraid of parades. Not only did the making fun of happen at home but it also continue onto school, there was no escaping it.
When someone is trying to get over the fear of something making fun of them probably isn’t the best way to help. With people from every aspect of Noel life making fun of her, she thought at this rate she was never going to get over her fear. Until one day Noel decided she wasn’t going to let her fear define her and one was going to go to the parade and prove everyone wrong.
This was a very important step in Noel life, a huge step to maturity. With all odds against her she made the choice to get over her fear once and for all. Even with everyone supporting her she still had this voice in the back of her head telling her it was a bad idea to go and to fell this way made her sick to her stomach. She went back to her room with nothing but this feeling of uncertainty.
Alone in her room she sat and pondered the thought of even being scared of a going to a parade, after thinking about it for a while she fell asleep and began to dream.
“Why am I so different?” she asked herself
“Why can’t I just be like everyone else, is something wrong with me?” she asked herself probably for the millionth time.
As she sat there and continued to think about this fear she had this horrible feeling her stomach that she had no idea where it came from, but her question would soon be answered. A few seconds after this pain started a blue sparkly stream erupted from her bellybutton, yes her bellybutton. Seeing this she reacted just like anyone else would react, with a scream, a scream so loud that anyone who was in a 5 mile radius could hear it, this scream was so frightening that someone not knowing what was going on might think she had just seen the most horrible thing in her life, something as scary as a ghost. From this stream of sparkle blue coming appeared a fairy, fairy carrying answers and Noel definitely had questions!”
“What are you doing…..How did you get in there……Who are you?” Noel demanded.

The fairy just floating in the air smirked because, as much as she hated to admit it she was getting some enjoyment watching Noel freak out as badly as she was. The fairy let Noel calm down before telling her anything.
“Are you calm now…Can I tell you what I came here to tell you?” Asked the fairy
“If this what you call clam then, yes.” Responded Noel
“Okay, I came to tell you that all these doubts you are having about the parade, they are real, as real as real gets.” Said the fairy.
“ I knew it!!” exclaimed Noel
“All of the floats are going to crash into eachother this year just as you have always feared.”
“I have to go tell everyone, I cant let them go!”
“No! You cannot tell anyone, you can only protect yourself.”
“But..”
“You can only protect yourself!”
With those last words the entered back to where it came from and Noel was off to tell her parents and everyone that once again she would not going to the parade with them.
“Why not...You were so certain on going this year” Her mom asked
“I just can’t...I’m sorry.” Noel said and ran back to her room
As Noel sat in her room on Thanksgiving Day by herself just like every other year and waited for her family to come home. When they arrived her mom just looked at her with the saddest smile and ran to go hug her. That was the first year that all the floats crashed into each other and caused major problems for the rest of the day.
“I’m so sorry I put so much pressure on you to go...I am truly sorry.” Her mom said
“It’s okay just please promise me you will never go back and never make me go.” Noel pleaded.
“I promise.” Her mom said.
After that year Noel and her family never went back to the Macys Thanksgiving Parade, instead they started a new tradition that everyone was okay with, staying in their safe home and having a nice dinner with their family and friends.