Ellen and the Ants.

"Life can be tricky, so don't worry too much. Just keep going." Ellen's father told her. He had been listening to one of his ten year old twins asking him why she was never student of the week. Her twin sister, Thea, was bigger, braver and far smarter. Ellen had always been the shy and timid twin, never as popular as Thea. Ellen tried hard, but she was not very sporty either. She liked staying at home, reading and playing with Mia, the family cat. Mia was sleek and slim, she was very stuck up, and a picky eater. Nothing was ever quite good enough for Mia, but Ellen loved her just the same.

It was now school holidays again, summertime. There was one thing Ellen had to achieve before the hot summer was over. Thea usually had play dates lined up with her tween friends from their classroom. But not tonight. Somehow, Thea had convinced their parents to let the twins sleep in a tent in the backyard. The pair of lassies could get on quite well, this was all Thea's idea. Ellen was very scared of the dark. The afternoon was spent putting up the tent, and arranging their sleeping bags. "This is not my idea of fun!" Ellen said, as Thea laughed off her sister's fears. Their father had given them a powerful torch each, with some spare batteries. Thea had somehow got hold of lots of snack bars, lollies, and small cakes to nibble on. Drinks were in sensible plastic bottles, plus some water.

The night was later that day, as it was summer time. After dinner in the kitchen, Thea led Ellen to the tent, saying, "This is cool. Turn your torch on now, I am here to help you to be brave. Let's try our sleeping bags."

By now, the afternoon was slowly turning into dusk, but not quite sunset. Ellen got into her sleeping bag, and closed her eyes. She was really terrified of darkness. However, at least she had Thea. The twins had a little radio, playing some pop music.

Ellen was just thinking, "This isn't too bad," when Mia landed right on her face. Ellen yelled, but Thea only smiled, and said, "We have a defence cat, she is our warrior. We have girl power in our team happening here."

Ellen smiled weakly, petted Mia, and gave her a thumbs up. She was not feeling particularly strong, she was even scared of shadows. Ellen was not regularly chosen to be on anyone's team. She was not exactly looking to be a warrior, but she realised that she must try harder to be stronger, and get braver. This fear of the dark night was a battle right now. The girls chatted, told jokes for while, and sang along to the radio songs. Thea settled in, and Ellen realised that Thea was asleep. Ellen was not really alone, as Mia had curled up right next to her face. She was still dreading real dark night time.

She honestly did not know how long it would take her to reach the back door, to seek her own bed and hide under the safety of her own bed in the house. Ellen tried to close her eyes, but her eyelids kept popping open at even the tiniest whisper of the evening breeze in the garden trees.

Ellen woke up in the black night, totally startled. She must have finally gone to sleep, as she had imagined counting sheep floating around the moon. Thea was still breathing deeply, always so calm and confident. Ellen's sleeping bag and usual pillow were comfortable, but Mia the picky eater cat was glaring and hissing. This made Ellen not so drowsy, was it a giant creature arriving to eat them in the backyard?

She called to Thea, but she just mumbled and said, "Go back to sleep. There is nothing wrong, it's only the wind."

Ellen fumbled around, found her torch, and turned it on. Mia's eyes looked huge and glowing, so did her own. There, creeping toward her across her sleeping bag, was a huge column of ants. These did not look like

the usual household tiny black ants. No, these were larger. One row of bugs was nibbling at Ellen's left over snack bar. She was a picky eater too, always fussing. The main army of ants seemed heading right at her. She shrieked, and Thea instantly demanded to know, "What's wrong with you?" She too turned on her torch, her sleeping bag was also covered in ants.

Ellen shrank away in terror, but the ants did not really seem to be hostile. While the radio was still softly playing songs, the leading ant stopped short of Ellen's face, and stood up in its back legs. It waved its feelers at her, then seemed to stare at her, as if it was trying to say something, perhaps to bring her a message.

Mia, the picky eater, swiped at the ants with her paw, but the army of ants did not back down. Thea was shining her torch on the ants on her sleeping bag. Suddenly, the ants turned round and began heading to the door of the tent. The leader stood and waved at Ellen. It was definitely bigger than a normal ant.

"I think we should follow them, check where they got into the garden. Come on!" Thea was forever the bossy leader herself. Ellen replied, "No way. You know how I hate the dark nights." But the leader ant was stubborn, and kept waving at Ellen. Mia wanted to pounce on it, but Ellen was holding her kitty back from destroying this unusual bug.

The leader of the ant army crept to Ellen's hand, as she tried to hide in her sleeping bag, keeping Mia in control. "Maybe it wants to sting us, keep us as food!" she whispered to Thea. "This is like a creepy night time movie. Tell me I'm dreaming."

Thea came over to Ellen's sleeping bag, and was curious about this sudden invasion, then the retreat of the ants. "The leader ant wants us to follow his rows of ant soldiers into the black night," she suggested. She was astounded by this strange event in their tent.

Thea grabbed Ellen's hand, pulling her up to stand next to her. "Come on, this is an adventure. We can track the ants to see where they came from. Dad can block their entrance tomorrow."

"If we see tomorrow." Ellen muttered miserably, this was all her fears coming alive. Wandering around the back yard in the dark was totally going to take more than a small amount of guts and determination, as their sports teacher told them. But she was in the girl power team for tonight, scared to see where this mystery trail of ants, and life, would take the twins. Ellen grabbed onto Thea's hand, as the pair and Mia set off through the tent door. This was a summer adventure, unfolding in the darkness.