On a cold day in October, I exited the school bus and a chill drifted down my spine. It was late in the afternoon, and I walked through the woods. Colorful leaves crunched under my feet and the sound echoed through the many large oak trees that surrounded me. Smoke from a distant wood stove filled my lungs. I heard a faint sound like someone was whispering. It filled the woods and I wondered: is someone trying to speak to me?
As I continued walking through the woods, my long brown hair blew in the breeze. I began to reflect on my life. Why was I always alone? I had no friends at school and I had no time to meet people anywhere else. But why didn’t anyone really talk to me, and why didn’t I have any friends? I heard a quiet voice that interrupted my thoughts. I looked around me, but I could not see anyone or anything. I decided to just keep walking and forget about it. Whatever or whoever it was did not want me to forget because I heard the voice again. This time it sounded like a boy’s voice trying to tell me something. But what?
The voice became clearer and said, “You must find the map, Jen, or the kingdom will be destroyed.”
“What map? And where do I find it?” I asked.
“You will find the map under the pile of leaves just ahead of you.”
I crept up to the pile, waiting for something to reach out and grab me or jump out at me. But nothing did. I reached in, took the map, and examined it. It was very old with small tears. The map showed a path leading through a village, over a river, and though a giant forest. The voice suddenly spoke again. “The map leads to the palace were the evil king lives. You must come to this land and help save the kingdom.”
“But how can I possibly help and how do I even get to this Kingdom?” I asked.
“You must say these three words, ‘Open magic door’.”
“Well, okay, but this better not be a trick.” I chanted the words, “Open magic door.” Suddenly a flash of light appeared and a door opened. I walked right through it and into another world.
“Where am I, and who are you?” I asked. A boy who looked about 15 or 16 years old was standing in front of me. He was trying really hard not to laugh.
“My name is Aaron, and I was the one who brought you here.”
“But where am I?”
“We are near Garden Village and at the beginning of our quest.”
“Don’t you mean my quest?”
“No, I know where we need to go and what we have to do. So you just have to put up with me,” Aaron said smiling.
“Okay, so what do we need to do now?”
“Well, we can start by heading into the village.”
I realized I was not wearing the clothes I had put on that morning. Instead I was wearing a pale pink dress, which hung past my knees, old brown boots. Aaron was wearing an old shirt made from some kind of animal, knee-length black pants, tan stockings, and black boots. We headed off down the dirt path to the village.
We walked toward the village in silence until Aaron asked “So, do you think that you’re ready to save our humble village?”
“I’m not sure of anything right now, Aaron.”
“Well, we will have to fix that.”
“What do you mean, ‘we’ll have to fix that,” I asked. Aaron did not reply. Perhaps he was deciding what to say, but neither one of us spoke again until we reached the village.
Garden Village was lined with houses. Some were white and others were tan with little boxes full of flowers. Aaron suddenly broke the silence. “This is my village and all of this will be destroyed if the king isn’t dethroned.”
“Well, what can we do to save this village?” I asked with a smile that seemed to boost his spirits. I saw a slight smile come across his face. “I’m sorry that I’m not very talkative, but I don’t have any friends and no one really talks with me at school,” I added.
We continued our walk though the village. All the people waved and cheered as we passed by them. “Why are they so happy when their village is in danger?” I asked Aaron.
“They are grateful that you and I are going to help return their village back to a peaceful and wealthy town.”
“You mean these people were once rich?” I asked a bit too loud.
“Yes, these people were very wealthy and happy. But our king took all our money for himself, which forced people to lose their homes and jobs. Most people don’t have any food,” Aaron said with a tear in his eye.
To distract Aaron from his sadness I said, “We better get going if we want to help these good people.”
We followed a dirt path that wound down to a river deep in a valley. “How should we cross the river?” I asked.
“Well, we could either wade through the river or find another way,” Aaron said. We decided to cross through the river, so we took off our boots and stockings and waded to the other side. We continued down the path until we came to the giant forest, as shown on the map. The gigantic trees stood tall in the last bit of sunshine before night fall.
The forest became dark quickly, and I had a hard time seeing my way around the many branches that hung down low. Aaron was leading me, but I soon lost sight of him. “Where are you?” I asked. Everything was silent. I stood alone in a strange forest with a weird sound echoing in my mind. All of the sudden I felt something touch my shoulder. I spun around to see Aaron. “Where did you go?” I asked.
“I thought you were right behind me, but then you disappeared. So I came back to find you.”
“Let’s get going. I don’t like these woods, especially at night,” I said.
“At least we haven’t come upon the creatures that are said to haunt these woods,” Aaron said. We continued though the rest of the woods and stopped to sleep by a giant tree.
The next morning we left the forest, and made it to the palace. “Wow! This place is beautiful,” I said.
“This was the richest kingdom in the land, until King Fredrick was crowned king,” Aaron explained. We made our way though the many rooms of the palace, but we could not find the King. Surprisingly, there were no guards anywhere around the outside of the palace or in any of the rooms we checked. “Why don’t we check the grounds out back? Maybe he’s out ridding his horse.” Aaron said.
We found the king sitting on the ground under a Weeping Willow tree, and he appeared to be asleep. As we came closer to the king, we heard a loud stomping sound and then a long roar. We turned around and beheld a dragon standing about five feet in front of us. His red and blue body stood strong ready to attack anyone who dared to get to close to the king. “What are we going to do now?” I asked.
“Go into the palace and find a sword, while I distract the dragon!” Aaron shouted. I ran though the palace looking for a sword and finally found one above a mantle.
I ran back outside to where the dragon and Aaron were and I tossed the sword to Aaron. He charged toward the dragon. I stood still, not knowing what to do, and I closed my eyes while the dragon battled with Aaron. I couldn’t watch! My stomach whirled and my body felt weak. Finally there was silence. I opened my eyes to see the dragon high above Aaron. He was lying motionless on the ground. I ran toward him, forgetting about the dragon that flew over my head toward the king. As I approached Aaron, he suddenly leaped off the ground and ran towards me. He grabbed my arm and we ran together toward the dragon.
“I’ll fight the dragon while you take care of the king,” Aaron said.
When I reached the king, he was getting up off the ground and pulling his sword from his belt.
“You two should have left me alone. Now you and your friend shall perish!” he said.
The king had a look of disbelief as Aaron slew the dragon. Aaron quickly tossed me the sword, and I quickly plugged it into the king’s heart. He fell back and, with his last breath, said, “No, this can’t be how it ends! You two ruined my plans.”
I smiled and said, “This is what happens to bad kings when they get too greedy.”
Aaron and I headed back to the village to tell the people the good news. The villagers shouted for joy and they all agreed that Aaron should be the new king. Aaron smiled the way someone does when they are truly happy but then a frown came across his face. He turned to look at me. “I guess you want to go home, now that the village is safe.”
“Yes, I should probably go back home.”
We walked slowly back to where we first met and stopped. I gazed into his hazel eyes which looked sad and lonely. I could not look at him any more, knowing that I had to go back without him. I whipped a tear from my face as I turned and chanted the magic words that had brought me to this place. There was a flash and then the door appeared in front of me. I stepped though the doorway and Aaron was gone.
A bit of light peeked though the oak trees as I began walking and wondering if any of the things playing in my head were real or just a dream. Then I heard footsteps behind me. Before I could turn around, a hand grabbed mine. “Aaron! But how and why?” Aaron grabbed my other hand and pulled me close to him. “What do you want, Aaron?” Without answering he pulled me closer and kissed me.
I didn’t need to ask why or how again because as soon as Aaron looked at me I knew. He spoke anyway. “I couldn’t let you leave me all alone to rule the kingdom. Even though I love my land, I think I love you more.” So, we blissfully walked toward my home where we spent the rest of our lives together with lots of love, laughs, and joy.
