By: Emma Cai

Hazel’s world has always been a struggle to make ends meet. She lived in a kingdom called the Dasian Kingdom, ruled by a king. As far as Hazel knew, there has also always been a big separation between the poor and the wealthy, and Hazel probably leaned more to the poor than the wealthy.. Not that that mattered to her. Other than the horrible winter days, she thought that she lived a quite happy life. Her life was simple. She woke up, worked in the fields, went to the woods to gather supplies, eat, and then repeat. She never thought of becoming wealthy. My life is not so bad right now… She thought to herself as she was getting her basket ready to go to the woods to gather supplies.

“I wonder what I’ll find today…Hopefully some wildberries for dinner and breakfast tomorrow…” Hazel said to herself as she approached the woods.

As she got to the edge of the woods, she swerved onto an unfamiliar path, in the hopes of finding something to eat today. As she slowly walked forward, she gazed around, trying to remember some key object to find her way back, like the fallen branch she just passed, the patch of mushrooms that was right beside her, and the tree stump up ahead. Hazel walked for a while, stopping a few times to collect some plants she could use at home.

She wandered towards the part of the woods she was familiar with. Up ahead the makeshift path that she had always walked along to get home, she spotted a clearing. Huh? Hazel sped up, going to investigate. She finally arrived at a tiny, open glen that she had never seen before. Hazel gazed around the unfamiliar clearing. She could see a pond off to the side with overgrown moss hanging off rocks that have been half swallowed by the shallow water. With a jolt of panic, she thought that she had wandered the other direction instead of the way home. That can’t be. She assured herself, calming down just a little bit. Hazel recognized the row of half-dead bushes that lined the edge of the clearing.

I’m sure those bushes were next to some uprooted trees…No clearing has ever been here…

“This is odd,” she murmured to herself. In the corner of her eye, she spotted something small and sparkling as the sun hit its surface. It seemed almost gold. She nervously walked over to it, avoiding the pond and the mud around it. She bent down to inspect it, she realized that it was a small coin, barely bigger than the tip of her pinky finger.

The moment her middle finger brushed the top of the coin, she collapsed and she couldn’t think of anything anymore. In less than a second, Hazel fell into a deep sleep.

She woke up in an unfamiliar bedroom. Where am I? Hazel wondered as she looked around, dazed.

“Oh you finally woke up, my lady!” An unfamiliar voice called. She looked forward and saw a maid walking towards her. A maid…I never would’ve been able to afford one. She looked around again, and found out that the room was bigger than any room she’d ever seen, and that it was covered in jewels and sparkles.

“My lady? Are you feeling alright? Do you need me to call the doctor back?” The maid asked with a curious look, beside the bed now.

“No thanks…I think I’m feeling alright now,” Hazel improvised, still confused. She couldn’t remember anything from before she touched the coin and her head hurt as if she had fallen really hard.