By: Jasmine Tang

It began as a normal day. We had just moved into our new house, and I was unpacking stuff in my room. It was very dusty. I had an allergy to dust, so I was sneezing every two seconds.

“Olivia! Can you quickly grab the box of plates and cups I put up in the attic?” Mom called from the kitchen downstairs.

“Yeah, sure!” I replied, running out of my dusty room.

I raced up the stairs to the attic and tripped over the top step with a loud thud. The floorboard on the stair was some sort of lever, which propped open the wall, revealing a small blue box.

“Are you ok up there?” Mom asked.

“Yeah, I’m good,” I called back, slamming the wall back in place. “Just tripped!”

I snatched the box of plates and slid down the stair railing.

“Here,”

Mom took the box and handed me a chocolate bar.

“That’s your paycheck.”

“Wow, thanks Mom,” I said sarcastically.

She rubbed my head, then told me to finish packing.

“I’ll call you down for dinner, ok?”

“Yup,” I mumbled. She knows how much I hate unpacking.

I slowly walked towards the stairs, and when I knew she wasn’t looking, I raced back up to the attic.

“Now how did I open up the wall,” I murmured to myself.

I felt around the bottom of the last stair until I came across a button.

“Bingo.”

I pushed against it and the wall propped open again. I snatched the box and peeked inside.
Then everything went black.

I woke up laying on a field of pink grass with flowers everywhere, and someone was running around me.

Wait, not running, flying? I sat up and looked around the field before I heard a voice.

“Hello! Welcome to Eldin! The world of magical creatures!” the voice said.

“El what?” I asked.

“Eldin! Are you deaf?” a small purple pixie said, popping into my view.

“Who, and what are you?” I asked, backing away.

“I’m Fay! And I’ll be your tour guide today!” the pixie said excitedly. “I can’t wait!”

“Am I dead? I asked stupidly. I obviously wasn’t dead.

“Are you dumb? Of course you’re not dead!” Fay said, annoyed. “You aren’t like the people my friends told me about,”

“I just need to get home. Can you take me back to where I came from?”
Fay tossed a scroll at my head and said, “It’s a map. Use it.”
I unraveled the scroll and looked at it. There’s a portal right there, can I use it?”
“Yeah, but only if you figure out how to get there.” Fay said, skipping around like she had drunk a gallon of coffee. “Ooh I could really go for an adventure! First we have to go through the Kingdom of Elves then the Kingdom of Too Much Water. Ooh or we could go through the hard way and go through The Kingdom of Volcanoes and-”
“I think we’ll go the easy way,” I interrupted. “Lead the way ‘tour guide’”
We walked through the Kingdom of Elves, which was easy, until we got to the edge of the Kingdom of Too Much Water. It was a cliff, with water underneath it. IT was probably 100 feet high. If I were to jump, I would definitely die.
“Come on, jump in.” Fay said, impatiently.
“Are you crazy? I’ll die!” I screamed at her.
“Blah, Blah, maybe you need a push!” she said with a shove.
The first thing I noticed when I was in the water was that I was alive. The second thing I noticed was that I was breathing. I broke the surface, and Fay was flying above me.
“Told ya,” she said, smirking.
I swam across the kingdom, which was exhausting because it was like a million miles long, when I reached the portal.
“How does this thing work?” I asked Fay, looking over the edge.
“Say your universe, then jump in.” she replied. “Miss ya.”
Then she flew away. What an affectionate way to miss someone.
“Earth!” I called into the swirling portal.
Then I jumped in.
“Dinner!” Mom called as I snapped back into reality.
Was that a dream? I shut the box, shoved it back into the wall, and sealed the wall back up again.
“Coming!” I called, thinking it was all a dream.
But what I didn’t notice was the map sitting on the ground, with a small glowing statue of Fay sitting on top of it.