“Elliot,” my mother yells, “Time for bed!”

I groan. “Do I have to?” I ask, yelling back. My mom (I call her Ma) comes to my room where I’m playing with Legos.

She puts her hands on her hips.

“Elliot Robert James! You go to bed right now!” Ma yells.

“Fine,” I grumble, and get up and go to the bathroom. Moments later, I come out all dressed in my PJ’s. I mumble a hasty “Goodnight” to Ma and she grunts to me in return. I go to my bed. While I get into my bed, I think of my father, who is away on a business trip. I don’t have any brothers or sisters, but I wish I had some. And on top of that, I don’t have any friends because everyone thinks I’m weird. No friends at school, no nice mom, not seeing dad, NO NOTHING! Dad is almost always away. I sigh. My father really is a good laugh. Then I think of Ma, who DOESN’T let me stay up past 7:45, even though I’m 8 years old!!!! Ugh. I’m lonely. I don’t have any freedom at all. But, enough of that. Here I am, crawling into bed.

I snuggle under the covers and I drift off into a deep sleep….

BANG! BANG! BONG! BONG!

I wake up. I am in a strange place, full of funny people.

They look a lot like us, but with SUPER LONG, and LARGE noses, kind of like Proboscis Monkeys. (Search it up on the web.)

One of these “people” comes up to me and says, “Hello, my name is Kate.” She looks about my age. She then follows my strange look and says, “We are called Sefs, and this is our land, Sef’s Land.”

My head whirls with millions of questions I would like to ask Kate, but all that comes out is, “Will you show me around? The name’s Elliot, by the way.”  

Kate looks surprised. I think I even might like her, or be falling in love with her. To me she is beautiful.

“Why, of course I can show you around,” She pauses for a moment, and then continues, “Elliot.”

Then she beckons me to begin my tour.

“This is the tower of Mr. Leman,” Kate says, pointing to a SUPER tall tower. “He’s the smartest of us all. Whenever we need help, we go to him. He always knows exactly what to do.”

We continue. “This,” she shows me a beautiful house, “is the orphanage. I myself live here, with many others. Shall we proceed?” She asks. I nod.

We come to the village square. There is a huge Town Hall, towering over us.

“Whoa,” I whisper.

“Yes.” She nods. “It’s where all us villagers gather when we all need to talk.”

After that, she shows me some other people’s houses, Auntie Marta’s, Tommy and Poppy, two 6-year-old twins, and some others. Poppy and Tommy decide to come with us on our tour. Poppy looks at me and says, “Who are you? Where did you come from?”

All eyes are now on me. I stare at her.

“Like I told you earlier, my name is Elliot. I come from a planet called Earth. What planet is this?”

Poppy narrows her eyes. “This is the planet Laseford. Like Kate already told you, this particular part is called Sef’s Land.”

I must look worried as Poppy says this, so Kate quickly cuts in. “I hear that there is a market and a play at the village square. Shall we?”

Everybody nods yes, but Poppy is still peering at me. When we get to the market, we all get some ice cream, and watch a play. I don’t pay much attention though. I’m thinking of ways to get out of Sef’s Land and take Kate with me.

Or I could stay here.

Hmm, it’s a toughie. How would I stay? I miss my parents. A lot. But leaving Kate…

No, I have to get out of this world with Kate and without anyone else knowing, especially Poppy. I know now that I love Kate.  

“Elliot?” Kate’s voice interrupts my thoughts. I jerk around to face her.

“Yes?” I ask.

She looks at me suspiciously too. “Did you like the show?” She asks slowly.

I put on what I hope looks like a confused face. Then I say, “Like it? Of course!”

Kate looks relieved. “Would you like to go to the orphanage with me and spend the night there?”

I nod yes. We say goodbye to Tommy and Poppy and set off. It’s nearly dusk. As soon as we’re alone, I ask, “Kate?”

Kate looks at me, “Yes?”

My face turns red. “Um, how can I get out of Sef’s Land, and go back to Earth? Also, if you know how,” I cough, “will you like to come with me?”

She is completely taken aback.  “Actually no, I don’t know how to get out of Sef’s Land, but if I did, I actually would go with you.” Now she is the one with the red face.

But then her face lights up. “I’ve heard from folk tales, that if you walk to the Sef’s wizard’s cave, he can tell you how to get to a portal that takes you to Earth.”

I whoop for joy. Then I yell “Wahoo! Let’s go to the wizard and get to the portal!”

Kate laughs. “First we sleep, and then in the morning we pack and go.”

“Okay” I reply, And we set off to the orphanage.

***

The next morning, when I wake up, Kate is already up and packed. Wordlessly, she hands me a bowl of cereal and goes out of the room. As soon as I’m finished with my cereal and dressed, we set off to the wizard.

Along the way, Kate suddenly says, “Morning. Sorry I didn’t say it before, it’s just hard on me leaving Poppy, Tommy, and…. Sef’s Land.”

I nod. I’ve already gotten to love Sef’s Land. Kate sighs, and shakes her head sadly.  After a half an hour of walking, we turn into an alleyway and Kate points at a door. Then she turns to me. “This is the place,” she says.

I raise my eyebrows. “Really?” In reply, Kate opens the door. I gasp.

As Kate closes the door, I see that this is actually a cave. It’s a muddy place, but there are tables of potions and other magical things everywhere. In the very center of the cave, there is a cauldron with a wizard stirring it. Kate walks up to him.

“Mr. Wizard?” she says.

The wizard looks up. “I know why you are here. Do not waste time explaining, Elliot,” he says. “If you jump into this cauldron, it will transfer you to the portal. Then you will be on Earth.”

“Thank you Mr. Wizard!” Kate shouts as we jump into the cauldron. We’re going back to Earth! That is all I can think at this happy time.

“Elliot!” Ma yells. “Get up or you will be late to school.”

I look at her with a puzzled face. “Where’s Kate?” I ask.

Ma raises her eyebrows. “You know already?”

“What?” I say.

“A girl just moved into the house next door. And her name is Kate.” I fling open the door and run to our porch. There is Kate, without a long nose, waving at me.

“Hello Elliot!” she yells.

“Hello!” I yell back, and wave like mad back. Life is going to be good, I think, as I wave to Kate. Yes, it will be.

The End