One scorching, hot day, a little girl named Katie with beautiful, blonde hair, was wearing a blue dress with white polka dots. Her mother was wearing a striped shirt and a black skirt. Her mother took her on a walk to Central Park because they wanted to stretch their legs. On their way they passed an elegant shop that had all different kinds of things from different countries.

They noticed stuff like a chair from India, a chest from France, a vase from China, and a dress from Africa. Everything looked fragile. The door had a dusty, golden doorknob. They continued walking towards Central Park, but at the end of the window, there was a gap… Something was shining.

Katie’s mom stopped and said, “Katie come back.” Katie’s mother wanted to take a look inside because something caught her eye that she thought was really outstanding.

Katie wasn’t sure what it was, so she decided to take a look anyways. Inside the store, Katie’s mother saw a soft, pretty scarf, and on the scarf was a whole lot of animal patterns mixed up with jewelry.  

Katie’s mother decided to buy it, and she brought it to the counter. While she was paying, her daughter heard something calling to her. A whisper was coming from an old, mysterious, familiar box. The box was wooden and had two diamonds on each side. It was right by where the mixed up animal scarf was. She thought in her head that she’d seen it before.

When she was going to open it, the shopkeeper asked politely, “Please don’t open that box,” because he was scared. But Katie just ignored him because she was really curious what was inside. So she opened it…

But nothing was inside. It was 12:30 when they went out of the shop. Owls were hooting loudly. Katie and her mother went back to their fantastic home and went to sleep by themselves quietly. Everyone in the house was asleep except for one person: Katie. She couldn’t sleep because of the box.

She kept on thinking and thinking, What could be inside? She thought, It’s impossible to hear people calling your name when there’s no one there. Katie knew she had to go back to the shop. Katie was awake the whole night.

After that night, Katie asked her mother, “Can we go to that shop again?”

Her mother explained, “The shopkeeper doesn’t want you going there anymore.”

But Katie begged her. And eventually, her mother said, ’’Yes you can go,” because she was getting annoyed by her daughter asking this question every day and every second!      

They went off to the shop, and as soon as they arrived inside, Katie rushed right next to the mysterious box and opened it. This time, she fell inside the old, dusty box and found herself somewhere else. Katie felt really scared. She was trembling.

Katie found herself in a forest with rainbow trees and mixed-up animals where different parts of their bodies were switched. For example, a face of a dog, a body of a snake, hands of an elephant, and legs of an ant. All the animals were really surprised, and the trees looked very excited. The animals were all staring at Katie because the animals had an orb where they could see what was happening in the old, careless shop. The animals had had the orb since they were babies. In the beginning, when they were still babies, they would almost knock the orb down. But their parents caught them every single time. When they were older, they knew that they could see the inside of the shop, so they started to be more careful. Every day, they had looked for Katie. They knew Katie was the person that the king wanted to join their army.

They were all surprised to see Katie, but there was one animal who looked very polite and gentle and kind, who told her, “Go see the king.” The polite, gentle animal told her, “Just follow one path, and you’ll find your way.”

Katie only walked for five minutes, when she found a person who was wearing armor stuck next to a leafy tree. Katie said, “Hello sir?” He did not answer. She said louder, “Hello sir?!” He still did answer. So she decided to investigate the man carefully!

She saw that he had a dangerous knife through his left leg, so she took it out and his eyes lit open as quick as a lightning bolt. A witch had turned the sword into a magic sword that made him fall asleep for one thousand years.

One thousand years earlier, the man had killed the witch’s sister trying to defend himself. Right before the witch had stabbed him, he heard her say, “The only person who will be able to save you is the person who can kill me.” The man had waited one thousand years for Katie to come to save him. Katie had faced loads of hard challenges already in her life. Once, she got in a big fight with her mother and had gotten abandoned at a store. Another time, she got lost at a playground and had to find her own way home. As soon as the man saw her, he knew Katie was ready to kill the witch.

Katie asked the man, “How come you were stuck next to this tree?”

The man replied kindly, “A witch stuck me here, and I’ve been waiting for a thousand years.”

Katie said, “My name is Katie. What’s yours?”

The man happily replied, “Joe.”

Katie asked, “Would you like to go with me to see the king of this land? Maybe he can do something for you, like help you stitch that hole in your leg up.”

Joe replied, “Okay. I’ll go with you to see the king!’’

They walked for two days straight. Joe and Katie found two pitch-dark paths that looked the same. They didn’t know which one to go to. They went past the first one. It led back to where they had started. They tried the other one. It led to the place where they had started as well. They wondered and wondered how two paths could possibly lead back to their beginning. It was 11:20 at night so they decided to go to sleep on the cold, wet grass.

The next morning, they thought, Let’s go straight on the grass and see what happens, and eventually, it worked! Joe could see the castle with his very good eyesight. They decided to have a snack break because of their hard work. They had delicious grapes and crispy pretzels.

After they finished eating happily, they felt very comfortable. They lay on the wet, soft grass for 15 minutes!

Eventually, they continued on their way to the king. After two tiring days, they arrived at the king’s beautiful, gorgeous, outstanding palace. The palace was made out of solid gold. It had glimmering gems on the roof. They couldn’t believe their eyes, so they quickly ran to the door…  but unfortunately, there was a person wearing solid gold armor guarding it. Every person that went past the guard noticed a sword hanging down his belt and his remarkably ugly horse next to him. People decided to keep their thoughts to themselves because they didn’t want to get into a big fight with the guard.

Katie asked him, “Can we go inside the palace?”

The guard answered rudely, “No. You cannot go inside the palace. It’s the king’s orders.”

Katie responded in an angel voice, “Please?” Katie thought it would be easy because she was used to her mother saying yes all the time, and her mother knew she was spoiled little child.

The guard still responded, “NO! JUST GO AWAY!”

Katie knew it wouldn’t work anymore because she could see the desperation on the guard’s face. He didn’t want anyone to go inside. Katie turned back and asked Joe for help. They walked away to a big, shady tree and hid in the branches so the guard couldn’t hear what they were talking about!

Katie whispered to Joe, “Can you help us to get inside?”

Joe suggested, “Let’s find the keys to the castle.”

Katie thought that it was a good idea, but she asked, “How are we going to find the keys?”

“Let’s hide, and hopefully another guard will tell this guard where the keys are. Then, we will follow that person, and then, when he leaves we will get the keys!’’

It was late at night, so they decided to go to sleep on the branches of a big tree. Finally, early in the morning, Katie saw the guard telling the other guard where the keys were. She couldn’t believe her eyes! She woke Joe up and told him the good news. Joe was glad as well. He had a big grin on his face. They quickly followed the man, and the man put the keys at the back door. They hid next to some hay, and then as soon as he went away, they sprinted to the keys.

Katie asked Joe, “Now that we have the keys, how do we get inside with the guard there?”

This time, Joe was really worried. He didn’t know either. They went back to the tree with the keys. They thought about how they could go inside. After one week of thinking, Katie thought of something. On the last day of the week, the guards noticed the keys were missing. The person at the front gate ran away because he was so scared that he would get fired because he didn’t keep the keys. Katie woke up Joe again.

They were so relieved that after one week, they finally did it. When the guard ran home, Katie and Joe rushed inside. Everything inside was green except for the path. The path was greenish blue. It led to a fancy door. Katie and Joe were really nervous because they were afraid maybe it wasn’t the king inside the door. So they stood there thinking about who could possibly be inside. After two minutes, they thought the only person that could be in there would be the king because they heard him talking.

Katie opened the door, and there sat a fancy, clean man, and that man was the king…

***

The king’s face turned pale when he saw Katie. He basically wanted to faint because she was the person he was waiting one hundred and two years for, and finally, she came! At first, Katie thought that the man wasn’t the king; she just thought he was a stupid, drunk stranger because he had a ridiculous response when Katie walked inside.

Katie asked, “Who are you?”

Before he could answer he dropped on the cold, dusty, hard ground!

Katie stared at the filthy king. Katie was so scared. She burst out with tears.

But Joe realized there was a letter lying by the King, and then he shouted, “Katie, Katie look there’s a letter, and it says it’s to you.’’

Katie stopped immediately. She went to the letter and…

Dear Katie,

Go out of the castle, walk ten miles, and then, you will find two trees, and one will have a key hanging down from it. Take it, then, go to the next one, put it through a hole, and it will take you to me!

Yours Sincerely,

The Queen

As soon as Katie got the letter, she rushed out the door. Joe didn’t want to go with her because he was scared, so he hid somewhere. After Katie walked for two minutes, she realized Joe wasn’t there. She was shocked by this sight. She was now alone again. She wanted to go back home and just forget all about this, but she had to keep on going if she wanted to go back home. So she continued on her journey. It was only the afternoon, so she found a nice, cozy space by a tree and fell asleep!

The next morning, it was raining hard, and Katie knew that she couldn’t continue on her journey. She decided to stay by the tree another day, but ants were crawling around the tree, so she had to go to another tree.

After two minutes, she finally arrived at another tree. She put her head down and tried to fall asleep because it was raining hard, but she felt something hitting her on the neck. She wasn’t comfortable anymore, so she looked behind her, and there was a fancy, golden, precious key. She wondered if it was the key somebody sent to her. She went for the risk and took it. She ran to the other tree as quickly as a cheetah, and she found three holes. She tried one hole. It didn’t work. When Katie took the key out, it just had some branches and tree sap stuck on it .

She was disappointed and said, “Why isn’t this working?” She started to try the other ones, but the more she tried putting the key into the holes, the more tree sap and branches got on it. She threw the key into a hole in the ground, but Katie missed. Katie sat down on the cold, wet grass. She meditated because she was annoyed about missing. Her face was as red as an apple. Her face was on fire. But when she meditated, she felt calmer. The anger came out of her body.

She was ready to try again. She picked up the key. She stopped and looked at the key. She noticed writing on the key that said: Dear Katie, Good Luck. From, The Queen. She felt very special. Katie was energetic once again. She threw the key in the cold breeze. It flew as smoothly as a bird! It dropped inside the hole. Katie’s smile showed it all. Tears filled her eyes. After a long time, she finally did it!

She curiously walked to the hole to grab the key that was glimmering in the darkness. Her arm got caught by poison ivy reaching towards her. She didn’t mind because she was brave enough. She went to reach for the glimmering key, but something pushed her. She wobbled, but she was okay. Then, the wind began to blow. She was struggling to survive. When the wind stopped, she lost balance, and all of a sudden, she fell into the pitch black hole…

As she fell through the dusty hole, she screeched. She was trying to reach for the sky. She told herself she was invisible because she was really worried, and she wanted to tell herself positive things. But then, she landed on a soft, bouncy, cozy bed. She looked around…

Katie realized that she was at the queen’s outstanding, dusty palace! When Katie looked outside, it was scorching hot. She was confused because it was raining heavily…

At the beginning, Katie thought she had gone to another country or land. She was getting annoyed. Suddenly, she felt startled! Light shone on the colorful, dusty, red throne. Out of nowhere, the gorgeous queen arrived…

The queen was wearing an old fashioned robe and a glimmering golden gown. She was wearing silver, sparkly shoes, and she had a colorful crown.

Katie couldn’t believe her eyes. She was shocked by the sight. The queen’s face turned as white as a cloud. Her legs were wobbling. She was biting her nails. Suddenly, the wind was blowing hard. Katie didn’t know what to say to the queen. She backed up.

The queen was confused. She asked, “Are you Katie?”

Katie responded with a trembling voice, “Y-y-yes.”

The queen didn’t know if she was Katie because she expected her to be very confident. She asked, “Are you really Katie?” Katie took a deep breath and stepped forward and bowed as politely as could. The queen looked at her, and she confidently said, “Stand up.”

Katie tiptoed towards the gorgeous queen and kindly gave her the letter from her broken pocket. The queen stood there. She was frozen with the letter. Katie asked, “Hello? Hello?” Still no answer. She tried one more time…

All of a sudden Katie woke up in a shock in her own room on her own bed. She was pale from shock! Katie looked around. There was no queen, no Joe, no anyone. She asked, “Is anyone there?” No one answered. She asked louder and rougher, “Is anybody there?!”

Katie realized it was all a dream: the rainbow trees, the mixed up animals. It was all a dream. Katie’s eyes were watery. She sighed and flopped over to the other side of her bed. Katie wanted to continue on her journey to earn the gold! Katie tried to go to sleep again. She closed her eyes. She tucked herself in and thought that she was in the land she was in before. It didn’t work. She tried again and again. The more she did it, the more it didn’t work. Katie gave up. Because of this, everyone in the land got sick. Every night, she tried and tried to get back. But after a year, she forgot all about it.

All the people in the land started to fade away because Katie hadn’t come back again…

The end [or not…]