The Golden Key

It was a gray, stormy, and rainy day. Nick, Mel and Dawn were disappointed as they were supposed to be going to the beach. However, that morning their mother informed them that due to the weather they would not be able to go to. Although they were saddened by the news that they would not be able to go to the beach, they knew there was nothing they could do about it. So, instead of wallowing they decided to make the best of their day. “What should we do?" Nick asked Mel and Dawn. “We should play hide and seek.” Dawn answered. “That sounds fun.” Mel said. “Who will be It?” “I will! I will!” Nick volunteered. Mel and Dawn hid while Nick counted to ten. Dawn hid behind the couch in the living room. Mel ran to the den looking for a place to hide. He was going to hide under the desk but realized he would be too easy to find, so he opened the cabinet to see if he could fit inside. However, he was distracted by a bright glow coming from a strange looking gold key. “Come and see this!” Mel howled to his brother and sister. Nick ran to the den, and Dawn left her hiding spot behind the couch to meet them. The two of them saw the glow Mel had discovered, and moved closer to see what was causing the golden glow. The three of them stared at the two pronged key, with a handle shaped in a vine covered shamrock. “How did this key get there?” Dawn wondered aloud. “I don’t know, we have never seen it before.” Mel replied. “We have opened this cabinet so many times before, this key was never there.” Nick stated. Curiosity getting the better of him, Nick reached out to grab the key. Dawn grasped his arm to stop him from touching the key. “What are you doing? We do not know what that key is or what it is for.” Dawn cautioned Nick. “We will only know if we try.” Mel said as he picked up the key. Mel held the key in his hand, and while holding it a gleaming white light started from the floor. Parallel lines grew from the floor upward and came together to form a magical doorway. “Let's go.” Said Mel. Mel was always the mischievous one. Before Nick or Dawn could even respond to him he was putting the key in the door lock of the magical door. He unlocked the door, turned the handle then opened the door. Knowing Mel would go through no matter what, Dawn and Nick followed quickly, worried, and rightfully so, the door would disappear once he went through with the key. Once through the door it automatically shut behind them making a loud whamming noise. The loud noise startled the three of them, forcing them to look back. The door had closed itself and just as it had appeared it disappeared. “Oh, well.” Mel said. “No. Not oh, well. How are we supposed to get back home without the door?” Nick asked, concerned. “It's raining and boring at home.” Dawn responded. “Yea, let's stay here forever. “ Mel said. Then pointed in front of them to a beautiful field full of beautiful flowers, with a backdrop of the most gorgeous waterfall. As beautiful as this land was, it was not as astonishing as what it was home to: unicorns. Beautiful white, silky black, rich brown, deep sea blue, unicorns so colorful and beautiful. A rainbow that never left had many unicorns walking across. “It’s a land of unicorns!” Nick exclaimed. Nick, Mel, and Dawn were so excited that they ran to the unicorns. The unicorns did not speak their language. However, they were very friendly and welcoming. Nick, Mel, and Dawn played with the unicorns, rode them through the field, over the rainbow, and swam with them. “Ok that was fun but we have to go home before mom and dad realize we are gone and try to find us.” Dawn said. “Yes, because without the golden key they will not be able to find us.” Nick said. “No, I don't want to go home yet.” Mel responded. Right then, two gleaming parallel lights appeared and came together to form another door. “Oh thank goodness, we can go home. Open the door, Mel.” said Nick. Mel reluctantly took the key out of his pocket and opened the door. He was upset as he did not want their adventure to end. When they walked through the door he was relieved to see it did not take them home, instead it took them to their next adventure. They found themselves in another land; this one filled with four leaf clovers, castles, and pots of gold. It was a land of leprechauns. Mel ran to them before he could see the door disappear. Nick and Dawn watched the door disappear then caught up to Mel. The leprechauns were not as friendly as the unicorns. While Mel wanted to play and have fun, the leprechauns enjoyed playing pranks and being annoying. They pulled the backs of their shirts, tied their shoelaces together so that they would trip, and used their magic to create chaos. The leprechauns casted spells to make the odor in the air stinky. They casted spells on the kids that moved them all around the land. They were casting spells that changed the kids' clothes, put them in mud, and made the sweet candy sour. They even casted spells to make it rain over their heads. “I don’t like it here. Now I really want to go home” Mel said with a gray cloud, raining over her head. With that, a new door appeared. The three of them, without hesitation, ran to the door. Mel unlocked it as quickly as possible; they moved quickly through, and closed the door behind them. They did not wait for the door to close itself, fearful if they did a leprechaun would follow. The door immediately disappeared. “Oh, thank goodness.” Dawn said. “It is good to be out of there.” Nick stated. “I agree.” Mel said. “Where are we now?” Nick asked as he looked around. There were giant lollipops, and rivers of chocolate, and caramel, and candy all around. Dawn was getting ready to run toward the candy, Mel was gearing up to go to the caramel river. Nick stopped them. “Wait, remember the candy from the leprechauns. It was disgusting we should not eat this candy .” Nick warned. “We are in a different land now. We will only know if we try it.” Mel responded. “I agree with Mel. Let's try it. If it is gross then we will not eat anymore.” Dawn said. Mel and Dawn ran to the candy. “Fine.” Nick exasperated. Nick followed Mel and Dawn's example and went to try the candy. The candy was sweet and delicious when they tried it. Dawn ate cotton candy, licorice, and hard candies. Mel drank from the caramel river, dipped marshmallows and strawberries in the chocolate river. Nick ate ice cream with caramel from the caramel river, and cake from the mountain made of cake. Once they had their fill of candy they laid on the field of sprinkles looking up at the sky. There were different colours of clouds, each colour indicating a flavor of juice. “My favorite is grape.” Mel said. The clouds rearranged themselves so that the purple one was above Mel. A glass of juice dropped gently from the cloud into Mel's hand. Mel drank the juice, while Dawn and Nick got their favorite juices, orange and peach . “I am hungry for real food now.” Mel said. “I don't think there is any here. “ said Nick. “We need to get home.” Replied Dawn. “Yes, I know. I wanted to be home a long time ago.” Nick explained. Mel thought about it for a minute. “Hmm, that’s weird.” Mel said. “What is?” asked Nick. “Normally a new door appears when we want to go.” Mel answered. “There it is!” Dawn said pointing she saw it appear in front of the cake mountain. Once again they went through the door. This time they were indoors, but where, they did not know. They walked through a long grand hall, down a spiral staircase, and straight into a dining hall. They saw a fire in the middle of the room, with a cauldron with billowing smoke on top. Surrounding the cauldron was a covenant of witches. Nick gestured to Dawn and Mel that they should leave quickly and quietly. They turned around and started walking slowly to avoid being seen by the witches. However, their footsteps were heard and the witches all turned to see who was there. “Get them!” The head witch demanded of her covenant. Nick, Mel, and Dawn ran through the dining hall through the front entry was and through the front door. They did not stop running until they were deep in a forest and realized that they had lost the witches. “Ok, now I really want to go home. The doors just keep leading to other places.” Mel moaned. “I wish we could get a door that leads home too.” Nick said. “What is that?” Dawn asked looking up seeing something small and flying. “I don't know.” Nick answered. The three of them looked up to try and figure it out. As they were looking up another tiny flying creature, then another, and another appeared until there were at least a hundred. As they got closer and closer, it became clearer and clearer that they were fairies. The brightest, pinkest, most sparkly fairy landed on the tree branch right in front of them. “I heard a wish being wished aloud.” She sang. “Yes we want to go home.” Nick said. Mel held up the golden key “this key has taken us to many places but it will not take us home.” “Well, if you want to go home all you have to do is sing.” The fairy sang in reply. “We wanna go home.” Nick sang. “No. You have to sing the song of home that goes like this: I want to go home because I love my mom. I want to go home because I miss my dad. I want to go home because of my aunt, uncle, grandmother, grandfather, or my guardian. I want to go home because it is where I am loved the most.” The fairy responded. “I want to go home …” Nick started before the fairy interrupted. “All together.” The fairy prompted the three of them. In unison Nick, Mel, and Dawn sang “I want to go home because I love my mom. I want to go home because I miss my dad. I want to go home because of my aunt, uncle, grandmother, grandfather, or my guardian. I want to go home because it is where I am loved the most.” As they sang the fairy waved her wand and pointed it to a blank space in between the trees of the forest and a bronze door appeared. Nick, Mel, and Dawn thanked the fairy for her help then went through the door. On the other side of the door was their home. Before the door closed they waved goodbye to all the fairies. They wound up in the den where they had begun their adventure. Although it was a full day for them, they arrived home at the exact same time they left. “Let's hide that key and never use it again.” Nick said. “Agreed.” Said Dawn. “Unless we are really bored” mischievous Mel said.