The Spirit in the Wonderful World

“Go into your parent’s office and bring something out here to show us all.”

My hands start to shake and I feel six eyes bore into my skull.

“It’s a dare. You have to,” said Erica, smiling mischievously. Why did I agree to let them come over? Well, why did I choose dare in the first place? I knew this was going to happen. I’m not even allowed into my parent’s office. I thought.

“My parent’s office has a lock for a reason,” I state, trying to sound as confident as I can. “I can’t- I can’t just break into it!”

The three girls look at each other with faces that are hard to read. They all look back at me at the same time, identical expressions on all of their faces, and I finally realize the expression they are making: disbelief. They’re just trying to manipulate you into doing this so that you’ll get in trouble. A voice in my head says. But then another voice remarks that my parents are in the music room, and if I’m careful, I can’t get caught, right? I honestly only invited Erica, Michelle, and Aila because they were family friends. They were all friends with each other. All of us were from well-off families, but those three girls acted like they were rich. I open my mouth to argue but then realize that there will be no point in the end. The girls will win, they always win.

I sigh and stand up, going towards the closed door of the living room.

“Wow, didn’t think she’d actually do it,” Michelle comments while I close the door. I hear the trio break out into a fit of giggles as I walk down the hallway, approaching my parent’s office. The one time I had the confidence to go into that office, I got caught and was grounded for a week after that. I never understood why they kicked me out and grounded me, there was nothing there, but I don’t wish to get caught and grounded again. I flip the light switch and everything goes darker than before, but the pink light from the sunset gleams in through the windows. I love walking through this hallway without the lamps on when the slight glow from the outside provides the only light.

I reach the end of the hallway, to the obsidian-colored curved door handle. I take a deep breath and quietly open the door. I know that my parents are on the other side of the house, but I can’t help feeling anxious. I step inside and close the door behind me. I don’t see any of that natural light when I step in. In fact, I don’t see any light at all. I take another step forward, and rows of hanging lamps light up the room.

“Woah,” I breathe to myself, unable to contain my shock. I don’t remember what the room looked like when I went inside the first time, so I was surprised at how grand it appeared to be. There are two desks, on opposite sides of the huge room. One of them is cluttered (must be my mom’s) and the other is cleaner, my dad’s desk. There are a few cabinets around the room, all spread out evenly on the walls. The lack of natural light is explained by the absence of windows. The ceiling is about 30 feet above the floor, and it has very precise squares lightly etched into it. The room is mostly brown-hued, but a small silver square in the far end of the wall catches my attention. It almost looks like a safe, but without a lock.

I start to walk towards the mysterious object when I suddenly hear footsteps. With each step, they are getting louder. Oh no, it’s my parents, I think frantically, snapping my head around the room, looking for a place to hide. Hiding is only going to get me in more trouble. I knew this, but I ran to the nearest cabinet and opened it to find that nothing was inside it except for a magnifying glass on the floor. I would have preferred an empty dresser but I don’t have time. I rush inside to find I fit perfectly inside of it.

As soon as I start to close the door quietly, I see the lights in the room start to dim. The door is almost completely closed when I hear the door of the room opening. I can’t afford to try and close the door anymore, in case it squeaked, so I left the doors open with just a crack. I can hear someone entering, the door closing, and the footsteps of the person. I try to get a glimpse of who this person is, and I’m not surprised when I see my mom walking towards her desk. She is halfway there when she stops suddenly, looking around as if she was looking for a ghost. The other girls told my parents I broke into their study, didn’t they? My mind filled up with different scenarios of what would happen if my parents found me in this forbidden room, but my mom just turned around and headed for the small silver square I saw earlier, keeping a quick pace. She looks around one last time and presses something into the middle of this box. It glows blue, then opens up a blue doorway next to it. As soon as my mom steps through, the “doorway” closes again.

I stand there in shock at what just happened. There is no way what I saw was real, just another scenario my brain came up with. Right? I shuffle my feet a little bit, trying to get a better view of what is happening, and I feel my foot collide with something. I look down and see the magnifying glass sitting there. I carefully reach down and pick it up, examining it. It was smaller than most magnifying glasses and had a thin gold handle with a small ball of glass on the end of it. As I’m about to slowly step out, I hear something and look up. The door is opening again, and my mom steps out of it. She presses the same object into the middle of the glowing square, but I get to see a better view of it this time. It’s a magnifying glass. The same one I was holding, but black instead of gold. She slides the looking glass into a pocket and walks out of the room like nothing happened. I wait until I hear her footsteps fade away for sure, and quickly open the door. My caution has gone away and my curiosity has gotten the best of me. I rush toward the silver thing with the glass in my hand and stop right in front of it. There was a small hole in its center, too small to be seen from a distance, and it was almost like it was designed for a key. Well, the girls wanted me to bring something back to them, maybe I could see what was in that room and then bring something from there. And if I couldn’t find anything in there, then I’ll just bring back the magnifying glass, I thought as I was trying to justify the reason for what I was about to do.

I stood there for a few minutes, even though there was a chance that either one of my parents could come back at any second. I finally gained the courage and lifted the magnifying glasses handle to the square. I pressed it inside the keyhole, heard something faintly click inside the machine, and took the glass out of the hole. I hear something happening and turn around to see a golden doorway opening up next to the cabinet I was just standing in. I rush to it and cautiously step inside.

I close my eyes as I step through it, but when I finally open them, I’m amazed at what I see. I am standing on a windy cliff with a view of meadows and rocks until the horizon. The sun was setting, just like it was outside of my house. Where am I? I think. I mean, it’s beautiful, so I’m not complaining. And I’ve never seen a sunset as red and warm as this one. I hear something behind me, and I turn around to see the door closing. My anxiety from before starts to come back, and I rush to the wall of rock just as it finishes closing. I look around for another keyhole but only find a message etched into the place where the hole was supposed to be.

BEWARE. THE DOOR ONLY OPENS WHILE THE SUN IS UP. STAY HERE WHEN THE SUN’S NOT HERE, AND YOU WILL GO THROUGH THE NIGHTLY LOCKUP.

I look to the setting sun just as it goes under the horizon. I was stuck here until morning, and nobody knew where I was.

I start to walk around and I reach a small cave on the side of the rock. I look inside it and don’t see anything, so I decide it’s safe to go into it. Just as I step inside and look around at the bare walls, I hear a soft voice behind me.

“I’ve been waiting for you for a while now,” it says. I turn around and see nobody but a small fox. Or what looks like a fox. This fox’s fur was a dark gray and looked more like it was made of rock. It also had green moss growing on its back and the top of its head. Its tail was made of something that looked like tree limbs. It was the weirdest sight, but it was the only one there. Even though foxes can’t talk, I decide to give it a try.

“Who are you?” I ask, unsure if I want to hear the answer or not.

“I am Terran, the spirit of the Earthly element. My parents have told me so much about what you are like, and my excitement was getting hard to contain. I didn't expect your parents to let you come here at night, though”

“They didn't. I snuck into their office and found this magnifying glass,” I say, feeling guilty while raising the magnifying glass. “And then I got trapped in here and I couldn’t find a way out. I’m assuming the message is right and the door won’t open again until sunrise?” This is crazy, I thought. I’m talking to a fox. I mean, the fox isn’t normal, but it’s still weird.

“I know you think this is crazy,” the Earthly fox-spirit creature answers as if it could read my mind. “And I didn't take you as the person who would break the rules that drastically.”

“I’m not,” I said quietly.

Terran and I stare at each other for a moment or two, and then he turns around and motions with his head for me to follow him. I stand there for a moment. I can’t believe this is happening. I mean, what’s the worst that could happen if I follow it? I could get killed probably. But he doesn’t seem like the one who would kill me. But what did he mean by saying “I’ve been waiting for you for a while now”? And he knows my parents? My curiosity started to get the best of me and I follow him out of the cave.

We walk for a while before I finally ask “where are we going?” It doesn’t answer me. I sigh and continue following it away from the cliff, away from the cave, and away from the place where the door would reappear again during dawn. I take a while to look up at the moon. It is a half-moon tonight and it looked stunning. It is glowing with an off-white color so it wasn’t too bright to look at and showed just enough light so that I could see where I was going. But the moon isn’t the real stunner, the stars are. They shine like a big hand had thrown moondust over the black curtain that was the sky. The air is crisp and clean, not like at home with all the factories.

I keep walking, looking up at the sky and following the light pat-pat-pat of the fox’s feet against the ground until I trip over a rock. I hear a small bark and as I look down, I see that the rock I tripped on was actually the spirit. 

It looks up at me with slitted eyes and says “we’re here.” I look around and notice we are in the middle of the forest in a small opening. There are trees lined in a circle around us.

“Where exactly are we?” I ask. 

“The Earth Opening of course,” Terran tells me as if I should know what this means. It probably sees the confusion on my face because it lightly sighs. I didn't even know foxes could sigh. I think. “The Openings are the places where another door can appear if you have a certain key with you. Or a certain spirit. There are 5 of them. This opening just happens to accept me as a sort of key as well. And I’m assuming you want to go home to your own home and your own bed instead of sleeping on the ground of a cliff.”

“Is it dangerous?” I ask. Of course, I want to go home but I don’t want to do anything too dangerous. What is more dangerous than here, where you don’t know where you are and you are talking to a fox. Spirit.

“Isn’t everything?” it responds in a nonchalant way that doesn’t suit the situation.

“You didn't answer my question,”

“I did,” it says walking to the center of the circle of trees. “You just didn't understand the answer.”

It starts to sniff around the ground and looks at me suddenly. Terran sticks the end of his tail into the ground, and there is a loud click. It is a louder sound than before as if this lock is bigger. It runs away just as a big white square starts to glow in the middle of the Opening, much larger than the doors I’ve seen so far tonight.

“Just jump through and you’ll be home. Or around it. It is hard to know exactly where you will land when you go through this, but I can make a pretty good estimate,” the spirit said, staring at me with charcoal gray eyes that are only a little bit darker than the rock he is made of. 

I hesitate for a few seconds before coming up to the white square and looking inside it. I don’t see anything other than my reflection. I can’t believe I’m really doing this. I take a deep breath and just as I’m about to jump through, I hear the spirit say “I hope you come and visit again soon.” 

“Me too,” I say, and I’m surprised to find that I actually meant it. I close my eyes, jumping into the white square and I feel myself falling. I open my eyes again and see nothing but white and gray everywhere. It feels like I’m nowhere and that I don’t exist, but I know that’s not true. Where is the other side to this portal thing?

Just as I think that I exit out of it and fall straight on my back. Pain shoots through my body like an electric shock. I’m staring up at a white square about 10 feet above where I am, and it closes. I find myself in the dining room, a floor above my parent’s office.

As I try to get up, I remember something. The girls, the dare. Oh no! What happened while I was gone. I looked at the clock and it showed the time of 7:22, only ten minutes after the dare was given. But that’s impossible. I stayed wherever I went overnight. It was at least an hour. I look outside the window and see the sun on the edge of the horizon, about to set. I remember the magnifying glass inside my pocket and remember the ending to the dreadful dare that led me to this other world. “Bring something here to show us” is what I think Erica said. I can’t bring back the magnifying glass, I think. It’s too mysterious to give to those girls, they’ll just sell it for more money or keep it on display just for show. I look around the dining room for something to give to the girls and see a feathered ink pen sitting on the table.

I pick it up and quietly run outside the room into the living room, where the girls are sitting in a circle, probably gossiping with each other. When I enter, they turn around and I can see the surprised looks on their faces. They thought I’d be caught and get in trouble, I think. 

“Done,” I say as I hold up the feathered pen while smiling. I can still feel the now-familiar weight of the magnifying glass in my pocket. But what comes next?