The key she had in her hand didn't fit the lock, it did yesterday, but now something had changed.... But what?
A hand reached forward from beside her, the palm was open and expectant.
"Let me try!" her little brother said excitedly.
With a little hesitation, she passed him the dull bronze key. He grasped it tightly with delight. To his hand the key felt cool. Its engraved patterns bit into his hand as he held it.
He pushed the key into the lock and it turned with a click. The old mechanism squeaked as the tumblers rotated into position.
Around the edges of the key a warm wind filtered through, which felt comforting to his hand.
She watched agape as the key turned for him, wondering what it meant. Her curiosity outweighed her annoyance that the key had not turned for her.
Stacey, had told him about the fairy garden last night after she'd visited through this door yesterday and he couldn't wait to see it.
She'd told him that the garden was filled with flowers of all the colours of the rainbow, and was tended to by pretty fairies, who were each the size of a soda pop can.
She'd always dreamed of having more friends, each fairy she met was more intriguing than the last. The fairies told her stories about the garden and taught her fun games. When she left, the fairies had told her to bring someone new to share the garden with and she had chosen him.
Lucas was super excited when he heard his sister's story and description of the fairy garden, which filled his dreams that night and caused him to wake early.
She told him she was going to take him with her next time. He could think of nothing else. The trip to the magical garden played on his mind.
He didn't think fairies were cool, but he still wanted to see the garden, so he pestered Stacey from the moment he woke to take him, until she did.
They had left their house and headed out to the door as soon as they were able.
Now, with the door unlocked by the boy, he pushed it gently. It slowly creaked open. The first thing they noticed was a smell of coal burning, that Stacey didn't recognise. This was followed by a loud roar of steam escaping that made Stacey hop back.
A look of fear crossed her face, but she saw Lucas wasn't frightened. He was smiling.
Lucas hauled the door open wider and they both stared out onto a platform of a vast train yard. Steel tracks criss-crossed, stretching as far as they could see and huge steam engines rolled in and out of the station.
The boy rushed through onto the platform, Stacey lunged forward to stop him, but her hand only clawed air instead of the tails of his red plaid shirt.
She finally caught up to Lucas, but only because he was staring up in awe at the bright red engine of a very impressive locomotive,
"Isn't it, like, the best thing you've ever seen!" Lucas gushed.
Trains hadn't really been her thing since she was much younger, but Stacey took a breath, looked at the delighted expression on Lucas's face and couldn't help but feel young again as she took in the details before her.
She loved the train's brass accents, the painted lines and tall funnel that stood proudly at the front of the train.
They quickly plugged their ears as the whistle peeped loudly, making Lucas laugh, which made her smile.
They spent much of the day there together, wrapped in swirling steam.
They clambered aboard the shiny red train without anyone stopping them. There were no drivers, conductors or guards to guide them or slow them, though they got the feeling that the place was aware of them.
After exploring, they stepped down to the station. Somewhere nearby a guard’s whistle sounded, signalling departure, and the red train chugged away. Shortly after, another train replaced it, announcing itself with copious steam and a squeal of brakes.
The trains arrived one after the other, and they clambered aboard each that stopped, tapping on dials, peeping the whistles, and yanking levers.
It was too easy, too fun. As a green train rolled out, a stray breeze chilled her legs. Stacey was suddenly aware that they were totally alone in this place.
The fairies she'd met in her garden had danced and played with her. They had brought her imaginary sweetcakes and invisible tea, which she ate and enjoyed to their delight.
She thought the lack of people was odd, it was just them and the trains that moved by themselves. Lucas though seemed happy enough.
Stacey believed he was having so much fun that he hadn’t realised it was just them.
A worry began to creep in her mind, it was like the place had only conjured what he had wanted to see and experience.
She passed by the ticket office window and caught her reflection. Something wasn't right. Her face was thinner, her eyes looked tired. As she leaned closer to look at herself, she caught sight of her brother behind her, running along the platform.
Looking closer still, in the glass's reflection there was a strange shadow mist that trailed behind him. Curling tendrils of mist that twirled upwards that she couldn't see when she turned around.
Stacey followed the tendrils upwards to the station clock. Her eyes grew wide. Hooked atop the clock was a black-winged owl with piercing eyes.
The owl was perched on one set of talons, the other raised, twiddling as it puppeteered the shadows.
Stacey masked her surprise she rushed across to fetch Lucas.
To her eyes he looked fine, but something was off, "Lucas, I think we need to go." She said, reaching out to pull him gently by the shoulder.
Lucas ducked free, and shook his head. "No way! I haven't finished playing yet!"
"Lucas, we really have to go! We're going to be late for dinner!" Stacey said with urgency, thinking quickly to entice him away.
"But we can get dinner here!" Lucas shouted, pointing at a train buffet car.
He ran for it, to avoid being collared.
Stacey chased after, but became briefly distracted. In the gleaming brass of a memorial plaque, she caught the reflection of the black owl. Now it was on top of the buffet car with talons spread wide as it toyed with the shadow.
When Lucas stepped inside, he froze in awe. The car was brimming with fast food and snacks: pizza with mozzarella that could stretch a metre, double-stacked cheeseburgers, potato chip delicacies of every type and flavour.
Lucas dove in, looking to grab handful after handful. But Stacey forced herself in the way and yelled, "Don't eat anything!"
He jumped at the shout, which caused him to stumble and slam into a partition. He looked back, staring across at the food, his mouth watering, "Why not! If we eat here then we can stay longer!"
She looked for a mirror, Stacey picked up a spoon and searched its reflection. From the handle of a baggage cart, the owl’s eyes bored into them, unblinking, silently watching.
"What is it? What do you see?" He asked.
She turned the spoon to show Lucas the owl, but as she did, she caught sight of the food.
In the reflection the food that sat in piles atop plates before them was transformed. Revealed in their place were squirted shapeless black piles and stacked blackened lumps.
"Lucas, please! Look at this!"
He rubbed his shoulder as she held the spoon in front of his face. With reluctance he looked and saw the food's true form was revealed. His face turned pale and he gagged then looked at Stacey with shock, "What's wrong with the food?"
Stacey chewed her
finger nails as she spoke, "I don't know, it's not just the food. We should find the door home, but I don't know where it was. We've been running about all day. I didn't keep track of where it was."
Lucas thought for a moment, "It's a door on the platform!"
"I know that, but which platform? What did the door look like?"
Lucas picked up a spoon and looked at its reflection. He jumped as he caught sight of the owl staring at him and would have dropped the spoon if Stacey hadn't caught it.
She shot him a serious expression, "We shouldn't freak out. We should try to relax and act normal, I don't know how this place might react if we get scared."
"The owl! I have nightmares about a black owl!" Lucas whispered nervously.
"Just try to think of something else! I think this world is made of your happy thoughts right now... but if you're not careful. You might conjure something you don't want to see! Let's go, we need to find the door home."
"Wait! The spoon! Maybe it can be used it to find the door?" Lucas suggested.
Stacey held the spoon aloft, turning slowly on the spot as she studied it.
The dark shadows had thickened. They now crept like fingers reaching around the walls.
Lucas searched frantically with his own spoon, his face draining of colour as his eyes filled with tears.
"Where is it? Is it behind us!? Don't let it get us Stacey!"
Noticing how scared Lucas was, she took his spoon from him, hoping it would help, and ushered Lucas on. His legs moved stiffly, his head jerked at every sound.
The brightly coloured paint on the trains began to sag and run, melting to reveal a rusted shell beneath.
Engine fires roared out of control, and pieces of the platform roof started to break off, crashing into the floor around them.
Lucas screamed, "Look out!" as a large piece fell down, the station around them was crumbling apart.
Stacey ran ahead, guiding Lucas along the platform looking for the door. She held up the spoon, looking for clues in the reflection before her.
All around she saw darkness, and then suddenly a speck of brightness.
She turned to look closer. What she saw was the black owl, now visible without the reflection.
Unmoving the owl sat silently watching. It now perched on a blazing train engine furnace, its shape revealed only by the inferno's brightness around it.
Lucas saw the dark owl's shape ahead. He wanted to scream, but no sound came out. He turned with a stumble started to run back at the sight of it, but Stacey ran back and blocked his path, "I'm sorry I brought you here, but we must be brave. It wants us to run. I think it wants to keep us here. If it does it will feed off us!"
His tears were in freefall, he sobbed at the thought of confronting the owl. The dark shadow that lurked in his dreams, "I can't do it!" He bawled.
"I'll go ahead to make sure it's safe. Just close your eyes and follow my voice... I'll guide you!"
Summoning all his inner strength. He closed his eyes and followed, listening for her footsteps and voice calling him on.
Stacey led Lucas a few steps ahead, walking half-backwards towards the owl and the engine fire. She kept one eye on the reflection, the other on Lucas.
"We're nearly there!" her voice quivered with hope.
With his eyes closed, he felt the temperature rise higher. He knew they were getting closer, but he trusted his sister. Each step was getting harder the closer he believed he got.
She felt the heat claw at her skin, and doubt wormed its way in. With just one look at Lucas something within told her she had to get him out.
She lifted the spoon again and tilted it toward the raging furnace, angling it to see the fire behind her. In the reflection, framed by flames, she saw the door.
A clamouring of small angry voices entered her mind, and the fairy garden flashed before her eyes.
"Lucas, the door is in the fire," she shouted.
"Run to the fire! Don't stop!"
Lucas opened his eyes and looked toward the fire. It was terrifying, perched menacingly above it loomed the black-winged owl. He could feel its eyes on him, but he trusted his sister. He ran for the flames.
She watched Lucas run forward and she chased after.
In the light of the fire her memory was fuzzy. She realised she’d never stepped back through the door after visiting the fairy garden yesterday. She remembered eating the food and drinking the tea, and then being with Lucas at bedtime, telling him about the fairy garden.
When Lucas got close he felt his skin start to burn and heard the owl screech, nearly making him turn back but he didn't.
He grabbed the door handle and yanked with a grunt. The door swung open. He threw himself through and spun back to see Stacey reaching for him, unable to cross the threshold.
"I love you, Lucas. I'm sorry... I didn't mean to. They tricked me!
She realised too late that the fairies had let her believe she had gotten out and somehow encouraged her to bring someone new to the door. With innocence she had chosen Lucas, hoping to share the garden, but a deep seated mistrust made her realise the truth, she would not let them have him. Whatever it took.
The door slammed shut on its own, locking their fates on opposite sides of the door. Lucas couldn't help but look down at his skin to see how bad the burns were, but his skin was clear. He tried the handle, but the door was locked once more and he didn't have the key. His sister was lost.
On Lucas’s side, was now silence. A single warm breath emerged through the keyhole, a sign maybe, that something beyond was still there, watching.
#PromptIdea, #StoryStartersMondays, #WritingPrompt, #PromptIdea, #fantasy, #fantasybooks, #fantasystory, #shortstory, #kidlit, #childrensbooks, #middlegrade, #yafantasy, #darkfantasy, #fairytale, #portalfantasy, #magic, #booklovers, #amreading, #amwriting, #bookstagram, #booktok, #writersofinstagram, #readingcommunity, #spookyreads
Comments
Post a Comment