Zara's Lane

• Alisha Vial, Grade 8
• Short Story
• 2012

Zara was an only child and she was very shy. She did not have many friends and lived in a big house that was mostly empty as her parents were always working. Across from Zara’s house, right opposite her window, was a lane. It was small lane, quiet and green. No one ever went down there. Zara had to walk past it on the way back from school. She wanted to walk down it, and she knew that one day she would. She’d walk to the end and there she’d find…
At the end of the lane was a lush green meadow. It was full of tinkling streams and tiny, bubbling waterfalls. Flowers swayed in the grass. Zara would sit down very quietly and stay as still as possible. If she was lucky, she could get a glimpse of the faerie folk that lived in this beautiful place. Fairies twirled in the breeze, dancing across the meadow as the sun set. Unicorns grazed and elves played soft tunes on little wooden instruments. Pixies chased each other in the grass and winged horses soared high up in the sky. Zara would watch for a while, and then slowly creep away, so as not to disturb these fanciful creatures.
Another time, distant music would lure her into the lane, getting louder and louder as she walked down it. She walked out into a big clearing filled with brightly coloured tents. Horses neighed in stables, and clowns walked on stilts. Acrobats hung from trapezes and dancers glittered in their magnificent costumes. Tight rope walkers ran across their metal ropes and lions roared fiercely from their cages. Zara would run in and join them, helping with the horses’ gear and trying to balance on impossibly high stilts. When the day was over, she would pick a massive bunch of flowers for her hard-working mum and skip back to her house, positive that she was one of the luckiest girls in the world.
When it was winter, she would creep down the lane. It was encrusted in snow, the trees bare, the dusky light barely lighting up her way. Zara’s mother always said that silence was the loudest sound, but Zara never understood what she meant. She thought her mother was just trying to make her stop talking. Now she could see for herself though, as she crept down the quiet lane. Every sound was magnified to the loudest noise as her ears strained for any out-of-the ordinary noise. It was very creepy in there, to say the least. But then she would reach a trail that broke off from the lane, and mustering up all her courage she would creep down the tiny, wood-covered trail and till she got to an opening. In there was a bright cheerful house. Her friend lived there, so she would come in and sit by the fire til late, contented.
Sometimes we forget that dreams come true- as long as you dare to dream them.