Laura

• Phoebe Puc, Grade 5
• Short Story
• 2013

An eight year old girl named Laura lived with her very poor father, in a forest. For a living Laura found wood in the forest and her father would sell it to the people in the village nearby.
One day while Laura was chopping wood in the forest a small butterfly surrounded by sparkling dust came by. Laura got very excited by this because it seemed that this butterfly was talking. Followed by two small scampering squirrels speaking to a floating flower. Then a group of coloured birds followed the creatures to the middle of the forest. After seeing this, Laura immediately ran, following the creatures to the middle of the forest. But Laura didn’t know something about the forest. In the middle of the forest was plenty of trees, but they weren’t any ordinary trees, they were trees with magical lands on the top of them.
As Laura went closer to the middle of the forest, the creatures disappeared one by one. Laura then was lost. It grew darker by the minute and Laura became very hungry. Laura then climbed a tree nearby for safety. But when she climbed halfway, she found herself in a land with fairies and mermaids. Blossoms covered the land and each house had a Japanese style front garden. Each front garden had china teapots and tea cups, with bamboo mats underneath it.
As Laura continued to wonder in this magical land a mermaid asked if she would like to have some tea with her. Laura who was starving at this state, immediately agreed. The mermaid grabbed her and took Laura underwater. In the underwater world it looked exactly like the shore. It had china teapots and teacups, with the same bamboo mat underneath it. The mermaid offered Laura some raw fish that Laura had never seen before. Some fish were purple with green stripes; some fish were orange with red spots. Laura then asked if she could have some sushi instead. The mermaid immediately responded to this by getting some small sushi on a wooden plate. But this sushi was different it was covered with blue seaweed and inside it was pink rice. Laura didn’t know how to respond so she just ate the sushi.
After a delicious meal, the mermaid took Laura back to land. When Laura was out of the underwater world, it was very dark. Fairies became evil creatures flying through the night. Laura was grabbed by an evil fairy and was pushed down the tree. In the forest it was a few years later and it was morning. Laura looked five years older from her adventure. And she was once again under her tree. Laura then saw an old man in the distance. He came closer and closer, until she realised it was a familiar face, it was Laura’s dad! Laura ran and hugged him with happiness. “Father, Father” “I just went on an adventure and I can’t wait to tell you about it!”