Lost Dream

• Leah Gui, Grade 3, Penleigh & Essendon Grammar School -
• Short Story
• 2018

Excellence Award in the 'Horizon of Dreams 2018' competition

There once lived an old man who was very mysterious. The reason why he was mysterious is because every night when he went to sleep he would always dream of becoming a detective, young and energetic. He sometimes would even sleep walk as if he was a detective on a mission.
One night something strange happened. The old man did not dream of anything. When he woke up the next morning, he was so worried that he was never going to dream again.
He started wandering around all day long on the street and feeling lost. Suddenly he saw his own reflection by looking into a shiny window of a shop. He thought to himself ‘How old and wrinkly I am! How am I going to find my dream again?’ He quickly packed a bag and set off on a journey to find out what had happened to his dream.
The old man had gone through a lot of obstacles such as going through a swamp full of hungry crocodiles, walking on a long rope just to get to the other side of a cliff and going through quick sand on an extremely hot day. All those places were very dangerous but this old fellow managed quite well.
When he was about to fall down on a bumpy footpath the man discovered a very small shop. The name of the shop was ‘Buy Your Dreams Here’. He first thought that he was dreaming but then realised that this was not fake at all! He peaked through the tiny window and saw a short and fat lady standing at the counter alone waiting for customers. The man felt sorry for the lady, so he stepped in without hesitation.
Inside the tiny shop was warm and smelled like a rose garden. When the old man took a close look at the lady he found she looked very pretty but not short neither fat. He thought that the small window he had peaked through was a magic mirror from the funfair.
When the lady saw the man she asked, ‘What type of dream are you particularly after, sir?’ The man at first said nothing but then said, “I would like something that makes me dream of being a young detective, please.” The lady then turned around and went into a little store room. When she came back, she was holding a bottle labelled ‘Detective Dream’. The lady gave the man a sheet of paper that said exactly what he needed to do with the potion.
Happily, the old man set off home. He did exactly what he was told and waited for a little while before going to sleep. On that night, he started dreaming again...