A Magical Dream

• Danielle Busiko, Grade 7, Woodcrest State College -
• Short Story
• 2018

Excellence Award in the 'Horizon of Dreams 2018' competition

The quiet breeze coming through the window was enough to keep Amelia awake on this cold night. It was just past midnight and the hallways in the old orphanage were silent, Amelia couldn't seem to get to sleep. She tossed and turned all night until she heard the creak of the old, wooden floorboards in the hallway. Amelia was sure everyone in the building were asleep, who could be up at this hour? The lovely ladies who looked after the orphanage told everyone that it was strictly prohibited to be up at this hour, nobody knew why, they just assumed it was for the safety of the children. Amelia decided to just ignore it, it was probably nothing, then she heard another creak. She got up and tip-toed to her bedroom door quietly, she opened the door to see the pitch black hallway. She looked around but couldn't see anyone, she could hear a faint whisper downstairs and quietly sneaked across the hall to the railing of the staircase and leaned over to take a peek. From her point of view it looked like the staircase never ended. Amelia took her first step downstairs to check if there was anything down there but once she took the first step, she took another, and another, she couldn't stop herself, it was like she was being pulled down against her own will. She got to the end of the stairs and looked around.. She couldn't see anything, it was pitch black. She was starting to think it was nothing and considering going back to her room but just a moment later a lantern on the table in the center of the room lit up with a small candle, soon after that, more lanterns lit up with the warm orange flames and brightened the whole room. Amelia noticed a bright purple glow from the corner of her eye, she turned to get a better view but the glow went away. She carefully walked into the corner where she saw the purple light cautiously then all of a sudden what looked like colourful bugs flew out into the air around Amelia. Amelia at first was scared but then realized that these creatures were not bugs at all. They were fairies. Amelia was surprised, she didn't think fairies were real. The fairies looked familiar, it was something about them that reminded Amelia of the other children who lived in the orphanage. She decided to ask the fairies if they knew about the creak in the hallway and what it was, they looked at each other in shock and whispered to one another. Amelia started to get scared. The fairies then in a flash turned into their human form and Amelia soon realized that the fairies were familiar. They were the other children. All of a sudden Amelia woke up in her comfy bed. It was a dream? She was thinking about going back to sleep, then she heard a creak in the hallway.