Stoneshard Valley

• Charlie Huang, Grade 3
• Short Story
• 2021

One hot summer day, my family and I went camping at a beautiful forest. The camping ground was a plain dusty floor. But something lied in a shadow. It was a piece of paper.

Well, maybe not a normal A4 paper. It looked wrinkled and dusty, with rips on the side. I decided to read it.

1789 Australia
'Hello, my friend. I have no idea where you found this, how you found this or when you found this, but because you have found it, I will tell you a secret. Have you ever heard of the Stoneshard Valley? Well, if you haven’t, the Stoneshard Valley contains mysterious treasure and a lot of gold coins. I have a map on the back of the paper. But whatever you do, don’t touch th...'

The rest had been ripped off. I knew I had to find that treasure, but what about mum and dad? They’ll be fine. Anyway, it did say there are gold coins, and the map says it’s very close. So I went off into the wilderness to find the place.

After a few minutes of travelling in the bush, I found a dark and dense clearing. There were several stones on the ground. Other than that, there was nothing. But one stone stood out. A purple, bright stone on the ground. It seemed to be saying,“Touch me, touch me” when I looked at it. I bent forward to touch it, but I remembered the paper said whatever you do, don’t touch it. So I didn’t. But suddenly, everything changed. No, I don’t mean everything, I mean the surroundings. The trees changed to a vivid green and grass appeared beneath my feet. A path of stone shards formed in front of me. This was it. Stoneshard Valley.

I followed the path, and what came before me was a pile of shiny, gold coins. But the coins looked rather odd. I reached down to pick them up. The coins smelled weird. I scratched one, and brown replaced the gold. Chocolate coins? My eyes blinded with confusion. Why are there chocolate coins? At least I now have a lifetime supply of chocolate. My vision suddenly blurred. I woke up. Actually woke up. I was in my room under the bed with chocolate coins in my hand. Was it really just a dream? Or did it actually happen? That was a question I could not answer. But now I have something to write about for my story writing competition.