A Fever Dream In Sweet Sugar Grove

• Zoha Faisal, Grade 6
• Short Story
• 2022

It was the dead of night, and two best friends, Ava and Savannah were on their way to an abandoned beach. Little did they know that their curiosity to explore the beach and why so many people disappear from it, would be their biggest mistake. After arriving at the beach, both started investigating it by looking around and writing down anything they thought was important. This continued for some minutes, until they saw a silver orb of light flying towards them. Ava, who was very surprised by the mysterious object, started noting it down in her diary. However, she couldn’t even finish her sentence before the orb arrived above their heads, and sucked them in. Suddenly, everything went blank.
Ava and Savannah now regained consciousness. Everything around them was now colourful and lively. There were fairies floating, elves happily skipping and unicorns neighing. It looked like something out of a dream. Both Ava and Savannah looked at each other, confused. They slowly started walking towards someone for help.
“Excuse me. I think we’re lost” Savannah whispered to a fairy.
“Why! It looks like you are the latest captures of the King’s troops!” the fairy exclaimed.
She then explained more. “Girls, I’m Lara, and you are in the Sweet Sugar Grove. See, thousands of years ago, our beloved King lost his family, when it was captured by you Earthlings, leaving him all alone! The King held a grudge about that, so every night he sends his troops over to a beach in Earth and captures you people, for punishment.”
“What? So how do we get out of here!” they yelled in confusion.
“See, there is a Professor who lives in that little hut across the chocolate river. He has a potion that can send you back to where you arrived from. Beware though! He has an army of guards safeguarding his hut, ensuring his potion stays safe.” Lara told them.
Ava and Savannah looked at each other with evil smirks on their faces. They knew what they had to do.
It was now night-time. Darkness loomed over the pair as they stood against the Professor’s hut, waiting to barge in and get their hands on the potion. The Professor was just leaving the hut, walking away, but leaving behind plenty of guards.
It was show time.
Creeping up to 4 of the guards, Ava and Savannah struck 2 guards with sticks they grabbed from the Enchanted Forest. They shot the remaining guards with a fairy dust gun they too made themselves, using fairy-dust that makes people fall asleep. Now the entire guard army was down.
They crept into the hut, and in front of them was the potion in a glass jar! The pink liquid held within it gleamed and sparkled. They ran towards it, quickly grabbing it and gulping it down, as they heard the Professor run towards them.
“You won’t get away with this!” he yelled, but it was too late. Ava and Savannah were back at their homes, safe from the King’s torment.