Magic Portal

• Valentina Carrano, Grade 5, St Margaret Marys Primary School -
• Short Story
• 2022

Excellence Award in the 'Unleashed 2022' competition

Magic Portal
~ Magic Portal ~
The young girl plunged deep into the snow, feeling a bit adventurous. Her backpack was lightly swinging over her shoulder. She was observing the scene around her closely when something caught her eye. It was a small cottage covered with stripy, purple curtains. It gave her a warm, cosy feeling and as she was noticing all the small, beautiful details, she suddenly remembered something. A few years ago, she was playing with her dog, Sugar, somewhere around this house. She had looked up and saw an old woman smiling warmly at her.
But those were the old days. Those days, people had nothing to worry about in their lives. Now, all people could think and worry about was when their days were coming to an end. This world was just icy. The place that people had once called home was nothing. It was darkness, emptiness. There was no point looking back in time. The past was the past. What has that got to do with now? The girl was snapped back to reality by the mysterious cottage. She stared at it inquisitively. Her gaze was drawn to the large window. What she saw sent goosebumps up her arms. A dark, shadowy silhouette was staring down at her…
As fast as she could, the girl sprinted away from the eerie house. She finally reached a safe distance away from the peculiar place. With every step she was trudging through the thick layer of ice. Running in consternation and disbelief, still shivering in fear. Her nose and lips slowly turned to a bright red colour. She trembled all the way back to the house, with her legs weak and constantly gasping hopelessly for air. She prayed that the shadow wasn’t still there… her prayers were heard. She was safe. For now, at least. The agonising pain took over her; it was unbearable for a girl like her. The snow covered her body as she collapsed in the Siberian weather.
Falling snowflakes grazed her face as the cold wind brushed against her skin. Her eyes widened but the snowflakes blocked her sight. She slowly sweeped away each individual snowflake off her lashes. Out of the distance a small but thick broken bed appeared under the spotlight. The small girl crawled to the bed. She was so tired she decided to just take a little nap. The bed started to crack. Boom! She fell into darkness… “Help”, her screams cried. No one could save her now… she was FROZEN!