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The Forbidden Forest

By Kenisha, Grade 7, Canberra (Australia)

My alarm clock jolts me awake. I sit in bed rubbing my eyes and slump back onto my pillow. I grab my alarm clock and try to find the button to change the volume. I give up and trudge downstairs. “Good morning, Beatriz!” my mum says enthusiastically. I stare at her briefly and slide into one of the dining chairs. Mum slumps her shoulders and goes back to washing dishes.

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“Sorry, Mum. I’m super tired,” I say, feeling bad for ignoring her. Dad skips in, whistling a tune. Someone was in a good mood. After him comes my little brother. He sits at the table and bumps into the edge of it, causing my orange juice to spill. I scowl at him and stick my tongue out. I may be thirteen, but that didn’t change anything between me and my brother.

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After I eat breakfast, I freshen up and change out of my pyjamas. After waving goodbye to my family, I hop on my bike and ride down to the café. I park my bike at the front of the café and walk in. As the door opens, the bell chimes and Bella looks up from the counter. She smiles and gives me a friendly wave. I wave back and take a seat at one of the tables. I brush my fingers over the timber table, which is smooth and cold. The café is lively with people talking but not as busy as usual. I can smell warm and sweet coffee and chocolate, and also some blueberry muffins. The whole place has cold marble walls, and the floor is covered with white marble. The tables are round, and there are booths near the window and round little timber tables in the middle. The chairs are soft, velvety cushion chairs. The café itself was luxurious, but I grew up here, so this was like my favorite place in town.

 

My friends ought to show up any moment. We had planned to meet at the café because we had some exploring to do. I had simply told Mum and Dad this morning that we were going to get ice cream and go shopping, but that was a lie. The other day, Isla was scrolling on YouTube and found a video. The video featured someone who had come and traveled to our town. They had gone to the outskirts and were about to walk inside when the camera cut. It then clipped to the YouTuber at home, explaining that he didn’t know where the footage was. He said he had come across magical creatures and amazing things. We had scrolled to the comments, and all of them said “FAKE” or “What are you ON ABOUT?”

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Emelia and I had brushed it off, but the next day Isla had come to school with a map of the town, marking the area where the YouTuber had roamed. Emelia and I weren’t that interested, but we gave in after Isla’s constant pleading. The bell rings, and in walks Emelia, her hair in Dutch braids and a backpack on her shoulder. I call her over, wave to Bella, and take a seat.

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“Hey B. Where’s Isla? I would expect her to be here first,” says Emelia. I shrug and look out the window, expecting Isla to be walking up the street. After about 15 minutes of waiting, Emelia and I were getting impatient. Neither of us had phones, but I had a watch that I could use. I messaged Isla asking where she was.

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“She’s taking HOURS. I wonder where she is?” I say.

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Just as the words come out of my mouth, my watch buzzes. I press in the password and open my chat with Isla.

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“HELP.”

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Emelia is leaning over my shoulder, and I hear her gasp. She shuffles out of our seats, and we rush down to the location marked on Isla’s map. She had made 3 copies for all of us, so we could each have one on hand. After we pass the last cottage, we approach trees. We look around, and Isla is nowhere to be found. With no time to waste, Emelia and I run into the trees. I keep slowing down to message Isla, frantically asking where she is. After running for a while and peering through the trees, Emelia and I come to a halt, panting. A little creature of some sort flies past us, giggling. Emelia and I look at the creature zipping around us. After a minute or so, I hear a high-pitched voice.

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“Wow, humans! I haven’t seen any since that old man trotted inside the forest.”

Emelia and I look at each other.

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“Did you hear that?” I ask Emelia.

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“Yeah, it sounded like your kettle going off, but someone was speaking,” replies Emelia.

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“Hey, take that back!” says the voice.

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We look at the creature and realize where the voice is coming from. Now that it’s finally still, I make out a little fairy/pixie-like creature. She has a purple dress and long green hair that goes down to her bum. She has flowers woven into her hair and a little bouquet of flowers in one of her hands.

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“Who, WHAT are you?” says Emelia in utter shock. The creature does a somersault in the air and announces:

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“My name is ESREMLADA.”

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I blink my eyes, staring. The man from YouTube was right! But this was too weird. All the creatures from fairy tales and books were coming alive. It was weird and fascinating. I knew I wasn’t dreaming because Emelia was getting her shock out by pinching me.

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“Ow!” I pull my hand away from Emelia and give her a friendly slap.

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The creature hovers in the air and clears her throat. “Now, if you will excuse me, we have no time to waste. The Goblin King has hold of your friend Isla, and the Pixie Council sent me here to help you. Now come along, and let’s try to go fast. It’s not too far.”

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I blink at the creature and tighten my lips. I glance over at Emelia, and she nods. We start jogging, which turns into a sprint as the pixie speeds up. We turn a corner and gasp loudly. There is a big oak tree the size of an apartment building, and there are lots of little treehouses decorated with flowers and vines. At the top of the tree trunk is a big treehouse. The whole place is lively with pixies laughing and flying around. Emelia and I are shocked. My open, gaping mouth turns into a chuckle as this place is so wonderful. Esremlada leads us over to a big stadium-like hut. We walk inside and see 4 pixies, who look much older than Esremlada, sitting around a table on little stools decorated with white and blue flowers. As we walk in, their serious faces change into welcoming smiles as they glance over at us. I wave. I didn’t exactly know what else to do. They gesture for us to come inside, and we crouch down at the end of the room. Even though the room was for pixies, it was so huge it could fit a hundred humans. One of the pixies introduces herself.

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“Hi, I’m Leyah, the head of the Pixie Council. How are we today?” she says.

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I smile back, giving her a thumbs-up. She turns back to everyone, and we listen to the conversation.

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“Now, as you must have heard, Beatriz and Emelia, your poor friend Isla has been abducted by the goblins. We sent 7 pixie troops already, but only 6-7 pixies are returning from those battles. I’m thinking we should talk to the Pixie Queen. She always has ways to fix our little pickles with the goblins,” says Leyah. A pixie with blue hair and purple eyes nods. She looks up with her beautiful eyes and smiles at me. After all the pixies agree, we stand up and head out the door. I am excited to see the Pixie Queen. Suddenly, there’s a loud bang and a cackling laugh.

 

Everyone looks over to the tree entrance, and we see about 100 goblins with who-knows-what weapons. In the middle of the crowd are 4 goblins holding up a throne with rods, and on the throne sits a big, ugly, evil goblin. It’s a girl, and she has long claws. She’s stroking someone’s hair—curly waves. I stare in shock and realize it’s Isla. She looks so small compared to the giant-sized goblin. I stare harder, squinting my eyes. She’s breathing, but her eyes are closed. There’s another loud bang, and a rock-shaped ball of vines and other sorts of things heads straight for the Pixie Council house. The pixies and I jump out of the way and plunge to the ground. All the air is sucked out of my body. The ball of random things all squished together slams into the hut, and it collapses. Emelia and I get off the ground and run forward.

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“Wait, guys, come back. WE MUST GO TO THE UNDERGROUND BUNKER!!” shouts Leyah, but I ignore her. I just can’t believe all this. Trolls? Pixies? Like, WHAT? I feel like jumping into a rabbit hole and hiding there. My life was normal until all these crazy things happened. Emelia and I run toward the goblin throne, ignoring all the pixies shouting. We run and run. Because we are so small, about the size of half of one of the trolls' toes, they don’t seem to notice us at first. But when we approach the throne, which is now placed on the ground, the troll queen is so tall and intimidating. She is the size of 10 apartment buildings. Fear replaces my courage as I crane my neck to look at the troll. I blink my eyes and take deep breaths. I clutch Emelia tightly.

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“Hi.”

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Emelia and I jump and I scream. Behind us stands a little pixie. She was the pixie who had the purple eyes and the blue hair.

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“My name is Anon. And that’s Claire and Olivia.”

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She points upwards, and we see two other pixies hovering, smiling widely. We charge towards the throne and start climbing the chair. We make sure we don’t touch the troll, as something bad might happen. A booming voice comes out of nowhere. “Now, who do you think you are?”

I gasp and slowly look upwards to see the troll staring into my soul. I gasp and my grip loosens. I go plummeting towards the ground, but another pixie catches me. Well, two actually.

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“Hi, we’re Minthu and Nimrat!” they say in sync. I raise my eyebrows and thank them.

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The troll booms again, mocking Minthu and Nimrat.

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“What stupid names all you pixies have. My name is Bomgathaha.”

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I burst out laughing, and so do all the pixies. I don’t hear Emelia laughing though. I look up and see Emelia at the top of the throne, attending to Isla in the troll's arms. She is shaking, making sure she is gentle so she doesn’t draw the attention of the troll queen. She then puts Isla on her back, as Claire and Anon help her. They then hold both of Emelia’s arms and bring her and Isla down. They touch the ground, and we cheer. The queen has just realized her precious Isla has disappeared. We make a run for it, sprinting back to the pixie home. The trolls start making their way back, realizing they lost this battle. After we get there, we head inside one of the huts, where there are about 7 pixies. They stand up and all thank me. One of the pixies comes up to me.

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“Hello Beatriz and Emelia, I am the queen. My name is Marley. My advisors you see here are Dhriti, Sol, Anna, Arshiya, and Lyla.” They all wave. Then one of them sprays something in my face.

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I wake up in my bed and look around. It’s midnight. I hear a tap on the window and turn my head to look. There, outside, are all the pixies. I smile and open the window.

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