The trees rustled, and the leaves sparkled from the sunlight shining off of the dewdrops. “Today’s another perfect day for exploring!” Bea thought again as she does everyday. “Mommyyyyy! I’m going to go out to play! I’ll be back inside in a little bit!” She shouted to her mother.
“Wait! Sweety! I have to tell you something.” Her tall, short-haired mother hollered back to her.
“What is it, mommy?”
“Well, Bea, there’s been something I’ve been meaning to tell you. Something very important. It’s about you going to school, to kindergarten, in just a few more weeks!”
“School? But…how am I going to be able to go outside and explore everyday? I love doing that.”
“I know you do, but it’s time you have to go to kindergarten. You’ll make lots of friends, and you can still go outside and play on the weekends.”
Tears started to build up inside her small body, getting ready to come out. Hearing the words, “You can still go outside and play on the weekends.” didn’t help her, because she knew the weekends just weren’t enough. Bea loved to play all day long in that beautiful forest behind her backyard, exploring, imagining, and creating a world of her own. She just didn’t know what would happen if that would go away, so she decided to just go outside to the forest, for she didn’t know if it would be her last time.
“I’m still going to go play outside.” Bea mumbled, trying her hardest to hold all the tears back.
She pushed the doors open, running into the beautiful forest that was filled with life. She was walking along a path of leaves she spotted on the ground, when a colorful butterfly caught her eye. Bea chased the butterfly, determined to try to catch it, when she fell in an enormous pile of leaves! She kept falling and falling, down a mysterious portal with bright twinkles of light surrounding her! Finally landing, Bea found herself in a mysterious, enchanted forest, with beautiful little fairies flying all around the magical woodland.
“Woah! Where am I?” she exclaimed, in her normal, high pitched voice.
“You’re in the enchanted forest of the Floras!” a short, one-foot tall fairy with translucent blue wings and a lovely, light green flowy dress replied.
“What’s the Floras?” Bea asked.
“The Floras are kind of like a breed of fairies, and each breed has a different talent. For example, the Floras have a really good green thumb, so that’s why we all live here, with many plants everywhere for us to tend to. Also, by the way, my name is Daphne. What’s your name?”
“My name is Beatrice, but I like to be called Bea.”
“That’s a great name, Bea! So, do you want to help me find a magical crystal I’ve been looking for? It’s rumored that it can grant any wish, but it’s really hard to find. But, I found a place that might have a map to where the crystal is! In fact, I was just on my way there right now! If you help me find the crystal, it could grant any of your wishes too!”
Upon hearing this fantastic news, Bea knew exactly what she wanted, and exactly what to say.
“Yes! I’ll help you!”
“Great! Now, come along, and follow me, I know where to get the map.”
Daphne walked in front of Bea, leading her to acquire the map. Bea looked all around, taking in the wonders of the enchanted forest. All of the trees were beaming with life, and there were many interesting purple, pink, and blue flowers covering almost all of the land. There were small streams with smooth stones, and a tranquilizing sound of the water running along the path of the blossoms.
“Okay, first we have to make a quick stop at a fairy’s house. She’s an animal fairy, so she can talk to animals, and that will be helpful later when we get to the place with the map.”
After making a quick detour to the animal fairy’s home, the trio got to a small, crumbling shack hidden in years of overgrown moss, vines, and leaves. Daphne walked to an old, eroded, wooden door that opened with a loud creak! Inside there was a shaggy, aged, squirrel with a few precious possessions lying around the ancient shack. The animal fairy began to talk to the squirrel, in a language that neither Daphne or Bea could understand. The fairy handed a carefully rolled up piece of paper to Daphne, a paper that Bea knew was the map. The animal fairy flew off, which made Daphne have a sad expression on her face.
“What’s wrong?” questioned Bea.
“Well…it’s just that I’ve always wanted to fly, and even though I have wings, I still can’t fly. That’s why I want to find the magic crystal, so I can wish to fly. Then, I’ll be able to fly like everyone else! Anyways, let’s look at the map now.”
The two unrolled and studied the map, which showed a twisted and curved line with different symbols along it. At the beginning there was a small shack, next a peculiar shaped tree, then a waterfall going into a pond, and finally, a cave at the tip of the line.
“This shack must be where we are at right now, so that means we have to go….this way!” Daphne said as she pointed to the right.
They followed the map, walking through the magical forest. Spotting the first symbol, the unusual shaped tree easily, Daphne and Bea were certain that they were on the right track. Keeping the map in sight the whole way, they walked as if there was a path on the ground leading them straight to the cave. When the friends got to the waterfall, Bea stood there in astonishment, watching as the water plummeted into the crystal clear pond. That reminded her of the crystal, which they were so close to getting.
After taking a short break, the two continued on their journey getting more excited as they kept getting closer to their destination. Finally, they arrived at the mysterious cave. An ominous stone door slowly opened, showing the darkness that was inside. Daphne entered first, scared to even think of what could happen next.
“It’s okay in here! Come in, it’s not that dark!” Daphne shouted.
Bea hesitantly entered, getting a delightful surprise when there were thousands of glamorous crystals, shimmering their bright colors all around the cave, illuminating the walls with colorful light.
“Which one do you think is the right crystal?” Bea asked.
“I don’t know, there are so many of them!” Daphne replied.
“Crystal? There ain’t no magic wishing crystal in this cave!” An old sounding, unknown voice exclaimed.
They both yelped, their shriek echoing throughout the cave. A heavy, huge, and strong chair turned around, revealing the small, old, wrinkled, and frail fairy sitting on it.
“What!? I thought that there was, that was the whole reason we came here!” Daphne confusingly said.
“I know. I have gotten a few here in the past, and all of them were confused about all of this “magic crystal” thing. Although these crystals in here are so beautiful you could say they’re magical, none of them truly are. I, however, can provide such good advice you could say it’s magical. I’m so old, I come with years, and years of experience. Now, come here children. What are your troubles?” the wise old fairy asked.
“Well, I really, really wish I could fly! I have good wings, but for some reason, they just don’t want to work! Please help me, I’m desperate.” Daphne asked with her great desire to fly.
“Listen, all you have to do is believe. Believe in yourself, and believe you CAN fly. And that’s all you need to do, honey. And as for you? What do you want, sugar? What’s your name?” the wise old fairy responded.
“You can call me Bea, and what I want is to be able to keep on playing, all day, and everyday, just like how it always was. My mommy told me that I have to go to school, but I really, really don’t want to. She said that I could still have a few days to keep playing all day long, but that’s just not enough.” Bea begged.
“Listen little one, you will always have time to keep on imagining your own world. There is a time for playing, and a time for learning. It’s so much more important than you can understand to learn, but trust me, you’ll still be able to keep your little imagination to keep on going. Even when you grow older, you’ll still be able to keep your imagination, and your deep, inner child will always be there. As long as you keep your creativity going for as long as you live, then one day you might end up somewhere like here, in this magical world. Do you understand now, child?” the wise old fairy explained.
Bea took a long sigh, then replied, “Yes, I understand now. I do, I really do!”
“Fantastic, honey. Now, you best be getting home now. You want to see something?”
“Yeah!” Both Bea and Daphne answered back.
Then, a tiny but mighty tornado of leaves appeared in the cave. They swirled around each other, ending with a graceful fall on the cold floor of the cave. Bea knew this was goodbye, so she kneeled down to her new fairy friend to give a light hug and say goodbye.
“I feel it, I can fly now.” Daphne softly and happily whispered.
Bea hopped into the pile of leaves, but instead of falling, she was lifted back up into the world, going into the beautiful portal again. She woke up in a soft, thick little field of grass, and immediately ran back to her home to her mother. She told her all about her adventure, but her mom simply said she must have had a good dream. Bea didn’t think it was a dream though, she believed with all her heart that it was real. When she got to kindergarten, she was happy and excited, and for the rest of her life, she held onto the precious words of the wise old fairy. To never, ever let go of her imagination.
