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“I |
Have some instructions to give you, and will tell you the first: ‘Trust Your Heart’. Now you can step forward and open the gate.”
I don’t know who I am and my true home. So I am here in this old gate, listening to somebody. But I was curious to open the gate. The gate was covered with roses red and white. The long vines curled up and hid the gate. In fact, nobody was even looking at the gate or the beautiful roses, but I touched the little white door but it didn’t budge.
“Say ‘please’ before you open the latch.”
That voice again stirred inside me. It seemed kind of stupid to say “Please” to a little gate but I did it anyhow, and there was a magical sight just before my eyes.
The roses shining, the tree leaves talking to each other. One time, I saw a glass shoe, and another time, a little girl with red velvet hood. I stood there wishing that I could stand here and look at this wonderful sight but my legs moved. I went up the hill. The soft breeze felt warm and gentle on my shoulder. Then, I saw a little house made out of little bricks. There was a little green front door a red golden imp hang from the door as a knocker. I touched it, and suddenly there was a pain. The imp was biting my fingers. I flung my arms and quickly walked inside. It was a huge ball room made out of crystals. There were golden rings and tasty food and I would have loved to take it and eat it, but the voice told me not to. Something moved, and moved again. Then, it appeared. It was a little cat but it talked me. Its fur was long and caramel brown.
“O, friend or foe, I hunger and am dirty, and hurt. Feed me and clean me and ease my pain. Thereafter, I shall be your companion to your journey.”
So I did what I was told, and after our talk, the cat seemed to like me a bit. He said to call him `Cat`. We came to an end of this room and there, we saw the wild wood. It looked very forbidding. I could hear the chatters and the laughter of fire elves. There yellow eyes were gleaming. But Cat didn’t lose his pride and held his tail up high in the air.
Then, we came to a deep well. There was another kingdom down there but its hope and freedom had been washed away. There were only gloom and sadness. We walked side by side, not daring to say anything to each other.
Soon enough, we were by the twisted oak. There was an old woman with long white hair sitting beneath it. There were many crows. We almost passed by but the woman asked in a dry cold voice,
“Give me hope and I shall point to your destiny.”
Then, there was a long silence. Cat and I thought of “hope”, but it was not me who spoke first. It was Cat.
“Hope is ours and it shall not be yours.” He said, and with his tail held high again, he walked the way to the little castle.
The castle was red and old with three princesses in it. The oldest and the middle said to trust ghosts, but the youngest said not to. We didn’t care about princesses so we walked on. I think maybe it was a little mean but it didn’t matter to us now. There was a little clearing beyond the castle, and the twelve months were sitting. I wanted to pick herbs for the witches, and also because the voice said so. So I tried my best to be polite and answered boring questions. They let us pick herbs. A little beautiful fairy with gold hair was spring and gave us some strawberries in secret.
The red wolves howled in delight at their new guests and carried us to the river. Its back was soft and velvety. The ferryman looked as if he served Pluto. He asked us how he could be free from being a ferryman and the cat answered him.
We were discussing how we could come back when an eagle gave me a feather. Cat told me to keep it safe.
Oh, and then we had those countless adventures with witches, giants, and dragons and here are the little instructions on how to trick them. First, step VERY quietly on the leaf floor and don’t let them hear you. Next, give the witches those herbs you picked (and the strawberries too if you have them) and they will let you go, but keep some to yourself. Last, dragon’s heart may be well hidden. But remember, you can betray them with their tongue, especially if you have one like Cat’s. Remember your name. I don’t have one myself, but I decided to name myself Me. Do not lose hope, thanks to Cat.
“Trust ghosts; trust those that you have helped to help you in their turn. Trust dreams.”
This was surprisingly, I who said it, but soon after I had spoken it, it was gone, and I was Me again. We were watching the warm fire and it looked so friendly that we dozed off, but before that, I asked Cat a question.
“You know Cat, who do you think I am?”
Cat replied,
“I think you’re my friend nothing less, nothing more.”
I was happy with his answer and knew that he was the same to me. Then I thought, why did I go on this journey? Suddenly, I understood. It was the journey to find me. Then, I slept soundly.
The next morning, Cat and I knew what to do.
We turned our backs on the never ending road and returned the way we came. Favors were returned, and debts were repaid. I didn’t know why, but I felt like I had a brand new body, and maybe I did. Of course, we did not forget our manners, and never looked back to the past. We also picked some apples for April. When we were tired of walking, Cat held the eagle’s wings and let it float above us. Then, the eagle came and we were up in the air. The clouds were fluffy and the wind rushed against our backs. This might have been a dark world, but it was heavenly on the sky. We flew forever until we came across the liver. There, the silver fish welcomed us and swam on the clear water. His body was slippery but cool. We fell down two times but it was refreshing. We thought that we were going to be fine after the ride but the hungry mountain trolls with sharp knives attacked us. Then the grey wolf rescued us. We held tightly to his soft fur and prayed we won’t drop. There was a great tower and I quickly mumbled,
“There is a worm at the heart of the tower.”
And we were off again. I think that I saw a dragon digging a worm out.
Now that I thought of it, that worm was almost bigger than the tower. That
tower never tilted again. Finally, the wolf let us get off. We walked and
talked about this great journey. We returned to the little house, where it all
began, but it seemed much smaller. We walked up the pass, through the gate we
never saw before but once, and then we waved each other good bye.
And then I thought for a moment, and went back the gate to find Cat.
-The End-
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