Sometimes the world has secrets. Secrets that humans shouldn’t know. Far away, in the broken city of Yownsville, was a shop. But not just any old shop, oh no, this was the nowhere emporium. No one dared to even go in the town due to this emporium, and any who entered, never came back out. Although it looked like a beautiful building, fir with carefully cut bushes, everyone knew that it was dangerous. Sandy, an 11 kid, didn’t really care about danger. To her, if she didn’t take risks then life would be boring. Hearing of the emporium, Sandy seemed to be excited. All of her friends, not that she had many, thought she was mad. Not just mad, extremely mad. Even thinking of the Nowhere Emporium was classed as mad in this village. In the village of folkstown, everything was dull. Nothing ever happened, and Sandy wanted to change that. 

Just an old, falling bridge stood between her and the emporium. Stepping carefully over the bridge, she was surprised by how the building towered over her. First thinking that it would be a short trip in and out, she walked right in, as if it was a leisurely stroll. Even though she was a little nervous due to the old crooked staircase, and the cobwebs draping over her, she carried on walking, confidently. About to leave as nothing caught her eye, she stopped. Hidden away in the bookshelf, was a book. It seemed to be labelled, the Book of Wonders. Slowly grasping it by her sweaty palms, she heard a voice beckoning behind her. “Why hello, young… child,” he spoke in a calm yet terrifying tone. Mr. Freakinstot was a man not to be messed with. Looming over Sandy, she began to regret her decision of being here.

“Ah… I will ask you a simple question. Why. Are. You. Here,” the gentleman beckoned Sandy with a long, bony finger.

Beginning to feel a little out of place, she backed away. Falling into a bookshelf, she turned away for a split second, but as soon as she looked back, he was gone. Scanning her surroundings once more, she took the book from the table, reading the pages. It looked as if the book was in a different language, almost code. Nothing like she had ever seen, confusion washed across her face. Looking around, no one was watching, so she began to draw. You see, Sandy had a passion for puffins. Even as a young child, she would pick up a book, and just draw puffins. Groups of puffins, lonely puffins, flying puffins, sleeping puffins. Anything she could think of. This time it was like the pen was drawing the puffin, not her. Trying to draw a the bird with a happy family, the pen chose something different. Drawing blood dripping from the puffins throat, she noticed that beside her, a door was growing. Almost like a tree, it’s roots helped the door grow into a firm position, and Sandy felt herself drifting towards the gateway, book in her hand. Through the door, she followed a mysterious figure, dressed in a black, covering hood. From the echoing ground she heard a voice, “Oh dear Sandy, what brings you here.”

Inside, it felt like she was in a story. Winding branches looped overhead, whilst small butterflies and pixies flew past her. Upon a sturdy branch, was a puffin. But not just any old puffin. Oh no, the puffin she drew in the book. Blood dripping from its throat, a chain tied around its foot. Sandy was horrified. She had never seen an animal in this much pain, but with no emotion.

Go and open the black, soulless door, maybe you’ll find an abandoned room, waiting to be found.

Go and open the vermillion blood door, maybe you’ll find the ones you love, no longer by your side.

Go and open the fresh green door, maybe you’ll find a field filled with recent ploughed crops.

Go and open the warm yellow door, maybe you’ll find the sun shining above your head, waving back at you.

Go and open the azure door, maybe you’ll find the serene, calming ocean, whilst a calm wind brushes past your face.

Go and open the bright orange door, maybe you’ll find a room of oranges and passionate people.

Go and open the lilac door, maybe you’ll find the woods, filled with flowers of arranging colours.

In the room of loneliness, I was surrounded by silence

In the room of guilt, my stomach growled because of why I’d done

In the room of anger, a storm raged because of me

In the room of hope, I saw the light at the end of the tunnel

In the room of music, tunes travelled through my ears

In the room of beauty, I saw myself

In the room of mystery, everything was unknown

In the room of lies, it was all fake

In the room of friendship, I felt strong

In the room of coldness, shivers chilled my spine

In the room of death, I saw ones I love

Over the sounds of the thrashing waves, the captain began to speak in a loud, almost panicked voice. “W – we are landing,” he spoke, he was trembling. No one was sure if he was shivering from the bitter cold or just fear. At first we believed him, but we seemed to be edging towards the mountain in the distance. Me and Dorothy weren’t worried about it, that is until the mountain was few metres from our faces. Johnny the parrot was going berserk, and for once, Dorothy had lost colour from her face. How could we survive this? We couldn’t. No. W – we were. Dead.

Although we believed that Captain Hazel could steer us out of this situation, we had a gut feeling that this time wouldn’t be the same. It was coming closer. “10 metres, 6 metres, 3 metres, 2 m – metres,” Dorothy repeated over and over. It felt like an eternity of waiting for us to crash, I mean that’s what it felt like – I had my eyes closed. I slowly opened them, expecting to see my bleeding body but instead. Instead I saw everyone, just like normal, they still looked like they had seen a ghost but they were beginning to look more normal. Around us wasn’t the sky anymore, no, it was like a cavernous cave. It was almost decorated with glittering crystals, lighting up the cave as if it was a night sky filled with fireworks. Exploring the cave, I saw something. It wasn’t like anything I’d ever seen before. It was like a shadow. But it disappeared before I had a chance to properly look at it.