A Wardrobe to Another World

Chapter 3 - Hide & Seek

⟢Hazeline's POV - ⟣

My alarm clock goes off at 6:15am like always. I slip out of bed, quietly pick out a pair of pants, a top, some boots and a satchel. I get changed and sneak through the halls ducking out of sight whenever I see someone. I finally reach the back door and slip out it making sure that it doesn't creak.

I sigh in relief when I make it to the stables making my way to, Murgie, my horse's stable. She was awake and waiting for me. "Morning, girl. I got your favourite." I murmur to her as I open my satchel and give her some food (I don't know what horses usually eat). While she eats them I go around putting some of each horse's food in their feeding trough. I head back to Murgie once every horse has some. I brush Murgie down and am about to let her out and go for a ride when it starts raining. I sigh and contemplate going back. The Macready will kill me if I get water and mud through the house but then I want to be free. I'm going. Murgie gives me a look through her eyes, I just shrug and pull myself up being careful not to hurt Murgie. We ride out and go for a short ride but come back quickly because the rain gets heavier. I clean Murgie before glancing at my watch and seeing that it is 7:15am. I put Murgie back in her stable, thank her and run out of the stables, all the way back to the house.

I run through the kitchen greeting head chef, Matilda. She stops me and quickly gets the mud off me, for which I thank her. I run through the house and up to my room, no longer worrying about getting mud on the floor. I quickly grab some dry clothes and have a warm shower so I don't get sick.

I look at the clock when I am all ready for the day. Seeing that I still have time before I go to the guests, I grab a book and start reading.

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The clock strikes 8:00am rudely snapping me out of my book. I head down the corridor to the guest rooms. I knock on the boys door before knocking on the girls. The boys and Lucy are ready but Susan isn't. Which Peter says is typical earning a small laugh from Lu and I.

❀ ❀ ❀

Peter, Susan and I are discussing schooling after discovering that Susan and I go to the same school, and Peter and I have both just finished fifth form. It's quite interesting hearing how they adjusted when they first boarded, coming from another school against me who came from being homeschooled. Breakfast was much the same as dinner the night before.

Unfortunately, after breakfast the rain still hasn't eased so it looks like we're spending the day inside. I take them up to the library living area where we can play games and read. Lucy is sitting on the window seat watching rain drops. Edmund is doing something under a chair while Peter and I are sitting on couches stuck playing a stupid dictionary game that Susan made up. "Gas-tro-vas-cu-lar. Come on, Peter, Hazel. Gastrovascular." "Urgh, is it Latin?" Peter asks, looking at me with boredom written across his features. "Yes." Susan says, seeming happy that one of us finally answered. "Is it latin for the worst game ever invented?" Edmund asks, sitting up holding a pocket knife giving me a good idea of what he was doing. "No, it's something that has both a circulatory and digestive function." I say, as Susan slams the dictionary shut. "Wait, you knew that the whole time?!" Peter exclaims, I just nod. "When you have such temperamental weather and get stuck inside you tend to memorise a lot of stuff in this room. But, and no offence Susan, this game is quite boring." I say. "We could play hide and seek." Lucy suggests as she jumps off the window seat and joins us. "But we're already having so much fun." Peter says dryly, making us all laugh except Susan who just glares. "Come on Peter. Please. Pretty please." Lucy asks with puppy dog eyes. "1, 2, 3, 4," Peter starts counting. I quickly take Lucy by the hand to help her find a hiding spot. We find a place in the curtains but Edmund pushes Lucy out the way and claims that he was there first. I shake my head and give him a disappointed look. Lucy and I keep running. We reach a corridor with many locked doors. Lucy and I head down the corridor to an unlocked room. I nudge Lucy in closing the door before turning around. I gasp as I recognize the room. I believe that I have subconsciously led Lucy to The Wardrobe. Lucy pulls the cover off the wardrobe confirming my thoughts. "88, 89." I hear Peter counting. I quickly join Lucy and help her in, leaving the door open a crack knowing it's stupid to lock one's self in a wardrobe.

I turn around when I hear Lucy gasp, getting a face full of pine needles as a result, making Lucy laugh at me. Once I'm free I jokingly glare at her, "You're going to pay for that, Lu." I say bending down. "Oh am I?" She asks, sweetly. "Yes." I state before throwing a snowball at her, starting a full snowball fight. It ends quickly as we realise that we don't know where we are. Well Lucy doesn't.

⟢Lucy's POV⟣

I look around the clearing wondering why there is a random lamp post in it. I turn to pose my question to Hazel when I see that her eyes are filled with tears and glazed over. "Hazel?" I ask cautiously, no response, causing me to frown. "Hazel?" I raise my voice slightly, still no reply, making my frown deepen. "Hazel!" I try again, she shakes her head and turns to me with a questioning look on her face. "Are you okay? You weren't answering." I ask her in concern. "I'm fine, did you need something?" She asks me, I don't believe that she is okay for one second, her voice shaking confirming it for me, but I drop it. "Yeah, why do you think there is a lamp post here?" "Dunno, maybe a path passes through here." She suggests. I walk towards the lamp post Hazel following me not wanting to leave me alone. I let out a scream when I see something in the woods and the thing screams too. I cuddle into Hazel in fear as she holds me close. "Show yourself." Hazel demands, no trace of her earlier fear in her voice. I hear hoofbeats and turn my head slightly so I can see what's happening while staying safely in Hazel's arms, I hope she doesn't mind. "Stay close to me." She whisper-orders to me, I take it that means she doesn't mind. The thing appears from behind a tree and I hide my face once again when I see that it is part human, part goat. "What is that thing?" I ask Hazel quietly. "A fawn." She answers. "They are thought to be mythical creatures." I nod my head slightly at her explanation and sneak another peak at the fawn, who now seems to be picking up parcels.

"Were you hiding from us?" Hazel's voice breaks the silence that had fallen amongst us. "I-I n-no. I-I did-didn't want to scare you." The fawn stutters. "You must be some kind of beardless dwarf and you must be a water nymph, with your beauty." The fawn says to us. "We aren't dwarves or nymphs. We're girls. And I'm actually the tallest in my class." I say. "You mean that you are Daughters of Eve." He asks us. "If that's your religion, yes." Hazel answers in a calm guarded voice. "No, no. You're humans." He corrects her. "Yes." I answer. "What are you doing here?" He asks us. "Well, we were hiding in the wardrobe of the spare room." Hazel starts but the fawn interrupts her. "War-dobe, Spare 'Oom. Are they in Narnia?" I glance up at Hazel to see that she has gone pale. "Narnia? What's that?" I ask. "My dear girls, you're in it. Everything from Lantern Waste to Cair Paravel on the Eastern shore. Every stick, every stone, every icicle is Narnia." The Fawn tells us. "It's an awfully big wardrobe." I whisper quietly looking out at the land. The fawn speaks again "Oh how rude of me. My name is Tumnus." "Nice to meet you, Mr Tumnus. I'm Lucy Pevenise." I tell him, removing one of my arms from around Hazel and extending it to him. He just stared at it, making me realise that he didn't know what to do. "Oh! You shake it." I tell him, he takes my hand and shakes it crazily, making me smile. "Why do they do it?" He asks me. "To show that one's self is unarmed and means no harm to the other." Hazel answers for me, looking around. "Now, as nice as it was meeting you Mr Tumnus. It's time for Lucy and I to go home." She adds. "So soon, don't you want to come over for tea?" The fawn invites. "Please, pretty please!" I beg Hazel with puppy dog eyes. "Fine but not for long." She agrees.

Once we get to his house he makes us tea and then plays some music for us. I ended up falling asleep. I wake up to Hazel shaking me. "Come on. It's dark and we need to go home." She whispers. I nod and get up, we head to the staircase but stop when we hear crying and muttering. Looking down we see Mr Tumnus sitting there. "What's wrong?" Hazel asks. "I'm a terrible fawn." "I don't think you are, you're the nicest fawn I ever met and nothing you've done could be that bad." I say. "Lu he's the only fawn you've ever met." Hazel states. "Oh it's nothing I've done. It's what I'm doing. I'm kidnapping you two." Hazel quickly pulled me away from him and behind her. "How could you!? I thought you were our friend." She says in anger. Mr Tumnus looks up at this and quickly unlocks the door grabbing our hands. "Come, she may know you are here already." He says. I briefly wonder who she is but it quickly slips my mind.

We all run until we reach the lamp post. "I trust you can find your way back from here." He says. We both nod and he starts crying. "Please don't cry." Hazel says as I give him my handkerchief and tell him to keep it. "No matter what happens, I'm glad to have met you two." He says before Hazel turns and pulls me back into the woods and to the wardrobe.

 - 1835 words