A Second Chance

Chapter 8

    Susan couldn't fall asleep that night. She kept thinking about what Aslan had said "you will have to find it again for yourself". What did He mean by that? Did He mean she would literally have to find her way to Narnia again? But where? And how was she going to find out? It could take years to find it! She needed someone who could help her, and she only knew of one person who would know anything at all about Narnia.

~

    "Susan Pevensie!" Mrs. Macready exclaimed when she saw Susan standing at her door. "Come in, darling, come in!" She stepped aside to let Susan in. "I haven't spoken to you in years! What brings you all the way out here?" She asked. Susan had, indeed, traveled back out to the Kirke household as soon as she had been able to catch a train.

    "Actually, it's an important matter I need to speak to the professor about." Susan explained. Mrs. Macready's face fell and her tone was very solemn.

    "You don't know?" She asked. Susan looked at her with a questioning expression. "The Professor died just a few months before the death of your siblings." She explained.

    "He did?" Susan said surprised. "I'm sorry I didn't know. I never talked to my siblings much, that is, they didn't want to talk to me." She hung her head, thinking about the fool she had been. Then she looked back up at Mrs. Macready. "I hope it was nothing tragic."

    "No, nothing like the accident with your siblings. He was old and his heart simply gave out." Mrs. Macready explained.

    "That's good. But who am I to talk to now? The professor was the only one that might have been able to help me." She sighed.

    "Well," Mrs. Macready thought for a moment. "he did keep quite a collection of journals in his study. You may be able to get some advice from there." She suggested. Susan wasn't sure what all she would be able to get from a bunch of old journals, but she decided she might as well take a look.

    "I would love to take a look at them, thank you." She said.

    "Right this way." Mrs. Macready lead her up the main staircase, through some hallways, up more stairs, and around a corner to the Professor's study. It was just how Susan remembered it. Completely stuffed book shelves on every wall, his big arm chair sitting behind his desk, and the smell of his pipe that still hung in the air.

    "I've dusted these shelves hundreds of times, and I do believe the journals are somewhere over here..." Mrs. Macready said running her fingers along some of the books. "Ah, here they are!" She finally said. She pulled out a large stack of small tattered notebooks that looked very well used, and set them on the desk. "He's kept them ever since he was just a young fellow." She said looking at the date written on the inside cover of the first book. "Anyhow, make yourself at home dear. I'll bring you some tea." Mrs. Macready said then bustled out of the room.

    Susan inspected the stack of journals. She had no clue where to begin, for she didn't exactly know what she was looking for, or even if the journals would have what she was looking for. She sighed and picked up the first book. Might as well start from the beginning. She reasoned. She took a seat on the small sofa by the fireplace, the same one she had sat in next to Peter when first discussing their problem with Lucy's "imagination".

    She wiped a thin layer of dust off before cracking it open. 1872. Was the date scratched in ink inside the front cover. Mrs. Macready was right, he had been keeping the journals since he was just a young fellow.

Dear journal, It read.

I'm starting a journal because of two reasons: one, I met this girl Polly the other day. She wants to be writer and has inspired me to write as well. Two, an extraordinary turn of events has just taken place. It made me realize that I want to remember everything that happens in my life starting with this strange adventure:

The writing went on to explain how the Professor, also known as Digory at the time, had been to Narnia himself! Susan was extremely surprised to see this, as he had never mentioned it to any one of them. I suppose it was one of those things that was so fascinating, and so mysterious that you feel the experience will lose all magic if you share it with another person.

    Susan was indeed in awe over what Digory described about his adventure. He had, in fact, seen the creation of Narnia itself! He had watched Aslan breathe life into the very creatures that roamed the land. So many pieces were coming together to complete the puzzle Susan was trying to solve. Even the wardrobe, made from a Narnian tree, all made sense.

    After she finished reading that journal entry she  rummaged through the stack for another book. She smiled as she pulled out the journal dated 1945, the year her and her siblings had come to stay with the professor. She skimmed through trying to find anything he might've written about them. Finally she came across an entry The Professor had written after first hearing about Lucy's wood in the wardrobe.

Dear journal,

Today a very interesting event came up. I woke up to the stirring of the children in their quarters. I went to see what was going on and found the youngest girl, Lucy, weeping. The poor child had been bullied by her brother over a rather intriguing subject. They older two tell me she's been talking of a magic wood in the wardrobe! Of course I didn't tell them anything of the wardrobe or where it's from for I didn't want to make matters worse. I wonder what they teach in schools these days. Neither of them, as many would, find it at all logical to have a land in the back of a wardrobe. I have prompted them to believe their sister, however, because I do believe another portal to Narnia may have finally been found! I'm curious to what the land is like nowadays and am contemplating exploring the wardrobe myself, but I suppose I should leave that to the children as I have already had my fill of adventure, and, quite frankly, am most likely too old for the events that may lay ahead. I am truly interested to see what comes of this, however. I suppose now would be a proper time to end this entry with words I haven't spoken in years.

Long live Aslan!

As she read the last sentence Susan felt as if some delicious smell or some delightful strain of music had just floated by her. It was a familiar feeling. She stared at the paper for quite a while. Now she understood why the Professor had seemed so interested in Lucy's woods. She flipped to the next page where Professor Kirke had written all about the children's journey. And as Susan read she could clearly picture every moment of it as if it had actually happened, which indeed it had. But after she finished a different feeling came over her. Not a feeling of happy reminiscing or surprise like she had been feeling the last hour, but a different, more heavy-hearted feeling. She felt homesick. Homesick for a place she thought had never existed just days ago. Now there wasn't even a shadow of doubt that Narnia was real. And it wasn't just real, it was home.

Susan had found quite a fascination in reading the Professor's journals, but was still left with the same question she came with, how do I get back?