The Secret Portal

Chapter 1 The Rescue

The Secret Portal
By: Claire Sloan

Chapter 1
The Rescue

On one ordinary morning, Ally heard squeaky door close. She opened her eyes, hopped out of bed, and ran downstairs for breakfast. Stomps were coming from the basement. A tall, thin, woman was walking towards the breakfast table. Sitting at the breakfast table, were five other kids. Two seemed younger than Ally, two seemed older than Ally, and one seemed like her own age. The women sat down at the head of the table, and demanded breakfast from the harmless young kids. At Ally's boarding school, the kids did all the work for mrs.Black. Mrs.Black wore a white blouse, a tight light brown skirt, a black cardigan, and black high heels. She had small glasses laying on the edge of her nose. And she wore her hair in a tight bun everyday.
"Hurry up! Chop, chop!" Screeched mrs.Black. In the kitchen, the children scurried around. Right to Left, Left to Right. The very youngest one, little Madeleine, is only 3 and was supposed to have no roles in the kitchen. Just wiping the table, and folding napkins. When she was quickly walking to the sink, she thought she might wipe off the dishes to make everyone proud. Standing on her tippy toes, she put one of her tiny hands on the cabinet door, and boom! A whole stack of plates fell on the floor and shattered into tiny little pieces!
"Run," yelled the oldest.
"Yes," the second oldest agreed. "Listen to the oldest. She is the wisest." The oldest girl picked up Madeleine, and the second oldest picked up Madeleine's older sister, Stefanie. The one Ally's age, slid a piece of toast with plate pieces stuck to it on the top, down the hall to the table were mrs.Black was sitting, and scurried up stairs to her room, catching up with the others. They all hid in Clara's room. Clara was the second oldest with the biggest room. They thought it would be the safest together. Madeleine hid in the laundry basket, and covered herself with a big batch of clothes. The second youngest one was Stefanie, who was 6. She hid under the covers, flat, with a pillow over her head, to make it look like she wasn't there at all. Ally, hid in the closest on a wide, high shelf, that mrs.Black didn't even know about yet, because all of Clara's clothes were hanging in front of it. Stella, who is 12, just like Ally, hid under the bed with Clara, the 14 year old. And at last, the oldest, Ella, who is 15. She is very tall and has long curly deep red hair. Where could she hide? Oh no! It was already too late. Mrs.Black stomped into the room with a not so happy face.
"YOOUU!!! Come with me RIGHT NOW!"

"But mrs.Black--"

"No buts! Your in big trouble young lady!" Mrs.Black held on too Ella's ear and yanked it all the way to...Well...To were ever they're going.

"How long are we going to hide here?" Questioned frightened Stefanie.

"Until Mrs.Black calms down," answered Stella.

"So forever. We're doomed," replied Stefanie.

"Not as doomed as Ella! We've gotta help her guys!" Clara reminded everyone.

"Ya, but how on earth are we gonna get down there?" Stella said.

"We need a plan," said Stefanie.

"Duh," Clara was annoyed.

"I have a plan," said Ally.

"The new girl?" whispered Stefanie. Everyone wondered. Ally hopped out of the closet.

"What is it?" Clara asked.

"Madeleine, please get out of the laundry basket," Ally started to work."Everyone, please tie all the clothes together."

"Why?" asked Stefanie.

"Like I said, I have a plan. Now please just do it if your wanted to get outta of here," Ally had terrible vocabulary and grammar. She never got proper education.

"Yes, but what is the plan?!" Stefanie was getting more annoyed than ever.

"We can escape by attaching clothes to create a rope so we can climb out."

"Not bad," said Stella. Ally might not be able to speak correct English, but that does not mean her brain doesn't work. In fact she is very intelligent.

"Okay. Let's get started!" Ally was very determined, even to get the jog done for a practical stranger.

Stella was trying to figure out how to attach a shirt to a pair of paints.

"Wait!" Clara went over to a drawer in the closet. She brought it out to show everybody. Inside, were a bunch of scarfs. Blue, green, pink, stripes, and spots. All different types. There were at least 30.

"How did you find those?!" Asked Ally.

"Guess I'm lucky. We can use these, and tie them all together so we can throw them out the window," Did I mention Clara is one of the smart ones.

"Why on earth would we through those perfectly fine scarfs out the window?! Stefanie questioned, with her young voice.

"No, we wouldn't do it like that! You have it all wrong. We will tie them, hold one end and let the other fall, then we will attach the one we're holding to something so it won't fall too," Clara explained.

"Then we can climb down," Stella added.

"Yes. But how will we get Madeleine down?" Asked Ally.

"It's okay, I have an idea," said Clara as usual."Stefanie, since your great at climbing and your the youngest who can, you go first, and you can be our tester since your the lightest."

"Okay," Stefanie agreed.

"I'll hold onto your hands when you're first going down so you won't fall."

"Sounds good," Stefanie wasn't worried at all. Her blond wavy hair was flowing in the wind that was coming through the window. She clasped Clara's hands tightly, to make sure she was secure. Then, she dropped her feet out the window forming a tight grip with her legs around the scarfs.

"Ready to let go?" Asked Clara.

"Uhh..." Stefanie looked down, noticing she was over 40-50 feet above ground. She had never felt this feeling before. She wondered what it was, then she realized it was fright. Stefanie felt something more important then that come through. That one she knew. It was determination. It took over and automatically pulled her head up, and she felt capable of letting go. So, that is what she did. She started with her left hand, and slowly shifted it down to the dusty window sill. Her hand was turning red and sweaty and was attracting dirt. She quickly let go and moved it to one of the scarfs (of course the closest). She knew she just needed to transfer all her weight to the scarfs instead of the window sill. She needed to let her right hand go at some point so she could get it over with. So, she took a deep breath, remembered it was for Ella, and let go.

TO BE CONTINUED...