stardust {short stories}

entry; one great adventure { contest }

{ f o r  t h e  I t B  c o n t e s t }

Students piled out of the Harold Sterling Hall, shoving past each other to get to their next lecture, or class. Annie tried making her way through the crowd, trying to push past while not getting run over, but once more, she ended up on the ground, struggling to grab her notepad and law textbook before they got trampled. She managed to salvage both, and was about to stand back up when she noticed something glinting on the floor, above the old stone tiles that made up the hallways. As she focused her attention to the object, she noticed it was a silver key, simple and unmarked, which really was a peculiar thing because all of the dorm keys were labeled with the dorm number, and the keys to classrooms had the school insignia. She reached out for it - a quick motion, as she didn't want people to crush her hand - and placed it in her pocket for further observation once she got free of the crowd.

Thankfully, the other students were not intending to loiter in the halls very long themselves, very intent on being on time. Midterms were pulling up  next week, and everyone was on edge. Annie, herself, didn't have another class to attend, and decided it would probably be a good idea to go to her dorm and study for her law exam. She headed off, away from the building, towards her dorm, she was nearly halfway there when she noticed a blue box by the corner of the quad, it was, as it appeared, just a box, but the sight of it seemed to pull a smile onto her face, and she couldn't help but marvel at the thing.

She was looking at it so intently that she almost didn't even feel the sudden burn on her thigh, and when she did, jumped in startlement and pain. She placed her hand in her pocket and pulled out the key, which was now glowing with a golden bronze light. She felt the key pulling forward towards the box, like a tiny voice in the back of her head saying, go ahead, you know you want to.  That really was all it took  for all the childhood dreams of having one great adventure to resurface. The familiar ache for adventure began to settle inside her, and the law student grappled with herself to prevent from launching herself at it immediately.

Who knew what she'd find in the blue police public call box, as it was written across the top. It could be anything. The box with the glowing key. A smile stretched across her face.

She approached it calmly, with reserved excitement, and tried inserting the key into the lock, and turning it to the side. She was rewarded with the sound of a click of the lock releasing, and the door opening outwards towards her. She pulled it open by the key, before taking it out and entering the box.

Impossibly, the box was bigger on the inside, huge, almost cavernous in the centre, with a sort of console in the centre, and hallways that must have stretched out to infinity past this sort of clearing. She stared at the room in wonder for several long moments, before stepping in. She observed the console in the center, a mess of buttons and levers - whoever worked the machine must've been incredibly clever to figure it out, that, or lucky.

Next, she crossed space to the hallways, and vowed to explore each one of them. She found a pool, a library, an observatory, a room with what looked to be a sun in it (that one she settled for exploring from the door) and many others. By the time she got to the 37th room, she was already exhausted, and realized with a start, that she hadn't done any studying. Key in hand, she rushed to the door, so she'd make it to her dorm before it was too late to get anything done. She felt like she might've spent hours in the peculiar blue box, or was it just minutes? Time felt different within it. It passed slowly and quickly and all at once, which was a rather odd explanation for what she was feeling but it was pretty accurate nonetheless.

 However, once she got the door, she saw nothing corresponding to an actual lock, nothing where the key might've fit in. Considering the rest of the place, impossible as it was, this might not have been strange, but the key began glowing again, and this time, the room around her shook, and she jerked forward, grabbing hold of a railing to retain her balance. She didn't quite have any idea what was going on, but even though it was more likely to turn out badly rather than well, she couldn't help her excitement. One great adventure, here goes nothing.  

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Writing contest, here goes nothing. WOW! Okay, first entry of this competition! I don't think I can really express how excited I am for it! I've been following both previous rounds actually, but never got a chance to participate as I could never quite get the dates right as to when we were posting etc. This competition means a lot to me because I love the idea of it! I've read other peoples writings for it, and it's truly amazing that I could get a chance to participate as well. As a big fan of the show, I've always kept having ideas for writing a fanfiction type story for it, but have never really gotten the chance. This felt like a great opportunity honestly, even if I may not win. I'm not entering really just to win it, it would mean so much just to participate in this. Winning would be a great bonus for that, but really it's just about being a part of this contest that I love. Wow, that sounds terribly cliche - sorry! So excited for this!

               - Lydia