Short Story Collection

The Story Book

There once lived a princess named Anna. She was a very...adventurous and exciting girl,although sometimes she was a little obnoxious. You could say that she always spoke her mind. At the age of thirteen,Anna's mother decided that it was time to begin her training,then,when she turned eighteen,provide her with a tertiary education in Literature and marry her off to a handsome and wealthy prince. This(as her mother called it)was her Grand Master Plan for the Future.

But,what her mother, Beth,didn't realise was that this was not what Anna wanted. Anna wanted to explore the world and quite possibly,quit being a princess to be fulltime traveller while she still had the chance,before marriage. Speaking of marriage,Anna only planned on getting married when she was at least twenty-five.

Although she was only thirteen,she had dreams that she wished to pursue. She was modern,being a 21st century princess after all. But,unfortunately her mother was quite...backward when it came to certain things,one of those things being marriage.

When Anna was informed about her mother's so called,Grand Master Plan for the Future,Anna,expectedly "spoke her mind".
And I'm quite certain that you can imagine how that turned out.

After two days of not speaking to each other,Queen Beth decided to call her mother i.e. Anna's grandma. Anna loved her grandmother very much,and likewise did her grandma love her. Lady Felicity thought that her granddaughter reminded her of herself.

After arriving and setting down to hear Anna's feelings on her mother's ridiculous plan,Felicity felt that Beth was treating Anna abit like a robot rather than like her daughter.

A few days later,Felicity went to Anna's room after breakfast."Good morning,dear," she said warmly,"why didn't you come down to breakfast?" she asked. "I wasn't very hungry." replied Anna. Felicity nodded; she understood that one of the reasons Anna hadn't come down was because she was avoiding her mother. Beth was being extremely difficult because she wanted her daughter to have the opportunities she didn't,because Beth was not born into the Royal Family.

This troubled Felicity,and sometimes it made her feel very guilty. During her life,Felicity had learnt many lessons and she wished to share them with her granddaughter. She knew that now was the right time.

She carefully reached into her bag and pulled out a little notebook. "Oooooh..." said Anna,suddenly interested,"what have you got there grandma?"
"Well dear," said Felicity,"this is a little present for you. I've been meaning to give it to you for some time,but..." she trailed off.
"Let's just say that now seems to be the best time." she said.
"O...kay,you're weird grandma!" said Anna,once again speaking her mind.
Felicity laughed and said,"Oh Anna! You really are too much!"

Anna looked at the little notebook carefully. "What do think I should do with this,grandma? Any ideas?" asked Anna.
"Well dear," answered Felicity,"you could use it as a scrapbook or a diary or a-"
"I'll write a story! That would be perfect!" excaimed Anna.
"Alright dear, I'll leave you to your story writing." 

And so,Felicity left the room while Anna began to write. She wrote and wrote for hours,until finally she fell asleep.

She awoke well into the night. All the lights were off,so,it meant everyone was sleeping. She checked the time; two o'clock in the morning. She lifted up the note book to close it,but before she did,she noticed that everything she had written had...disappeared. How is that possible? She searched around the room in the hope that this was a ridiculous prank,but it wasn't.

Frustrated,she searched again through the notebook,turning the pages. Suddenly,the notebook glowed and Anna was pulled in. She sreamed out of fear. Felicity hurriedly entered the room but all she saw was the notebook falling to the floor.

***

Anna looked around. There was a lady crying by a willow tree. She went up and asked,"Um...excuse me,but can I help you?"
The lady sniffed and said,"No,you can't. I'm trying to give my daughter so many things and open up opportunities for her. She's intelligent and beautiful,but she's not doing anything with her life. She wants to figure skate. Figure skate,after everything we've been through!"
"Well ma'am," said Anna,"maybe you should try to understand her point of view. From what I've heard,you want her to be happy,but you're taking away the thing that makes her happy."

Anna then carried on walking as the woman began to think about what she had said. Anna blinked,and before she knew it,she was suddenly roming the streets of Italy,then France and then she was suddenly in Dubai. She went to New York,Amsterdam,Zurich,China,Singapore and Cape Town. She travelled and explored and had seen the world!

Before she knew it,her journey around the world was over and Anna was casually walking out of the notebook and entering her room,to find her grandma smiling brightly.

"Well dear," said Felicity,"what have you learnt?"
"Grandma,I am going to go through with mother's plan." replied Anna. Felicity was shocked;she did not expect this.
"Whatever in the world made you change your mind?"
"I've learnt that mothet is just looking out for me," replied Anna,"she wants the best for me;she wants for me what she never had. I have to respect that...and besides,this notebook already took me all around the world! It was amazing!" Now this is what Felicity thought would happen...or something like that.

"Ah Anna," she sighed,"the book always teaches a lesson as well as giving you an adventure. And look,it's all written down."

Anna looked down to find the notebook on a necklace chain;it had shrunk from it's usual size. Anna laughed and said,"Besides grandma,now I can wear my adventure on a necklace chain...so it will always be close to my heart!"