Scarlet

Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Scarlet

"The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams."

-Franklin Roosevelt

Scarlet was furious. She was stuck in a very awful predicament. There were two doors in front of her: one was colored silver, with a bird handle; the other was gold, with a lion handle. She wasn't sure whether to open the gold one or the silver one. Why were dreams so hard? Scarlet looked at her surroundings. She was in a dank, dark room, probably underground. The walls and ceiling were made of dirt, and looked extremely fragile, like the room would crumble to pieces any second. It stank of dead animals, though she wasn't sure where that was coming from. But one thing Scarlet had learned from studying dreams was that you could never be absolutely sure about anything.

Frustrated, she brushed a red curl out of her eyes and put her hands on her hips. She looked at the doors again. Maybe it was some kind of mind trick. But everything was a mind trick in a dream. Scarlet stepped towards the doors and the gold one shimmered. She smiled. The gold door was a hologram, and if she opened it, she would fall to who know's where. She wanted to avoid that.

Scarlet skipped to the silver door and put her hand on the beak of the handle. The room shook. She whipped open the door and ran in, just as the walls collapsed.

She looked around. She was in what seemed to be... blackness. She cursed silently. Stupid mind tricks. All around her was nothing but darkness. Confused and just a tiny bit scared, Scarlet stepped forward. She couldn't tell if she was standing on something solid, or possibly even falling through the air. She touched her hair to see if it was flying upwards. No, that wouldn't help. She cursed her short curls.

Suddenly, a gust of wind blew across her face. Scarlet imagined a field with lots of sunlight and grass and flowers. She closed her eyes. Another gust of wind blew and she opened her eyes. She was in the place she had imagined, beautifully colored butterflies swirling around her. A carpet of green stretched out before her. She was standing in a valley, hills covered in bright colors and tall trees. She caught the scent of dirt and flowers, mixed with the grass and the fresh spring breeze. It all felt so real.

Scarlet smiled and breathed deeply. Sometimes, dreams were the most beautiful things in the world.