The Portal to Elendor

Frances

I watch as Cindy puts her hand into that rip in the air, she looks so calm. I don't know why she's touching it, she doesn't know what it is or if it's dangerous or not but still I cannot help but feel deep down that this 'thing' is safe. Suddenly Cindy's hand disappears and we all scream. Yet still I know, somehow, that it will not do us harm. Again Cindy touches it and I stare in disbelief as the tear gets bigger, big enough for Cindy to fit through. She walks through it and disappears. I scream, we all do. How can someone just disappear like that?

"Fran, Jo! What do we do? What do we do?" Marina wails

Jo stands frozen on the spot unable to say or do anything. I'm surprised at her I always thought that she would take charge in a situation like this but I suppose no one is themselves in emergency situations.

"Maybe it's just some sort of weird illusion? Maybe it's a trick of the brain and Cindy is right there?" I suggest but I know I'm wrong.

"It's definitely not an illusion, Fran." A voice says

Was that? "Cindy?" I ask hopefully

"You can hear me!" She replies

"Oh my goodness Cindy where are you?" Cries Jo

I don't wait for Cindy's reply I go up to the portal and I walk through. I see Cindy and a meadow, the sun shining and I hear the cries of Marina and Jo.

"It's ok! we're both ok!" Cindy shouts through the portal "We seem to have traveled to a meadow of some sorts just come through. Please it's alright."

I hear them murmur between themselves for a minute when a screaming Marina comes through closely followed by Jo. For a moment nobody says anything, we just stand there trying to process what on earth just happened. One minute ago it was a dull day and I was at school and now it's sunny and I'm surrounded by flowers. I look at the sign for the place called 'Elendor'.

"Guys, do you think that we should go to that 'Elendor' place so maybe we can figure out what's going on?" I suggest

"Yeah, maybe we should do that. I think we should do that." Marina replies

Cindy nods her head but Jo says "No. I think we should go back through that portal and pretend we never came here. We don't know what this place is and it could be dangerous, I say we leave right now!"

"Jo, we have discovered this place, yes we don't know exactly what it is but why would you want to give up such an opportunity? I mean how many people can say they discovered a cool place like this?" I ask

Jo opens her mouth as though she's going to say something but she changes her mind and nods her head "Fine. Let's go." She says grudgingly

We walk through the beautiful meadow and after about ten minutes we come upon a town. There is a gate with a hut next to it.

"Who goes there?" A man's voice calls

We look at each other unsure of what to do when Cindy steps forward and says shyly "Hi. We um just got here we don't know where we are we-we just want to enter uh Elendor to see what's going on."

"Crikey!" He exclaims "You're not from theses parts!"
He opens a door and walks out of the hut, he is a short and portly man wearing red Elizabethan style breeches, a white shirt and a black capotain hat. He looks a bit odd.

The man takes off his hat and bows "My name is Mr Bobbins and I welcome you all to Elendor." He raises his hands to the gate and says "Aperta porta."
I gasp in awe as the gate opens, we stand and stare. Mr Bobbins turns around and says "Come on don't be shy. Come in come in!"

We walk through the gate and it shuts behind us.
Mr Bobbins tells us to follow us and we follow him through the town, it is a lovely place which reminds me of a medieval village, everyone I see is laughing and smiling, even the people who I can only assume are guards. The buildings are pretty too. We reach a main square and Mr Bobbins take us to a building on a corner of the square, it's a bakery called 'The Square's Bakery'. We don't go inside, instead we follow Mr Bobbins up some stairs and he takes us into a building on top of the bakery.
"My ladies I would like to introduce you to my wife Roséan." Mr Bobbins says with a smile.
Roséan smiles at us. She has long blonde hair and is a little taller than Mr Bobbins.She is carrying a child who is presumably her son.
"Hello, we don't get many visitors. I assume your all hungry? Here I'll make you all something to eat." Roséan says softly

I know I shouldn't just eat from some random person's table but I can't help trusting them. We sit down to eat and the meal is delicious, there is chicken, cheese pies, fish and cake. Once we've finished we head outside. A little girl comes up to us and gives each of us a flower.
"Thank you." I say happily "What's that for?"

"Oh I just wanted everyone to have a good day." She smiles

A band starts playing and I start to dance and before I know it everyone has joined in. It starts off with everyone just doing random dance moves but then I start doing the Macarena, Cindy, Marina and Jo join in to. Then people start copying us, I don't think they know what the dance is but either way we all have a blast!
The girls and me end up talking to the people of Elendor about our world, I tell them about my favourite musicals, Cindy about her love of fictional characters, Marina about the guys she likes and Jo tells them about school and the people there. None of us are considered 'normal' at school and we're certainly not popular. The little girl who gave us all flowers says "I don't like the sound of your world. I think everyone there is mean but here everyone is nice to everyone!"
Honestly I have to agree with her, I mean sure not everyone is mean but lots of people are, Blondor is a great place and everyone that I've met so far have been charming.
Soon we realise that the sun is setting.
"Guys, I think we should head back home." Jo says
We all agree, my parents will be so worried about me. We find Mr Bobbins and we ask him to take us back to the gate, he agrees and we walk back through town and reach the gate.
"Aperta porta." Says Mr Bobbins

"Thank you, Mr Bobbins." I say before we leave "I had a great time today."

"Me too, if we can find the portal again, we'll definitely be back!" Smiles Jo

"Thank you, Mr Bobbins!" Marina and Cindy say in unison

"You're all welcome back anytime Roséan and I would be honoured to have you as guests again!"
I smile I like Mr Bobbins. We exit Elendor and run through the meadow, I have had an amazing day but I need to get home it's so late now. We reach the portal Cindy goes through first, then Jo, then Marina and then me.
When I get through it is daytime still and I think that it's still break time I'm not sure if anytime has passed. The bell rings. I see Pamela and I run over to her.
"Hi Fran. Are you ready for the Maths test?" She asks
"Uh, no I never will be ready."
I suddenly realise that no time at all has passed between me going to Elendor. This day just got even stranger!