Sophia is a curious 11-year old girl, who lives in the back of a new subdivision in a very old house. Her parents both work from home, but her dad has another job which no one outside of the family should ever know. It's his life-long sworn duty to...
The next morning, Sophia had a goal. she hopped on her bike and rode into the woods towards the bridge. It was a long ride.
She wanted to find the large old tree, touch the hand print, discover the potion's meaning, and discover what had been lost. What was in the tree? Eternal youth? Love? A secret passage? Clues to what happened to Mr. Turning?
She wanted to find the castle ruins and explore deeper into the mysterious woods.
Meanwhile, at the house, Moe, being afraid his daughter will find too much too quickly and knowing there were many unanswered questions, placed a package in an envelope addressed it to a Mr. Archibald Bartcroft; PO Box 915, Beacon Falls, CT 06403.
It was still early when Sophia had found the tree. The forest began to open and she saw glimpses of sunlight, so she knew it was near. She moved her bike from the path and walked to the right of the tree. She found the handprint on the tree and studied it closer. She looked to see if it was real or wood, if it were mechanical, magical, or just a puzzle. It looked neither carved, nor cut. It looked like someone had rubbed their hand in the exact same spot thousands of times.
She matched her hand to the handprint. Again. CLANK. CHINK. CHINK. CHINK. CHINK. CLUNK. The sound of an old elevator that moved a little easier today than yesterday. Still, nothing opened. Nothing happened. She looked around the tree, but saw nothing... only a puff of purple dust that misted in the air. The woods were darkening and she felt cold.
Her mission was overtaken by a sense of fear. She became nervous and yearned for home. She had to go home. On the way home, there was no oddness--- no irridescent fish, no turtle in a tree, no sheep in the bush... and no answers.
She didn't tell her dad about going to the tree, and he didn't mention that he knew so she left it at that. She went on about her evening, but the tree crossed her mind so often that she went to bed early. Something didn't feel right.
She was thinking hard about the tree as she laid in bed and at some point, she fell asleep in deep thought. Her dreams began by the tree, but then took a darker turn. She had terrible, awful dreams that replaid her day but with terrible situations.
She dreamt that her shadow in the woods came alive... and it kept mumbling ideas and thoughts to her:both good and terrible ideas. Her shadow was very excited...
While she was trying to calm her shadow, her shadow split into two and one of them spat fire. It hit a house and it began to burn. She told them to stop. A third shadow appeared and silently watched from a distance. Her shadow asked her what she wanted to know. She said 'I want to see what's inside the tree.' Her dreams changed--- She dreamt of an airplane-like door opening and being inside of a room with wooden walls. Great wood beams carved into this room from the tree itself and a deep stairwell that went down into the dark.
Shortly after the image appeared, she returned to her dream and the shadow laughed. All shadows were together now. 'What else do you want to know?' the first one whined. 'Every request you have, let's us help someone else.'
'Yes" the other said pointing to the burning house... "Like we helped the people of that house leave it." (And they roared with laughter.)
Standing in her dream, it was a dark night. A house was burnt in the background in a busy subdivision which was lined with cars along the streets. Orange street lamps lit the night which smelled like campfire.
It was time for her second guess. She thought this was like a genie, so her second request was for more requests. The shadows laughed and broke a car window.
"That's not fair! You didn't grant me any wishes!" Sophia said. "You owe me a wish without backlash."
"That's not how it works," they said. "We make the rulesssssss" The second one hissed.
She blurted out the first thing that came to mind: "Show me where you came from!"
Flashes appear in Sophia's mind: A tree--- A poof of purple--- coughing, an older gentleman working alone at night--- an airplane door opening slowly--- a puff of smoke appears in purple, then quickly releases a dark cloud above the purple dust into the ceiling... laughs... handprint being drawn in charcoal on the tree and then being used so many times by the same hand that it wears into the tree... questions being asked. unicorns appearing... sunny days... time travel... fires happening... angry townfolks... a large home burning... Someone locking the shadows in a room and then turning on bright lights to 'lock' them in an area. They couldn't escape over the lights... A gate closing to the room they are in. Sophia in the woods...her hand touchin the tree. the light shutting off. Her sleeping next to the tree in a cloud of purple dust. a shadow picking up a turtle & putting it in a branch... a shadow grabbing a sheep from a nearby farm and placing it in the bushes... Shadows placing their hand on Sophia's hand in the dirt and absorbing her tracks...& Sophia wakingup later in the day...
The sound of glass shattering disrupted the vision within her dream. Another car window broke. This didn't make her happy; it scared her. Surely she would have to learn to control them. Their actions didn't make her happy. It scared her.
She thought that maybe she could control these beastly shadows, but for every request she made--- they had to damage something.
They said it was for just purposes, but this scared her. Who was calling the shots? Who said what was fair?
Her shadows became bored after her wishes and she awoke with a jump from fire truck sirens blazing off in the distance.She realized that she had asked her three wishes and the shadow beasts were real.
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