Beyond the Sparkle Forest by Camilia Wilson (online e reader .TXT) 📕

  “That’s a great idea! But why do you want us to fly by ourselves?” asked Bethany.

  “I just want to fly by my own and see what it really is like. I mean, we are already flying, but I don’t feel like it when we’re holding hands. It feels like as if that someone’s helping me, then I could fly,” said Marianna.

  “Oh, so you mean you want to prove that you’re really flying on your own, right?” asked Bethany. Marianna nodded. “Okay then, here goes!” Bethany and Marianna stretched out, and felt the tip of their hands. Then, very slowly, they started to let go, then further away, further, further, further…

  “Oh, good! I’m not falling down! Sis, I think this works!” cried Bethany happily.

  “Yes, you’re right! Should we go away a little bit further?” replied Marianna happily too.

  “Okay,” Bethany said slowly, “but only a little bit further at a time.” So then they started moving a little further away. The magic was still working! Very soon, they were not holding hands anymore, and flying all around the sky. Bethany was zigzagging through the sky, and Marianna was closing her eyes, and stretching her arms out like a bird. But they never seem to bump into each other. Marianna was sure that it was the magic telling them which way to go.

  But after all the fun, they finally saw a huge forest in front of them. Was it the Sparkle Forest? Marianna didn’t think so. The trees were all crooked, with spooky branches on all sides. There were barely any leaves, and the place was all deserted. It gave Marianna and Bethany the shivers immediately.

  “Is… this… the… Sparkle Forest?” Bethany asked, her voice all wobbly.

  “I… don’t think… so,” said Marianna sounding very scared.

  “So where are we?” Bethany replied with a shaking voice. Marianna didn’t answer. She just stared at the forest in front of them.

  Now, Bethany realized she was staring too.

  “Now… what… are we going to… do?” Bethany asked. Marianna still didn’t reply. She kept on staring.

  After a few moments, Marianna started blurting out questions, “Where are we? What place is this? What’s in here? Are there bats? Are we lost? What are we going to do? What if there are hungry bears that will be eating us?”

  “Yes, what are we going to do? I’m very… scared,” said Bethany.

  Marianna shrugged a little shrug, “I’m very frightened too, but I think we’ll just have to make it through. After all, it’s the star that’s whisking us away. I think it is taking us the way it knows to the Sparkle Forest,” said Marianna looking brave, but still sounding a little scared about the place in front of them. Bethany nodded, her teeth chattering.

  “It’s okay, just close your eyes. We will go through the whole forest quickly,” Marianna said soothingly. Bethany nodded again, still teeth chattering.

  “Let’s hold our hands together again. We will feel better,” Marianna said. Bethany nodded. They started moving toward each other and stretching out their fingers. They grabbed each other tight as their hands closed around each other. The forest in front of them was approaching quickly, then quicker, and quicker, and then… WHOOSH! The two sisters felt their face brush against the crooked branches. The inside of the forest was even scarier. Everything was only pitch-black; the only light that was shining was the magic that brought Marianna and Bethany away. The trees seemed like spooky ghosts in the darkness. The forest stretched on and on. Marianna started thinking about when would the forest end. Bethany closed her eyes and tried to think about happy things that happened in the past. She’s not a scaredy-cat, but just is really frightened sometimes. Marianna still held on to her teeth-chattering sister. Actually, she was a bit frightened too. Marianna doesn’t get scared that easily, and if she’s scared, then most other people should be scared too.

  When Marianna thought they were going to get trapped in here forever, the forest suddenly formed a clearing. Marianna was too happy to speak.

  “Bethany,” Marianna whispered, “open your eyes now. We are out of the forest.”

  “Are you… sure? I’m too scared to open my eyes now,” said Bethany sounding just a teeny bit more relieved.

  “It’s okay, I promise. I see the sun shining. There are plants all around. But it is pretty dry out here,” Marianna said, sounding much, much better. Bethany slowly

started opening her eyes. When they were fully opened, she was relieved. But it was getting drier and drier as they went more forward. Marianna’s mouth was very dry.

  “Do you have any water? Why is it getting drier and drier?” Marianna replied.

  “Ah, yes, I think I have two bottles of water here. I packed them just in case we get thirsty in this plastic bag. You can have one bottle, but I don’t know why it is getting drier and drier,” Bethany replied back. Bethany gave Marianna a bottle of water. Marianna quickly drank some water, and then put the bottle on the magic cloud that held them on. Then, Marianna suddenly noticed there were no more plants. Only cactuses and tumbleweeds stood in front of them. Then Marianna figured it out. Her face looked pale. “Bethany, we’re in a desert.”

  “In a desert? But how long will it take to get through the whole desert? Won’t we die of thirst?” Bethany said sounding alarmed.

  “I don’t know how long it will take to get through the whole desert. We just have to use our water wisely so we won’t run out. If you are too thirsty, just try to sleep,” Marianna said.

  “Okay, I think I’ll just try to sleep. Thanks for the advice, sis!” Bethany replied.

Bethany tried and tried to go to sleep. But she never seemed to close her eyes properly.

  “Sis, I don’t know why I can’t go to sleep. I just can’t close my eyes,” Bethany said disappointed. Marianna didn’t know what to do. But then she came up with a great idea. It was to distract Bethany to make her be in a happy mood and forget that they were in desert. It might even distract herself.

  “Bethany, what did you do in Fun-o-fun club on Monday?” Marianna started asking.

  Bethany’s face lit up, “Fun-o-fun club, right? It was so fun this week! This time we went to the selling program building to help people sell food and stuff. Then we went to the drama building and watched people make music. Next we went to Celina’s Cookie shop and ate her best selling cookies. Finally we went back to our clubhouse and learned about how to camp outside and how to keep yourself safe from danger.”

  “Sounds like fun! I wish I could join in too!” Marianna said sounding very happy about her sister.

  Bethany smiled, “You could have joined in if you wanted to. That time you thought it was for babies, remember? It is actually fun so our parents thought we would both love it! Now I’ve been in the club for almost 6 years now!” said Bethany happily.

  “Yeah, I know, it was so dumb of me. Now I know that,” replied Marianna, “I should have listened to mom and dad.”

  “Anyways, you really would have loved it if you joined in,” said Bethany. Marianna nodded. Her plan was really working! Actually she was also distracted. She almost forgot they were in a desert when leaves suddenly brushed her face. She felt weird. Then she remembered she was in a desert.

  “How could there be leaves in a desert brushing by my face?” Marianna asked.

  “Hey, sis. Did you know that we’re not in the desert anymore?” asked Bethany.

  Marianna looked around, “You’re right! We are in a forest, a normal forest!” said Marianna.

  “Would it be the Sparkle Forest?” Bethany said excitedly.

  “No, I don’t think so. They said they will be waiting for us, and it’s not sparkly in here. I expect the Sparkle Forest to look sparkly,” said Marianna firmly.

  Bethany nodded, “You’re right.” Then they kept on flying in the forest. After about 45 minutes, they came to a halt and a huge stone wall lay in front of their eyes. It looked about 8,000 feet tall!

  “Uh… what are we doing stopping here and doing nothing? I think the star must have taken us somewhere that it wasn’t supposed to go. Maybe it got mixed up with routes,” said Marianna puzzled.

  “Yeah, I think you’re right. We were starting to get away from deserts and stuff, but we suddenly came to a dead end. This situation has definitely got something wrong in it. Now, what are we going to do?” replied Bethany.

  “Maybe we shou- Hey, look at this!” cried Marianna excitedly. Her hand was brushing on a dusty rock. She suddenly saw some pictures or letters on the rock.

She didn’t make out what was on the rock. Bethany squinted. Her hand brushed off more dust. Then the two girls saw what was on the rock. It said:

             If you have your star, shake it three times on of the

rock that has this message on. Remember that you

could only shake it three times. Wait for a while.

The rocks will open. You will find what you want to see.

  “Sis, should we really do it?” Bethany asked.

  “Maybe. Yeah, I’ll try it,” Marianna replied. She took out the golden star and shook it three times. They waited. After a few minutes, they saw the huge wall opening. The sisters’ eyes were wide. How did the stone wall open?

  When the stone wall was opened wide enough, Marianna said, “Should we go through? This is a miracle!”

  “I think so. Maybe the Sparkle Forest is on the other side of the wall. Let’s go!” Bethany replied excitedly. Marianna nodded. The cloud whooshed in. The stone wall snapped shut. Inside the walls were not dark at all! There were gems that glistened and sparkled on all sides, and the stone walls shone with all the colors of the sunset.

  “It’s so beautiful!” Bethany replied.

  “Exactly,” Marianna agreed. She was looking at flowers in all the colors of the rainbow on the ground. They cast glows below the two sisters. “What kind of flower is that? I’ve never seen one before.”

  “I never saw any like those either,” said Bethany sounding so surprised, “It might be some flowers that only this magic place has.” She looked at Marianna. She was looking upset. “What’s the matter? I thought you were so excited.”

  “I am! It’s only that I still want my hairstyle to be the kind I wanted. I also wish my gown was prettier,” said Marianna.

  “But we can’t go home and change now, can we? I also wish the same thing,” replied Bethany.  

  Marianna sighed, “Yeah, I guess you’re right.” She was more cheerful now. They kept on seeing beautiful things on their way through the rocks. Then, they came to a halt again.

  “Why are we stopping? Aren’t we supposed to get out?” asked Bethany.

“No, look,” Marianna said, pointing in front of them. There were two caves, “I think we need to go through one of them. Then we will get to the Sparkle Forest.”

  Bethany looked alarmed, “But how do we know which cave to go through? They didn’t give us any clues!”

  “I think they have,” Marianna said, pointing to three golden stars on one of the caves, “This cave has three stars on it. The other has two. We shook the gold star three times a lot of times already, and I think that’s the password. So I think we should go through the cave with the three golden stars on it.”