The Enchanted Forest
Hello my name is Bella. I am 69 years old. I would like to tell you about the enchanted forest I explored when I was 11 years old.
Now we shall begin. It all started when I was at school. I never ever liked playtime. For me it was being pelted with hard balls and being shouted at. I figured that if I just stayed out of their way I wouldn’t get hurt so during break I usually sat down at the back of the class and read my fairy-tale books. All my books were about enchantment, sorcery and breath-taking adventures! My favourite book was about a magical forest that a little girl explored every day! “Someday I would like to do that!” I thought but then a voice in my head said “Lower your expectations! That will never happen!”. Once the voice said that I would usually sigh and continue my book.
Every day of my childhood other children would call me “Bella the Bookworm” in class. That would always make me frown but the teacher never said anything. One day when I was coming home from school three boys ran after me. I knew they meant trouble so I ran for my life. I could feel pebbles hitting off my back but I didn’t care, I just kept on running. Through my childhood my only friends were my books but I knew my books couldn’t save me now. I couldn’t find anywhere to hide and I was lost so I didn’t know the place I was in but I knew these boys knew where they were. They knew everywhere. Suddenly I could hear running again and I knew the race was on again so on I went. I stopped at a big gate that said “Raffley Park” and another sign on it that said “FOR SALE” but by the looks of it I thought no-one would want to buy it. I could still hear the boys so I climbed over the gigantic gate and landed on the cold ground. At least I was safe…… or so I thought.
My heart kept on beating. It seemed to be beating 20 times per second. I could hear crows screeching as if they were in pain. I soon decided to explore the park. It got more beautiful the deeper I explored it, but when I got to the end it was incredible! I didn’t believe my eyes! All the trees were made from red liquorice and some of the grass was made from chocolate! I stuck my hand in a hole in one of the trees and I pulled out a hand-full of maple syrup! It was delicious, I would never taste anything like it again but my favourite thing in the park was a little bluebird. I called her Beauty because of her majestic wings and her lovely light blue colour. She turned out to be a great friend and I used to show her all of my books. She adored the stories of adventure and loved the characters.
I came to the park every day after school. Even though it was a couple of miles away and I used to always get lost I didn’t care and luckily I always came back home safe. One day I came home from school and I saw my Mother waiting for me. She usually didn’t do that so it was a surprise. I walked straight up to her and she told me that Father had something exciting to tell us. When we got home from school Father was waiting for us. He had prepared a lovely meal for all of us which was unlike him. He said “Good news! I finally got work from Mr. James again!”. “Oh how wonderful! What for?” Mother asked. “He wants us to tear down an old park for him. “It’s called something like Raffley or Rabbely Park?” he said. My face dropped. Sure I was happy for Father but what would happen to Beauty and her friends? And what would happen to all the trees? I was sure the place they would go to would be bad. I slammed my hands on the table with rage. “FATHER! DON’T TEAR THE PARK DOWN! IT IS WONDERFUL!” I roared at him. ”The forest is beautiful, full of magical things!”. ”So this is what you’ve been up to lately?” said Mother unhappily. I nodded. Suddenly I began to cry. Mother tried to comfort me but I still could tell she was mad. “It’s not my decision “ said Father “But I will try to tell Mr. James. Alright sweetheart?”. I nodded again but that’s not what I was thinking.
I knew Father needed work and I also knew we couldn’t stop him so on Monday morning I got up at 6:00AM. I knew they were working at 7:15AM so I had to run. The park took a while to get to, especially if you were running. I took a rope from our house and tied myself to a tree. I was going to protest! Everyone in my school knew that I was going to do it but thought I wouldn’t go through with it so they all came to watch. All of the workers and my Father tried to get me down and one of them even called Mr. James! Around 7:45AM Mr. James came. He decided that the park wasn’t big enough for him, even though it was massive! I decided that I wouldn’t say anything if he wasn’t going to use it. Father rushed over to me and hugged me tight. He said “ Don’t ever frighten me like that again!” and I replied “Don’t worry, I won’t!”. Mother rushed down to the Park and asked if I was ok. She even brought me to the doctor to make sure I was ok! I was delighted that the Park was safe and our family always had our picnics there from then on.
At school the boys now knew that I was brave so they stood out of my way and I wasn’t always in the classroom at break. A girl around my age whose name was Anna came to our school and we became best friends. I showed her the Park and she loved it too.
So in the end my life was very happy. I hope it will stay that way!
THE END!
By Amy