My Short Short for the Day

“Come on.”  Maggie whispered edging towards the glowing circle of light. 

“I don’t know.”  Evie’s heart was pounding.  “Maybe we should just go home.”

“Oh, don’t be such a scaredy cat.”  Maggie lightly nudged her best friend’s arm.  “We’re adventurers, remember?  We have to explore the unknown.”

“Ok, ok.”  Evie murmured crouching behind Maggie.

“Alright, on 3.”  Maggie took a deep breath and let it out slowly.  “1 – 2 – “

Evie grabbed Maggie’s hand and held tight. 

“3.”

The girls leaped into the glowing circle of light and landed on solid ground.  They blinked several times to adjust and realized it was early morning.  They looked around and saw they were in a clearing in the forest.  The pines towered over them, leaves were scattered across the ground and all was still and silent.  Slowly the girls straightened up, looking around at how normal it looked.

“Did we even go anywhere?”  Evie finally asked, speaking softly so as not to disturb the quiet.

“Look, there’s a path.”  Maggie pointed excitedly.  “There wasn’t one back home.”

“Oh, right.  That’s new.”  Evie looked behind her.  “Wait, where’d the glowing circle go?”

Maggie jerked around and reached out as if she was trying to touch something.  “It…it’s gone.”

“What do we do now?”  Evie fought back the shakiness.

“Ok, stay calm.”  Maggie patted Evie’s shoulder.  “We’ll follow the path and find someone and ask them where we are.”

Maggie’s confidence eased Evie’s fear.  They walked down the path, listening to the soft chirps and rustles of the forest animals waking up.  When they reached another clearing, Evie was feeling pretty cheerful.

“Look, a cabin.”  Maggie smiled.

“I’m so hungry, I hope they have some toast or something.”  Evie’s statement was punctuated with a grumble from her belly.

They knocked on the door.  Silence.  They knocked again.  Nothing. 

Maggie went to the front window and peeked in.  “It looks like no one’s home.”

“What should we do?”  Evie peeked in the window, too.

“Well, it is kind of an emergency.  We are lost, right?”  Maggie reasoned.  “I say we go in and see if we can phone for help.”

Evie lifted a large rock up and found a key underneath.  “My grandma always hides her key under a rock.”

“Good thinking!”  Maggie took the key and unlocked the door.  Slowly she pushed it open.  “Hello?  Anyone here?”

Evie reached for a light switch and found one near the door.  The lights came on flooded the cabin.

Evie and Maggie squinted until their eyes adjusted.  There was a large room and two doors at the back.  Maggie crossed the room to the first door and opened it.  A bedroom.  Evie opened the other door and it was a bathroom.

“Seems normal enough.”  Maggie shrugged.  “Well, let’s see if we can find a phone.”

 

       *******    To be continued     *******