Fantasyland
Vivian Chan
Fantasyland Written by Vivian Chan of E4B Instructor: Mr. Kenneth M. Smith Wenzao Ursuline University of Languages Kaohsiung, Taiwan June 2014
Words checked = [7323] Words in Oxford 3000™ = [98%] Audiobook: http://youtu.be/O5K3Qkj-3tE
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Table of Contents Chapter1--------------------------------10 Chapter2--------------------------------14 Chapter3--------------------------------19 Chapter4--------------------------------25 Chapter5--------------------------------34 Chapter6--------------------------------43 Chapter7--------------------------------55 Chapter8--------------------------------63 Chapter9--------------------------------71 Chapter10-------------------------------83 Chapter11-------------------------------94 3
About the Author Vivian Chan is the author of Fantasyland. She is a Taiwanese girl. She is now a fourth year student in Wenzao Ursuline University of Languages. This is her first book inspired by her own dream. She is interested in watching movies. She does not like writing; therefore, this novel is a big challenge for her. However, she has learnt a lot from writing this book.
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Synopsis
A purple fairy helped Sofia exchange her real life for her dream. In her dream world, Fantasyland, most of the inhabitants were characters from fairy tales. She met A ma n d a a n d Tin a . O n e d a y, s h e discovered that they are real people. Sofia and her friends missed their family. They tried to find a way home‌
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Characters Sofia The leading character of this story. A smart fourteen- year-old girl. This story develops on her first person point of view.
Sofia’s family: Sofia’s mother Always quarrels with her daughter. Andy Sofia’s four-year-old little brother. Sofia’s dad As a doctor he does not have much time to 6
be with his family.
Sofia’s classmates: Laura She hates Sofia, because she usually gets lower grades than Sofia. Laila A talkative girl who is the only classmate talks with Sofia.
Characters in Fantasyland: Alice The first person that Sofia met in Fantasyland. 7
Purple Fairy She helped Sofia realizing her dream. Amanda A simple-minded girl lives in a small village of the Fantasyland. Tina A smarts girl who lives with Amanda. Olivia A crazy girl who was sent to the hospital.
Other characters: The three little pigs Hansel 8
Gretel Snow White Cinderella Aurora Red Riding Hood Rapunzel Mr. Caterpillar
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Chapter 1 A fit of faintness came over me. I tried to open my eyes and stay awake. “Where am I?” I asked. “You are in Fantasyland, Sofia, are you okay? You look a little bit tired. ” A girl answered. “Is she all right?” A woman whispered. “Her head was probably hit.” The other woman muttered. I looked around, realizing that I was lying in the middle of a crowd. They all tried to stretch out their hands to help me. However, the girl who just talked to 10
me handed me out first. I thanked her while trying to stand out with her help. I was shocked when I saw her appearance. She was in a blue dress with a white skirt, wearing a black bow in her curly blonde hair. She looked exactly like the Alice in Alice in Wonderland from head to toe! “Who are you? How do you know my name?” I asked surprisingly “I am Alice. We all know your name. Hey, why don’t we go around to see how marvelous here is!” she said and held my 11
ha nd. My confus io n t urned int o excitement little by little. I did not care about the questions I had had in my mind, but just follow Alice. We walked through a forest, which w a s c a lle d “ The M is s in g Fo re s t ” according to Alice. “You can not go here without a guide, once you are missing, you will never find a way out.” She said. At the moment I attempt to ask her where we were going, I faintly heard something. “Do you hear anything?” I asked her 12
immediately. “No, what do you mean?” The sound became closer and closer when I intended to answer her. It was so noisy that she could not hear me. “Ringringring!”
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Chapter 2 “Sofia, come down, hurry up, or you will be late for school AGAIN!!” my mom shouted. “Oh, it was just a dream! Another silly day begins.” I complained while turned off my alarm clock. “I AM ALREADY AWAKE!” I yelled back. My room was in the second floor far away from the kitchen; therefore my mom had to wake me up by screaming loudly to the direction of the stair while making breakfast. 14
I hated being awoken by annoying things like an alarm of a clock or the shout of my mom. I hated seeing my mom doing domestic chores. Why women were responsible for it? Why men doing domestic chores was called “helping� their mom or wife? I hated this patriarchy society. Women can do much more than men. I hated receiving Barbie dolls as my birthday present, and I hated dreaming of being a princess like the other girls. I have always dreamed of having an adventure 15
somewhere, in which nobody knew me, nobody asked me to go to school. My dad had already left to work. I sat opposite to my little brother Andy and ate my eggs while mom was washing dad’s plate. “You must be hurried if you do not want to be late!” my mom said to me. “OK, mom I know that, you do not have to treat me like a little girl.” I replied. “I am already fourteen.” “Therefore, you are STILL not an adult.” My mom said. I gave 16
u p r e t o r t i n g u p o n h e r, b u t j u s t c o nc e ntra te d o n e a tin g b re a k fa s t. “Sofia, Sofia!” Andy kept calling my name as he drummed his plate with his fork. He was three, eleven years younger than I and was still awkward with forks a nd k n ive s ; s o his b re a k fa s t w as everywhere around his plate. “What?” I answered him impatiently. “Look, I am a Jazz drummer!” Andy said. “Stop being silly!” I shouted at him. I could not stand keeping answering my brother’s silly 17
questions. Andy was about to cry after I shouted at him. “Sofia! Andy is just a baby, you do not have to be so mean to him!” my mom blamed me while trying to still my crying brother. “He deserves it!” I shouted back in anger. I left my breakfast on the table and went to school.
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Chapter 3 I did not like to go to school. Things teachers taught are too boring for me. I did not have any interest in math or science or other subjects in school. However, I had no trouble in getting good grades. Perhaps many classmates did not like me because of this, but I did not care at all. I did not need any friends. Classmates were boring to me. Lectures, teachers, exams, were boring to me as well. All stuff in school bored me. 19
“Laura, here comes the cool girl!” as I stepped into the classroom a girl shouted. “Well, well, where are you going, Sofia?” Laura said to me. Actually, she was not talking to me but trying to laugh at me. I ignored them as usual and went to my seat. M y ta b le w a s w ritte n s o me insignificant words by lipsticks, probably made by Laura and her “servants”. I was not interested in what they wrote, and put my books directly on the table without 20
cleaning it. I did not care about what they have done to me at all. “They have gone too far!” a girl talked to me in a low voice. I remembered her name was Laila or something. Few classmates talked to me actively, though I did not care. I was a little bit shocked and said, “I do not mind at all.” I replied her. At lunchtime, I sat in the corner and had my lunch alone while other students chatting with one another. “Can I sit here?” Laila again, I thought she was a boring 21
person as other people; however, I did not hate her, so I agreed. She smiled at me and sat beside me. “You are Sofia, right?” she continued, “You are popular among students.” I did not know what I supposed to answer, so I kept silent. “You know, I have a sister, do you have any siblings?” she asked. “A little brother.” I answered her in a flat voice. “I would like to have a brother! My sister is one year older than me and we did not have good relationship.” “Did you say 22
did not?” I asked. “Yes, because she was a little bit strange recently. She fights with me less and less, and seldom chats with me. I think she must have a boyfriend in secret! ” “That is possible.” I replied insincerely. I did not pay attention to her story but eating my lunch. However, I did not look on her as a boring person afterwards. She was a talkative girl, and she seemed like having millions of stories to tell. On my way home, Laura and her 23
“servants” stopped me, “Sofia, how was your history grade today? Did you get A as mine?” asked Laura. “It was a pity that I have got A plus.” I answered and left. I was delighted that I caught a glimpse of Laura’s angry face.
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Chapter 4 I went home and surprisingly saw that Andy was playing in my room! All my clothes and stuff were scattered all over the floor. My room was a mess. Andy was in the middle of a load of clothes singing a children’s song. I was furious with him. I roared at him. He had not understood the situation but be shocked by my screaming. However, I was stopped by my mom. “How can you be so bad to your little brother?” she cried. I was so mad that she 25
blamed me for yelling at Andy instead of blaming him for messing up my room. “Never mind, no one understands me!” I shouted and ran upstairs to my room. I did not cry. I held back my tears, because I thought tears were symbols of weakness. I had hated seeing girls crying for no reason. I did not come down for the dinner; I lay on my bed pretending that I was sleeping. It was about 12 o’clock. After thinking for a while, I could not stand my 26
life at all! Silly brother, mom, boring classmates and teachers… Why should I deal with them every day?
I hated my
normal life! The world in my dream was mu c h b e tte r tha n t he re a l w o rld ! “I was waiting for this!” someone said. “Who is there? Who are you?” I shouted and wondering if it was just an illusion. It sounded like a sweet voice of a little girl. “I am the Purple Fairy who would like to make your wish come true.” A lady that was a half-height shorter than the average 27
person appeared in front of me. I was so shocked that I could not say a word. She dressed as a real fairy in fairy tales! Her fairy-like outfit was entirely purple. What knocked me most is her abnormal size. She looked like a dwarf. “You are not human?” I could finally say something. “Of course I am not, Sofia. I have already said that I am the Purple Fairy.” She answered with a smile. “How do you know my name?” “I know your name because I care about you, Sofia. I 28
can make your dream come true. Just like you said, the world in your dream was much better than the real world.” She said. “How can you help me? I mean, what can you do? ” I asked. “I can do much more than you imagine. For example,” she told me. “I can exchange your dream for the real world.” “Are you saying that you can help me to live in my dream?” “You are right! And you will only have your boring life in your dream.” said the fairy. “That would be wonderful! But, why 29
do you help me? Should I do something in return?” I asked. “I help you because I care about you, just like I said. You do not have to do anything for me in return; all you have to do is to sign this contract.” She said and conjured out a beautiful purple case on which written my name “Sofia”. She took a piece of paper out of the case and said, “This is your contract, don’t worry, it is very easy, all you need to d o is re a d t hr o u g h it a n d s ig n . ”
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1. You will exchange your dream for your real life. 2. You will have an interesting life in your dream world. 3. You will meet new friends and interesting people in your dream. 4. You will no longer have to deal with boring things. 5. You will not have to go to school in your dream world. 6. Everybody in your dream will welcome you. 31
Those items on the contract are good for me; however, there were too many words that I was not willing to read through them all. Then I looked back to the first line of the contract: I,_____________, agree to the terms and conditions of the following contract. I signed my name and gave the contract to the Purple Fairy. She took it into the beautiful case and said, “Great, Sofia, now your dream can come true!� she finished her words and asked me to lie 32
on the bed. “Close your eyes, Darling.” She said and sprinkled something to me. “This is Fairy Dust, it will bring you to your dream.” She told me. Suddenly, I felt more and more sleepy and then I was unconscious.
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Chapter 5 When I opened my eyes, I discovered that I was in the middle of people. I felt a little dizzy. “What was up with me?” I mumbled. “You fell down unconscious for a while, we were all worried about you.” a girl answered. She was the Alice in my previous dream. I looked around, the situation were completely the same as my dream. I was back to my dream again! Alice helped me to stand up and volunteered to present the Fantasyland for 34
me. I walked in the forest with Alice. I remembered it was called The Missing Forest. We walked for a long time, but I did not exactly know what time it was, my watch stopped; perhaps it had been hit while I fell down. “Am I in my dream now?” I asked her. “No, this is your real life; you will be a part of us and live here happily ever after.” Said Alice. It was obvious that the Purple Fairy realized her promise with me. We crossed the forest, and saw a small 35
village. Houses there were not like normal houses in the real world. Each house had its own features. “You are in my village now. Come on! I am going to show you the inhabitants here.� Alice said and asked me to go faster, because she could not wait to introduce her friends to me. I saw three little houses, the first one was made of straw, the second house was made of sticks and the third one is a house of bricks. Someone came out from each 36
house. They walked out by their two hind legs. They were Three Little Pigs! “Hey, look who is here!” Alice told to them and pointed at me. “Hi, Sofia. I am Fifer, the oldest brother.” The pig from the house of straw said. “I am Fiddler, nice to see you, Sofia.” the pig from stick house said. “My name is Practical, we welcome you, Sofia.” the one from the brick house said. “It is nice to meet you all. ” I approached them and said. I was so 37
excited that I was talking with the Three Little Pigs! “Would you like to have tea in my house?” Fifer asked. “I think they would prefer to visit my house.” Fiddler said. “My house is the most substantial; they would be pleased to have some desserts in it.” Practical said to his brother. The Three Little Pigs were about to fight. I ha d no ide a ho w to stop the m. “No, thanks, we are going to visit other neighbors.” Alice told them, trying to stop their argument. 38
We left the houses of the Three Little Pigs and went on to the next house. It was made of candies and cookies. “Here lives Hansel and Gretel, they are brother and sister.” Alice said. “Wow, the house looks delicious!” I mumbled. “It really does. Hansel! Gretel! Are you there?” she shouted. No one answered. “They are probably in the forest finding some woods. We can visit them later. ” Alice said. “Sure.” I answered her and kept staring at the candy house. 39
On our way to the next house, we met three beautiful girls went from the opposite. They said “Hi” to us at the same time. “Sofia, these are Snow White, Cinderella, and Aurora.” Alice told me in a low voice. They approached me. “I am Snow White. We are shop ping fo r ingredients to prepare a big dinner for our husbands.” A girl introduced herself. “Welcome to Fantasyland, Sofia. I am Cinderella.” Another girl said and gave me a warm smile. “I am Aurora. People 40
usually call me the Sleeping Beauty, nice to meet you, Sofia.” The third girl said. “I am glad to meet you, you are more beautiful than I thought!” I praised them from the bottom of my heart. They thanked me and said they have to go home to prepare the dinner. I said goodbye to them with reluctance. I heard someone was screaming, and I saw a girl with messy hair that I could not see her face. “Who is that?” I asked. “She is a poor girl; she got crazy for some 41
reason. Do not worry; they will take her to the hospital.” Alice said. Some inhabitants c a me to h e r a nd to o k h e r a w a y. “Sofia, we have to find you a house before sunset!” Alice said. “Where am I s up p o s e d to live ? ” I a s k e d . “ Al l inhabitants here want you to stay with them, if you do not mind; would you like to live with different family each day?” She replied. “It would be great to do so.” I said. “Fantastic! You can stay in my house first.” She said. 42
Chapter 6 After dinner, Alice prepared a room for me. Her house was not quite big but lovely. Sofas in the living room were the shape of cards. The pictures of wallpaper in Alice’s house were different kinds of clocks. She had a pet rabbit wearing a two-piece suit; I would not be surprised if it walked with two legs. I lay on the bed, thinking about all the people I had met. They were all characters from the fairy tales! Perhaps it was 43
because I always read stories before sleeping. I was satisfied with this Fantasyland I dreamt of and hoping that I would meet new characters tomorrow. “It is so great that everyone here welcome me with open arms. Living here is so interesting! �I thought. I heard some noise outside the bedroom. Alice was still awake. I would like to chat with her to know more about this world. However, I was too tired to get out, and I fell asleep little by little. 44
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Someone was knocking my door, I opened my eyes. “Sofia, Sofia, open the door!” that was the voice of my mom. “It is dinner time. If you do not come out, I will not prepare any food for yo u a ft e r w a r d s ! ” s h e s a id a n d le ft . I was disappointed realizing that I was in the real world again. And I was sad to know the Purple Fairy, the contract, the things happened in Fantasyland were all my dream. While I opened my door, I 45
heard my mom was complaining me to my dad. And she praised Andy that he was a good boy finishing his dinner. I did not want to go out at all. Mom did not understand me, actually, no one in the real world understand me. Later, I heard knocks on my door again. “Sofia, open the door.” My dad said. I felt dazed for no reason and could not see anything. ＊＊＊
“Sofia, wake up! We are going to have breakfast.” Someone was shaking me 46
up. When my consciousness got clearer, I saw the person, who was not my mom, she was Alice! I was not dreaming. It is true that the Purple Fairy exchanged my real live for my dream. “Good morning, Alice, did you sleep well?” I asked. “Yeah…Of course. Come on Sofia, breakfast is ready.” She said. “I will be ready in ten minutes.” I replied. “Great.” She said and left my room. After breakfast Alice told me that she could not accompany me today because 47
she had something to finish. I told her I could take care of myself and left her house to go around the village. Everyone said hi to me when they saw me. Suddenly, someone crashed into me. “I am sorry, are you all right?” she said. “I am okay.” I replied. “Hey, you are new here, am I right? I am Amanda.” she said and stared at me. She was a little higher than me with brown braids. Although her dressing style was the same as the inhabitants here, I had never heard of a 48
character in fairy tales called Amanda. “You do not know my name? I am Sofia.” I told her. “You are an interesting girl, how would I know your name if I have never met you? Nice to know you Sofia.” She said. “Where are you going?” I asked her. “I have to rush ho me because my roommate, Tina, was sick. And I am getting her some medicine.” Said Amanda. “Can I go with you?” I asked. I am interesting about Amanda and Tina. It 49
seemed like not everybody in Fantasyland was character in fairy tales. “Sure, we h a v e t o b e h u r r y u p . ” S h e s a id . “Our neighbor is the Red Riding Hood, but, unfortunately she is not at home, she must go visiting her grandma now. Therefore, I have to get the medicine here.” Amanda told me on our way. We walked in the Missing Forest. I was a little bit worry about how can I get back to Alice’s house later. Never mind, I was more interested in exploring a new area. 50
After a period of time, I am not sure how long we walked, we arrived the other small village. This village looked more remote than Alice’s village. “Here is our house.” Amanda said. She went in and said, “Tina, wake up, I get you some medicine.” I followed her going into the house, seeing a girl lying on the bed with blonde curly hair. “We have a visitor?” the girl asked Amanda. “She is Sofia. I met her on the way. ” she said. While I intended to say 51
hello to Tina she said, “How can you bring a stranger here? It is dangerous.” She blamed Amanda. “Sofia is a nice girl.” Amanda replied. “I will not do anything b a d t o y o u , I p r o mi s e d . ” I t o ld them. Tina took the medicine, but she was still having a fever. Amanda was very nervous and was about to cry. “Maybe I can take care of her.” I told Amanda. My dad was a doctor, so I had learnt some ways to take care of patients. “Thanks, 52
Sofia.� I asked Amanda to get water and a towel for me. I wetted the towel and wrung it out. And I rubbed Tina’s forehead, neck and arms with the towel. Her temperature has lower, it was a good sign. I stayed beside her bed in case of some emergency. It was getting darker, while I was thinking how I could tell Alice that I could not go home today, someone knocked the door. Amanda opened the door. A huge 53
caterpillar said hello to us and said, “Alice sends me here, she said you may live in someone else’s house tonight, so she asks me here to give you some clothes” it told me. “Oh, thank her for me please. And thank you for sending me these clothes, Mr. Caterpillar.” I thanked it while putting those clothes on the floor. But when I turn around, it disappeared.
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Chapter 7 I was in the school, sitting on my sit listening boring lecture of our math teacher. I was dreaming again. Never mind, it would just last for a while. Then the bell rang, it was a break time. Laila came to me and trying to talk to me, but I could not hear her clearly, I just heard some words, “like, sister” or something. I felt dizzy. ＊＊＊
I woke up beside Tina’s bed. I was too 55
tired that I fell asleep while I took care of Tina last night. Amanda had put a blanket on my body. Tina was still sleeping; I could tell from her face that she was getting better. I stood up to find Amanda. She was in the kitchen preparing for breakfast. “You are awake. Thank you so much! I do not know how to take care of Tina at all!” Amanda said. “My dad is a doctor, so I know how to do it.” I told her. “A…Amanda” it was Tina’s voice. 56
Amanda and I ran to her room. She was sitting on her bed and said, “Water, I need water.” Amanda went to the kitchen to get her some water. There were only Tina and I in the bedroom. She looked at me and smiled. “Thank you, Sofia.” She said. “I would like to apologize for being so mean to you yesterday. I know you kept taking care of me last night.” She added. “It is okay, I can understand.” I replied. Amanda was back with a glass of water in hand. She gave it to Tina. “You 57
look like you are fully recovered!” Amanda said happily. “I really am, Amanda.” Tina said and hugged her roommate. I was happy to see them smile. “Thank you Sofia, you are really a good friend!” they turned around and faced me saying. “Friend?” I said in a low voice. “I thought we are already friends!” Amanda said. “Only friends would take care of one another without conditions.” Tina said. “I did not have friends before…So I do not know what a friend 58
would do.” I told them. “Then we are your first and second friends!” Amanda said and held my hands. I was moved by her words. It never happened before that I felt moved because of other people. Amanda and Tina were different from other inhabitants in Fantasyland. I did not know why, I just thought being with them were more comfortable. “Sofia, we can take you to go around our village. Would you like to go with us?” 59
Tina asked. “Sure, I would be glad to go.” As I went out the house of Tina and Amanda, I saw something strange on the road. A part of the road was gold instead of the color of earth. “Look! There is a golden road!” I asked them to see it. “That is not road, that is hair.” Amanda said. “Hair?” “Yes, the hair of Rapunzel, our neighbor.” Tina explained. I tried to find the end of this golden road and discovered that it extended to a tall tower. A girl with 60
very long blonde hair was climbing the tower. She must be Rapunzel. “She may have gone outside to play secretly without being found by her mother.” Amanda said, “Her mother prohibits her to go outside the tower, but recently she goes outside in secret very often.” “She has to go back the tower an hour before her mother’s arrival, because she takes a long time to regain her hair.” Tina added. “ That is interesting !” I wis he d Rap unze l co uld ha ve 61
freedom in the future in my mind. “I am free now, I do not have to be worried about those trouble things in the real world. I have friends here.� I thought and followed Tina and Amanda. My friends introduced me their neighborhood and their neighbors; most of them were characters I had read in storybooks. We spent a good time the whole day. They invited me to stay another night at their house, and I agreed.
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Chapter 8 I opened my eyes, realizing that I was in my own room, not Tina and Amanda’s house, which meant I was dreaming of the real world again. This time nobody knocked my door or called my name. The whole house was silent. I went out my room, trying to find out what was going on. “Sofia, are you ready?” my dad said. He was standing beside his car in the garden. “Ready for what?” I asked. “Sofia, 63
we do not have time to tell jokes. Quickly, let’s go to see them. ” “Them? Where are we going?” I totally had no idea what dad was saying. “Mom is right, you are weird recently.” He said, “We have to go to the hospital to see mom and Andy.” “Why are they in the hospital?” I was shocked. My dad was saying something, but I could not hear him clearly, I just understood a word, “accident”. I saw his mouth was moving, b ut his w ords tra ile d o ff a nd his 64
appearance dimmed out little by little. “Dad! Dad!” I shouted, but I could not utter a word. I fell down again, just like previous dreams. ＊＊＊
I woke up and noticed there was a long streak of tears on my cheek. It was still midnight; Tina and Amanda were beside me. “Having a bad dream?” Tina asked. “You were screaming.” Amanda said with a worried face. “I dreamt of my family. I quarreled with my mom and 65
brother very often. But I dreamt that they are in the hospital for some reasons. I would like to see them.” I told them. “I miss my family, too. I dream of them as well. ” Amanda said. “You dreamt of your family? You have your family in real life?” I asked her, feeling a little awkward. “Yes, we both have.” Tina said. “ I tho ught yo u were all ima gine d characters in my dream!” I was astonished to hear this news. They looked as shocked as me. “We 66
thought you are imagined character in our dream!” said Amanda. I told them how I met the Purple Fairy and how she helped me exchanging my real life for my dream. “I was sent here by the Purple Fairy as well, afterwards, I met Tina. She had the same experience as me.” said Amanda. “And then we decided not to trust anyone except each other.” Tina added. “We are trying to find a way home, but we totally have no idea. Every inhabitant here knows us except you, Sofia, so I think you are 67
different from them.” Amanda told me. I tried to organize all these things together. “I have dreamt that my mom and brother are in the hospital, I have to go home.” I told them. “I missed my family, too, especially my little sister, Laila.” “Laila! Does she study in Western Junior High and you have bad relationship with her?” I asked. “Yes, how do you know that?” she asked surprisingly. “She is my classmate! And she told me about her sister, about you. She said that you have 68
fought with her less and less recently.” I said. “That is an essential point!” Tina said, “It means that our life in the real world goes on, someone else replaces us when we are here.” “I agreed with you, last time I dreamt of my dad, and he said I was weird recently.” “Maybe we can discover some clues from our dream!” I said. “Yeah, you are right, we have to go to sleep now and have a dream of the real world!” Amanda agreed with me. 69
Tina and Amanda went back to their rooms, and I lay on my bed. The time went by, it was almost the sunrise, but I still can’t sleep. Finally, I fell asleep.
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Chapter 9 I opened my eyes realizing that I was still in Fantasyland. I woke up and saw Amanda in the kitchen. “I did not sleep well last night, and I did not have a dream, either.” I told her. “Me, neither.” Amanda said with depression. “Perhaps we were too tired and nervous.” Tina went out from her room and tried to soothe Amanda. “Maybe we can find some clues here in Fantasyland. Have you met something strange here?” Tina asked. “I met a crazy 71
girl on the street, she kept screaming and saying something, she was sent to the hospital.” I said. “I’ve heard from the other inhabitants. She might be an important key to go home.” Amanda said. “ We ha ve to go to the hos p ita l. ” We arrived at the hospital. Tina had already made inquiries about which hospital room the girl was put in. She was locked in a room at the end of the aisle in the basement. It was lunch time, so nobody was guarding her. We snuck in her 72
room, Tina got the key from the table, probably be left by guardians. She was tied on the bed, with cloth in her mouth that she could not speak. We untied her and took out the cloth. She did not scream but just followed us quietly. Amanda and I supported the girl to walk; Tina guided us to leave the hospital. We escaped from the hospital thanks to her. At Tina and Amanda’s home, we put the girl on the bed and got her something to eat. She did not say anything until she 73
finished the dishes. “Thank you. I am Olivia.” She said. “I am Amanda, this is Tina and this is Sofia. You are not mad, are you?” Amanda asked. “Of course not, they just tried to lock me up.” She replied. “You do not look like inhabitants here.” I said. “I am the same as you, once had normal life in real world.” Olivia said. “How do you know we…” “I know more than you imagine.” Olivia interrupted me. “Let me tell you first the truth of this Fantasyland.” She continued, “At first we 74
all thought Fantasyland was a world we imagined, a world we dreamt of. Actually, this is a world that made by the Purple Fairy. You all have signed a contract with her, right?” “Yes…” We said together. “The contract was the key of her curse. We are not enchanted by her fairy dust, we are under her curse. In fact, she pulled out our spirits from our body and put them in this Fantasyland.” “Then, what about our bodies?” Amanda asked. “Our bodies would move automatically with the fairy 75
dust, but they have no emotion, they would do daily routine for us until we dream of the real world.” “No wonder our family said we have been weird recently.” Amanda said. “What is the purpose of the Purple Fairy?” I asked. “That is the main point. Look at those inhabitants here, they are characters we would read in the stories, but they are once the same as us.” Olivia said. “But why didn’t they try to find a way home? Didn’t they miss their family?” 76
Amanda asked. “They have already forgotten their family, their real life, and even who they were. At first you will dream of your real life when you are sleeping. And you would enjoy the life in the Fantasyland and with those inhabitants. Little by little, you will not have a dream while you sleep. As time goes by, you will no longer need to sleep; all the inhabitants here do not need to sleep. At the moment you can not sleep, you will become a part of them. The 77
Purple Fairy will give you a new name, a new life and even new memory. At last, you will all become her collections. ” she finished and kept silent. “How do you know all these things? “How can we completely trust you?” Tina said. “Well, well, you are clever. Let me tell you, my friend, Lisa, was here first. She was my best friend in the real world. One day, she became weird. She did not chat with me anymore. I felt depressed and wished to escape from the real life. 78
And then as you know, the Purple Fairy appeared. Therefore, I was sent here.” “And I found Lisa, she was here as well. We knew that we had to go back to the real life, so we tried to discover a way home. I’ve told you our results. As we were going to kill the Purple Fairy, Lisa could not fall asleep anymore. And one morning when I woke up, I saw her dressed like the Alice in Alice in Wonderland. She could not recognize me. I tried to tell her all the stuff we have been 79
through, but she just treated me as I was crazy and went away. I kept looking for her, and I found her on the street with you.” She pointed at me and added, “So I tried to call her name and I was caught by the other inhabitants.” “We are so sorry for you, Olivia.” Amanda said. “I have an important clue, when I was locked in the hospital; the Purple Fairy said once the contract exists, I would be stuck in Fantasyland forever.” Olivia told us. “Which means… If we 80
destroy the contract…we may go home?” I asked. “I have the same idea as yours, and perhaps I can save Lisa, too.” “The problem is, where are those contracts?” Tina pointed out. “I may know that,” I said, “When I was in the Missing Forest with Alice, I mean, Lisa, she told me that I can not be alone in the forest or I would get lost. Perhaps that was the way the Purple Fairy kept us from the forest.” “You are right! There must be something valuable in it!” Olivia shouted and 81
embraced me. “You are a smart girl, Sofia.� She said happily. We made our plan for a while. We decided to go in the Missing Forest tonight. Amanda and Tina prepared some matches to lighten the way in the forest. Olivia sharpened woods to be weapons in case we meet the Purple Fairy. I helped her. The sun was going down and we were ready to go.
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Chapter 10 We snuck in the forest with the dim light from oil light. We only brought one oil light in case being seen. Since Tina was good with directions, she became the leader who took the oil light. It was so dark that we could not tell whether there was a three in front of us or not without the light of the oil light. We got close to one another, being worried about getting lost in this endless forest. “How much time have we walked in 83
this forest?” I asked, wondering if anyone had a watch. “There is no time in Fantasyland.” Olivia said, “We will not get old here, however, the time in real world goes on.” Amanda and I were shocked by this news that we could not say a word. “Which means, we have to go ho me a s s o o n a s p o ss ib le . ” Tina encouraged us. “You are right.” Olivia said. We discovered a tattered cottage. It seemed no one was there. We screwed up 84
our courage to go into the cottage. We surprisingly saw that the interior of the cottage was totally different from outside. It was spacious and bright with luxury decorations. There were many different kinds of doors. Some were decorated with diamonds and crystals, some were just like normal doors made of woods. “Which door should we choose?” Amanda asked. “This cottage was tattered outside but luxury inside, maybe we should choose the most unattractive door.” 85
I said and opened the door at the end of the aisle. The other girls followed me. We were astonished by the scene we saw in that room. The walls consisted of thousands of millions of little cases, and in the middle of the room there was a big clock, it looked like being frozen for a long time. “Those are cases of our contracts!” We all shouted at the same time. “Brilliant! Now all we have to do is to destroy those cases.” Olivia said. We started to open 86
those cases in order to tear the contract. “Olivia, perhaps we can save Lisa by destroying her contracts.” I told her. “Yes, and we can save all inhabitants here!” Amanda said. “You are too naive!” the voice echoed through the entire room. “Who is there?” we shouted. Suddenly, the Purple Fairy appeared right in front of us. She was not as beautiful as I first met her. “You can not do anything, you can not save them or yourselves, your time was frozen by me!” 87
she said and laughed. “Hahaha, which character would you like to be?” she said and sparkled fairy dust in the air. Something fell down from the ceiling. “ Ahhhhhhhhh!” Ama nda screamed, “Snakes!!!” Lots of snakes, spiders and scorpions were falling down. We ran everywhere to avoid being touched by them. “What do you want from us?” I asked the fairy while running. “Your time, Dear.” She said and smiled at me, “I would like to create a world that nobody 88
would get old, isn’t it good? This Fantasyland I made?” “Not at all! You are crazy!” I shouted and lighted some matches and threw them to those poison creatures. Those fired creatures crawled to the wall and the cases walls were on fired as well. In a short time, all those contract cases were on fired. The ice that froze the big clock melted little by little. “No!!!!” the Purple Fairy became older and older, wrinkles appeared on her face, she was no longer beautiful and 89
young. “My time!! Give me my time!!!� she screamed and crashed to the big clock and hugged it, maybe she thought she can stop the ice from melting. At that moment, we went out the room as quickly as possible. I was the last one went out the room, while I closed the door; I saw the Purple Fairy was burnt by the fire as well. The sun was going up now; we were bac k to the villa ge o f Alice. All inhab ita nts were sta nd ing o uts ide, wondering why they were here. We were 90
very tired after fighting with the Purple Fairy. Olivia suddenly ran forward and hugged someone. “Olivia, why are you crying?” the girl said. “You remember me? Thanks God!” Olivia cried. The girl was Alice, well, actually, Olivia’s best friend, Lisa. Tina said that she had known from the contract that once the contract was destroyed, we could go back to the real world by sleeping. We were happy to hear that. 91
Those inhabita nts forgot the memories that the Purple Fairy gave them, so Amanda, Tina, Olivia and I had to explain the whole story for them and tell them the way home. They all thanked us for saving them and went to sleep as soon as they could. Olivia asked Lisa to go to sleep first, because she was apart from the real life fo r to o lo n g. N o o ne le ft in t he Fantasyland now except four of us. We all felt happy to go home, however, we were 92
all sad about saying goodbye to one another. “We should leave our phone number or something in order to get together again in the real world! ” Olivia advised. “Yes, you are right.” I said. We spent a little time writing down our phone numbers and address on three pieces of papers and gave them to the other three girls. At last, we all went to bed.
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Chapter 11 “Sofia, come down! Breakfast is ready!” my mom said. I jumped out from my bed and went down stairs immediately with my pajama. I saw mom was setting dishes, her head was bandaged, but she looked great. I rushed to her and held her as tight as I could. “Mom, I love you so much!” I told her. “What’s wrong with you today?” she said but held me back with smile. “Someone decided to be a good 94
daughter now.” Dad said, pushing a wheelchair on which Andy was sitting. “Sofia! Look, I have a big foot!” He said. He looked great as well, wearing plaster cast on his left leg. “You look more charming with a big foot, Andy.” I said and rubbed his head. “Dad, don’t you have patient today?” I asked him. “After the accident, I have learnt that nothing is more important than family.” he said. “So did I.” I mumbled. “What are y o u ta lk in g a b o u t ?” mo m a s k e d . 95
“Breakfast is ready!” She added. “We are simply guessing what we are going to have for breakfast.” I replied. ---------------------------------------------I opened those papers given by Amanda, Olivia and Tina. However, while I open the paper of Tina, there were no phone numbers on it but a few sentences: You took care of me for no reason. Olivia, I am happy that you can save Lisa. Wish all of you are reuniting with your family and friends now. 96
I was confused about these messages. The doorbell rang. “They say they are your friends, Sofia.” My mom shouted downstairs. They were Amanda and Olivia. Amanda was sobbing. Olivia looked bad as well. I asked them to come in and we matched Tina’s three pieces of paper together, the whole message was: I am really sorry I lied to you, my friends. I enjoyed the time we had been through. I am not real person but a servant of the Purple Fairy. 97
She asked me to spy on Amanda. I am sorry, my dearest roommate. Sofia, you are the one who changed me. You took care of me for no reason. Olivia, I am happy that you can save Lisa. Wish all of you are reuniting with your family and friends now.
Tina.
“We will not be able to go home without her help.” Amanda said. “Yes, she 98
will always be our friend.� Olivia said. I did not say anything but held them together. ---------------------------------------------I lay on the bed, thinking about all those things happened in Fantasyland. Then I closed my eyes, wishing that I would meet Tina in my dream.
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Reference
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Acknowledgement I would like to extend my sincerest thanks and appreciation to my Practical English Writing I professor, Mr. Kenneth M. Smith for his inspiring guidance and instruction in the completion of this novel. The idea of writing a novel never came to my mind before taking this class. However, this year-long novel-writing project gave me an opportunity to write a complete book and gave me more confidence in English writing.
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Fantasyland A purple fairy helped Sofia exchange her real life for her dream. Most of the inhabitants in Fantasyland, Sofia’s dream world, were characters from fairy tales. So fia me t Ama nd a a nd Tina. S he discovered that they were real people. Sofia and her friends missed their family. They tried to sleep to look for a way home. Unfortunately, it is more and more difficult to fall asleep‌