Written by Marini Barika Facey
Gwendolyn begins to sneeze uncontrollably to the point that she falls onto her bottom and into a mud-like substance, but it doesn’t stain her clothes. She looks down again and her clothes look like hundreds of radiant flowers. Gwenny rubs her eyes in disbelief and suddenly each little flower flies away like thousands of brilliant butterflies!
"Dishabille! Dishabille! Dishabille!" The flower-like butterflies laugh and chant as they fly farther and farther away into the distance! Gwen wraps her arms around her naked body and tries to hide, but can’t because everything around her continuously changes and morphs into something more grand and inconceivable. The trees she tries to stand behind turn into a meadow of flowers, and then into a babbling brook! Gwendolyn slides down this stream’s current, daunted and helpless!
Everything for which she reaches, turns into something new! “Zut! What is the point of all of this? How can this possibly be helpful! I know change is necessary, but this rapidddlllyyy?!” Gwen is pulled into a waterfall and fears for her life! She thinks she is going to drown as she sinks deeper and deeper, and knows she cannot hold her breath much longer!
Sophie screams with her eyes tightly shut and her little hands hold her head! “Aller! Allez-vous! Go away! Go!" She slowly opens her eyes to see her toys are tiny again, but she sees her words floating like chimney smoke and each letter becomes engraved along the walls! Her room looks like a tornado swept through it, leaving debris behind. She quickly picks up her toys and attempts to put them in the wooden box, but they refuse to go back in!
Sophie fears her nanny will return and take them away from her, so she pleads with them to go back in the little box, but they frantically chatter to her, “Aucun! Nous devons vous prendre a votre mere!” They all scream the same thing in different languages, but Sophie finally deciphers some of the words! Each little animal tells her they are going to take her to her mother, so she lifts these little creatures into her hands and brings them closer to her face to listen!
The unicorn and seahorse get the other animals to be quiet for a moment, so they can relay this important information! The seahorse floats up to be eye level with Sophie and whispers to her to look for four vital things: the little locket, key, compass, and pocket watch her father used to keep hidden in the study.
"Where is it hidden?" How will I know where to find it?" The little unicorn says, "Allons-y! Allons-y!" Sophie quickly heeds these words and puts her toys in the little wooden box and opens the rickety door! Sophie quietly steps into the hallway, but there is no use, the door squeaks and falls off of its hinges, so she quickly scurries to the study!
Gwendolyn kicks about and begins to become faint from holding her breath so long! She finally inhales the water, but remarkably, it transforms into a substance she can breathe! She realizes she can see her thoughts floating away to the surface like bubbles underneath the water. “I marvel… How can this be? I take back what I said about change, because this time it saved my life!”
The water pulls Gwendolyn deeper into an abyss. These depths gets darker and darker, then thump! Her feet land on a surface and her body is not wet. She forgets she is naked, because it really doesn’t matter anymore, especially when the priority at hand was not to drown!
She puts her hands out in front of her like a blind man to feel her way around. As she walks into this cave, she hears ticking, clicking, buzzing, and whirring sounds all around her. It is hollow and echoes, so she rationalizes that she has stumbled upon the middle of nowhere! The closer she gets to the sound, the more the darkness slowly becomes brighter and brighter, as if the sound controls the light!
To Be Continued…