Drawing/Story of the Day: The Golden Key

When I was little, my mom read me a story called the Golden Key. It was a really neat tale and as I grew up it stayed with me. I always loved it. It told the story of this two children. One finds a golden key at the end of the rainbow and journeys to a different realm in which he meats a girl named Mossy. I can't remember to much about the story, just how much I loved it. Maybe I will read it again some day.

One day I heard about a contest that Waterstones Books was holding where you could write a short story and it might be published in a book alongside JK Rowling, Neil Gaiman and many others. I wanted to write a short story for the contest and as I thought, an image/scene came to mind. It was of a little girl asleep on a bed in a small room. The room shook and a boy entered. He woke the girl and they ran off together down the hall. A story started to form in my head. I started to write and soon I had the makings of a nice page-long story. I re-wrote it over and over until it was as short and sweet as I could make it. I printed out the "card" that I was supposed to write my story on and went to work. When I was done I drew on the page to make it unique, beautiful and antique. By the time I was ready to submit my entry, the contest was no longer running. I really liked the way the card turned out. It looked beautiful and I liked my little story. It didn't make a whole lot of sense, but it accomplished what I wanted it to.

My writing on the card might be hard to read, so if you can not read it, I will put the story below.

The Golden Key

The house shook. There were footsteps then a voice.
“Tara. Wake up.”
She opened her eyes. A boy looked down at her, his stunning blue eyes so comforting, so familiar.
“What’s going on?” she asked.
He smiled. “It’s working.”
They ran down the stairs two at a time. She was still in her nightgown, but there was no time to change. On reaching the bottom of the steps they hurried down the hall towards a door at the far end. The boy pushed open the door and ran to the bed. He knelt, and pulled a tin box from under it. Inside the dusty box lay a key, a golden key. The house shook again, and soon they were off down the hall once more.
Soon they reached another door. The boy let go of Tara’s hand. He took the key and fit it into the lock. He twisted and there was a faint click. The door swung open. The room was empty save for a window on the furthest wall. Its white curtains blew in a nonexistent wind.
The boy turned to his friend “Go, you don’t have much time.”
He pulled her into a hug and they stood together, neither wishing the moment to end. They broke apart and she stepped into the room. Her bare feet patted across the floor until she reached the wall.
She turned. “Thank you Collin.”
He smiled, his eyes holding hers. “Go.”
She smiled once again and turned to the window. The white curtains parted under her fingers. Blinding light filled the room. He heard faint laughter and strained his eyes to catch one last glimpse of the girl. The light faded, the room was empty. He stood in the door way, alone. All had gone save the golden key and the whispered echo “I love you.”