GoldenstoneWritten by MayaPrologue

I walked along the cold marble floor, my black spike-heeled boots creating a large echo. Smooth Obsidian walls lined the dark hallway. Darkness flew in the air and threatened to swallow me up. Torches lined the walls, casting a dim glow on the doors on the walls around me. Doors of every shape, size and shade, leading to unknown rooms no one has ever seen. But those doors didn’t matter. The only one I cared about was at the end of the hallway.

I was drawn to it like moth to flame. I’m not sure why, but I felt like I had to get to it. It was my destiny…No, that sounds lame, I thought, rolling my eyes, Like, that was really overdramatic. The door was small, black and dark with a shimmering gold handle. Determined to find out what the door lead to, I broke into a jog, then a run, then a sprint. Doors flew fast behind me, and soon I was panting and gasping for breath. Yes! I thought, Yes! This was the farthest I had ever gotten.

Soon I stood right in front of the door. I smiled, took a deep breath, grasped the doorknob and pulled.

Chapter OneSunlight flooded through the white see-through skull-prints of the black

curtains of my room. I sighed, rolled over and snapped them shut. Pushing off the purple covers of my bed, I stretched and swung my legs up. Yawning, I walked across the midnight blue carpet, to my mirror.

Brushing chocolate brown hair and pink highlights out of my emerald eyes, I stared into the mirror. There I was, wearing a black shirt covered with a pink vest-like jacket, a matching miniskirt with a purple belt and tights. My tan skin glowed in the light of the lava lamps resting on the shelves full of all my clothes and shoes that I had.

“Jade! It’s four o’clock! Your friends will be here soon!” My mom screeched.“Okay!” I shouted back and sighed. Why was my life so boring? Why couldn’t it be exciting? I want to be more

important! I thought just as the doorbell rang. Groaning in annoyance, I sprinted down the stairs to greet Alex.

Alex was my best friend, the only person that I knew I could really trust. I opened the door and smiled as he walked in. Alex had sandy blond hair that fell in his sea blue eyes and he had a voice as soft as a feather.

“Hey, Jade,” he greeted.It was almost ten when I finally put my head down on a pillow. Sleep came

almost instantly. My eyes shut, my breathing slowed, but the whole time I knew that this was the night that I would open that door.

Chapter Two

The door stood right in front of me. I bit my lip. Should I open it? What would there be inside? Something bad? Something horrible?

No you’ll be fine, I tried to convince myself, I dream this everyday and I have to find out. Plus there must be something good. What else would there be?

Disaster? Death? What if it would affect my friends? Or my family?STOP!Making up my mind to open the door, I gripped the doorknob in my hand. The

smooth feeling sent a chill running down my back. Trying not to be afraid, I turned the handle and pulled.

I slowly walked in, holding my breath. Stepping on a rich red carpet, I glanced around the room. A large wooden table stood in the center of my room, covered with a fancy red table cloth and white china plates along with a feast fit for a king. Cages rested on the red walls, shining silver, but empty. Red stains covered the carpeted floor, and as I eyed them I told myself that they were from wine, not blood.

There was a glossy red door on the opposite side of the room. Other than that, the room was empty. And seeing that there were no windows, I figured this was underground.

Crash! I jumped as the door snapped shut behind me. Quickly, I turned around, twisted the handle and pulled with all my might. But the door didn’t budge. Panic rushed through me. What was I going to do?

I pulled out a chair from the table of food, and lifted it up into the air, bringing t down hard on the door. I watched in amazement as the chair crumpled up into tiny pieces of splintered wood and fell to the floor in a pile.

Chapter ThreeI blinked and got up, wondering what time it was and how I even managed to

fall asleep. I yawned as I walked over to the table of food. My stomach grumbled, but I didn’t eat anything. Something about it just made me suspicious.

Instead, I got up and looked around. All of a sudden I saw something that caught my eye. A small closet had just appeared in the back of the room. I ran over to it and wrenched it open. Big mistake. Immediately, growing and hissing filled my ears and I backed away against the wall. Slowly, the creature in the closet began to creep out.

First, golden talon-like claws slid out. Then ruby scales followed as a flame colored dragon stepped out. Its scales shown the color of autumn leaves and it snorted out flames.

The color drained from my face and I started to shake in fear. The dragon yawned and snapped its jaws. My eyes widened as I saw the long, sharp fangs hanging from the top of its mouth as it flicked its snake-like tongue.

Automatically, I reached for the closest thing I could get my hands on. It just happened to be a plate covered in broccoli. I rolled my eyes, Just my luck. As it opened its mouth to fry me, I gripped the plate tightly and did the only thing I could

think of. Sliding the hideous green vegetables into its mouth, I delayed my death. Then, I lifted the plate up and slammed it into the beast’s skull.

The dragon rolled onto the floor, unconscious. That’s when I saw the silver collar on its neck, and the golden key hanging down from it. That was easy, I thought.

I snatched the key from its neck, rushed up to the glossy red door at the back of the room and jammed the key in. Breathing heavily, I waited for freedom…Nothing happened. I slumped on to the ground defeated.

Chapter FourMy stomach grumbled yet again and I rolled my eyes. Getting up, I walked

over to the table of food. My eyes widened as I saw delicious roast turkey drizzled with gravy. My mouth watered, but I knew that I couldn’t. All that this room ever gave me was trouble. I just couldn’t take it. Well, I guess a little food couldn’t hurt, I decided as temptation easily overwhelmed me. So I slowly reached over and plucked a piece of dark meat out. Then suddenly the ground began to rumble. The walls slowly began to close in, but they weren’t that fast. Judging by the speed of the walls closing in, I guessed I had approximately 20 minutes before I would be crushed completely.

Still clutching the key tightly in my hand, I realized another closet (with a key hole) had suddenly popped out of nowhere. Where is this going? I wondered. I walked over to the closet calmly, then fitted the key into the key hole, and opened the door, ready to slam it shut in case some other hideous beast was hiding. But as it opened, relief flooded through me as I saw a familiar face.

“Alex!” I shouted.

Chapter Five “Jade, finally, like I had no idea which door you were in. Anyways, I know how

to get you—us—out,” he told me excitedly.Tears threatened to spill from my eyes as the salty drops formed. I blinked

them back and smiled as Alex led me over to the closet the dragon had come from. “Wait, Alex, don’t go in there, there was a—““Shhhhhhh…I know what I’m doing,” Alex cut me off. “You see, that dragon,

it was guarding something,” he explained, running through the closet and waiting for me at the end. I followed quietly, unsure where this was going, and still wondering what he meant. But when I saw the colorful landscape up ahead, it took my breath away. Emerald green hills, cloudless blue skies and violet flowers were all I could see.

Alex put his hand on my shoulder and pointed out into the distance. I squinted until could see the tiny golden speck on top of a hill.

“The golden stone,” He whispered.

Chapter Six“So, what is this yellow rock supposed to be?” I asked, confused.

“First of all, it is called a Golden stone—““Whatever…”“And second of all, it grants you a wish...”“Um…Alex, what happened to you—““Just listen, I know this sounds dumb, but remember, you are in a DREAM!”“Are you sure, because I don’t think I’ll ever get to see… anyone, not even

my family again. I seems pretty real to me and—““Jade. This is what we are going to do. I am going to go and get this rock, and

you are going to stay here, doing whatever, and then we’ll use it to go back to the real world, alright?” Alex told me, and then turned around to walk away.

The real world…The real world…real…I thought in my head, unsure what was real or not anymore. I watched as Alex ran off, climbing up the hill, to the yellow rock. What was he thinking? A yellow rock that grants a wish… I rolled my eyes and decided to abandon him and walk back to the room of traps. The whole dream was just a trap. Why did I ever go into that door? What was I thinking? I wondered.

That you would somehow find a cash machine, become a millionaire, move into a mansion, go shopping in Paris, party whenever you felt like it, ride a limo or a Ferrari to school and become one of the most popular girls in school? A voice replied in the back of my head. That’s when I heard it.

“Jade! Help!”Immediately, I ran off, back into the closet, to the colorful place, where I saw

Alex, hanging off a cliff, his face smeared with mud and his hands turning red. The cliff was a giant crater in the valley of a hill that wasn’t there, last time I checked. It was giant, black and dark, without an end.

“Hang on,” I shouted, racing toward him as fast as I could.But Alex just handed me the yellow rock and whispered, “Jade, promise me

that you’ll escape, go home and be safe. Use the goldenstone, it’ll help, I promise. So go, save yourself and go.”

Tears flooded onto my cheeks, “Alex, take my hand. I’ll get you back up.”“No,” He replied, and with that he let go, tumbling down to meet death.

Chapter SevenI stared down the cliff, wondering why it all had to end like this. Alex falling

off a cliff, me holding a yellow rock that was supposed to take me home, but obviously, yellow rocks can’t grant wishes, so… And anyways, why would he tell me to save myself and go? That would just be cruel and selfish. I sighed and reminded myself again, “It’s just a dream. And I have to go back home…with Alex.”

That was when I got a great idea. “Oh yellow rock,” I began, wondering how I ever got to be so weird and when I started to believe in yellow rocks, “I wish that Alex was back…And we were both home.”

The yellow rock didn’t really work like that, because that was basically two wishes, but it was worth a try. Anyways…

“ALEX! Oh my gosh, it worked!” I screeched.

“What…Jade…whoa! What happened?” Alex asked me, then realizing what I did, he sighed, “Yeah, and now we’re stuck. I wish that you didn’t wish me here, but…”

All of a sudden Alex faded into nothing and I was still sitting down, the yellow rock in my hand. It took me a little while to realize what was going on. Then I got it, Alex had wished on the yellow rock. So…Alex had a wish after I wished…We each got a wish!

“I wish that Alex was here,” I told the yellow rock.“What…Jade…whoa! What happened?” Alex asked me, then realizing what I

did, he sighed, Yeah, and now we’re stuck—““ALEX! Follow me, okay,” I ordered and walked back into the room of traps,

now just a small space with a plate of spaghetti. Alex obeyed, and I pushed him up near the door. He automatically slid the

yellow rock into the key hole and opened the door. There he found a small elevator that he walked into, and then lead me in. Immediately the doors closed and we began speeding upward.

The doors opened, and Alex and I, too relived to even talk, walked out. All of a sudden I got this really bad feeling. “Alex…” I began, starting to feel sick and really wishing that I could wake up for real, “Where exactly are we?”

Epilogue“I’m not sure,” Alex replied, his hair falling into his eyes, “All I see is…

forest and… is that sand? Are we going into the desert?”“Umm…Sure, why not? There could be something out there,” I told

him.“Yeah, like what? Water, food?” He asked sarcastically, “There isn’t

anything out there for miles!”“So…? We’ll probably just get lost in the forest or meet a wolf that is

pretending to be our grandmother,” I explained.“Seriously?”I hiked on, through the sand, sweat dripping down my cheeks, along

with tears. Sand clung to them and caused my face to look like a—“Sand! Alex, we’re in a sandstorm!” I shouted through the roaring wind, “Alex…Alex? ALEX!!!!”

“ALEX!” I called, “Where are you? Alex!”“Yeah?” Came a voice from above.I looked up and found myself staring into sky blue eyes that I

recognized so easily. Sam was flying in a…”What is that?” I asked.