KNOCK, KNOCK, KNOCK!
"It's the police, I'm here because of a noise complaint!"
Officer Paltro puts his ear to the door, and waits. SLAM. What seemed to sound like a massive piece of furniture falling to the ground, he begins to worry.
"Hello? Are you okay?"
No answer. Paltro turns the handle curiously, to find it's unlocked. Making the executive decision, he decides to do what any good cop would do; go inside.
"Okay, I'm coming in!"
Stepping inside, he is surprised to see a clean house.
"Hello?" Paltro calls out.
"Don't! You're going to hurt yourself!"
"Stop it, don't push me!" Call out voices from upstairs.
Paltro sees a staircase, and slowly walks up.
"Hello? It's the police! I mean no harm!" Paltro says.
"I said STOP!"
What are these kids doing?
The sounds of heavy wind gustling is heard, and as Paltro gets closer to the room of the voices, he notices dust and pieces of paper flying all around. A bright purple light seeps from around the door. He grabs the handle, bracing himself to whatever is behind, and opens quickly. A massive gaping purple hole surrounds the corner of the bedroom. Books and toys are being pulled inside it's massive vacuum. It's so loud you can barely hear anything around you. Specks of it's purple beam hit every corner of the room. Three kids turn around to stare at the police officer, wide eyed.
"Officer Paltro!" Calls out one of the twins, Aidyen. He's taller than his sister, Aliyah, so he says. His curly black afro is pushed back due to the strong gust coming from the portal.
"What the hell is going on?" Paltro states.
"It's not what it seems!" Aliyah says. She's twelve like the rest, except for Grayson who is two years younger than them. He stands at the furthest corner away from the purple hole, squeezing his stuffed teddy between his arms.
"What do you mean it's not what it seems?"
The kids look up at him not knowing what to say. Paltro begins to walk closer to the portal.
"No!" Calls out one of the kids.
Before Paltro can stop himself he feels a gust of wind trip him beneath his feet as he falls to the ground and is instantly sucked into the unknown.
"We have to get him!"
"Alright, ladies first!"
Aliyah scolds at his brother before jumping into the purple light.
"Gray, come on!"
"No way! I can't do it!"
"We have to go help Gray!" Says Aidyen, as he jumps in the portal following his sister. Grayson closes his eyes and squeezes his teddy, before falling into the portal. Opening his eyes, he's surrounded by purple fog and in the distance he sees a faint black castle, sitting on the tip of a mountain.
"Where are we?" Aidyen asks.
"Doesn't matter, we have to keep going!" Aliyah leads the group further into the fog. Before Grayson could get a word out, they start heading forward.
"Wait up!"
Walking further into the unknown, Grayson hears a rumbling behind him.
"What was that?"
"I didn't hear anything, come on Gray!"
The rumbling begins to get louder and behind Grayson he could see a dark storm beginning to appear. It was coming at them fast, ready to engulf them into darkness.
"Guys..."
Aliyah and Aidyen turn around, and see the storm approaching fast.
"RUN!"
The kids run without stopping, not able to see in front of them due to the thick purple fog.
"Up ahead! I see something!" Aliyah yells.
They stop in front of a massive clif with no end, Aliyah puts her arms out to save her brother from going any further. There was no way to go. Giant lily pads floated in front of them, being pushed away from the gust of the storm.
"Jump on!"
Aliyah is the first to do so. She jumps onto the lily pad, and puts out her hand for the other to do the same. Aidyen follows her, almost slipping before she catches him and they fall forward together. The lily pad can't handle all of the movement, and the vine attaching itself to the clif begins to rip.
"Gray, come on! You have to jump on!"
"I can't do it"
"Yes you can, Gray! Come on!"
The anchor of the lily pad rips, and the twins begin to float away.
"Gray!"
Grayson throws his teddy for his friends to catch, but it's too far and his teddy drops into the abyss. He stands frozen, fear flooded him from head to toe. He's paralazyed with fright as he watches his friends float away from the storm. Grayson sits with his hands in his knees as the loud storm swallows him whole. Dark rain falls from the sky and Grayson can hear nothing but the thunder and lightning above him. He closes his eyes and thinks of being somewhere safe. Somewhere he feels comfortable, far away from this universe. Back home in his bed. The rumbling stops and Grayson opens his eyes, to his summer cabin he would go to with his parents. He looks around, shocked as to how he's gotten there. Then from under one of the beds, a blue and green lizard type creature scurries out from under. It stops right in front of his feet. Grayson notices it's four wings, like a miniature dragon.
"Hello," Grayson says to the dragon.
The dragon yawns, and scurries underneath the door, exiting the cabin.
"Wait!"
Grayson gets up and follows the dragon outside. He is welcomed again by the purple fog, having never actually left this universe. The dragon glows within the dust, making it easier for Gray to follow. They approach a small tunnel, just big enough to fit a child, and the dragon disappears from beneath. Grayson follows on his hands and knees. He crawls through the tunnel, seeing a light appear at the end. Grayson crawls out into a dark stoned, oval shaped room. Chains hang from the ceiling and odd concoctions are brewing in the corners. To his left he sees his friends floating, unconscious, along with Officer Paltro. The tiny dragon scurries and meets its master who stands tall, a masked beast. His black feathered wings stretch from wall to wall and he wears a red painted mask with two black holes for eyes, and a small black hole for the mouth. Within the center of the creature's opaque body, is a bright red heart, beating fast.
"What a delight! My last victim has joined me. Thank you my pet, you've been of kind service" The beast strokes his dragon that sits on his shoulder.
"Please, come closer child, I won't bite, just yet"
Goosebumps crawl up Grayson's spine and he sits with his knees in his hands. He mumbles to himself, trying to calm down. The beast laughs.
"Awe, how precious! The boy can't even speak"
Grayson opens his eyes and sees his lost teddy bear back in his arms. He looks up at the beast, with a plan in motion. Grayson slowly stands up, closes his eyes again. The beasts laughter is booming and fills the entire cave. He grows taller and taller, looming over Gray. When he opens his eyes, Gray looks down to an entire suit of gold metal and clasps a golden spear in his right hand. Grayson looks up at the beast.
"I'm not afraid of you!"
Grayson yells and runs straight into the beast, spear in hand. He aims for his red beating heart and punctures it, straight on. The beast howls, not expecting the turn of events. He becomes smaller and smaller, until he's nothing more but a wisp of smoke that floats and escapes through the holes of the cave. Grayson's friends fall to the ground as they start to wake up.
"Grayson! Be careful, there's a monster in here!" Aidyen yells.
"I know, but I don't think he'll be back any time soon"
"What's with the get-up?" Aliyah asks, running over to him.
"Ughh" Officer Paltro groans. The kids look at each other, about to laugh.
"Do not. Tell my wife about this. Ya hear?"
The kids roar in laughter and Grayson picks his teddy bear from the ground.
"Okay guys, I'm ready"