‘Come and see us everyone, welcome to a land of fun.’ Scarlett looked at the mechanical snowman singing outside the attraction with a sneer on her face. Her mother had brought her to Westenden theme park for her birthday and she wanted to go on the Giant Rollercoaster or the Terrifier, but she was short for her age, and didn’t reach the required height. Now mum was pushing her and Toby, her kid brother, towards Winterland. She despaired. Clearly this trip wasn’t going to be as much fun as she’d hoped.
The elf on the door was a man in a costume, and a cheap costume at that, with fraying ends and since the belt was sewn into the costume the whole thing hung loosely. What was the point? Scarlett wondered. Either have a proper belt, or don’t bother. He put down the Cornish Pasty he was eating, scattering crumbs on the counter and took the tokens from her mother. Even at twelve Scarlett knew that wasn’t hygienic.
Toby was pulling excitedly at their mother’s arm. The kid had no discrimination. She was grown up enough to know this was a lot of cheap tat designed to get money out of her mum.
Letters over the doorway spelt ‘Winterland’ in snow-capped letters, and the door underneath looked like a real castle door until the ‘elf’ opened it and Scarlett saw that it was thin and rocked before it opened, like their shed door.
The corridor inside was dim, with scenes which lit up when you pressed a button. Toby was stopping at each one, and smiling at what was revealed, but he was only four, too young to know better. Scarlett hung back, bored. Looking back she saw a side-corridor. Curiosity was only there to be satisfied as far as Scarlett was concerned, so she walked down it, wondering why she hadn’t noticed it when they passed it first time. There was another elf there, and a wizard. Their costumes were more authentic looking, and the lighting effect which made it look as if gold stars were coming from the wizard’s wand was wondrously effective. It looked like real magic.
‘Do you want to play a game?’ The wizard asked. He moved around her, his wand still emitting stars.
‘What do I have to do?’ Scarlett knew the warnings about not talking to strangers, but her mother was close, and instinct led her to trust the wizard, who fished in a pocket of his purple robe. Scarlett was surprised, she was sure his robe had been blue when she first saw him. He drew out a necklace. Scarlett looked at it. It was beautiful; the stones on it looked like ice.
‘Just keep the necklace on and enjoy the show, but don’t let Itham here get it.’ He gestured towards the grumpy looking elf at his side. ‘As long as you have it, you can stay in our magical land.’
The necklace was cold as he put it on her neck. The stones looked even more like ice. A cold drop of water trickled down her neck.
‘Hurry up then, it’ll melt out here.’
Scarlett rushed through the door he had opened, wondering where it had suddenly appeared from. She turned and saw the wizard putting the wand into the pocket of his red robe. He vanished. Scarlett blinked. Yes, he had definitely vanished. Scarlett yawned and sat on the tiled floor.
She woke up lying on a bed of snow, but she didn’t feel cold. The elf was creeping towards her with an evil look on his face. Hastily she rose, and ran across the fairy-tale landscape covered with snow. Blue lights hung from trees and she wanted to stop and have a look, but remembered what the wizard had said, she needed to keep the necklace away from the elf or she would have to go back. This world shone with beauty and she desperately wanted to stay. Running up one of the hills she could see for miles. This wasn’t a theme-park; this was a magical real world. Multicoloured stars shone above her, pushing tints into the snow, and making her necklace shine with different colours. She ran up to a river, and saw mermaids and mermen playing in the water. With Itham running close behind her she followed the river looking for a bridge. Although she wasn’t tall, Scarlett’s father was, and she was used to running after him so beating an elf was no problem. She could hear his puffs getting further behind her as she neared a castle.
‘My lady.’ A knight in armour bowed before her, she passed another who did the same thing. The nearer she got to the castle the more knights were joined by grandly dressed men and ladies, like something from one of the fairy story books that Scarlett had discarded.
‘Princess Scarlett, where have you been?’
Scarlett’s mum had lost the ‘will-we-make-the-money-last-till-the-end-of-the-week’ frown that usually hung on her face from Wednesday onwards. Instead she wore a bright smile and a stereotypical fairy-tale crown. She looked at the necklace.
‘Do you want to keep it?’
‘Yes please, I like it here.’
‘So do I, but I don’t know how we’re going to keep that elf away.’
‘Easy I’m sure this castle has a safe. If not we get somebody to build one and lock it away.’ The world seemed to be ideal but … ‘Is there a Prince Toby?’
‘Of course.’
Perhaps Winterland wasn’t perfect, but Scarlett didn’t mind. Eventually she grew up to be a beautiful princess, married a prince and lived happy ever after. You may think that sometimes she would hanker for the ‘real world’ of a high rise council estate, smart phones and television. But she never did.
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