THE LAKE KEY

By Ana Satorre Sánchez

SECCIÓ IES PARE ARQUES, Benilloba.

Teacher: Estela Martinez Bolinches

It was seven past twelve and the party had finished. Oliver and I went to the lake, where in summer we went to swim. Now it was winter and the water was very cold. We didn´t go to swim, also it was seven past twelve in the night. We went for brighten up, after the music that had deafened us all the night.

We sat and saw the lake. It was beautiful and very quiet. The silence was broken when a rabbit passed not noticing our presence, or so I think. It stopped in front of us watching us, and we decided follow it.

The rabbit took us to the lake. We realized it wore a key hanging from its neck. Its white fur confused us and we didn´t notice that key. It stopped on a stone with some moss. We went up to the moss and we discovered behind the moss a bolt hole. We took the key and we put it in the bolt. We turned the key with a bit of fear. A noise sounded and suddenly little by little the water started to disappear from the lake and we contemplated some stairs leading to a secret compartment. One old door full of creepers left Oliver without words. The rabbit led us to the door. We opened it and we went in. A warm breeze enveloped us. Everything seemed quiet and out of danger. There was a beautiful landscape full of lakes, trees full of exotic fruits that we never saw before.

The rabbit took us to another lake again. Some girls were swimming in the lake. One of them, that wore a kind of crown, got up. She was a slender girl like a nymph. She explained how important the lake water was.

She was called Dew, she told us to be the princesses of that strange world of nymphs. A little later she said to me:

• Are you Will Heldom?
• How do you know that?
• For years, I made a deal with your grandfather. The same deal that I propose now. With your friend you must protect this lake. The lake is the fountain of this kingdom’s life.

Suddenly I woke up next to Oliver in the lake. I looked my watch and I saw that it was seven past twelve in the night. Oliver and I remembered all. But we could not know if something had really happened or was just a dream.

I got up, touched my pocket and I noted something hard. I took out my hand and in it I had the white rabbit key. Everything was real, we had to have it in secret and protect the lake.

Today, Oliver and I have an important company that protects the lakes of all the region. It figures it is a protected place. Never more did we come to know Dew and her kingdom. But from now nobody bothered them anymore.

THE END