The Land of Manara

Just imagine a place where magic is possible. Where even your wildest dreams can come true. In the very depths of your mind you know that there is such a place. This place is called “Manara”.

It was the middle of summer and scorching hot. Lily sat on her front lawn sipping on a blue-raspberry freezie, her slight lips staining blue. All of her friends were away on vacation so she was stuck at home with nothing to do but wait and mourn the loss of her older brother Matthew. Suddenly her mom came to the charcoal coloured front door and shouted in a sad voice, “Lily, phone!” Her mother never had totally recovered from Matthew's death. In wonder, Lily got up, fixed her pale yellow t-shirt and grabbed the cord-less phone from her mom's hand.

“Hello?”

The voice on the other end was raspy and deep, “Lily Gordon, you are needed at an urgent meeting at the Queen's castle in ten minutes. You must hurry!” Then the mystery caller hung up. Thinking it was a prank call, Lily paid no attenton to it and went back to sitting in her maroon lawn chair.

While writing in the ending of one of her brother's old and forgotten stories, the slight breeze gradually picked up to a strong wind, and swirled fallen leaves around only Lily. Scrambling to get to the front door, Lily noticed a black splotch on the emerald grass and faltered in step for only a second. But that was all it took. Within that second the splotch got bigger and sucked Lily in before she could let out so much as a squeak.

Once she finally touched solid ground Lily noticed that this place was like none other she had seen before. She was laying on grass, but it wasn't like the grass from her home, it was silver. Standing and pushing her dark brown hair behind her ears Lily gawked at the sky. It wasn't blue, or even gray; it was a mellow green with hints of orange here and there. As she walked through the strange place she saw things never imaginable in real life; dogs with five feet, two heads, and fuchsia fur; people who walked on their hands, had purple skin, and all wore baggy black jumpsuits; and the most amazing thing was that they were all gawking at her while she did the same to them.


Eventually Lily came to somewhat of a castle; tall towers that were built upside-down, and a sideways door. Ducking through the door the purple man at the front desk smiled to Lily and gestured to a grand, ornate, navy blue door that was also sideways. In the next room there sat a purple lady with curly green hair on a very large couch. The only thing setting her apart from the others was that in place of baggy black jumpsuit she wore a baggy black gown that reached all the way to Lily's sneakered feet, fifteen metres away. The lady gestured to Lily and she marched closer.

“So you are the Lily,” the lady said in a strange accent that Lily didn't recognize. Lily nodded slightly.

“Someone called my house and said that there was a meeting with a Queen. Are you the queen?” The purple woman nodded back and gestured to her gown.

“This is a symbol of the Queen.” Lily smiled at the Queen and pursued the thing she most wanted to know.

“Why am I here? And why did I need to meet with you?” The Queen chuckled and motioned once for Lily to sit down. Lily obeyed.

“Why that is because you created this,” she waved her hand around the room in a circle, “You are the reason we are here.” Lily made a face.

“Then what is this place called even?”

“Manara. Don't you remember? Oh I have made a mistake. I didn't tell you earlier,” the Queen smiled and placed a purple hand on Lily's knee, “You are the Lily. The one who started this all when she found her long dead brother's short stories in a musty old box and finished them.”

“I still don't see why you need me.”
Because here is where dreams become reality. Any of your wishes can be possible here. Since you created Manara, the Manarians and I all voted to let you stay here and have all of your dreams come true. I must warn you though, this is not a power to mess around with. It can really hurt you, or your family,” the Queen smiled again and patted Lily's knee. She then told Lily to leave.

Marching out the castle Lily though to herself, if this is real, then what I wish for most is my brother. She waited and waited but nothing happened. Just as I thought.

After walking for another forty minutes Lily heard a low sobbing behind a sunshine yellow boulder. She peered behind it to see who it was. The person did not have purple skin, green hair, or a black jumpsuit on. They had sandy maple hair, light and freckled skin, and a red t-shirt and gray pants on. Lily recognized the person immediately. “Matthew! It really is you!” She cried and hugged him.

The boy stopped crying. “L-Lily? You found me! I thought you never would! I didn't even know if you would find my parakey.”

“Parakey? What is that?”

“A key to Manara. This is the one place that you could always see me. And since I was going to die of that cancer, and you had the imagination to think of the rest of the story, I left them for you to discover,” Matthew hugged Lily back, his cheeks stained with tears. Lily was crying too. Then she looked at her watch.

“Oh no! Mom needs me home!” She cried and stood up, “How do I get home?”

Matthew gestured to the top of the boulder and said that once she reached the top she would be at her house. Standing on top of the boulder, Lily waved to her brother as she found that wishes really do come true.