The Land of the Flying Power Rangers

The Land of the Flying Power Rangers

         Jacob pulled back the covers to reveal an entrance to the world beneath his bed. His friend, Billy, had told him all about it. A land of castles and knights, a place where dreams came true. Even the Power Rangers would make an appearance if you wanted them to. Billy had told Jacob how he spent every night in this magical realm.
         No wonder he was always falling asleep in class, Jacob thought.
         Moonlight streamed in through his open curtains. He preferred them that way so he could gaze at the stars at night and dream about distant and wonderful lands. But now he had found one; right under his own bed too. It was on this very bed he had dreamed about them in the first place. Grabbing his torch from the bedside cabinet, he took one more look at his bedroom door, before plunging into the hole under his bed.
         It was dark. He was beginning to think it was a bad idea. He flicked on his torch. A beam instantly cut the darkness and Jacob felt a little more at ease. The entrance looked like a duvet wrapped completely around him to form a tunnel. But unlike a quilt, it was stiff to touch. It didn’t smell very pleasant either. The tunnel led down at an angle. Jacob shone his torch further down the tunnel but couldn’t see where it ended.
         He pushed his way down until the tunnel leveled off. It was still too narrow to stand, so he’d have to crawl the rest of the way. As he moved into a crawling position, his arm caught on something jutting out of the wall. He shone the torch on what looked like a black, plastic rectangle. What could it be? He yanked hard, tearing it out of the wall. He couldn’t believe it, it was his Tony Hawks Pro Skater 4 cart for his Gameboy Advance. He had been looking everywhere for that. Smiling, he slipped the cartridge into his pajama pocket.
         Continuing down the narrow tunnel, Jacob eventually arrived at a dead end. Billy had mentioned nothing of this. He frowned. Where was he supposed to go now? Scratching his head, he moved into a sitting position. He felt all around the walls, and banged on them. Nothing.
         Oh well, nothing to do but go back, he thought.
         He heard a loud crack as he moved back onto his knees. Before he could react, the floor gave way and he was falling through darkness. He screamed and dropped his torch. He kicked out and tried to grab for anything nearby, but to no avail.
         Below him there was a flash of light. Was it his torch? It got bigger and brighter as he fell towards it. Light blinded him, and then he was lying on his back.
         The light faded and he found he was staring up at a brilliant blue sky. No hole from which he had fallen was visible. He pushed himself up from the ground. He found his torch a few yards away from where he had landed, still switched on.
         He was standing on a dirt track with fields on both sides that stretched off towards great mountains. The sun shone brighter than he had ever seen and was warm on his face. It wasn’t too hot, or too cold. He felt just right. Behind him the trail led to a dense copse of dark green trees where dark clouds swirled and miniature lightening-flashes streaked across the greying sky. He decided he wasn’t going the way.
         In front of him the trail led to a small hill, and he could see no further than that. He started toward it. He had only taken a few steps when he felt something smack him in the back of his head.
         “Ouch,” he said, turning to see what had hit him.
         There was nothing there. Frowning and rubbing the back of his head, he turned to continue down the trail.
         “Hello,” hovering in front of him was an odd creature of the likes he had never seen before. It looked like a fairy, but it was dressed up like a red Power Ranger.
         “Who…err…what are you?” Jacob said.
         “What the hell do I look like?” shouted the odd creature in a high-pitched voice that made Jacob wonder if it had swallowed a whole cylinder of helium. “Well?”
         “Um…a fairy?” he said shaking his head.
         “Why’d you ask if you already knew? Stupid.”
         “You look a bit like a Power Ranger.”
         “A what?” The fairy rubbed its tiny hands together and cocked its head to one side.
         “Nothing, never mind,” said Jacob. “So what is there to do around here?”
         “What kind of stupid question is that?” The fairy zipped from side to side. “Anything you like, of course.”
         The fairy held its hips and giggled before whizzing off over the hill.
         That was weird, Jacob thought.
         A loud thunderclap disturbed his thoughts. Turning around, Jacob saw where the noise has come from. The copse of trees now appeared closer, even though he had been walking in the opposite direction. The sky above was changing from blue to grey, and the grass either side of the track was withering and dying.
         He turned to run, but even ahead of him on the hill, black trees were sprouting rapidly from the ground. The trail disappeared as dark grey roots tore from the hard, black earth. The roots twirled and twisted and seemed to be reaching for him, as if intending to wrap around his ankles and hold him in place. He jumped to the side as one erupted from the ground beneath him; it wriggled about before settling on the ground.
         Jacob’s breath quickened and he could feel his heart beating hard in his chest. He looked around frantically for somewhere to go, but all he could see was grotesque and gnarled black trees. Lightening flashed overhead in the dark sky followed quickly by a deep and angry growl of thunder. He shrank down against a tree and curled up shutting his eyes.
         “Hey!” Came a high-pitched voice.
         He smiled; it was the fairy. He flicked open his eyes, but his happy expression soon turned to one of dread. For he was not facing a Power Ranger fairy, he was instead staring into the big, yellow eyes of a huge wolf.
         It’s dark brown lips peeled apart revealing very sharp, gleaming white teeth. Jacob hoped it was a smile, but decided not to stick around to find out. He was up and running through the trees. Tripping over roots and slipping on wet mud; he kept going and never looked back.
         Only when he thought he was safe did he stop and try to catch his breath. His heart was pounding and his vision was pulsating. Behind him he could he something large crashing through the trees, getting closer.
         “Oh no,” he said in a low squeal, tears springing to his eyes. “I just want to go home.”
         He rubbed his eyes, smearing the wet across his face and turned to run again. A loud, bellowing voice shouted, “Jacob!”
         He got excited. It was his dad’s voice and had come from somewhere nearby. That meant there had to be an exit nearby too, didn’t it? With the thing crashing through the woods towards him, Jacob didn’t waste any time. He ran to where he thought he heard the voice, but there was nothing there.
         The crashing sound was getting closer and there was no sign of the exit.
         “Jacob, are you getting up today?” This time it was his mum’s voice. It came from behind a nearby tree.
         He still couldn’t find the exit. The thing was almost up to him; peering back he could see the yellow eyes bouncing in the darkness.
         “Jacob, didn’t you hear your mum?” His dad’s voice again.
         Then he found it. A hole at the base of the tree. There was a flash of light allowing him to see for miles around. The beast had stopped a few feet away, it’s teeth shone bright in the flash. Then it went dark and a rumble followed.
         Without hesitating, Jacob flung himself into the hole. It was much tighter than the first tunnel he had been through. So tight in fact, he was having trouble squeezing in. He could hear the cracking of twigs. The wolf was moving towards him again.
         Panicking, Jacob squeezed deeper into the hole until he was well and truly stuck. He could feel the hot breath of the wolf on his feet. He kicked and screamed. Clenching his eyes shut, he wriggled in as deep as he could. The earth gave way and he was falling through the darkness again. Only this time, the fall lasted all of two seconds.
         Thud. He landed heavily. Something was wrapped tight around him and he couldn’t get out. Writhing about on the floor, he finally removed the obstruction. It was his duvet. He let out a sigh of relief and smiled. He was lying on his bedroom floor and sunlight flowed in through his window.
         “Jacob, are you okay? I heard a loud bang.” It was his mum shouting from downstairs.
         He laughed. “Yeah, I’m okay mum. I’ll be down in a sec.”
         He looked at the gap under his bed. Had it all been a dream, or was there really an entrance to another realm under his bed. He didn’t care. Using the heaviest box he could find he pushed it under the bed, covering where the entrance to the magical realm had been last night, and Jacob made certain never to go back.