The Dungeon Part 1

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As I am in China I thought I would share with you some of my stories for kids. This is called the Dungeon and comes in three parts 

It was just a normal day, normal breakfast, normal walk to school, normal lessons, normal lunch, normal PE, normal friends. Nothing out of the ordinary. The walk home was normal too. Well, most of it. Bobby put one foot in front of the other and then the other foot in front of the first, as he did every day when he walked home from school. Leaves scattered the pavement but the conkers had all been collected by the bigger boys, who didn’t let the little ones like Bobby get a look in. But then something not quite so normal happened. He put his foot down normally, but there was nothing underneath it. Bobby tumbled down and down, round and round, falling, dropping, tumbling, turning.

This certainly wasn’t his normal way home from school.

Bobby landed with a bump, a thump, a thwack and a smack. He lay on the floor staring into the darkest darkness he’d ever seen, or not seen as the case may be. The only light was a tiny, tiny pinprick high, high up above him, that must have been the sky above the hole that Bobby had fallen into. He was scared, not very scared, but a little bit scared. Just enough scared to make his hair stand on end.

When Bobby was sure he was still alive, he carefully stood up. His eyes were slowly growing accustomed to the darkness, but he still couldn’t see far from the end of his nose; luckily he had a big nose.

“Help! He yelled.

Help, help, help, the words echoed around the chamber.

“Help! He yelled.

Help, help, help, the words echoed again.

He put his arms out in front of him and took a small, tentative step, then another, then another until his hands felt the cold, stone wall. He could feel the damp and the moss under his fingers and the water that ran down the walls. He moved around, looking for a door or opening of some sort.

Bobby could tell he was in a small, round space; maybe a dungeon or a well. If it was a well, well there’d be no way out, if it was a dungeon, there’d be a door. He went round and then round again. Each brick felt the same, same size, same shape. There was no door, no window, no way out. But then he felt it. A small draught, a slight breeze, a tiny waft of air. He put his hands on it and realised it was the same all the way up as far as he could reach on the tippy of his tip toes and all the way down too. It must be a door!

But there was no handle, how do you open a door if there is no handle?

Bobby pushed and pushed and pushed with his hands, with his shoulders, with his whole body, but the door didn’t budge. He thumped and thumped and thumped until his fist hurt, but the door didn’t budge. He kicked and kicked and kicked until his toes hurt, but the door didn’t budge. Then, he remembered that some doors have magic passwords.

“Open sesame!” he shouted. Open sesame, open sesame, open sesame, the words echoed around the room.

“Open sesame!” he shouted again. Open sesame, open sesame, open sesame, the words echoed again, but the door didn’t budge. 

Hang on a minute, he thought to himself. That is the password when you are on the outside and you want to get in. I’m on the inside and I want to get out. He thought about it for a moment, and then said.

“Emases nepo.” To his amazement, the door swung open towards him. No wonder it didn’t respond to all that pushing and kicking. It was a pull door.  It was lighter the other side of the door, but not much. He could see a spiral staircase going anti-clockwise up and up and up. Each step was like two or three of his stairs at home. His knees almost hit his chin as he took a step. He took two steps and was already tired. Maybe he should go back. Maybe there was another way out.

Thud.

The door slammed shut behind him.