The Land of Impossible Things

CH: 1
On a beautiful Tuesday morning, Nahte was getting ready to go to school. He packed up everything he needed in his backpack, brushed his teeth, put on his tennis shoes, and went outside with his mom to wait for the bus to come and pick him up.
When the bus arrived, he said goodbye to his mother and hopped into the bus. Finally, when they got to school, he got off the bus and started whistling while he was walking down the hallway that led to his classroom.
When he got to the classroom, he put his notebooks on his desk and sat there to wait until his teacher, whose name was Magi, started the class. Magi stood in front of the classroom and said, “We have a new student called Briana.” She continued, “Briana, I hope you like the magic that this classroom owns.”
When she said that, Nahte saw a secret look on her face; it was a very strange one. Magi kept on talking, “—and I hope that you’ll make good friends” at Briana, she was sitting by his side. She had pale red cheeks, white skin, blonde hair, and beautiful green eyes.
They started to copy when Briana said, “Ms. Magi, I don’t have a pen.” Ms. Magi said, “Oh, don’t you worry, I’ll get one for you; but, everyone close your eyes.” Everyone closed them while Ms. Magi went to get the pencil. Nahte heard as if someone was moving a chair or something inside the classroom. Suddenly, he remembered that he had heard that noise when one of his best friends needed color pencils, and when Joe had lost his pencil, and when he needed an eraser!
This sounded strange to him. He knew what he would do next morning: he would say he had lost his sharpener, and when the Ms. would tell them to close their eyes, he would, but he would peek through his eyes!!! He had to discover what was that strange sound, and where did the Ms. go!!!
CH: 2
Next morning, Nahte got pretty early to school; he and Briana were the only ones in his classroom. They had to wait for Ms. Magi to come and for the bell to ring; meanwhile, Briana started a conversation with Nahte. She was a very clever girl and a kind one too. Nahte knew sooner or later they would become best friends.
The bell rang, everyone had arrived by now, so Briana and Nahte went into the classroom and sat at their desks.
By now, Nahte knew he had to put his plan to work…
In the middle of the class, Nahte raised his hand up high and said, “Ms. Magi, I need a sharpener.”
“I can lend you mine,” said Briana. Nahte thought, was she going to spoil his plan by borrowing her sharpener? Then at last Nahte said, “Oh, thank you, Briana, but I need one just for myself.”
Then Ms. Magi said, “In that case… I’ll get you one from them—oops!” she said, and again Nahte saw that secret look on her face. “So, you know, children,” she said, “now close your eyes, I’ll come as soon as possible.” Everyone closed their eyes, except Nahte who was peeking through his eyes!
Suddenly, Nahte saw his teacher push the bookshelf of the classroom. It made a particular noise… just like the one he had heard before! Then he saw that Ms. Magi was opening a little door behind the bookshelf. She crawled underneath it to get through. Nahte saw she put the bookshelf back in its place and suddenly closed the door!
By now, Nahte was off his desk moving the bookshelf. He made sure no one was peeking (like him) and opened the little wooden door; just like Ms. Magi, he had to crouch to get through it. But when he was already inside, he pushed the bookshelf as best as he could back into its place and silently closed the door…
He could see a giant and beautiful room with lots of bookshelves, sofas, photo frames, and a lot of valuable things more… But there was something very strange: he could see no Ms. Magi, and no doors! Then Nahte thought, “Am I dreaming?” “Did I fall asleep when Ms. Magi said to close my eyes?” But before Nahte could say a word, something caught his eye. It was his favorite book! So he ran towards it and grabbed it, when he spotted something on the wall in the exact place where he had removed his book… it was a hole!
Then it occurred to Nahte that he should move this bookshelf too! Because on the other side, there might be a hole! So Nahte moved the bookshelf, and indeed there was a hole! Nahte put the bookshelf back in its place and went through the hole. He could see a long passage with two doors on both sides. He decided to go to the first room; it had the door wide open. He peeked inside it… he… he… he saw an elf!
This, Nahte did not expect. He wanted to cry out, but he didn’t. He went to the door on the other side; the door was a bit open, so he decided to peek through it. He saw… Nahte couldn’t believe his eyes! He saw a pirate! Now Nahte was completely sure he was dreaming; he had seen an elf, and now a pirate… how ridiculous! When suddenly, he heard Ms. Magi’s voice chatting with three other people. Now for sure, he wasn’t dreaming. She was chatting in the second room on the other side. The door was closed, but Nahte didn’t dare to open it since he heard a lot of noise inside that room.
Finally, Nahte decided to go to the first door on the other side. It was closed, but he didn’t hear anything inside. He waited to see if, by giving the room a chance, he could hear anything inside, but he didn’t. So he took the risk of opening the door… He silently pushed the door. He saw a dark room with a desk, chairs, and bookshelves all around it. He saw a light at the end of the room. He stepped towards it while the wood of the floor creaked as he went by. He was closer now to the light when suddenly, he saw two big eyes staring at him. Nahte couldn’t say if they were kind or mad; all he could see and think was that someone had been watching him all this time…!!!
CH: 3
Nahte wanted to run away and wanted to shout, but he couldn’t. His voice was faint; it did not come out, and his body wouldn’t move a muscle! He saw a big dark figure coming towards him with those big, big eyes. Nahte held his breath; he just didn’t dare to move his body.
Then suddenly, he heard the stern voice of this big black figure saying to him, “Don’t be scared, child. Who are you?”
Timidly, Nahte answered, “I-I-I-I am Nahte, Nahte James,” he said softly.
“I am,” the big figure said, “Johnny Black. And by the way, why are you here, Nahte?” Johnny asked.
“Oh,” Nahte said, “it’s because Ms. Magi—”
Suddenly Johnny interrupted, he sighed, “Ms. Magi—she—is my daughter. I made this tunnel in her classroom for her to come when she needed a book, materials, or just if she wanted to chat.”
“This is her home and mine as well. I am a magician and I made this—I mean, ‘The Land of Impossible Things,'” he exclaimed. “I don’t know if you saw them, but there is an elf in one of the rooms. He is making sure kids are behaving to give them gifts on Christmas. That fairytale of Santa Claus and his reindeer is not true; the only things that are real are the elves.”
He sighed, “On the next door, there is a pirate. He is in charge of sailing through ‘The Land of Impossible Things’ to get very cool storybooks. Now, in the next door, there are three pigs. They are in charge of getting and making materials from the forest for my daughter, Magi. And then on this door… I am, as I told you, a magician. I am the leader of everything, and I write stories—the ones Ms. Magi (hopefully) has read to you in class.”
“Now you understand?” Johnny asked. “Three pigs—ones can’t work; this can! It isn’t easy to get a pirate to work for getting books. See, all of this is impossible, and I make it possible! That is why it’s called ‘The Land of Impossible Things’.
“So when the clock strikes twelve, the pirate goes to every house to make sure everyone is asleep. Those are the faint sounds that you may hear at night.” Now, when everyone is fast asleep, ‘The Land of Impossible Things’ comes into action, and—
Johnny stopped talking, “You better go now,” he said. “Come tomorrow at twelve o’clock if you can; you will go with me to ‘The Land of Impossible Things’. Nobody will recognize you; I will make you a dog costume. Now, you better keep this a secret, Nahte James,” he said in a hurry. “Go running! My dear Magi is saying goodbye to the pigs!!!”
Nahte waved to Johnny while he went through the hole, through the large room, and finally, he went by the little door. He went running to his desk and he closed his eyes. He felt as if a long time had passed; suddenly, he stayed still. Ms. Magi was back with his sharpener. She said, “Everyone open your eyes.” Everyone opened them. Ms. Magi gave the sharpener to Nahte, and then ended the class with a very good book. Nahte remembered Johnny and the pirate because of the book; he knew tomorrow he would come here at twelve o’clock, but how?
CH: 4
When Nahte got home, he asked his mother if he could stay to sleep at Joe’s house tomorrow. Fortunately, his mother said yes, but Nahte knew he would stay in school since it ended; he wouldn’t go to Joe’s house to sleep. He would sleep in school until next morning, starting tomorrow night…
It was bedtime. Nahte ate supper and went to bed. He couldn’t sleep; he was awake at twelve o’clock when he heard footsteps in the house hallway. The pirate! Nahte closed his eyes, pretending he was asleep, and snored. He held his breath until the footsteps died away, but very soon after that… he fell asleep.
Next morning, Nahte awoke up very late; somehow he was glad about that, because at school he wouldn’t go to sleep that early… He packed up his clothes (school uniform) and a comb for his hair, then he put them in his backpack. Once he got to school, he took his bag of clothes and his comb, and put the bag in his cubby. Ms. Magi, Briana, and the others had arrived, so Ms. Magi started to give classes. Nahte told Ms. Magi, “Today, may I go as soon as the bell rings? I have to go to a baby party with my parents.” (Of course, Nahte wouldn’t, but he couldn’t tell his secret.) Ms. Magi nodded, smiled, and continued with the class.
The bell rang. Nahte ran to the line to be the last one. When they were already outside waiting for their cars, Nahte rapidly slipped out of the line and ran to the hallway to his classroom. Making sure no one was seeing him, he sneaked through the door of his classroom, he took the bag of clothes out of his cubby, moved the bookshelf, and within a second was inside the secret door…
CH: 5
By now, Nahte was with Johnny. He put on the costume Johnny had made for him. Johnny told him that Ms. Magi was staying at her boyfriend’s house, so she wasn’t coming that night. Johnny and Nahte drank tea and talked about their day. They had dinner, and when it was twelve o’clock, they prepared themselves to go to ‘The Land of Impossible Things’.
Johnny opened a heavy bolted door and led Nahte through it. Nahte could see a stormy sea, and a land at a distance; he wondered what it was… Nahte went with Johnny and the pirate to every house in the town, even his own. Then they went on the pirate’s boat across the sea and got to a city, and went into the elves’ factory to see how it was going. It had big machines making toys for children, and it had a room with an elf that had a long list of children who would receive their gifts for Christmas.
Then they went to the pigs’ factory. It was kind of small, but they had pigs making pencils, pens, and all types of materials.
It was three o’clock AM when Nahte was in Johnny’s room. Johnny had made him a little bed to sleep on, and as soon as Nahte reached his bed, he fell asleep until the next day at 8:00 AM, thirty minutes before classes with Ms. Magi started…
CH: 6
It was 7:15 when Nahte woke up. He saw Johnny cooking some boiled eggs, beans, and soup. Was that a breakfast? Nahte sighed. “Good morning, sleeping beauty,” Johnny said with a laughing smile, “I thought you’d never wake up until a brave princess came!” Johnny laughed.
Nahte rubbed his eyes and frowned. “Go bathe and come have breakfast,” Johnny said, looking a bit embarrassed.
It was 8:20 when Nahte was ready for school. He said goodbye to Johnny and promised he’d come tomorrow. “If, and only if, Ms. Magi is not here,” said Nahte.
“She’ll go to her boyfriend’s house again,” said Johnny, “or that’s what I understood.” And with that, Nahte left Johnny and went to his classroom.
When classes ended, Nahte went home, keeping his mouth shut about Johnny, ‘The Land of Impossible Things’, the pirate, etc…
“Dad,” Nahte said, “tomorrow can I go to a sleepover at my friend’s?”
“Oh, you needn’t ask me, just go,” answered Nahte’s dad, who didn’t mind much about his child.
Next morning, when school ended, Nahte went once again to Johnny. Time had passed and it was already 10 o’clock PM when Johnny and Nahte were having dinner to go to ‘The Land of Impossible Things’, when Johnny said, “Hide Nahte, below my desk! Someone’s coming!” And so he did.
Ms. Magi opened the door and closed it with a slam. “Dad!” Magi said, crying. “I-I’ll never visit my boyfriend again! He is so rude, I’m so sad, and mad! I’ll go and have a sleepover with my friend, I need her!” And with that, Ms. Magi went out of the room and slammed shut the door.
Nahte went out of his hiding spot. “Phew!” he said.
“That’s my daughter,” Johnny sighed.
Suddenly, a thunderstorm began and Johnny said, “For our safety, we shan’t go to ‘The Land of Impossible Things’ today.” And with that, he turned the lights off and they went to sleep.
Next day, when Nahte was ready for school, he said goodbye to Johnny and waited until Ms. Magi and his classmates arrived. When school was over, Nahte went home and another thunderstorm began, but this one was far more harsh and mad; suddenly, the ground began to shake really hard; it was an earthquake of 5.1!
Nahte saw his school coming down: bricks falling, roofs falling, walls falling… the school was falling!
“Nahte, are you okay? Don’t get close to the window! Come here to our bedroom, it’s the safest place!” Nahte’s parents shouted. So Nahte did.
The earthquake stopped at night when Nahte was asleep in his parents’ bedroom.
Next morning, Nahte awoke at six o’clock. He ran to his bedroom, to his window, and saw a poster on his broken school that said: CLOSED – IT IS TOO DAMAGED. TO BE RECONSTRUCTED AGAIN SOME DAY. MAYBE ABANDONED.
And what Nahte asked himself was: And ‘The Land of Impossible Things’, Johnny, and Ms. Magi?
Well, and the answer to that is that nobody knew and nobody knows; it’s a mystery to solve…

The End

Escrita por-Sol Chacón.