The Magical Forest

Chapter 4

Olivia slowly made her way to her secret place through the narrow path surrounded by wildflowers.

Her secret place was a clearing near the forest. It was a really beautiful place surrounded by wildflowers. When she felt sad, she would go to that place, sit under a tree and stare at the forest. It would calm down her anger.

Olivia came to her secret place and sat under the tree. She sighed and stared at the forest. It's twisted yellow trees always seemed to be calling for her. There was a small stone path which led to the forest.
Though Olivia was afraid, she was always curious to enter the forest.

A gentle cold wind blew. The sun was starting to set. Olivia felt it was the time to go home. She got up and slowly went towards her house.

She tried to pull the back door. But it was locked. She tried to open it again. She tried and tried. But it was of no use. She realised that her stepmother had discovered the secret way to come outside. But how could she? She had locked her door.

Olivia nervously knocked the front door. After a few minutes, the stepmother opened the door.

" Where have you been?" The stepmother asked as she led Olivia inside.

" I was just watering the plants." Olivia replied.

" It took you an hour to finish watering the plants. I know you have been out for a different reason. And be careful, don't use your secret way again." The stepmother said in a stern tone.

Olivia quickly went upstairs into her room. The painting which was used to hide the secret door in her room had been removed. The secret door was locked from outside.

Olivia sat in her bed looking out of the window. The gentle, cold wind was still blowing. It was really cold outside.

Suddenly, she saw something which caught her attention. She saw small lights at the edge of the forest. They were of different colours. Olivia looked closely. But she could not figure out what was that. They looked like fireflies.

After some time, they started to go deeper inside the forest and most of them dissappeared. Olivia noticed that one of the blue lights was coming out of the forest. It slowly landed on her secret place. The light slowly dissapeared.

" What could it be?" Olivia thought to herself. She really wanted to go out and see what it was but she could not.

Olivia felt sleepy. As soon as she lied on bed, she fell asleep.

" Olivia, help me." Linora shouted. Linora shouted knocking on Olivia's door trying to wake her up.

Olivia quickly got up from bed and looked at the clock that hung in front of her bed. It was eight thirty. She had to prepare dinner.

Olivia opened the door.

" What's the matter, Linora?" Olivia asked sleepily.

" It was late. Since you were sleeping, I thought to prepare dinner myself. I had accidently dropped a few glasses and some plates." Linora said as she made her way to the kitchen. Olivia followed her.

Linora opened the kitchen door. As soon as Olivia entered the kitchen, she stepped into something. Olivia looked down. She had stepped on a broken glass. It was good that she was wearing slippers, otherwise it would have cut her.

Olivia saw that the kitchen floor was covered with broken glasses and plates. Linora had even dropped the salt and sugar bottles. Olivia knew she would have to clean all those though Linora might offer to help.

" Can you help me?" Linora asked.

" Yes." Olivia said as she began to pick up the glasses.

It was lucky for Olivia that her stepmother wasn't nearby otherwise she would have asked Olivia to do everything by herself.

" Ouch!" Linora shouted.

" What happened?" Olivia asked as she went to Linora to see the matter.

Linora had hurt her finger.

" Look at my finger. It's bleeding." Linora said looking at her finger.

Olivia brought a bandage and tied it around Linora's finger.

Linora even didn't care to say thanks to Olivia. She was busy looking at her finger.

Olivia finished cleaning the kitchen. She washed her hands and went back to the kitchen to prepare dinner.

" I will prepare the dinner." Linora said as she shut the kitchen door.

Olivia didn't understand what happened to her stepsister. She was willing to prepare dinner even after she hurt herself.

However, Olivia was happy that she didn't need to prepare the dinner. She just wished Linora didn't prepare bad food.

However, the food wasn't that bad.

" It's good, Linora." The stepmother said as they were having dinner.

" We have helped her." Claudia and Irelyn shouted together.

" I know." The stepmother said looking at them.

Olivia realised that Irelyn and Claudia had made the food. They both were good cooks.

That day, everyone completed their dinner together. Olivia washed the dishes and went upstairs to her room.

Hello readers! So, this was the fourth chapter. Please vote and tell me how you like it in the comments. It inspires me to write the next chapters. Any suggestion is welcome.
-Edith