The Land of Stories ☆ The Not-So-Happily Ever After

Chapter 1

Although she was convinced her eyes were playing tricks on her, Charlie watched in amazement as the storybook's pages began to glow. They gave off a light so bright, that she had to close her eyes. She began to feel as if she was being sucked into a vacuum- but that was not what was happening at all. She dared to open her eyes again, and looked around her, in awe.
Words were circling around her, whizzing into place, and then they stretched out to reveal what they were describing.
Then she fell.
She fell from what felt like miles up, although it was only really about 4 feet, and landed on her side with a thump. Charlie was breathing heavily- what had just happened?

Deciding she should do something productive, she stood up and checked herself for injuries. That was when she felt a shape pain in her wrist. She winced, and held it up to have a look at it. She tried to wiggle her fingers, but they were completely numb.

Great. She must have broken it in the fall.

Next, she looked around her surroundings. She found herself in a clearing in a thick forest, full of slim, tall trees which were colours that trees had no business being. The leaves were bright green, like in a cartoon. The trunks and branches were all different colours, from light brown and white, to highlighter yellow and ocean-blue.

Then all the questions started rushing to her head- where was she? Had the book brought her here? Was it magic?

Being the resourceful girl she was, she called out for help.

"Hellooooooo?! Can someone please tell me where I am? Anyone? Help!"

It turns out her calls did attract someone- or something.

•••▪︎▪︎▪︎•••▪︎▪︎▪︎•••

Looking for food nowadays was one of the most difficult thing the Gruff Clan had to do. The plants and vegetation was being polluted with more and more fairy magic everyday, and that stuff was poisonous to goats. This dilemma meant that goat clans had to resort to more vicious ways of staying fed, such as hunting other animals. They grew savage teeth, and razor-tipped hooves, and enhanced hearing, to better find their prey. They were on the top of the food chain now.

However, the Dwarf Forests had been becoming emptier and emptied by the second recently, for reasons the didn't know. The descendants of the Billy Goats Gruff were slowly becoming extinct, and some of them were talking about relocating, if they hadn't already.

That's when Beedee, a small kid of the Gruff Clan, heard something. Or, more like a someone. They were screaming for... help?

It reminded him of his own problems. He was the runt of the litter, the outsider. He was a brown goat. The others all teased him for it, saying mean words, and sinking their teeth into him over and over again, which only made him look even worse. It was a never-ending cycle of misery, and whenever he tried to reach out to someone, they just turned a blind eye.

Why would a goat help someone? They were on the top of the food chain, as well as on the brink of extinction. Beedee wasn't any normal goat, however. He was a smart goat. He decided that he could prove himself to the rest of the Gruff Clan, by following the voice and killing its owner for food. After such a big catch, he was bound to rocket to the top of the popularity leaderboard. He could end his suffering.

•••▪︎▪︎▪︎•••▪︎▪︎▪︎•••

Charlie had been roaming the unusual forest, shouting for help, for almost half an hour. She had tried to find her own way out, but it was as if the forest was moving too. Eventually she came to a part of the forest that looked a bit more normal, with only the occasional pink tree. Taking this as a sign that she was getting closer to home, she marched onwards, continuing to call out her pleas.

Suddenly, she saw something speed across her peripheral vision. She turned towards it, startled, and heard something scuttling in the leaves behind her. She spun round on one foot, and saw...nothing. Perhaps she was just overreacting. The worst thing she could possible come across would be a bear, and she would see a grizzly from miles away.

Something hit Charlie's head, and everything went black...