~Part II~

              Chapter Four

Please note: When I was reading over this chapter, I realized that I sounded like I BELIEVED in magic and i tell you, that is NOT the case. As you read this, please keep in mind that I'm writing fantasy and that I DON'T believe in magic at all!

Also, any words or phrases that may have been quoted from C.S. Lewis’ book or the Movie are not mine and Every true “Narnian” should recognize them.

Other than that, enjoy and God Bless You!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

If you take a walk past our house, past our vegetable garden, and then past our creek, you will eventually reach a small woods. At times, my family would go there for an occasional family picnic, but other than that, we children would not enter it. We would try to stay away from it as much as possible. No, there were no bears or any poisonous creatures wandering away in it or anything, but the woods were just a place in which we children didn’t wander away into. I never knew why not; it was our property, after all.

But it was as if a hand was holding us back from entering the woods alone. None of us thought that it was out of ordinary that whenever we passed by the woods, we felt shivers go up our spine, even though it was strange.

But one day, Mother asked me to bring over to the neighbors a batch of cookies she had made.

“Please send this over carefully,” she instructed while packaging the treats.” Be careful that you don’t drop it.”

“Alright, I won’t.” I replied confidently.

“Instead of traveling on the roads, I want you to walk through the woods behind our house. Father finished working on the path he was building recently, and I believe it is safer to travel that way then walking on the roads. If you stay on the path for about ten minutes, you’ll eventually reach their home.” Mother said.

My heart lurched suddenly. “What?” I said, barely above a whisper.” You want me to walk through the woods all by myself?”

Mother placed down her paring knife. “Yes, why not, Anne? What is there to be afraid of?” my mother asked, turning to look at me in the eye.

My mind was in a whirlwind. To my dismay, I could not think of any reason why I would be afraid!

What is wrong with me? Why am I so afraid of the woods that are on my property!

Mother glanced at me with concern. “You know, if you want, you can ask someone maybe Daniel if he could walk with you.”

 “It’s – it’s – alright, mom, I think I can handle it myself,” I said weakly and then I was handed over the parcel.

No, I thought. I did not want someone to go along with me; was I child? No, I am fifteen years old. Why am I frightened to go through the woods?

I pushed all worries away into the farthest part of my mind; forcing myself to think about the present and not the future.

I walked slowly, enjoying the scenery in the background, thinking my own thoughts, and before I knew it, I was standing before the woods. I stopped, standing as still as a statue, letting my fears get hold of me. Stop it, Anne; I scolded myself, act your age! With a forced determination, I took one small, but determined step toward the trees. Another. And anthor.

Then--Whoosh!

The cookies flew helplessly out of my hands and my dress and head-covering were rippling furiously by the sudden tempestuous wind. I felt myself lifted off the ground. I couldn’t see. I felt a thick whiteness so thick, it was engulfed me. I couldn’t think. I couldn’t move. After- I don’t know how long, I got all my senses back.

I was freezing cold. I felt myself lying on a cold ground- or was it snow?

I opened my eyes, blinking in confusion. Snowy trees and high mountains surrounded me. All of sudden, four faces came into my view.

“Are you alright?” asked all of them except one boy who had a sour expression.

I sat up quickly. “Where am I?” I asked slowly. “And who are you?”

Two boys and two girls stood staring at me and all of them were dressed in a strange fashion.

The tallest boy answered my first question,” I don’t know. We just got here. How about you? Do you belong here?”

“No, I just got here also.” I continued, “You speak with an English accent like mine. Are you from England?”

“Yes, we are from Finchley, England. You?”

“Oh, I’m from Summerside, England.” Glancing at the four children, I couldn’t help but comment,” All your clothes are so strange, no,” I paused, “I mean different,” I corrected myself. “That certainly isn’t the world’s fashion nowadays.”

The tallest girl quickly said,” Yes it is! But with the war and the Germans bombing our cities, we just can’t afford to be up in style!”

My mind went blank. “Germans? War? What war? Bombing? What are you talking about?”

“You don’t have Germans bombing your towns? Isn’t your father fighting in the war?”

“What?!” Of course not! As far as I know, there’s no war. And if there was a war, he certainly wouldn’t be fighting! What are you talking about?”

“The Germans!” they all exclaimed probably exasperated at me.

“Oh, Germans!” my mind clicked as I recalled my history lesson.” You mean the World War?”

They all nodded.

I laughed,” That was over years ago!”

“No, it’s going on right now,” said the little girl with a serious expression.

I laughed again.” Of course it isn’t, silly goose! The year isn’t 1940, it’s 2011!”

All of them stared at me.

“No, it’s 1940.” She said again with a serious expression.

“No, it’s 2011.” I tried to explain.

All four of them gasped.

The tallest boy eyed me closely and asked,” Are you saying that you are from the future?”

“No! What do you mean future? Listen, I have no clue what you all are trying to say! Listen, it is 2011, not 1940!” I said, starting to get frustrated.

“How can you be from the future?” asked the little girl not believing me.

“Look,” I said,” maybe we should introduce ourselves all over again. It will be less confusing. I start. My name is Anne Yoder. I live in Summerside, England with my whole family. I have ten siblings, and I am fifteen years old. My family are Mennonites-“

“What’s that?” asked the older girl.

“Oh, that; we are a group of Christians that separate ourselves from the world.”

They looked at me strangely.

I hurried on, “I’ll explain more later. So as I was saying, my mother wanted me to bring some food over to the neighbors. I was walking through a wood, and then I ended up here- wherever this is. That’s my story.” I motioned the older boy to take up his tale.

“My name is Peter. I’m 17. She’s Susan, who is 15. There’s Edmund who is 13, and here’s Lucy, who is 10.”

I couldn’t believe my ears. “May I ask you a question? What’s your last name?” I asked feebly.

“Pevensie.”

I was struck dumb. Words cannot describe how I felt. “No. This can’t be true.” I whispered.

“Is something wrong?” asked Lucy anxiously.

“N-o, its n-nothing. I’m just in shock; I don’t know what to say.”

Peter continued, “As I was saying, we were running away from Mrs. Macready when we hid inside this wardrobe, and here we are. But Lucy was here before,” he glanced over to Lucy’s way.

Lucy smiled graciously and said,” They all wouldn’t believe me.”

“Now,” said Susan.” So were you saying that you are from the future?”

“I was trying to tell you that the year is 2011!”

“That’s just not logical!” protested Susan.

“Wait, if what you are saying is true,” started Peter, “then is the war over?”

“As I‘ve tried to tell you over and over again, World War I ended a long, long time ago.” I added as an afterthought, “We won.”

“Oh good!” cried Lucy.

“So does anyone know why we are here?” I asked them. During their puzzled silence, I began to think. If these really were the Pevensie children I had read about, then this was Narnia. But then, how could this be Narnia? Narnia was an imaginary land! Unless…magic was real. Or was I fooling myself with my imagination. No, I am pretty certain that this is real. I know that it was magic that had brought the Pevensies here in the books, but what about me? Was I dreaming? This couldn’t be real!”

I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. If this really was Narnia, then perhaps my dreams were coming alive! Should I tell them that I knew what would happen next or should I just follow them around? After some quick discerning, I decided to let them lead the way.

“Does anyone have a idea on why we are here?” I repeated myself.

“Maybe we should get to know each other a little better first,” said Susan.

“What do we need to know? I know that you’re from the ‘past’ and I’m from the ‘future’. I guess we are ‘colliding’ into each other? Isn’t that enough information?”

“But haven’t you considered the question on how we got here?” persisted Susan.

“Well, I do know,” I said slowly, choosing my words carefully. “But I’m not sure if it would be wise to tell you.”

“Why ever not?” asked Lucy.

“Look, let’s look at it this way, do you believe in magic?” I asked all of them.

“No, not exactly,” said Peter slowly. “Why, are we supposed to?”

“I don’t know,” I shrugged. ”I guess you’ll figure that out for yourself once you get to know this place better.”

“Why am I here?” Edmund whined.” I want to go home!”

“Stop it, Ed.” Peter snapped.

All of sudden, Peter took out his hand and turned to Lucy, saying, “I don’t suppose we’re sorry would quite cover it?”

Lucy scooped up a snowball and threw it at Peter saying, “No, it wouldn’t but this might!”

Then a snowball fight began. Peter threw another snowball at Lucy, meanwhile Susan hit Ed on the arm with one.

“Ow!” he scowled. “Stop it!”

Peter said, “You little liar!”

“You didn’t believe her either!”

“Apologize to Lucy.” Peter commanded. He waited, repeating himself, “Say you’re sorry!”

Edmund said insincerely,”Alright! I’m sorry!”

Lucy replied looking at him smugly, “That’s alright; some little children just don’t know when to stop pretending.”

“Very funny,” muttered Ed.

I hinted saying, “Maybe we should get started on our journey.”

“Maybe we should go back,” protested Susan.

“Can’t we at least take a look around?” griped Ed.

Peter replied saying, “I think Lucy must decide!”

Excitedly, Lucy said, “I want you all to meet Mr. Tumnus!”

I held my breath, waiting for Peter’s reaction.

“Well Mr. Tumnus it is,” Peter said walking into the wardrobe.

Susan said, “We can’t just walk around in these clothes!”

Peter replied coming out of the wardrobe, “We can use these coats.”

“Peter, they don’t belong to us.”

“Well, I don’t think the Professor will mind. And if you think about it logically, we are not even taking them out of the wardrobe.” Peter finished handing a coat to Edmund.

“But that’s a girl’s coat!” Edmund complained.

“I know.”

“Um, we don’t have to go to the Faun’s house, do we?” I interrupted.

“Why, why not?” Lucy objected, “He saved my life!”

“Well, I guess it won’t hurt.” said I.

“Wait, you’ve been here before,” Susan more stated then asked.

“No, not really.”

“You seem to know a lot about this place,” said Peter.

“Yes, that’s true. I do know a lot about this place. I can’t tell you how or why. You’ll have to figure it out for yourselves. Now let’s get going. Lucy, you lead the way.”

So we headed over to Mr.Tumnus’ place. To everyone’s surprise, except mine of course, they were shocked to discover the place in ruins.

I watched Lucy halt before the home and race inside.

Peter cried, “LUCY!”

We all ran into the house.

“Who would do something like this?” cried Lucy.

I thought, Wow, this place is really a mess!

“What’s this?” murmured Peter bending over to pick up a piece of paper on the floor. “Listen to this, everyone.”

He read:

 

The Former occupant of these premises, the Faun Tumnus, is under arrest and awaiting his trial on a charge of High Treason against her imperial Majesty Jadis, Queen of Narnia, Chatelaine of Cair Paravel, Empress of the Lone Islands, also to comforting her said Majesty's enemies, harbouring spies and fraternizing with Humans. signed Maugrim, captain of the Secret Police, Long live the Queen.

 

Susan fearfully said, “Now we should really go.”

“But we have to help him!” Lucy protested.

Peter said, “It’s out of our hands now, Lu.”

Lucy was not yet ready to drop the argument. “You don’t get it, do you? I’m the human! He helped ME!”

“Maybe we should call the police.” said Peter.

“These are the police!” said Susan.

“Besides,” said Edmund, “he’s a criminal!”

“Don’t worry, Lucy, we’ll think of something.” Peter assured her.

Wait. Since I had read the book, I knew exactly everything that would happen in the end. Was that bad or good? In my world, fortunetelling and magic was an absolute ‘no’ if you believed in Jesus. If I told the Pevensies their future, would that be like fortunetelling?

You know what? They turned out alright in the end without anyone telling them their future. So, I,  Anne Elise Rilla Yoder, will keep my mouth shut.

We all headed outside. We saw a robin that had an extremely red breast and extremely bright eye. I had never seen such an eye catching bird.

Lucy wondered out loud, “I wonder if birds can talk in Narnia?”

I could hardly contain my laughter. Fortunately, I kept it all in. “Of course they do, Lucy.” I said with a serious enough expression.

“How do you know?” asked Lucy.

“Trust me, I just do.”

We all stared after the robin. Before we knew it, we were following the bird.

“Look over there,” pointed out Edmund. “There’s a beaver!”

We averted our eyes to the direction he was pointing to.

Peter held out his hand toward the beaver, “Here boy,” he made a clicking noise with his tongue. “…come here…”he continued to make the clicking noise.

I shook my head amusingly. Peter had a lot of things to learn about Narnia. So did Susan, Edmund, and Lucy. Never would I dream that I would too.