I wake up unhappily--I love to sleep. I blink away the sleepy unconsciousness from my eyes. I see an unfamiliar sight. This is not where I went to sleep. I went to sleep in my room, now I am in what seems like a deserted desert landscape. I stand up to get a better look of my new surroundings. The sky is white like paper, full of emptiness. There is a lack of darkness, but the light is somewhat dim. Speaking of light, I look around for a sun. There was no sun and I noticed that I had no shadow. I’m surrounded by nothing for as far as my eyes can see. The ground is rusty brown desert sand. Strangely, I don’t feel frightened; however, I do feel confused. I decide to sit back down and wait it out. To wander around in the desert was not a bright idea. After what feels like a couple hours, I stand back up, close my eyes and spin around until I can barely stand up. I stop and attempt to walk in the direction I am facing.

I stumble away my dizziness and continue walking until I see a tiny black speck. I sarcastically congratulate my self for correctly choosing a direction with something in it. As I get close, I recognize the familiar shape of a tree. I walk up to the tree and--as odd as it seems-- it feels very familiar to me. I sit down on a rock and try to place where I had seen this tree before. It’s when I sit down on the rock that I notice something in my back pocket. I pull from my pocket what appears to be a man’s wallet. I flip it open and pull out the only content; a driver’s license. The driver’s license belongs to an Olivander Carl. Dark brown hair and eyes as dead as a sharks characterize this otherwise insignificant human. I had no idea who Mr. Carl was or how I can to posses his driver’s license, but I wanted to return his license to him if I ever wandered out of this dream-like place. I’m alternating between staring at the tree and the photo identification when I catch a glimpse of something move out of the corner of my eye. I whirl around and see-by far-the strangest thing I have ever encountered. It appears to be a brain, a giant brain, with eight spider legs. The arachnidan pays no attention to me and scurries away into the desert.

I’m watching the strange creature disappear into the distance when a crow caws. The sudden burst of sound makes me jump and nearly knocks me over. I turn back to the tree expecting to see a mutant bird creature, but am pleasantly surprised to see a normal harbinger of doom. Not only am I pleasantly surprised, but I am somewhat relieved to see a normal earth-creature. The bird caws, flies around me and flies off in the direction I had originally been walking in. I follow obediently and without a hesitating thought. I follow the bird that I had so lovingly bestowed the name Carl upon for what feels like a week. I had decided to walk as long as he flew. I had devised a poor way to tell how much time was passing. Carl cawed every seven seconds; I soon grew bored of this method of telling time. Finally, I see Carl land on a tree in the distance. When I make it to the tree, I see a spider web. I look close and see something in its web. I look closer and see Olivander Carl’s driver’s license-I must have dropped it when Carl scared me. I’m crestfallen. I just walked in a giant circle. Frustrated, I reach up to take the license from the web and the ground crumbles away.

A sort of liquid-gel breaks my fall. It’s warm and about knee deep. (6)This place, devoid of all light, is the complete opposite of the desert. The only light comes from the hole which I fell through- and it only reaches about a quarter of the way down. I weigh my options and decide to wade through the murky unknown. Wading through the gelatinous material is very difficult. I’m walking along when I feel I small weight on my shoulder. This small weight, which causes me some distress, doesn’t seem overtly threatening. As I try not to panic, I hear a small tweet. A tiny bird has landed on my shoulder; there’s nothing strange about that. I let the tiny bird guide me via chirps to an exit.



Light returns to me and I look and see that my tiny companion is a bright yellow canary; I decide to call him Olivander(a name which seems fitting). Flying happily shows me he approves of this name. The outside of the cave is the foot a cliff. Olivander tells me-in a bird kind of way- to scale it. I ask myself, “Why not?”, and start my trek up the goliath. Olivander chirps happily the entire way. He is a much better companion than Carl was. Olivander flies up over the final stretch of the rock face and his chirping disappears. I panic a little bit and race my heart to the top. My insides still racked with panic, I arrive at the top to see Olivander sitting atop a doorframe.

The doorframe houses a slow spiraling, purplish black substance. Was I supposed to go through the door? It did not look safe to me. Regardless, I walk over and put my hand through. Nothing bad happens, but I am still a little skeptical about walking through it all the way. I stand at the threshold, teetering on the brink but decide to back away and think this through. I sit down to listen to my thoughts: the door might lead out of here, it might start this whole painfully boring experience all over again, it might kill me or it might lead to Narnia.

I look at the door and then to Olivander. He chirps at me gleefully, flies over, and lands on my shoulder. “What do you think I should do?” I ask my feathered friend. He gives one final chirp, flies around me and flies headlong into the portal-he is certain what will happen. I sigh and follow suit. I knew there had to be something on the other side. At least this way, I’ll find out.