Sitting on gran’s tatty sofa, Lucy and Ben were bored again – no surprise there. Every summer, at the beginning of August, the nine year old twins were removed from their house in London forced by their parents to spend the holiday with their gran somewhere near Cambridge. She seemed to live in the middle of nowhere but always said she was from ‘somewhere near Cambridge’. Gran was a fragile but charming old woman who loved to knit. Every time the twins arrived to visit, gran had made another pair of woollen slippers for them. Even though it was always too warm to wear them, the twins smiled politely and thanked gran. Leaving gran’s house was always difficult because she couldn’t go too far without taking a break. Besides, she had a decent sized garden and mum and dad loved just relaxing and talking. So the twins usually played in the confined space of the garden. At least they were able to mess about with Winston (the hairy cocker spaniel with floppy ears) that gran seemed to have had for years.

On the second day of their visit, Lucy asked, “Can we please go out for a short walk? Ben and I are both nine years old now so we can look after ourselves.”

Their mother looked at her father with a strange glint in her eye. Then their father looked strangely at gran. Gran smirked and replied in her slightly shaky, fragile voice, “Why don’t you go out for an hour or so. There isn’t much trouble to get into around here. There are only a few forested areas and not much else for miles. I don’t have any neighbours either so there’s nobody you can disturb.”

Mum and dad both agreed, “Don’t go too far though” explained dad.

“Make sure you’re both back for lunch in an hour!” shouted mum.

However Lucy and Ben barely caught the end of mum’s words because they were too anxious to get out and play. Winston rushed out of the house with them. They were off! Winston was jumping around and barking as if he’d never been out of gran’s sight.

Then Winston ran further and further away. Ben and Lucy worried and that worry began to grow into fear that they might lose the dog. They raced after him into the woods. Running deeper and deeper into the woods, the twins finally caught up to Winston. He was in a tiny clearing in the woods. Standing completely still, Winston was growling and staring at something. What was it?

Just in front of them was a small, ginger cat. Quick as a flash it darted up one of the enormous trees surrounding them. Clink, clink. There was a faint sound above them. As the breeze rustled through the ivy they heard it again.

“What’s that?” asked Lucy.

Craning their necks, they took a closer look. Suddenly the sunlight reflected off something. What was it? Carefully, Ben climbed up, focused and unaware of the rough edges of the ivy leaves as they scratched him. Something sparkled for a second and then just as quickly it was gone again. A moment later he caught sight of it again and reached up and grabbed it before tumbling to the ground.

“It’s a key!” exclaimed Ben.

“But what’s it for?” wondered Lucy out loud. “What a strange place to keep a key, there must be a door here somewhere.”

Within minutes they were searching, using their hands to pull back the thick, dense curtain of ivy, the long, dark vines draping from the tall trees. It was so overgrown it was as if no one had been there for one hundred years. All of a sudden Lucy felt something hard and rough. She gave one last tug and saw it.

“Over here. Quick. I found it!” yelled Lucy.

In front of them was a solid, old oak door. As the trees creaked in the gentle breeze, they edged closer and closer. Bravely, Ben extended his arm and gingerly put the key into the rusty, old keyhole.

“It won’t turn,” he cried in dismay.

Together they used all their strength and suddenly the door gave way with a loud groan. A bright flash of light blinded them as they tumbled through to the other side.

“Bzzz,” buzzed a lone bee on a nearby rose bush as the sweet scent wafted over whilst the sound of birds chirping filled the air. The smell of fresh country air filled their nostrils. There was something very familiar about it. Quietly they crawled to the edge of the bush and peered out.

Silently, they crept through the door, closer and closer towards the bright light that seemed to come from nowhere. The light suddenly dimmed and Ben and Lucy found themselves in a room, off which led three passages. BANG, the secret door slammed closed behind them and vanished from sight! Lucy was mortified, her heart pumping like an angry bull,

“We’re trapped, now what are we going to do?” screamed Lucy. Ben, however, was trying to hold himself together and be brave – he was a boy after all!

“Don’t worry Lucy, I’ll get us out of here.”

Suddenly the lights flashed on again and in front of them they saw, engraved on the wall in blood, a riddle. It read:

‘How many legs do you have in the morning, the afternoon and the evening? This will determine which passage you take.’

“What does that mean?” questioned Lucy in a panicked voice.

“Be quiet, I’m trying to think,” replied Ben sternly.

Out of the shadows, a man unexpectedly appeared before them. He had old, musty hair with a battered top hat perched on top, his eye sockets looked so empty it felt as if nothing was there. Despite the fact he held a walking stick, he was surprisingly nimble on his feet. He had a grizzly leather jacket slung over his right shoulder and when he opened his mouth, his teeth were all missing. The hair rose on the backs of Ben and Lucy’s necks like static electricity, Ben tried to scream but nothing came out of his mouth. Lucy grabbed hold of what she thought was Ben’s arm but when she looked down she was horrified to find she was holding onto the old man’s wrinkled arm. He held up the two fingers that were remained on his hand and then disappeared back into the shadows. The children were left paralysed with confusion and fear. A voice then spoke from the shadows saying,

“Ben, I am your future self, if you fail to solve the riddle, you’ll end up trapped in the shadows like me. Your future will depend on how you answer this riddle. You have two minutes before your destiny is altered forever. Those two minutes start now!”

“I’ve got it, the riddle is linked to our ages. In the morning we are a baby so we have four legs when we crawl, the afternoon we have two legs and are standing up, and in the evening we have three legs as we have a walking stick. Which passage shall we choose to retain our life?” shouted Ben excitedly.

Lucy turned to look at Ben, bewildered by what he had just said, she couldn’t understand how he had solved the riddle so quickly. Before she had time to question him, they heard Winston bark from the depths of the middle passage. They dived into the passage without thinking about their choice and heard a reassuring voice echoing behind them,

“Good luck, be happy with your choice. I hope your life is better than mine.”

The passage was damp and murky, running was hard-going as it was boggy and sticky. Ben and Lucy began to feel very unsure as to whether they had made the right choice or not. They couldn’t see anything in front of them but were reassured by the cries of Winston that they heard echoing around them. After a few minutes, an outline of Winston appeared. Lucy tried to pick him up but her arms passed straight through him. A barking could still be heard far off so they continued to follow the sound. The noise seemed to be attracting them like a magnet towards a glimmering light. As they reached the light, the barking stopped. Where was Winston? More importantly where were they?

As Lucy and Ben exploded from the passage they found themselves back in Gran’s garden but something was different and they were about to find out how their lives would turn out if they didn’t act quickly…

Around them was not a garden they were familiar with, it looked a bit like gran’s but it was muddy, overgrown and choked with weeds. Ben started to move slowly and cautiously around the garden, inspecting every leaf, with a confused Lucy trailing behind him.

After wandering around, for what seemed like forever, Ben caught sight of the door to the house. It was not its usual red, but, instead, a rusty brown. Ben and Lucy started sprinting towards it, when they plummeted down a hole that had magically appeared. The hole was dark and murky, just like the passage in the room…

Suddenly, Ben and Lucy hit a pile of soft leaves. Wobbling, Ben looked up and saw his future self.

“Ben” he croaked, his voice echoing all around the room. “I’m putting a spell on you; it will make you look like me, because you picked the wrong passage.”

Lucy screamed. As the man was raising his arm, he stopped, looked at his hands and whispered “M…my powers, they’re gone.”

The man smiled at them and turned to start messing with his glass jar. Lucy then nudged Ben and nodded at the door, it looked locked.

“Shall we see what’s out there?” asked Ben. “It might be dangerous.”

“Anywhere but in here feels like paradise to me.” whispered Lucy.

Ben and Lucy quietly stumbled to their feet and ran out of the rust door. As soon as they got out sunrays beamed onto their faces. Great, they were back in gran’s garden.

The sunlight was blocked by a dark, black shadow and in front of them they could make out that the figure was gran.

“Where were you my children?” Gran muttered in a trembling voice.

Ben looked down at the floor and started to speak with an anxious tone. As a bead of sweat formed on his forehead, he replied, “We were just exploring in the woods.”

Gran frowned, tilted her head and looked them straight in the eyes.

“I know what you have been up to. You have found the door haven’t you?”

Ben was curious about how Gran knew about the door. If she knew about the door, she knew about the passageway.

Gran revealed a mystical book which she pulled out from under her shawl. The book appeared to be ancient, covered in golden zig zags with letters they did not recognise. Ben and Lucy gasped as they saw the ginger cat reappear. The cat displayed his claws and his sharp teeth, he made a vicious hissing sound. Suddenly the cat started to change his form. As Ben looked closely he saw that the cat was turning into him! He was turning into the Ben of the future! Ben and Lucy’s blood ran cold as they witnessed Ben’s future form.

Gran acted quickly and turned to face the being. She strongly raised the book into the air. The book flashed as if lightening was filtering out of it. Ben and Lucy were astonished and their jaws dropped with fear. Gran stood her ground. Bold. Triumphant. Fearless.

Whilst Gran held the magical book out the being was blinded and disintegrated in front of their eyes. The children could not understand what had just happened.

Gran informed them that as a child the door would often appear and she would step through it and enjoy the alternate world. One day she had come across the book and knew it was powerful. She had vowed never to return because once the book was returned the door would be no more. Gran handed Ben the book and whispered, “Keep it safe my dear, this is not the end!”

by Year 4 pupils from St Edmund’s, Heathfield Junior, Holy Trinity, East Sheen, Chase Bridge and St Mary’s primary schools