CHRONICLES OF NARNIA : THE MAGICIAN'S NEPHEW (THE WRONG DOOR)

THE STORY BELONGS TO Sir C.S Lewis.

(I re-wrote it with my own words and changed the characters.)

an option, O foreign adventurers. decide and choose one option.

ring the bell, and face the danger of precarious,

or keep the curious, to vanish sanity,

of what would have happened if you did...

This is a story about something that happened long ago when your grandparents were kids. This story is important because it reveals how all the comings and goings between our own world and the land of Narnia first began. Interesting, isn’t it? I know some of you hate history. so do I. We’re not much different. but this time, I’ll tell a history that I guarantee won’t make you bored or sleepy.

In those days, Mr. Sherlock Holmes was still living in Baker Street and Bastable families were still searching for a hidden treasure in Lewinsham Road. in those days, if you were a boy, then you had to wore a stiff Eton collar every day, and schools were usually more cruel than the present. But meals were nicer; and as for sweets, I won't tell you how cheap and good they were, because it’ll only make you drool in vain. and at that time, there lived in London a girl named Wendy Son.

She  lived in one of the houses in a long row of adjoining houses. in one morning, she was in the back garden when a boy scrambled up from the garden next door and put his head above the wall. Wendy was very surprised because up to that time, it had never been any children in the house, only Mr. Ash and Ms. Ash, they were siblings and mostly known as an old bachelor and old maid, living together. Wendy looked up, full of curiosity. The boy's face was very grubby. It was almost could not more dirty if he had first rubbed his hands on the ground, cried loudly, then dried his face with both of his hands. As a matter of fact, this was very nearly what he had been doing.

"hallo"  Wendy greeted the boy.

"hallo" replied the boy. "What’s your name?" he asked.

"Wendy" she answered. "and your name?" she asked back.

"Sehun" replied the boy.

"what a strange name." said Wendy in reproaching tone.

Sehun was somewhat offended "I think Wendy is more bizarre."

“no. Your name is the most bizarre.”  Wendy did not  want to be outdone.

“you’re a fine one to talk” cried Sehun irritably.

Wendy cleared her troath nervously "well, I'm certainly going to wash my face, which you need to do, especially after you ----" she had been going to say "after you've been bubbling" but she thought it won't be polite.

"Okay. I'm going to wash my face" Sehun spoke in a much louder voice, like he was so sad so that he  did not care about people knew he had been cried.

"but you're also going to do this" he continued, "if all of your previous days you lived in a countryside, had a pony and a river at the bottom of the garden, but at the end, they brought you to live in this dreadful slum cave"

“London is not a cave” Wendy assured him. but the boy was too angry to heard it. He continued his ravings.

"and if your father is away in India and you have to live with those insane people (his uncle and his aunt). who will want to? And especially if the reason is because they have to keep your mother because your mother is ill and will die ......" then his face began to form in such strange that commonly arise when you're trying to hold back tears.

"I didn’t know that. I'm sorry" Wendy spoke softly. then, because she hardly did not know what to say, she tried to distracted Sehun’s attention to encouraging topics.

“about Mr. Ash, is he that crazy? I mean... is he totally insane?” she asked stiffly.

"even if he’s not mad, he must have another mystery. He has a work space on the top floor and Aunt Letty says that I'm not allowed to go in there, it sounds suspicious, doesn’t it? then there is one more thing, whenever my uncle tries to say anything to me while eating , aunt Letty will immediately shuts him up. For example in the middle of last breakfast, she said 'you don’t have to worry about the boy, Andrew' or 'I'm sure Sehun doesn’t want to hear about it' or otherwise 'Sehun , don’t you wanna play outside?”” Sehun explained briefly.

“what thing that your uncle want to tell you?” Wendy curiosity asked.

"I have no idea, he is never able to talk a lot, but there's more intriguing. One night, in fact yesterday night, when I passed the bottom of the ladder to the attic, specifically when i was on my way to sleep, I'm sure I heard a scream." Sehun talked quitely.

“maybe he was holding up his crazy wife up there” Wendy guessed.

“yes, I've thought about that possibility.” Sehun added.

“or maybe he’s actually a counterfeit money maker” Wendy continued.

“or he might have been a pirate, like the man who is at the beginning of the book Treasure Island, 

which is always hiding from his friends.” Sehun added.

“I’m excited!” Wendy shouted.

“You might argue that the house is interesting. but you won’t like it if you have to sleep there. Will you still like it if you must always lay awake listening for uncle Andrew’s footsteps creep along the corridor towards your house? just so you know, he has terrible eyes.” Said Sehun firmly.

so was the story of how Wendy and Sehun were getting know each other. and because it was still the beginning of the summer holidays and none of both went to sea that year, they met almost every day.

The most valuable reason of their adventure was because that summer was the coldest wet summer ever. This situation made them had to content themselves with the activities in the house, arguably, adventure inside the house. how much adventure can you do with a lump of wax in a big house, or row of houses? It must be so amazing. Wendy has long found that if you opened  a small particular door in the attic that shaped like a box at her house, we would find a water storage and a dark room behind, which you could enter with a little careful climbing. The dark room was like a long tunnel with brick wall on one side and a steep roof on the other side. At the roof, little tufts of light penetrated between the cavity-sockets. 

There was no floor in that tunnel. we would have to step from rafter to rafter. and among them there were only plasters. if we step on these plasters, you would find yourself falling from the ceiling of the room below. Wendy used a small portion of the tunnel, exactly next to the water storage. she used it as a smugglers cave. she took some parts crate of old clothes, some broken kitchen chair pads, and other similar objects, and then spread it all over the rafters in order to formed a kind of floor. this was where she kept her money box containing various treasures, and also the stories that she was writing, and usually a few apples. she often secretly drank ginger beer there. Her old bottles made the place really looked  like a smugglers cave.

Sehun quite liked the cave. but he was not satisfied just by seeing it. he wanted to immediately begin the adventure excursions in the tunnel.

“Wendy, how long is this tunnel, actually? I mean, is it ends at the end of your house” he eyed at Wendy.

“no, the walls aren’t ended up to the roof of this house, but continue to elongate. I don’t know to what extent.” Said Wendy as she looked around.

“if so, we can roam as far as the length of this row of houses.” Sehun guessed.

“it seems so. and oh! Gee!” Wendy gasped.

“what?”

“we probably can sneak into other houses!”

“yes, and will be considered as robbers. No, thank you.” Sehun chuckled as he rolled his eyes.

“stop act knowingly!” Wendy grabbed Sehun’s collar. “i mean the house next to your house” she whispered as blinked her eyes twice.

“is there something interesting from that house?” Sehun asked stiffly.

Wendy got her hands rid of Sehun's collar. “the house is empty” she snorted, “daddy told me that the house has always been empty since we moved here.”

“it means we should try to see it” said Sehun vaguely.

if you heard him talking, you would not have guessed that in fact he was much more vibrant than he looked as he was thinking about the reasons why the house was empty. You surely will do the same thing if you stuck in such situation. so was Wendy. none of them were saying the word "haunted".  both felt that once an idea blazed, would be cowardly if they did not do it.

“so, will we try to step out our feet there now?” Sehun asked.

“I'm in the game if you are” said Wendy glumly.

Sehun gave a great sniff as he eyed at Wendy “i’ll have a go by myself if you dont want to.”

“I'm not going to stay and wait.” Wendy snorted irritably.

“Okay if so. by the way, how can we know if we already at the house?” Sehun asked as he stepped his feet slowly.

they decided to be out of the box room and walked across it by walking as many steps required to moved from one rafter to another. This action was able to gave them estimate of how many rafters that must be passed to passed one room. they exaggerated approximately four rafters to estimated the hallway between the two attics at Wendy’s house, then an amount equal to the box-shaped space for the maid’s bedroom.

These calculations helped them figured out the length of a house. if they had been through that distance twice as far, they would arrive at the end of Sehun’s house. any door they encountered after that would bring them to the attic of the empty house.

“but somehow, I guess the attic we’re looking for isn’t completely empty” said Sehun firmly.

“do you even think there will be anything there?” Wendy asked as she shaked her head.

“I think there will be someone who lives quietly there, comes and goes at night with a lantern lit.” Sehun guessed.

He continued “we might find a gang of desperate criminals and get a reward for their capture. Practically, it’s impossible if a house has been empty for many years without any single mystery behind it.”

“according to daddy, the pipes in the house are definitely not functioning properly. that's why no one wants to occupy the house.” Wendy explained briefly.

“Grown-ups always explain such boring things.” Sehun snorted as he pulled a long face.

at that time they were talking in the attic with afternoon sunlight instead of by candlelight in the Wendy’s smugglers cave. The more they discovered the tunnel, the more possibility about the house was haunted had gone away.

when finished measuring the attic, they took pencils and did the sums. Initially, both got different results, and even when they finally agreed with one result, it looked like they had not been calculating properly. they were so anxious to immediately begin the adventure.

“we must not emit any sounds” said Wendy as they both climbed up again to the back of the water storage.

because it is an important adventure, each of them brought a single candle. they were grateful because Wendy had a lot of inventory candles in her cave.

the state was so dark, dusty, and humid as they stepped from rafter to rafter without saying any single word, except when they were whispering "we already across the attic now" or "we have passed the half-way of this house"

they never stumbled and the candles were never extinguished. Then they finally reached a place where they could see a small door in the brick wall to the right of them. no lock neither or door knob attached because apparently the door was made to get in and not to come out, but there was a sort of grip, as is commonly found in the closet door, which they believed could be turned.

“can i open it” Sehun asked softly.

“if you're pleased.” Wendy nooded.

both felt the situation was getting to be serious, but none of them were willing to retreat. with a bit difficulty, Sehun pressed and turned the handle. the door swung open and the afternoon sun that suddenly burst out made their eyes blinked. then, along with a sense of surprise, they found that they were not looking at an abandoned attic, on the contrary, a well-appointed room. However, the room indeed seemed uninhabited.

It was dead silent and Wendy’s curiosity mastered her. She blew out her canldle, walked silently into that strange room. the room was shaped like an attic, but furnished in lounge style. each side of wall was lined by shelves and every corner of the shelves were filled with books. A fire was burning in the fireplace (in the beginning I've already mentioned that the summer was the coldest wet summer ever) and in front of the fireplace, there was a high-backed armchair with its back toward them.

Between the chair and Wendy, filling most of the space, there was a large table filled with various objects --- printed books, types of books that you could write in, as well as several bottles of ink, pens, candles, seals, and a microscope. but one thing that immediately attracted Wendy’s attention was a red wooden tray on which a few rings laid. 

They were in pairs --- a yellow one paired with the green one, then a little space, and then another yellow one with another green one. the rings were not larger than normal rings, and nothing could distract anyone’s eyes from the objects because they were brightly shining. The most beautiful glowing things you can imagine. If Wendy was younger, she would have wanted to put one in her mouth.

The room was so quiet that you instantly heard the ticking clock. And yet, as Wendy now found, it was not absolutely quiet either. There was a faint buzzing sound --- a very, very faint sound. if the vacuum cleaner had been invented in those days, Wendy must have thought it was the sound of the vacuum cleaner which was being used far, far down there, apart a few rooms on several floors below. but the buzz was more fun than the sound of engine. more pitched, it just was so faint that you could hardly hear it.

“It is okay. no one’s here.” said Wendy over her shoulder to Sehun. She was speaking above a whisper.

shortly thereafter, Sehun walked into the room, blinked his eyes. his body looked dirty at all, as indeed Wendy was too.

“this is not good” said Sehun.

“this is definitely not an empty house. we'd better go before anyone comes.” He gasped.

“What do you think those are?” said Wendy, pointing at the coloured rings

“oh, come on.”  Sehun pulled Wendy’s arm as he walked toward the door, "the sooner we go, then -------“

he never finished his words for right at that moment, something happened. The high-backed chair in front of the fireplace suddenly moved and then stood up of it, like a demon pantonim out of a door under a stage, surprisingly figure of Uncle Andrew!

they were not in the empty house but in Sehun’s house and in the forbidden room!

“o-oo-oohh” both kids stuttered. They realized their mistake. They felt they ought to have known all along that they hadn't gone nearly far enough.

Uncle Andrew was tall and very thin. He had a long clean-shaven face with a sharply-pointed nose and extremely bright eyes and a great tousled mop of grey hair. Sehun wasn’t able to speak, because now Uncle Andrew looked a thousand times more horrible than before. Wendy wasn’t so frightened yet; but soon she was, for the first act Uncle Andrew did is to walked toward the door of the room, closed it, and locked it. then he turned around, stared at the two kids with his piercing eyes, and smiled, showing all his teeth.

“well now” he grinned. “my fool-silly-stupid-airhead sister will not be able to help you”

The action was not action that we expect will be done by adults. Wendy heart seemed want to jump out. She and Sehun began to walk backwards into the small door that they had been through before, but unfortunately, uncle andrew was just too fast compared to them. He was already be behind them, shut the door, and stood in the way. then he rubbed his hands and making his fingers crunched. He had nice-whitish-long fingers.

“i’m very pleased for your coming” he Said, “just as I need two children.”

“I beg you, Mr.Ash, it's been almost dinner time and I have to go home. would you please let us out?” said Wendy nervously.

“not yet.” He answered, “This opportunity is too good to pass up. I did want two children. so you see, I'm doing a great experiment. I've tested it on a hamster and it appeared to be successful. but the problem is, it can’t tell you anything, and you can’t explain the way back to it.”

“so Uncle Andrew, now is dinner time and they will soon be looking for us. you have to let us out.” Said Sehun firmly.

“Should I?” asked uncle Andrew

Sehun and Wendy exchanged glances. they didn’t  dare to say anything, their glances meant "this is extremely terrible" and "we have to persuade him."

“if you let us go out to dinner now, we can come back here later.” Wendy tried to persuade him. 

“ah, but how can I be sure you will do that?” asked uncle Andrew with a sly smile. and apparently he changed his mind.

“well well, if you really must go, I think you should go. I can’t expect  two youngsters like you would be interested in talking with an old man like me.” he rudely breathed then continued,

“you absolutely can’t  imagine how lonely I sometimes am. but not a problem. go dinner. but I'll give you a gift before you go. not every day I get to see a little girl in my dingy room, especially, if I may be frank, a very pretty young lady like yourself.” He eyed shifty at Wendy.

Wendy began to think that maybe he was not totally insane.

“wouldn’t you like a ring, my dear?” asked uncle Andrew to Wendy.

“do you mean one of those yellow and green rings? you are so kind!” said Wendy happily. 

“not a green one” he said, “unfortunately I can not give a green ring. but I would be delighted to be able to give one of the yellow rings, along with my love. come on, try one of them.”

Wendy now had quite mastered her fear and convinced that the old man was not mad. Moreover, certainly there is something strangely appealing by the shiny rings. Wendy began to move closer to the tray.

"oh, gee ... The humming noise sounds louder here. almost as if the rings sound it out” said Wendy.

“funny fancy, my dear” said Uncle Andrew with a laugh. The laughter sounded like a very ordinary, but Sehun saw an excited-almost greedy expression on his face.

“Wendy! Don’t be fool!” he screamed. “don’t touch those rings!”

It was late. just as Sehun shouted, Wendy’s hand outstretched to touch one of the rings. and suddenly, without any flash of light, sound, or any warning, Wendy disappeared. Sehun and his uncle be left alone.

-TO BE CONTINUED-