"You look tired, Sandra."
The fifteen year old girl yawned, and stretched herself.
"I had such a weird dream", she mumbled. Her mother shook her head.
"You have too much fantasy, young lady", she said seriously, and placed a hand on her daughter's forehead. "Still fever. Control how much you've got, so we'll know if the treatment works."
"Yea, I know", Sandra muttered, and put her feet into the slippers made of wool, before she flung the purple dressing gown on and followed her mother out to the kitchen. Her two younger sisters were already eating.
"Are you sick?" the youngest one asked.
"Sandra has very sensitive sinuses, Alice, and if she gets a cold it often results in a sinusitis", their mother answered, just as she and Sandra sat down at the table. Sandra's two year younger sister, Lilith, sat in front of her with her nose in some horse magazine.
"How's it going?" she asked.
"The horse has been stolen", Lilith muttered.
"No, not that", Sandra sighed. "I mean with Dustin."
Lilith put down the magazine, and looked irritated at her sister.
"He's as irritating as usual", she answered shortly.
"Why don't you tell him to leave you alone?" Sandra asked, and received the tea from her mother.
"Don't you think I've tried?" Lilith groaned. "He's after me anyway!"
"Tell him you're busy", Sandra suggested.
"With who?" Lilith muttered. "No one except Dustin can imagine being with me."
"Make up someone", Sandra suggested. "Someone you met during the spring vacation. After all, we were away then."
Lilith sat silent for a while, before she smiled.
"A tall guy with a pale, sharp face, grey eyes, short, blond hair that stands out in every direction, and a good sense of vogue."
"What personality has he?" Sandra asked, and took a bite from her sandwich.
"He's… cool", Lilith answered.
"Nothing more?" Sandra asked. "Does he see you like a friend, or are you just there to entertain him? Does he help people, or does he ignore them?"
"Who cares?" Lilith said, and shrugged her shoulders. Then she rose from the table.
"He's cool, that's all."
"Let your sister be, now", their mother said, and put her hand on Sandra's shoulder. "She can't ignore a boy like you can."
That was true. Sandra had learned to oppress her feelings for boys, which had made it easier for her to cooperate with them. She had noticed that several in her new class, a music-class, wanted to know the secret behind it. Her answered had always been one word; power. Inside her was a power that had helped her to oppress her feelings, such as pain and love. As usual, it was just one of her fantasies, but it worked as an explanation to her work. Just like that ring she used to talk about, specially with the girl in the class who was a little bit excluded. As soon as someone helped her, gave her a friendly compliment or something like that, Sandra said that they had 'come out of the ring'.
"Sandra?"
She looked up. Her mother stood in the door, ready to go.
"Remind Lilith to bring Alice swimsuit, 'right?"
Sandra nodded, and her mother said good bye. Since Lilith for the moment was on a school a hundred meters from Alice's, she had the commission to leave her on the way. Sandra took a new bite of her sandwich, and unfolded the newspaper. It was as usual; critic against USA, the pollution, everything that came up in the Daily News. First when she came to the page with domestic-news, she stopped. With big letters on the top of the page it said MYSTICAL DOOR OPENED IN NORWICH. As she read on, she realised that the place were the mystical door had opened up was out on the common land, a hundred meters north of their house. She shuddered. First these weird dreams, were people she didn't know called for help, and now this; a mystical door a hundred meters away from her home. That she also was sick didn't help too much.
"Sandra?"
Lilith stood with Alice in one hand in the door.
"We're going now", she said. "Can you lock the door later?"
"Sure", Sandra said in a low voice. "Did you remember the swimsuit?"
"Alice has nagged about them all morning, so it was hard to forget", Lilith answered with a grin, before she and Alice went out the door. The silence fell over the house, as Sandra ate the rest of her breakfast. She didn't feel too sick. The fever had probably sunken. Maybe she should go and see that door? It would give her some fresh air, and she might also find out what this mystical door was, which could be exciting. With a low sigh she rose from the table, and began to clear the table.
Ten minutes later, she walked out the door and locked it behind herself. Then she walked away towards the common land. Polices were seen everywhere, like the media and curious neighbours.
"How's the investigation going? What door is it? Where does it lead? Has we at last been heard by God? Is this the end of the world?"
The questions were flung at the poor polices, who hardly got to say a word. Sandra climbed up the lower part of the railing, and looked out on the common land. It looked as usual.
"You!"
A police in his thirties walked over to her.
"Stay away, these are dangerous things", he said seriously. Sandra raised one of her eyebrows.
"I can't see any door", she said, just as serious as the police. "Did people lie about it?"
"No, they didn't", the police answered shortly. "You see that copse? In the middle of it, there are two trees, and their branches form something that looks like a gateway. If you throw something in between them… it disappears."
"How was it discovered?" Sandra asked.
"Hey, are you some kind of a freelancer or something?" the police asked harshly. "'Cause I wont answer any questions for the media."
"No, I live in the house away there."
She pointed, and the police nodded.
"What is your name, then?" he asked. "Why aren't you in school?"
"My name is Sandra Liberty Roberts", Sandra answered. "Since some days ago I've had a sinusitis, so I had to stay at home. Now the fever is beginning to sink, so I can go out and walk a little bit. What's your name?"
"Constable Atwood", the police answered. "Lincoln Atwood."
He reached out his hand, and Sandra shook it with a smile.
"So, how was the door discovered?" she asked.
"Some guys were out yesterday afternoon, and they went up to the copse. Evidently they had some Coke with them, and one of them didn't want to bring the plastic bottle home. He threw it right between the trees, and it disappeared in the air, just below the branches."
"Sound like a magical story to me", Sandra said, and looked at the copse. Something told her that it all had a connection with her dreams.
"Can I go to the copse and look?" she asked after a while.
"Go to the copse and look?" Atwood exclaimed. "Are you mad?"
"Some say so, yes", Sandra answered.
"The area is blocked", the constable said a while later. "I can't let you walk up there."
"Is the whole common land blocked?" Sandra asked, surprised. Atwood didn't answer; he just went back to his colleges. Sandra looked after him, before she jumped down from the railing and went back to her house.
As she reached the door, she opened it, and closed it. Then she jumped down from the stairs, and crept away to the back of the house. Thanks to her love of nature, she knew that the forest behind her house lead all the way to the common land, and there were also a broken part of the railing. She could manage to get there. Now when Atwood thought she had gone home, he wouldn't keep watching for her. Silently she moved into the forest, and found her way through the trees. She saw the common land on her left side, some meters away, behind its railing. Some minutes later, she found the hole in the railing. She got through, and stood behind one of the trees in the edge of the wood. Her only chance was to run as fast as she could, straight to the copse. It was some fifty meters away. The police had to run twice as long, if they saw her. Maybe she would have the time to examine the place before they came. She took a deep breath, bade silently to some God or Goddess, before she ran out the forest. It felt like she was flying forward over the grass. She thought she had never run so fast. A way behind her she heard a whistle, but she didn't stop to see if they came after her. She continued to run; up the hill were the copse lay and straight to the trees. Now, she stood a meter in front of them. She heard steps behind her, and turned around. Two polices ran up the hill, and a third one was coming. She started to back.
"Stop, you're breaking the law!" one of them said breathless.
"You can back, we'll have you soon", the other one continued. Sandra took another step backwards. The third police came up the hill, just as the two others took two big steps forward.
"Don't back!" the third one roared, frightened. Sandra took another step backwards, and disappeared in front of the police. The last one stared at the empty spot.
"What the hell did you just do?" he exclaimed.
"How could we know she would back?" one of the others said irritated.
"I should have known she would go up here. She was so curious."
"Atwood, children are always curious", one of his friends said. "Come on, let's go."
He and the other police went away, back to the railing, but Atwood stayed.
"She wasn't just a child", he mumbled.