I wake up from sleeping, shake my head, yawn and stretch my arms.

I turn to my closet and feel like opening it again but I don’t want to. Because I am afraid I might see what I saw last night. I still think it was a dream. At least I hope. I ignore my closet and walk out of my room. I completely forgot to open my presents last night. The presents are in my room by my front door. There are only three, I open them up and see what I’ve got. I’ve got a nice turquoise backpack from Paul, a notebook from Spencer, and another brown thin robe from Megan. I walk out of my room with my three birthday presents. Mom does not seem to be home. I grab an apple for breakfast. I walk out the front door and start walking to school on the sidewalk. I am halfway to my school. I can see the roof just over the green tall trees. Then, Mark, my dad pulls over in the red van.

“Son you want a ride?” asks Mark.

Part of me wants to just walk away and ignore Mark’s question. But I simply nod my head, step into the red van and Mark starts driving to my school. I still feel a bit upset about what Diana and Mark told me last night. I still can’t believe that my dad quit his job. I know I have to say something about how I feel because I feel like I want to spend time with my dad as much as I can.

“Hey Dad,” I ask.

“Yes?” asks Mark.

I decide that now is not the time to chat.

“Nothing,” I sigh.

Mark turns to me and then back at the road.

“You don’t have anything to say about last night,” says Mark.

I shake my head and turn away from Mark. The red van parks right in front of my school. It makes it just in time as the bell rings. All of the kids walk inside the school. I open the van door and walk out of it.

“Time for me to go, thanks for the ride pops,” I say with a weak smile.

But I do not feel so happy. I only smile so my dad will be happy for now. I walk toward the school doors very slowly because I want my dad to say something to me before I go in.

“Son,” says Mark.

I stop walking and turn to my dad.

“I know that you and I don’t have anything in common,” says Mark.

He lets out a loud sigh and nods. He seems ashamed and so do I.

“I’m sorry that I did not tell you about quitting my job before,” says Mark.

I look at him with a smile and this time my smile feels rather good.

“I’m sorry to Dad. I should tell you if I have any problems at all. You and mom should be the first to know,” I say.

My dad chuckles and nods.

“I guess we do have something in common,” says Mark.

“What?” I ask.

“We’re both afraid to reveal our secrets,” says Mark.

I nod and agree with him.

“Like father, like son,” I say.

“I will find a new job, one that I will do at home,” says Mark.

“That does sound wonderful. Again, sorry I yelled at you last night,” I say.

I turn to the school doors and walk to them.

“Daniel!” shouts Mark, I turn to him.

“I’ll find a job that will make me work not on any important days,” says Mark.

“Like my birthday?” I ask.

Mark nods. I open the front doors of the school.

“I love you, Daniel,” says Mark.

I sigh and hesitate to answer, but I feel like I should and mean the answer.

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“Say I love you too or else you’re a jerk,” I say to myself.

I turn around to respond to Mark.

“I love you to da…” I am interrupted by a red car that crashes into my dad’s red van. I am in shock. I run to my Dad’s van to see if he is all right.

“Dad!” I shout.

My dad is not moving and his eyes are shut. Some cuts are on his face. They are bleeding a bit. I try to open the van door, but it is stuck.

“Dad, wake up!” I shout.

Still, Mark does not respond. I start to panic as I tug on the driver’s door, but it still won’t budge. Mrs. Thatcher walks out of the school to retrieve the American flag. She sees me by the wreckage of the red car and the red van. Mrs. Thatcher gets out her cell phone and dials a few numbers.

“Hello 911! There has been an accident!” says Mrs. Thatcher.

The ambulance comes just in time after she called them. The doctors put my dad on a gurney and then place him in the ambulance. The ambulance drives away from the school. Megan walks out of the school and starts crying. She hugs me.

She has no words for my dad’s accident and neither do I. All I can think about is spending more time with my dad, but he is now on his way to the hospital and I don’t know if we will have more time together.

I got the day off from school because of my dad’s accident. Mrs. Thatcher drives me back home without saying a single word. I walk into my home and mom is still not at home. I assume she’s at the hospital with my injured dad. I walk up to my room and close my door. I turn to my closed closet. I sit on my bed thinking about my dad and that mysterious place I saw in my closet. I sit up and slowly walk to it, placing my right hand on the golden handle. I turn it and open the closet just a crack. The sound of the birds and some rain come into my eardrums. I shake my head and close my closet door. Megan walks into my room.

I turn to her. “How can you come into my room?” I ask.

“Your front door was unlocked.” Megan sets her white backpack near my door.

I sigh and stand in front of my closet “We need to lock it more often,” I say.

Megan nods and sits on my bed.

“You wanna sit by me and talk about it?” asks Megan.

“About what?” I assume she’s talking about my closet.

“Why do bad things always happen to us?” says Megan.

Now I know she’s talking about my dad’s accident. “Us?” I ask Megan.

Megan nods. “My mom left me. Now it’s just me and my drunken dad. He has been drinking ever since my mom left,” answers Megan.

I walk up to Megan and sit by her on my bed. “Has your dad ever hurt you in any way while drinking?” I ask.

“No, not at all. He’s just lazy all the time. I’m usually taking care of him and reminding him to go to work around noon. But he never hits me or shouts at me. He may be drunk but he’s a good father that just misses his wife. I too miss my mom. You see you are not the only one with bad things in your life,” says Megan.

I just stare at my closet door and Megan turns to it.

“Are you even listening to me?” asks Megan.

I don’t feel like answering her as I just stare. Megan shakes my left shoulder.

“Hello, is anyone home?” asks Megan.

I shake my head and turn back to Megan. “Sorry,” I say.

“Why are you staring at your closet?” asks Megan.

“It’s not what you think it is,” I say.

I walk to the closet and place my hand on the doorknob then turn to Megan.

“Megan, do you think that this world is miserable?” I ask her.

Megan stand’s up and scrunches her shoulders.

“Well…considering everything that has happened to us. So…” Megan looks at me as a tear rolls down her face.

“Yes,” chokes Megan.

Megan wipes her tears off of her face.

“Yes I do,” says Megan.

“Good,” I say.

I open the closet to reveal the far away wide land. Megan stares into the closet and gasps. She can hear the birds chirping and the rain pouring down.

“It’s beautiful,” whispers Megan.

She continues staring at the far away land. I turn to it and feel very excited and scared at the same time.

“Let’s go to it,” I say.

“What?” asks Megan.

“I say let’s go,” I repeat.

Megan steps away from the closet.

“But we don’t know what’s out there,” says Megan.

I close my closet and walk to my bed to sit on it. Megan sits by me.

I turn to Megan. “What’s wrong?” I ask.

Megan turns to my closet and then back at me. “I’m afraid. How did that forest get in your closet? It’s just not possible,” asks Megan.

“I don’t know.” I chuckle. “While I was shopping for my birthday decorations, I went into an old shop. It had an old man named John Hollow and his shop was filled with so many mythical fantasy things. You know I like myths and fantasy. So I found this magic potion and splashed it on my closet and this beautiful land appeared in it,” I answer.

I turn back to the door and chuckle.

“Whatever kind of land this is, I’m going to check it out,” I say.

Megan grabs my right arm. “Daniel, you can’t just walk into a mysterious land. Why did you even take that magic potion in the first place? You know it’s wrong to steal.” Megan releases my arm.

“I didn’t steal that potion, John Hollow, the old man, gave it to me,” I say.

“Why?” asks Megan.

I get off my bed, grab my backpack and grab stuff that I might need. My cell phone, pocket knife, extra blue t-shirts, underwear, shampoo, and socks.

“John Hollow gave me a stare as if he was expecting me in the old shop. I told him it was my birthday after he mentioned my middle name. I swear he’s been waiting for me. And you know that feeling I had yesterday?” I ask.

Megan nods.

“It’s still here. I still don’t know if it’s good or bad. But I need to find out what that feeling is.” I turn to the closet door.

“I know I can’t find the answers here, but I might find them in that other world that’s in my closet.” I turn back to Megan.

“I’m going with or without you Meg,” I say.

“I don’t know,” answers Megan.

“Megan, you said you always wanted an adventure, well here’s one,” I say.

Megan does not answer me. I walk up to Megan and stand in front of her.

“Megan this is here for a reason. And I want to find out what that reason is.” I walk to the closet door and grab the golden handle.

“Wait!” shouts Megan. “I’ll go.” Megan walks up to me.

She grabs her school backpack. I smile at her and open the closet. I still feel very nervous and scared. But I know that this land is in my closet for a reason. And I know that the old man from the shop was expecting me. There has to be a reason why he gave that magic potion to me. And why he was expecting me in that old shop.