The door that had caught her eye was one that was covered in tiny, glowing stars. There was a magical warmth that shot through her when she touched the door.

She stepped through the door and instead of being met with a brilliant light like she was expecting and was met with immense darkness. She put her hand to her face but wasn’t able to see that far in front of her. Shivers ran down her spine as she heard voices coming from somewhere in front of her, but soon she recognized the voices as other children that must’ve picked the same door.

A sharp, screeching noise pierced the dark silence. She saw several red streaks launch from somewhere below a hill she was standing upon. Explosions shook the ground as a dozen fireworks burst into blue and gold lights, but instead of the debris falling back to the ground, they instead lingered in the sky and became stars. Her eyes widened in awe.

At the bottom of the hill, she saw the origin of the fireworks. There was an old man with long white hair and a beard standing at a red cart. He was smiling, the wrinkles at his eyes becoming pronounced, waving smoke away with one hand, and handing out lanterns with the other.

Sam raced down the hill to the old man. His eyes sparkled as she reached the cart.

“Ah! Another dreamer. How marvelous! Would you also like a Wishing Lantern?” The old man said kindly.

“A Wishing Lantern?”

“Yes.” He smiled. “You make a wish and send the lantern to the sky. The candle inside will take your wish to the heavens. Please, come try.”

He handed her a lantern and the warmth that came from it was the same as the door she entered. She thought for a moment and shared her wish to the candle; I wish to keep having dreams like this! She and a group of children released the lanterns and watched their glowing lights fill the sky as they rose higher and higher.

“Come on!” One of the kids said, walking past her. “Let’s go up the hill and see how high they go.”

She nodded and followed. Upon the hill she watched as the lanterns got smaller and then when they reached their limit the shot across the sky, leaving behind a silvery streak much like a meteor shower.

The kids all stayed silent as this happened, only letting out amazed gasps that were few and far between. Soft music filled the silence. Sam looked around to find the source. At the bottom of the hill, there were four, six-foot insects that were creating the songs.

There was a cricket, dressed in a top hat and dove-tail tuxedo playing the violin. A ladybug that wore a beautiful flower crown on her head, strummed an acoustic guitar. A blue beetle used his six arms to drum a soft drum. The fourth insect was a tall dragonfly that played the piano. All their eyes were closed, but they performed their songs without a flaw.

Sam watched the lanterns fly across the sky and swayed to the music as a small voice started softly calling out to her. She looked around hoping to find its origins. The voice began growing and growing until it sounded like someone was right behind her whispering onward! She walked down the backside of the hill until she was confronted by the pencil-thin trees of a dark wood.

The stars shone through the sharp, jagged leafless branches, they seemed straight out of a scary movie. She felt the voice calling from inside the wood. She was apprehensive, but her curiosity won in the end and she walked deeper into the woods. Leaves crunched under her feet as she moved deeper and she shivered as she felt a hundred eyes staring at her.

Soon she was so deep in the forest that the stars couldn’t be seen and she walked in utter darkness; the only sound now was the voice that kept calling her. Onward, it said. Keep going!

She marched forward until she ran face-first into some kind of wooden wall. She rubbed the wall with her hand and light started to emanate from it until she was back in the castle hall once again.

She gasped. I didn’t know you could get out of the doors.

A voice broke through her thoughts.

“That’s enough of you! You are not welcome here.”

Sam watched as the Author walked from in front of one of the doors, across the hall, to the castle’s entrance. He held some dark, gangly creature in both hands. The creature had red eyes, four arms sticking out of its ant-like body, and pincers covering its tooth-lined mouth. The creature was squirming, trying to break free. It screamed a low pitch scream. The Author tossed the creature out and it burst into black mist and was blown away by the wind.

The Author turned and saw the young girl standing there with a flash of fear in her eyes.

“You again.” He said with a bit of a laugh.

At first, she was afraid that he was going to yell at her for leaving the dream room, but he spoke in a way that melted her fears.

“First you create without the help of a Dreamcaster and now you leave the dream door. Very interesting indeed; I should keep my eye on you.”

“I didn’t mean to cause any trouble,” she pleaded. “Please don’t make me leave.”

“Of course not, I wouldn’t do that. You have just proved yourself to be quite an exceptional dreamer. That’s probably why that thing was here.”

“It is my fault that it was here? What was that creature??”

“Don’t worry, child. That creature was a Nightmare. They are attracted to the smell of good dreams. They have been sneaking into this castle for ages.

Don’t fear, as long as I’m around, you have nothing to worry about.” He put his finger to his lips. “Just make sure to keep this between us.”

She nodded in acknowledgment. He winked at her and walked toward the stairs leading to his door, then he turned and smiled.

“Do you hear that sound?” He asked, then flew up the stairs and retreated into his door.

She felt the Magic pulsing through her again. She stood there in silence until she heard a familiar buzzing tone. It grew louder and louder until the castle and all its dreams faded, then Sam woke up in her bed.