A magical Christmas Eve to remember - 1st of 2 parts

CEBU, Philippines - It’s the 24th of December! Excitedly, Melisa and her younger brother Robin are in the living room waiting for their parents to come home. Melisa is staring at the glass window while Robin is looking for something to eat.

The two kids are waiting for hours for their mom and dad to arrive. Robin cannot wait any longer. It is the eve of Christmas and Melisa is hopeful her parents will be home before midnight.  She is actually a patient girl. Robin is eating a lollipop bursting with chocolate flavor that it makes him feel dizzy and sleepy. “Hey Melisa, you want lollipop? It’s so delicious!” After awhile, he drops the lollipop, fall asleep on the thick carpet and snores loudly.

She goes near the lollipop and sees another one hanging on the colorful Christmas tree. The lollipop twinkles, it scares Melisa. She shakes her brother to awaken him but he continues to snooze. Out of curiosity, Melisa has no choice but to pick up the mysterious lollipop her brother ate.

“Creepy!” Melisa whispers as she picks it up. Beside the lollipop is a string of paper. “Now, where did this come from?” she asks herself as she read the words loudly: “The tree of faith shall save us all!”

Robin wakes up and sees his sister holding the lollipop and frowns at her. He takes the lollipop away from her and throws it in the trash bin. Suddenly, a tall green man with red hair and with one big grin on his face pops out of the trash bin. Both children are stunned and stare only at the weird fellow and faint!

When they wake up, they find themselves in a huge yellow room with a glass floor that glitters. The wall is adorned with sky blue floral curtains and the ceiling is painted with boxes of gifts, candy canes and lollipops. A woman is beside them combing her wavy golden hair. She looks so tall, she has fair skin and beautiful deep set blue eyes. Robin sees a feather falls on his left side. He tries to reach for it but it seems the feather is trying to avoid him.

Melisa looks pale as she tries to stop her brother, but, he continues to disregard her. She hisses “What are you doing?! She`s looking at you! Stop it!”  Robin laughs at her as if it is a joke when he suddenly feels a light touch on his shoulder. “Dear, stop it or else the feather will continue to ignore you,” the woman says softly. Robin has a bad feeling about her as he turns around and screams while running towards the door. Melisa looks at the woman and gasps. She is the most beautiful lady she ever sees. Her flowing purple gown reaches her feet as she helps Melisa get up. “Oh! I am very sorry about my brother. He`s sometimes a little naughty,” says Melisa while her body is shaking. The woman giggles and adds, “Silly, it`s my fault. I make myself look ugly when I touch his shoulder so he will stop hurting the poor little creature.” Melisa looks confuse as she silently asks herself, “What little creature is she talking about?” Then, she picks up the feather but immediately drops it and rubs her finger. “What is that? It bit me!” Melisa feels a slight sting. The woman sighs and says, “It`s a snail and I call it Neil. It will help you on your journey to the Forbidden City. It is a dangerous place for me and my people to go to.” Melisa looks surprise and asks, “What exactly do you mean by us going on a journey to the Forbidden City?”

“The Forbidden City, my dear, is a place where nothing good happens,” the woman says sadly. “I’m Queen Christmas! Queen of all the fairies, elves, stars, candies and many more things that children believe about Christmas. Santa Claus is a very dear friend of mine. You can find me in your locket. Go on, open it,” says Queen Christmas, pointing at Melisa`s locket. Without a warning, Robin goes back in the room and taps Queen Christmas, “Umm, Lady, there is a weird looking man and a woman outside. They said they want to see the horrible Queen Christmas. Where is she?” Melisa shrieks and immediately covers her mouth. There is a loud thud! “Quick! Keep Neil safe! Make sure no one will find him! Sparkle!” The queen cries and instantly disappears. Sparkle, the pinky fairy appears right in front of the siblings. “Hey girl, head towards the right door!” Melisa looks around and sees Neil commanding them. She cannot believe she hears a talking snail. With all her might, Sparkle pushes the kids to move. Robin and Melisa understand completely. She wants them to go to the right door that will lead them to a magic room where no evil force can enter. When they are about to go, a dark figure with burning red eyes is in front of them. A squeaky voice yells, “Kids, it’s time to go! Run fast!” Without thinking, the siblings tumble and run to the right. “Wow! We`re so lucky we have acrobat skills. Robin shouts as he tries to avoid the dark weirdo. It tries to catch Sparkle but Robin grabs her and put the fairy in his pocket. Melisa swirls when it’s about to grab her skirt. “Maybe I need to use my powers now!” The snail says as it chants a weird poem about maids in wings that hit the light. Suddenly, a flash of light hits and takes away the horrific dark figure.

“MOMMY! A weird dream is happening! Please sing a lullaby!” Robin cries as he closes his eyes. Melisa is patting the snail as it sleeps. She looks at Sparkle who is cleaning the black goo that is glued on the floor. She looks for a broom, grabs it and helps Sparkle clean.  “Sparkle, can you tell me the story of the Forbidden City?” Melisa asks anxiously. Sparkle nods and begins, “Two years ago, Queen Christmas and the Darks were very close friends. The queen invited them to her palace for a Christmas gathering. Lady Dark was strolling in the garden filled with different kinds of fragrant flowers and saw a gem which was the lost treasure of the queen and gave it to her husband. Lady Dark asked Lord Dark to return the gem back to the queen but he never listened and kept the gem. But, Queen Christmas saw everything in her magic glass floor. When the queen asked for it back, Lord Dark denied he kept the gem and became very mad. Of course that started the war. The gem was used by Lord Dark against Queen Christmas and she was defeated and driven away from her castle.” Robin listens and sighs, “Well, Mr. Dark is such a loser.” Melisa feels pity for Queen Christmas when they hear a tired creaky voice from behind “Sparkle, Neil, Melisa and Robin, over here!” Sparkle gasps when she sees Queen Christmas in the corner. Her face turns pale and her golden hair starts to wither. She looks like she is going to faint. “Sparkle help the kids… find the…. Book… of….. Spells quickly!” says the queen in a weak voice.  Sparkle nods, looks at her friends “Come on friends, let us find that book right away before it’s too late!”

As Sparkle takes the lead, they all dash to a room right across the yellow room. Sparkle leans on the door and is brought in. Melisa screams when Neil follows her. She runs to her brother and holds his hand as they both go in. The room is so spacious it is filled with shelves of different sizes and shapes. Books are everywhere. Robin quickly roams around as Melisa stands still in amazement. Sparkle smiles as she introduces Melisa to the room of wonders. “Here, we have all kinds of books and wonders that help us learn about this land.” Sparkle smiles as her eyes glisten. Neil looks around and is quite interested. He asks, “Why are we here, Sparkle?” Sparkle frowns and explains that the queen told them to look for the Book of Spells. Neil’s impression grows dark when he hears the word “Spells”. “Hmmm, let`s see… Around the World with the Mockeries, Tessie’s Life, The Enchanted Snail.  You have weird titles here.” Robin exclaims as he searches for the Book of Spells. Melisa set eyes on a gold star on top of a thick brown book right under the table in the middle of the room. The star appears to be calling her attention. She quickly moves closer to it. She picks up the star then the book. The book is so dusty that it makes her sneeze. Right in front of her eyes, the title of the book magically comes out. “Guys, I found it! It is hidden by this star,”  Melisa exclaims gladly.  “Sparkle! Is this the book?” Neil asks as he admires the cover. “Thank you my dear Melisa! Only the person with a pure heart can find it,” Sparkle says happily. Robin touches the cover, and then unexpectedly, the book vanished! (FREEMAN)