The Portal
                                             
                                    
     “Kids stay out of trouble,” our mom said as we started our venture around the fair. I noticed her smile seemed different. She must be getting better at her acting. Since dad vanished two years ago, I’ve never seen her happy. My siblings and I try so hard to get her to laugh, even a little.
I didn’t want to come to the fair, but my mom did. Saying no would just upset her more.
“Emily you’re the oldest, so you’re in charge, and remember that Lauren is only eight and very cautious. Do not make her ride something she doesn’t want to ride,” mom told me. It’s great that I’m in charge, but if my brothers, Jordan and Gabe, want to ride something Lauren doesn’t want to, I have to stand by her and wait for the ride to be over.
We started to walk to the first ride, but on our way there we saw a creepy man holding up a miniature knife beckoning us closer. I held Lauren back and tried to keep Jordan and Gabe away too but of course they didn’t listen.
“Hey there kids, I’m trying to get rid of this,” the man said,” but first you need to guess what it is. Don’t be scared ladies it’s just a children’s toy.”
Reluctantly, I stepped forward. It’s probably just plastic. It can’t do any real harm, but there was still something about him that threw me off. Maybe the way he was standing or the way he was holding the knife as if any second he would launch it straight at us.
“Run! Run and don’t stop running until you find mom and call the cops! He’s going to throw that knife,” I yelled. I didn’t care if he wasn’t going to throw it and I just made a fool of myself, but it’s my responsibility to keep my siblings safe and I would do anything to do that.
The man did throw the knife, but not at us. There was a flash of green light and what appeared to be a portal opened right in front of us. Jordan started to go in. Naturally, I tried to pull him back, but as usual he didn’t listen.
“Well guys, it looks like we’re going on an adventure,” I said as I started to step through the portal.
The first thing I saw when I went through the portal was Jordan staring with his mouth wide open at a figure in front of him. Then when I saw what I was wearing I decided that finding out who this person was could wait.
I was wearing purple. Purple! My absolute least favorite color, and it looked good on me. There was a mirror nearby, so I looked in it, noticing important features about myself that I’d never noticed before. My eyes caught my attention the most. They were a deep sea blue with grey towards the center.
My moment of awe came to an end when Gabe and Lauren came through the mirror and crashing down on me. I guess I didn’t realize that’s where the portal opened up at.
The three of us walked up to Jordan to see what he was staring at. It was a tall man. A very tall man with eyes just like mine.
“Dad,” I realized, “Guys this is our dad!”
“Oh Emily,” he cried, “I knew you would remember. I needed to see you kids so badly.”
“Then why’d you leave us?!” I screamed, “Why did you leave mom behind without any idea where you went?”
“Your mom’s been here this whole time. What you saw was only a shadow. Almost like a hallucination. It’s what you wanted to see, you didn’t want to believe that both of your parents disappeared, so we didn’t let you.”
“How can you control what I see?” I asked. This was all too much to take in.
“That’s easy. I’m a wizard, and you are too.”