Narrated by Aubrey
"Wake up!" Grumpy frantically shouted, startling Kaylee and me out of our sleep. "A cyclone is coming! I repeat, A CYCLONE IS COMING!"
We, now wide awake, jumped to our feet, very alarmed. I was certainly not expecting a cyclone, and because we never experienced one before, we were very panicked.
"Get to cover now!" ordered Grumpy. "Follow me! This way!"
We followed Grumpy outside where the strong wind howled like a piercing scream, blowing dust and debris everywhere, and we arrived at an underground cellar where Snow and the dwarfs were already safely hidden inside. I quickly glanced at the horrifying tornado in the distance, which destroyed everything in its path; it was a terrifying sight. We followed Grumpy down the ladder to the bottom of the cellar, and he quickly slammed the door shut. The only light down there was lanterns. We saw all the terrified dwarfs trembling, huddled in a corner, and Snow counted all them to make sure everybody was there. "Where's Sleepy?" she suddenly questioned with panic in her voice.
The five dwarfs glanced at one another, shrugging questionably as if none of them knew.
"How did any of you not know he was not with you!" Grumpy roared fiercely at them.
"Sleepy could still be in the house!" Snow cried out with much concern. "I need to go find him right away!"
"No, I'll go find him!" I exclaimed, climbing up the ladder with Kaylee following.
"No, it's too dangerous!" objected Grumpy.
We ignored him and left the cellar. "Be careful!" I heard Snow holler as we were shutting the door. The wind was so strong that it resisted us as we tried to run forward. Dust and debris flew toward us which made it even more difficult. Finally, we managed to reach the cottage. "Sleepy!" I called out. "Where are you!"
We hastily searched every room, calling for him, but there was no reply nor any sight of him. "I don't think he's here!" Kaylee exclaimed. "He might have gone somewhere else. We have to go before it's too late. There's nothing more we can do but to hope and pray he's okay! Come on, hurry!"
Opening the door, to our great horror, the tornado was a lot closer to us than we had realized, and it kept advancing toward our direction. "Oh no!" I frantically shrieked. The wind was now twice as powerful and resistant which made it near impossible to even step foot outside. Even with the two of us holding the door open was a great challenge. We screamed, starting to have a panic attack. Desperately, we fled to the very back of the cottage where we thought it was safer and easier to escape through a window. But as we were about to leave through a window, suddenly, a large branch crashed into it, causing the glass to shatter in a million shards right at us. We felt backwards and were knocked out.
I woke up, discombobulated, and my head throbbing terribly. It took me a moment to remember what had happened prior. I nudged Kaylee, relieved that she woke up. She had a dazed look on her face, and like me, it took her a few minutes to recover. "Are you okay?" I asked with concern.
"My back is killing me," she replied, wincing in pain while slowly sitting up.
"Same," I replied, still feeling light headed and dizzy. "Especially my head. We must had blacked out from hitting our heads. Thank goodness we didn't lose our sight."
Kaylee returned a nod of relief then said, "Huh, I don't hear any wind anymore. Look!" She pointed toward the broken window. "The sun is shining, and it appears that the storm has stopped! And thank God that the house is in one piece. That storm was so scary!"
"I hope we don't ever experience it again," I replied, shuttering at the thought, and I shakily stood up. "I hope Snow and the dwarfs are okay. It's safe to go outside now, so we can check on them. They are probably still in the cellar. I wonder how many hours have passed since. Oh, and I hope sleepy is okay!" When I walked over to the broken window and looked out, I was very shocked what I saw, and I could not believe my own eyes. "What the heck!" I exclaimed with shock.
"What is it?" asked Kaylee, quickly coming over to see. "Oh my gosh!" she exclaimed, gasping with awe. "Where the heck are we! This looks like a totally different place! I don't understand! It's so beautiful! I don't have words to describe it!"
"I think we must have hit our heads a lot harder than we thought!" I replied, very perplexed. Are we going crazy and seeing things? I thought to myself, alarmed. Then I began to pinch myself to see if I was dreaming. But I was not; it was all real. "This can't be real!" I exclaimed, dumbfounded.
We immediately rushed over to the front door and opened it. It was a magical sight which took our breath away; for we had never seen such a beautiful place in our life. "I have no idea where we are, but it is certainly not the Enchanted Forest!" I exclaimed, very captivated by the mysterious, wonderous land. "It looks like a different realm. Come on, let's go out and see!"
We ventured outside, admiring the remarkable landscape. It was too much to take in of how we ended up here, and the warm, fresh, sweet air with a sweet aroma of flowers and pollen helped clear my head. There were many trees with pink blossoms, so many flowers such as tulips, poppies, and daisies; and beautiful hills were seen in the distance. A stream meandered through them, and the clear, blue waters sparkled and shimmered. The grass was so lush, green, and soft looking; and willows lined the stream, flowing in the light, warm breeze. I heard birds singing, saw deer and rabbits roaming, and especially butterflies and dragonflies swarming everywhere. It was truly a paradise, like a fairyland, and I even began to convince myself there were pixies living inside of the tulips; after all, fairies and trolls existed. Everything was so serene, and tranquility filled me, making me forget about everything else.
"Let's go explore this mysterious land and figure out where we are," I said with excitement, dashing forward with vigor. "Maybe we can get some answers to where we are."
We wandered by a bubbling brook then washed our faces, drank, and cooled our feet; and this revived us. Because we were warm, we decided to splash one another for fun until we were soaked, but it felt good, and the sun warmed our backs. Then we continued our way, exploring new scenery, and after we traveled down the grassy hills, we came across some apple trees on the other side which we picked from to eat, and the apples certainly were delicious.
After traveling a few more miles, out yonder, we saw a cute, little village. "Now we can find out where we are," I said with delight. We entered the village, and strangely, we saw nobody around; it was like a ghost town. "Where is everybody?" I said, glancing around curiously. And what was also peculiar were the houses; they were whimsical, tiny, white houses, all identical, and with a shape that reminded me of oversized, broad tree trunks. Each had a brick roof that was cone-shaped. "Not much living space in those houses," I remarked, interested in their odd appearances. "What a very unique village for sure, never seen anything like it."
"Just makes me more interested in this land," Kaylee added, captivated by the village too. "Hopefully we will be able to come across somebody so we can get our answers."
"Look!" I said, pointing. "There's someone over there!"
The man we saw was a stout midget, around three feet tall, and he had red hair and a thick beard. He wore a checkered red and white buttoned shirt and corduroy trousers. "He sort of looks like a dwarf," Kaylee remarked, her eyes fixated on him, "but even smaller than one."
"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" I asked, quickly turning to Kaylee with a grin.
"He looks like a munchkin?" she finished with a smile. Then we burst out into giggles.
"Even this village looks like a munchkin village," I added, still giggling.
"Can you imagine if we were actually in the land of Oz?" I said humorously. "Afterall, isn't it so ironic how we just suddenly end up here, even the cottage for goodness' sake, after the cyclone storm! What if it was that cyclone that brought us here just like how a cyclone brought Dorothy to Oz in the story, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. Just think about it!" I was so mind-blown.
"I can't believe we didn't think about that before!" Kaylee exclaimed. "Wouldn't that be something if Oz did really exist!" she added, very enthused at the thought. "Now let's go and find out where we are and if we are right."
"Excuse me," I politely said, approaching the midget who was chopping wood.
But to our surprise, he startled, reeling back, and dropped his axe. Then he exclaimed shrilly with a frightened voice and expression, "Who are you, and what do you want from me! Please don't harm me!" His round cheeks grew more cherry red, and his eyes were stretched wide with fear. He quickly picked up his axe and held it out defensively.
Kaylee and I exchanged confused glances, then I said to the poor, little man, "We aren't going to hurt you; we are only children who have come for help."
"Children?" he questioned, glancing up at our tall height in comparison to his. "Well, bust my buttons! So, you must be actual normal children," he concluded, his red checks suffusing a bit. "I've only ever seen one other child before. Any who, how can I help you?"
"We were just curious where we are," I replied.
"Why, this is the land of Oz of course!" he replied. "And right now, you are in Munchkin Country."
Kaylee and I exchanged astonished glances, gasping in great surprise. We were not actually serious before when mentioning about Oz, but really it was real, and we were actually in it. It was all so crazy and unbelievable. How this fairy tale stuff keeps getting better! I giggled in thought. Then I turned back to the munchkin. "Thank you," I said with a grin. "It's a pleasure to meet you. Anyway, I was just curious to why this village is so vacant. Where is everyone?"
The munchkin's expression grew solemn, and he replied, "It's the Wicked Witch of the West, the most feared predator in all the land. She has been terrorizing us munchkins for her own enjoyment," he growled, shaking his fist with indignation, "so that we cannot ever live at peace. We have no choice but to remain confined to our homes since we live under her threat every day. As long as she is alive, we are not safe."
"Is that why you were frightened by us?" Kaylee asked with concern, "because you don't trust any outsiders due to constant fear?"
The munchkin nodded. Then he scowled and replied, "We were never like this before, only until that witch started preying on us. She is nothing but a monster!"
"Are there any other witches besides her in this land?" I asked.
"There are only two other witches, the good witches of the North and South," replied the munchkin. "But the Good Witch of the East, the one who was our protector, was killed by the Wicked Witch of the West, and that is why we live under her threat now."
"Of course, the good witches exist too, I thought with a grin. "Can't the other two good witches protect you though?" I curiously asked him.
"It's not their responsibility to protect Munchkin Country," he replied. "You see, the Good Witch of the North protects the Gillikin Country as the Good Witch of the South protects the Quadling Country. And that makes us the Munchkin Country of the East. But Glinda, the Good Witch of the North, helps us whenever she can. She truly is kind and caring, someone we dearly love and respect. She is even the most beautiful witch I've ever seen."
Kaylee and I smiled because even Glinda existed too, the Good Witch of the North in L. Frank Baum's book. I wondered if she was as described in his book, and I hoped to meet her.
"But then who protects the west country?" Kaylee asked. "I'm sure the Wicked Witch does not."
"The great wizard of Oz took on the additional responsibility of protecting the Winkie Country in the West after the Witch of the West became wicked and stopped doing her job," replied the munchkin. "He's the only wizard known to us and is the most powerful and honored in all of Oz. Right now, he is the ruler of the Emerald City located in the center of Oz, the most beautiful place and largest city in all of Oz!"
Wow, and the Emerald City too! I thought with amazement. Kaylee looked just as breath-taken as me, for her face was lit up with awe. We definitely wanted to see the Emerald City.
"I have always dreamed of going there ever since I was a boy!" the munchkin continued, exclaiming with a rosy grin. "It is said that the Royal Palace of Glamour, located in front of the city where the great wizard lives, is made of green glass with millions of emeralds embedded into it which makes the palace emerald in color. And this gave that name to the city. Oh, how I would love to see it one day!"
"Do you know how to get there?" I asked with high hopes. "I am hoping to meet this great wizard to ask him if he could help us get back to where we came from because you say he is very powerful."
"To get to the Emerald City, all you must do is just follow the yellow brick road," the munchkin replied. "Good luck and safe travels! I wish you well! It's been a pleasure meeting you. Goodbye and farewell!"