“Good morning, mum. Can I go to Charlie’s house this morning?” Roxy inwardly hoped they could share ideas about saving her house.

“Sure you can! But come home for lunch, okay?” Mrs. Foxx replied. “Invite Charlie, too. And don’t forget to start packing tonight.”

“Okay, I will.” she said unhappily as she closed the door.

She turned away from the more well known path that led to the kingdom, instead taking a smaller path that led to Charlie’s neighborhood.

As Roxy was walking to Charlie’s house, she noticed something odd in an old oak tree nearby. It seemed to be glowing.

She often found strange things, and was unfazed by the sight. Instead she thought, I'll have to show that to Charlie.

When she reached Charlie’s house, a smaller tree similar in layout to her own house, there seemed to be a weird aura about the place. She likened it to a sad feeling of dread.

As Roxy knocked on the door, a yellow paper fluttered to the ground. She picked it up, reading that the Mousee family was to move out soon as well.

Charlie’s mother opened the door just as Roxy shoved the slip into her pocket. Mrs. Mousee looked like she had been crying. “Oh, hello dear. I’ll go tell Charlie that you’re here.” she sniffled.

Mrs. Mousee was a short little mouse, only a little taller than Roxy, with big brown ears that almost reached the ground, and a long skinny tail twice her size. Like her mother, Mrs. Mousee was usually very happy, and the sudden change in attitude startled Roxy.

“Mrs. Mousee, what’s wrong?” Roxy asked gently; she probably already knew that they had to move out, and that was why she was so distressed.

“It’s just that, you know how Charlie’s father was sick,” she started. She was quivering. “Well, he passed a couple of hours ago, and since I didn’t work... Well, they just took his body. And now I can’t pay for our house, or even his funeral!” Mrs. Mousee collapsed into Roxy’s arms, sobbing onto her shoulder.

Roxy was shocked. She knew he had been sick, but didn’t think the disease was fatal… Mr. Mousee had been like an uncle to Roxy. “Oh, that’s horrible!” Roxy said, unable to think of anything else. “Charlie and I will find the money for both of our houses. And Mr. Mousee’s funeral. I promise.” Roxy said as she held the distressed mouse.

“Oh, thank you dear, you are too kind. I’ll go tell Charlie to come downstairs.”

A few minutes later, Charlie came to the door. He was a little shorter than his mother, with the same large ears and long tail. He had big, round glasses that magnified his small brown eyes nearly twofold. “Hi, Roxy.” Charlie sniffed, wiping his nose with the back of his paw. “Ready to go?”

“You don’t have to go with me if you don’t feel like it.” Roxy said, stepping towards him to give him a hug.

“No…” he said into her shoulder. “It might take my mind off of him.”

They walked along slowly and silently, content to share in each other’s presence for the moment.

After a few minutes, Charlie began to talk.

“Okay, so where exactly are we going today?” Charlie asked. It seemed he did not want to talk about either his father nor his house, so Roxy simply answered his question. She knew they would talk about it when he was ready, so she didn’t push.

“I know the perfect place. I saw it on the way to your house. It’s an oak tree.” she said.

Charlie looked up at Roxy, a little shocked and confused. “No offense Roxy, but that doesn’t sound too amazing.”

“No, it doesn’t.” She giggled. “But wait until you see the tree. It’s GLOWING.” she replied.

“Oh, all right.” He didn’t dare question her, so he simply followed Roxy along the winding dust road.

They kept walking towards the place where Roxy had seen the tree.

“Okay, here it is.” Roxy said as she dramatically pointed at the glowing oak tree.

“Wow! That is amazing! Doesn’t it kind of look like it’s a door?” Charlie asked her. He also saw many weird things, and seemed excited by the idea of another adventure.

“Yeah, it does. Let’s see if it opens.” she said excitedly.

“Okay!”

They both walked closer and stood on either side of the door.

“On the count of three, we pull,”Roxy said.

“Okay,” he responded, taking hold of one side of the door.

“One. . . two. . . three!” Roxy said, as she pulled with all her might.

The door creaked open, and the world seemed to slow, then come to a complete stop around them. The birds stopped singing, the wind stopped blowing, and there was no noise but the sound of her and Charlie breathing. Roxy blinked slowly, taking in the scene before her. A butterfly flew past her at an unnaturally slow pace, as if some invisible force were pulling it backwards. She tried to move her head to ask if Charlie was seeing this too, but even that small movement was hard, as though she were stuck in a pool of molasses. When Roxy finally got her head to move, slowly but surely, she found that Charlie was gone.

All of a sudden the air was knocked out of her, and she felt a strange tingly sensation in her paws. She looked down, slowly, to see her paws quickly being sucked into the oak tree, with the rest of her body quickly following. Roxy tried to cry out for help, but no noise came. She silently screamed as she was sucked into the tree, and all went black. In the distance Roxy could faintly hear a voice.

“Now thy shall falleth into Aldadia, wherest thou shall findeth thy fate.”

“Roxy. . . Roxy. . . ROXY!”