2017 Inklings Book Contest finalist: Somi Hyun
Today we are featuring Inklings Book Contest 2017 finalist, Somi Hyun! Somi finished 4th grade this past school year. The story she submitted is called “The Fractured Dorothy” We hope you enjoy reading it as much as we did!
Leave a comment below on what you thought!
The Fractured Dorothy
by Somi Hyun
Dorothy ran across her uncle’s farm, clutching her shivering dog, Toto, in her arms. The ground shook with a powerful tremor. A crack appeared under Dorothy’s feet. She started to run when Toto started squirming in her arms. She lost her grip on her pet and he dashed away. “Toto! Wait!” Dorothy raced after Toto, her sides heaving. Suddenly, she stumbled on her high-heeled boots and fell onto the ground. As Dorothy tried to get on her feet, the ground opened up underneath her and she fell into complete darkness.
Dorothy felt rather calm as she descended into the chasm. She even felt calm as a swollen purple bee-like creature landed on her nose. “Why, hello Mr. Midget. How do you d- oh no.” Dorothy suddenly recognized what insect it was. She had read “the Full Collection of Dangerous Insects” and it said that this creature was a Madness Midget, a dangerous bug that inflicted madness on everyone it landed on.
Strangely, Dorothy felt fine. She concluded that she had some kind of immunity to the Midget. She was feeling very good about herself when she landed on… SAND?!?! Dorothy was surrounded by a candy desert. The sand consisted of fine grains of brown sugar. Tall sugar cube pyramids cast long shadows on toffee camels that were drinking from a lemonade oasis. Licorice palm trees hung low with sugared dates. The Midget plopped down beside her and lazily buzzed away.
Suddenly, out of the blue, three figures appeared. The one on the right had the silhouette of a lion, the one on the left walked in a strange, droopy way, as though he were made of straw, and the one in the middle walked in a proud march, swinging an axe with every step. The strangest thing was that they were all headed toward her. They came into view as they neared her. The man with the axe said, “Hello young miss! I am the Tin Woodman-called the Woodman-, and these are my comrades, Cowardly Lion and Scarecrow.”
Dorothy was about to introduce herself when the midget flew into each person in turn, lazily bumping its snout against the Woodman’s nose, the Scarecrow’s chest, and the Cowardly Lion’s mane. A dreamy look came over their faces and Cowardly Lion joked, “I am the great Aslan! Roar-hiccup! HA HA HA HA!!!” They seemed to lose their minds. “Well, little miss,” the Tin Woodman said. “We are in the Candymedia Desert in the heart of OZ!. I mean, dessert. Hee hee! Get it?” The Woodman’s friends doubled over in mad laughter. Well, Dorothy thought. If it’s candy, I suppose it’s okay to eat.
With that she started picking dates from a particularly small palm tree and dropped them in her blue checkered dress, humming as she worked. Soon she had enough for a decent lunch and sat down near a lemonade oasis. The Scarecrow silently crept up to her and sat next to her. He seemed the most unaffected by the midget, except for the occasional hiccup. “May I share some dates with you?” he asked politely.
Just as the Scarecrow’s friends trotted over to join them, they heard the sound of beating wings and looked up. 4 winged monkeys were flying over them, carrying a (rather large) net. Before the friends could figure out what this would mean, the largest monkey screeched loudly to the others, and they dropped the net on Dorothy, Scarecrow, Cowardly Lion, and Tin Woodman.
Dorothy was squashed against her friends as the monkeys flew off. Scarecrow, Tin Woodman, and Cowardly Lion were cackling madly. Dorothy refused to panic, instead, going over in her mind why these banana-loving abominations would want to capture them. They had been flying for an hour or so when they saw in the distance a tall, ash-colored castle that seemed to be made of iron. Its tall spires seemed to touch the churning black clouds above it. There was only one word to describe it: Deadly. The biggest monkey said in a gruff voice, “We’re at the Witch’s palace. Uh… please don’t tease her.” The foursome stared at the monkey, and he blushed as red as a ripe tomato soaked in ketchup and rolled in red food coloring.
Before any of them could ask about his statement and why he blushed so hard, they hit the ground. HARD. Dorothy rubbed her rump and looked around. They had landed at the entrance to the castle. Strangely, the structure looked pink from this point of view. The four friends marched into the palace, escorted by the monkeys. As soon as she stepped inside the throne room, Dorothy was blinded by pink. The floor was hot pink, the walls were magenta, and the ceilings were tinted with bubblegum pink. In the center of it all, the Witch stood, holding a bouquet of light pink roses and admiring her reflection in a mirror of pink stained glass. “What is it, guards? Did you have to interrupt my ‘Self-Appreciation’ time?,” the Witch screeched in a voice that sounded like nails on a chalkboard.
“Your Majesty-,” a monkey with an indigo beret began. “Silence! I wish to know who possesses the red shoes!,” the Witch screamed at the monkey. “Y-your Majesty, the one with the checkered dress has it,” he said, pointing at Dorothy. The Witch turned towards Dorothy and asked in the most polite voice she could muster, “Darling, where are those red shoes? They are mine. I-uh-lost it the other day. I WANT THOSE RED SHOES!!!,” the Witch cried, losing all control and lunging for Dorothy. “What shoes? I don’t have any shoes other than the ones I’m wearing right now!” Dorothy cried, hopping away from the witch whose skin was turning very red.
The Witch started to search Dorothy for the shoes, occasionally looking her up and down in disgust. I’m not a model to be studied at by a witch who is a lot uglier than me, Dorothy thought.
Suddenly, Cowardly Lion spoke up. “Uh, Your Witchiness?” “Yes? What, you big cat?,” the Witch asked impatiently. “I think I know where the shoes are,” he said, pointing at his mane. The Witch dove at him, clawing at the Cowardly Lion’s golden hair. Finally, she untangled herself from the hair and held up two ruby-colored shoes above her head and cried triumphantly, “I finally have the ruby shoes! I will rule ALL! Mwa ha ha ha! Where did you find these shoes, Lion?” “Well,” Cowardly Lion said, giggling girlishly. “I picked them up at the Candymedia Desert. I thought they would look nice in my mane, but I forgot all about them.”
Just then, Dorothy started tee-heeing. Soon, everyone was sniggering. The monkeys stood to the side of the throne room, trying desperately not to laugh. The Witch was enraged. She dove at Dorothy, both arms outstretched. She looked like a large dark green flying squirrel. Dorothy dodged to the right and screamed at the Tin Woodman, “Don’t just stand, ’ya tinhead! Conk her on the head with your axe or something!” But the Tin Woodman was busy. He was pacing around the room muttering, “Where is it? Where is it?!?!” “Huh? Where is what?” Dorothy asked. At that moment, the Witch seized Dorothy and hit her on the head with a stick. The last thing she heard before blacking out was the Witch’s mad cackling.
“Dorothy? Wake up!” Dorothy blinked and opened her eyes. The pink UV light was blinding her. “Tin Woodman? Is that you?” Dorothy asked groggily. “Yes, it’s me. Get up! I made a new…friend,” the Tin Woodman replied. Dorothy turned to his voice and saw a monkey with a baby blue cape. “AAAGH! It’s a monkey! It has bat wings! It has huge teeth! It’s…crying?!?” Dorothy stared as the caped monkey as it continued to bawl. “He is going to show us how to destroy the Witch! Oh, and the Cowardly Lion and Scarecrow are over there, in case you were wondering,” the Tin Woodman said, giving the monkey a small shake. “Yes, I am. I think,” the monkey said quietly. “Weeellll,” Dorothy said. “Um, could you please TELL US THEN?” “All right, all right,” the monkey cried. “The Witch will only die if she touches laundry detergent.”
Hmmm, Dorothy thought. I can only get laundry detergent from Kansas, but it’s a mess right now. “How are we supposed to get to the detergent?” the Scarecrow said, poking his head into their conversation. “I heard it grows in the Witch’s garden. No one is supposed to go there. “I’ll get it! I saw the garden while flying here in a net!” Dorothy said triumphantly. “All right. What if monkey here goes with you?” the Scarecrow asked. “Nah. I can manage.” The monkey breathed a sigh of relief. “On second thought, I’ll take him.” The monkey turned pale. “Yup, you are coming with me old buddie,” Dorothy told the petrified monkey.
Soon, they were tromping through the halls of the pink castle. “Shhhhhhhh!” the monkey shushed her. They rounded a corner and stopped at…a dead end. “But it’s supposed to be here!” the monkey stammered. “Or maybe it’s supposed to be there!” Dorothy said, pointing at a hole in the ground. She crawled under…and gasped in surprise and horror.
The garden was filled with rotting trees, and they had boxes and cans of laundry detergent strung on them. Dorothy cried, “The Witch is making this SO EASY!” She grabbed a can of detergent and ran back to the others. “Now all we have to do is give it to the Witch! I have an idea,” Dorothy told her friends. “Monkey will serve a drink to the Witch that is full of laundry detergent. Then we sit back and relax!” “Great plan!” everyone yelled. The next day, the monkey dressed in a frilly pink skirt (overseen by Dorothy). He mixed the detergent into a pink smoothie and walked slowly up to the Witch. “Your Witchiness here is your drink,” he said, trembling. “Yes, yes, put it here,” the Witch said, pointing to the coffee table. “But, aren’t you going to drink it?” the Monkey asked. “Not know,” she replied. “But you must drink it.” “I won’t.” “But aren’t you thirsty?” “No.” Finally, Dorothy lost patience. She did a ballerina leap to the Witch and dumped the contents of the drink on her head.
The Witch let out a horrible scream. Her nails clawed at the hem of Dorothy’s dress as she dissolved into a murky goo. She let out a last shriek and she breathed no more (DUN DUN DUUNNN). Dorothy picked out the red slippers from the Witch puddle and put them on before her friends squished her into a hug. And that was the best feeling ever.
