The Lilac Tunnel: My Journey with Samantha

There’s a knock on the bedroom door. I figure it’s my new stepsister, Gracie, who’s been coming in and out of my room all morning. It’s her room, too, so I let her in. She looks at the suitcase on my bed and asks if I need help unpacking. I shake my head and she leaves. I’m spending the summer here in Plattsburgh, New York, with my dad and his new wife and family. I’ve only been here for a day and a half, but I’m already counting down the days till I can go back to my mom’s place in New York City.

I miss my best friend, Stella. I miss my own room and my cat, Maggie. I miss pulling out my laptop and cell phone whenever I want because Dad says I can only use them for an hour a day. And I miss my mom. She thought I could spend some time with Dad to get to know his new family, but I miss my old family. Why can’t things just go back to the way they were before?

My stepmom comes in and sees the jewelry laid out on the dresser. She oggles at the friendship bracelet that Stella made for me, and I can tell my stepmom is trying to be nice, but I’m not in the mood to talk. She says that she has something I might be interested in, and she leaves the room. Gracie, who is only five years old, pokes her head through the doorway again and asks what I’m doing. I tell her that I’m not doing anything. Grace has been glued to me ever since I arrived. It’s hard enough to share a room, complete with twin beds and pink princess bedspreads, but Gracie wants to share every waking second with me.

I organize the jewelry on my dresser and reach for Stella’s friendship bracelet and slide it into my pocket. I’m nervous Gracie will want to share that, too.

My stepmom comes back and holds out something in front of me. It’s a necklace with a silver heart pendant on a chain. It must be 100 years old, and it’s not my style at all. I try not to make any faces. My stepmom says that her grandma gave it to her when she was my age. She says it helped her through a pretty tough time. I can try it on. She puts the pendant in my hand and squeezes my shoulder. She asks if I want to do some scrapbooking with them. I politely say not right now, trying not to sound rude. She closes the door behind her.

A quiet settles over the room, and I look at the clock. 3:52. I wonder what Stella is doing right now. I stretch out on my bed and examine the pendant. It has a hinge along the left side of the heart. I slide my thumbnail down the groove and try to open the locket, but it won’t budge. I reach for a nail file to pry the locket open. I’m about to give up when I hear a pop. The locket springs from my hand and disappears over the edge of the bed. I scoot forward on my stomach to grab for the locket, but when I see it on the floor, it’s empty. There’s no photos or messages, nothing. As I move to close the locket, I feel my stomach drop. Something shifts beneath me and I’m falling. I squeeze my eyes shut, bracing for impact. When my body finally hits the floor, I feel a sharp pain in my temple. Did I hit the dresser?

I reach for my forehead, and my hand brushes against something rough. It’s not carpet, but grass. I open my eyes to see a field of green.

My temple’s throbbing as I sit up. The world spins around me in a colorful haze. I try to steady myself as I glance over my shoulder at a long row of green bushes bursting with purple flowers. I’m sitting beside a lilac hedge on a broad lawn. A tunnel through the hedge leads to another yard. Across the lawn is an enormous gray house, several stories with a tower on top. As I gaze upward, I start to get dizzy.

I reach for a large rock beside the lilac hedge and take a few more breaths to steady myself. I try to remember how I got here. I was on the bed, staring at the locket on the floor. I fell and hit my head. But then what?

Something glitters in the grass beside me. It’s the necklace from my stepmom, and it seems shinier than I remember. I reach for the locket. My fingers close around it and the hinge clicks and the locket snaps shut. The locket is shinier than it was before, and this time, when I slide my thumbnail along the edge, it pops open smoothly. I feel the familiar sensation of the ground dropping away from beneath me. The landing is softer this time. I reach around me and feel the familiar feeling of carpet. My eyes fly open and I’m relieved to see the edge of a pink bedspread dangling inches from my face.

I sit up and check the clock on the nightstand. 3:52. No time has passed since I opened the locket. Did I fall asleep for a few seconds? Was I dreaming? The bump on my forehead says no, and maybe I hit the dresser when I fell out of bed. I pinch the skin on my arm and wince. Yep, I’m awake. I’m afraid to open the lock again, but I also can’t not open it, now that I know I can get back to my room when I want to or need to. My heart flutters with excitement. As I open my locket and close my eyes, I think, If only Stella were here, too…