The Adventures in Lemon Land

“The Adventures in Lemon Land” is one of the outstanding stories of the first biannual International Short Story Contest 2018 written by Chloe Monet Wilder, College Prep Academy Homeschool, USA.

The Adventures in Lemon Land

A land far away in a galaxy that has been long forgotten, there is a land that is all yellow. The land has the smell of lemons. That is why the land is called lemon land. The trees are all lemon trees. The lemon elves hats are a half of a lemon with the pulp scooped out. When Christmas came (as it is now) they used lemons to decorate the Christmas tree! The sun is a lemon, the moon is a lemon, and even the stars are lemon seeds. Of course, they drink lemonade and eat lemon cookies. For breakfast, they eat lemon cereal, for lunch they eat lemon jelly sandwiches. For dinner they ate spaghetti with lemon sauce. There are other Citrus planets but those are not important at the moment because lemon land is where the disaster started.

Now, there are two sisters. One is named Bella and the other is named Chloe. They are twin sisters. They do pretty much everything together. They are identical twins, and they are identical in everything they do as well. For instance, their favorite color is yellow. They love lemonade, but most of all they love lemons. Their parents call them the lemon lover's because they love lemons so much. They often dreamed of a land full of lemons, and lucky for them they had an aunt and an uncle that thought the twins should have more education. So one day when the sisters were waiting for the school bus to arrive, a box was delivered that was addressed to them.

As soon as the twins got home, they rushed through their chores, had a snack, brushed their teeth, grabbed a pair of scissors, and rushed to the box that was big enough for them both to fit into. They opened the box and…. It was a two person bike! There were three buttons on one handle for each of them. Chloe’s seat was in the front, and Bella’s was in the back. Chloe’s buttons were the color yellow, and said planet lemon, the color pink, and said planet grapefruit, also a light orange button, and said planet tangerine. Bella’s on the other hand was the color green, and said planet lime, yellow-orange, and said planet pineapple, and the color orange, and said planet orange. Bella also had a button that said home. Hey Chloe, said Bella, “Our favorite color is yellow.”

“Let’s get on the bike and press the yellow button!” Chloe said. They got on the bike, pulled a lever, and pressed the yellow button. And they were off. A lever was pulled, and they pressed the yellow button. They were buckled and they shot off like a rocket on a top secret mission. They blinked, and saw a galaxy. The galaxy had six planets and one small planet in the middle. All of the six planets were connected with little white bridges. There were also long icy bridges with gates blocking the middle planet but that planet was trouble, though they did not know it then. As soon as they entered “the yellow planet”, the elves of the yellow planet ran out to greet the twins. The elves of the planet shouted “Merry Christmas and welcome to Lemon Land!” They got into the swing of things right away but trouble was near.

“You have all been very nice but it must be getting late. We must get home”, said Bella. But the elves refused. The elves took the twins to see The Wise Old Elf of the yellow planet. (Yes there is one for every planet.) The Wise Old Elf told the twins, “While you are here, time doesn't change on earth”. “Well, that's helpful to know.” said Chloe with a smile. “Why does time stay still”? Bella asked.” “No one knows, but legend has it that that if you try to find out, the evil sorcerer will cast an evil spell on you!” said The Wise Old Elf. The twins shuttered at the thought. “He lives on the middle planet. The middle planet used to be a Rainbow Planet but he has taken it over. He wants to take over all of the other planets too! We need your help to keep him away from the other planets” said the elves “His name is Thunderstorm.”

The twins, after a lot of convincing agreed to stay for a while. After all it was Christmas and the planets were in danger. It was the least they could do. Lemon Land was full of happiness, for now. As everyone was decorating, they all forgot about Thunderstorm and all of his evil spells. But meanwhile up in Thunderstorms palace he was cooking up an evil plot. (Along with some bacon and eggs.) His evil plot? Well that was way more dangerous than cooking breakfast. His plan was to freeze all of the planets into ice cubes. He would then be king and rule all of the Citrus Galaxy! Or as he called it, the “Ice Galaxy.” He couldn't wait to become king one second longer. He sent his bird, Stormy, (who was just as bad as him in case you were wondering) to spy on Lemon Land. As he cast his spell, it started to snow.

As Planet Orange started to freeze, all of the elves fled for their life! But (this is a good but) among the entire elfs running for cover, they saw a girl, about their age. It was Corrissa! Their long lost sister! They were so happy! They instantly ran over to hug each other. It turned out that when Corrissa was just a baby, Thunderstorm came to the planet Earth! But in order to get the twins to come here, one day, Thunderstorm had to take Corrissa back with him. He did no other damage, but that was that. They wanted to get right back home and tell their mom and dad, but how could they leave their new friends at a time like this?

Once all of the planets but Lemon Land had frozen, Thunderstorm cast another spell that made Lemon Land start freezing! Now there was only one mushroom unfrozen. Everyone in the Citrus Galaxy was crowded under and on top of that one little mushroom. All the elves and the sisters were amazed that everyone fit in that one little spot! Just as they were about to give up, magical fairy wings appeared on the backs of Bella and Chloe. Corrissa got dolphin fins! Then as if by instinct, they climbed up on the top of the mushroom, with their wings and the dolphin fins touching. It was their only hope. There was a big burst of light and then……

Just like that, all of the ice melted and the fairy wings and dolphin fins were gone! The sister’s power was so strong that they defeated Thunderstorm and locked him in his tower for a year! They said goodbye to all of their elf friends and then they hopped on their bike, Corrissa in a basket on the back, and pressed the home button. In an instant they were back home. “I can't wait to tell our parents about Corrissa!” said Chloe. Bella and Corrissa agreed. The magic was not in their wings or dolphin fins, but it was the magic of friendship.

When the twins told our parents about their wild adventure, they did not believe the twins at first until they saw Corrissa. They hugged and kissed her over and over. Suddenly, a few little Lemon Land elfs popped out of the bike basket. Everyone gasped. Corrissa spoke up and said “I thought my seat felt funny”! Then, everyone laughed. But then, Bella had the sudden feeling that something was wrong. Chloe felt a new adventure, and Corrissa felt the courage to go back to the Citrus Galaxy. Whatever it was, it was exciting, encouraging, and enigmatic, all at the same time.