Part one - The Mountain

Once upon a time, there lived a young girl.  She lived in a very large, very beautiful city.  It had everything you could need, plenty of shops, great libraries, all sorts of entertainment.  There was a great wall around the city, twice the height of any of the buildings.  The wall was there to keep what was outside the wall from coming in some said.  Others said there was nothing outside and if there was you wouldn't want to go there anyway.  They had everything they needed right there to be happy.

Now this young girl, Theresa, was about 15 years old.  She was not like the townspeople she longed to know what was outside the walls.  She didn't care if it was beautiful, or scary, or both, she wanted to see it.  But how could she?  She had stood on the roof of her house on her tip toes and couldn't see. She tried all the trees without any luck.

Her family wasn't very happy with her.  "Why can't you be like the other kids your age? Why don't you have a boyfriend and hang out at the shops like your sisters did?".  They didn't understand, she didn't want to be different, but it was like something was calling her.  Everyone else in their city did the thing that make everyone happy, they said.  Everyone else spent their days eating and drinking and shopping.  Why couldn't she be just like everyone else?

One day, walking throught the streets, she came upon a building she had never seen before.  It was all boarded up.  It looked to Therese like no one had beef in the building for years and years.  Walking around it, it was made of stone and had very tall windows.  It had a tower and that tower had one window at the top.  Therese didn't know it was a tower, no other building in town had one, but this one did.  She thought to herself " If I could get in there and climb up as high as I could go I would be able to see over the walls".

Therese knew that she could pry one of the boards off a window and get inside.  She went home and came back with a hammer.  Going to the back of the building she looked for a board to pull off.  There was a window at the back that was out of the way and easy to see from the street.  Therese pulled on the board and it was loose.  It swung on one nail.  She took a deep breath and stepped through.

In was dark and cool inside but there was a faint light when her eyes adjusted to the darkness.  A pale red light at the other end of large room.  She longed to go and see where the light came from but her mission was to climb to the top and look over the wall.

She turned and moved toward the base of the tower.  She found a set of stairs and started climbing.  Her steps were muffled by the thick layer of dust that covered the treads.  As she climbed higher she could see the top of the tower and the little window.  Light streamed in the window and there was a slight breeze.  Therese could now clearly see the steps and she noticed something.  She could just make out footprints.  They were covered over with dust but obviously someone else had been here.

Just before she reached the top she closed her eyes and stopped for a moment.  What if it was nothing out there?  Did she really want to see that?  What if there were monsters as some people said?  She had see.  When she reached the top she kept her eyes closed and turned to face the open window.  She held her breath and openned her eyes.  In front of her was a beautiful sight.  A broad flat, green plain that ended in a magnificent mountain.  It had a proud sharp peak and trees grew most of the way up.  It was so beautiful it hurt her eyes.  She laughed and then started to cry.  She thought climbing the tower and seeing what was out there would satisfy her but now she knew she would never rest until she crossed the plain and climbed the mountain.  She stayed until the sun started to set and then climbed back down.  Therese knew now that she would never be happy behind the walls now.  She knew she had to get outside.

As she climbed back out the window, the little red light caught her eye again.  She looked and there no footprints leading towards it.  How did it stay lit and who put it there?  Once outside she forgot the light as her mind raced, how was she going to get outside?  If she went home and asked her parents they might lock her up to keep her inside.  She knew someone else had seen the mountain, she had seen their footprints.  Had they gotten out?

It was getting dark so went home determined equally not to tell anyone what she had seen and to try the next day to get out.