Giana yawned, stretching out her arms, and stepping out of bed. She felt very refreshed and awake this morning, which was a rare occurrence for her. Giana looked over at the clock, 7:17am. That should be enough time, as long as another disaster doesn’t happen, she thought. She changed out of her pajamas and did her morning routine for the day. She got dressed, brushed her teeth, and began to brush her hair. Suddenly, Giana stopped mid brush and froze, ears perked up. She heard it again; a small rattle from downstairs. Giana ninja’d her way down the stairs as quietly as possible. She peeked around the corner and….

Phew. Just Zephyr. They have to stop doing this! I get that they want to surprise me, but they’re gonna give me a heart attack! Giana thought. She smiled softly after she realized they were making her breakfast. Giana tip-toed her way over behind them, and cupped her hands over Zephyr’s eyes. “Guess who!” She cried. 

Zephyr chucked, “Uh, Bob. No? Jeffery. No? Billy. No?” They teased, “Oh wait. I know who this is. It’s the most beautiful person in the world!” Zephyr turned around, grabbed Giana’s hands, and smiled while looking into her eyes. Giana blushed. “I made you breakfast,” Zephyr offered. 

“I-I know,” Giana smiled, while thinking about how lucky she was. “Thank you so much. You’re literally the best.”

“I know.” Zephyr winked while handing her a plate of food. “Trust me, it’s delicious.”

And it was. After eating all the breakfast, Giana grabbed her keys and headed to the front door. After profusely thanking Zephyr, she gave them a peck on the cheek, and crept out the door. No bad weather… Giana observed. She snuck to her car. No broken car… Giana thought. What’s going on today? There’s probably gonna be a lot of traffic. But there wasn’t. Giana was extremely confused. She had never been this early. She was skeptical, and had a feeling that some other disaster would make her late. But nothing happened. Giana arrived on time at the right house on the right day…She was in disbelief. Still suspicious, she walked up to the door, and before she could even knock, both parents burst out the door. “Thanks! Bye!” They both shouted behind their shoulders. 

Hesitantly, Giana stepped into the house. She looked around. Was this real? Was this just a dream? She pinched herself. Ouch! No, definitely real life. The three kids raced up to her, Niki greeting her excitedly.

“Alright!” Giana exclaimed, “What do you wanna do today?” 

“Bury dead bodies,” Raven mumbled. 

“Wh- no! Raven, we can’t do that.” Giana scolded. 

“…You’re right,” Raven sighed, “Alive bodies are much better.” 

“Raven!” cried Niki. 

“I mean, sounds good to me,” Oliver shrugged. 

“Oliver! No! Something fun! I wanna do something fun!” Niki exclaimed.

“How ‘bout we watch a movie?” Giana suggested. 

“YES! YES!” Niki cried. 

“That also sounds good…” Oliver hid an excited smile.

“As long as it’s a murder documentary.” Raven said.

…It was not a murder mystery. After a while of fighting, shouting, arguing, and disagreements, they finally found a movie they were all content with. 

“I’ll go make some popcorn!” Giana smiled. She grabbed some kernels and heated them up, adding butter and a little salt. She leaned on the doorframe watching the kernels pop and inflate into popcorn. Then, Giana hopped back to the kids, sat the bowl of popcorn in the middle of everyone, and started the movie. There were a few small fights for the popcorn, and it didn’t last long, but it was pretty good. 

Throughout the day, they ate some food, watched some more movies, and even attempted to make their own movie! That turned out… interestingly. Before they knew it, the sun was setting. With quite a bit of resistance from the children, Giana finally forced the kids into their pajamas and to brush their teeth. They were pretty riled up and were jumping across each other’s beds as if it was a trampoline park. Giana knew it was going to be difficult to get them to sleep.

“Alright guys, settle down.” Giana sighed, “I’m going to tell you a bedtime story. It all began when…” she trailed off, not being able to think of anything, for the first time in like, ever, “Um… it all began a long time ago when… Um…”

“It all began when three kids, just like us, got to their new orphanage. The youngest girl was named Macey, she was 9,” Oliver started, smiling at Giana.

“Just like me!” Shouted Niki!

“Yes, just like you,” Oliver chuckled, “The middle child was Charlie, who was 11 years old. And the oldest was Norah, at 14.” 

Raven continued in a whisper, “As they began exploring, they came across this closet. Although it wasn’t any ordinary closet. It was huge, and there were beautiful carvings on the front. But, just as Macey raised a finger and began to trace the carvings, a slim, shadowy arm reached out and pulled Macey into the closet!”

Giana smiled, “Norah and Charlie screamed! They ran into the closet and looked around for Macey. When she was nowhere to be found, Charlie suggested that they trace the carvings like Macey did. A slim shadowy arm pulled Norah in and a few seconds later, a fat shadowy arm pulled Charlie in.”

“Yeah! And then, then, Macey showed them that they weren’t in their world anymore! They were in Little Red Riding Hood’s world! But they didn’t believe her at first. So, she pulled them farther into the world, needing to prove to them that she was right! So when they came face to face with Little Red Riding Hood, Macey asked, ‘Are you Red?’. The girl nodded, and Macey explained that she should NOT under ANY circumstances help the wolf,” Niki exclaimed.

“After that, they headed back to the closet and chose other places to go. They traveled everywhere, to all different stories! Like… Keeper of the Lost Cities! And…” Raven continued.

“Percy Jackson!” Oliver exclaimed

“And Peter Pan!” Niki giggled. 

“Can’t forget Harry Potter,” Raven mumbled. 

“Or Goldie Locks!” Niki blurted.

“They also went to Ella Enchanted!” Charlie shouted.

“Alright guys, let’s calm down for bed. But yes, they went to all those places. And they helped everyone in every story they went to. However, after going to so many places, Macey was tired. And so they decided to go back and dream about all the excitement that happened that day. And this way, you can dream about all that excitement as well,” Giana got up and tucked them, whispering goodnight before gently shutting the door. 

Cites

https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/narnia/images/4/4b/NarniaWardrobe.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20090103195137