Sophie Hall 1st prize 7-10 year old category
Chapter One Questions
Why don’t I have dreams? Olivia asked herself.
Olivia is just ten years old and becoming more aware
of the world around her.
She was listening to her lively godmother, Ayla,
who was explaining with delight the dreams she used
to experience when she was younger. Olivia’s
favourite dream stories are the ones where her
godmother solves complicated mysteries with her
fearsome friends. Olivia longed to be like her
Godmother one day.
Olivia loved it when her Godmother told her these
imaginative stories. But sometimes she felt frustrated
because she had no dreams of her own to tell her
Godmother about.
“Why don’t I get these amazing dreams Ayla?”
questioned Olivia. Olivia’s Godmother decided she
should tell Olivia about the Key of Dreams, a key that
unlocks dreams into children's heads at night. Olivia
listened with curiosity and amazement.
Chapter Two The Secret Society
The next day dawned upon Olivia. Olivia clambered
out of bed, tore her pyjamas off and chucked her
clothes on. Olivia raced down the stairs quicker than
she’d ever done before. She wolfed down her
breakfast, and sprinted to her friend's secret hideout.
When Olivia got there, she did the special knock to let
her friends know it was her.
“We’re upstairs” came the reply. Olivia pounded up
the stairs and into her friend's secret meeting room.
There, sat around twinkling fairy lights were her best
friends.
“You okay?” asked her friend Lottie with a hint of
concern in her voice.
“ Yes but there is something I nee-need tt-too aa-ask
you guys” stuttered Olivia. She was very nervous
about what her friends might reply… .
“ Go on” urged Lilita,
“ What is it?” questioned Nia.
“ Well there is no easy way to ask this but do you have
any dreams at night, like adventures?”.
The friends pondered this for a while. Olivia was
fidgeting in her seat waiting for their responses. After
what seemed like forever the girls told Olivia the sad
truth,
“ No we dd-don’t” stammered the girls with a hint of
disappointment in their hazelnut eyes.
“ Don’t worry, I don’t either. My godmother told me
that dreams are opened by the key of dreams” replied
Olivia.
“ Maybe we should form a secret society to work out
where the key is and why it has stopped giving
dreams” suggested Phoenix, the most inquisitive one
of the friends.
“ Yes, that's a great idea as the key may have gone
missing, and it will be our job to find it” responded
Beatrice with a hint of excitement.
“ Let’s do it” chimed in everyone, so everything was
set. The group of detective friends met in their secret
meeting room every day after school, to try and solve
the mystery. On her next visit to her caring
Godmother, Olivia told Ayla of her and her friends'
plan.
“ That’s a great idea sweetheart ” Ayla, her godmother
replied with pride.
“ Thanks Ayla, you are the best godmother,
” Olivia
answered with love and affection.
Chapter Three Quest of the last Dream
Firstly, Olivia and her friends decided that they
needed to find out who had the last dream. This
would prove to be harder than they thought… by the
time the weekend came Olivia was exhausted.
To try and find out who had the last dream the girls
made flyers and sent them all around the world and
gave them a number to call, asking when their last
dream was. Every day they would have hundreds of
calls from people around the globe. Their phones
would not stop ringing in class, and soon the teachers
became suspicious.
However, the teachers giving them detentions
would not stop Olivia and her fearsome friends; they
continued to answer the phone calls no matter what
time of day. The whole gang were desperate to save
children’s dreams, and were willing to do anything to
find the key.
After months of constant phone calls Olivia and her
friends worked out that Elsie, in Year 6 of their own
school, was the last person who had a dream. Sadly
that dream began with a cute unicorn in an
enchanted forest, but then turned into a nightmare
which had really upset her.
When Olivia and her fellow detectives realised Elsie
was so close, they jumped for joy.
Chapter Four Quest of the Missing Key
Now that Olivia and her team had found the last
dream, they concentrated on working out where the
key had gone. They decided as a group the first place
to look was Elsie’s house as that was where the key
had last unlocked a dream.
As soon as they could, they all arranged with Elsie
to go to her house for a sleepover.
Once the girls had told Elsie why they were here
everyone settled down to hot chocolate, whipped
cream and marshmallows in her bedroom.
“ This is delicious” cried the girls, stuffing their
faces full with the rich creamy liquid.
Once they were in private, Nia explained her idea.
“ We should all close our eyes and hold hands and
pray that the key will appear” suggested Nia.
“ Let’s give it a go” cried all the girls. The girls closed
their eyes, linked hands and prayed.
“Open your eyes” said an unfamiliar voice. The girls
did as told. Right there in front of them , looking
scared, was a miniscule bronze key!
“Oh my!” exclaimed the girls.
Chapter Five Convincing the Key
“Why have you called upon me?” asked the key.
Sophie tried to explain how sad they all were that
they didnt have dreams, and that they wanted to
know why all the dreams had stopped. The key was
hesitant at first. He settled down and told the girls
why he really stopped. It was because he had given a
child a nightmare by mistake and didnt want to make
another mistake like that ever again.
Olivia listened carefully and then told the key that
all the children were sad that they didnt get
wonderful dreams and that it would still be worth it,
even if there was a nightmare once in a while! They
pleaded with the key to come back and continue
unlocking dreams once again.
He went away, and the girls waited anxiously. At
10pm he came back and addressed the girls with his
decision …
“ I have decided to … continue unlocking dreams”
announced the Key,
“ That’s a great decision you won’t regret it” cried the
girls. “Thank you so much!”
Chapter Six Dreams Unlocked
Once the girls solved the mystery, they were
overjoyed and excited to tell everyone. All the
children at school patted the team of girls on the back
and said well done and thank you. To prove their
thanks they set up a surprise party for all the girls in
recognition of their triumph.
Everyone enjoyed the party heaps, and there was
karaoke, disco and loads of party food! When they all
went to bed that night the key got to work on
unlocking the dreams of children around the globe.
Olivia now loves to tell her godmother about the
dreams she gets each and every night. Olivia’s dream
came true. She did become like her Godmother with
her interesting and captivating dreams, solving
mysteries with her fearsome friends.
The key to dreams continues to fill childrens heads
with wonder.
The End

Online writing club for young writers
Come and find us on social media
Copyright © 2022