Life in Legos

 By Writer Radhika Sandeep

The sun was shining and the grasshoppers chirped a new tune. The sound of the kids planning what they were going to do over the summer echoed through the neighborhood like a crumbling cave inside the Grand Canyon. And yet, eleven year old Ava Petrakis vouched to stay home and play with her Legos. 

Ding Dong!  The sound of the doorbell awoke Ava from her pleasant dream. She sprang up from her seat at the kitchen table aka her Lego world. She was awaiting a new Lego set and as she saw the black and blue amazon truck pulling away from her house, her heart bubbled with excitement. She dashed to the door and flung it open. She grabbed the box that was on her doorstep, slammed the door shut, and took out the new Lego set. It was 10,000 pieces, but that didn’t bother her. However, she knew that this was going to be the hardest thing she had ever done in her life. She was building the portal of Kilo, but that's not it. She was also building the imaginary world behind the portal. 

She dumped the pieces on the kitchen table and got to work. She wanted to finish this Lego set before her mom got home, leaving her with just seven hours to build. She knew that she had no time to waste, so she got to work, taking breaks to only go to the bathroom. 

Can’t mess up. Can’t mess up, Ava muttered to herself. Finally, after 6 hours of tireless building, she was done. She carefully picked up the portal and put it on the kitchen floor. It was time to play. Suddenly, a bright white light exploded in the living room, blinding her. Her eyes filled with pain, making her look away. When Ava finally opened her eyes, she was greeted with a shocking sight. Three of her favorite Lego Friends characters stood before her in human size. Behind them, the portal had grown to an enormous size, almost hitting the room, and the world behind the portal had disappeared. Ava stood dumbfounded for a second, but then a crazy thought that almost knocked the wind out of her hit her right in the head. The portal had become a real portal, and the characters were from the Lego World.

“Greetings Ava,” said Stephanie, her favorite Lego Friends character, knocking Ava out of her thoughts.

“Um…Hello?” replied Ava, shocked that the figures were talking.

“We have been watching you. You know your way around a Lego set. Now, I think you’re ready for the rescue mission of a lifetime. Jump through the portal and you’ll go straight to Lego World, where you can start your adventure,” exclaimed Andrea, another one of her favorite characters.

“WOAH woah woah woah. Slow down. I’m not going anywhere, and you guys can jump through the portal and leave me alone!” exclaimed Ava, bursting with anger and confusion. 

As Ava looked around the room trying to figure out what was happening, the front door suddenly slammed open. 

“Ava, listen to me. You have to listen to Andrea. She knows what she is talking about. In fact, I told them to do this.” It was Ava’s mom, and even though Ava had thought she was the best mom ever, now she wasn’t so sure.

“Mom, where are you? And what are you talking about?” Ava questioned.

“My voice is coming from the portal. I don’t know how, but that’s how it works. Ava darling, listen to me. The same thing happened to me when I was younger. It’s something that’s happened to almost every person on my side of the family tree. The Lego people call on us when they need help, and we call on them when we need help. Listen to me Ava. Now it’s your turn,” Ava’s mom replied, before turning into a speaker of static.

Ava looked up and suddenly said, “Fine. I’ll probably regret this but… I’ll come with you. But this is only for my family.”

The characters looked at her with a smug face before separating from each other, leaving her a clear path to the portal. Ava took a deep breath, prepped herself, and ran straight through the door of adventure.

When Ava tumbled out the other side of the portal, she was greeted with her dreams. The Lego World looked exactly like she had imagined, only more empty. As she looked around in awe, she realized that not a single human or animal was in sight.

Ava whipped around to face the Lego characters, her hair smacking all of them in the face. 

“Explain. Why is this place so … empty?” Ava questioned.

“Long story short, this evil wizard named the Necromancer took over and then made all living things his slaves. If they’re not slaves though, they are now monsters that work for him. So yeah. You are going to stop that wizard and save us all. That’s why you’re here!” explained Andrea.

“I bet this will be easy. The Necromancer is probably weak anyway,” smirked Ava nervously. She was determined to make the characters think that she knew what she was doing.

Suddenly, a deep rumbling echoed through the dirt they were standing on. As Ava looked around in confusion, she noticed a giant mountain under the ground racing towards her. All her instincts told her to jump, but her curiosity took over and she stayed right where she was, just in time to witness a ginormous monster the size of 20 Eiffel towers erupt from the dirt.

“Great,” muttered Stephanie, “now you’ve angered the Necromancer and the monster that works for him. This ignorant girl is supposed to save our world? We’re better off surrendering.” 

As she complained though, the monster heard her feeble voice. Turning his head with a sharp jerk, he focused his beady, neon eyes onto her and the other characters. Ava didn’t have time to warn them before the monster used his long, green slimy tentacles to snatch them up like little bugs. Then, without even looking at Ava, the monster shot a tentacle at her and Ava didn’t even see it coming. Trapped in the slimy tentacle, all Ava could do was sit around and wait until the monster put them down.

 As the monster took them to wherever they were being taken, Ava had a perfect moment to witness the Necromancer’s injustice. One side of the street, 3 people were building a village by themselves and on the other side, people were being executed for just dropping a brick. 

Suddenly, Ava was greeted with a palace perfect for an evil wizard. It had twisted towers and a huge balcony. Two guards dressed in midnight black armor stood by the drawbridge, and the moat was full of crocodiles. The entire palace was made of dark purple bricks and on the tallest tower a purple flag with a skull on it was flying proudly in the breeze. 

As Ava was bursting with shock and awe, she suddenly noticed that the ground was coming closer and closer. She realized a bit too late that the monster had in fact, dropped her. They had arrived at their destination. Ava suddenly realized what was happening. She was being taken to the Necromancer and the fact that she had insulted him wasn’t helping their case.

 You stupid, stupid girl. What were you thinking when you insulted the very person who controls the Lego World? Now look at what happened. You’re probably going to get executed. Ava muttered to herself. Two guards with stern expressions came to pick up the prisoners. 

“The lord wants to see the girl who dares insult him. Please step forward if you are that girl,” boomed one of the guards. This guard had a kinder expression, but unless you looked really carefully, you couldn’t tell the difference. 

With nothing else Ava could do, she had to step forward. Almost immediately, the guards came forward to tie her hands up and then took her inside the castle. While the outside was horrifying, the inside was even worse. It was filled with pictures of war, death, blood, and murder. The bricks were a darker color and the dark, tinted windows let in the smallest drops of refreshing light. The main castle looked like a dungeon, so when Ava imagined what the real dungeon looked like, she vowed to never break a rule in Lego World again if she lived. 

“I got the girl. She can’t do anything in the palace.” It was the guard that had asked her to step forward. It looked like he was trying to get the other guard to leave, but Ava had no clue why. The guard kept persuading the other guy to leave, and when he finally did, the guard turned to Ava with his burning, blue eyes staring into her soul. 

“I want to help you,” the guard said, removing a knife from his tool belt. Then, with one swift motion, he cut through Ava’s makeshift gag and the ropes tying her hands together.

Shock jolted through Ava’s body. This guard worked for the Necromancer, the man who controlled all of Lego World. And yet, he was still betraying him?

“Firstly, my name is Jake. Also, thousands have tried to do exactly what you are attempting now, but they all failed. And yet, you might succeed. You have an air of … difference around you. You’re different from all the other people who have tried. Now I have a riddle for you. If you can solve it, the Necromancer's weakness will be revealed. No one knows the answer. But one tip from an expert, don’t overthink it. It can fill 

a room without occupying space. What is that?  That’s your riddle. Good luck. You’re going to need it,” explained Jake.

“Thanks for the advice, but I’m going to find the Necromancer. Also, do you have a slingshot and some rocks?” Ava asked. Ava knew it was a long shot, but she knew she had to give it a try.

“Actually, I do. But trust me, it’s not going to  work,” Jake warned.

“Uhhhh … I’m going to try it anyway,” replied Ava. 

And with that, Ava took off running to the heart of the palace. As she traveled down and down, the amount of light went down with her. The only thing that kept her alive was the flashlight necklace her grandma had given her for her birthday two years ago. Its feeble and dim light was just enough to show her the steps and the handrails. And suddenly, her foot hit a solid, concrete, stone floor. 

She had entered the lair of the Necromancer. In the shadow of the steps, she became aware of someone tapping their foot behind them. With a quick, jerky spin, she came face to face with Jake.

“Well, Well, Well. We’re a bit nosy aren’t we?” questioned Jake.

“Jake, what are you doing? You said you would help me!” cried Ava.

“If you thought I would betray the Necromancer and risk dying, well then you were wrong,” Jake snickered. And yet, as he said this, Ava could see the pain in his eyes.

“Ha Ha Ha Ha. Young Lady, did you really think you could sneak into my lair?” boomed a deep voice. Without hesitation, Ava knew it was the Necromancer. 

Through the corners of her eyes, Ava saw Jake backing into the shadows and with that Ava knew how bad the situation was. If she died today, most certainly it would be in this room. Ava realized she only had one chance. She quietly readied her slingshot, took aim and fired. However, the rock never hit the target. It came hurtling back to her, looking to hit her instead. Ava knew then that this was pointless.

“How dare you insult me, then try to hurt me with a puny little slingshot?” the Necromancer questioned.

Come on Ava. Think. You know the answer to the riddle. You don’t have much time. The Necromancer is so mad and he is looking forward to crushing you, Ava thought. Suddenly, it all came rushing to her brain. The answer was light! The reason the palace was so dark was because The Necromancer can’t be touched by light! Suddenly, she knew what to do for the first time in the adventure. Once again, she prepped her slingshot, she took aim, and this time, the rock hit the target right in the bullseye. Faster than you can say Hooray, The window was gone and so was the Necromancer. 

As the happiness sank in, Ava realized she could finally go home. She could finally see her mother. She could finally see the people of the Lego World be happy again. She could finally go home knowing that she had done what she had to do, and that she had done her job saving thousands of Lego Characters.

Ava ran up the stairs, out of the palace, and straight to the place where she had first started this crazy adventure. She was ready to finally go home, but the portal was gone. In place of the portal was  a piece of paper, and it had the word forgiveness written on it. Ava suddenly realized she wasn’t ready to rejoice just yet. She had one more thing to do, and that was the most important thing of all. She ran back to the palace as fast as she could, but she didn’t quite make it there. As she was running past the executioner’s block, she saw the person she wanted to understand most. Jake was pacing around as if his life depended on a blade of grass, but that blade of grass got burned in a fire. Ava changed directions and started running towards Jake. 

“Jake … You have a lot of explaining to do! You betrayed me! For once, I trusted someone other than my parents and you do this to me? You almost got me killed!” Ava shouted, her face a mix of anger and sadness.

“Ava, The Necromancer, he found out I helped you and if I wanted to save my family, I had to do this,” Jake replied, not meeting Ava’s eyes, “I’m sorry, and I wish you could forgive me.”

“I’m … I’m sorry Jake. I didn’t know The Necromancer threatened you. You know what? I forgive you,” Ava muttered, ashamed of judging Jake so soon. And suddenly, a strong wind lifted Ava into the air and dropped her on a cloud. Ava suddenly realized that when she had done what she needed to do, the land itself was helping her. As Ava was admiring the view from above, the cloud suddenly dissipated, but miraculously, the portal Ava had longed to see for so long opened up beneath her feet. Ava went right through and ended up in her living room, where she saw her mom frantically pacing around. 

“Mom! I did it!” Ava exclaimed.

“Oh honey … I’m so proud of you,” Ava’s mom replied, cradling Ava in a bear hug.

After that fateful day, Ava realized that the world is more than just Legos. She made friends and joined clubs. She even created a club for all Lego nerds. And every time she met someone new, she made sure to never judge them before she actually knew the truth.