It was fall, 1993.

I was up in my room, my little quiet comforting room like always, sketching away in my journal. I love my journal, I feel like if I am mad or sad I can just draw and it makes it all better somehow in an amazing way.
My parents were downstairs doing work. They work all the time. I hate it. They are like machines that were programed to work all the time. To make matters worse I am the only child, so that means I spend a lot of time alone.

No one to play with. No one to talk to. Trust me, my parents are good people, just not when it comes to making time to spend with me.

This is how my life is. I go to school. Not having many close friends, I draw in my journal a lot.  I have to say I am a good drawer, but of course when I started, I was no good.

Then I come home, do my homework, go for a jog or walk, have to eat dinner by myself, because my parents are off working.

I live by lots of old people who are always away for matters I have never been able to figure out. It is probably because they are retired so they can do whatever they want whenever they want. I don’t even have anyone around my age that live close to me to hang out with.
As I said, I was in my room, drawing away, by myself.

My mind drifted away to dragons that live in the woods, little girls who have the power to communicate with animals, and me who was alone.

I don't’ really know were I get my ideas from, they just come to me. I could hear the faint mumbling of mom and dad down stairs talking about work. I have learned not to eavesdrop on their conversations.

Glancing up from my drawing, I noticed that my wallpaper had started to get really faded. After all, we have lived in this house for ten years now.

I decided I would take it upon myself to fix my walls. Mom and dad wouldn’t care. I can’t even remember the last time they even came into my room. I could rip off all this wallpaper, then walk down to the store and buy new paint, then paint it myself with them not even knowing.

Perfect plan.

“Mom I am heading out to the store to get a few things. Ok?” I said as I glided down the stairs, and into the living room to get my shoes.

“Ok Sarah.” Mom replied.

Hastening down the sidewalk, I rode my bike to Home Depot.

My long red hair waked my freckle-filled face in the wind. I guess I could say I love giraffes because I look just like one, and I draw them all the time.

I decided my walls would be light purple.

I got back in no time with the paints, and who knows, maybe I could even draw something cool on my walls, for instance a scene from the ocean.

I could draw whales swimming up to the surface of the water, which would be my ceiling. There could be a big old wrecked ship that has been lying still for over 300 years  with treasure on in that no one ever know about at the bottom of the ocean, that would be the part of my wall closest to my floor.

“What did you get Sarah.” Mom asked from the kitchen.

“Um,” I said trying think off the top of my head, and not sound like I was lying. “I just got some new colored pencils.”

I headed straight to my room. It would be better to get the project completely done without mom and dad seeing then for them to walk into my room when it is a total construction sight. They hate messes.

I was going to tear down this stupid wallpaper. Not only was it a little faded, but it kind of looked babyish. It had flowers,hearts, and butterflies on it.

As I started to rip at the wallpaper I saw some words. They looked like words from a story. Ripping the rest of red hearts on the wallpaper away, I started to read the words. They were the words from my favorite book Because of Winn Dixie.

I read that book about two and a half years ago but I loved it so much.

Then I hear someone talking to me. Sarah. You must go find a friend to enter the walls with. Go, then more information will be given to you.

What?

What?

What?

None of this made sense. How did the wall know my name? Why was my wall even talking to me?

“Wall... who are you? How do you know my name? What world are you talking about? What friend should I find, I don’t really have any friends.”

You choose whatever friend you want. A friend who is kind, smart, and trustworthy, you will know who it is when you see them. Now go.

I spent the rest of the weekend thinking about what the wall said.  What friend do I choose. Most of the time in school I stick myself in my drawing journal, and raise my hand for nearly every question. When our teachers tell us we can have partners for a project I always choose to do them alone. It’s not that I always want to do them alone, everyone always seems to have a partner like in one second.

I like to eat my lunch in Mrs. Walsh’s classroom. She puts on music and we talk about all sorts of stuff. She is like a grandma to me. Sweet, and always understanding. Every word that comes out of her mouth is kind and humbling. The thing I like about her is she treats me like an adult, and she never asks why I don’t eat lunch with the other kids.

The girls in my grade only jabber on about drama and boys. Ugg!

Why did I need a friend to enter into with so called world behind my walls anyways?

When I got to school on Monday I started to look around for a friend. I was trying to think what I would say to my new friend. “Hey do you want to come over to my house, I need you because you are the only way I can enter into this world that is behind my walls… or in my walls”

No that sounds stupid, then they would really think I am a weirdo.

RRRRRIIIIIIINNNNNGGG!

Last bell.

I had been thinking about the friend I needed to find all day. I couldn’t find really anyone that the wall described. Kind, smart, trustworthy.

Walking out of school I saw him. The person I was going to be friends with. The instant I glanced over at him, I could just tell, just like the wall said.

He was a tinier boy with blond hair and normal clothes.

I immediately started to get nervous. Crap, what do I do? I kind of looked at him for a little bit. He was sitting under a tree...with a SKETCHBOOK!

He likes to draw too; I grabbed out my sketchbook and walked over to him.

“Hey, I noticed you draw. I draw too.” I said not very confidently handling  him my book.

“Wow you are way better than me. Are you sure you didn’t trace this or print this off.” The boy said joking.  “I’m Nathan.”

He handed by sketchbook back.

“I’m Sarah, so I know this might sound totally stupid but you have to believe me. The other day I was tearing down my wallpaper when I saw that there were the words from the book Because of Winn Dixie. Then I hear my wall tell me that their is this world in my walls that can only be unlocked if I have a friend with me. I don’t have like any friends so I picked you, so do you want to come over to my house tonight?” I huffed out.
He looked at me with a I-just-meet-you-so-you-expect-me-to-come-over-to-your-house-and-you-seem-totally-awesome look, but all he said was ok.

He called his mom from the school’s phone, and said that he was going to stay at the school to do homework so he would be home late.

We walked to my house. Nathan probably thought I was out of my mind, but just went along with it because he felt sorry for me.

“To be honest I can’t believe you are actually coming home with me.” I said sounding stupid.

“Well you are one of the smartest girls in our grade, and you aren’t like any of the other girls. So I thought what the heck might as well come alone on something that sounds awesome but doesn’t make any sense.”
I couldn’t tell if he was being sarcastic or what.

“I do want you to know that I have only brought one friend home, so if my parents act weird you know why.

“Ok.” He replied.

When we got to my house I didn’t even introduce Nathan to my parents, we just went straight up to my room. Introducing Nathan would have caused wasted time, lots of questions, and a boat load of embarrassment. 
“Wow,” Nathan said. “You weren’t kidding when you said that your walls did have the words of Because of Winn Dixie on it.”

“Yeah.” I said.

Sarah you have found a friend. Good for you. Now what you will need to do is stand straight in front of the wall and fall forward. You will fall right into the other world.

“Nathan did you hear the man’s voice too?” I asked.

“Yes.”

We walked up to the wall like the man said.

“On the count of three we will fall. Ok?” I said.

Nathan relied “Ok.”

“1...2...3” I counted.

We fell.

The two of us were now in the new world.

“What is this place Sarah?” Nathan asked.

“It is the world behind my walls. Look over their. That looks exactly like the little girl I drew the other day, and their that looks like the horse I drew last week. Everything in this world looks and feels crisper. The fragrance smells like freshly watered roses.”

And that is when I discovered that my sketch book was transporting my drawing to this new world and making them alive. This was amazing!

****

Two week later: I have gotten to know Nathan a lot better now. Everyday after school we go into the world, and Nathan has told some of his friends about it. We are going to show them it this weekend.

I can still only enter the world with friends, but I think I can make an exception for my parents.

If I hadn’t found this world then I probably wouldn’t even know Nathan.

The way I figure it , everyone gets a miracle. My miracle was this: out of all the kids in my school, in all of Indiana, I ended up being the one to have a magical wall.

This world is doing wonders for my life.