Getting Home

Ari could see the portal home through the blades of grass, but it was far too high for him to get to at his current size. He was only a few centimetres tall, after all. Climbing over the moss (which now instead of being soft and springy was like a big tangly bouncy mess) as quickly as he could he tried to get closer to the portal, not sure what he’d do when he got there.

Coming out of the grass, he was just starting to panic when he caught a flash of blue out of the corner of his eye and realised that the balloon was right above him, caught in a spiderweb! He couldn’t quite reach him, but if he climbed one of the blades of grass he might be able to make it.

The sky was dark enough that there were a few stars, and he could see through the doorway into his own room that the sun was up - his dad would be coming into his room soon to wake him. Putting his hands on the nearest blade of grass - which was taller than a house - he realised that rather than being smooth, it had a rough texture that was very easy to grip.

Hand over hand he pulled himself up along the blade of grass, the tip of which was just below the balloon. He was going to make it! Even though he had no difficulty holding onto the grass itself, it was a long way to go and he just focused on what was right in front of him as he pulled himself higher and higher. Right as he got to the top he risked looking up and his heart sank - his weight on the grass blade had bent it down and now there was no way he’d be able to reach up to the balloon. He heard a distant rumble and held on as hard as he could as wind blew through the grass and trees, rocking his blade from side to side and tugging the balloon, which was tantalisingly out of reach, even farther, pulling it out of the cobweb.

With an audible snapping sound, the cobweb broke and the balloon, his only way to save himself from being stuck here and tiny, started to float away. But what was this? There was a long strand of spidersilk trailing behind the balloon! With every muscle in his body, Ari swung the blade of grass back and then as it swung itself forwards again he leaped at the strand, hands outstretched. He didn’t manage to close his fingers on it and thought he was going to drop, but it was so sticky! It stuck fast to his hand and as his weight pulled it down, it stuck to his clothes as well. It was a little icky, but it was keeping him safe as the balloon sailed through the air, with him hanging underneath.

He found that if he sort of wriggled his hand away from it he could unstick it, and so this is how he moved up towards the balloon. It wasn’t until he was almost at the clip that he realised that the balloon was drifting into the portal to his room! Right as he got his hands on the clip, he heard the brushbrushbrush sound of the edge of the balloon touching against his dressing gown. With all his might be pulled the clip open and as the air rushed into his face he breathed in as much as he could, with his eyes closed.

When it stopped, he opened his eyes. He was halfway through the door! Legs in the strange world, head and shoulders in the normal one! The balloon was empty now, lying on the ground in his room. He rolled backwards into his room and slid into his bed, pulling the covers up to his neck over his dirty sticky clothes right as his dad opened the door. “Morning, kiddo!”, he said. “Want some porridge for breakfast? Need to do a wee first?”. Ari nodded his head, pretending to be sleepy. “Yes please Dad, em I’ll be down in a minute”. Ari’s dad gave him a kiss on his head and headed for the door. Right before he left, he paused and looked at Ari in his bed under the covers. “Woah kiddo, I think you had a serious growth spurt, I’m pretty sure you’re a lot taller now than you were last night!”.