The Phoenix Locket

There once was a boy called Bill. He lived in a small cottage at the end of an deep dark forest with his grandfather. They were quite isolated from life really . Bill’s life was quiet, but he liked having long walks in the woods, hoping that one day he would find someone or something different. Most people would think that the forest was creepy but Bill thought it was beautiful.

One day he was walking through the woods when suddenly he saw a small black locket lying on the branch of a nearby birch tree. He slowy walked to the tree and grabbed it. BOOM! Something yellow and gold flew out from the locket, It blinded his eyes for a moment and then it drifted down towards the ground and burst into flames. Stunned at this sight he ran back to the cottage and decided that he had only imagined it.

The next day he returned to that exact spot to see if the incident the day before had really happened. Bill searched and searched until he came across the identical ornament that had given him such a fright yesterday.

Bill opened it to find a huge pile of ashes and wondered if these belonged to that very same flame like creature. A small beak popped up from the ashes, it was as red as the flames he had seen not long ago, Bill shouted “What in the name of blazes is this!”

 Bill grew up in West Virginia where there were no myths or legend abouts fire creatures. Bill closed the locket, hung it around his neck and shrugged, “Well I guess I’ll take it back anyways.”

He skipped back home knowing that he would no longer have to feel scared about this locket. That night when Bill slept he started to feel hot on the inside almost as if something was about to come out of his chest . . . ‘Click’ the locket slowly creaked open and a magnificent bird flew out of it. Bill awoke with a start, “Oh my, grandpa won’t be very happy about this.” He tried catching it but had no luck. At last he managed to catch it and crammed it into a cage.

Making sure that the creature was secure he set off wandering back into the forest. It started to rain so he found shelter underneath a big oak tree. the forest was made up out of many different trees like Elm, Fir, Oak, Pine and Maple but only one Birch tree stood out from the rest. It was the tree Bill had found the locket on.

Bill resumed his search regardless of whether it was raining or not, for he really wanted to find more artifacts to add to his ‘collection’.Bill screwed up his face when he had no luck of finding something. When Bill finally got home he found that the bird had escaped. “Why does this always happen to me?”

Once again he wandered through the forest in search of the bird. Surprisingly Bill found the bird on top of the one and only Birch tree. Bill wondered out loud “So… this is an enchanted tree is it now?” Bill felt heart broken on the inside. “Will you please come  back to me?” Bill pleaded and cried. He was filled with sadness and grief.

Bill came back the next day “P-p-please come back!” As soon as those words came out of his mouth the bird took flight and performed a dazzling show. Bill suddenly realised what this meant, he must never want something for himself but to share it with the world.