[GIFT] Mysterious Footprints

The morning sun peeked through the bedroom window, right into the eyes of Wish. ‘Please I don’t want to wake up yet’ he turned around, covering his head with the blanket. He managed to sleep for a bit more before the sun creeped in enough that it couldn’t be ignored anymore. He crawled out of bed, ‘good morning friends’ the lights in the terrariums and aquariums switched on and illuminated the entire room. When all the critters were fed he walked to the kitchen and grabbed a colorful cereal box and some milk ‘now to feed myself’. A sudden knock on the door, ‘who's there?!’... but there was no response, ‘guess I just imagined it’. 

‘What’s this?’ Wish had opened his door, planning to go out to look for some new critters when he noticed muddy footprints leading away from his door. They didn’t look familiar, not like any species he had ever seen ‘was this what knocked on the door earlier?’. Wish looked at the track of footsteps and decided to follow them, hoping to find the mysterious knocker. At first the footsteps went around town a bit, mostly through small shadowy streets and around backyards, a few neighbors waved or wished Wish a good morning but he just kept walking. ‘No time for small talk, sorry!’. Slowly he got closer to the edge of town and the footsteps disappeared into some bushes at the edge of the woods. Wish looked around ‘hello?’... ‘anybody here?’... nothing. With his back on his shoulders he started to crawl through the bushes keeping an eye on the strange footprints, some more visible than others. 

More and more trees started to surround him, and when he got out of the dense bushes he was standing in the middle of the woods in a place he had never been before. Leaves, twigs and even some small berries got stuck in his fur, so he decided to take a quick breather and pluck them out. ‘How far can these prints lead, and why take this route?’ 

‘No way!’ a small centipede-like critter had crawled onto his arm, ‘hello little guy, wanna come home with me?’. The little creature lifted its head almost like it was agreeing, so Wish slowly grabbed a container from his bag and nudged the critter in. ‘I will call you… Peter!’ he laughed and carefully placed Peter in a side pocket of his bag. ‘Well Peter, you ready to find out whose footprints are these?’. The critter made a clicking noise, ‘awesome!’. 

He walked about 15 minutes more when the woods started to open up until he saw a small clearing. There was a small and very old looking cottage in the center of it and the foodprints seemed to go straight to it. *Knock knock* ‘anyone in here?’, the door creaked open but no response. It was dark inside except for where the sun was shining into one of the windows next to the door. ‘Wait what are those?’ as Wish looked closer he noticed a pair of slippers shaped just like the footprints he had been following all day. He opened the curtains on the other windows and with the light coming in he noticed a letter on the table. 

Hey Wish,

Glad you found this place and hope you like the little hunt I created for you. If you look around here you might find a few gifts I got for you, I hope you like them. 

He turned around the paper to see if there was a name on it but sadly not, ‘guess this will remain a mystery’. But when he looked around the room he noticed a few boxes wrapped in fancy paper. ‘Peter check this out, we found the gifts!’. The first box contained some insect collecting tools, a second smaller box was filled with all kinds of shiny rocks and gems and then there was one box left. It was a beautiful terrarium, ‘whoever gave me this must know me well’ he smiled and packed everything ready to go back home. ‘You’re a lucky one Peter, you just got a brand new terrarium to live in!’