Students In Les Miserables Land by Jo Pearson

As everyone knows, it was a lovely summers day when Alice went through the looking glass into another land. It was that same kind of afternoon when the three bears decided to go for a walk to let their porridge cool down, and they were burgled by a vicious thief known as Goldilocks. A fine day also saw a beautiful princess wander through a wood and find accommodation with seven vertically challenged men.
Years later, it was on a similar afternoon that a group of friends had also decided to go out for the day and have a picnic in the woods. They were students from the far side of the woods, little did they know they were walking deeper and deeper amongst the enchanted trees.
The band of five friends were all below the age of twenty when this adventure occurred. The details of each friend are not necessary and will gradually become apparent to you however, it never hurts to know something does it? In the group were several definite personalities. Lucy, the shy peacemaker; the timid yet courageous Rosie; Jenny with her plain spoken reason; Mark the thoughtful friend and Jo, the passionate leader who was bound to speak as she found. They had all become friends and up until now that friendship had never been truly tested. In fact, as individuals they had never been tested. However, the adventure they were about to begin would need strength and courage. These the group had in abundance but they did not realise how important they were going to be.
So anyway, the friends were trooping through the woods…

“ I don’t suppose we could…?” came the question.
“ No!” came the resounding reply.
“ Only a little…?” Rosie whined.
“ NO!” the others said firmly.
“ Just one little song…!” Jo pleaded.
“ NO!!” the others turned to face Jo and Rosie, with slight scowls on their faces. Jenny was trying not to laugh and she was finding it hard.
“ We agreed! A Les Misérables free day!!”
“ But…” Jo started but her eyes met Jenny’s and she stopped. Mark laughed to himself,
“ Oh come on, for God’s sake, or we’ll never get anywhere!” Amidst the occasional groan from Jo and Rosie the group carried on. Mark leading the way, Jenny brandishing the map, Jo and Rosie humming certain “non-descript” musical songs and Lucy was skipping about picking flowers. Actually she was helping Jenny with the map but I thought the flowers thing would be more amusing…anyway...
After a while they happened upon a clearing in the woods. They set out their provisions and sat down. Soon, the picnic had been demolished and the glade was filled with the sounds of their laughter. Then a noise in the woods stopped their merry conversation. It was the sound of footsteps, passing very near to the glade. Curious, as young people often are, they stood up and went towards the source of the sound. However, they did not find what they expected. There was no-one, well, not in sight anyway. The sound of footsteps carried on, although it was then that they noticed that the sound was of footsteps on stone. A sound familiar in a town but unexpected in a wood. The sound of footsteps was joined by the sounds of voices, many voices. Shouting, laughing. It was almost as if their glade was in the centre of a busy town but they knew this was not the case.
“ What do you suppose…?” Lucy began.
“ I…I don’t know. But I want to find out?!” Jo grinned mischievously.
The friends quickly packed up their belongings and set off in search of an answer. They followed the sounds, deeper and deeper into the woods. Soon the trees grew so close together that very little sunlight pierced the gloom. Jenny shuddered in the comparatively cool air. A loud crack pierced the air as Mark trod on something, he knelt down and picked up what looked like a sign that had been nailed to a tree. It read,