A Tragic Tale Part 3

A subtle howling escaped the underside of the door. The noise startled me and I threw myself onto the bed trying my best not to look like a coward. It’s fine. It was just the wind, outside, from the direction of the door. No big deal! The sound came again and this time the light from under the door became so unbearable that I had to cover my face, so I didn’t go blind. I reached for the comforter on the bed and shoved it over my head. After a few minutes, I popped back out to see if anything had changed. Nothing about the door itself had changed, but it had begun to grow dimmer. My peace of mind started to return, and then a really spooky thing happened. The door creaked open all on its own. Well, I’ve lost it. If I go home now and tell everyone this house is seriously haunted then I’m going to get sent to a looney bin. The door stood all the way open and the light had almost completely disappeared. I didn’t want to go near the closet, but I did anyway. Something or someone wanted to look inside to see what there was. I left my bag by the bed because I thought I would be back for it. I was wrong. I walked closer to the closet until I was close enough to smell the rotting wood. Before I knew what was happening, I was pulled inside; out of my own existence.

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When I reemerged from the closet, my stomach twisted into a knot and the small meal I ate this morning came up in my mouth. Luckily, the shock from my surroundings took my focus more than my upset stomach. The sky was the same color as the one from the dream. I thought it was odd that the two pieces of the sky looked so similar. The sky’s red color was blood flowing from a fresh wound. I saw trees that look they have grown for eons and still have the means to reach even further. The air smelled like someone who hadn’t washed their feet in days. I continued to walk into the woods like a firefly to a flame.

I didn't stop walking until I reached the river. The river flowed without a care in the world as if there was nowhere for it to end up. I continued to walk upstream to a covered wooden bridge. The light that surrounded me was dark and I couldn’t make any sense of what was on the other side. I tapped into the little confidence I had and started my journey into the unknown of what lay beyond the seemingly black hole of the bridge beyond. It didn't look inviting, but my choices at the time were limited.

The grasses and bushes that lay along the path were more overcrowded as I walked deeper and deeper into the snare of the dirt road in front of me. The trees and unending landscape started to give me the feeling that I would have been lost forever if I didn’t find a place to go. As I kept walking, I found a meadow where I could gaze into the unfamiliar atmosphere that stood over my head. the sky was still a heavy shade of red and the air had begun to chill my bones. What would happen if I couldn’t find somewhere warm to sleep or anything to eat? I kept walking. The dirt path soon turned into cobblestone and I saw light up ahead. Light up ahead meant food, water, and shelter. I felt like running, but I was in a world where I didn’t know anyone or their customs. Carefully, I made my way toward a building that looked nice and warm from the outside. Slowly I opened the door.

“Hello. Is anyone here?” I ask.

Somewhere in the back of the building, I heard a noise that sounded like someone getting out of a bed. I hope I didn’t wake anybody up and they can help me find out where I am.

“Who comes in at this late hour of the night and wakes a baker?” bellowed a large muscular man.

“I’m so sorry, I didn’t realize what time it was; it’s so dark outside” I hastily replied.

“Where did you come from? I haven’t seen anyone your age in this town. Does the queen know you’re here?” he probes me.

“The Queen?” I said in shock “I don’t even know where I am. I’m so tired, though I don’t even know if it matters.”

“Well, you can’t stay here 'cause if the Queen were to find out a youngling like you wasn’t under her power then you would be in one heck of a pickle.”

“What would I be in danger of? I’ve never been here before.”

“I can’t tell you that!” he yelled at me.

The man behind the counter scowled and aggressively shoved me out of the door, back into the quickly falling darkness.

“Wait, I need somewhere to stay for the night!” I shouted back.

“Little lady, I don’t care where you sleep tonight as long as it’s not here and I don’t get caught with a fugitive,” he declared.

“Fugitive!” I said in an exasperated tone “What’s going on in this town and why can’t you tell me anything about it?" I asked in a panic as the door shut in my face.

The man finally pushed me outside with enough force that I fell onto the ground. I landed on my elbows; now there is a bruise there from the force of the man’s power. I don’t know what horrible nightmare I landed into, but it definitely wasn’t warm and fuzzy.

"Hey! You can't leave me alone out here by myself!”

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What the heck! That was so rude. What did that guy mean about the dangers here? I still had no place to stay, no food, and I was really getting cold. The temperature back in my neighborhood was like a cool breeze on a Fall day, but, now, in this place, the climate was cold and dry. I didn’t know how much longer I could have waited for kindness to be shown. I stood there in the cold dark of the night and started to shiver to keep myself from falling into shock. This man wasn’t going to allow me to sleep here tonight, so I moved on to the next group of houses. My legs had begun to lose their feeling as I continued to walk. The night enveloped me and I thought I would wander the streets until someone found me dead.

After the initial shock wore off that I was in a seriously scary situation, I had begun to walk further into the town. As I walked deeper into the town, it seemed to grow darker and darker, even though the sky was dark when I arrived. Soon, I had realized that I walked through the entire town and no one had offered to take me in for the night. By this time, I had really given up hope that I would ever return to my real world. What if I went back to the clearing back across the river? Maybe I could find a way back to the other side and go home. I gave up and started walking back towards the gloomy bridge.

Halfway down the path in town, something caught my eye at one of the houses. The person I saw earlier was looking out of their window again. I still couldn’t tell if it was a man or a woman, but as soon as I stepped closer, they disappeared from the window. Now, I was more spooked and colder than ever. I continued the slow walk back to where I came out of the portal. As I walked, I also grasped why people in this town had avoided everything to do with me and the reason I was here.

I arrived back in the clearing where I initially crossed over into, there was no indication that a portal or door even existed that would lead back to the house. My fears overtook me and I shrank down to the ground. I wasn’t going to be able to leave. My friends wouldn’t know anything was wrong until tomorrow at school when I didn’t show up. My parents were already nervous about letting me wander into an abandoned house on my own.

I don’t blame them for thinking it was a bad idea, because now I totally agreed. It was a mistake, to begin with, I participated in some game where the odds of me not falling asleep first came into play; especially if the punishment is going into a terrifying haunted house! Nothing could have made that awful experience any worse, but then I started to hear a weird noise off in the distance. No, No, NO!