Rescuing a College Friend & Mouse

It was roughly 9 pm when the Librarians began to round up all of the exhausted college students carrying pounds of textbooks.

This time of year was certainly dreadful and that barely any sane student enjoyed. Only the students who did mental gymnastics and successfully tricked themselves into having any sort of appreciation for this time of year were the ones who were "okay".

I was actually one of those kind of people. I loathed the workload of exam season but I just kept telling myself that the payoff was going to be worth it. As long as I can see myself graduating with friends cheering me on, with a closely-knit afterparty of discussion and nerd-based conversations, then yes all the stress is worth it.

I closed my novel from an English class I rented from an online bookstore and sighed to myself as we were one day closer toward the final set of final exams.

Unlike most other students, I decided to camp out within the library overnight, because I lived off campus and I wanted to have as much study time as I could possibly squeeze in.

I know it's wrong and there is a chance of suspension considering other students have been caught, but I luckily had a trick from an old mentor of mine. It's called having a small-enough stature to squeeze into the old-library and hideout to the best of your abilities.

Most students don't know this spot because my campus has 5 libraries and all of the other ones and quite popular with better running desktops, a larger selection of books and even sections dedicated to large, group discussions. Those sound much more appealing to go to especially if your standards for a library are quite high.

As you've guessed by now, the library I'm at is more run-down, less funded and used for students typically over 25 who prefer being in a silent, older, and more old-school library. The last section of the library has an old-school fireplace that's surrounded by inflammable flooring and glass for obvious safety reasons.

As the crowds of students retire to their dorms or far-away homes I sneak past the fireplace that was just put out, move the large bricks and enter the small but cozy room. Peeking through the room I spotted the first person in a while to get here before I did.

"Hey Vera! Long time no see" The woman in a matching pink sweatshirt and pants called out to me in a friendly manner.

"O-Oh um. Hey Jessie... I wasn't expecting you to be here. How'd you find out about this place?" I asked as my face turned pink with embarrassment that I was out sped.

"The other week I saw you sneak in here. I was going to follow you, but like, I have shifts at the Pizzeria so I couldn't show up until today where I was given the day off due to repairs. I'm so glad this is a Friday cause that means I have a three day weekend for the first time in ages!" Jessie exclaimed as she casually brushed her hair "So... How'd you find this place?"

"Well, long story short a former graduate told me she used to love this place and found it because she got locked in afterhours" I explained to my classmate "So, uh. I guess we're roommates for now huh?"

"Of course! Should we study for our first day exam, that one from according to the study guide is the most difficult one. After all it's history about authors and there's so many to study-right?"

I nodded silently in agreement as the two of us began to study. The two of us reviewed our notes, quizzed each other, and used made from scratch flash-cards until roughly 3 am when we both agreed to go to bed on the soft mattresses laid by the entrance.

…

As my eyes slowly opened, the small, cluttered room felt quite cold even though it was May. My body ached as I lifted my upper body and searched around the room.

"JESSIE?!"

My classmate disappeared from the other side of the room as I turned to see a small hole in the wall.

"No way she could have fit in there-"

I spoke too soon as a little paw from the hole gripped my cold hand, turned by body into soup, and flung me onto a small floating island.

"NO WAY-"

I gently plopped to the ground as my body quickly regenerated back to normal. The owner of the paw turned out to be a small, common-looking mouse with grey fur. The rat cartoonishly waved at me as I awkwardly waved back and began to make sure by body was in tact.

"So sorry to disassemble and reassemble your body like that... But your friend sort of tumbled into this world and was kidnapped by the guards living at that castle"

The mouse pointed toward the east where an ominous, symmetrical, castle stood. Despite the pink glitter the purple clouds looming over the castle made it obvious that some horrible people lived there.

"What the hell? Why didn't you save her?"

"To answer your question, I was in the middle of escaping when I happened to notice the guards dragging her down the lake in front of the castle. But I had to move otherwise those horrible monsters would have captured the both of us"

I paused for a second and starred at the layout of the road ahead.

"So, if you have abilities that aren't normal for a rat. Do people who come into this... weird place get powers too?"

"I can't answer that. I'm not exactly keen on life outside that castle let alone your world. I had no idea it existed until I saw a rip in the sky and stretched myself to grab into the hole... But instead I grabbed you" The mouse sighed

"Darn, am I that down of a downgrade?" I said as I continued to stare at the castle. "You know I wonder, since I have no clue where I am and if there's any consequences to being in this World... Could you help me save my friend. I need to make sure if she's safe cause kidnappers in my World are horrendous and we definitely don't want to miss our exams-"

An eagle swopped in from the west and snatched up the mouse before he could answer.

"Try and see if you have any powers, everyone in this World has some sort of magical ability!" the mouse yelled as I ran after the grey eagle.

"I don't know what it is though!" I yelled back as the eagle shot up into the sky and headed toward the castle. "Damn it"

I ran toward the lakefront first, steadily pacing myself across the stones hoping I wouldn't fall. Luckily, fate didn't let me down as the wind began to pick up as I ran across the drawbridge, passing the guards that got in my way. The third place was the second lake with asymmetrical twisting pools of orange lava.

I sighed as I began to sidestep on the sides. I was halfway and out of nowhere a lava creature lunged at me and reduced my body to ashes.

I woke up outside the draw bridge inside a bush as I shivered about the thought of going back in again. It was truly a terrifying moment, but as the silver lining I had the realization that me regenerating wasn't a human-thing to do.

Maybe this was the power the mouse was talking about, I though to myself as I brainstormed for new ideas as crossing the lava lake was too much. I knew I wasn't going to die like I thought I was, but it's still a horrifying experience.

The guards took notice as I began to scale the walls to attempt to avoid the lava lake. They shouted a bunch of stuff I couldn't understand because of the distance and just kept on rapidly climb the walls that began to make my hands itch a little.

The guards began to take off their large suits of armor and began climbing almost nude which disgusted me as I ran off to seek some sort of help. On top of the castle walls was like a hall with little rooms every 20 metres with people guarding the inside.

The first room that was near me was a teenage boy talking to himself.

"Man, this world is so imperfect. Even with our beloved magic there will always be evil amongst the ones who want world-peace" He poetically spoke while twirling around in his own room "That's why I plan on protecting the people who live here because all of them are my friends! Nothing bad ever happens here at this family friendly castle!"

I immediately turned away as he began to began to hilariously declare he was the centre of the World and a plethora more of delusional things that made no sense.

The room to my left contained a man my age starring at a suggestive magazine. I was only sticking around because the other option was somehow worse than this chump.

"I wonder what happened to that mouse and the cutie being dragged away, maybe they're locked up like all the other prisoners"

So he actually paid attention and at least had an idea where they were. I rolled my eyes as I prepared to attack and interrogate the stiff, black haired guard.

I slowly opened the door and threw myself at the guard nearly a foot taller than me.

"HUH?!"

…

This is PART one of a two part planned story.

If I get enough reads I'll publish the second half of the story.

Thank you for reading!