She stares at the picture, as though what I’m saying is irrelevant. She backs up and flops down into one of the brown armchairs taking up a corner of the room. Her eyes stare off a little, and she sighs. It’s a good minute before she says anything, and when she does, it’s like she’s talking to herself rather than to me. “Your father and I used to live in a really crappy town down south before we moved here and started over. We were young and broke and couldn’t afford anything better. So we ended up living in kind of a dump around people who gave us nothing but bad memories… especially your father. We moved there to get away from people, to be by ourselves. You know already my parents weren’t very nice, and your father’s died when he was young. I was tired of living under the same roof as them and your dad… well he didn’t care where we went. He always said he just wanted to be by my side. So we settled for less, just to get away. It just caused trouble for us, though. At first, every
I nod, keep a hold on my one picture of the field, and stand up. Neither me or my mother say anything as I slowly walk to my room. I wanted her to stop me, to tell me she was sorry for saying that and that she would support me in finding out what the hell was happening with me. I wanted to know that even if this didn't work out, I would still have her.But she didn’t. I walked into my room, shutting the door behind me and leaning against it. I close my eyes, slide down the length of it, and bury my face in my hands. I jump a little when I feel my dog’s nose brushing my forearm. I glance up, my throat on fire and my eyes already brimming over with tears.I grab her face in my hands, staring into her aging yellow eyes. She had gray hair all over her face, her lips and ears drooped more every day, and lately she had developed a limp. The vet had just said it was her joints, and apart from a special diet and exercise routine, there was nothing we could do to help her. She was just gett
“How much for a night?”“A hundred even.”“Okay, I’ll take it.” I drove all day, filling up my tank once and now I was staying the night in a hotel. This would probably be the only time I would be able to do this, because I needed to save my money. But I was tired and still upset over having to abandon my mother, and I wanted to make a plan. The dusty looking old man at the desk gave me a room key and then shuffled off to do whatever it was dusty old men who ran weird run down hotels did.I went back out to my little white car and grabbed my bag out of the passenger seat. I shove my laptop that had been resting in my passenger seat in before locking and slamming the car door shut behind me. I sighed at the empty feeling in my belly. I should’ve grabbed some food before I stopped for the night, because my stomach was growling. I was really trying to save money though, and I had already spent a good chunk of change on this room and gas today. I had no idea how long I would have to look
Just like all the other times I’ve woken up in one of my dreams before, I suddenly find myself lying on the ground of a strange enviroment, inhaling oxygen into my lungs frantically and searching around desperately for clues as to where I was. I was even more desperate this time because of what I needed to accomplish in my short time here.I stand up, brushing… wood chips off my butt. Why was my ass covered in wood chips? I really looked around, taking in where I was. A barn. I think. I haven't actually been insisde one, but it certainly looked like what I thought one would look like. A big, empty barn. There were no animals or equipment just a few big empty stalls with long forgotten hay. All the windows and doors were closed, at least I assumed because it was extremely dark in here. Only a few beams of moonlight streamed through the gaps in the wooden walls. I looked towards the center of the room where I could see the outline of a… giant cage? Probably twelve feet high and tw
Fuck. I try not to cuss too often, only when I feel strongly about something. But that was the first word that popped into my head when I jumped awake in the dark, cold hotel room after my very bad dream. Except it wasn’t just a bad dream. I had always had a worry in the back of my mind I was going crazy, and none of this was really real. My mom’s reaction made me think I wasn’t, but come on? Visiting a handsome hunk in some fairy tale dream land? That’s not real.But now, I was sure what I was seeing was really happening. The fear in my chest was real, I was so sure of it.Not to mention, about three seconds after I opened my eyes, my arm where the woman had grabbed me was on fire. Not literally, but it felt like it. “What’s happening...” I mumble in panic as I throw the blankets off me in a hurried frenzy and struggle to click on the bedside lamp. My hands were shaking and my heart was racing so hard I could taste it in my throat. Tears threaten to spill over my eyes when I
I hadn’t passed a house or a gas station in a while. I was just driving thirty miles an hour down a dirt road going nowhere. There were fields around me with cows and goats surrounded by fences, but any human life must have been tucked beyond the hills that hide the horizon from me. All I could see was trees and fields and cows. My arm starts burning all of a sudden, and I sigh and brake the car. I put it in reverse, and slowly backed up on the road. The throbbing subsides, and I groan dramatically and throw my head back. I guess it would be a little silly to assume I would be able to drive right up to this mysterious magical entrance to my dream world. I shake my head as I maneuver my car off to the side of the road. I had no idea how long I would be gone for. There was a good chance my car wouldn’t be here when I got back. While there were no people around now, these fields of cows obviously belonged to someone and eventually they’d notice an abandoned vehicle. I sit in my seat
I was woken up almost twelve hours later by sunlight burning through my eyelids and stirring me back into reality. I groaned, blinking and sitting up. I had fallen asleep after my snack leaning against the tree, my head leaned back against it and my legs stretched out in front of me. My neck was pretty stiff, my mouth tasted weird and was very dry, and to top it all off, my butt was soaked from the morning dew on the ground. I stood up, stretching my arms above my head and sighing in satisfaction at the sound of my joints popping and cracking. I brush leaves and sticks off my backside, and bend down to pick up the empty water bottle off the ground. I crumple it up, throw it in my bag, and pull a full one out. I use it to rinse out my mouth a little, sighing as I think about my lovely electric toothbrush in my bathroom at home.This place had better be worth it. After peeing by the tree, making sure I had everything back in my bag, and tying my knotty hair into a bun on top of my he
Oh my God, everything hurts.I'm not exactly awake yet, I'm kind of just laying here. My eyes won't do what I say quite yet, so I'm not fully conscious.But I can sure as shit feel everything. My chest hurts, my throat burns, and my body feels like it's been steam rolled over.What happened?I remember... finding that pond. Swimming through it... voices. Someone must have pulled me out.But who?After a few minutes, I could finally feel my body beginning to stir and my eyelids cracking open. I groan as light assaults my vision and I bring my hand up to rub at my eyes."She's waking up!" I jump at the sound of a yelling voice and footsteps suddenly, snapping my eyes open to find the source. A thousand different things assault my senses at once.I'm in a bed, a really, really, nice bed. Shiny, pearl colored silk sheets cover my bare legs. My bare legs stick out to me, too. I look down and feel my face burning with embarrassment as I realize I'm in nothing but a short, satin nightgown. W
Hello, Child. I sigh in happiness as I finally lay on the roots of my Alder almost an hour later. Chepi had brought her stool and her knitting again and was focused on it.But the conversation I wanted to have with my Alder was extra private today.I have something I want to ask you. I think, feeling a little silly.A secret from this woman you claim to trust. I nod against its roots. Ask away, child.Do you know anything about the Gud species? I turn away from Chepi and curl into a ball, closing my eyes and listening to the tree's words in my head.The Gud species is, as you suspect, descended from the original God, Forradd, who had great powers. He could change forms, manipulate the earth, and even time itself. Now Forradd was desperately in love with Sanju, the original goddess.I laugh a little. It kind of seemed like everyone's problems could be chalked up to loving someone.Pay attention. Sanju was originally a normal Alva, which is why she's depicted as having pointed ears, and
I sit up quickly, inhaling air into my lungs and looking around wildly.I was back in Erik's bed. But it was morning now, sun was streaming in through the window. I could hear wind chimes outside and smell bread baking somewhere. It felt early, but I remember it had been dark in my dream. I had lost a few hours.I rub my eyes, thinking about last night.That was the first time I had traveled through a dream since I came here. And this time no one could see me. The last time I was very much visible and interacted with people and talked. This time it was like I wasn't even there.The Gud species.I needed to find a way to find out about them. They seemed to be important. Honestly, the word kind of sounded like "God," and I wondered if they were the male version of the Gudinna species. Erik had said it was a line of women that descended from the original goddess, so with that in mind, was there a line of men that came from the original god? Was there an original god? I had way too many q
Soft footsteps approach my sleeping form in the window. My head leaned against the frame, the book I had made it halfway through open on my lap. The sun had set hours ago, the moon was but a hunk in the sky now, but still shone brightly on my sleeping figure."Sweet flower..." Erik approaches me, gently wrapping a strand of my hair around his finger when he does.He takes the book, closes it, and sets it on the ground beside the window. He scoops me up gently in his arms and carries me to his bed, where he brushes aside the curtain and crawls in with me in his arms.He sets me down like I'm made of glass and brushes my hair away from my face."Sleep well, my goddess." My heart tugs as he leaves, instead of curling up with me like I wanted him to.Where was he going?I could feel myself following him out of his room, but my body remained in his bed.I was dreaming, I knew that now. This wasn't like before, though. I drifted all through his house and outside, where he turned right and
"It's just over the hill now!" Reni calls from the front of the group of Alva. We had left early that morning, after I evidently fell asleep quite well, and had been walking for several hours now. It had taken a little longer than originally said, but it was still just after midday when Reni announced we were growing close.I slow and watch the other Alva disappearing over the hill, Erik last. I could tell he was anxious to get back to his land, but he was still lingering behind everyone else for my sake. I stood at the top once I reached it for a moment, taking it all in.I hadn't had a good vantage point of the land so far, Vacket, as Erik called it. From up here though, I could see it all.I could see Erik's house to the left, surrounded by tons of trees and mostly separated from the other buildings. Maybe a half mile down from his large estate was what I think was the medical wing. It sat atop a hill, and I could see a grove of weeping willows not far from it. I remember when I f
"Are you tired?" I look away from Reni and the other chatting Alva and to Erik, who is looking me up and down like he's checking for injuries.I shrug. "I guess." He ushers me towards the platform and behind the half wall, and sure enough, there is a large nest of clothes and animal pelts.He kneels down then on one knee and pats his bent one with his hand. "Give me your foot." I comply, watching him curiously as he starts removing my shoe. I can hear his men laughing a few feet away, but I can only focus on his gentle fingers untying the soft leather strings. "The other." He says once he's slid it off and set it aside. This foot is the one that still bears his anklet, and I saw him notice right away. "You still wear it." He says as he unties my shoe. I nod, even though he isn't looking at me. "Has anyone told you of its meaning?" He looks up at me, pulling my shoe off as he does. I shake my head, feigning ignorance. No one did tell me its meaning, I just happened to overhear it. He s
I eye the moving water that shimmers in the moonlight. I looked up. It was only half sized, but still shone quite brightly. It also seemed... closer in this world than in my old one. If that was even possible.I creep down to the water's edge. I didn't plan on taking my clothes off all the way. I don't have a towel, or soap, or a change of clothes. But I do sit on the shore and take my shoes off to soak my feet in the water. My feet hurt; I'd done more walking today through rough terrain than I'd ever done before. I sigh and close my eyes in relief at being freed from the tiny shoes I'd been given by Larkin.The water is cool when I finally wade into it, and the rocks stab into my feet. I look at my toes in the water.What a wild ride this has been.I missed my mom, and my home, but I was starting to get comfortable with Erik and the other Alva, which scared me a little. Was I really thinking about staying here? My mom said I wasn't allowed back, but did she mean that? If I showed up
"We'll stop here for the night."We'd been walking for hours, past even when the sun went down. Erik had kept suggesting we stop while glancing over at me, and Reni kept insisting we could make it home in just a few hours if we kept going. They went back and forth like that for a while, until Erik saw me stumble over a tree branch and decided I was simply too tired to continue, and we would be making camp for the night. I wasn't not tired, but I didn't want to slow everyone else down even more than I already was. Erik had said they'd gotten here in six hours on their own, but with me, we were already touching the ten-hour mark.Appparently I was quite slow.We'd found a half-crumbled building, the roof was gone, but the remaining walls stood twenty feet high. It would protect us from wild animals while we slept, Reni said with a firm nod as she examined the area."I'll make you a bed up here." Erik tells me. There's a raised platform that looks like it was once a kitchen, with half of
"Hm." Erik hums. He sighs, and looks away, then falls back and sits in front of me. He scoots as close as he can without sitting on the ring of flowers around me. They've stopped growing out, and are just getting thicker now, and starting to get a bit taller, I think. "Why does this make you a... "Dick." He puts air quotes around the word I'd used to describe myself. He probably had never used it like that before, and it sounded a little funny coming from him.I scoff and shake my head. "You don't care that I kissed him?" Why was I getting upset that he wasn't mad? I wasn't handling this well, but I couldn't stop for some reason. I think I was just irritated."I don't love it." He says gently. "But you also claim he left because you had made your choice already." I roll my eyes."Of course that's all you care about.""Would you like me to ask you how his lips taste?" I shoot him a glare, and he shakes his head. "I am sorry you're upset, my flower. But if you have truly made your choic
"Okay." Is all I say to Larkin. I have so much more in me though. I wish we could've spent more time together. I wish I could've known you better. I wanted to know what he looked like in the morning, and what he was scared of, and what he loved. I wanted to meet his siblings and learn about his life here. But I guess we were skipping all of that. We were going from epic, star crossed lovers, to strangers.In just a second.I hope we're together, in another life.He doesn't say anything, just walks off back towards where we came. I stand there, my heart beating in my chest, my blood flowing in my ears, and tears burning at my throat.That hurt, I can't lie.I say once again, I've never had a boyfriend, or a whatever the hell Larkin was to me. So, I'd never had to deal with letting someone like that go.It fucking hurt.I let a sob escape my lips and fall back against a tree, sliding down it and burying my face in my knees, sobbing like a child. I hated that in the end, we just ended u