A Day's Luck

A Day’s Luck

By Richard Paul

One of the tasks which formed the curriculum of my high school media studies class was something known as ‘Advanced Production’. Basically we were divided into groups, entrusted with a camera and set the task of creating a masterpiece. Specifically either a film trailer of a music video.

As you might expect, everyone starts off with a series of promising ideas and a vision to churn out something which far surpasses the mediocre expectations of the teachers. Some glistening piece of film that will be shown for years to come as an example to other students and maybe, depending on the dreamer, something which will later be submitted to a competition for young directors and as a result earn them a share of the £200 first prize.

Alright fine, that was my dream. But I certainly wasn’t alone in such fantasies. This was after all, a stunning change from the usual drudgery of high school assignments. After a lengthy and utterly unpleasant research task which most of us failed, this seemed like a refreshing change.

Wrong! It didn’t take us long to realise that this was far from the glamorous task that we were expecting. The work was, well, work. This was made a lot more awkward by the fact you had to work in a group of randomly selected and largely unknown people. I say awkward because no matter how well or how badly your school work turns out, it can at least be done quicker and with far less stress if you do it by yourself.

Having said that, most of the people I worked with were good natured idiots, just like me. We got on well enough and churned out some good ideas. The biggest problems can be conveniently blamed on a kid called Michael Mason. God what a prick he was. Here was a guy who shoved his laziness in everyone’s face like a primary school child with a shiny new toy. Its one thing to get stuck in a group with a lazy git, but getting stuck in a group with a guy who proudly flaunted his slovenly character was just adding insult to injury.

Long story short, our spectacular horror film trailer earned a low, though not a terrible mark, I didn’t receive a share of £200 and thanks to an embarrassing scene in which I get punched in the face and unconvincingly collapse against a set of lockers, the thought of anyone else seeing the pseudo-trailer in later years leaves me feeling queasy.

So with all said and done, I found myself with a healthy loathing of group work, an aversion to cameras, and my typically enthusiastic creative soul pretty much torpedoed. It was this set of memories which was playing in my head as I trudged towards a freezing, largely deserted forest alongside a handful of friends, carrying a tripod over one shoulder and an armful of plastic swords in the other which had been designed for children about a quarter of our age.

Yes, as what typically happens with me, I found myself doing something that I swore I’d never do again. It had been Ryan’s idea, he’d dreamt up some vague hero story and with virtually none of that ‘annoying planning crap’ quote-unquote that we had to go through in school, we’d set off into the woods with camera in hand. Truth be told we’d all come up here because we were bored and had nothing better to do. More likely then not we’d end up with a large blooper reel and a flimsy ‘film’ with no plot and a handful of unrealistic fight scenes and in the end we’d all have something to laugh at come Christmas time over inexpertly prepared cocktails. No one was really expecting anything else.

_____________________________________________________________________

“You’re going to die for what you’ve done you bastard.”

If we didn’t know Sarah then that line probably wouldn’t have been as funny as it was. When you hear it from a girl who once apologised to a three legged cat because she felt bad about the sorry state of its existence, it was hard to take her threatening act seriously.

I switched off the camera and hurriedly dragged it and the tripod to a makeshift marker on the floor. After one too many seconds of adjusting and fumbling I finally got the damn thing pointed at Ryan and gestured for him to continue.
“I’ve heard such lines from hundreds of outraged warrior wannabes who thought they could stand in my way. What exactly makes you any different from the former owners of the skulls in my trophy room?”

Cut, move, trip over a rock, place camera, point camera, point at Sarah and we were rolling again.
“You think that because there are so many dead because of you that you’re invincible? You die just as easily as the rest of us.”

Cut, move, etc. etc.
“Such bravado. You’d almost think I couldn’t see your hands shaking, or feel that terrified heart pounding in your shapely chest. You want to run don’t you? You want to get far from the nasty man with the big sword and go hide under your father’s cloak.”

And again.

Sarah started moving towards Ryan with her sword readied and an expression of barely controlled rage on her face. This dramatic scene pretty much collapsed however when her makeshift cloak which had become caught on a tree pulled her backwards. She found herself with her cape stretched out backwards at an almost 90 degree angle. The rest of us soon found ourselves laughing.

I switched off the camera which had conveniently caught the entire scene and couldn’t help but remember a moment during the high school fiasco when, in a half arsed chase scene we all found ourselves running down a corridor in the college. One guy who had been recovering from a sprained ankle or some such promptly lost his footing halfway through the shoot, ended up hopping halfway down the hall and finally fell through the fire escape. True story.

As you might imagine, the rest of us pissed ourselves at this spectacle. Unfortunately, though I had the camera in my hand at the time, it never occurred to me to point it at him when he first lost his footing. To this day, the fact that I didn’t get that on film I one of my biggest regrets.

As Sarah was busy attempting to release herself from the grasp of a seemingly persistent twig, the rest of the team gathered around the camera to watch the reply of the ill fated scene on the undersized display.
“You know, that probably happened more often then you’d think in situations like this.” Wallace said helpfully.
“Yes, I can picture it now,” Amy responded sarcastically, “Nine hundred years ago when the Earth was beset by half-dragon warrior kings who burned and massacred their way across the land, the avenging heroines were always falling afoul of the local pine trees, or on one occasion an elderberry bush.”
“It could happen.” Ryan offered.

Once again we found ourselves laughing, after that we all decided we could do with a break, by which I mean we could all do with breaking into the cans of Budweiser that we’d picked up on the way to the woods.

Conversation soon took the familiar turn towards university. Each of us was heading out to different corners of the country for our first year at the end of the month, with the exception of Wallace who was planning to spend a gap year in Australia with his mother. Our small group had stuck largely together since middle school, now in all likelihood it would fragment under the barrage of new people at our respective universities. Truth be told there was a little more to this then film then simply having nothing better to do, this was effectively our last outing before we went our separate ways. It’s still kind of depressing looking back, but that’s just life I guess. Besides, it’s not like we never see each other anymore.

Anyway after about quarter of an hour, Sarah was busy fighting back what looked like nausea with each gulp of alcohol. Wallace and Amy were once again debating whether heroines would potentially find trees a bothersome hurdle in the middle ages, Ryan and I were each having something of a panic attack.
“I mean they expect half the tuition fees paid in by the end of September. That’s 575 odd quid and I only have 700. That and my student loan’s probably going to be at least three weeks late.”
“That’s what happens when you send the forms off three weeks after the deadline.” I replied.
“Oh very perceptive Stephen.” Ryan grumbled.
“Do you really think you won’t be able to spend less then 150 quid in three weeks?”
“Food, course texts, alcohol, kitchen stuff, rent. The list goes on buddy. My brother tells me your bank balance takes its biggest nosedive around the start of the year.”
“I don’t doubt that.”

At the time I was in much the same situation as Ryan, only I was fairly confident my loan would come through before I ran into any serious trouble. My biggest worry was the thought of moving into a hall with five complete strangers. Knowing my luck I’d get stuck with Andy the arsonist and someone who eats other peoples’ plates.
“Stephen.”
“Yeah?” I asked, turning my head to face Sarah.
“What?” She asked.
“Didn’t you just call me?”
“No.”
“Amy did you…?”
“Nope.”
“I think you’re hearing things buddy.” Ryan said.
“Yeah, I think you’re right.” I said after a few seconds, I could have sworn I heard something, but it might be that Sarah and the others were playing an elaborate joke on me, or maybe I was just cracking up, no big deal either way.
“Do you know anyone that’s going to the same place as you?” I asked.
“Uh, not really. I think most people doing chemistry are doing it locally. Probably makes more sense.”
“Yeah, if you can live at home that probably takes care of…”
“Stephen.” There was that voice again, and now that I heard it for the second time, it has to be said that it didn’t really sound like either Sarah or Amy. It was female certainly, but it sounded like it was coming from the forest behind me, maybe, Amy and Sarah were to my left and right.

Still, the elaborate joke theory was still the most likely, I figured it would be easiest to deal with this by removing myself from the equation.
“Takes care of what?” Ryan asked.
“What? Oh sorry mate, I’m really gonna have to go piss.”
“Have fun.”
“See you.” Wallace added. Amy waved noncommittally and Sarah put a bit more effort into her own wave. I stood up and made my way into the tree line behind me. The trees stretched on for no more then twenty metres or so and it was difficult to find anywhere where I was well hidden from the others. I didn’t actually need to pee all that badly but I figured I might as well live up to my word.

A group of three thin looking trunks which provided only a limited view of Ryan’s shoulder was the best thing I could find.
“Stephen.”

This time the voice was clearer, no background chatter obscured it and I knew for certain that it didn’t belong to anyone I knew. My first reaction was to instinctively pull my hands away from my thankfully still fastened belt before something embarrassing happened, then I looked around in an attempt to find where this voice was coming from.

No one was there, I scanned that damn forest at least ten times. There was no one there and by this point as you could probably imagine this whole thing was starting to get a bit weird. I wasn’t imagining this damn voice and I very much doubted at this point that this was some elaborate hoax that the other lot were trying to pull. But again, what was the other explanation?

I forced my focus to return to the tree, there was always a rational, disappointing explanation to any situation and this one would prove to be no exception. I was beginning to feel a bit stupid for thinking that… What was I thinking? That some magical mystery woman and/or ghost was calling me to a secluded area of the countryside.

After a few seconds of inactivity in which nothing seemed to happen, in more ways then one, (sorry if that’s crude), I decided to forgo the peeing process and moved back to where my friends were waiting. Voices or not, I figured I’d feel a lot better if I was among them, maybe then they’d put this stupid joke to rest and that would be that.
“Doubt.” The voice’s spontaneous reappearance caused me to flinch. I increased my pace, but there was something different about this voice now, something that I can’t really describe. I guess I could say that it felt vaguely familiar, but that wasn’t really what it was. However it’s best described, something about the voice caused me to stop in my tacks and wait for it to finish saying whatever it planned on saying.
“Doubt,” It seemed more talkative now I was making an effort to listen, “Never before has someone ever doubted me. Perhaps that shouldn’t be such a surprise considering the circumstances. I need you not to worry Stephen, we’ll finish this later. Go back to your friends. You’d better be quick, Ryan’s on the verge of pilfering your lunch.”

I didn’t hurry, my hoax theory had just taken one hell of a knock, though that’s not to say it was gone, and I found myself unable to do much more then stand still and try to accept what exactly was happening.

What exactly was happening?

I started to move back towards my friends again, if only to have the familiar faces and plausible setting to provide me with some semblance of everyday life until ‘later’ appeared. By this point the doubts were already starting to return, there was a part of me it seems that really didn’t want to believe what was happening, even though it didn’t seem all too threatening or sinister.

Ryan did indeed have his eyes on my lunch, and his fingers. I returned to find him stealing kettle chips from the bag I’d taken from home. The git. Needless to say I dealt with this pestiferous thief appropriately, (appropriately being that I emptied about a third of a bottle of water on his head.) A minor fist fight followed of course but that was just the way of things.

Don’t ask me why, but somehow I was feeling better, a hell of a lot better. Before now I’d been understandably nervous about this mystery voice. Now that it was gone, it had somehow left me feeling awake and energised. I hadn’t felt this good since I won a regional tennis tournament. That was almost three years ago.

This was indeed weird, but in my current mood I wasn’t much up to caring. What I wanted was to be doing something, I wanted to carry on with the film.

I tried not to let my newfound cheeriness show too much, these lot thought I was weird enough as it was. Long story short, we finished the film, albeit with about twenty time saving improvisations, Ryan underestimated the effect a tree trunk would have on his back and was complaining about terrible pains for the rest of the day. Wallace it seemed had trouble with the line ‘Long live the servants of the exalted vengeance.’ Kind of a stupid line I guess, I think Ryan edited that out in the end. What else? Sarah got her cloak caught on two more trees before the day was done and Amy threw a plastic sword at my head after I let my gaze linger too long at her in a homemade costume that made her look like a cross between Wonder Woman and a jellyfish. Still, she managed to pull it off, somehow.

The voice slipped from my mind, this happy and carefree state that I’d found myself with for whatever reason didn’t allow me to focus on impossible occurrences. I bid my friend’s farewell when we got back to the town centre and I casually trundled back home with a bag full of empty beer cans that I needed to get rid of and a toy shield with jagged edges in hand, earning the occasional sidelong glare from the pedestrians.

Early evening was closing in, despite the sunlight still hanging overhead which if it weren’t for the freezing cold temperatures might still give the impression of summer. I was looking forward to getting home and planned to spend the evening doing absolutely nothing productive whatsoever.

_____________________________________________________________________

“Stephen.”

Whoever this voice belonged to, they weren’t hanging about. She started calling me as soon as I got myself into my bedroom.
“Yeah?” I asked, I didn’t feel as nervous or confused as I had before, I just felt the normal embarrassment that comes from talking to thin air.
“Turn on your CD player, make sure your parents can’t hear us.”

I did, and soon Changes by 3 Days Grace was resounding throughout my room. I doubted anyone would hear me supposedly muttering God only knew what to myself. Hearing the voice might be a bit tricky though.
“Ok,” Said the voice, I heard it with perfect clarity despite the loud(ish) music, the clearness of it seemed unnatural “This may take a minute.”

I waited, I had no idea what was going to happen, and I think my brain still hadn’t fully accepted the situation, part of me was expecting Ryan, Amy and the others to charge through the door at any minute, laughing their heads off and telling me it was all one big joke.

That’s not what happened though.

It started as a single point of light, straight ahead of me. At first I dismissed it as sunlight coming through the window, but soon I realised that it wasn’t resting on anything, and it was growing. It happened slowly at first, but then the light began to take on a humanoid shape. This bright figure remained virtually motionless for almost two minutes, its eyes (which I was guessing it had, I could only make out a head), remained pinned on me the whole time. It was creepy as hell, or at least it should have been, but the more I looked, the less intimidating the figure seemed to seem. It was like a gut feeling.

Gradually, the light began to fade. What I soon saw was not a being made of light, but a, dare I say it, unnaturally beautiful woman who emerged from the light, which then promptly disappeared behind her. She was maybe six foot tall, had long, darkish red hair that stretched down her back and was dressed in a straightforward looking dress that was so bright it was almost painful to look at. She was – I’m not entirely sure how best to describe her, but hers’ were the features that would make anyone, be they male, female, dog, cat, budgie, pigeon or pheasant turn their head in her direction. I think there’s more to that then simple looks, but trust me you’d know what I mean if you ever saw her.

I stood still, gawping and stuttering like an idiot at this impossible woman who’d made an impossible entrance and was now smiling at me in what looked like triumph.
“Who-?” That was all I got out.
“Who am I?” She asked. I managed a nod.
“You don’t know how strange it is for me to be asked that question. For centuries I’ve been used to people knowing me as well as they know their closest family. I am present in the hearts and minds of so many that they know me on an instinctive level. How ironic that it is my own essence, my own soul that does not recognise me.”
“What do you mean?” At this point I was trying to use a ‘feel shocked later’ mentality, and for the most part was failing miserably. Anyway, she didn’t answer me right away, instead she gave me that strange smile of hers again.
“I’m you.” She said finally. “I’m what you shall become in 7,200 years. After almost a hundred future lives. I am Eria Secob, Empress and Goddess of all united peoples of the nine Excaliban Kingdoms.”

Now what, might I ask, do you say to that?

I had no idea, and so I simply stood there, my expression one of dumbstruck stupidity, my brain was a dead weight, long since deserted in the past few seconds where it was still trying to get to grips with the fact that this shouldn’t be happening.

I must have opened my mouth to speak five separate times, but nothing came out. All that came to mind was an infuriating paralysis of thought.
“You’re-?” That’s all I managed.
“Is this truly so much of a shock Stephen? Has this cramped existence drowned your acceptance of new experiences already?”
“This,” I paused, ran the sentence through my head quickly and decided it would do, “This doesn’t make sense.”
“It makes perfect sense, when you died your soul was born again in the body of a child, they lived, they died and the process continued itself. Now here I stand.”
“But you said you’re a-” She’d said this word less then four minutes ago and I was still sure I’d end up like an idiot for saying it, “You said you’re a Goddess. That can’t be.”

Her face took on a momentary look of shock, I had absolutely no idea why and suddenly found myself with an urge to apologise to her, she cut me off however before I could.
“So this is the legendary sickness that is doubt. The records of my time suggested that this and other plagues ruled your hearts in this era, though I found it so hard to believe anything could endure such a tortured existence. It tastes so foul, how can you stand it?”
“Plagues?” I said. I found it was getting a little easier to utter confused meaningless crap now.
“Doubt, despair, hate and fear existing for the wrong reasons.” She listed these like she was listing faults with a house, “If only it were within my power to set things right at this point in time, how many lives could be spared such pointless torment. Alas these things are not to be tampered with.”
“Are you saying that those things don’t exist-”
“In my lands, and in my time? We have outgrown the will to indulge feelings that detract from our growth.”
“Lucky you.” I said for something to say.
“Luck is small Stephen. Luck is the smallest of birds which either shits on your head or doesn’t. Life is something we craft for ourselves, and we have learned to chisel off that which does not help us.”

I couldn’t help but think that ‘shit’ seemed like an odd thing for a Goddess to say. Considering the speech she’d just gave me, it seemed likely that such language would have been chiselled off with the rest of it.
“They’re just words.” She said with another grin.

I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised that she could read my mind, considering her deity status. This was a little unsettling. You know the fantasy right? When someone, especially an attractive female/male (delete as applicable) can read your thoughts you find it difficult not to imagine them naked. Maybe that’s just me, but I doubt it somehow.

Eria took a seat on the chair ay my desk. I collapsed into the beanbag in the corner of my room and then straightened myself to as dignified a position as I could manage in the ridiculous thing.
“Why are you here?” I asked, trying to make the words sound inoffensive.
“I wanted to see the first incarnation of our soul.” She said, “I wished to see the seed from which all our lives would emerge.”
“All our lives?”
“All the lives that we lead. I have visited many of your reincarnations throughout history, or in your case the future. I have stories from their lives that you would not believe.”
“I’m not sure about that. I think I can accept that my future Goddess self just appeared out nowhere. I fail to see what would be harder to believe then this.”
“Your perceptions are so limited Stephen, your sense of wonder has been suffocated by your peoples’ unwavering views of ‘what is’ and ‘what is not’. That will change, but not before you and everyone you know are gone. That is one of the reasons I chose to show myself to you whereas with most of the others I could simply watch from the shadows.”

What did she mean by that?
“This world isn’t all bad.” I said, feeling oddly defensive.
“I don’t think you truly believe that.” She said, “Your individual portion of the world isn’t bad, but nor is it good, it’s merely acceptable. Could you describe the world on the whole as a good place?”
“No.” I said quickly, half remembered Oxfam adverts providing me with an automatic answer.
“This is what I meant by things we have chiselled out.” She said, “Starvation, war, poverty, even disease are now remembered only as the plagues which tormented those such as yourselves in the dark times before the dawn of the new age.”
“You don’t think that hardship is necessary in some form? To provide some kind of meaning to a person’s life.”
“Trials and obstacles still exist, but like with fear, they exist for the right reasons. Starvation was never necessary to anyone, and who do you know that would not cast it from existence if they could do so?”
“Is that what you did?”
“Oh no, such hardships were nothing but memories long before I was born.”
“I see.”

Another moment of silence followed as I hurriedly tried to prioritise the million questions buzzing about in my head. Somehow I knew that I was on the clock here, and I wouldn’t get the answers to everything I wanted to ask.
“How did you become a Goddess?” I asked, certain that I was sounding stupid again, “How is that possible.”
“I became what I am in much the same way you became a decent tennis player.” She gave me another oddly triumphant grin, “Practice.”
“I don’t understand.”
“You’ll get it soon enough.”
“But aren’t you endangering your own future by coming back and talking to me? I mean, doesn’t the ‘can’t kill your own grandfather’ temporal thing apply here?”
“Why would it? You’ll go on with your life after I leave, and when you die and are reborn as Tomoko Nagano you will know nothing of me, and the progression of history will remain undisturbed.”
“Tomoko who?”
“You’ll see.”

I needed a moment to absorb some of this, knowing who you’ll be after you die is weird, it was kind of like how I imagine knowing how you die feels like, but in a good way because I wasn’t exactly dying. It’s difficult to explain as you can see from my feeble attempt. Suffice to say, it was weird, just like everything else that happened that day.

“We’re wasting time.” She said suddenly, “There’s something I need you to see.”
“What’s-”

_____________________________________________________________________

The next thing I knew, I was outside
“-That?” I finished before I once again found my grasp of sense give way.

I may very well have been in Wales, I remembered this kind of fog clad hillside which seemed to form most of the countryside from past holidays. Admittedly the fog was a lot thicker then I remember it, in fact on closer inspection it occurred to me just how unnatural the scene actually looked. No surprise there I guess.

The fog seemed to form a rough circle which extended in a circle maybe half a mile from end to end. It looked like I’d been dumped in the middle.
“Genesis.” Eria said, you have no idea just how much of a relief it was to hear her voice, though It would have been better had she told me what was going to happen before dumping me in the misty wastes of wherever.
“This is your world Stephen, the fruits of your imagination placed before your eyes. This is a gift I grant to all the subjects of my kingdoms upon their reaching maturity. What you do with it and what you create is entirely up to you.”
“Where are you?” I shouted into and over the almost deafening din of the winds.
“I haven’t moved, and neither have you in a manner of speaking. Your consciousness has merely retreated into the world buried in your mind.”
“How do I get out of here?”
“Calm down.” She said, exasperation now beginning to creep into her voice. I guess I can’t blame her, here she was presenting me with the greatest gift anyone in my time is ever likely to receive and all I could do was complain. Still, whereas most of what had happened to me that day was just disconcerting, this was genuinely frightening. Calming down was easier said then done.

I lowered myself to the floor and stared intently at the grass. Grass was good, it lacked the menacing quality that the wall of fog had. I think it was coming closer. I could feel it coming closer.
“Stand up.” Eria said.
“No.”
“Stand up!”

I stood up, slowly. When I lifted my head there she was, standing in front of me with her arms crossed.
“How did it ever get this bad with your people?” She asked. “This is what I meant when I said that I cannot stand back and watch like I did with the others.”
“You know, you could have at least told me what you were going to do before you did it. That might have made this easier.”
“You might as well jump in at the deep end.” She replied, “It won’t kill you. Remember Stephen, just like me, all this is you.”

I cast another wary glance at my surroundings.
“There’s not a lot here.” I said.
“Of course not, you have to create this world for yourself.”
“How do I do that?”

No sooner had I asked then a dragon flew over head. Honest to God a huge fucking red dragon. It looked pretty high up and as it flew away from us it cut a swath through the fog bank. The indentation was small at first, but soon the whole area around the spot the beast had pierced began to vanish. With my eyes fixed once again on the Dragon as it returned to view I felt a mix of awe and terror at the sight, as well as a strong gratitude that it was flying away from us.
“Not a bad start.” Eria said, nodding slightly.
“What?” I asked, keeping one eye pointed in the direction of the Dragon which by now seemed to have vanished from sight. He was a quick bugger, still is in fact.
“Hmmm?”
“Didn’t you do that?”
“No,” She was grinning again, “Think carefully Stephen, don’t you remember dreaming that creature into existence?

I thought, and realised that yes for the briefest moment the image of a red dragon had sprung to mind as I thought back to how this place bore a vague resemblance to Wales. This in turn caused me to remember a pub in a small village, the name of which I can’t pronounce. It seemed to consist of only one street but there was a nice pub/restaurant there with a cool Dragon shaped slide where my parents had deposited me, my brother and sister after a decent lunch.

This dragon was just a little different from the slide mind you. Still, I think there was some vague working in my head that thought that a Dragon might somehow compliment the scenery.

I guess that’s how the brightly lit city down the mountain that I now realised I was on turned up as well. It was hard to see given the huge distance, I could just about make out the tiny pinpricks of light what presumably were houses.

As I strained to see, I suddenly found myself smack bang in the middle of what looked like a city centre. A city centre belonging to a city that I had created. Behind me the mountain stood in a picturesque group of three, there were more mountains dotted around in other places, forming a crude diamond around the city.

The Dragon, I noticed, had curled itself into a ball and was now sleeping peaceably on top of an impressive looking castle. People, I thought that there should be people in this city, and soon enough there were. Children, the elderly, exasperated looking parents, some guy who looked like Ryan. All of them were going about their business with an instinctive lack of focus that I often saw from people wandering to places that they’d wandered to hundreds of times before. None of them seemed too bothered about the Dragon.
“Oh crap.” I said as I saw too much was happening too quickly.
“Why are you always so afraid?” Eria asked.
“I can’t control this.” I said, trying very hard not to think and creating a small flotilla of hot air balloons and caused the sun to emerge.
“Don’t fret Stephen, only that which you wish to appear will appear.”
“That’s good.” I’d been expecting fifty foot tall spiders to appear for a little while now and was beginning to wonder why they hadn’t.
“Do you see how your desire to be free of the suffocating constraints of your world acts here? This is why everything is appearing so fast. You’re torn between a desire to be free and a desire to stay safe.”
“Who isn’t?”
“Me, for one.”
“Ha. Ha. Come on, you know what I mean.”
“What I want you to realise Stephen is that there’s not nearly as much that you need to be scared of as you might think. Case and point, Amy.”
“What about Amy?” I said, or perhaps squeaked.
“You know what.” She said, giving me that grin once more.
“You want me to tell her how, uh, you want me to tell her I take it.”
“Well that’s really up to you, but I’d say you owe me that much at least. Don’t be fooled by that plastic sword to the head, she was actually quite flattered.”
“But we’re moving to different university’s soon, is there any-”
“Just do it.”
“Ok.” I said, folding instantly. We both laughed, almost in synch. I had to wonder exactly how alike we were considering that we were the same person, I still like to think, or hope that there’s something of me that survives in her.

Anyway, I looked up and watched as a number of winged man and his two daughters swooped and dived around the surprising amount of spires that no end of these buildings seemed to have. Then I could feel two wings of my own at my back.
“You’re right.” I said, still more intimidated then grateful at the time but I figured I’d be thanking this women every morning for the rest of my days as soon as that wore off.
“Time doesn’t move outside while you’re in here, unless of course you want it to. Either way I wouldn’t advise spending any more then two hours per day in this realm, it can get a little confusing to recognise the outside world if you spend too much time inside.”
“Ok,” I said hurriedly, part of me still longing to be back in my bedroom where I wasn’t creating anything and everything with each passing second.
“Also, don’t tell anyone about this. Things, as I told you, must proceed on their own. I can get away with showing you this, but for now all others must remain as they are, as heartbreaking as that is.”

I nodded, feeling a short stab of envy at the world, (or was it worlds?) that Eria spoke so highly of. It didn’t last long however, and my focus soon returned to the ethereal wonder before me.
“I think I’ve shown you enough for now.” Eria said, giving me a comradely pat on the shoulder and smiling as she started to fade out of existence. “I’ll be in touch.”
“Wait!” I said in a series of panicky squeaks. “How do I get out of here?”
“That’s up to you.” She said. In the next moment she was gone.

It took me a little while to find my way out. In the end I had to decide that in order to switch between worlds, I had to pull on my right ear and tweak my nose at the same time. It might sound silly but I really needed something that I wasn’t likely to do by chance.

Now a year has passed. What else can I tell you? My world gets on just fine without me, and I’m effectively a tourist in my head as often as not. That’s fine by me as the responsibility of leadership is something I can really do without.

Eria’s shown up twice in the year since she first appeared, both times we ended up at a secluded pub near my campus and ended up playing pool and downing discount cocktails. She always wins.

Amy rejected me, saying that maybe it would have been nice if we’d gone out earlier on in our lives, but since we were both moving away from each other soon there wasn’t much point in starting anything. I was kicking myself for almost a month after that, ten separate kicks for every time I tried to tell her how I felt and chocked. It has to be said though, I’m glad I did it. Maybe one day if we both move back home after we get our degrees and then maybe… Well, who can say?

So that’s my life at the moment, implausible as it sounds. Bit of a rushed ending I guess but there’s not a great deal more that I can say about it that’s particularly interesting. Anyway, thanks for letting me ramble for a while. Although I’m guessing you don’t believe a single word I just said.

The End.