The stranger

1

All was silent. All I heard were my footsteps on the stone floor. The sun shined through the windows. It felt strange to be here. It felt wrong to look around, but I had to. I had to find someone who could help me. So far, I hadn't met anyone in this strange world. A while ago, I had seen two black birds, but they flew away. I was in a big hall now. I could see a chair made of wood. It looked like a throne. There was also a big table, also made of wood. Leaves were lying on the floor. I also noticed moss and there were lots of spiderwebs. I left the hall and headed downstairs. There, I found one big mess. I was going to have a close look at it, when suddenly a strange light appeared behind me. A woman in a strange, long dress had shown up behind me. I was stunned. How did she get here?
"I used my magical powers to teleport." she explained.
"Who are you?!" I asked.
"Don't be afraid. You are in a world that is not your home, but you're safe here. I live here... Not in the castle, of course. I travel around."
I didn't know what to say.
"There are lots of beautiful places here." the woman continued.
I nodded sheepish. For a few moments, she had a close look at me. How much did she know about me? I felt really uncomfortable. Had she been spying on me or something?
"You don't have any magical powers." she said.
"How do you know?" I asked.
She laughed.
"I just do. I have the powers to find out these things. But don't worry. I never use them to harm someone."
I still felt uncomfortable.
"You are used to have many secrets." she said.
Now, I had enough.
"I have to go now." I said.
"I can help you." she said.
I looked her in the eye.
"You don't know this place." she continued.
That was true. I had never been here before. This world had so many secrets. Suddenly, I realised how dangerous it was to be here.
"I will be your guide." the woman said.
"Why would you do that?" I asked.
Again, she laughed.
"You are very modest. We have never seen a creature like you. You are very interesting. We don't meet a stranger every day."
"Who's we?"
"Me and my people. We all have magical powers. You are afraid to trust me, aren't you?"
What could I say? She was right. I was very afraid, but tried not to show it.
"You shouldn't." the woman said. "We just want to know more about you. That's all."
The woman smiled. I wasn't sure what to think about her. Maybe she could help me? I really had been looking for help, but this woman had magical powers. And she knew this place. Maybe it didn't even matter what I did. How could I ever defend myself against those magical powers? I could only hope for the best.
"Come. Let me show you my world." she said.
I still wondered if she could be trusted or not. She smiled at me and the next moment, we were in another castle. We were in a big hall now. Strange people were looking at me. This place was very different. Everyone was wearing beautiful clothes, the stone floor was shining and the sun was shining through the windows.
"These are my friends." the woman said. "They wanted to see you."
I was surprised. How did they know about me?
"Everybody knows you're here." the woman explained.
"You came here for a reason, didn't you?" one of her friends asked.
It was a middle-aged man. He seemed very friendly.
"Yes. My village has been attacked by strange creatures. I could escape. I walked for days when I suddenly saw a small, empty house. There was no-one inside, so I entered and then I found a coat. I put it on and the next moment, I was here."
"Where is that coat?" the man asked.
"I don't know. It's gone. I wasn't wearing it anymore when I got here." I said.
The strangers just looked at eachother and said nothing.
"It was cold." I said.
The woman shook her head.
"You couldn't know."
"Can you help me?" I asked.
"We're not sure." the woman said.
"But don't loose hope." the man said.
The woman smiled again.
"Let me bring you to the kitchen." the man said.
He put his hand on my shoulder and took me to a very big kitchen. It was very amazing.
"Sit down." he told me.
A young guy, he looked about 12 years old, came my way.
"I bet you're very hungry." he said.
A few moments later, I was having a nice meal. It tasted much better than the food I had at home. Home... Those creatures had really surprised us. I had to help my family and the other villagers. I couldn't let them down. I had escaped, so I didn't know what the monsters had done in the village. I hoped that my family had magaged to escape too. Maybe, they were alright. It was possible. After I finished the meal, a pretty young girl came to sit next to me. She had a lovely smile.
"We want to get to know you better." she told me.
She had a very beautiful, soft voice. To me, she was like a princess. A real princess. She had very beautiful eyes... She was very different than the girls in the village.
"Everyone is curious about you." she said, with that same, soft voice. "What does your world look like?"
"It's not as beautiful as this place. I did have a wonderful family and I want to know where they are. I'm worried about them."
"We know nothing about your family." she said.
"Oh..."
I was really dissepointed. How was I supposed to find them back now?
"Suddenly, those strange monsters were there... They attacked us."
"I know." she said.
"What happened to my family? Tell me."
"We don't know. Those creatures are dangerous... Dangerous for us, I mean. I don't know about your kind. We want to find out."
"How?"
Suddenly, she was holding a pencil and a paper in her hand.
"Can you make pictures of your world?" she asked.
"I can't draw."
"Perhaps you can try it."
"My family is probably in danger. I have to do something."
"Relax. We're trying to find the way back home for you... Don't think the worst."
"They looked very scary."
"Can you make a picture of them?"
"But you already know them."
"We don't, but the coat shows that they have strong magical powers. Powers that don't belong there."
"I know that they screamed. There was chaos... I heard people screaming in fear... The kids were crying. I just ran away..."
"You're safe here now."
"It all began with a strange noise. I wondered what it was and then I heard someone screaming. A few moments later, I had escaped from the village. I only saw a glimpse of the monsters. I can't draw them. I just saw something grey."
"They looked grey?"
"Yes." I nodded.
"Were they big? Did you see what they were doing?"
"They were giants... Dark grey giants. They were big enough to smash a house at once."
"That big, huh?"
I nodded again.
"We'll try to find the gate to your world." the girl said. Then, she left the kitchen. Two other strangers came to see me. It were a girl and a boy of about my age.
"We would love to see a picture of your world." the boy said.
"I can't draw."
"How do you know that? You're not trying." the girl said.
"Believe me. I know." I said.
"Try to relax." the boy told me.
"My family is in danger."
"We want to help you." the girl said.
I was shocked. She made it sound like I didn't want their help. Part of me wanted their help more than anything, but at the same time, I wondered if I could really trust them. Their magic still scared me. The boy smiled at me.
"Tell us more about your village." he said.
"It's a small village. We had to work hard." I said. My village was very small, so there wasn't much to tell. Just a few small houses and some land. I also told them about the other villagers and they kept listening. They seemed very curious. Suddenly, I realised that they knew a lot about me. The girl smiled at me.
"It's alright. Would you like to relax now? What would you like to do?"
I didn't know what to say.
"You can have some fun." the boy said.
I shook my head.
"This is not the time to have fun." I said.
"Right... Of course not." the boy said.
"We... We just thought that having some fun would do you good." the girl said.
Well, I was not interested in fun. It was time to go back home and save my family.
"I'm going to visit the wood. Let me take you with me." the girl said.
The next moment, I was in a wood, together with that strange girl. She smiled at me.
"There are many beautiful places here. You probably won't get to see them all." she said.
It was strange to be in this wood so suddenly.
"Don't be afraid. We won't teleport you all the time." she said.
Her words didn't help. I felt totally defendless. She took my hand and we began to walk. What was she up to? Why were we here? She didn't say a word and just kept walking. It was really strange.
"Just relax. My friends are trying to help you." she said. "We won't let you down."
I could only hope that she was telling the truth. Suddenly, she showed me a few flowers.
"How lovely..."
I nodded, but my mind was with my family and the other villagers. Later, she showed me some other flowers. I nodded again.
"You will have to be patient." she said.
I was surprised.
"We are working hard to help you, but it's not easy. In fact... It's much more difficult than we thought."
"Guh?"
"Nevermind. Just give us some time. You might be trapped here for a long time."
I shook my head. I didn't understand.
"My people have no secrets for eachother." she explained. "I know everything about the others. They have worked very hard to help you."
She looked me in the eye and then continued to walk.
"So tell me... Is your world a nice place to live in?" she asked.
"I had lived there all my life. Couldn't compare..." I said.
"But were you happy?"
"Yeah..." I nodded.
Her question had astonished me.
"Good. I'm glad you were. Did anyone of the villagers have magical powers?"
"No."
"Oh..."
My answer seemed to surprise her.
"I would like to see that... A village where no-one has magical powers..." she said.
She asked me more questions about my village, but after some time, I had enough of that. I wanted to do something.
"Would you rather go back tot he castle?" she asked me.
"Yeah... I want to see the others." I answered.
The next moment, we were back in the castle. The other people there were not surprised to see us.
"So... What did you think?" a guy asked me.
"It was fine." I nodded.
"There are many more places we'd like to show you." the guy told me.
Days went by and I still couldn't go home. They kept showing me flowers, landscapes, castles, lakes... It was all very impressive and it changed my life. Being in this world was very strange and confusing. I kept seeing new things. My fear of being teleported faded away. They were stronger than me and there was nothing I could do. I could only wait and see. It was best not to worry about it too much. So far, they always teleported me to nice places. They kept asking me questions about me village. I could only say that my life had been very, very boring. They were used to travelling, to seeing exciting and beautiful things. I had no idea how many days had gone by. That day, they showed me the mountains. It was very beautiful and impressive. I was here together with a young girl.
"Aren't you bored?" she asked.
"No."
"Really?"
She seemed surprised.
"Really. I know I haven't been working, but there is so much to see... Sometimes, I think I will have to stay here forever, but sometimes I just feel I have to grab this chance before return home."
I began to realise that I would miss all this if I returned home for good. It was scaring. There was no way that I could stay here for the rest of my life! I stopped looking at the mountains. Those strangers had distracted me. I had to focus on going back home.
"Please, bring me back to my room." I said.
The girl was surprised, but the next moment, I was standing in my room. She had not asked for any explanation. Staying in my room wasn't easy, but I had to. For a few moments, I just stood there and stared at the wall. Then, the door swung open.
"Is everything alright?"
An older woman entered my room.
"Yes. I'm fine."
"Good."
The woman looked at me and smiled. Suddenly, she stopped smiling.
"You will not go home soon." she told me.
Hearing those words was a shock. It was just something that I didn't want to hear. What was I going to do? I didn't look forward to staying here in my room for months or... even years. The woman put her arms around me.
"Just relax." she said quietly.
Did she understand?

2
That night, I had a strange dream. I dreamt that I was heading for my village. Later, I saw all my friends back. They were happy to see me and asked where I had been.
"I was in a strange world. I saw very high mountains and much more... It..."
But all my friends looked at me disbelievingly.
"You're lying!"
None of my friends believed me. I was shocked.
"Where have you really been?"
"I told you." I answered.
"Come on. Tell us the truth. Don't lie to us!"
"I didn't lie!"
"Did you go to some other village? How did you survive?"
"The people there had magical powers."
"Why are you doing this?"
"They teleported me." I continued.
"You can trust us, you know."
"But I do trust you."
Then, I woke up. I was in the strange world again. I felt that I was all alone. Suddenly, I had to cry. I missed my family and friends so much... I got out of bed and left my room. In the hall, I saw two young girls.
"What's wrong?" one of them asked me.
"I can't stay here." I sobbed.
"Try to be strong."
"I have been strong. How much longer will I have to stay here?"
"We don't know. We can only say that it's very hard to find the gate to your world... very hard."
"Is that all you can say?"
"We have worked hard for you."
"I know... Sorry."
"Try to get some sleep."
But I didn't want to sleep. I headed for one of the other rooms and had a look at the stars. One of the guys came to see me.
"Do you want to talk?" he asked.
"What can I say?"
"You seem very upset."
I just looked at the stars and said nothing.
"You can't find the gate on our own." the guy said.
"I know."
"You need magical powers to return."
"I know that too."
"I just wanted to remind you."
I remembered that coat. Maybe, I just had to put on another coat. Maybe, it wasn't hard at all.