I heard she was slumming it with that Jones boy.
Her only friend is an old man.
Such a weirdo. She used to believe in gnomes.
Freak.
Nerd.
All I can do is clasp my hands over my head and run.I’m a freak…
I slam into the door, pushing my way through, hoping on the other side I find peace and quiet, but instead, I find myself in a completely different building.
There are rough hewn, white stone bricks on the walls and floors and flickering flames propped up in old iron sconces lining the walls. I’m in a long corridor with a high, domed ceiling. There are multiple rounded wooden doors on either side of the hall and a grand double door that is taller than all the others at the very end.
Where am I?I shake my head and look around. There is light shining under the double door so I slowly make my way towards it. There are some strange, small statues sitting in little alcoves carved out of the rock, lining the hall. One appears to have the torso and head of a man and the lower body of a goat. Another is a bust of a regal looking man with pointed ears and canines that appear slightly too long to be normal.Such strange art…
As I inch my way down the corridor I notice my movement comes much easier than it should in that ridiculous skirt so I look down and see that I am in some sort of button down vest and trousers tucked into tall boots.
This is not my body, this is not me. Where am I?My stomach sinks, the few bites of salad I had are fighting each other back up my throat.
“You may enter Embrys!” I hear a deep growling voice call from beyond the doors. I do not want to go but I feel a pull to open the doors that I cannot resist. I grasp the curling iron handles and fling them open, more easily than I should’ve been able to judging by their size. Seated at the other end of a massive, high ceilinged hall is a man with the head of a wolf grinning back at me. His fanged mouth is all I can focus on. The look on his face makes me instantly nauseated. He looks as if I am the juiciest prey and he is ready to pounce. The moment our eyes meet there is a strange flicker of recognition but at that precise moment I am jolted back into my body like a snapping rubber band before I can step fully into the hall and face the wolfish nightmare.
Chapter Two
Ican feel a throbbing in my head and the brightness of the neon lights overhead make my eyes sting as I crack them open. I am met with Benji and Marissa hovering over me and I swear it looks like they are holding hands.
“She’s back! Make room!” Marissa nudges Benji out of the way as she kneels down, grasping her dress so as to not wrinkle it as she lets her bare knees hit the hardwood floor beside me.
“Nuria! Nuria are you ok? You bolted out of there like a jack rabbit!” Marissa clearly exaggerates whilst shaking my shoulders. I brush her off, coming up onto my elbows.
“I didn’t bolt. I walked like a normal human. I’m fine, I think I just haven’t eaten enough today,” I lie as I push myself up onto my feet and dust off my clothes. My vision swims for a second, Benji leans in to grasp my arm but I pull it away before he can.
“Get back in there Mar, really I’m fine. I’ll wait in the car,” I say with a little feigned smile and start walking towards the front door so she won’t see my hands shaking.
I hesitate pushing the door open for fear that I will be transported back to wherever that place was.
“Here, let me get that for you,” Benji offers, swinging the door open and letting the hot midday air wash over me. I give him a little nod then hurry towards the car.
“I’ve got the keys, remember… I’m the Valet,” Benji chuckles whilst following me and swinging the keys around his finger. I grasp out for them but he pulls his hand away. Concern wrinkles his brow.
“What happened in there, Nuri?” he asks. I just shrug in response and try to grab the keys again but he pulls them away. “I think that happened once when we were together but you didn’t collapse that time. You just kind of looked straight ahead and couldn’t hear me. Also this time you said a name. You said Embrys. Is that your new boyfriend?” he questions me but I’m too shaken to deal with this right now.
Embrys… his name is Embrys.I feel my cheeks flush and my body warm despite the chilling scene I have just witnessed.
“Leave me alone Benji,” I say through clenched teeth. He sighs and turns on his heel to walk back towards his Valet’s podium. Annoyingly, he also took the keys with him. I decide I just need to get out of here, so begrudgingly I start my walk back home.
The entire walk is a blur as I go over every detail of what I saw when I was passed out.Am I losing my mind?These flashes used to happen for the briefest of moments when I was younger when I would enter a room or spin around suddenly but they would never last for more than a few moments. I remember enjoying the scenes I would see. Sometimes I was in a vibrant forest, others were on horseback. I know it sounds strange but I felt like a friend was taking me away from my reality, just for a moment, to show me another life. They all felt joyful and exciting as a kid but it happened less and less as I became a teen, to the point that I stopped believing they were anything other than childish dreams.
This one was different. This one felt sinister.
The visions seem to be getting stronger since my return from university, it feels so real. The hard stone beneath my feet and the cool iron door handles in my hands. It all felt so real! And that voice… Why do I know that voice? Fear sours my stomach.
When I finally get home I’m a bit of a sweaty mess and just want to dissolve into nature for a while. I peel off the skin tight skirt and frilly blouse right there in the foyer before running up to my room to put on my swimmers. I also grab my towel and sketch pad before I bolt out the back door, letting it slam behind me.
The midday heat is softened by the dense canopy of the forest just beyond our backyard, the call of the birds a familiar comfort. I find my well-hidden deer track that leads to my favourite swimming spot and pad my way down to the creek in my bare feet; the crackle of leaves and soft sponge of the mosses underfoot giving me a sensory delight; the tickling brush of the ferns on my shins are friends welcoming me home.
I’ve been coming here ever since I first arrived at the Piedmont’s house. Delia and Hunt had to constantly keep an eye on me, otherwise I would race off into the forest. They would find me by the creek turning over boulders as if I was desperately looking for something and babbling away about gnomes. Just the grand imagination of a five year old they would joke.
