Reader Violet shares a startling and unsettling story... make yourself a hot chocolate and get reading!
I awoke with a start. It was pitch black in my room, aside from my alarm clock, a neon 3.07 glowing next to me... yet I felt wide awake. Clearly, I wasn't going to get back to sleep so I flicked on my bedside lamp to read and I knew instantly that something was different. It may have been the trail of feathers that gave it away, or the motionless heap in the corner, just beyond the reach of the lamplight. Perhaps it was just a pile of clothes? Then it stirred, shifting slightly and groaning. OK, probably not a pile of clothes, then.
I wanted to run from the room, from the house, possibly from the country itself... but I knew I had to be an adult and check this out. This could be an injured person - what they were doing in my room was a mystery, but I couldn't just ignore them. What about the feathers, though? Perhaps it was an ostrich? I grabbed my phone from the bedside table, switched on the flashlight and tiptoed across the room, feeling for all the world like the first one to die in a horror movie. I swept the flashlight across the corner. Bare feet, the hem of a lace gown (unusual attire for an intruder, I thought), a woman's face resting on delicate hands, tousled sandy hair and - Jesus, were those WINGS? The phone slipped from my grasp and landed next to the sleeping woman, the flashlight on her face. She shielded her eyes and pushed herself up into a sitting position, unfolding her wings and releasing another shower of white feathers. The thought that I'd have to vacuum the carpet flitted through my dazed mind.
'Ugh,' the woman muttered to herself. 'Not another dimension shift...'
Clearly, this was a dream. I was dreaming, I had to be. It felt like moving through quick-set cement, I reached down to pinch myself, sure I wasn't going to feel anything. Wrong! 'Ouch,' I yelped. rubbing the spot I'd pinched. The woman quickly snapped her head up and her eyes met mine as she realised for the first time that she wasn't alone here.
'Is this your house?' she queried, getting to her feet. 'Look, I'm sorry about this. My name is Deifilia, and I really shouldn't be here. I have to get home... but I'm going to need your help...'
Cathy says:
Ooh, I love a cliffhanger! Where do YOU think Deifilia has come from? And why? If you could write an ending for the story, what would happen? COMMENT BELOW to have your say!
I wanted to run from the room, from the house, possibly from the country itself... but I knew I had to be an adult and check this out. This could be an injured person - what they were doing in my room was a mystery, but I couldn't just ignore them. What about the feathers, though? Perhaps it was an ostrich? I grabbed my phone from the bedside table, switched on the flashlight and tiptoed across the room, feeling for all the world like the first one to die in a horror movie. I swept the flashlight across the corner. Bare feet, the hem of a lace gown (unusual attire for an intruder, I thought), a woman's face resting on delicate hands, tousled sandy hair and - Jesus, were those WINGS? The phone slipped from my grasp and landed next to the sleeping woman, the flashlight on her face. She shielded her eyes and pushed herself up into a sitting position, unfolding her wings and releasing another shower of white feathers. The thought that I'd have to vacuum the carpet flitted through my dazed mind.
'Ugh,' the woman muttered to herself. 'Not another dimension shift...'
Clearly, this was a dream. I was dreaming, I had to be. It felt like moving through quick-set cement, I reached down to pinch myself, sure I wasn't going to feel anything. Wrong! 'Ouch,' I yelped. rubbing the spot I'd pinched. The woman quickly snapped her head up and her eyes met mine as she realised for the first time that she wasn't alone here.
'Is this your house?' she queried, getting to her feet. 'Look, I'm sorry about this. My name is Deifilia, and I really shouldn't be here. I have to get home... but I'm going to need your help...'
Cathy says:
Ooh, I love a cliffhanger! Where do YOU think Deifilia has come from? And why? If you could write an ending for the story, what would happen? COMMENT BELOW to have your say!
I didn't put too much thought into how this story would pan out, I just made it a fun cliffhanger so everyone could think up their own endings - it's something I remember from primary school, being given the beginning of a story and having to write a middle and ending ourselves. Quite fun sometimes. I like to think Deifilia is from a parallel universe, one where humans evolved to have wings. Obviously, a parallel universe is a separate dimension, hence "dimensional shift". Why she keeps experiencing these shifts is anyone's guess. Perhaps the boundaries between worlds are weakening which if I know my Doctor Who, is a baaaad thing! Deifilia is probably a normal (winged) person who was randomly affected so has to work to fix it just so she can get back to her life without falling into another universe every so often. However, I gave her a Latin name - I believe it means "daughter of god/light" - so if anyone wanted to make her an angelic sort of being, the groundwork was laid for that story as well. Really, the possibilities are almost infinite!
ReplyDeleteHey there!
ReplyDeleteI absolutely love your story! I also (as a very nose person haha) checked out your blog... it's amazing!! I think you sound like a really interesting person! As well as a wonderful writer.
~ Sophia xx