Twisted Souls

Chapter 3

Blackness was all I see could for awhile, and for a few seconds I thought I blanked out. It felt like I was fall for eternity, doomed to continuously free fall in pitch blackness for the rest of my life. But soon blue skies appear and then below me, I could make out the green of a forest. It's starts out small but then begins to grow bigger and bigger. I start to panic.
"Oh God! Oh God, please no!" I'm surely going to go 'splat' and die. At least I won't feel it- hopefully.
I squeeze my eyes shut so tight that colorful splashes begin to form behind my eyelids. Waiting to die immediately on impact as I hurtled to the ground.
The only sound that fills my ears is the 'smack' of my body hitting water and the sound of water swirling in my ears canals.
Startled, I open my eyes and begin to thrash around until my instincts kick in and I begin swim upward toward the surface.
I didn't realize I held my breath on the way down, until I begin to gasp for air like a mad woman. Sputtering and coughing, I swim to the edge of the apparent lake and drag myself out.
"What just happened?" I ask myself.
Right now that doesn't matter, what matters is that I'm alive.
Getting up on my shaky, Jell-O legs I let out a sigh of astonishment.
"I'm alive. I'm actually alive!" I hug myself. "Oh, thank God."
I head over to a tree to lean against and sit down.
That was terrifying. Before I can contemplate what just occured, a small voice speaks out.
"Hello?"
I cautiously peer from around the tree and notice a girl with honey blond hair, probably in her early teens, looking at me with the same amount of caution in her eyes.
"Are- are you alright?" Though nervousness covered her voice, I hear could hear the slightest bit of concerned hidden underneath.
I quickly get up, which seems to frighten the girl. She takes a step back. To be fair though, I probably look a mess. Drowned like a rat and with a bewildered look on my face, I'd be enough to scare myself.
"I-"
I'm cut off before I can say anything to the girl. A older looking teenage boy comes from behind the girl and stands in front of her, pointing his bow and arrow at me.
Not knowing whether or not he'll shot, I quickly hide behind the tree. I've already been in death's path once today, I do not want to stand in it again.
"Coxen. She's not going to hurt us." The girl says.
"You don't know that, Elle. I told you not to investigate." The boy replies.
"She's scared."
"She fell out of the sky. We don't know what she could do."
"I don't care." The girl replies stubborn.
I hear footsteps approaching me.
"Elle, come back here." The boy hisses.
The girl comes around to where I'm standing and puts a hand on my shoulder. "I'm sorry we frightened you. My name's Elvina."
"Uh, it's ok. I probably frightened you as well." I look around the tree at the boy still holding his weapon. "And I'm not dangerous. Just a little confused."
"We, me and my brother, saw you falling from the sky. We thought you were a bird at first and then as you got closer we were surprised to see a human falling from the sky."
Coming over to us, the boy drops his defensive stance. "Who are you?"
"Mallory."
"How did you come from the sky?"
"That's the million dollar question." The boy looks confused at the answer. I specify. "I don't know, I was in my backyard then I fell through this hole hidden in the bushes."
"Fell through a hole?" Elvina says puzzled.
"Yep. Call me a liar but that's what happened. Just like Alice and the rabbit hole."
They both give me a strange look.
"Well, you'll need to get out of those wet clothes before you catches something." Elvina says.
"What are you wearing anyway?" Coxen ask giving me another strange look.
"Um...clothes?" What kind of question was that?
"Forgive my brother. It's just strange to see a female wear pants."
"Strange for a female to wear pants? Where am I?"
"Her clothes are probably the least bizarre thing about her at this point." Coxen says. "We have to leave soon, we don't want to stay out too late. Come on."
Coxen starts to head off into the denser area of the woods. Elvina motions for me to follow and the three of us make our way through the forest.
It's a silent trip, but it helps me to think and sort out everything that's happened.
"Maybe I'm dreaming. Maybe I'm just hallucinating this. I wonder where we're going?"
Though my mind is a flurry of non-stop thoughts, I didn't say anything until we suddenly stop and I bump into Elvina.
"Oof!" I look up from where I'm eyes have been trained on the ground. "Sorry."
"That's ok."
"We should probably enter from around the back so no one will notice us." Coxen tells us.
I guess people here will freak out if they see a soaking wet girl in pants. Who knew.
Up ahead in the dusk light, I can see the faint glow of light. As we approach closer, I can tell we're coming into a small village. For a second I'm in awe of the village. It's just like a village you'd read about in a fairytale. Small, cozy looking homes, a public well in the center of the village, cute little shops with a vintage look to it, and with the setting sun behind it and the yellow glow of candles in the window, it was breathtaking.
Elvina pulls me along. We walk behind a few shops and houses until we enter the back door of an orange roofed house. We head upstairs to the second floor and crowd into a small, but cozy looking bedroom.
"Elle, could you go looking around to get something for..."
"Mallory." I finish.
"Get something for Mallory to wear that won't cause to much suspicion." Coxen finishes.
Nodding obediently, Elvina turns and heads out of the room.
I sit down on the bed and look around, before turning my attention back to Coxen who stares at me intensely. I would've preferred if he were the one to run out and find clothes.
"So..." I start, trying create small-talk. "You live here, right?"
"All my life." There was a bitter edge to the way he said that, but I didn't pry.
"Is it just you, Elvina, and your parents living here." I ask since the house was just so small.
"My parents are dead." He replies grimly.
"Oh." Is all I can say. I keep asking the wrong questions. "I'm sorry."
He fiddles with his arrow. "It's just me, Elle, and Ms.Ponns, but she's more like a grandmother to us."
We sit in more awkward silence until Elvina comes back. As she enters, I notice she's as pale as a ghost. Coxen notices too and asks her what's wrong.
"Mr.Ripley. He's dead." Her voice barely can be hear, but we both make out what she says.
Coxen shakes his angrily.
"This ludicrous. He has no right to do these things."
Elvina pales even more and tugs her brother's hand. "Coxen stop. You can't say those things. He'll hear you."
"Hell if he hears me. He can't hear us Elle, it's just another fear tactic he uses."
Elvina begins to shake with, what I believe is, fear.
"Then how did he know all the horrible things Ned Dudges said? How could he have known?"
Coxen's anger fades and, though he tries to hid it, I can see the slightest bit of fear replace it.
"Um. Would anyone like to explain something, or help me piece together how I'm here or where here is?"
The two look at me as if remembering that I'm here.
"Ok, once you get dressed we can try to get on the same page." Coxen says then leaves the room.
Elvina helps me dress into a scarlet red dress with a bodice. I've never worn one before and it's a bit uncomfortable, but I makes me feel like I'm in a fairytale.
Coxen comes back in and we all try to sort out this bizarre mess. I start by telling them about how I found my necklace, then got tangled in the bushes and soon fell through a hole.
"So you never noticed this hole before?" Elle ask curiously.
"Never, I didn't even see it until I fell through."
"Well it was probably a portal." Coxen says. Looking at me he ask. "What province are you from?"
"Province?"
"Yes. What province did you come from? It's rare to fall that far from a portal, or be transported by a portal at all, but it happens. People usually experience strange thing when they go through portals and your weird clothes might have been a result from that."
I just look between the two of them. "Province? Portals?" I'm a believer in fairytale endings and stories, but this is unreal.
"Oregon." I finally answer.
The two of them return my confused look with one of their own.
"Oregon?" Elle says with question. "I've never heard of that province."
"Neither have I." Her brother replies.
I was getting a sinking feeling in my chest.
"What's this place called, this province?" I ask unsure if I really want the answer.
Elle answers,"Aaledith."
"And what's the name of this planet?"
"Please say Earth, please say Earth, please say Earth."
"Edalirwen"
My heart stops beating for a few counts and it's only when Elle calls my name does it restart.
"Do you mean to tell me that I fell through a space portal, which sent me to a whole different planet, that's been hiding in my backyard for God knows how long!?"
Elle and Coxen don't seem to know how to answer that, so they choose to stay silent.
"Oh great." I bury my face in my hands. "I thought today was going to be better than yesterday. It's worst! Today started off so well! How did it go wrong? Everything I do just seems to go wrong. I'm the most unluckily person to have ever lived. Ok, Mal, just calm down, just calm down. You can get your into bad situations, but you always manage to get out. I will get out of this one."
I look up at the two of them. "Sorry about that, I usually have to calm myself down in stressful situations."
Elle joins me on the bed and rubs my back just like my mom would.
"It's ok. I would be scared to death if I was in your situation. Me and Coxen will try all that we can to get you home safely."
I return her encouraging smile."Thank you, so much." I also add just for some humor relief. "I guess we should start following the yellow brick road then."
They of course don't get it, but that's fine.
"You can stay with us for the time being." Coxen says. "You'll sleep in here with Elle."
"I'll get the other bed ready." Elle says turning to leave the room.
Before either of them leave, I remember something I wanted to ask.
"Who's him? The one you were talking about before."
Elle becomes ash white again and Coxen tenses up. They share a quick glance before Elle speaks up.
"The king."
"The tyrant." Coxen mutters under his breath.
"But you shouldn't have to worry about him." Elle says quickly. She turns back to the door. "I'll go get the sheets."
Coxen leaves promptly after her and I sit alone with just my thoughts.
"Strange but kind. I hope I don't get myself into anymore trouble," I lay across the bed and stare up the ceiling and let out a long sigh. "Because God knows I've dug myself into my own grave."