Reality's Escape: a collection of short stories

Portal? Virtual Reality? Imagination Station?

The cottage dissolved as the sky darkened around me. My surroundings faded gently into an empty grey. One spot of white light shone, about the size and shape of the door, where I had come from. I walked toward it, and ended up back in my room. I looked around. Everything seemed perfectly normal, even the books scattered on the floor.

One of my first thoughts was to check how much time had passed. I had read about portals before, and time always got messed up when people stepped through them. The clock read 6:52, with the AM light on, which sounded about right. The sky was brightening outside my window, and when I glanced down at my candle, it was not fully melted across the top. I heaved a sigh of relief. It didn't appear that I had been gone too long at all.

A door creaked open at the end of the hall. "Dad!" I ran for him, grabbed his arm, and tugged him back to my room.

"What, Keri?" he asked, disgruntled, probably surprised at my vivacity this early.

"You've got to see this!" I motioned to the wall.

He looked confused, and I wondered if maybe he couldn't see it. Then he stuck his hand out, just as I had done, and his jaw dropped when it went through.

I picked up the book and the portal— I guess that's what it was— disappeared, then replaced the book and it started up again. "Come in!" I said, pulling him.

"Keri—" He stopped, slack jawed as he looked around. I laughed at him, then pointed at his clothes. His beard was rather at odds with the dark grey over coat and wide tan pants. "Oh, Cr—eepers."

"Dad."

"Well... what is going on?"

"Come, look."

He jumped when the voice spoke. I explained that it was poetry from the book on the floor, then showed him the old woman. When she leaned back and closed her eyes, then stopped breathing, Dad made for the door and burst through. Just as he reached her, everything faded again.

"What the—"

"Dad."

"What? What happened?"

"It's the end of the poem."

We stepped back out, and he shook his head, flabbergasted, then set to frowning at the wall. "This is weird."

"Isn't it awesome?"

"Does it work with any book?"

"I don't know." I picked up A Flagon of Beauty. Let's try another one."

"We have leadership meeting this morning, remember? Ask their girls if they want to go with you; I don't want you in there by yourself. Be careful." He continued to frown at the wall as he left.

I put the book back on the shelf, then followed him down the stairs to go get breakfast. Neither one of us said anything about it; I think we were trying to decide if it had been real or not. By nine, the families started showing up, and me and my siblings greeted our friends. Rayaan, an adorable, sweet little girl with red curls, came running to give me a hug.

"Are we going to play Kingdoms today?" she asked.

"Maybe later," I said. "I want to talk with Hallie and Audrey for a bit first, so you can go play with Savana and Megan."

She conceded and ran off. I turned to the girls. "I have to show you something."

I showed them the poem first, because I knew what was going to happen. They both got super excited, and when we returned to my room, we took turns all talking at once and sitting in perfect, rapturous silence. It was nice to have someone to freak out with.