The Veil
by jinnis
The first time Janice slipped through the veil, she believed she was dreaming. She had been drinking that night and couldn't remember how she got home. Did Svey drive her? No, probably not, not after the row they had. It was all so unnecessary and stupid—now she came to think of it. She should have apologised. Instead, she had flirted with the cute kid with the blue curls. What was her name? Just to make Svey jealous, but—
A screech interrupted her thoughts. She slapped her palms over her ears. "Stop it, May."
With a frown, she glanced around for something to throw against the wall of her neighbour's apartment when she realised she wasn't in her room at all. What surrounded her looked like tan canvas, and the smells... another screech catapulted her out of dreamland and into the hot, moist reality of a jungle camp.
When she pushed the tent flap aside, the taste of bile rose in Janice's throat. The scene before her conveyed both beauty and horror. Dense forest surrounded the camp, and the canopy of mighty trees swallowed most of the sunlight. Moisture gleamed on the foliage of the underbrush in a variety of organic greens from light lime to velvet black. The clearing occupied by the tent was smaller than her apartment, the trees and leafy bushes crowding in from all sides. A giant brown and green snake lay coiled a rotting log in front of the old-fashioned tent and watched her from slitted eyes, tongue flitting.
Janice bit down a scream and dashed back into the tent to check for a potential weapon. The cramped space held a narrow cot with a blanket, a tiny table, and a folding chair. Nothing that would help to fight off a monster snake. Not a single piece of furniture she recognised, either. What the heck was she doing here, still in the outfit she'd chosen last night to impress Svey?
Much good had it done to her. But thinking of her own stupidity and unused opportunities wouldn't help her in the current situation. She had to find out where she was, why she ended in this weird place, and how to get home. And what to do about the snake?
But where to begin? This place had to belong to someone, right? She searched the tent, but couldn't find any personal stuff. There wasn't any food either, just a plastic bottle that held some clear liquid. Was it water? She tried to open it but struggled until she found out the screw cap turned the wrong way. Odd.
Janice sniffed at the content and coughed when strong alcoholic fumes tickled her nose. Not her favourite brand of booze, but it might help to strengthen her nerves. She took a swig and liquid fire scorched her throat. With new resolve, she stepped out of the tent, bottle in hand, to have a word with the snake. It was gone.
Not reassuring in the least. "Oh no. You can't do this. I won't play hide and seek with a bugger like you."
She scanned the clearing and checked among the fallen and rotting leaves, where she found different creepy-crawlies, but no snake. Or serpent, whatever. That the light seemed to fade didn't brighten her mind or chase the shivers. Reminding herself that this must be someone's camp, she tried calling.
"Hello?"
For a moment, the cacophony of insect noises cut off, only to begin again, louder, after a few moments of breathless silence. Janice tried again, her voice breaking, but the result was the same. Her third call was ignored not only by the potential owner of the tent but also by the jungle's inhabitants, who probably had enough of being disturbed by this strange intruder.
Janice spent the better part of the night wide awake, shivering on the cot in her party dress, protected only by a thin blanket, listening to the voices of the jungle. In the early hours, exhaustion and the alcohol claimed their right, and she fell into a fitful sleep.
~ ~ ~
When she woke at the sound of a gong, the noises had gotten worse, if this was possible. A sharp hiss followed by a metallic rattling and a disturbing whooshing assaulted her ears. Janice sat up and banged her head on a low ceiling. "Ouch."
While she rubbed her front, she tried to get her bearings. Her initial relief that the jungle was gone was soon replaced by dread. This wasn't home—another bad dream? Cool blue light surrounded her when clambered from the hard mattress and made her way to a small, round window not unlike a ship's bullseye. It allowed her the view of a bustling city night-scape. Located high in a building, she could see air transports zipping by, their glowing trails fading to be replaced by those of the next futuristic vessel roaring by.
On a shelf beside her bed, she found a grey coverall. She discarded her dirty and torn party dress—where had this happened?—to take a shower in the small cubicle and slipped into the unfamiliar garment. While she zipped it closed, an automated voice droned from an overhead speaker. She couldn't understand a word of the unfamiliar language. With an audible click, the door of the room sprang open, and she peeked out into a corridor with dozens of similar doors. In each one stood a person clad in a similar garment.
An icy finger of dread traced her spine. At a command from the overhead voice, everyone turned to walk down the corridor with measured steps. Janice hesitated for a second, but then fell in line.
She spent the day working on an assembly line. It was an easy, menial task, one that could have been done by a simple robot. Still, it took all her concentration to keep up with her coworkers during endless hours in the earsplitting noise of the hall. She ate her ration in silence during the single brief break and trudged back with her companions to her small room after work to fall into a weary, dreamless sleep.
The next day, the same gong tore her from sleep, and the same routine awaited her. Dread filled her mind while she slipped into her coveralls, but she fought against it. On the way to the working hall, she tried to establish basic communication with her coworkers, but even eye contact seemed out of the question.
Was this some kind of prison? Tempted to break out of line, Janice observed her surroundings, trying to understand and find a clue on how to leave this place that seemed to run like a flawless machine. Then, in the middle of the shift, one line over a woman groaned and broke down on the belt, clutching her head. Her neighbours sent her a quick glance but didn't interrupt their work. Janice wanted to rush to her side, but was shoved back to her place by a stinging slap against her thigh. The emotionless face of an overseer and the glowing rod in their hand told her enough.
From teary eyes, she watched in horror as two muscular goons dragged the sick woman away, manhandling her without care. Janice lowered her head and concentrated on her task, not daring to step out of line anymore.
By the fourth day, desperation clawed at her sanity. The fifth morning, she woke in a different world. The air in the place seemed almost liquid and her feet hardly touched the ground. For a moment, she feared she was drowning, or that she died in the assembly line. Then she took in the clear blue surroundings, the light filtering through the not-air, the colourful creatures swimming in it. She had come to an underwater world.
There were desert worlds, forest worlds, and those filled with lava or bizarre monsters. One seemed made of glass and in others, snow and ice held life in an eternal grasp. Janice spent one day in some and several in others. Soon, she lost all sense of time or seasons. Like an autumn leaf carried by the wind, she drifted through the veil into distinct realities without the possibility of taking influence on her voyage.
In time, she learned to cope with the changes. First thing every morning, she checked her surroundings to make sure she was where she fell asleep and, if not, if she was in a safe place. She assembled a survival kit in a small backpack that she would use as a pillow at night, one of its straps knotted around her wrist to make sure she took it with her to the next world. From arid plains to underground caverns and teeming cities, her veil-walking took her without a way to foresee where the next night's sleep might lead her. She experimented with sleeping pills and tried channeling her dreams with meditation and certain substances—in vain.
~ ~ ~
She found the answer on an unspectacular world mostly covered by oceans. Human civilisation on the overpopulated continents was advanced enough to bring the balance of nature to the brink of collapse. The climate changed, fast and unstoppable, and extreme weather events had become a problem that might well lead to the extinction of the dominant species, the 'crown of creation' as they called themselves.
Janice had settled down in a village on the coast of an island in what was called the Caribbean Sea. People there were used to all kinds of tourists dropping by for short-term visits and asked no questions. The relaxed island lifestyle helped her to keep her emotions in check and she spent more time in this place than she had thought possible, for the first time in an eternity finding the leisure to go for walks and swimming in the sea. She enjoyed the fact that the dangers here were less imminent than in most places she had seen. They seemed reduced to the chaotic traffic, some respiratory diseases, and the results of global warming because of an unchecked carbon dioxide exhaust into the atmosphere. Nothing as frightening as toothy monsters or lava pools.
But a nagging feeling kept telling her things weren't meant to last. It was New Year's Eve, and she sat on a fallen palm tree on the beach to watch the sunset. A pelican dived for food while the sun burned its fiery path to the horizon. Janice looked up when a stranger sat down beside her, a smile on his dark, wrinkled face.
"A beautiful sight, isn't it?"
She sighed and ran her hands through her hair. "True. It's a place I could call home."
"Why don't you, then?"
Janice contemplated his question. What stopped her? She had seen so many places, and each had its pros and its cons. This one was far from perfect, but there had been much worse.
"I'd have to find a job, build up an existence and—other stuff." Omit slipping through the veil while sleeping, for one, which might be a challenge.
The stranger nodded. "Unfinished business elsewhere, I see."
"You wouldn't understand." The pelican dived into the water only a few metres away, wings folded close against the body and neck stretched. Seconds later, it appeared with a fish wriggling in its beak.
"Try me." Something in the stranger's voice made her look at him. He was undeniably local, dark skin, hair in dozens of braids, wearing dirty shorts, a faded black T-shirt printed with the word Ooorah, flip-flops, and several bracelets and necklaces. A golden earring blinked in the mellow light of the setting sun. His eyes seemed like dark wells of wisdom.
"I—" No, he would think she was crazy, just like everyone else she'd tried to talk to, to explain about her predicament.
"You've crossed the veil, and it frightens you."
Her answer didn't make it past her lips. She closed her mouth when she realised she had nothing to say. Then she opened it again. "How can you know?"
The old man chuckled and shook his head. The rattling of the pearls in his braids echoed his laughter.
"Embrace the gift. Learn to dream true, and things will fall in place."
Janice pulled her brows into a frown. "Don't speak in riddles, please. If you know how I can get out of this, or control it, I beg you to explain."
"Ah, it's not that easy. This is your gift, and the solution to your problem lies within yourself."
"There's only emptiness in myself." She knew it to be true. The past months or years had cost her all her faith, her hopes and dreams, and left her a shell of a person. Capable of movement, of reaction and interaction, but void of purpose.
"See? I told you the problem lies within yourself." The old man stood and gave her a rueful smile. "You must remember where you belong and the veil will open for you."
Janice watched him walk away down the beach. She stared at the waves rolling in for several hours before she fell asleep in the sand to the eternal song of the sea.
This night, she dreamed of a pair of clear eyes and an enticing smile. "Janice? Are you awake? Breakfast is ready."
Svey—her heartbeat quickened when she opened her eyes in a world she had thought lost forever.