Fiction

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Chapter 1 A New World

            She glanced down the hallway, utterly confused. She thought she had been down the hallway several times before, but nothing seemed familiar whatsoever. She sighed as she stopped before a door.  Her brown eyes ran up and down the door, trying to remember if this was the door she had only moments before exited.

            “If this is it, I’m so going crazy.” She thought as she sighed. “Okay, well, maybe someone can give directions for an utterly lost girl. I mean, I’m so lost, I’m worse than Tenatashi!” She laughed to herself quietly at the thought. “And he gets lost.” She shook her head at the memory of the seventeen year old she knew so well.

            She frowned as she stared at the door once more. “Hesitation! Another trait I share in common with him,” she thought. She glanced behind her to make sure that no one was following her. Rolling her eyes at the thought of how hesitant she was to enter the room, she placed her hand on the door knob and turned it.

            She glanced around quickly and discovered that the room she had just entered into was not the room she had originally thought it was. In the center of the room, a large table stood facing her. Several chairs stood off to the side of the room. She narrowed her eyes as she surveyed the strange arrangement. Logically, it seemed the table would face the chairs, but it faced the entrance.

            As she stood in the doorway, puzzling over the strange sight, she heard a faint creak as a door on the other side of the room open. A tall young lady entered the room. She gave the girl a quick glance and just as the girl was about to exit the room spoke.

            “You there,” she called out softly. The girl turned.

            “Oh, I’m sorry, I entered the wrong room. I’m really sorry. Did I disturb you?” the girl asked as embarrassment swept over her. She glanced around the room nervously, not daring to meet the gaze of the woman who spoke.

            “Oh, no, that’s okay. What if I gave you a tour of what happens in this room, hmm?” she asked as she, too glanced around the room.

            “I…am curious,” the girl said with a smile. The woman smiled as she stepped around the large table in the center.

            “Let me show you.”

            “My name’s Dregana,” the woman introduced herself as she brushed some of her short black hair out of her eyes. The girl seemed to not have heard what the woman said. Her brown eyes were fixed to the table Dregana was standing behind. The instant the woman had stepped around it, a strange white gleam shot up from its surface. The girl watched in amazement as the woman swept her long fingers over the table’s surface.

            “So,” Dregana began. “I work here- in this gloomy place-and I’m in charge of…the dead,” she said and her green eyes widened.

            “Dead?” the girl asked shivering slightly at the word.

            “Don’t be frightened…I’ll explain it all. They aren’t really dead, and neither are they particularly alive, either…kinda in between you could say,” Dragana explained, tilting her head to one side, and tapping her fingers against the strange table before her.

            “Let me show you. I’ll bring in a couple of ‘dead’ guys,” Dragana said as her friendly green eyes dropped to the table. “Hmm, let’s see. I’m bring in the mains,” she decided, tapping her chin with her long fingernails. Her hand dropped to the screen, and she pressed something on it.

            “Oh,” she said suddenly, looking up. “I totally forgot. A chair. Let me go get one,” Dregana said as she started to step away from the table.

            “Can’t I just sit over there?” the girl asked, pointing to the chairs facing the table.

            “Don’t!” Dragana exclaimed sternly. The girl turned wildly, frightened at the woman’s sudden words. Dragana smiled and lifted a finger to her lips.

            “Why?” the girl asked in a hushed voice.

            “You’ll see,” Dragana said, giving the girl a mysterious smile. She sauntered off, letting the silver dress’s edge trail behind her. The girl frowned as she watched her disappear.

            “Why is she dressed like that?” the girl wondered. She glanced once more around her surroundings. The entire room was dark, and cramped as though it were a dungeon, but that was practically what Dregana-whoever she was-had described it as being.

            A moment later, Dregana returned, carrying a chair. She smiled as she set it down next to the table.

            “Here you are, sorry about that,” she said. “I seem a little rushed today!”  The girl smiled shyly as she sat down. The lady tapped something on the table, and then turned around. The girl turned to look where the lady had turned. There, a door opened slowly.

            A figure entered the room, dressed in a long flowing cape, and medieval clothing. The girl could not see him closely, but she was a little frightened of him. Perhaps, she had just entered into another world! Oh, so exciting! After all, everyone she had met was dressed in medieval-aged clothing. The girl glanced down at her own clothing, hoping to find that she was wearing some elegant dress like Dragana’s. She hoped that she was like Jack and Annie in The Magic Tree House series where every time they went into another era in history, their clothes magically changed to fit the clothing that the people wore back then.

            She was disappointed. She wore no elegant dress or even a pretty skirt but the same purple shirt and dark blue jeans. She sighed as she glanced back up at Dregana, who had been waiting patiently for her attention.

            “So, this is K1907. I’m not allowed to use his real name because…well, it’s forbidden. The letter at the beginning of his identification number is the letter that his name starts with,” Dregana explained. The girl nodded.

            “Sit,” Dregana ordered the man who had entered. Instantly, the man sat down on the ground. “No, no, silly, over there.” The man shrugged his shoulders. Dregana rolled her eyes.

            “Stand up. I forgot you don’t have eyes. Why she couldn’t have at least come up with an eye color for you is beyond me. Whatever! You know where the seats are, go to the nearest one,” The man obeyed her and stood up and stepped to the nearest seat.

            “Come,” Dregana said as she gestured for the girl to follow her. Obediently, the girl followed her. “Take a look at K1907.” The girl stopped before the man. His face was turned to them, but he really did not have any eyes at all. When the girl stared at where his eyes were supposed to be, she could see the back of the bench. She shuddered when she observed this. She ran her eyes over him again and noticed that he had long blond hair reaching down his back and flowing loosely about him.

            “Is he dead?” the girl asked quietly. Dregana shook her head.

            “He’s alive here, but not in your world.”

            “My world? You mean…” the girl’s brown eyes widened as she stared at the sitting figure before her. Who cared if she was late for classes? After all…what if this world was like Narnia and time didn’t pass very quickly?

            “Wow,” the girl breathed. A contented smile slid over her face.

            “I put him into hypersleep. He can’t hear or see or smell or feel anything, but he obeys simple commands. Would you like to see more of those here?” Dregana asked. The girl nodded, hardly believing what she had just discovered.

            “Well, that’s all I have time to show you,” Dregana whispered as she stared into the eyeless face of the man sitting beside her. “I’ve got a little work to be doing, but you can stay if you’d like,” Dregana said as she stepped back toward the table. Idly, she tapped her fingers across the table, thinking. The girl stared at the man before her, wondering who he was. She turned back to Dregana who had stepped back toward the table. Its white screen lit up Dregana’s eyes and made her green eyes sparkle in the dazzling light.

            “Enter T1745, Z6980, and T2390,” Dregana said with a sigh as she tapped the edge of the illuminated table. Obediently, three figures entered the room. “Sit beside the other one,” Dregana ordered with a sigh. “I’ve got work to do with you guys. Why can’t she just make up her mind about that moment? And why on earth is it me who has to take care of them? Whatever, at least this is a little easier than trying to come up with other solutions,” Dregana muttered to herself as the three figures sat.

            The girl watched the three figures closely. The one next to her looked like a very typical person that anyone could be acquainted with, happily, or not. He, too, had green eyes, a light gleaming green, blond combed hair, and a charm that seemed to surround the seemingly lifeless figure.

            Beside him, another blond-haired teenager sat, a smile pasted to his face. He had blue eyes, and was noticeably short compared to the other teenager beside him, but his smile seemed to make him far more attractive. Beside him an Asian sat. Something about him reminded the girl of depression. Perhaps it was his downcast brown eyes that stared mystified at the ground before him.

            The girl turned back to Dregana, more questions filling her brain. After all, the room and everything in it seemed strange. Had she only been dreaming? Was it all fake? “I hope not,” she thought as she watched a frown spread itself across Dregana’s face as she stared at the table.

            “Ugh! So complicated,” she muttered.

            “Can I help you some way?” the girl ventured to ask. Dregana turned quickly.

            “No, dear, but I can explain what I’m doing, if you’d like.” The girl nodded, and stepped toward Dregana. The lady pointed to the table. The table was set up like a giant screen with several buttons that could be tapped. A search bar created a top border to the screen. The lady tapped on it and typed in T1745.

            “I’m searching for him,” Dregana explained as she pointed to the taller of the blond-haired teenagers. The table screen took a moment to load a page. On the top it had the name of the person, Dregana quickly scrolled down with her finger before the girl could read the name. Below the name a picture of the person was attached, and a strange slide show with play buttons on it. She scrolled through it quickly until it brought her to the end.

            “I’m getting rid of a part of his past. So, I select this part of his life and…” Dregana’s voice trailed off as she traced a circle over three of the strange slide show “pictures.” The three became a light blue. “Delete them,” Dregana finished when she moved her finger across the screen to a red trash can.

            “I have to do it to all three, over there,” Dregana explained with a wave to the others still sitting on the bench. After she finished the very same process with each never allowing the girl to see the real names of each of the people who sat staring at her with unblinking, silent glares, she turned back to the girl.

            “Why don’t you run along now?” Dregana asked, “You’ve got lots to be doing.” The girl frowned as she turned back to the door, not wishing to leave the strange lady, but obediently walked to the door. She never turned the knob, for suddenly all went black. “Don’t worry. You’ll see them again.”

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