Reality

A Story by Paige

A short story about a young lady who has an awfully strange encounter.

A bright beam of light thrust upon my face allowed me to wake suddenly. Once I brought myself to sit upright, I realised I wasn't at home, safe in my bed. The room in which I lay was bright, white and seemed to be full of life, yet somehow a lingering sadness shadowed the room in the most cunning and incomprehensible way. My mind became stagnant, my voice silent, even if I tried words became invisible to the ears. The so called bed I was previously sleeping on was depressing in itself, dull and uncomfortable. There was no movement; there were no windows in the room, nor were there people at this moment. Still puzzled as to my whereabouts, I tried tirelessly to stand yet my legs were paralysed. "What is this madness? Why can I not move? Where am I?" I uttered with a sense of urgency as these unanswered questions brought me the gift of great panic.

A lanky steel door stood in an almost sinister manner on the opposite side of the room. On each side of the door were small vents, very peculiar looking vents. I began to believe those vents weren't just for a little air conditioning, they seemed to be there because of some sick-minded souls ulterior motive. One thing to another a type of gas began leaking from the vents, just as I suspected, not just there to keep things chilled. More and more of the gas came flowing in, an endless smoke. As the gas filled the room my vision got clouded, turning me half blind and things became so faint. Exhaustion crept up on me as a result of the gas and my eyelids became as heavy as a tonne of bricks.

As my eyes began to close and enable me to dive into a pool of unconsciousness, the fog cleared and I saw people. Two men dressed as doctors had their faces staring down onto mine, clearly waiting to perform some type of surgery, as they brought in a trolley dressed with thin latex gloves and surgical instruments. In the moment all I wished to do was freak out however at that point I seemed to be completely paralysed, my energy had withered away like I feared the rest of me would. Just as my eyes began shutting in slow motion, I saw the men's lips moving in a blur as they slipped on the gloves and looked down on me with sadistic smiles. Then the darkness came, I passed out.

A bright beam of light thrust upon my face allowed me to wake suddenly. I sat up rapidly with a gasp and looked around in a distressed daze. This time there were no strange white rooms or steel doors, just my bedroom and the bright light the light of the early morning, shining through my window. I came to the reasonable conclusion that it was just a strange dream, a very vivid dream. Although I had decided it was a dream already, the ding of my 6am morning alarm startled me more than it probably should, I felt uneasy, as if something was not right. With minimal hesitation, I discarded the feeling as if it were a piece of rubbish. I thought to myself, it's nothing right?

Aside from that slight feeling of strange sickness, the morning seemed as normal as the next. With haste, I got out of bed and swiftly dragged myself to the kitchen and poured myself some hot coffee to prepare myself for the long day that lay ahead. Sat at my kitchen table recalling my disturbing dream and sipping my coffee, I observed out the window that the sky was befuddled. The sun performed magic tricks; it would appear and then disappear ever so suddenly. My curiosity in the mess of the clouds put me in a trance. Bing! My toast popped up, as did I out of my seat because the abrupt noise frightened me a little. It just so happens I was quite a jumpy person, especially after a dream such as the one I just experienced.

Once I had eaten my toast I went back to my bedroom and got myself ready for work. My name is Harriet Carter, it's lovely to meet you, I'm a journalist who works for the magazine "Sparks". As I stand here in front of my mirror I brush my black raven hair and observe the gracious glow that lies across my pale skin. Today to work I wore a rouge blush on my cheeks and a crimson blouse, accompanied of course, by the black trousers in the style I always wear. I grabbed my old trusty satchel and scurried down the stairs of my block of flats. I mounted my vintage bike and began my journey to work. Such as the ones every other day.

The ride to work was through the countryside, quite a pleasant one. Apart from of course the sweet stench of a mixture of fresh grass and dung. You could almost taste the nature that surrounded as you rode through the lanes and pathways between fields. The wonderful winds way of whistling wondrously in your ear, is a sweet sound, accompanied quite nicely with the singing and chirping of the early rising birds. My eyes were blessed with the bright mustard colour of the rapeseed fields I passed, and blessed once more by the pink explosion on the blossom trees. Nearer the end of this journey through heaven I always began to feel a certain soreness because of my tight grip and some of the trees started to shape shift into daunting mountains. After the darkness comes light as they say, or sparks magazine company in my case.