First World(12)
I didn’t get any further. Pain and darkness pressed in on me again and the disorientation was back. My vision blurred and I was pitched forward. Landing on my hands and knees, the concrete bit painfully into my palms. Where had I landed now? I opened my eyes. Just in time to be pulled to my feet.
“Where the hell have you been, Abby?” Lucy was furious, staring down like a tiny possessed demon.
She was shaking and tear tracks were defined on her cheeks. Her blond curls stood up, as they did when she was stressed and had been running her hands through them. She looked like hell.
“What do you mean?” I said calmly. “I was here, just passed out in the alley.” Delusion, thy name is Abby.
“No, Abigail, you disappeared right before my eyes. You disappeared.” She confirmed our combined insanity. “I’ve gone crazy ...” She trailed off before bursting out again. “What the freaking hell happened?” She clutched my arm.
“You will not believe me.” I barely believed me and I was there.
“Try me.” Her tone was dry. “After the last twenty minutes, my mind’s wide open.”
Sinking down against the alley wall, I shook my head. Lucy slumped down beside me.
“It started with this wicked head spin and pain; so much pain I blacked out. And what do I see when I open my eyes – forest.”
Lucy pulled back, her expression calm but her eyes turbulent.
“Forest ... there are no forests near New York.”
“I know what I think happened. And if some type of hallucinogenic gas wasn’t just released in this alley –”
“And we can’t rule that out,” Lucy interrupted.
“Then I was just transported to my dreamland.” I finished in a rush.
Silence echoed throughout the alley.
“I ... uh ... what?” She finally croaked out.
“Your expression right now says it all.” I guessed that was the last thing she’d expected me to say.
“We are insane, Abby. This doesn’t happen in real life. People don’t disappear or transport to dream worlds.”
“Well, what’s your explanation?”
She stood and, with hands on her hips, looked around.
“We both died, dead as a doornail, and now we’re living in some type of weird alternative dimension of purgatory.”
Tears of laughter ran down my face. The shock had caught up to me. Lucy wasn’t really that funny.
Pulling myself together, I stood and attempted to straighten my clothes. As I brushed at my shoulder, three leaves drifted to the ground.
“Do you see them?” I said in barely a whisper.
“Holy mother of gold, Abigail. Are they leaves?” She turned to me in horror before clutching me close. “Tell me everything.”
“I woke in the forest. It was the same as my dreamland, but so much more real. It was tactile. I could hear, smell, and touch. More three-dimensional than any dream I have ever had.” I paused for a minute. “And then he was there, Luce.” I winced at the painful memory. “It wasn’t exactly the first-meeting I anticipated.”
She knew precisely who I was talking about.
“You mean ... with your dream-world hottie?” She stomped her foot. “This is bull. All I ever dream about is horses dressed as knights, who are riding horses into battle, and weird little worms building mud houses. But Abigail gets to have full-on man-candy fantasies, which then come to life.”
“Seriously, Luce? Let’s be grateful your dreams don’t come to life. Horses riding horses? How exactly does that work?”
“So the hottie finally has a name.” She ignored me.
“Yep, Brace Langsworth. And no man-candy fantasy was re-enacted. Although, it was sweet,” I smiled cheekily, “and just a little confusing.”
“Disappointing, more like – if he’s as good looking as you say, then you wasted a perfect opportunity.”
I smiled. “He was better, Luce.”
She pouted. “That’s just mean. I want one, Abbs. Get me one.”
“Oh, yes, your majesty, I’ll get right on that.” I smiled. I wanted one too.
“But, more seriously, did I mention that he has the accent too?”
She shrugged. “Everyone you meet lately seems to have this accent.”
She made a valid point.
“You want to know what I think? Something really strange is going on.”
She laughed. “Did you come up with that all on your own?”
Elbowing her, I bounced on my feet. “I think this place actually exists. Somewhere that is peaceful with green plants and hot jerky guys who run you down in the forest.”
“A secret, peaceful place that has escaped this war and we need to find it immediately.”