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Fantasy

 "But Luca, I don't wanna go" pleaded Rosaline, Luca then handed Rosaline her black bomber jacket and opened the door, "It'll be fun, I promise" Luca persuaded as the two walked out the front door and into the french quarters of New Orleans.  "How do I know that you're gonna keep that promise?"  Rosaline questioned as she crossed her arms, "If it isn't fun or something really bad happens, you can move back to Oregon" Luca said over the smooth saxophone music playing in the distance, "Hmph, okay" Rosailine muttered.  The two then walked through the beautiful city until they reached the narrow dirt pathway to the cemetery, Luca then grabbed Rosaline's hand, "What, are you scared?" Teased rosaline, "No, I thought you might be," Luca said as she blushed slightly.  They then reached the old graveyard, and the two heard very faint piano music playing.  Luca then began to pull rosaline towards where the music was coming from.  "Um luca…" rosaline muttered, luca stopped dead in her tracks and looked to rosaline with a smirk

"What," queried luca, "Maybe we shouldn't be running through a dark graveyard." Rosailine murmured.  With a gust of wind all of the lamppost flames ignited, revealing a ghostly man playing a black and gold piano, a second ghost then appeared this time it was an African american woman who had large gold beads weaved into her dreadlocks. The woman then snapped her fingers and an entire flock of ghosts and skeletons appeared. There was a skeleton playing a saxophone, a ghost playing a trumpet, and a slightly smaller skeleton playing a guitar,there were also many other ghosts and skeletons which were all either dancing or talking with other spiritual beings. Luca then reached out her hand for rosaline, rosaline smiled and grabbed hold. Luca then spun rosaline towards her and they both smiled, the two then began to dance among the spirits under the stars. After about 5 minutes of the two dancing a they stopped when the tall female ghost with gold beads in her dreadlocks came up to them and stated" you two are very good dancers,"

Luca and rosaline smiled, 

"Thank you" replied luca then a  slightly shorter Male ghost walked over to them, 

"Do yall wanna go see the world we ghosts come from" the ghost asked with a thick southern accent, luca then looked to rosaline for confirmation, rosaline nodded and luca smiled,

"Sure," she exclaimed. They and the two ghosts were then whisked away in a poof of black fog.The four then reappeared in a forest of trees which looked petrified but had normal leaves, there were also many glowing flowers in hues of blue, purple, and pink.

"Woah," stated Luca as she walked with Rosaline, who was in awe, and the other two ghosts walked towards a river, and when they got to the river Luca and rosaline learned that it glows too. Rosaline gently placed her hand in the water, it was very cold, but very nice in the warm tropical climate of the odd forest, like how nice it is to be wrapped in cold silk on a hot summer day.rosaline  then sped up to catch up with the group which was already across the small wooden bridge.

"What exactly is this place," questioned rosaline,

The female ghost pondered the question and then replied 

" some people from your world call it hell"

"What!" Luca Interrupted" but this place is awesome," she murmured as she picked a purple apple off a nearby tree and took a bite,

 "Luca!" Rosiline shouted" what if that's poisonous!" 

The female ghost then sighed "it's not poisonous" she said as she looked to luca" but you're luck that the lies aren't true or else you'd be stuck here"

"Sounds lit"  luca replied rosaline then shot luca a confused look and luca shot one back and rosaline couldn't help but give that blissful smile that could stop anyone in their tracks. The four the came to a wall of hanging vines and moss the tallest ghost parted the vines and everyone walked under, they entered into a clearing which in the center stood a massive weeping willow tree which had a lovely wooden house close next to it which had a balcony which wrapped around the stump of the magnificent tree, in the clearing there were easily thousands of fireflies of all colors fluttering around in the night, rosaline shuffled towards luca as she looked up to the night sky,

"Look at the sky," she stated softly, and luca did, the night sky was the most magical thing that they had ever seen. There were billions, if not trillions of stars and there were nebulas of all colors that were trickled throughout the sky. Luca then looked to the tallest ghost and exclaimed

" you still haven told us where this place is", the tallest ghost then proclaimed "some call it hell, few call it heaven,  some believe that its limbo or purgatory, but it's actually none of those things" 

"So do those things not exist?" Interrupted luca

"Hell, heaven ,limbo and purgatory do all exist don't get me wrong, they're just not here" explained the tall ghost 

"Where the heck are we then" luca exclaimed mildly frustrated 

"W-well" stuttered the tall ghost, Luca the crossed her arms, "we're in the underworld," the short ghost blurted out, the tall ghost then looked slightly flustered and said trying to keep her cool,

" we are In a place that your people call the underworld but it's actually called ένα χαμένο μέρος, or 'a lost place' " 

" why is it called that?" Rosaline questioned nonchalantly whilst Luca was about 20 feet away pacing back and forth trying to process what she was just told. The female ghost then took a deep breath and began to explain 

" it's called that because it is a place that good people spirits and creatures can go to hide, or a place that they run to, it's a place where outcasts and misfits can go to be safe, it's a safe haven for all good humans and creatures, and it just happens that more spirits have things to run from than humans,"

"Interesting," Rosaline said quietly as she began to wander towards luca. Rosaline placed her hand on Lucas shoulder to comfort her, 

"What's wrong" asked rosaline 

"My parents would kill me if they knew that I'm here" luca muttered with her face in her hands

"Well then I guess it's not a particularly bad thing that they're across the world considering themselves childless." Rosaline reassured, Luca snickered. Luca then sat down with her knees to her chest, rosaline sat down besides her, luca sighed " it's hard to get out of the mindset that I have to still do everything worrying what my parents will think or do," 

"I know" mumbled rosaline as she wrapped her arm around luca " but the day you moved in with me I swore to keep you safe from them and their extremely irrational viewpoints,"

"I know," Luca said sorrowfully as she rested her head on Rosaline's shoulder.

"Are y'all gonna come inside or what?" Questioned the short ghost while holding open the door.

Rosaline then smiled and took Luca's hand and they swiftly walked towards the beautiful wooden house. Luca,Rosaline and the short ghost then entered the house which had a low lying ceiling, and was dimly lit by oil lamps. There was a fireplace on one side of the room and on the other end of the room there was a spiral staircase that had vines hanging off the railings.the walls looked to be made of the wood from the trees of the odd forest, there were also many exotic looking plants,some in pots, some climbing trellises on the walls.straight on from the door there was a fancy wooden table that had four chairs,and at the table sat the tall ghost and the short ghost sitting next to each other. Luca and Rosaline then stepped over to the other two chairs and sat down.

"What are your names?" Questioned luca

"Im beatrice and thats nick" stated that tall ghost gesturing to the short ghost 

"Why are we here" asked rosaline

"Cuz yall wanted to come" blurted nick 

"You guys went into a cemetery in Louisiana on halloween, and you guys seemed scared so we thought you needed help," said beatrice,

"We thought yall were running from the danged old' satanists" interrupted Nick with his southern accent more prevalent than ever.

"My parents were satanists" sighed Luca sorrowfully "that's why i ran, they tried to kill me". Beatrice then looked to luca with a concerned look,

"What are their names?" Beatrice asked concerned

"Bianca and andrew howsahue" muttered luca

"Do you still have the same last name as them?" Questioned beatrice

"N-no" stuttered luca" i managed to change it as soon as i moved out when i was 15"

"Good" responded beatrice" last names can hold a lot of power sometimes," 

"Can we please go explore some more, this place is really cool" begged rosaline 

"Sure" replied beatrice as she stood from her seat, nick then vanished

"Wha-why…" luca murmured as she pointed to where nick was sitting

"He had something else to go do" interrupted beatrice, luca and rosaline then stood up and headed towards the door, luca held it open for rosaline and beatrice.

Beatrice then pulled a golden pocket watch out of her pocket and looked at it,

" it's about to get quite cold here," beatrice stated as she made three large furry cloaks materialize in her arms, she handed one to luca which was black with white fur, she then handed the other to rosaline which was white with white fur, and beatrice then began to put on her cloak which was red with white fur. Rosaline then slid on the cloak over her bomber jacket. Luca and Rosaline then followed Beatrice onto a cobblestone road.

"Are all the roads like this" rosaline asked in awe,

"No," replied Beatrice,"once we get into a city they turn into either onyx or obsidian bricks." 

Rosaline's jaw dropped, 

"Why are there so many lies about this place? Why do people call it hell!?" Queried rosaline,

"Probably jealously" muttered luca as she placed her hands into the pockets of her cloak,

"You're exactly right" exclaimed beatrice 

"Powerful people can change the truth and after awhile the lies seemingly become the truth, because nobody knows better and not enough people ask enough questions,"

Luca and Rosaline then began pondering what Beatrice had said when the three then arrived at the entrance of a cave.

They walked through a narrow entryway which then opened up to a larger part of the cave which had a pathway of onyx bricks.

Rosaline noted the slight change in pathway and pulled her cloak tighter around her, for it had seemingly gotten colder. Beatrice then came to a halt and reached into her pocket and pulled out 6 strange silver coins and handed 3 to luca and the other 3 to rosaline, 

"What are these for?" Asked luca 

"Run through the wall and you'll see" exclaimed beatrice" rosaline first,"

Rosaline's eyes widened as Beatrice pulled her gently by her arm and Rosaline managed to step through the wall,Luca then held her breath and stepped through as well, and Beatrice then walked through behind them.

The three were then in a very large cavern which was quite well lit by many lanterns which were suspended from the roof of the cave by ropes, there were many stone Buildings which seemed to make up a small city, there were also small stalls where there seemed to be merchants.

Luca and Rosaline then realized that they were on a cliff which overlooked the small underground village, the two then swiftly began to follow Beatrice down an onyx staircase which led down to the mystical city. 

When they reached the bottom of the staircase, luca and rosaline parted and headed towards the market stalls and beatrice and stepped into one of the stone buildings. the market stalls were dawned with gently coloured cloth tapestries. Rosaline walked over to a stall that had very magnificent jewelry, And rosaline had decided to buy a pair of onyx earrings which were each about the size of a pea. Luca was walking around observing the people of the underground village, she passed a woman which had a snake that was at least 14 feet long wrapped around her and Luca felt that she was somewhat safer now. Luca then stumbled across a merchant who didn't have a stall but only a small table with rings on it, luca then decided to buy a ruby and onyx ring which had Celtic knots engraved into the silver, it only cost 2 of the 3 odd silver coins,so luca decided to save the third one. Rosaline then walked over to Luca whom she had not let out of her sight almost the entire time.

Beatrice then approached them with a quickness,

"Are you guys ready to go?" She asked frantically,

"No" responded luca and rosaline,

"Well the sun is about to come up, and you guys have to be back by then, but you can come back any night." Exclaimed Beatrice 

"Well okay" responded luca

And with a swift snap of Beatrice's finger's everything began to fade into darkness.

Rosaline then woke up next to Luca in the graveyard,

"Luca, luca wake up" she said as she shook lucas shoulder, luca then shot up,

Neither of them were wearing the cloaks that beatrice gave them but they still had the jewelry that they had bought, luca reached into her pocket and pulled out the strange silver coin which now had a chain connected to it, luca handed the coin necklace to rosaline, and rosaline slipped it on over her head.

" Look," mentioned Luca as she looked towards the sunrise. Rosaline and Luca then sat for some time and watched the sun rise. Luca then stumbled to her feet, dusted herself off and offered rosaline a hand up, rosaline took it as luca looked to her and said softly

"Let's go home", Rosaline nodded and held Luca's hand as they walked home with the sunset behind them as two ravens sat atop a weeping willow tree ensuring that they had returned safely. 

October 30, 2020 20:35

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1 comment

Brenda Liddy
11:30 Nov 05, 2020

This was an intriguing story and it reminded me of Christina Rossetti's famous poem, 'The Goblin Market'. You conjured up a 'lost world' which was somehow redemptive for Luca and Rosaline.

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