Bad Timing

1094 words

Rated PG; violence, fear, pain

Prompt: A character stands in front of two doors. Write a story about what happens after they choose to enter one.

I hold out my arms in front of me to protect myself from the light. This lasts for a minute, as I free-fall through a space that exists outside of time. Finally, I feel myself stop. Cautiously, I take my arms away from my face.

There are two doors in front of me.

 One is black, with shadows reaching out from it like tentacles. There are illustrations of trees--bent, twisted, and being pulled from their roots by spirits. These are ghosts with slanted eyes and cracked teeth that could bite through steel. A full moon looms over the scene, with blood dripping from it and forming a puddle of broken dreams when it hits the ground.

The other door has a dragon. it’s twirling through the air like a graceful dancer and spitting multicoloured flames that make the image of a phoenix in flight. A creature with spiky ears and big, feathery wings is beside the dragon, aiming a crossbow in front of them. The background is the hand of a troll reaching up to the sun, being basked in its generous light.

The doors are labelled horror and fantasy, respectively.

I frown at the horror door, and can already feel spiders crawling under my shirt. I can hear the screams and see the chainsaws. I start shaking at the mere thought of being alone at night. My fingernails might be chipping from just the idea.

It’s not a hard choice. I grab the fantasy doorknob and turn it.

It’s a field. The grass is blue, with yellow flowers floating above it. The flowers float around lazily, occasionally colliding with each other. When that happens, It forms a bigger flower in a darker shade with a poof. The new flower starts popping out grey buds from the top. The buds fall until they reach the same suspended level above the ground. 

The sky above me is pink, though I see no setting sun. There’s a flying creature with a bag. They’re wearing nothing, save a cowl that’s painted in midnight blue. They’re holding a big wooden crate with two of their arms. Another one reaches for a nearby cloud. They grab off a fluffy piece and put it in the crate. The cloud part stays obediently.

On the ground level, there are two creatures a few metres from me. They have three eyes, the third one being on their chins, which they can extend. They appear to be playing some type of game. There’s a board in between them, balanced on the same level as the flowers.

They haven’t noticed my presence. I get a little closer. They’re still staring at the board, not moving or exchanging any words with each other. A moment in time frozen. 

“Hello?”

They both jump, falling backwards into the air. Their trajectories are both big, rising them high in the sky. They flap their wings frantically, trying to gain balance so they don’t go plummeting back down.

One squints. They see me standing--probably with a bewildered expression--and zoom back down. They only stop once they are so close to my face I could sneeze and I would get mucus on them.

“Raie-vepa?”

Their hand touches my face. My skin burns where contact is made. My eyes roll back in my head. My body starts levitating. My mind feels like it’s on fire. All my memories are hazy and bring embers to my tongue. I scream, writhing in pain and trying to pull their hand off my cheek.

The hand comes off, and they smile.

“Hello, creature. You have interrupted our fun time. I’m going to kill you now.”

I squeak at the decisiveness of their voice. I don’t think, just turn around and start running.

I can hear them calling their friend. I can’t look back. Even though I desperately want to. I push aside flowers as I get further away from them. Several of them collide with another flower, and the reproduction process begins.

The field goes on as far as I can see. Animals are frolicking through it, some hunting small frogs and others just taking a nap in the sunshine. They look behind me, where the two creatures are, and immediately start flying away.

The things may not have legs, but their wings more than make up for it. I haven’t made it ten metres when they catch up to me. I’m panting and my shoes are stained with magical mud. My hair is sticking to my face. The cheek that the first creature touched is flaring up and pulling me towards the ground.

The first creature pushes me, and I collapse, too tired to care. Then I remember I should care, because of what the creature said. I would get up if the grass caressing my injured cheek wasn’t so relieving.

The one that now speaks my language gets closer to me. They’re wearing a red robe with a blue belt that has teeth jutting out of it, and piercing the thing’s skin. They don’t seem to care.

“I’m Ozh, and I’m going to kill you. What’s your name?”

They grin at me and grab my shoulder. With one squeeze I’m paralyzed. I can’t even blink. Ozh waves one of their wings, and my mouth can move.

“Let me go.”

I don’t know why I thought that would work. My eyes are starting to hurt. Ozh lets out a lighthearted chuckle.

“I don’t think that’s your name. Come on, tell me.”

Tears in my eyes. Once they reach my cheek, they too freeze and stick to my skin. My eyelids might break with how much I’m trying to move them.

“Please let me go.”

More tears are coming, all stopping and hurting. One turns to ice. It pokes my eye with a sharp end, and I scream in pain.

“All right. If you want to be killed by a stranger, fine. It's your choice. Just don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

Ozh says something in their native language to the other creature. They take a blade from the pocket of their jacket. It’s very long and crooked at the end. They toss it to Ozh, who thanks them cheerfully.

“You ready?”

“Please, don’t-”

But, of course, it’s too late. I couldn’t have just chosen horror and gotten some cheap jump scares. I would be shaken, sure, but I would be the main character. I might live. Then The wizard would have let me go and I could’ve just ran away and forgotten the whole thing ever happened. Or at least tried to.

Ozh throws it at my head.