House of Night

Chapter 2: The Backwards Fall

Jill should have fallen like a castaway stone. Contrary to all probability, she instead went in the other direction. Floating straight up, she noted that this was weird, but to her, not altogether unexpected. Far below a few passersby were taking photos and videos, this did not bother Jill. The world shrunk away as squares of houses gave way to squares of blocks, which in turn gave way to other human made squares. The cloud that she found herself floating through was damper than her eight year old self had imagined clouds to be. She was no longer flying straight up, but was now moving forward like a vertical superman. Her entire world soon became one hazy grey mass and solids began to feel like a distant memory. WHAT THE FUCK! Part of her brain screamed. Will my body shrivel up like my fingertips in the pool? Another part of her mused. The wind howled in her ears for an eternity and exhaustion finally won out over awe. All of the tension fell out of poor, tense Jillian Yaw. Her limbs relaxed, flapping lazily behind her. Vaguely she began to wonder if her entire life had been a hallucination and this was the only thing that had ever existed in all of reality. A second passed. An eon followed. 

In a moment, the grey seemed less grey and the wind seemed less windy. Huh. She felt heavier. Less one with the skies and more an unwanted intruder, she began to feel rejected by the mist. It seemed as if they were only acquaintances and now it was time to say their goodbyes. She began to descend. Her stomach flew into her chest and her body was electric with fear. Like a car running out gas her flight spluttered, momentarily leveling off then dropping once more. The grey haze embraced her for a second longer, then suddenly she was falling. Panic seized her body and all she could do was scream and flail. It hit her how ridiculous this was. This is crazy. Laughter bubbled up and burst out. Colors and shapes appeared below her.

Blackness.

"Oh my, are you alive?"

The words fluttered down to Jill.

"Hello? Can you hear me?"

Jill's eyes flit open. A shaded face was hovering above hers, obstructing the sunlight. Jill burped and the face retreated with a yelp. The sunlight pierced Jill's pupils.

"Where am I?" Jill asked sitting up.

"The sandy side of Torenette Island," Jill took in her environment. The person speaking to her looked like a warm glass of milk with honey drizzled through it. She wore a white toga fastened with a thin gold chain wrapped around her in intricate designs. They were at the edge of a small roundish lake that quickly gave way to a wild tropical forest. A real jungle. In fact, Jill just realized that she was partially submerged in the lake, which she must have fallen into. It was warm like a bath.

"Right." Jill just shook her head and stood up, dripping like a wrung sponge.

"Are you from the Mapped Lands?" The lady asked.

"I don't even know, honestly I don't even care," Jill accepted that she must have gone crazy or died, so there was not much to do but work with what she had, "I'm starving, where can we get some food?"

"You can come with me, I'll take you to Night House, there's food there. Lady will want to see you." With that the pretty lady turned and began walking. Without many alternatives, Jill followed.

They walked wordlessly through a narrow path leading through the foliage. They passed under a waterfall that stretched up higher than an apartment building. The forest ended abruptly and they were on a perfect white sand beach that sloped down toward a glittering ocean. Not another human in sight. The sun felt hotter. Turning left they walked along the shore, sandwiched between jungle and sea. Jill heard something and turned to look behind her. A raven was hopping along the shore. Such a dark creature seemed strangely out of place on the pristine sand. Like a skyscraper in the middle of a forest, Jill pondered. She then noticed that they had left no footprints, like the beach was erasing any blemish that they might leave. Weird. She turned to look at the woman who had found her, who was now openly staring at her! Completely unabashed, head cocked to the side in curiosity. She decided not to comment on the missing tracks.