The Hidden World - A Short Story

The Hidden World

"Due to personal reasons, I will be disappearing under mysterious circumstances"

I finish writing the note and head off, I didn't bother packing my bags, I know where I'm going and what I need to bring. I have a backpack with the old notebooks filled with clues and riddles to the hidden world.

As I walk down the street, I see the sun starting to rise, they'll all be awake soon and looking for me, but I don't want to be found.

"I'll be found when I'm ready" I say to myself as I continue down my path to the woods. As a kid I always wished I could just run into the trees and never return. Now that is becoming a reality.

They all thought he was crazy, that my grandfather was a mental case. An old discoverer washed away with time, losing his mind and sanity. I remember the stories he told me of the fairies, good and evil. The fairies were nice and flowy in their ways, but the fae were the bad ones.

Grandfather always told me to steer clear of the bad creatures, that when they ask you your name, to never answer truthfully or when they ask you to sit and eat, to hurry away and say you have another commitment already.

At a minute past daybreak, I finally reach the end of the road, looking down at my feet I see the transition between the pavement and grass, the old world and the new. I see my old life behind me and my new one in front. I debate and waver for a moment, but only a moment. It passes as soon as it comes.

I take my shoes off, putting them in my bag, before stepping onto the grass. I let the breeze rush through my hair and veins, letting it ruffle my clothes. I close my eyes as I start walking. "Let the silent noise guide you, once you hear the rushing water step into it and only then may you open your eyes." That is what my grandfather said in his final pages, and that is exactly what I will do.

I close my eyes and walk, feeling the bite of the bitter cold deep inside my bones, but it feels good, like home. I'm meant to be here. I'm meant to be in the old world, the one that came before anything else, anyone else.

I hear the birds chirp and the crunch of leaves and the softness of grass as I walk, I keep my arms outstretched at my sides to hold my balance. I don't expect to hear anything out of the ordinary, but after walking until I feel the sun on my face, I start to hear fluttering. It doesn't resemble a bird of any sort; it seems light and airy. I don't get my hopes up, maybe I'm just imagining things, but I can't help the smile lighting up my face.

After a while the noise disappears, and I feel immediately disappointed. I keep walking, the feeling of loneliness starts to set in, until I hear the rushing water. I follow the noise until I'm at the edge of the grass once again, but instead of pavement and concrete, I have water. Rushing, bitter cold water. I step into it, and immediately feel numb. It's freezing, but it makes me feel alive.

"Let the silent noise guide you, once you hear the rushing water step into it and only then may you open your eyes." Repeating what my grandfather said, I submerge myself to my knees, and then open my eyes.

I see nothing. Not nothing, but nothing like I expected. All I see are trees, grass, moss. Whatever you expect to see in a forest is what I see, no fairies, no creatures of unnatural sorts, nothing. I try to think of what I did wrong; I never opened my eyes until I was allowed, and I never told anyone where I was going.

Walking back onto the grass, I flip through the pages of the old notebooks again, seeing if I missed something. Nothing. I did it all correctly.

"I did it all correctly."

I waited for something to happen, something to show up, but nothing did. I turned to leave but saw something in the water, shining. I felt hope bloom in my chest and jumped in. As I stepped onto the rocks at the bottom of the riverbed, I heard something open up. Looking down, I see a hole begin to open, and I feel myself falling down.