SOAR - Book One: DEAD HEROES

CHAPTER 2: A DOOR, A HALL, AND AN UNCONVENTIONAL CLEANING

2

A DOOR, A HALL,

AND AN uNCONVENTIONAL CLEANING

She felt like she was riding something you would find at an amusement park, the kind of ride that only goes straight down. Her entire world was blank and she saw nothing. She only felt the drop that seemed as if it would never end. Finally, colors began to make their way into her world and she began to feel the realm around her materialize. All of a sudden, she landed on the cold, metal floor with a loud thud.

“Need a hand?” Flynn’s extended hand appeared in her line of sight and she accepted it graciously.

“Where are we?” She asked, still a bit shocked from what had just happened.

“It’s a bit hard to explain.” Flynn replied as Iris got to her feet, she began to take in where she was.

She was in a rectangular room with a metal-panelled floor and ceiling, frosted glass walls with a small exception in the center of the wall to her right due to the fact that there was a metal door there. All in all, the room was blank and incredibly dull. After Flynn helped her up he looked at Iris and gripped her shoulders with a worried expression that was far too mature for his face. “This is important Iris. The moment you step through that door, you are going to be erased from history.”

“What? What are you talking about?” Iris asked, confused.

“There is a world out there that you would probably never have imagined, but it is different and it is special. If you want, I can take you back to your old life, but if you want to see that world, I need you to know that it will be a decision you can never take back. There is absolutely no way of going back to your old life, and you may think that sounds like a good thing but believe me, sometimes the dull life where you were, may just end up being your happiest memory.”

Iris tilted her head and looked at him with genuine curiosity. She knew that she didn’t know much about him but what he had just said seemed to make her understand his life just the tiniest bit more. “Well Flynn, it’s like you said, if I was offered a chance out of a dull, horrible, caged life, I would accept it even if it was by any means possible.”

A small smile lit up Flynn’s face but it was not one his trademark grins; it was a smile of sadness and regret. Iris didn’t understand it and it intrigued her but at the moment, she was told she was going to be heading into a brand new world and as the metal door slid open she felt a flutter of excitement. She was imagining all the things that this ‘new’ world could contain; trees as high as sky scrapers and plants with silver leaves and creatures of all shapes and sizes with green skin or three eyes. She was ready for anything.

Flynn was already halfway out the door when Iris shook herself free from her thoughts, “Hey wait up!”

She chased after him and when she passed through the door, two things happened simultaneously. She felt the peak of her excitement as she knew she was finally going to be able to see the ‘new’ world and yet at the same time, she felt her excitement drop to a horrible low as she saw that the place where she stood was a dull, tiled hallway with flickering fluorescent lights hanging above them. The walls were a dirty gray and Iris was pretty sure she had seen a lone cockroach scuttle along in front of her.

As she looked up to ask Flynn what was going on, she was amazed to see a look of pure and utter happiness melded onto his face. “Home, sweet home.”

“What?” Iris said this as coldly as she could. She was wondering if what Flynn had said, only minutes ago in the little room, that she would be erased from history was true. If it was then that would mean that she had erased herself from history and ended up in a dump that looked worse than the halls of Beaslie’s.