Wherever You Are

Seven: The Glass Kingdom

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The frozen pine forest looked frightful at night, as tree branches dug into the ground forcefully, and eerie howls of wolves ignited in the distance. And though the moon shimmered down cautiously to light our way through the deep woods Jack was bringing me through, I was still scared.

"I hate these woods," I heard Jack mumble, making me turn my head back to him walking in front of me. "there's nothing to them, just loneliness," he ended, looking back to hurry me along as I tagged behind a bit.

"Then why did you move out here?" I questioned, strolling up beside him and waiting for his answer.

"I had my reasons..." he hesitated, grabbing my waist gently and lifting me up in one swift motion due to an iced over stream in front of us. Looking over to him as he let me down on the other side, I thanked him softly for helping, though, I was also a bit upset he had helped when I hadn't asked...

"Well what are they?" I questioned, before looking out into the woods in front of us once more and noticing a small cabin up ahead. "Is that yours?" I wondered, not forgetting the reasons Jack had still not told me, but merely tossing them to the side.

"Yeah, much different than the farm I grew up on," Jack laughed, as we walked up to the front of the beautiful, light wooded place. The darkness of the night might have set back being able to see everything, but the flickering candle lights from the two small windows placed around the centered door held enough light to see. From the perfect wood trimming to the carved log paneling, everything about the cabin looked as if it had been made by professionals.

"Did you make this all by yourself? I wouldn't presume any homes to be built out this far and be sold by realtors," I asked Jack, as he led me through the wide front door and into his home. Immediately upon stepping my frozen booted feet onto his wooden flooring, warmth flooded throughout me. My chilled bones tingled while they came back to life, as my lips flushed back to their original red color and opened without nearly freezing back shut.

"I made it with some help," he said, before closing the front door behind me and locking it. Nodding, I was a bit nervous after knowing he had locked the door behind us both, but I had to let the old Charlotte take control for the night and understand everything was going to be okay.

"Well it is very nice," I told, looking out some more at the small little living room and kitchen he had on the right and the three conjoining rooms on the left. "Small, but nice," I smiled, as I walked over to the living room couch he had facing an already lit fireplace and running my hand against the leather texture. Everything was so nice, it was hard to believe it was his considering he wasn't the richest person fifteen years ago with me.

"You think this is my home?" he asked surprised, laughing a bit before walking on over to the kitchen and motioning for me. "Look in these drawers, do you see any food? Do you see anything worth living off of?" he questioned, opening up each and every wooden drawer in his kitchen and showing there was nothing inside. Bewildered at what he was telling me, I shrugged.

"You told me this was your home though," I said, looking around again and noticing Jack was right. There wasn't even a bathroom!

"Yes, but this part isn't where I live. It's merely for protection," he laughed again at me, before grabbing onto my hand and leading me over to the first conjoined room and bringing me inside. Darkness flooded throughout my eyes then as no lights were turned on, but with a flick of a switch, Jack had seemed to start up something.

"Protection? What's going on?" I wondered, as bright lights entered into the room to present nothing close to the bedroom I thought we were in, but an elevator. "Wait, this cabin is only one story? Why are we in an elevator?" I questioned, confused beyond compare at what Jack seemed to find amusing.

"Looks can be deceiving Charlotte," Jack said, as he closed the door behind us and hit a single button on the elevator to send us elsewhere. Pressed up against the glass siding of the small boxed in thing, I watched as instead of going up, we went down, faster than any other elevator I had ever been in before. Concrete wall after concrete wall, we filed down into the earth it seemed, which made utterly no sense.

Soon enough, however, we exited out and instead of staring at nothing but walls, there was an entire town tens of feet below us. Houses made from glass lined in rows, some being built by handymen, others crafted to perfection and full with families of their own. Metal trees and flowers spread everywhere, no one shocked by them at all. It was almost as if everyone from below had grown up there, knowing nothing else but where they were.

"Where are we?" I asked flabbergasted, staring wide eyed at the thousands of people below us that the elevator seemed to be taking Jack and I too.

"This is where I have been for the last fifteen years, Charlotte," he responded, coming up beside me and looking down as well. Women, men, and children of all ages wore all white, a society I presumed that didn't have a lot of choices.

"But what is it? Why are all these people down here?" I questioned, looking away from the glass kingdom underneath us and to Jack. His eyes moved to me then, as well, before the elevator we were in finally landed and the doors opened for our exit. "I'm not getting out until you tell me what is going on!" I said loudly, thankfully not attracting any attention from people passing by.

"Well, you can either follow me and I'll explain once we get to my home or you can go right on back up to your cheating husband and ignorant parents without anything. You choose," Jack replied, sending me frustrated as the two options banged inside my head- waiting for me to choose...

~~Sorry for it being so short! I just had to upload it here! Thanks for reading! Vote, comment, follow! (: ~~