More Than a World Away

Jameson

A loud clank came from behind the door and it swung open, revealing a tiny old woman with gray hair and arthritic knuckles. Her breaths came in rasps,

"How may I help you young man?" Trey stared at the troll-like woman and didn't speak a word.

  "You do know it's rude to stare!"

Trey cleared his throat."I apologize, I am looking for a Miss... Balgetha Birdshaw." He read from his arm.

  "This is She, what do you want I'm a very busy woman."

Trey looked at the old shack, deep in the forest, and he couldn't imagine her being busy.

"I'm sure you are, but is there perhaps a more, private place?" The old woman squinted her eyes and went back inside,

"Well don't hang about I've got work to do." The young man followed her into the darkness then a sharp pain hit his temple and he crumpled to the ground.

************************************

Gabriella sat in her backyard staring up at the stars. The swirling dots in the sky taunted her, making her wish to follow them. She thought about her life, her stupid, righteous friends that decided to spread gossip about her and her dumb boyfriend who forgot about her birthday. Usually everything was perfect in her life! She couldn't remember the last time anyone had been mean to her, or had ignored her and not apologized. She wished she could just dissappear, leave the world and go into her own. As if calling her into such a new world, a cool breeze swept through the trees and blew her hair away from her face. A faint bell rang from the trees and she stood up and walked closer. She had an urgent feeling to find it, so she began to run. She ran as fast as her feet could carry her, out into the open wilderness. When she became short of breath she stopped to rest against a large pinon pine tree. The bell, louder and closer than she'd expected caused her to jump. It rang from a high branch on the tree. An alarm went off in her head, should she climb the tree? In the end her curiosity won out and she began to climb, sticky sap clinging to her hands and jeans as she wormed her way towards the bell.

  The ground grew farther and farther away until the she pulled herself onto a branch the opened up into a large meadow. She looked down from her perch and couldn't see how the ground upon which she stood was physically possible. Again her curosity pulled her further into the meadow, she saw a frail, ancient looking structure near the end of the meadow. She jogged catiously toward it, the wad of sticks that served as a door creaked open revealing a woman half Gabriella's size and older than the building where she was standing.

   Surprisingly her voice was smooth and only her breath matched her appearance."Well, I must say, you kept us waiting a rather long time Ms. Jameson." Gabriella tried to ask how she knew her name but the old woman grabbed her wrist and pulled her inside.