The Four Dimensions of Corey Emerson

Looking Glass

        When the three of us reached the bottom of the seemingly never-ending hole, we fell down into the sky... yeah... into the sky...

        It was so not the world of 'fantasy' I was expecting... The sky was dark purple and the clouds were gray.

        Despite the loud wind roaring past my ears, I heard Mr. Emerson call out to me; he had let go of my hand after Elwyn dropped us. I screamed and flailed around until my teacher caught my ankle. We were about an Empire State Building away from a large dark ocean. The closer and closer we got to the black ocean, the more sharp rocks I saw. As soon as I could see the rocks, I guessed Mr. Emerson saw them too, because of the way he yelled at me to hold out my hands.

        I frantically shot my hands out towards the ocean, not speaking a word. My eyes were either closed or locked on Emerson, below.

        "THINK OF ICE!" My teacher called up to me.

        I made a squeal as we got even closer to the rocky below. I felt my skin push against my bones. My mouth was dry, so I couldn't even protest. I felt my body producing tears to keep my eyes from being dry, but half of the tears were from emotional distress.

        "ALICE!" Emerson shouted, more harshly.

        I didn't know what to do. I kept my hands out as my heart rate increased. We were about four stories from the ocean and the only thing I could think about was the fact that Emerson would hit the ocean before me. He didn't seem to care if he hit first...

        I screamed... I screamed and felt my palms freeze up and both my arms burned. I kept my eyes on Mr. Emerson and we went into the water. It wasn't until a sheet of ice formed under us that I truly believed in 'magic' and the Dimensions. I can remember the surreal sensation flowing through my veins that I never felt again.

        When we hit the ice, it wasn't hard, like I expected it to be; it was like landing on a layer of pillows and feathers. Emerson had let go of my ankle as soon as we hit, and it was a good thing, too, because I bounced back a couple feet in the air... laughing.

        My landing finally stuck and I wound up a couple feet from my teacher. The raven, Bran, was floating down gracefully in between us, giving a deep laugh. "Oh, this is going to be fun!" He laughed, but the happiness was masked by the gloomy sky and smell of smog and rotting flesh.

        I hacked when I sat up and noticed that just next to Emerson and I was a long line of dead and mangled bodies. They seemed to be outlining the shore where the blood-colored water met the dark grainy shore.

        "Sigurd," Bran whispered, nudging me with his large beak. I stood up and tried to locate Emerson who was already feet away from us. The raven flew next to me as we followed Mr. Emerson across the beach riddled with death.

        "What is going on?!" I demanded.

        Mr. Emerson turned around with a frown on his face. "Watch that tone, please..." he said, raising a finger. "I'm still your teacher-."

        "I don't know what this is!" I shouted a bit louder. My voice echoed through the miles of beach behind us and up to the bridge in front of us. After my scream traveled a little, a loud screech arose from the direction of the bridge. Emerson suddenly put his hand down, ran towards me and grabbed my wrist. With a large tug, I was soon running with him in the direction the sound came from. "Shouldn't we be running away from that?! It doesn't sound too friendly!"

        Bran squawked. "No choice! It's the only way to go! There's nothing behind us!"

        "At all?!"