The World Within

Chapter 1

Sarah woke up in the one bedroom apartment she had lived in ever since her grandmother died. Stretching, she sat up in her single bed and looked at the slither of light coming through the window where the curtain wasn't closed properly. Oh wow, what a nice sunny day, she thought and walked to her small closet to decide what to wear.

After getting dressed and having a small breakfast, she got in her car and drove to the public library she worked at. She drove to the parking in the small, beautiful garden reserved for employees. There were only three parking spaces. One for the owner, which was always vacant, and two for the employees. In one of these parking spaces, Sarah's white car was parked neatly between the lines. In the other a small yellow car was parked as skew as always, with only two wheels parked partly between the lines.

This little yellow car always made Sarah's heart swell with happiness. It belonged to the manager of the library, Marge. An old lady who worked at the library ever since Sarah can remember. Her grandmother, who she lived with because her parents died when she was very little, used to take her to the library every day after school. Her grandmother seemed to be good friends with Marge and therefore, Marge took over the role as a grandmother figure when Sarah's own died.

Sarah walked in through the entrance to the library and went to the desk where Marge was sorting though books and stacking them on different heaps according to the sections they go to.
"Good morning, Marge." Sarah greeted her merrily.
"Oh, good morning sweetie." Marge greeted back, walked around the desk and gave Sarah a warm hug. "And what a good morning it is." She said looking out the window at the sunny weather they hadn't had since Sarah was little.
"Yes." Sarah agreed.

For a while they just stood at the open window, appreciating the sunlight basking their faces. Then Sarah turned to the books and asked, "Should I get started with those?"
"Please, dear."

Marge got the book trolley and pushed it over to her. Sarah loaded the books on the trolley in the neat little heaps and went to the first section. She took the heap in one hand and placed them on their correct spots. She made quick progress until a strange looking book got her attention.

It wasn't on a heap with other books, but was placed on the trolley alone. It's black leather binding had faded to a dark brown and the pages were yellowing with age. She turned the book around and around in her hands to try and look for the sticker that informs to which section the book should go to, but it had no sticker.
Must not be a library book then, Sarah thought and found herself suddenly consumed with curiosity.

She had been coming to this library so much when she was little and still spent her free time on the corner couch reading the library books. Sarah was certain that she had read every book in the library, so the new strange book left her desperate to read it, even just one page would satisfy her curiosity.

She opened the book at a random page, close to the middle of the book. At first the pages were normal, except for the yellow that clearly shown its lack of use, but then a small green light glowed between the two pages. The light grew bigger and darker until it consumed the room and all Sarah could see was green light.

This isn't normal! Sarah thought and slammed the book shut in fright. The green light vanished and she was left staring at the dark leather binding in shock. She tried to look for a title, carefully flipping the book to not open it again, but she found to title.
This isn't normal! She thought again and stared at it for a long while. She walked to the front desk to ask Marge about the book. She was so shocked that she didn't even notice that all the people in the library were gone. Upon arriving at the front desk, she found that Marge was no where to be found.

Normally, a library is no place to be shouting, and Sarah knew that, but at that moment she was too shocked and freaked out to care about that.
"Marge!" She exclaimed.
No answer.
"Marge!!"
Still, no answer. Not even from the library goers to tell her to be quiet.

Suddenly she noticed how completely alone she was in the small library. Her heart started racing. Something is wrong and she knew it.
Maybe Marge went to her car, she thought hopefully and made her way to the doors of the library. She opened them and her heart stopped.

Instead of the small steps that lead to the small garden and employee parking spaces she knew, she saw a long corridor with high ceilings, lined with tall pillars and oversized windows.
What on earth is going on?

Tentatively, Sarah walked to the first window. Out of it she saw green grass as far as the eye could see, a tall wall and, behind it, she saw what looks to be a flee market. Panic crept into her heart. She had no idea where she was or what happened; all she knew was that she was scared and confused. She wanted to go back inside the library, but just then a short plump woman walked out of a nearby room.

"Oh, your majesty!" She exclaimed. "How wonderful it is to see you again. I never thought this day would come. How wonderful it is to see the sunlight again, and you of course your majesty." She gave a low curtsey. "To know that witch is gone and you are back... oh your highness, how happy your parents will be. Let me go tell them."

With that she was off and Sarah felt as scared and confused as ever. Your majesty, see me again, witch, parents! What is going on! Where am I!

Sarah felt as though she couldn't breathe. She had to get away from here. She started running. She had no idea where she was running to, but she ran. She ran as fast as she could. Breathing became all the more difficult with every step. Her vision started to blur. It felt as though an elephant sat on her chest. No matter what she did, panic made her unable to breathe. A blackness came over her. She stopped running and fell to the floor without knowing. All she knew was darkness. Darkness, fear and confusion.