Portal to Reality

Chapter 2

                                She had to be to work the next day, and  never late. When Annaleigh went back the very next morning, she really wanted to tell Dorothy what she had discovered in  the asylum. When she mentioned the forgotten wing the cold, ice- stone look on Dorothy's face told her it was best to keep the information to herself, as her little secret. Later in the day, she would spend half of her lunch hour snooping around the forgotten wing. 

She didn't know what she expected to find there, but  wanted to figure out what had happened there so many years ago. Annaleigh was not sure why she was so driven to find out the truth behind the forgotten wing as everyone seemed to call it. She did not notice that it was becoming a bit of an obsession. Bill had noticed a change with her, looking as if she just wasn't herself.

                        He was not the only one to notice, the resident therapist Judy had noticed not just a change in her appearance; but her mood as well it was like she was a windup toy as if an unforeseen force was willing her to move to work. 

             Judy had only known her a few months now. Judy was not sure that she needed to worry just yet. Even good old spitfire Dorothy could tell something was not right with Annaleigh. She didn't know what it was just yet but Dorothy had a real knack for figuring these things out.

Day's later she was once again spending her free time at work, her lunch hour in the old forgotten wing of the asylum. She wanted to find out what had happened to the patients here so long ago but she was beginning to lose hope that she would ever find out. The nurse had checked the internet as well as historical periodicals on the building and the land. She was more than fascinated by this mystery. She was constantly thinking about the forgotten wing as if it called out to her somehow.

                    Annaleigh was still able to function, most of the time. Whenever she got the chance she would wander through each and every dust covered room of the east wing, the forgotten place. She was hoping to find some kind of clue. She  walked through another of the dust covered rooms then she noticed something down the hall way it was a door that she had not recalled seeing before. It could not have just appeared could it? She wondered to herself. 

Did I never notice it she thought to herself? Annaleigh walked down the hallway, the overhead florescent lights flickering as she walked toward the unfamiliar door. She placed a hand on the doorknob, slowly turned the handle. Once the door was open she walked slowly into what looked like an out of date medication supply closet. Shutting the door behind her and when she did things began to change the room became a swirling vortex of different colors, bright blue and pink swirling together with green and purple.

Then suddenly the colors began to fuse together in a backward swirling motion. When the swirling vortex of bright vivid color finally did stop she was no longer sure where she was. She seemed to be in a different world entirely. Was she dreaming? Had she fallen and hit her head? She had no idea. Her mind kept right on trying to rationalize what she was seeing. She was standing in front of the most bizarre forest she had ever seen. There was a gorgeous mountain landscape further on she could see a hint of a waterfall.

There were the most exotic looking birds she had ever seen. Annaleigh thought it was best to investigate. She did not know where she was or why. She saw a steep looking path not far from her, so she began walking down it. She was not sure what she expected to find, hoping there were other people here. She walked slowly through this strange place. The trees were huge; the skies were a magnificent shade of lavender.

 It was just breath taking. After she had been walking a good couple of miles down the steep pathway, she felt a little nervous. She had the strange feeling of being watched, yet not seen or heard anything larger than small forest critters scurrying around, a few birds flying above the huge trees of the forest. Suddenly she noticed a creature out of the corner of her eye. It looked like a butterfly or maybe a Dragonfly. It seemed to be slightly bigger than a monarch butterfly, its wings were a glittery silver, brighter and more bold than she had ever seen before. It was gorgeous, but due to the feeling of being watched ,she began to walk a little faster through this strange yet enchanting place.

She didn't know where she was, or who else may be out here with her, what dangers she may find here, infect she was not even sure this was any sort of reality, twisted or not. She then checked her watch, she needed to get back her lunch hour was almost over she had almost forgotten. She turned back the way she came, hoping not too be to awful late. If she was she knew she would be in big trouble with her boss Dorothy. She had not really seen Dorothy's bad side and she wanted to keep it that way. She then on that thought burst into a full-blown sprint, she knew she had to get back to the door.

 She ran a little faster until she got to the door. There was only one little problem the spot where the door had been was no longer there. She slumped down on the ground the very spot where the door had been. Her heart filled her soul with a hopeless sense of dread and loss. There was no way home, and whenever she did find one if that were possible she would most likely be fired from the asylum. These thoughts invaded her mind while she sat there probably suffering some type of shock. While she sat there more thoughts flooded her mind.

Was she dead and in some sort of limbo? Did she have an accident of some sort? Thinking fora moment,she didn't remember having an accident but when you die do you remember the incident that caused your death? Annaleigh quickly shook away those awful thoughts. She did not understand how but she knew that could not be what it was that happened to her. 

"Well you're not going to figure anything out sitting here on your ass." She told herself. She stood up and dusted herself off, stretching for just a minute and then headed back down the steep pathway once more.

Meanwhile back at the asylum, Dorothy checked the clock. It was rather odd for her to be this late or late at all from her lunch break. It had been a good twenty minutes past the time the younger nurse was due back. Dorothy looked down the wing Annaleigh was working on before she took her break. She Then, Dorothy checked the next wing but still no sign of the girl. Then on the off chance she would have left in an emergency or quit she would have taken her purse and keys with her.

Dorothy checked. Everything Annaleigh normally brought with her to work was still sitting there right where it should be.

        Dorothy in the few short months Annaleigh had worked there she had grown attached to the new nurse on staff. Dorothy then began to worry that something had happened to the poor girl. When Dorothy ran around the corner she bumped straight into bill. "Oh, pardon me I am so sorry." Bill apologized to her. "That's okay it is not your fault really. My mind has been preoccupied lately." Dorothy explained to him.

"Have you seen Annaleigh by the way?" Dorothy asked hoping he had seen her.

"No I haven't. You can't find her?" Bill asked alarmed.

"I don't know yet, when I see her I will let you know." She informed the doctor.

 As the day went on, Dorothy still had seen no sign of her. When she clocked out for the day she had not seen a sign of the girl. She planned to call the police if the girl did not show tomorrow morning. Dorothy had the unsettling feeling that she would not be seeing the young nurse anytime soon.

While Dorothy was busy worrying about Annaleigh, the young nurse was getting absolutely nowhere. It would be dark soon she thought to herself. She had to find somewhere in this massive land of forest and mountain terrain to rest and possibly sleep tonight. It looked like she would not be getting home before tomorrow. She still had not found any other people here. She was not sure there was anyone else here, wherever she was.

                   She just kept walking for as long and as far as she could manage. Walking through this strange yet mystifying place, admiring its differences from her own, rational physical reality. She was unsure where to go next, so she headed to the waterfall. She felt drawn to it somehow. She had never seen one up close; she had seen them on television and pictures, but never one up close. She headed quickly through the rough terrain hoping to get there before the sun had set. She hoped to find a soft place to sleep for the night.

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