The Darkest Places You Never Knew

Chapter 2

The Big Star

Nothing prepared me for this tough, freezing concrete beneath me, the endless stream of tears,  the emptiness and loneliness heavier than I ever knew or even being trapped inside my own house in an emotional and literal way. If I ever felt like a stranger before, that feeling has bloomed now. However, I can't continue to shut my eyes and lay here waiting to be rescued. I have to save myself.

I spring to my feet, banging on the door until my hand is scorching red and yelling until my throat gives my voice away.

"Dad, help me! Please help me! Dad!"

I brush away more oncoming tears with my other arm and bang and yell.

"Dad, get me out of here! Please! Help me out of here, please!"

Out of thin air, I feel a chill dance down my spine and I leap three feet in the air.

"Wh-wh-who's there?"

Someone answers back in a gravelly voice.

"Wh-wh-why all the y-y-yelling and st-st-stammering?"

I slowly turn on one of my heels to a tiny-winged creature in an overcoat and fox mask. I nearly scream out of my skin.

"Hey hey hey! Shhh! You wanna wake The Octogrine?"

I'm about to scream again but suddenly, the fox-masked creature waves a finger and seals my mouth shut.

"You are not about to get my head turned into brain stew. Now, I'll unzip your mouth but you have to promise you won't scream again, okay?"

I nod. My mouth loosens up and my lips flop but I inhale and exhale to get my head back together.

"Alright, let's go. I'll explain who I am and what I'm doing when we get there."

"When we get where?"

The deep, lengthy tunnel that filled with our echoes when we spoke reaches farther than I hope at first. However, we're in front of a rainbow frog-faced door in a few miniature steps. It's the complete opposite of the pitch black door which I can't even notice from such a great distance.

"This is...festive."

The fox-masked creature spits on her palms, rubs them together furiously and bangs the brass knob in the frog's mouth. 

"Nope, this is Underton and I'm Amelia Felia Selia Yato-Christensen but Elia is fine."

This place is whimsical. It's crowded with carousels constructed out of crystallized peppermint sticks and metal, an enormous market that sells everything from edible sticks of coffee to chewing gum that puts you to sleep, music ranging from a choir of mockingbirds to a girl and horse duet and something that doesn't exist in Upton; humans and animals living as equals. It's a fireworks display of sights and sounds that make Upton look like a cemetary. I can't help but soak it in like the tourist I am.

"Elia, Underton is magical."

"Isn't it? And as long as you don't mention the fellow I brought up from earlier, it can stay that way."