The Hidden World

Part 1: Shadowlurkers

Sarah Howard slammed the door of her apartment shut behind her, threw her bag across the hallway and sat down, covering her face with her hands. She had just finished another hellish day of working retail. Every day seemed to be worse than the one before: just today she had had to listen to abuse from three separate housewives who clearly had way too much time on their hands. "If I had just passed the entrance exam..." she thought to herself. Sarah was nineteen years old and was by no means a bad student, quite the contrary, in fact. She had tried to enter a prestigious medical school, but the exam had been unusually tough. In addition, she had made a careless mistake due to her nervousness, and as such she wasn't accepted. After working through the disappointment, she decided to move to the city and try again next year. Finding a job was hard, and she ended up at the largest retail store in the city. She had known that such work wasn't going to be easy but decided to try and bear it. Now, six months later she was just about done. Even the thought of becoming a doctor had started to lose its glamour. In short, she had lost her aim in life. She didn't know what she wanted to do anymore.

She was rubbing her temples with her eyes half closed when she saw "it" again. She stood up and looked around the hallway. "Is anyone there?" she called out but received no response, as was the norm. Not surprising, as she was living alone, but this fact only made her more nervous. Two months or so ago Sarah had started to see a dark figure in the corner of her eye. In the beginning this would occur only a few times a week, but recently it had become more frequent. She had had friends over, but they hadn't noticed anything. Last week she had even had a repairman check the apartment for anything that could have caused the phenomenon, but he found nothing. Sarah felt a chill up her spine. Her grandfather had told her stories about supernatural beings and magic when she was little. Those stories always scared her stiff, and when Sarah's mother had heard about this, she banned Sarah from meeting him. As time passed, she had started to forget about the stories. But now they seemed to be fresh in her memories.

After a while she was convinced that she was alone in her apartment and walked to her bedroom. Thinking about her grandfather had made her remember the box she had received. A year ago, her grandfather had died. As they hadn't been in contact for years, Sarah had been surprised to notice that she had inherited a mysterious box. The box contained a book and another, very ornate wooden chest. Interestingly, this chest was closed, but without a clear lock. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't open the box. Meanwhile, the book was the same one her grandfather had read to her, and as she still wasn't completely over the stories, she had opted to ignore it. Now, however, she picked the book up. As soon as she opened it an envelope dropped to the floor. Puzzled, Sarah picked it up and tore it open. Inside she found a short letter and another sealed envelope. My dear granddaughter, I hope you are well. I would have liked to get to know you better, but I'm afraid that I didn't act properly when you were little. Your mother banned us from meeting, but I'm not mad at her: we've had our disagreements, but I do understand where she comes from. I made her a promise, and this letter is my way of seeing it to the end. Sarah squinted her eyes. The next lines had captured her attention. She squeezed the paper tighter and continued reading. If you ever start to see or feel things others can't, I need you to go to the address included. Give the other envelope to the man there but be sure to not read it yourself. I apologize for being so secretive, but I made the promise and intend to keep it. I'm sorry for everything. I wish I could have controlled myself back then and seen you grow up. Still, remember that I love you, and so does your mother. Sarah had a hard time stopping herself from crying. She barely remembered this man, but the love he felt for her could be seen from the way he wrote. She looked at the other envelope on her bed.

The address on the letter had led Sarah to the older part of the city. As she walked toward the destination she saw walls lined with graffiti and some rather threatening looking people loitering in the alleyways. Soon, she reached her destination, an old and run-down office building. It must have been a beautiful building once, it was still, to an extent. This beauty was sullied, however, by its broken windows and worn-down walls. The letter pointed Sarah to a door on the third floor. "Supernatural consultation services... What the hell am I walking into here?" she asked herself but decided that she had nothing to lose. When she opened the door, Sarah found herself in a waiting room of sorts. The room was small and contained only a timeworn sofa, some ugly paintings and a small office desk. Sarah was about to leave when she noticed a woman sitting behind the desk. The woman looked bizarrely out of place, though she would have done so in just about anywhere, as she was wearing a luxurious-looking Victorian dress. Not only that, but the blonde woman was also about the most beautiful one Sarah had ever laid eyes on. Sarah was so stunned by the sight that she just stood in the doorway. "He'll see you now," the woman said, smiling ever so slightly. She was the very model of a fine lady from the 19th century, but the longer Sarah stared at her the more she became aware that something was very wrong about the woman. "I... uh... I'll go in, then," she slurred and rushed to the door on the other side of the waiting room. She could still feel the woman's gaze on her back as she entered the room.