Changes in Time

All abord the Golden Conch!

My stomach lurches as I fall down into blackness, the air rushing past me dragging loud, painful sounds of wind over my frosty ears. I want to scream, but I can't. My mouth is dry and my chest hurts from a sudden shock. So for minutes I fall, my arms dangling loosely by my sides.

Feeling yourself drop is a strange sensation. Maybe you could describe it as flying... I don't know, but when I was a kid, well... a little kid, I used to dream of flying. Like a butterfly. Or a bird. The idea of drifting through nothing but air seemed like a dream. I imagined looking down at the world below me, seeing cars and houses - what usually seems big to me - as just tiny colourful pricks.

Now I don't feel the joy in flying. All I feel is yesterday's lunch ready to be thrown up.

As I look around me. It is dark. I'm not sure if I'm in some sort of chute with black walls or if I am falling down with hundreds and thousands of metres of empty space around me. I don't know and I don't need to know. So I close my eyes and allow my body to just drop.

Many, many minutes, maybe an hour later, my body hits the white sheets of a large queen sized bed with a sudden 'poof'. My small body sinks into the mattress. Coughing and spluttering all over the clean sheets and pillow, I sit up, gasping for air. My heart is beating at at least 3 beats per second. When I finally catch my breath I notice the unpleasantly strong scent of roses. Roses? How strange.....

To feed my curiosity, I look around the room. The walls are decorated with a dark salmon-pink flower print wallpaper. And two golden, fancy, metal lights droop over onto the bed head. Sitting to my right, on the polished wooden floor, is a dining set - a wooden table and two cushioned chairs - and behind that, a maroon velvet sofa and a large wooden duchess with a mirror. Squashed into the corner is a very old fashioned wooden trunk. The lid is flipped open, showing stacks of neatly folded and arranged sets of clothes. I know I shouldn't. But I have to. I'm just itching to explore it. Slowly and uncertainly I creep towards the trunk, bend down onto my knees and stare down at it beneath me. Stacks and stacks of white and pale coloured clothes are arranged inside the trunk. I lift up the top dress, it is an off-white colour and is made from silk with frills at the bottom. I wrinkle my nose. Who would wear this? It looks worse than what my grandma wears. I lay the dress back down on top of the others, attempting to fold it as neatly as it was before.

Squeezed in between the piles of clothes are three pairs of shoes. I admire the top pair. It is a long, brown, leather boot with criss-cross laces that look as though they go right up to the knee and at the back is a thin golden heel. Resisting the urge to try it on, my gaze drifts to the other two pairs of shoes. They are both high-heels. I pick the first pair up - it is black with a buckle that wraps around the ankle - not very attractive. But neither is the other - a green velvet.

Loud, fast footsteps coming towards the bedroom door startle my thoughts and I suddenly jump up. My heartbeat quickens and I start to panic. What do I do? What will I say? Will I get fined for trespassing? I start chewing my nails - a bad habit.

The footsteps are now right outside the door and then they come to a stop. I hold my breath as I listen to the painful sound of a key scratching against the doorknob, as if someone is searching around blindly, looking for the keyhole. I quickly glance around the room for somewhere to hide, or escape. I gulp, this place was definitely not designed as a Hide 'n' Seek play area!

Suddenly a beam of light sneaks through the room and the door drifts open with a creak. As a last minute decision, I dive behind the bed with a soft 'thump' just as the person enters the room.

My heart is beating so quickly as I sit myself up, keeping my head ducked so that the person won't see me. I peer over the bed, carefully. It is a lady who enters the room. She is tall and slim with short blond curly hair. Her skin is fair and she has a very pretty face with a firm chin and thin, scarlet lips. Wrapped around her neck is a beautiful pearl necklace which she takes off and places on the duchess beside a small, glass bottle. She wears a long, loose, marroon dress that falls to her white knees. And clipped onto it is a small golden brooch in the shape of a running horse.

She leans down and peers into the mirror where she fixes up her hair, putting loose strands back into place. I watch her. She is very beautiful. Suddenly I notice myself in the mirror, I see my green eyes in the reflection, staring, over the top of the bed covers. I gasp and quickly glance over to the woman to she if she had seen me, and our eyes meet. Before I can say anything, she screams.

And I run.