Oneshots and Crazy Little Stories

Flipside

You blinked. Hadn't you just been?... Yes, you had. You had made a wish when you threw a fifty pence piece into a well, wishing for a little excitement in your life, just enough to lighten the monotone work life you were imprisoned in and bring a rare smile to your face. If course with your luck, when you turned around to climb back up the grassy slope that circled around to form a small crater in which the well had been constructed, your foot slipped from beneath you on a pebble. With nothing to grab hold of you had fallen backwards and splashed into the dark water, the cold like an electric shock rippling through your body. You'd fought your way back to the surface but found your feet firmly planted on the ground, just as if you'd been glued to it and never fallen.
You pushed the wet, or what should have been wet, hair out of your eyes and blinked around you. This was absolutely not where you had been. You were on the top of a bluish grassy hill for a start, and it was night time. And cold.
You shivered and zipped your cardigan up, stuffing your hands in your pockets so you'd be able to feel them if the need of them arose. The well was still there, just a foot to your right, it's glassy surface reflecting a half moon that shone silver. You'd wished for excitement, but not for it to come right away. Where were you? How could you get back? Could you even get back from this strange place?
You looked beyond where you were standing and saw a stone wall, no, a building encircling you and the well. The walls merged with the dark and only the lights from regularly spaced windows gave away what it was. You squinted at it and saw a door open, a shaft of yellowish orange light blaze out, being temporarily obscured by a silhouette. Hurried footsteps approached, crunching on gravel and getting nearer quickly.
'Hello?' Someone called, emerging into view. It was a rather tall woman who came towards you, her silver hair almost like strands moonlight and... Horns glinting on her head. 'Oh, hello there. I wasn't expecting any visitors tonight. Are you here to meet anyone?'
You shook your head, unable to stop staring. 'Y... Yo... You have horns.'
She gazed at you for a second, then her face lit up with a broad grin. 'New here, are you?'
You nodded, suddenly catching sight of what looked suspiciously like wings. 'You...'
'Come,' she said, putting an arm and a feathered wing around your shoulders. 'I'll explain.'
'Where am I?' You ask, trying not to touch the golden brown wing yet oddly comforted by its presence. 'I was standing by the well, then I slipped and fell into it and ended up standing here...'
'You've never been here before?' The winged person said, stopping and turning you towards her so she could look at you. 'I thought you'd just come through at the wrong Port.'
'N-no,' you stammered. This was all a lot to take in in one go. Wishing, falling, horned and winged tall woman, another world, Port... Could you ever get back to your home? A slow tear trickled from your eye and you wiped it away before she could see.
'Oh dear,' she hugged you, her scent that of pine forest and baked bread. 'This doesn't happen often, Earthers coming over to this side.'
'Where am I?' You asked again. 'Is this another world or something?'
She chuckled. 'You could say that.' She released you from the hug, taking your arm and leading you up a gravel path towards the door. 'This is Flipworld, a world on the other side of yours. Have you ever seen one of those three D maps?'
'Yes.'
'Well, your world is on the side you can see, but this one is on the other side, on the side you don't see. Everything is the opposite here. Where there is sea on your side there is land here. Where there are mountains for you there are craters for us. Just like a reverse of a three D map.'
'Right,' you said, hardly taking any of it in.
She waves you into the building and you enter a firelit kitchen, warmth flooding through you from the roaring stove in the corner.
'Tea?' She asked.
You nod absently, looking around. This could be any kitchen in the world, yet it wasn't in the world, not your side anyway. Everything seemed so normal in here, apart from the tall woman, of course.
Said tall woman handed you a mug of steaming tea. 'I'm Azæl,' she said, smiling. 'Welcome to the Flipside.'