Kaleidoscope

One

She ran down the corridor screaming for someone to help her escape, pushing and pulling on the knobs and banging on the hard-oak doors. She saw the darkness creep up slowly behind her. Scared, out of breath and alone, tears began rolling down her cheeks as she accepted her fate, doomed to dwell in the colourless ever-changing world she accidentally wandered into. Slowly sliding down, the wood-panelled walls to the ground, sobbing hysterically, she wondered why she had even picked up the wretched thing.

"Perry! Over here!" she suddenly heard from a door not far from her. She couldn't believe her ears as she slowly got up, staring at the door the call came from. How could anyone here know her name? Without a second thought, as she watched the darkness creeping closer, she ran towards it and found a door, covered in black paint and painted skulls. "My room" she mumbled and twisted the brass doorknob.

It was her room, her old room, still filled with the posters of her long forgotten favourite pop artists, teen heart throbs and films she just couldn't live without. The flood of memories flashing through her brain must have made her forget about the darkness less than 10 metres away from her. Gazing into her room, she heard a loud crack. "Not again," flashed through her mind as she bolted into the room.

The first crack was the first of many as she hid inside her room. Stop it! She yelled, covering her ears. The cracks became louder and louder as the room started moving slowly in a circular motion, tossing her from wall to wall. Her stomach felt queasy as the motion continued with her falling on every wall in her room, ripping off all her posters.

Eventually the chaos stopped. Perry looked around the room but was confused by what she saw. It was not her teen room she had been used to but appeared all twisted and it confused her: cream-coloured walls decorated with modern contemporary artworks . . . and . . . with blue bed covers. "A guest room," she snarled in disgust. She opened the bedroom door to see if she had been saved from the darkness.

No! The corridor was changed as well. No more wood-panelled walls, but walls painted light blue. Suddenly the corridor had windows and an ocean view. "Hello! Is anyone here!" she heard someone shouting from her right. She walked to where the sound came from, only to find a little girl crying. "Hey, are you all right?" she asked softly, and the girl looked up in fear. "Who are you?" the confused child asked.

"My name is Perry. What's yours? And how old are you?"

"Abigail" she replied. "I'm nine. Perry helped Abigail to her feet. "How did you get here?" Perry asked

"My sister brought home this thing that looked like a pirate's spy glass..."

Perry's face grew dark. "Was it black?" she asked.

"Yeah, and if you twist the front part, the shapes on the inside move and change," Abigail answered.

She looked around her and saw the darkness coming after them again. "RUN!" she shouted. She knew exactly where to go, and that's where she would take Abigail. With the darkness gaining on them they reached the door of the room Perry hid in. She opened it and went inside but something stopped Abigail from joining her "I can't come in" she cried "Try another door" she shouted at her. Perry listened as she ran, pulling and yanking on the doorknobs. After a while she heard the loud slam of a door and figured that she found one open. And then she got tossed around the room like a rag doll again.

When the rotation finally ended the room changed again; this time it was a baby room complete with smiling animals and a pink crib. She stood up and felt an ache on the side of her head. Blood covered her hand as she rubbed over the aching area. I need to find Abby; she thought and ran up the corridor pulling on doors like in the beginning of her . . . can she even call it a dream?