BPD7- The First Encounter

The First Encounter

Elisabeth Sullivan

“Do it, Julia,”

Julia heard Shannon’s impatient mutter distantly. She was starting to feel light-headed. This was crazy; why was she feeling this way? As she backed away from the hole the faintness left her. Now it wasn’t just weird, it was scary.

“No way,” she finally answered. “Nothing could induce me to go in there. What if there are wild animals living in there?”

"Oh, don’t worry, Julia.” Reagan replied innocently. “If you get killed by a little stray kitten, we will definitely call the police.”

Shannon burst into bouts of mean laughter while Julia’s eyes stung with unshed tears. They were the closest thing to friends that she had ever had.

She hesitated, searching for another excuse. “But I still have my prom dress on and peg heels,” she said lamely.

Shannon snorted in cynicism. “Julia, seriously? Your dress won’t get dirty if you’re just looking and you can take off your shoes since you’re so worried about it.”

Sighing, Julia looked back at the doorway. She had run out of excuses. As she glanced inside, she saw something like a little light on the smooth, shiny floor. She felt an inexplicable impulse to touch the light. It was just so beautiful. Like a star that had just fallen from the heavens.

She reached out.

She hesitated.

She touched it.

“What is taking you so long?” complained Reagan loudly.

Julia’s blue dress was still visible, but the rest of her was inside the door. When no answer came, they became more wary of the brick doorway that held their ‘friend’ inside.

“Julia, what’s in there? Come out and tell us!” cried Shannon with a mixture of suspicion and impatience.

There was a sound of great cracking and Julia’s screams left them both in horror.

“We killed her, Reagan. We’ve gone and killed her.”

Julia heard her own terrified screams echo off the smooth, carven walls that were swiftly passing her by. She was falling… and she didn’t think she would ever be able to stop. The air in the seemingly infinite hole she had fallen in was starting to get thicker and harder to breathe. She was afraid. Afraid she would hyperventilate… afraid she would crash into the ground that she had to hit eventually… afraid she would never be able to get back up to where she had come from.

Afraid she would die.

Now it was as if the air had been sucked out of the cave-like hole; only vast space and emptiness. Her lungs burned and her head felt like it would explode. She wondered for one brief instant whether there were books in heaven before she lost all consciousness.

~

Julia blinked her eyes weakly. There were tree branches above her, swaying faintly in the gentle breeze. It felt like she was lying against something hard. She craned her neck the tiniest bit to see what it was and to her unexplainable surprise, it was the tree trunk that held the tree branches up. It seemed strange and unnatural, but it was probably just her fancy.

Slowly sitting up, she scrutinized her surroundings more thoroughly. The sky was exceptionally blue and the sun was at its highest point, so she figured it was around noon-time. She was sitting in the midst of a grassy meadow with a few massive oak or maple trees scattered around. It appeared as if she was the only one living in this seemingly empty region.

She decided that she was too tired to stay awake; and anyway, there was no point in staying awake anyway when there’s nothing to do and no one to talk to.

She woke up to see a pair of great eyes glaring into hers, just millimeters from her instantly terrified face. She did what any sensible, normal person would do.

She screamed her loudest while flailing her arms and beating at the giant red face in front of her.

To her great relief and embarrassment, the oversized butterfly that had been resting on her nose flew off in a great hurry to get away from this loud and obnoxious predator. Julia thought sheepishly to herself that the circles on his lovely red wings didn’t look like eyes much at all and he was actually the most beautiful butterfly she had ever seen, despite his comical size. She looked up just to see a fuming face glaring at her and a hand slapped roughly against her mouth.

“Are you a complete idiot?” the girl hissed through clenched teeth. Obviously, she was not very happy about something; Julia could only guess what.

Shaking her head fiercely, she tried to tell the strange girl that she was not an idiot and that she would very much like to know why she would think such a thing.

"You just screamed loud enough to wake the dead! There are enemies everywhere!” she whispered, visibly worried and irritated.

“Mhmmf, mfhhm mhmff-”

The girl took her hand off of Julia’s mouth hastily.

“Well, how was I supposed to know that? How do I know you’re not an enemy?” Julia inquired reasonably while wiping off her face. That girl had something sticky on her fingers and Julia did not appreciate having honey or whatever it was plastered all over her face.

The girl sighed regretfully and raked her slender fingers through her jet-black hair. Her fingers were no longer sticky because she had wiped all of the residue on Julia’s face.

“Of course, I forgot the Prophecy.” She muttered, now looking as though she were angrier with herself than with Julia.

“Uh, what prophecy?”

She continued as though she hadn’t heard the interruption. “They will want to know. I’ll have to get into contact with them soon.”

“Uh, who are ‘they’?”

“Hmmm, when did they say they would be at the Poilinke?” she went on anxiously.

Julia had had enough. This was ridiculous! “This conversation is feeling very one-sided!” OK, she had the girl’s attention. “Who are you, who are the ‘they’ you were talking about, what ‘prophecy’ were you talking about and for Pete’s sake, what the heck was on your hands?!”

“Few people know my real name, and those who do don’t call me by it.”

Oh, real helpful, thought Julia sarcastically. Seriously, this girl did not have to be so mysterious and dramatic about everything.

“’They’ are the Dravindar, which is basically a group I’m in. Don’t have time to tell you more than that right now. The Prophecy…” she hesitated, trying to find the words. “There’s this Prophecy and the Dravindar have to fulfill it with the help of an Earthling. I guess that sums it up.”

As Julia began to ask another question, she added, "Oh, and you probably don’t want to know what was on my hands.”

Grimacing with mixed disgust and curiosity, Julia was at a loss for words. Then she remembered. “Well, since you won’t tell me your real name, what should I call you?”

“I am known as Starlet. I am not known for my gentle nature. Hope that helped.”

After that, Julia was determined to think up a clever rejoinder.

“I am known as Julia. I am not an idiot. Hope that helped.”

Starlet looked at her quizzically. “I did not ask for your name.”

Julia blew her breathe out, annoyed. “Whatever.” Then a thought returned.

“Wait, what did you mean by ‘Earthling’?”

The simple question seemed to confuse Starlet. “I mean someone who has come from Earth. Everybody knows that.”

“But…” Julia paused. That had to mean…

“If you’re puzzled by the whole ‘earth’ thing-” she abruptly stopped, as though she were listening for enemies foot treads. “You’re not on Earth anymore. You’re in Caliganoer now, girl.”