This is the first chapter in a story I never finished. I now consider it out of date and won't be updating this storyline specifically, but instead will be working on a rewrite of it! I don't know when or if it will ever come out, but for now, this dusty draft will be kept online for the foreseeable future.

The scenery blurred past the train. Trees, rain, and the seemingly eternal darkness of the countryside hiding who knows what out beyond the rails seemed to continue on forever. Inside, no one seemed to worry about the deep abyss that surrounded them; only the inside of the car could hold their attention. Well, no one except a figure in the rear.

Dressed in worn jeans and scuffed shoes, he sat facing out the window, hearing only the sounds of rain hitting metal and glass. All that was in his possession was a plain canvas sack with a star stitched to the front. He had brown, ruffled hair and grey eyes that seemed to search for everything and nothing at once. As he was, separated from most of the other passengers in the front, he tried to sift through the events of his day so far.

Everything was white. As I walked down the corridor, I couldn’t help but notice how little contrast there seemed to be here, wherever here was, and there was only one good word to describe what I was seeing. Boring. There were other words of course, clean, tidy, safe, but I couldn’t help but feel a kind of emptiness when I looked around myself and saw nothing but the white.

I had been walking down this corridor for what felt like hours when I found the door. Even painted the same stark white as everything else, its detail couldn’t be hidden. What seemed like little dancing figures, delicately carved into the panel of wood caught my eye, as well as what looked like multiple carved stars. If the symbols had any meaning, I definitely didn’t know what it was, but partly because of that and because I was so bored, I began walking towards it.

As I got to the door, I felt something strange. It was as if something on the other side of the door pulled me towards it or called to me. But that couldn’t be. “It’s just a door”, I whispered to myself, listening to my voice echo down the long and empty hall. But there was nothing else there, nothing at all but a little white door in a large white world, so I opened it.

Something was there. No, someone was there, in yet another white hall, watching me as I passed through the doorway. Dressed in some type of flowing robe, I couldn’t help but think of how beautiful she looked. Her hair seemed to flow in this invisible wind, lightly brushing against her soft, ivory skin. As I looked, she seemed to float upon the air like a feather without the constant pull of gravity to worry about; her face full of the confidence of what could be an eternity of living.

This being, for she seemed too perfect to be Human, too powerful to be Human, stared at me. But as she did, her piercing green eyes seemed to project for an instant, not happiness and joy, but sorrow and pity and for the life of me, I couldn’t understand why…

‘buzzt….. buzzt….. buzzt…..’

What was that noise? I looked around to find the source of it, my eyes trying to see in the shadows of the hall. Wait. Shadows? ‘There weren’t shadows anywhere I looked before’, I thought, panicking slightly.

“Who are you?” I asked tensely, having forgot about the noise that interrupted our staring contest in the first place, hoping that I could get some answers that included how the hell I got here in the first place.

“This is not how it was supposed to be”, she said solemnly, ignoring my first question.

‘buzzt... buzzt... buzzt... buzzt... buzzt...’

That incessant noise was getting louder and the shadows creeping further, I had to get answers.

“What are you talking about?!” I half asked, half demanded her. I looked around quickly at the shadows closing in on us, wondering what would happen when they finally reached, and at the same time wishing that things didn’t have to be progressing this quickly, that I actually had time to get information.

“You are not how it was supposed to be”, she spoke quietly so that a pin drop would hide her voice, while at the same time floating slowly to the ground. As she did so, I couldn’t help but feel how small I was compared to her. If she wanted to, she could have probably fried me in an instant. I shut my mouth.

‘buzzt. buzzt. buzzt. buzzt. buzzt. buzzt. buzzt.’

The darkness was almost upon us now, but she began walking. Just as fast as the shadows she came, but seemingly opposing them at the same time.

That’s when I noticed she was glowed, just slightly. I wouldn’t have noticed before as the light she cast blended in with the whiteness of everything else, but as the darkness came, her shine bore through and lit her face so it was the only thing I could see.

It was when that glow appeared that something happened. Something I could not explain. I recognized her. From somewhere I was sure, but I didn’t know where in the world that could be. It was as if she was not from this world. But how could that be possible? How could it be possible if I recognized that face?

My curiosity of her overcame my fear.

“Who are you?” I asked again, but quieter this time. The shadows creeping even further, my body beginning to feel numb.

“All in good time, little sister...” she said and as she did, she touched my cheek. A warm, tingling sensation swept through my body originating from her touch and a tear broke off and rolled down her face.

“Wha…” I got out as, at last frozen and numb, the darkness and shadows finally consumed me.

I woke up feeling disoriented. As I slowly opened my eyes, the dim view of my bedroom came into focus. I could feel the blankets of my bed surrounding and cocooning me in this fortress of safety and warmth.

I wasn’t in those weird white halls, there was no lady staring at me, and there was no darkness enveloping me. It was just a dream.

But what a dream it was. It felt so real, like I had actually traveled there and saw… and saw this woman who called me sister?

“What the fuck was that about?” I mumbled into my hands as I wiped the sleep from my face.

‘buzzt….. buzzt….. buzzt…..’

I turned my attention away from the dream and looked to my left to see my alarm clock buzzing its heart’s content to the fact that it was quarter to noon.

“Shit! Not today, not today!”

Why did it seem that bad luck had reared its ‘lovely’ head and bit my ass again on this one? Well, it just so happened to be the day that my very important final report was due, and the class started in fifteen minutes.

Switching off the alarm clock and leaping out of bed, I went straight for the bathroom a few feet away to get ready.

‘Huh, at least I don’t have to waste time shaving today’, I thought to myself as I looked in the mirror. One less thing I had to do before going out the door. I also decided to skip my regular shower this morning and just brush my teeth and run a comb through my hair. No point in using valuable time on a shower if I didn’t yet smell horrible.

Finally looking presentable, I looked back at the clock. Ten to twelve; I had to get moving, so I began searching for the bag that had my report in it.

Wherever it was…

I began searching around my bed, thinking that I would have just thrown it there. But wherever I looked, beside the bed, underneath the bed, under the covers, there was nothing to be found. I began searching the rest of my apartment then. I looked everywhere I could think, which also happened to include looking under the kitchen sink, but still, nothing.

Just about to give up searching, I finally saw my report lying in the open beside my laptop in a neat stack and beside it was a canvas sack with a star stitched to the front that I didn’t remember ever buying.

“Nah, it couldn’t be…”

I stared at the star on the sack, trying to ignore the fact that it looked disturbingly like the ones in my dream.

Ripping my eyes away from the star, I took a second to look back at my clock. I realized that I had used up another five minutes just in search of my report.

I hastened my pace even more and instead of wondering for a second where I could have gotten that bag, I stuffed my papers into the odd sack, grabbed my keys off the bedside table and ran out the door.