My Fantasy

When I woke up this morning I didn’t think this is how my day will end. Wait let me first start with the introductions. My name is Peter and I come from a small village down in the south. I recently moved to a larger city to study engineering in college. Yes I know, it’s quite boring, but I love it. When I am not in college studying, I am either at home spending all my time drawing or coming up with new ideas, and if I am not home I am in the library researching or well just reading. One needs to relax and have some fun as well I believe. So what am I reading, well mostly fantasy or adventure types of books. There are a lot of books in those categories’ but not all are written with care.   So how did my day end? Well let us begin with how my day started. This morning I woke up, about the same time as I normally do around six. I share an apartment with other college students. Not all of us go to the same college, but we are all students. This time of morning all of the doors are closed so I am guessing that all of them are still asleep. I get dressed in my exercising clothing, then I stretched and after a throughout warm up I go take a ten kilometer jog. I usually return at around quarter to seven then I do some other exercises up until seven. After that I go grab some breakfast. When I am finished with breakfast I take a shower and get dressed for college. At around eight o’clock I leave for college and my classes start. I have my backpack, my favorite necklace and a book as I travel. Yes a book in hand because I do not get a lot of time to enjoy some reading time so I read a book as I am walking to college. Nothing strange, I always do it. I just look up every now and then to make sure I am still on the right path. I am close to the end in this book though. I started it the day before, it is a new book called “My Fantasy” written by the most well known author in the fantasy adventure genre. Also my all time favorite. But this book is much different than other his other work. How is this different than his previous work? Well he usually focuses on a great ‘out of this world’ context, but in this novel he wrote something more realistic. Sorry I am getting side tract here. Where was I? O yes, I was on my way to college. Well I got to college on time, sat down in my usual spot and class started. First class was over and was quite normal. Then came the news that our professor for the second class is not there, so we could go home earlier. This made my day. I could go to the library and finish my book. Why the library you may ask. Well the answer is simple; the library is closer and its much less noisy there than at home. See the other students might be home and make noise, which will eventually bother me so ill find something else to do instead of reading, and I would like to finish this book as soon as possible. So right after class I went straight to the library. As I enter the library I saw the girl of my dreams. I had a crush on this girl since the first day I saw her. She has this beautiful cherry blond hair with nearly golden eyes and the reddest lips I have ever seen and red cheeks, and it all blends so perfectly with her fair skin. She also loves to read, and as she is working at the public library she gets a lot of time to read when she’s working. Yes a lot of time. People these days don’t read anymore so the library is mostly empty. Usually the students are only there when they need to do research on a topic and don’t get enough research on the internet or parents that come and browse books for to read for their children, other than that it is usually some book lovers like me spending time reading books and the librarian on duty, which is Alice now. She works here for the extra income to pay for her studies. She comes from an average family. It is not like they are struggling to get by, but there is not enough money for studies. But she had a dream of studying ancient mythology and history so she works hard to fulfill her dream. As I walk past her into the library I gave a wave as she looks up to see whom just entered the building. She gives me a warm smile and then keeps eye contact to see what I will do next. I decide to go sit at one of the many empty tables, taking out the book and open it at the last page I was at. There are some students here as well but they are all busy with a lot of books and writing vigorously in other books. At least they are not making noise. Before I start reading I set an alarm for around five o’clock so I can walk home when it is still light outside. When that is done I start reading. A few pages later I nearly jumped over the table when someone pulls the chair next to me from its original space. I turn my head in embarrassment as I hear a soft giggle to look who it is and then I see her, its Alice. “A bit jumpy today, aren’t we?” she asks with a smile and tilted her head a little. “A little I guess” I admit in embarrassment “That’s fun, what are you reading?” she asks but then do not wait for a reply as she push the book down so she can see the cover. “Wow, is that a new book?” she asks “Yes it is, in fact it is from one of my favorite writers.”I reply “Is it a horror? Is that why you are so jumpy?” she asks playfully “Well no, it is more of an adventure fantasy but different.” I tell her “How? Different?” she asks “Now that I cannot tell you, that will ruin the book for you.” I tell her closing the book and giving her a smile. “Yeah right, like I will ever get the chance of reading that book.” she says while rolling her eyes at me. “How about I lend it to you?” I ask her “That would put me in your debt, I cannot do that.” She says shaking her head “Then if I donate it to the Library?” I ask her “Nooooo…” she almost shouts “it will go to waste here. Keep it, you might want to read it again someday.” I gave a silent laugh. “Why does it sound like you are looking for a reason not to read the book?” “It is not like I don’t want to read it, it is just that I cannot afford the problems that come with borrowing it from someone else. See I have nothing to give in return.” She tries to explain. “Hmmm, let me think.” I say as I start to tap with my index and middle fingers slowly on the table. “Wait, I have an idea, what about dinner?” I ask her “Wouldn’t that solve the problem?” She pulls back and studies my face as if to see if I am serious. “You mean like a date?” “Well, yes and no.” I reply enthusiastically “Explain” she says in a way as to say I need to choose my next words carefully. “This will be like a date in the sense that I take you to dinner, but it will not have hidden intentions, it is just so you can have the book without owning me anything.” I tell her. She then looks at me and then rubs her chin as if pondering over my reply. “Ok, I agree to this. But nothing else will happen right?” she asks yet also say in such a way as if she is stating a fact. “Yes” I agree, gulping a bit. “O and I will make one change. I cannot let you take me to dinner, that will make you the one paying and putting me in debt.” She says, making my stomach drop, after she just agreed. “I will instead cook for you at my place.” “O” I reply, not entirely sure what to think of the idea. This is quite different. “But won’t your parents think this is strange?” I asked her “They might, but I will explain it to them.”  “And don’t think this trick will always work on Me.” she tells me with a coy smile as she stands up “What trick?” I ask returning the smile as I feign ignorance. “Here, just let me know when you are done with the book” she slides over a piece of paper with her name and what I guess would be her cell phone number, she smiles at me and then return to her seat. That went well, I just got the number from my dream girl. And it did not even take much effort. Why haven’t I tried this before? I decide to get back to reading and finish reading as soon as possible, hopefully by the end of the day. As I get near the end of the book my cell phone starts to vibrate. I take it to see that it is five o’clock already and time for me to go home. I look up and realize there are considerably more people here now than there was before. Also Alice is not there anymore and the place where she used to sit is now occupied by another librarian. Also a student, but she earned herself the nickname Nyx, which is the Greek goddess of the night. She is always seen only at night. She also has very long black hair and very dark brown eyes. She also only wears black clothing. All of this gives her a very gothic feeling although she never uses any dark makeup at all. I pick up my backpack and then put my cell phone inside my pocket. I keep the book in my hands as I will continue to read on my way home. “You need to check that out” comes Nyx’s voice I quickly show her the first page of the book where the library tag usually is on library books. “O I see, just came to visit your girl friend.” She says with a side smile. “Noooo…”I reply softly with my head down feeling embarrassed and quickly walking out of the library. The moment I get outside I open the book to start reading again. The house is not far away so I should use all of the time reading the last few pages. And then as I turn the next page I stop dead in my tracks. There is just one final sentence written in capital letters and not making any sense. Where is the rest of the book? There are some cliffhangers which should be solved. But all I see is the words, “HOW WILL YOUR STORY END” Did I miss a few pages? I couldn’t have. I then start to page through the last few pages that I read to make sure that I did not miss anything. Something does not feel right, how can he end a book this abruptly. I look up and my heart dropped into my shoes. Why? Well because what I see in front of me is not something I expected. As far as the area in front of me stretches I only see grass and trees, nothing else, no houses, no roads, no cars, it is just grass and trees. How did I get here? Did I really walk so far? But then I should’ve noticed it when I started walking on gravel instead of paving. Or maybe I was just too focused on reading. But I should still be able to see something to show me where I am. Maybe I can look on my maps on my phone. I take my phone out of my pocket and as I enter my maps on my cell phone I realize there is no signal here. My battery is almost nearly flat as well and the sun is getting low. Can this get any worse? The only thing I can think of at the moment is to retrace my steps. So I look around to see which direction I came from. This might be even worse, I cannot remember which way I came from, and there are no footsteps either. Wait I faced the sun when I looked up, ok good. I will just turn around and move in the opposite direction. I put away both my book and cell phone and move forward.  After about a hundred meters of walking I get the urge to turn around and run as fast as I can. The urge grows with each step that I give. Maybe I am just tired and fear can make you imagine strange things, so I decide to walk a bit slower, but the urge of turning around keep on growing. It starts to feel like someone is pulling me on my arm to get away from something that is ahead. This feeling just makes me want to know more of what is ahead. I keep moving towards the direction where the feeling pulls the hardest. There, I see it, it must be behind the trees. As I get closer to the tree I walk slower. Looking around the trees I am horrified by the sight I see. I see two grey skinned beings, no bigger than a child. They have long pointy noses and long pointy ears. They have very disgusting long brown teeth and eyes darker than the night. They wear nothing but cloth around their waist. I might have disturbed them while they were eating. There are some pieces of raw meat on the ground, I cannot make out what the original being was but I do not want to end up like that. “RUNNNNN!!!” I hear some galloping and a familiar voice behind me. No it cannot be. It almost sounds like Alice, but how. I turn around and there she is. With her cherry blond hair and her red lips. She is wearing some sort of white dress and a bow in her hands, riding a horse. “DON’T JUST STAND THERE. RUNN!” she yells again and then lets loose of an arrow that flies past me. Almost instantly I hear a gurgle sound behind me. I turn to look and see that one of the beasts I saw earlier got penetrated right in front of me by the arrow that came from Alice’s bow , and now the other one is on his away over to me with amazing speed. This is not good. I turn around and close my eyes as I run as fast as my legs can carry me. I just pray that it is enough. Before I can think anything else I get picked up by the neck and then dropped on something. I open my eyes to see what just happened and I am on top of a horse with my arms and head on the one side and my legs on the other side of the horse. I look to see a mountain of a man riding the horse. Poor horse is one of the first thoughts that went through my mind. Did I really just see Alice? Or maybe it was just someone that looked like her. “Boy what are you doing so far away from camp? Which camp are you from?” comes the man’s voice as he keeps looking in front of him continuing to ride in the same direction. “Camp?” I asked confuse “Do you not understand the words that come from my mouth?” he asks now looking at down at me with a very serious expression on his face. “No I do understand what you are saying.” I answer “Then answer my questions boy.” He says with a condescending tone of voice. “I do not come from a camp sir.” I reply “You are too far to come from the castle or surrounding villages.” He replies “I am actually from a city in…” I try to say “Don’t try and fool me boy. Now just tell me…” I then ignore his voice because the woman from earlier has now joined us. This is really strange, she looks exactly like Alice, the hair, the golden eyes, the red lips, and her fair skin. “Alice” I say to try and get confirmation as to whom she is, but instead I get only total silence from her. She does not even acknowledge me and just look straight ahead. Well that is just awkward. “Where are we going?” I ask just in a general direction, hoping for an answer from anyone at the moment. “We are going to camp and then we will decide in the morning what to do with you.” The man says “O ok. My name is Peter by the way.” I say then get a sideways look from the woman. Just as I said this the man starts to laugh. “What? Where did you get such a stupid name? Peter, that almost sounds like a dog’s name.” he says and then continues to laugh. We finally reach what I assume is their camp. There is almost nothing here, just some men and women and some children probably in their late teens and a few horses. There are some tents around that create a circle and then in the centre there is a small fire. The man gets of his horse and now I get a better look at his stature. He is so big that he would probably dwarf most people I know. He picks me up and carries me to a tent. One of my feet is then tied to a pole after he put me down. “You don’t need to do that you know. I won’t leave in the middle of the night.” I tell him “It is just a precaution. You are dressed differently than we are so you might be a spy working for some of the other realms.” He says. Now that he mentioned it, I only notice it now. We are dressed differently. What he is wearing looks like, I don’t know, it does look strange; it looks like some type of leather armor and leather boots. I think my clothes look much more normal than his. “Wait big man, what is your name?” I ask him as he is about to leave “It’s Gregory. Have a nice rest Peter, you will need it.” He says his last words as he turns around and leaves. I decide to take his advice and try and sleep. I twist and turn a few times before I get into a nice enou8gh position. The ground is not one of the most comfortable places to sleep. What is going on? Why was Alice dressed like that? Was it even Alice? Why is Gregory dressed like this? What will happen tomorrow morning? Where am I? And most importantly, what the hell is going on? These are a few the questions I had in mind when I finally got to sleep.