My Idea Box

ORIGINAL IDEA: Flashing from one world to another

An old man stood in the glow of the fire. The boy had no idea where he came from or how he appeared. He was simply there.

Kneeing the ground with his jeans, the boy looked up. The old man was, well, old and dressed in a peculiar long robe. Did the old man come from a convention? That had been among the other questions scorched into his mind.

Tiny pops and roaring flames echoed behind the boy. He did not turn. His aching heart would shatter into pieces if he did. It would be worse if he went back to his old life. And yet, where could he go?

In front, the old man approached with a smile. Its wickedness was lost on the boy when the old man held out his hand as if offering it without having to ask.

The boy did not have to answer to accept it.

-----

Sweet laughter echoed across still air, and its owner pulled the boy through a rainy garden. Only everything else had stopped moving. It was like a painting of a beautiful moment.

Nothing could compete with her, though. Of everything the boy had seen of this new world, she was by far the best. The softness of her hand in his own, and her long dark hair and white dress splashing through frozen raindrops. The tiniest of refracted sunlight shone on her pearly skin, revealing a tiny blush. Cute.

Realizing he had said it aloud, the boy matched the blush. The girl laughed with the brightest of smiles, and the boy joined her. Soon, their laughter echoed across the garden of hanging rain and overcast clouds. When it passed, the girl opened her mouth to say something.

And the boy's eyes widened at the old man standing behind the girl.

-----

He remembered her innocent look when they first met upon a pale balcony. The first thing she asked was how his hair was so shiny, unlike her olive-colored dress.

He remembered the questions she asked and answered in return over the following days. Each was as bright as every shade of gold she had worn to match his hair.

He remembered how they spent weeks in the library to study the outside world neither had seen. Once, he accidentally ripped her pink sleeve to ask for a book.

He remembered the awkward months after her family ordered him to stay away. It didn't change, since her grey outfit brightened whenever they met in secret.

He remembered her smile when they met in the garden. It shone white like her dress, moreso when she made time stop... yet the old man came.

He remembered her horror as men in black robes came for her in the dead of night. He held onto her torn skirt, even after he was knocked out.

He remembered seeing her body in a stretcher, tired and matching her red dress. He sat by her, unable to hold hands she now lacked.

He remembered how peaceful she looked in the hospital bed. He engraved it into his mind before he left to meet the king outside.

And he remembered how he had been the cause of it all.

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AN: Just a little tidbit I had planned for an original story. I basically took these little flashbacks and combined them into what you see right here. It's not much, but I hope it's interesting.

-W.S.