Parallel Universes • s.black

XXX

-Stella Hart-

I'm standing in a forest, on the cusp of midnight.

It's the forbiddon forest. I know this because just ahead, the enchanted border glimmers under the moonlight. As I walk towards it I realise that I'm barefoot- the ground dewy beneath me. I must have forgotten to put slippers on before I came here.

Actually come to think of it I don't even remember getting out of bed, but I must have because I'm here.

The cold is unforgiving. I didn't put a coat on either and the wispy january air seeps into my skin, through my cotton pyjamas chilling me to the core. I can't really feel it anymore, the cold. I've been standing here for longer than I thought because I'm almost numb to it, like my body has forgotton how to be cold, forgotton how to feel alltogether.

But it remembers the forcefield, infact goosebumps rise on the back of my neck and my heart flutters in anticipation. Anticipation?

I walked forward, moving so that I could be closer- I needed to be closer. It wasn't a concious thought that told me so but something that I just knew. The forcefield glimmered and rippled, almost like it knew I was there, that it sensed me.

It wasn't until a flicker of movement caught my gaze that I realised I wasn't alone.

There was a figure standing infront of me, on the wrong side of the forcefield. It was a man, in long black robes that concealed most of him, but I saw enough to know he was attractive, darkly so. He wasn't old but he wasn't young- there wasn't any grey in his hair and his pale skin was free of wrinkles. But his eyes, they looked as if they'd looked time right in the eye and said 'fuck you'. And they were black, pitch black.

His mouth curved into a smile.

I smiled back.

He held his hand up to hover just shy of the shimmering forcefield. I reached out and did the same, but I didn't want to stop there, I wanted to reach through to him, to grab his hand, to pull him through.

I wanted to, I needed to.

Slipping my hand through the forcefield was like plunging into silk- I almost sighed. The man's eyes were watching me so closely, intimately. I placed my palm against his. He was so cold, colder than a person should be, but then again so was I. I wrapped my hand around his and pulled.

As soon as our hands passed back through, the forcefield shattered. Cracks appeared in the glass-like surface before alltogether it soundlessly fell apart. As the pieces floated down around us, I realised that it had turned into snow, catching in my hair, my eyelashes, my pyjamas.

I pulled my gaze back to the man and found his eyes locked onto me. Something passed between us. He opened his mouth to speak three simple words.

"Now, they die."