'I proceeded into the forest with feline caution. I could still hear the hissing and meowing getting louder as I got closer, and I hoped the sound of my feet stepping on the crumpled, dry leaves didn't scare away the cat yet another time. But soon enough, the forest cleared out into a treeless area crowded with, not just one, but dozens of black cats playing around in between rocks and bushes. The forest seemed to brighten around them, and I could see it all too clearly.
"Whoa," my mouth widened to an ecstatic grin. I had never seen that many cats before in my life, and all of them black! But stranger than that, their eyes glowed as brighter and more intensely as the other cat's green eyes, the one I saw that in my bedroom window. Each pair of eyes emanated a glow of a different bright color: different shades of blue, purple, green, pink, yellow, gold, white and orange floated around leaving a ghostly trail of light as they moved around and climbed the trees and played and hissed at each other.
There was a young woman sitting on a log wearing a white dress who had two cats curled up on her lap. It's the girl from my dream, I thought, it has to be her! She hummed a soothing melody as she pet the cats on her lap, while the others lingered around her. Her wavy hair fell on her shoulders like glistening, dark waterfalls, and her eyes were like gleaming emeralds.
I moved the branches before me and began to approach the mystifying sight. I wanted to know who she was, to uncover the secret of this place I had neither seen or heard of ever before. I felt like I had finally encountered something meaningful in my so-called reality, something I would only read about in my books, something everybody used to tell me to forget and never think about. But now, none of that mattered, if only for just a moment.But when she saw me, she shrieked in fear and the purple-eyed cats jumped from her lap as she started to back away. The other dozen cats rioted and hissed, filling the silent air with their otherwise chaotic, feline orchestra as they began to move around violently between the trees and the bushes.
"No, just wait!" I yelled but she started running through the forest. "I don't want to hurt you!" I had had enough of running, but there was no turning back now. I ran after her for a few minutes and saw her glance at me over her shoulder a few times, but it wasn't long before I lost her and found myself stranded in the depths of the dark forest.
"I just want to talk to you!" I yelled at the darkness. "I saw you in my dream. Please, come out! I won't hurt you, I swear!" The only response I got was silence and the music of the crickets. It was so frustrating, I had gotten into so much trouble already in school, and my parents were probably worried sick... or extremely angry, or both. And who knew how long it was going to take me to get back home, anyway; I was probably going to have to climb up that terrible hill, and I was not sure I could find it again. I sighed, exasperated, and turned around to start finding my way back, but something stopped me.
The young green-eyed woman jumped on me from a nearby tree and we both collapsed to the floor. She scratched my face and arms while I struggled to get her off of me, but she managed to bite me in the arm. I cried out in pain and pushed her aside as hard as I could and she rolled around and crouched defensively a few feet away from me.
"What is wrong with you!" I said, in frustration while she snarled at me. "I said I wouldn't hurt you!"
"But you chased me," she hissed at me.
"I'm sorry," I said more calmly, "I didn't mean to frighten you. But maybe you should stop jumping on people like that, you're gonna hurt somebody, or yourself."
"Maybe if you stopped chasing after people," she replied, straightening to a much more elegant pose, "you would not get hurt."
"I just wanted to talk to you," I said in my defense, as if this suddenly justified me chasing her around the way I did.
"You're talking to me now. So, what do you want?" she snarled, and I suddenly realized that I was so focused on chasing her, and the cat, that I never thought of what I was going to say when I caught up with her. "How did you get here, anyways?"
"I was trying to catch a cat," I responded, "It had bright green eyes, just like yours."
"That’s it?” she told me with a cheshire grin. “You must spend your entire life chasing after things.”
"It came to me one night, okay?" I said in my defense. "All the way up to my bedroom window. And then I had a dream about this place."
"Oh, did you?" she said, lingering on the word, and covering her lips with the tips of her fingers. “And what did you see?”
"You were in it,” I began, “I was running after you, but you looked frightened, and I just wanted to help…”
“Truly, it must have been quite some boring dreams,” the girl mocked me.
“That cat lured me here,” I said, “It brought you to my dreams, and now it’s brought me to you. I just want to know what it all means. Who are you, and what is this place?”
“My name is Ophelia,” she said licking her hand and wrist, “and you probably should never have come here.”
“I’m Riley. But, why do you say that?” I asked feeling goosebumps crawling on my skin.
“Because in this place everything’s always changing, but always stays the same,” she began moving around, almost in a dance, and I could see her white dress flowing in the dark. “Because this place shouldn’t exist, but it does. Because things that get lost here are never found again.” She had disappeared from before me, yet a few seconds later I saw her hanging upside down from a tree beside me, then with a swift move she caught a small bird, and continued to speak after snapping its neck. “Because not even the sun dares to face us here.” She placed the dead bird on her mouth and jumped down to land on her feet.
Then, I found myself being witness of something truly astonishing; as Ophelia approached me, crouched down and using her arms as frontal legs, I see her transform into a small black kitten, and its eyes left a glowing green smoke trail as they burned in the darkness. I fall down in surprise and the kitten places the bird before me and then Ophelia’s voice manifests in the cat’s glare, “Because in this place, nothing is ever what it seems; neither shape nor time.”
“I need to get back,” I found myself saying in a panic and I heard Ophelia laughing hysterically as the kitten rolled around in the leaves. “I need to get out of here, now.” I stood up and started running the way that I thought I had gotten here, but the truth was that nothing looked as it did before, and a sudden realization hit me: I was completely and utterly lost.'- Untold Stories, Frederick Michael
"Whoa," my mouth widened to an ecstatic grin. I had never seen that many cats before in my life, and all of them black! But stranger than that, their eyes glowed as brighter and more intensely as the other cat's green eyes, the one I saw that in my bedroom window. Each pair of eyes emanated a glow of a different bright color: different shades of blue, purple, green, pink, yellow, gold, white and orange floated around leaving a ghostly trail of light as they moved around and climbed the trees and played and hissed at each other.
There was a young woman sitting on a log wearing a white dress who had two cats curled up on her lap. It's the girl from my dream, I thought, it has to be her! She hummed a soothing melody as she pet the cats on her lap, while the others lingered around her. Her wavy hair fell on her shoulders like glistening, dark waterfalls, and her eyes were like gleaming emeralds.
I moved the branches before me and began to approach the mystifying sight. I wanted to know who she was, to uncover the secret of this place I had neither seen or heard of ever before. I felt like I had finally encountered something meaningful in my so-called reality, something I would only read about in my books, something everybody used to tell me to forget and never think about. But now, none of that mattered, if only for just a moment.But when she saw me, she shrieked in fear and the purple-eyed cats jumped from her lap as she started to back away. The other dozen cats rioted and hissed, filling the silent air with their otherwise chaotic, feline orchestra as they began to move around violently between the trees and the bushes.
"No, just wait!" I yelled but she started running through the forest. "I don't want to hurt you!" I had had enough of running, but there was no turning back now. I ran after her for a few minutes and saw her glance at me over her shoulder a few times, but it wasn't long before I lost her and found myself stranded in the depths of the dark forest.
"I just want to talk to you!" I yelled at the darkness. "I saw you in my dream. Please, come out! I won't hurt you, I swear!" The only response I got was silence and the music of the crickets. It was so frustrating, I had gotten into so much trouble already in school, and my parents were probably worried sick... or extremely angry, or both. And who knew how long it was going to take me to get back home, anyway; I was probably going to have to climb up that terrible hill, and I was not sure I could find it again. I sighed, exasperated, and turned around to start finding my way back, but something stopped me.
The young green-eyed woman jumped on me from a nearby tree and we both collapsed to the floor. She scratched my face and arms while I struggled to get her off of me, but she managed to bite me in the arm. I cried out in pain and pushed her aside as hard as I could and she rolled around and crouched defensively a few feet away from me.
"What is wrong with you!" I said, in frustration while she snarled at me. "I said I wouldn't hurt you!"
"But you chased me," she hissed at me.
"I'm sorry," I said more calmly, "I didn't mean to frighten you. But maybe you should stop jumping on people like that, you're gonna hurt somebody, or yourself."
"Maybe if you stopped chasing after people," she replied, straightening to a much more elegant pose, "you would not get hurt."
"I just wanted to talk to you," I said in my defense, as if this suddenly justified me chasing her around the way I did.
"You're talking to me now. So, what do you want?" she snarled, and I suddenly realized that I was so focused on chasing her, and the cat, that I never thought of what I was going to say when I caught up with her. "How did you get here, anyways?"
"I was trying to catch a cat," I responded, "It had bright green eyes, just like yours."
"That’s it?” she told me with a cheshire grin. “You must spend your entire life chasing after things.”
"It came to me one night, okay?" I said in my defense. "All the way up to my bedroom window. And then I had a dream about this place."
"Oh, did you?" she said, lingering on the word, and covering her lips with the tips of her fingers. “And what did you see?”
"You were in it,” I began, “I was running after you, but you looked frightened, and I just wanted to help…”
“Truly, it must have been quite some boring dreams,” the girl mocked me.
“That cat lured me here,” I said, “It brought you to my dreams, and now it’s brought me to you. I just want to know what it all means. Who are you, and what is this place?”
“My name is Ophelia,” she said licking her hand and wrist, “and you probably should never have come here.”
“I’m Riley. But, why do you say that?” I asked feeling goosebumps crawling on my skin.
“Because in this place everything’s always changing, but always stays the same,” she began moving around, almost in a dance, and I could see her white dress flowing in the dark. “Because this place shouldn’t exist, but it does. Because things that get lost here are never found again.” She had disappeared from before me, yet a few seconds later I saw her hanging upside down from a tree beside me, then with a swift move she caught a small bird, and continued to speak after snapping its neck. “Because not even the sun dares to face us here.” She placed the dead bird on her mouth and jumped down to land on her feet.
Then, I found myself being witness of something truly astonishing; as Ophelia approached me, crouched down and using her arms as frontal legs, I see her transform into a small black kitten, and its eyes left a glowing green smoke trail as they burned in the darkness. I fall down in surprise and the kitten places the bird before me and then Ophelia’s voice manifests in the cat’s glare, “Because in this place, nothing is ever what it seems; neither shape nor time.”
“I need to get back,” I found myself saying in a panic and I heard Ophelia laughing hysterically as the kitten rolled around in the leaves. “I need to get out of here, now.” I stood up and started running the way that I thought I had gotten here, but the truth was that nothing looked as it did before, and a sudden realization hit me: I was completely and utterly lost.'- Untold Stories, Frederick Michael