Young Writers Society

Lola had just been about to ask for the boy's name when two things happened: the first, was an otter taller than Lola wearing human clothes appearing from the hall. The second was the boy screaming bloody murder in her ear. Now admittedly, Lola couldn't blame the boy for his reaction. Lola had been grappling between the urge to scream and run away as fast as possible in the few too-long seconds that they had all exchanged stupefied glances between each other. The boy, as Lola's eardrums knew, had beat her to it. However, now all Lola could do was stare at the...otter...person...thing in a confusing mixture of terror and amazement.

"What the heck..." she muttered, taking a small step backwards, "What the heck is going on here. An otter person! A freaking..." Lola laughed nervously, gaze still trained on the otter in front of them.

Aegeas's ears rang. He covered them and took a step back, eyes jumping between the two teenagers. The boy continued to scream, while the girl made some comment he couldn't quite hear. They were dressed oddly - more colorful than he was used to - but otherwise looked fairly ordinary. At least, they seemed more surprised about him than the other way around.

"Shut up!" Aegeas shouted. "What is your problem?"

It had been a very long night. I'd sent my manuscripts to my publisher, eavesdropped on three different people, and sold the details of my findings to the constabulary as agreed. And some discreet gentleman I met on the way, who had assured me he'd put them to good use. I was naturally more concerned with his ability to keep his mouth shut, and my pockets filled, and I was not disappointed in that regard.
So I went home, fed my raven, and celebrated the nights productivity with some mushroom wine.

It was indeed a productive, and profitable night. But I was plagued again by that creeping dread that despite everything, I was no closer to achieving my true goal than I had been yesterday. Or the week prior. Or the past few years.

No matter how many small mysteries I uncovered, there was always that big one, clawing at my brains. It was still out there, and despite all the connections I'd worked so hard to get, despite everything- every great hurdle I crossed was always replaced by another.
Whatever I did I just couldn't get that weight off of my mind.

So, the wine wasn't doing it, then. I locked the door and reached for some more... hallucinogenic substances.

They led me into a golden field, full of bubbles and flowers. I sat down by a babbling creek, and watched the reeds rush back and forth in the light current. What was I thinking about before? It mustn't have been important. I closed my eyes, and listened to the wind. I let it take me.

Then the sound of the wind was rudely interrupted by a scream in the near distance, and the ringing of a headache. I groaned and looked up. The alley I had found myself in was alien to me. It was all metal- no wood, no shingles to be seen anywhere. Where was the dirt? This was the cleanest street I had ever seen in my life. Even the light looked cleaner somehow- it hurt to look at. Overall, I mark it among my less enjoyable hallucinations. I rolled over and went back to sleep.

Lola stopped dead at the otter's comment. Mouth hanging open, she muttered what she hoped sounded like an apology.

"Sor..Sorry, I'm just not really...I don't...I'm sorry, I'm just not really used to...whatever you are and I have no idea what's going on or where I am and I'm just kind of stressed out right now so I'm really sorry," She paused for a breath of air, "I just really want to go home." Lola crossed her arms and stared intently at the floor.

Lucy shook her head. Satisfied by the cursory glance she gave the man's fingers, she was quick to answer his question. "We're just as lost as you are," she admitted. "Both of us just woke up here a few minutes ago. I'm Lucy, by the way."

She almost asked if he had seen Oliver, but she doubted he had and held her tongue. If he had seen Oliver, he would have interacted with him instead of them.

Oliver closed his mouth with a surprising suddenness. Though he had stopped screaming, he kept his eyes wide with terror and his skin pale. Neither was hard to accomplish. He felt horribly guilty about pretending to be so afraid, but he couldn't risk discovery. There was too much at stake for that.

He shoved his hands into his pockets and tried to look as small as possible for someone that was his height. It wasn't an easy feat, but he somehow managed to pull it off. "Wh-What are you?" he stammered. He kept staring at the bipedal otter, who, apparently, could speak English? He honestly hadn't expected that.

Bo’s eyebrows shot up and he scratched the back of his head. He didn’t want to jump to conclusions, but it almost sounded like a mass kidnapping. And even considering whatever other options there were, they certainly weren’t good.

“Well, I’m Bo. Nice to meet you. Though I’d prefer under less concerning curcumstances, of course.” He looked over to the teenaged boy. “And what’s your name?”

What an odd question. Given that question and their expressions, Aegeas would've thought they'd never seen someone like him before. But that was absurd, wasn't it?

"I'm Aegeas," he said. "Who else would I be?"

"My name's Raiden," the teenage boy said, a friendly, lopsided grin on his face.
"I think this may be the third time I've been diagnosed with 'I woke up and don't remember how I got here, wherever here is'," he mumbled to himself, remembering two other times when a similar thing had occured. He didn't give it much thought, though.

Bo let out a short laugh. He liked Raiden's humor. "Well, it certainly wouldn't be the first time for me either. Though I think this is different than all of the other times though. I don't remember doing anything to cause this, and if neither of you do either, I have a feeling this might be more than it may seem. I.E. it's possible we were brought here intentionally."

Raiden nodded.
"The two times before it was intentional, too. Though it's probably just for me," he said, stuffing his hands into his hoodie's pockets.
"Anyway, we should probably get outta here before they realise we're awake. Or, uhm, we could figure out what this place is and stay here," he suggested with a shrug.
"Option 3 is we find explosives and we blow this place up. But usually people aren't too fond of that option, so we're pretty much limited to option one and two."

What in the stymphalic backpipes of Newgate was this? I awoke again, still in that godforsaken shining city. I felt awake this time. Properly awake. One never wakes in the same hallucination twice in a row- at least, I never had.
I intended to have some choice words with my dealer when I came fully to my senses.

For now, I elected to follow the voices and see what they had to say. If I had to remain prisoner of a dream gone sour, I would at least have company.

Following said voices, I found two young men, in some foreign dress I did not recognize. A strange, minimalist sort of garb.
I brushed the dust off of my tailcoat, adjusted my cravat, and strode up to them.

'You there, sirs! Good evening. Have you been here before, perchance? I am Boris Dietrich, and I would be much obliged if you could guide me a little.'

Raiden turned to the man who looked like he came out of some really old British movie.
"Urm, no, no I've never been here before, and I doubt either of these two have," he spoke, nodding to Lucy and Bo.
"My name is Raiden, by the way."
He decided not to bring up his old fashioned way of talking just yet - perhaps he did it just because it was fun.

"I haven't been here before," Lucy confirmed.

She had spent the past few minutes observing the people she had encountered. Bo and Raiden seemed normal. Frustratingly clueless about the situation, but normal. Boris was a little different. His clothes were odd, but he had yet to do anything that suggested he wasn't a good person.

She held out a hand and waited for him to shake it. It would be the perfect opportunity to see if he was hiding any sort of fractures. A Zixen trying to blend in among humans could be the explanation for the odd attire. Or, alternatively, Boris was just a little strange.


Oliver gulped at the response. A big, noticeable gulp. He made a point and slouching even more than before, ducking his head down ever so slightly and staring over at Aegeas with wide, terrified eyes.

"You're not human," he whispered.

His gaze darted nervously around the hallway, almost as if he was looking for something to defend himself with. He really did need to find a weapon. Neither of the two he had run into seemed particularly dangerous, but he had been kidnapped. Something to fend off his kidnappers when they showed themselves was a must.

Bo nodded at the new arrival.

"We all just woke up here with no memory of how we got here, but it seems like you're in the same boat as us." He pointed to himself. "I'm Bo." He gestured to Lucy. "She's Lucy. And we're all confused."