Shattered Dreams
A short story
For my hamster, Walnut. I hope you didn’t end this way....
“Life isn’t about being yourself. Life is about finding yourself. ”
-Unknown
“And the winners are…. Sasha and Ella!” The announcer’s voice boomed across the auditorium on a loudspeaker. The crowd cheered for my sister and me. Jumping up I careened around my chair, my green eyes flashing. My sister, Sasha, leaped up and down. Her beautiful, waved red hair flew out behind her.
“We won, Ella! We won!” she shouted. We dashed down the aisle and hopped onto the stage. Snatching my trophy, I showed it to the crowd. Then I tripped on nothing,it he fell forwards, and shattered the trophy’s delicate glass.
Then the crowd turned peaceful. Silence filled the room. An ice age had fallen apron on the earth. The shards of broken glass still held their places in the quiet air. The audience stood mid-cheer, their mouths agape. The expressions on their faces almost sent me flying backwards. The eyes of the audience stared blankly at me. They looked dead. Just dead. Even Sasha’s eyes dug into my skull.
Chuckling nervously I flipped my black hair and shouted forth to the unmoving figures before me.
“Ha ha, very funny! Nice try!” The quietness fully penetrated everything. Even I felt the need to shut my mouth. “But it’s not, so snap out of it!!” My voice echoed throughout the theatre.
I trembled wildly. These people had issues! What a stupid joke!
I stumbled over to a fat man wearing a suit. Balancing on my toes, I put my mouth to his ear and screamed.
“WAKE UP!” My voice sounded empty and alone. The man just kept staring. Angry, I pushed him over. He landed with a soft thud. His glasses skidded across the floor and shattered into millions of tiny pieces.
I stared at the lifeless figures before me. Then hot tears welled up in my eyes and spilled down my cheeks. I cried my heart out....alone.
Then something stirred. I looked up to see my sister, Sasha, stretch as if she had been in a deep sleep. I bolted toward her and wrapped my arms around her sweet warmth.
“Ella?” Sasha looked surprised. “What’s going on?”
I pulled away and gestured frantically to the sea of dead faces around me. “Just look at them!” I yelled, louder than I intended as I wandered through the midst of the zombies.
Sasha stood rigid, staring back at the faces. Then tears filled her eyes and she sobbed wildly. Drawn out cries of agony reverberated around the room. I ran to my sister.
I almost reached her, too.
Then it happened. The world blurred. No, not just blurry like a miss-taken photo, but waves of static came at me at all sides. I shut my eyes, trying to block out the screams of agony I heard around me.
Then I spun downwards, falling straight down to a bed of pine needles on a forest floor. Still mid-scream, something wrapped around my waist, catching me from myself. I discontinued my cries of help, and relaxed. I turned around to see who had caught me. A giant grasshopper’s face loomed in front of me. I continued my scream again and twisted frantically, trying to get free.
"GO AWAY!" I shouted. "STOP!" Just then the insect’s eyes shattered like glass, then it disappeared. I started falling for a second time toward the forest floor. But then the ate pizza. forestland disappeared. Sasha took its place. We screamed in unison and collapsed in a pile on a cold, hard floor. As I recovered with my eyes closed, I imagined where we had appeared. A castle maybe? Heaven? A good feeling came over me. I bet we had deported in a golden ballroom, lights shining everywhere. Maybe roses and a handsome prince waited for me! I opened my eyes, smiling. Everything appeared exactly the way I had imagined it. The beauty of it made me want to sing!
I let out a beautiful high note and held it, spinning in my lovely gown I had appeared in. My lovely glass slippers cracked and shattered. I blinked. My note went flat and my sister looked at me strangely.
“Um, Ella?” I shook my head to clear it. What had happened?
Looking up, I saw an entry less pure white room. Just a small white room. A light mist shrouded the closet like space. Claustrophobia penetrated me and I searched the silent enclosure for a larger space. Above me, immense ceilings rose higher then I could see! I started to quiver, intimidated by how high the misty ceiling was. Soft light filled the space, wavering slowly to blackness and then back to the effortless glow it once had been. I turned to my sister.
"B-but what about the g-grasshopper?" I asked, shuddering. "Grasshopper?" My older sister paused, taking in her surroundings. Then she seemed to hear what I said, and looked at me strangely. "I just saw an evil giant vampire rabbit trying to bite into my flesh!"
"This is too weird." I decided. "Let's try something. Sash, imagine a unicorn. Imagine HARD."
I sat and watched Sasha, staring at something that I couldn’t see. A slow smile spread across her face as she reached out her hand to touch something. A weird feeling came over me as I watched Sasha's face, in her own mind, brightened by the light of the room. Then Sasha jumped back.
“I-it shattered!” I looked at her strangely.
“Th-the unicorn! It shattered!” She said, still mesmerized by the spell of her imagination.
Then it hit me. My life. OUR life. Imagined by us sisters. Nothing we knew or remembered had really happened.
Sasha emerged from her trance and saw me crumpled in a heap, crying like I never had before.
"S-Sasha.... Wh-what about our l-life?" I mumbled between tears. As the realization sinks in, my sister turns away. "Ella.... I’m not…" She stops, and says nothing.
A few minutes pass as we think. Then Sasha's sweet voice breaks the silence. “So if we break this room.... We're free?" Her voice seemed reluctant, sad even.
I look up, startled. "Really?!?" A spark of hope shoots through me as I start dancing around the room amidst hugging my sister.
"Really Ella!" Sasha looks at me sternly. "Control yourself! It might be better to just imagine our old life back!"
I gave a small smile. Finally, I had my turn to look at her with a contradictory stare. "We don't have a life! It's just filled with creepy dead people!"
Sasha sighed. "Then imagine the room shattering."
I hadn't thought of that. I shut my eyes tight, concentrating, but to no prevail.
"Harder! Concentrate!" my sister says loudly.
My mind strained at the room vibrated. "HARDER!!!" My sister shouted, more confident than I remembered her to be. My mind seemed to explode. Everything around me seemed to get farther away.
"This is it Ella! Your chance to shine!" Sasha's sweet voice seemed to be fading.
Suddenly, the room started to rock violently. Fog shrouded the room. Opening my eyes I saw Sasha, tears brimming in her eyes. Confused I stumbled towards her.
"I....." Sasha's voice barely even whispered a my face ass she wrapped her arms around me. "I'm so sorry Ella....." A teardrop landed softly on she tightened her grip on me…. then faded into the mist.
"SASHA!"
It had become too late.
Suddenly I felt violently ill. Vomit shot up my throat and spilled over my lip and onto the cold floor. A rank stench met my nostrils and an awful taste filled my mouth.
“NO!” I shouted in agony as deep cracks formed in the walls. Then it happened. The room, shattering into millions of little pieces. Then I started to spin helplessly downward, shrouded with pure light. Then the light disappeared. I fell silently in eternal darkness. My screams were nothing in the dark abyss.
To fall forever with no stars….
What have I done...?
Also get rid of the space. (When you edit, you have to copy and paste the story in, otherwise it reverts back to the origional)
PS. Is reverts a word?
There are some parts N edited in Google Docs... I told you not to let him be allowed to edit
Here they are:
"But then the ate pizza. forestland disappeared."
and
"Then I tripped on nothing,it he fell forwards,"
Really good Abber! (I know it's Amber, but I'm her friend, I can call her what I want
)