Summer's Dream (2)

  • So many newbies lately! Here is a very important PSA about one of our most vital content policies! Read it even if you are an ancient member!
K

Kitti

Guest
Original poster

moonlight+ghosts.jpg

Bugs were softly humming from somewhere in the distance, the first thing that Wren heard as she opened her eyes. At first, she thought that she was dreaming when the lids finally opened and she stared up around her. A thick canopy of green leaves obscured the sky from vision entirely, despite the fact that Wren was laying in a clearing. The foliage was so dense that the growth covered the sky even where there were no trees. It would have been entirely dark were it not for the patches of fungus that speckled the trees. Delicate gold mushrooms sprouting from the bark of the trees gave off a luminescent glow that lit the area well enough for Wren to see. Beneath her, despite the lack of sunlight, a lush carpet of grass was growing, white as snow.

A faint giggle reached Wren's ears just as a tiny shimmering light whizzed past her face. Wren could barely make out two small eyes and pointed fangs on a little humanoid body before it was too far away for her to see anything but its light. Suddenly, Wren realized that the others were still scattered around her, sleeping peacefully in the grass. Pushing herself up using her hands, Wren got shakily to her feet. Her sneakers sunk into the grass a little, though at first it didn't disturb her.

Entranced by the phosphorescent mushrooms, Wren padded across the grass to the nearest tree with fungus on it and admired the intensity of the light. When turned turned back to question the biology student to see what he had to say, however, her mouth dropped in surprised. Tendrils of grass had begun to wrap themselves around her friends from below, slowly encasing them in a cool white cocoon.

Wren yelped, diving towards the nearest of the students, from the looks of it Travis. Wren tore away handfuls of grass to extricate him and shook him roughly to try to wake him before beginning to pull the grass from the other two in the group.

"Wake up!" she yelled at them as she uprooted stalks of grass.
​
​
 
Taylor's previous night before the excursion to that seaside town had been an eventful one. He had finished his dance final in a very strong performance which really challenged him, but he had felt good about it and his teacher had even assured him that he was getting a high grade. Because of this he was probably the most jovial on the way down to the small seaside town that him and a number of his classmates and friends.

When a small group had decided to go to a local coffee shop Taylor was one of the first ones to volunteer to join them, especially when he saw a couple of the guys that had decided to go.

The next thing he remembered after spending a good amount of time, flirting with a couple of cute guys and talking with that girl Wren was waking up to Wren's voice. "Ugh, Wren? Where...who spiked the coffee?" He chuckled, opening his eyes and surveying the surroundings. They were in a deep forest, or at least he assumed it was a deep forest, for all he knew the town could be just on the other side of some of these trees. Maybe they had wandered out of the coffee shop after their drinks were spiked and had some blackout naked witchcraft dance. Checking himself he realized that he was clothed and decided that it was probably a good idea to stop just laying down and actually get up.

With a groan he picked himself up and stretched a bit, looking at his other sleeping classmates. "So uh, Wren, any ideas where we are?"
 
Travis was having a wonderful dream. He was dreaming that he had captured a live Nessie specimen and had it in a giant aquarium for all to see. People no longer scoffed at the idea of a sea serpent living in the lake, for there was the creature right in front of their eyes. Travis was answering eager question from curious people as they oohed at the creature swimming gracefully.
Though soon his dream was interrupted by someone shaking him violently. He groaned, turning on his side. "Five more minutes mom..." He mumbled, before desperately trying to grab the dream that had eluded him. Alas, the sounds of cheers and clapping from people and the sounds of clicking from Nessie were elusive, like the beast itself. Travis staggered to sit up right, rubbing his eyes and long hair. "Mom, I was having an a--" Travis looked around. No, there wasn't his mother. Just a girl, some other people, and a...forest?
Travis stumbled to his feet, looking around. "Wow...Look at this place. How'd we get here." He looked toward the girl. Wren, he recalled her name, was it. She was an art student. "Hey, Wren. Do you know how we got here?"
 

Among the last to be woken up was Adelie, who rubbed her eyes in confusion at the scene around her as soon as they opened. The others who had already woken up seemed to be taking the whole affair nonchalantly enough but Adelie could tell that Wren for one looked panicked. The others were asking questions about how they had gotten here -- Adelie would like to know that herself -- but they seemed to be missing an important aspect of the whole affair, why does Wren look so terrified and why are there piles around them of uprooted white grass?

Adelie stood up, wanting to know the answer to questions as well, but Wren already seemed surrounded by questions and she was looking from on of the guys to the other. Finally, much to Abelie's relief, Wren flung her arms around the two guys and squeezed them together in a tight hug. Standing back a little bit, Abelie waited intently for Wren to say something.

​
"I don't really know how we got here, guys. When I woke up, there were these fairy things and I went to go look at a glowing mushroom and then the grass, like, tried to eat you!"

Wren released the two guys and stared around sternly. Everyone seemed to be slowly getting up, so the grass wouldn't be much of a problem anymore. It was hard to know what exactly was going on, since last that any of them could remember, they were in a fairly tame little coffee shop. Abelie took a few steps closer to Wren and the guys, biting her lip hesitantly.

"Maybe we should look for a way out, then? It can't be very far to another town, there must be lots of towns near the forest, right?"
​
 
Taylor was busy feeling his pockets as Wren talked, only half paying attention. He fished out his wallet, still had all his money. Next he retrieved his phone and looked to find that he wasn't receiving a signal. Well that's worthless He sighed, putting his phone back in his pocket. Then he realized what Wren had told him, "Wait, the GRASS tried to eat us?" he cried out, quickly kicking his leg up behind him and stood on one foot as high up as he could get, which was pretty tall, being nearly 6'3" standing.

"I agree with her," he said pointing to Adelie, "There's probably a way to get out of here if we just start walking in the right direction, so I guess the question would be, well, which way?" He smiled at Wren and Travis, taking an extra moment to really get a good look at Travis before letting his gaze finally drift to Adelie.
 
The sound of nearby voices woke Jeff. His head was pounding; he figured he had had too much to drink last night. Quickly deciding that his best course of action was to sleep off his hangover, he rolled over. But something felt odd about his resting place. He opened his eyes and looked around. A dense forest surrounded him on all sides, with no visible source of light other than glowing mushrooms. The forest felt mystical, like something out of a videogame.

Jeff stood up, trying to figure out how he got here. The last thing he remembered was going to a coffee shop with some of the other students, and then...nothing. He stood there, looking around, when the sound of voices reached him again. There were others here with him? Must have been one hell of a coffee party. He started walking towards the voices, pushing himself through some of the dense foliage. A few feet later he stepped out in to a clearing, where several people were standing, looking around. He recognized them from the coffee shop last night.

"Uh, hey. Where are we?"
 
Travis smiled, surveying the area. "Haha, look at this place? Maybe we're in another dimension? Or, better yet, maybe we've been abducted by aliens and this is a virtual simulation environment for their ship. Maybe they're even testing us." He laughed. "That's pretty cool. Abducted by aliens...I've dreamed of it but I'd never thought it'd happen to me! I wonder..."
Snapping out of his occult geek trance, he turned towards the others. "I suggest we don't split up. This place is unknown to us and we could easily get lost and by ourselves. We need our strength in numbers." He grinned. "We don't want some scary alien with a cloaking device hunting us down, now do we?"

Travis picked up a large stick lying in the ground and hefted it in his hand. "Alright, first we should choose a path to walk into. Then--" He drew in the air with the broken limb. "--I'll draw an arrow pointing in the direction we went. That way, if there's other people here, they can follow us and hopefully save us." He smiled throwing the stick a few feet in the air. It twirled midair for a few seconds, before Travis caught in his other hand. "So, how's the plan?"
 

Listening to Travis, Wren grinned broadly at him. Where the others were shy, he seemed exuberant. His ideas about aliens and cloaking devices and all of that though, made her chuckle. Then again, they had suddenly wound up here in this crazy forest with little to nothing to go on, so maybe his idea wasn't so crazy after all. At least it was some sort of explanation. She did at least agree with his plans though.

"That sounds good!" Wren chirped to him, looking around the clearing. There was no indication of any possible route to take from where they were standing and Wren made a face. She twirled and looked at all of the others. With a sigh, she crossed her arms and pouted. "I just don't see where we're supposed to go, you know? I wish we had a guide..."

The last word to roll off of Wren's tongue echoed through the trees, bouncing around the clearing despite the fact that nothing had echoed before. The leaves on the trees rustled around them as if moving with the echo and Wren looked around, wide-eyed with her mouth slightly open. A cool breeze ruffled through their hair.

From the trees to the left, an elderly man emerged. He couldn't be more than three feet in height, easily dwarfed by even the shortest member of the group. He was wrinkled and clad all in soft woolen clothing with a small wooden cane in hand. Despite his physical appearance, he moved surprisingly fast toward them over the grass.

The trees to the right gave way to another figure, a beautiful woman stepped out. The woman also approached the group, sweeping her hair away from her face. The two continued walking until they stood side by side in front of the group. Both smiled broadly.

"You said that you were in need of a guide?"
​
​
 
Rayne awoke to the sound of footsteps, her eyes flashed open and she stared around before heaving herself up, she recognized maybe two of them, though never actually speaking.
Next she felt a stab of pain in her left temple and vaguely remembered drinking a lot the night before, she let her eyes sweep her surroundings and immediately felt a pang.
How hadn't she noticed her surroundings before?
Rayne's worry now ignited she looked to the others. they all seemed as nonplussed as she.
She walked over to the others her hands opening and closing, she tried to act calm all the while screaming inside her head.
 
Travis laughed. "Why, thanks." He answered to Wren's compliment. Looking all around, he realized it would be pretty hard to chose a route. There were very many directions that they could go to and it was very possible only one of them could lead to the right way. One of out ten routes. Travis didn't like those odds, but they were better than nothing. He watched Wren and noticed her pouting.

"I just don't see where we're supposed to go, you know? I wish we had a guide..." She said gloomily. Travis was about to say something to cheer her up, but then he heard rustling in the bushes. He gripped the stick in an almost sword-like fashion, facing towards the rustling. His stick was, to be polite, a pretty pathetic weapon, but it was the only weapon they had. "Hello? Anyone there?" He shouted to the bushes.

To his surprise, an old man and a young woman. The man was short, maybe only three feet. The woman however, looked more human. Both stood side-by-side, smiling at the group. "You said that you were in need of a guide?" They said.

Travis nearly dropped the stick he was holding. "Oh, wow! Humans here? Well, maybe they're not humans. Maybe they're aliens with human body suits. In fact--" He pointed to the old man. "Not to be rude or anything, uh...sir, but you're about the same height as Greys, the most popular kind of alien!" Travis smiled and waved his hand. "Hello there! Are you aliens?" It was a silly question to ask, but Travis couldn't help himself.
 
This isn't my bed. My bed doesn't talk....does it?

Dionna rubbed her eyes and tried to blink. She never had to 'try to blink' before, but every time she tried to open her eyes, a bright white glared slashed back at her.

"What the hey..."she mumbled. She averted her eyes from the ground and up to the sky. Awkward enough, the sky was darker than the ground, even with her eyes shut tight. Dionna made out voices around her; voices of familiarity. Wren...Travis...Tayler..huh. She had suddenly remembered the trip and her head shot up, dark brown hair following after her.

"Guys! Where are--" She stopped herself abruptly, surveying the scene. Everyone seemed to be calm and collected, and pretty much awake. There was a grogginess still in Dionna's head that she pushed away. "Oh...I'm late, aren't I?" she asked to no one in particular.
​
 
Taylor looked around at the grass, deciding it was probably safe to stand normally, since the grass didn't seem too interested in trying to eat them still. The others however, were finally starting to wake up and that was probably for the best. He nodded to himself as he looked at everyone again, it was strange how calm they all were even when the old man hobbled out of the woods followed closely by a younger woman, as if on cue from Wren's hoping for a guide.

Something about them was a bit unsettling to Taylor, especially the way that they hadn't seemed to encounter the deadly mushrooms or the fairies that Wren had spoken about but on another level he wanted to trust them. It might be simply because they were the first human beings (at least, he thought they were humans) that the group had encountered in this strange world, wherever it was. Could it actually be an alien planet like Travis thinks? He pondered, noticing that Dionna was finally getting up. He decided to walk over to her, since the others seemed to be preoccupied with one another. "Hey, Dionna, good to see you're up. I don't think any of us know where we are but I think we should all have someone to stick with so maybe you and I could, I dunno, stick together?" He shrugged and smiled, hoping the girl would be willing to stick with him, after all he was the only one he really had any level of familiarity with, being in a couple of classes with her this year.
 
Dionna's eyes sparkled and bounced off the hues of the grass, mushrooms, and every other weird thing she saw around her.

"Sure! Besides, I'd rather be creeped out with someone creeped out with me than being creeped out alone." The sudden notion that she was talking too much dawned on her. "So...I'm just gonna.." Her mouth closed shut and turned back to the old man and young woman. She saw Wren and Travis conversing to the two people. Good. That just means I don't have to do it.

"Hello there! Are you aliens?"

Dionna stiffled a smile and kudged Taylor in the shoulder. "Funny guy, eh?" Dionna took the time to look around at the other students. This is quite a predcament we've gotten ourselves into. Adelie was poised and collected. She, out of all of the other students around her, didn't seem too worried about the ordeal. And why not? The forest, as beautiful as it was, was not natural. Well, at least according to Dionna's definition of normal.

"Hey...Taylor. Should we insert ourselves in the ruckus, or stay veryyy far behind and just follow along?"she asked. The question, though rhetorical at first, was really nagging at her.​
 

Standing a little behind Wren, Abelie had been watching the pair that had emerged at Wren's request for a guide. She hadn't said anything until now about them but when the others didn't seem to notice, she stepped forward with her face squished up into a funny expression with her hands tucked into the pockets of her skirt.

"Why is it that you happen to speak, in this bizarre place, the language that we understand best?" Perhaps no one else noticed because they all only spoke English, but to Abelie... they were speaking Italian. Since Abelie had taken that the others were understanding the guides and not questioning them for their language, she assumed that these two were not speaking Italian for the rest of the group.

​
"What a precious child" the maiden giggled, tilting her head to the right with a smile spread across her face. The old man made a funny sound that seemed part way between a chuckle and a wheeze. "We do not speak your languages" the woman said finally, simply. The old man grinned this time.

"No more questions, please" he chortled, patting his stomach. "Very rude, you know, to keep us waiting. You asked for a guide, after all..." The woman stretched her left hand out to indicate trees that were on the group's right side. The old man pointed his cane with his right hand. At either point, the trees appeared to pull themselves apart, creating an archway. The grass beneath either one glowed faintly in different hues. The path that the woman indicated shone a pastel pink while the man's path became a rich brown.

The pink path was lit with what seemed to be delicate fairy lights in the trees and a faint laughter piped once from the depths which they could not see. The brown path was dim with a few hearty toadstools lining the path. There was no light and the path seemed much darker than the other for it.


"Well. I guess we have to pick one, huh? I don't think we should split up, after all..."
​
 
Rayne swallowed hard and took a few steps back, the lighter path to her seemed more eerie.
She hadn't spoken yet, and wasn't sure anyone even knew she was here.
"I agree, splitting up wouldn't do us any favours.."
She looked around deciding if she should join the group too, there was a good 2 meters between them, and she looked a bit anti social.
She stood playing with her fingers clamped together behind her back.
She looked behind her and then back to the front before taking a few steps forward, after all they were all in this together.
She was next to someone she knew to be called Travis, he seemed to find this place interesting rather than creepy, and this comforted her a little, to much negativity wouldn't help either.
Rayne picked up what looked like a branch and then a stone, with a sharp edge and began to slowly carve the branch, if they need a weapon at any point, a spear may help. And she could always give it to one of the others, if they wished, she wouldn't be much of a guard. The thought made her smile.
​
 
Travis rubbed his chin, looking at the two pathways. He examined the pale pink one, then the chestnut colored one.
"Hm, the pink one seems nice, but looks can be deceiving..." He turned towards Wren. "Well, what do you think we should take?" Without even waiting for an answer, he turned towards the two. "Hey, do we just choose at random?"
Travis felt a bit uncomfortable with this idea. One of these paths could lead somewhere nasty. He took another look at the paths. They didn't know what kind of creatures were in this alien forest. For all they knew, alien hunters with cloaking devices could actually roam these places. He gripped his stick. It was now his weapon. The alien might have a cloaking device, ray gun, super knife, and whatever crazy weapon that would bring his to shreds. But if he went down, he'd go down with a fight. Besides, maybe the alien would their friend. That would be cool and Travis could die happy.

"So, we still shouldn't split up," Travis said to the group. "But I am having a hard time figuring out which path to choose. Anyone got ideas?"
 
Rayne bit her lip.
"Well, I'm thinking about taking the darker path myself, if the pink one holds that laughter, I'm deffo going with dark" she nodded to her self and took a deep breath looking down the path from where she stood.
"I just think, that since we don't know anything about this place anything could be backwards, that pink path is light..but I see far worse things happening down that one then I do the chestnut path." Rayne rubbed her arm, slightly proud of her self for speaking up, but then just hoping someone would listen to her.
The rock and spear she dropped when she spoke earlier led at her feet, she picked the spear up and snapped of the head putting in in her pocket.
 

The group seemed to have unanimously chosen the path that was dark, the brown one. Wren herself thought that the idea was a good one, too, since it wasn't always better to not be alone and that laughter definitely told her that they weren't going to be alone on their travels if they followed that path. Holding her head up high, Wren pointed toward the brown path. "We'll take that path, then" Wren told the guides boldly.

The little old man chuckled, rubbing his hands together. The maiden leapt towards Wren, her nails elongating into claws as she drew close and Wren shrunk back, her eyes closed tightly shut. A small 'pop' in front of her prompted her to open her eyes again. The maiden was no longer there but just a few inches in front of Wren was a little field mouse, its hair tipped in baby pink. It lunged again for Wren's foot and Wren kicked it across the clearing.

​
"Ohohoho, I'm glad you weren't deceived by the route that seems most beautiful... but be careful about what seems secure, too!" the little man disappeared and with him, the pink path vanished as well, receding into the trees until it seemed as if nothing had changed from before. Even the little mouse had vanished.

"Guess we're going this way then, huh?" Wren said nervously, her smiled strained.
​
 
Rayne nodded slowly, not blinking but slowly breathing.
How could this be real, things like this don't exist, and even if they did why were they all here, what exactly was in that coffee.
Rayne shivered but couldn't help but think at least they weren't going down the other path, she let out a relieved sigh and smiled sightly.
"Yup" She could feel the strain that was emitted off of everyone and her smile soon vanished.
"I'm not sure those guides really wanted to help...I'm hoping we don't run into them again."
 
"Oh boy....There's no getting around this one." Dionna said aloud, rubbing her right arm. Though she didn't speak up as to which route to go on, she had a small animosity towards light paths. It was bad enough her eyes were blinded by the white grass, but walking down a pink pathway to safety? This was not the Wizard of Oz.

Dionna nudged Taylor again. "Well. That's one way to insert ourselves."she shrugged and began making her way to the rest of the group. Wren seemed very confident and almost prepared for anything the forest had for her. Travis on the other was the comic relief of the entire group. We could really use him. Adelie was quiet, but very observant. We could use her too. We could use everyone!

The one called Rayne had an air of courage about her.

"Nice weapon."she called out with a grin. "For fear that I might poke someone in the eye on accident, I'll use this instead." she said, pointing to her legs. Dionna was always clumsy, which excluded her from possessing sharp sticks. Or any sharp objects for that matter.

Enough fooling yourself, Dionna. We gotta get a move on.​
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom
Back