End of a Hiatus

Guess who’s back! It’s me! Pixie!

I gave an update a few months ago about where I was and what was happening in my personal life. After the update, I made the decision to focus solely on my health, but I’ve recently had this urge to start writing again. I’m not sure exactly what I want to write about, but that’s fairly usual for me. I absolutely expect to get even more random than I already am and I plan to do some fantasy writing on top of my regular topics. I didn’t plan anything else for this post so I’ll give you a taste of what I had in mind for my fantasy writing.

Please remember that my content is not for children or anyone who may find sexual, graphic, and extremely mature content offensive or difficult to handle. Reader discretion is always advised and I won’t be accepting complaints about you not paying enough attention to your own limits.

Thin Lines

It was the first time he’d ever taken me on vacation. In the three years we’d been together, I’d always planned our trips, funded our tickets, and made sure Dalton never got bored. So when he told me he’d planned a vacation for us and all expenses were already taken care of, I was ecstatic. I didn’t even question where we were going or how we were getting there, I was just so grateful that he’d taken the time to do something for me.

We drove for less than a day to the other side of Wyoming, in Cheyenne. He’d booked us a hotel for two days, and said we’d be staying there the whole time, enjoying our time away from home.

“Can we at least go to the pool?” I asked, already digging for my bathing suit.

“I mean, if you really want to. I don’t know how comfortable you’ll be in your bathing suit around everyone else,” Dalton replied from his place on the bed.

I looked down at my body and instantly felt self conscious. My two piece bathing suit was high wasted and the top was longer, but my stomach would still show, and I couldn’t cover my legs.

“You’re right, I’ll just stay here,” I admitted, putting the bathing suit back in my bag.

I crawled onto the bed to lay next to him, but Dalton pulled away.

“Don’t crowd me, Les, it’s too damn hot in here.”

“Right, sorry.”

I thought a vacation would mean spending quality time together, not sitting next to each other in a dead silent room. I was waiting for him to announce that he was bored and ready to go do something, but he just closed his eyes and turned away from me. I didn’t what else I could do, so I crept out of the room to get some food or a drink.

The vending machine didn’t have a lot of options, but a bottle of water and a bag of chips was better than nothing. I walked back to the room and stupidly realized I didn’t have my key card on me. I knocked and called for Dalton.

“Hey, babe, I’m sorry I forgot my key. Can you let me in?”

I waited patiently, knowing he would have to get off the bed. He finally did come to the door and open it just enough for me to slip in. I shut the door behind me, and turned to Dalton. I didn’t even see him move at first, but I felt it when he punched me in the stomach. I doubled over, nearly dropping my snacks.

“Why do you have to be so stupid? Do you know how difficult it is to plan something nice for us when I have to constantly worry about you fucking it up? Jesus, Alessia, we’ve only been here twenty minutes and you’ve already pissed me off. Why do you have to do this to me?” He growled, staying just quiet enough to not be overheard through the hotel.

“I’m sorry, I got hungry and wasn’t thinking,” I apologized, my eyes already stinging with the tears that hadn’t fallen yet.

“Just sit down and be quiet. I’m taking a nap and I don’t want you waking me up for something stupid again.”

I nodded and quickly sat in the single chair next to the bed. I quickly opened my drink and bag before he could lay down so I didn’t make anymore noise when he slept, then I pulled out my phone and made sure to be extra quiet.

I was always stupid, making mistakes that I knew would piss Dalton off, but somehow unable to stop myself. I wouldn’t blame him if he got sick of my stupidity and left me one day.

Once I finished my snack, I leaned back in the chair, and before I knew it, I’d fallen asleep. I awoke in the dead of night to pitch black and my anxiety sky rocketed. Where was Dalton? Had he left me here when he realized I was sleeping? Was he angry with me for not being awake?

I jumped out of the chair and hurried to turn a light on. Once my eyes had time to readjust to the sudden brightness, I found that Dalton was gone, the bed empty and the bathroom door open. I scrambled for my phone, but it had no new messages or missed calls. Dalton had left and didn’t tell me anything about where he was going or when he’d be back.

I tried to calm my racing heart, reasoning that he may have gotten hungry and gone to get food and just didn’t want to wake me. Or he was mad and left, but he was doing something he enjoyed and come back in a better mood. It was for the best that I’d been left behind, or I may have ruined his night by being clumsy and annoying.

I showered quickly, trying to clean myself of the cold sweat that was breaking out over my body, then I laid in the bed and turned on the tv, hoping the distraction would keep me from a full breakdown.

I hadn’t always been so dependent on Dalton. I used to be a college student with dreams, but two years in and Dalton helped me realize that I just wasn’t cut out for college life, so I dropped out and began working full time to help support us. He used to be patient and kind when helping me with my faults, but at some point, he must have become overwhelmed and he lost his patience. I couldn’t blame him. Without him, I would’ve been homeless and starving, he was the only person who loved me enough to tolerate my stupidity.

I watched something stupid on tv for about an hour, not really paying attention but appreciating the noise in place of the silence, and Dalton still wasn’t back. I was getting worried, as it was already close to four a.m. If I called him, at least I would find out if he was okay, but if he was okay my call would risk pissing him off.

I weighed my options and chose to make the call. I leaned over, grabbed my phone off the bedside table, and dialed his number. It sent me straight to voicemail with ringing.

“Hey, babe. I was just calling to make sure your okay. Can you please call me when you can? Thanks, I love you. Bye.”

I hung up and prayed that he wouldn’t be upset by the voicemail, or that he would be back to the room soon enough and we could watch tv or sleep next to each other like nothing ever happened.

I fell asleep again, not really meaning to, but my anxiety had worked it’s way through my body and exhausted every cell. I had a nightmare that Dalton was dragging me along behind him and I could sense that he was furious, but I didn’t know why. I tried to stop, to plead with him to let me go, but he ignored me. Without warning, he yanked me forward in front of him, spun me around so he could look into my eyes, and gave me the most terrifying smile I had ever seen before shoving backwards into pitch black darkness.

A loud thumping on the door woke me. The room was still lit from the light I’d left on, which showed me that Dalton wasn’t back yet, but the thumping on the door sounded again, and I realized he must have forgotten his key like I had and needed in.

I leapt to the the door and swung it open without even checking the peephole. I was so certain it had to be Dalton it took me a minute to understand what I was seeing.

Three massive men in dark clothes stood in front of my door, all staring down at me with indifference or disgust.

“I’m sorry can I help you?” I asked quietly, suddenly aware of how little clothing I was wearing.

The man in the center, a dark skinned man with buzz cut hair and the smallest signs of a tattoo on his neck peaking out from under his collar, spoke first.

“We’re looking for Dalton Jacobs.”

He didn’t have to say anymore. His demeanor and tone indicated that he knew Dalton was supposed to be in the room.

“I’m sorry, I haven’t seen him all night.”

“What’s your name?” he asked.

“Alessia Matthews,” I answered, and I had to fight the urge to explain what I was doing there.

“And what is your relation to Mr. Jacobs?” he questioned, and I was suddenly very nervous.

“Um… Why do you need to know that?”

“It’s important that you answer my question first before I tell you any information.”

I looked between them and concluded that it was best to do and say what they wanted.

“Dalton is my boyfriend.”

“And you don’t know where he is?”

“No, he left after I fell asleep yesterday and I haven’t seen him since.”

“May we come in?”

I didn’t get a chance to answer before the three pushed their way in and shut the door behind them. They looked in the bathroom, behind the curtains, under the bed, in the closet and dresser drawers. They ripped the entire room apart, even taking my bag and dumping its contents onto the bed.

It was then that I finally noticed something missing. It wasn’t just Dalton that wasn’t here anymore, neither was is luggage. His gray duffel bag that he stuffed everything in whenever we went on a trip was gone. It didn’t lay next to mine where the men had discarded it and I couldn’t see it anywhere else in the room.

“I’m going to ask you one more time, are you sure you don’t know where Dalton Jacobs is?” the same man asked again.

I shook my head, struggling to gather any words as the lump formed in my throat and tears threatened to fall.

“Gather her things. You’re coming with us until we can track him down.”

I froze, unsure what he was saying as the men quickly shoved the contents on the bed back into my bag. One threw me a sweater to put on and the other kicked my flip-flops towards me.

“I-I can’t just… Wait… I don’t know you why would I go with you?” I stuttered, still processing.

“Because you don’t have choice. We’re taking you with us, and you can kick and scream and fight all you want but it won’t change anything. No one is coming to help you, no one will care if they see you struggling, they’ll all pretend to not see anything because that’s what people do. They mind their own business because getting involved could get them hurt. So do us all a favor and put your damn shoes on so we can go.”

I nodded slowly and slipped on my shoes and sweater. Then one of the men grabbed my arm and dragged me out of the room, the other two following behind quietly. I wanted to scream, but I was so scared I couldn’t even force myself to breathe correctly and hyperventilating by the time we exited the building. I half expected to be thrown in the back of a van, but they lead me to a black SUV and had me crawl in the back seat.

I was still so confused but I didn’t know what else I could do so I kept my mouth shut and prayed that whatever happened would be over soon.

I don’t know how long we were driving for, and at some point, I must have fallen asleep again, because I woke up to the sun in a different position, and our surroundings had drastically changed from the bustling interstate in southern Wyoming prairies, to a dense forest in the mountains. it could have still been Wyoming, but it felt different. I couldn’t explain it other than a strong sense of not being anywhere, but obviously being somewhere. We also seemed to be traveling downhill, but after a while, I still didn’t feel like we were getting any closer to the bottom of the mountain.

I didn’t even see the tunnel before we were already in it. It was so sudden, being engulfed in the pitch dark, that I nearly jumped out of my skin. The driver wasn’t even sweating as he steered the car around dangerous turns, never flinching, never even scratching the side of the vehicle in the tiny tunnel. He was an expert, he’d obviously done this thousands of times before.

I was startled once more as the car came to a sudden stop, three inches shy of hitting a solid wall of stone. The men all hurried from the car, the one in the back seat dragging me out with him. They approached the stone wall, and one of them pulled a strange glowing stone out of his pocket. He held it up to the wall, which cracked down the middle and split open like a set of sliding doors.

I was left speechless as the other side of the stone wall revealed a city on the other side. It didn’t make any sense. The city itself was lit as if by the sun but I was almost certain we were still underground. I saw stone cottages sitting next to little apartment complexes, and trees growing up in strange places that seemed to be entirely inconvenient for anyone who walked in the street, but none of them seemed to mind. What they were entirely entranced by was the four of us as the giant men pulled me through the crowds, yelling at people to back away.

I was as equally interested in them as they appeared to be of me. Not a single one of them looked human. They varied in appearances as greatly as animals could from each other. Feathers and fur, scales, tails, wings, claws, all features reminiscent of picture books and fairytales. It couldn’t be real, it had to be some strange conventions, or they’d drugged me and didn’t want me to identify anyone, but I knew deep down that neither of those were true. Just as I couldn’t explain the feeling from before, I couldn’t explain this one either.

The men finally dragged me into a building that was heavily guarded on the outside, but very few guards roamed the dark and twisted halls within. They didn’t stop until they reached a thick metal door, which they pulled me through showing me a small decrepit space made of cold stone with only a small layer of hay on the ground. The one that still had the tight grip on me brought to a wall, and before I could realize what was happening, he’d shackled a collar around my neck.

“Wait, what are you-?” I started asking.

“You’ll stay here until we can get all the answers we need from you,” the dark skinned man said, then he and his companions left, locking the door behind them.