Inaret

I stretched in my bed and yawned, whilst pulling my duvet up to my chin. I breathed deeply, smelling the fresh aromas of my newly cleaned sheets. Thin beams of intense, orange light striped the otherwise shadowy walls of my bedroom from my window. I yawned again, and shivered in the cold, my eyes fluttering shut.

No sooner had I done this, I was tumbling through the night sky. Air was roaring around me, desperately trying to keep me airborne; and my body was being flipped as a paper doll. I screamed as any sane person would, eventually falling headfirst into an even darker oblivion. What had I done? It was as if an arcane vortex had bulged from my mattress as the yolk does on a fried egg, and engulfed me. Eventually, my throat ached and became dry, so I resorted to a strangled, almost gurgled noise from deep within my throat.

There was a click, and the impossible darkness became a kinder darkness, like that of my room at night, and I landed on something soft.

"Oof." I sat up angrily, muttering profanities to myself as I rubbed my elbows and knees which took my awkward landing hardest. It was then that I realised something strange. I pushed my hands further into my soft landing space, submerging my fingers into it. It was soft like wool, and bouncy like a sponge pillow or duvet, but it was large enough to be a carpet. It was unlike anything I had ever felt before.

I stopped sinking my hands into the mystery carpet, and looked around at my surroundings. This was quite difficult, as it was dark, however it was only mild, and I could see the outlines and silhouettes of furniture. There was an oval desk, an oval screen set in a wall, wardrobes, an archway to another room, and a large black mass opposite me. The large block intrigued me, as there was a breathing lump on it. I had to double-take. A breathing mass?

Where was I? What was that? Could it kill me? Am I in danger? It seemed to be sleeping, so I tried to stop the frightened squeaks that were threatening to seep from between my lips. However, my body recoiled as if on auto pilot, and edged backwards, still on hands and knees. I couldn't take my eyes off the lump. It moved, and groaned, turning over to face me. I held my breath, as I watched it breathe heavily and move its position. I kept on edging backwards, desperately trying to keep as silent as possible; till eventually my quiet luck ran out.

My back rammed into a bookcase, triggering it to wobble, and causing my skull great discomfort. I turned my head around and up, just in time to see the first book fall. I watched as a huge red volume came plummeting down, and splatter on the floor in front of me. This book was unfortunately followed by a great many others which fell on me. I tried, in vain, to shield myself with my arms over my head. There was an almighty crash as one book knocked something down from the desk.

The lump stirred, and my breath caught in my throat. The books began to recede, and slowly they stopped completely. I sighed in relief, and began shoving all the books away from me. Then I heard a creaking noise and a gust of air. I glanced up to see the entire bookcase falling on top of me. Great Gods!

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh!" I screamed, forgetting the lump, and jumped on it, hopefully well away from the book case.

"Waaaaaaaaaaaaaahhh?!" screamed the lump, squirming underneath me.

"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaargh!" I kept screaming, but desperately tried to edge away from the lump which had now sat up.

The lump switched something, and hundreds of tiny dim blue lights appeared in the ceiling. I found myself entangled with a tall elfin boy. We continued to sit, staring at each other, our legs still entwined from our earlier panic. He had light brown hair in a side parting that was swept over his face, though slightly ruffled from sleep. His face seemed rather ethereal, and had something definitely impish about him. But his most notable feature was his eyes. They were presently wide, his intense gaze only emphasizing their turquoise colour. His skin was pale, and his head was cocked to one side, displaying his bare shoulder. He was topless.

I gaped open mouthed at him, as he did me.

"I-uh-I can explain…" what am I saying? Of course I can't explain!

"Feel free to explain yourself."

"I, I um…" I couldn't believe how much I was blushing. It was torture.

He merely raised his eyebrows at me. "Were you planning to rob my room?"

HUH?! "Of course not!" Why must he be so handsome? Couldn't he resemble a slug or something?

"Oh no, you're not one of them, are you?" His eyes widened again.

"Huh? Them-what?"

He sighed, and pressed a button or something to raise the blinds by his window. Light came pouring in as did noise. There was a honking of cars, and people's voices, plus some unearthly sounds I had never heard before. However, as my eyes adjusted to the light, I began to notice shapes waving around outside his window. They were signs.

'Bryn, we love you!''BRYN - I'll be yours!'

'I love you, be mine!' 'Yours forever, Bryn!'

'You're THE best!''You're so wade!'

Plus a lot of fan girl screaming. I turned back to the elfin boy to see him wincing.

"It's horrible." He muttered, and the blind came back down again. We both sighed happily when the sound was blocked out.

"I'll assume you're Bryn, then?" I smirked.

He smiled brightly, and lunged at me, enveloping me in a hug.

"Ehhhh?"

"You didn't know who I was! Oh, fantastic!"

"How would I know? I don't know how I got here…"

Bryn let go and sat directly opposite me, still on the bed, both of us cross legged, with our knees touching.

"Yes, I had forgotten about that, how did you get here?" I raised an eyebrow. "I know you don't know, but what were you doing before you got here?"

Bryn continued to watch me, as I pondered over his question.

"Well, I was going to sleep. I was in my room, and I had just shut my eyes when I began falling. Then I landed here."

"What were you falling through?"

"My mattress."

"No, I mean, what could you see when you were falling?"

"Um, nothing. Just black. No stars, no light. Nothing. Only black."

"Odd…" he muttered.

"Bryn! What are you doing? I'm going to be late if I wait for you any longer!"

Behind me, the door had burst open, and another tall and handsome elfin boy, of about the same age was standing in the doorway, gaping at me.

"What the-why-while I was waiting for you to get to school, you were just sitting there, playing with a girl? What's up with you? You said you'd never touch any of those stupid screaming girls!"

I blushed profusely, staring at my feet.

"Gwyn, get out before I kick you. What I do is none of your business."

Gwyn didn't move. His hair was in a similar style to Bryn's, but his hair was black, and shorter, and his eyes were an emerald green.

"Beckworth will jump us if we're late!"

"I'm coming! Just leave without me if you're going to be late!"

Gwyn glared at me, and grabbed me by the back of my t-shirt.

"Put her down!" Bryn was now standing up, only in his boxers and glaring at Gwyn.

"Get. Out." He hissed in my ear, before shoving me out of the door he had come through. He slammed the door behind me, blocking out the sound from Bryn's room, although I was pretty sure that they were arguing.

I glanced around. Bryn's home seemed to be of a reasonable size, but it was all on one storey. I sighed, and guessed that maybe I should leave, and go to the authorities or something. All the rooms seemed to be very futuristic, full of things and technologies I had no hope of working out, and doors just slid open for me, with no apparent motion detectors. Strange.

I finally came to what appeared to be a wooden front door. Giving the flat one last glance over, I opened the door. And screamed.

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" I instantly stood back, and slammed the door, leaning against the wall behind.

I saw Bryn running towards me (now fully clothed), worry etched into his expression.

"What's wrong?" He asked, leaning over me (as he was rather tall), with a hand on my shoulder.

"You-your door is, like, 345 floors up or something and it opens into thin air! Thin air!" I yelled, still petrified. I could still see all the streets down below, no wider than a straw; and all the hovering cars and taxis that were hovering around. "And the cars were flying! I can't believe it! They were actually flying!" I could feel tears prickling my eyes. "What is - where am I? I have no idea where I am, or even when I am…" I couldn't keep the tears from falling any longer; and I pulled Bryn into a hug.

If I was tall enough to see over Bryn's shoulder, I might have seen Gwyn glance at us in concern, then change his mind, and glare at us.

"Are you okay now?" asked Bryn, attentively.

I nodded lightly, and looked at the stone floor, my eyes feeling slightly sore.

"Um, what's your name?"

"Inaret." I mumbled.

"Pardon?"

"Inaret." I replied, louder this time.

"Inaret? That's so pretty!"

I managed a small smile. "Thank you, Bryn."

"Um, Inaret, I know this sounds crazy, but, um, I think I know how you got here."

Forgetting my tear stained face, I beamed up at him. "Really?"

Bryn smiled happily back. "Yup! And it's my entire fault!"

My face dropped. "Huh?"

Bryn looked at me nervously, before staring at his feet. "Well, you see, I wished for, well, I won't tell you exactly what I wished for, but I wished for a, um, person, and um, well, you just appeared from nowhere…so I guess someone must have granted me my wish."

I deadpanned him.

"Yeah, I know, ludicrous, but, uh, I wasn't really expecting the wish to get someone from the 30s or anything, honest. I didn't even expect it to be granted."

"The 30s?"

"Well, yeah, haven't you realised yet, Inaret? You've gone forwards in time."