Everything was blackness. The only thing I could feel was a hand grabbing mine, looking for reassurance where there was none.
I panicked. I had no memory of a former life. I knew most of the English language, but nowhere in my mind was there an image any friends or family members, making the hand gripping me much more disconcerting.
"What is this? Where are we? Who are you?" I was breathing heavily, and my limbs felt like lead. The person next to me was not faring much better.
Suddenly, the world began coming into focus became a coherent image. There was a simple room: four blue walls, a fuzzy white carpet, and a mahogany table. The other person was a boy with and ginger hair and purple eyes.
Wait...purple? That wasn't a natural eye color, was it?
"No, but I think it works to his advantage. And I get to choose everything."
A figure materialized in front of us. I don't know how she arrived; it seemed like one second there was nothing and the next she was there, sitting on the table with a mad gleam in her eye.
She seemed like an ordinary girl, but something was off about her. Her appearance was not particularly threatening-short black hair, rectangular glasses-but the crazed smile she kept stitched on her face when she looked at me was unsettling.
"What-what is this?" The boy looked at her with bulging eyes.
"Be still, Joannander," she waved her hand. "I'll explain it all. Somebody has to give the exposition, be it boring and tedious to compose."
Inhaling deeply, she began. "My name is Joanna Smith, you are respectively Fletcher and Olive. You two were created to be characters in a short story. I own you now. All you have to do is satisfy me in your actions, tell a good story, then you can do whatever you want afterward. I've set up obstacles and a universe for you, run through my maze to the best of your ability. Your actions are your own, everything else is mine. Until you complete my story, everything minute aspect of your life will be under my control."
A stunned silence set over us. The only audible sound was our heavy breathing bordering on hyperventilation. I knew everything she said was true. My mind was brimming with millions of questions, but my mouth was frozen. Fletcher broke the spell first.
"How-why-we're in a story-" Fletcher stuttered.
Joanna rolled her eyes. "Get used to it. Harry Potter did, Katniss Everdeen did, you'll have to as well if you want to stay sane. Although, there's no guarantee you will anyway."
She clapped her hands as if to say, well, I'm off! Then, she was gone.
The view suddenly melted away like candle wax until all was blackness again. Then a forest appeared before my eyes, an endless maze of oaks, leaves still green with spring.
"Is she gone? Are we safe?" Fletcher's voice was small and timid.
"She's gone, but I don't know if we're safe." I scouted our surroundings briefly. There was no sign of other people or any life, other than the trees and a few birds twittering to each other. Even so, who knew what kind of stealthy villains resided in this world.
It was time for action. Although I wasn't sure what I was supposed to do, or what I even could do, I knew no story took place in an isolated forest, so the next best step was to find the plot, wherever it may be. I wanted to be free of Joanna as soon as possible and certainly didn't want to know what would happen if we didn't tell a good story. What she was doing was crazy and wrong on so many levels, but if we didn't play her game, we would would be stuck with her using us like puppets forever. Forget her ethics, we had to obey her just to have our lives back.
"Let's go. I'm sure if we walk long enough, we'll find a way to the plot." Grabbing Fletcher's hand, I pulled him forward the best I could, as he was still paralyzed by our recent encounter.
"So we're just characters, then...we're not, you know, real..." He seemed ready to cry.
"You have to get over it. That's what she said, remember?" I sighed. "I want to just stay here and ponder existence too, but I'd rather just be done with whatever thing Joanna's laid out for us. Then she'll give us freedom, and we'll have our own lives."
Fletcher stared at me, astonished. " Olive, how are you over it so fast?"
I shrugged, but inside, I was still just as scared as he was. The difference was I bottled it up and replaced it with determination to end the story. Fletcher had to do the same thing if we were going to finish the story. I suddenly realized even though I apparently fifteen, I had just heard my name for the second time out of someone's mouth, inspiring a shudder of fear. Although I wasn't very clear what an average life was like, I was pretty sure I was not living one.
He thought for a while, unmoving, then finally removed his hand from mine. "Fine. I'll go. Just don't drag me, I can walk fine on my own."
Now that I helped you up, I thought, slightly irritated. Quickly, though the feeling passed, and we marched toward our fates; what it was, we knew not. Hopefully it was well written.
A few hours later, both of us were tired and sweaty. One of us was really, really annoying.
"Are you sure, absolutely positive that the plot is this way? Perhaps not a short way to our left, or maybe underground? I mean, walking makes for a pretty terrible story, so I'm sure Joanna would never make us walk for too long..." He had already been rambling for half an hour, trudging behind me and offering ridiculous alternate paths.
"I'm not exactly sure this is the right way, but we had to start walking in some direction."
He stopped walking abruptly. "You mean this whole time-you had no idea?" Fletcher grabbed my shoulder to stop me. "You've been leading us for hours, and you had no idea? Don't you realize how much energy we've been wasting on walking? What if we're attacked by zombies or something? I mean, who knows what's in this universe? We'll need all our strength."
I was seething. Whirling around to face him, I snapped. "What made you think I knew anything? I'm in the exact same position as you are! Lost, weary, and apparently fictional!"
I stopped. We weren't supposed to bring up the "fictional" thing. I could see a change in Fletcher's countenance, and I knew mine matched his. A storm of thoughts was about to take over our minds and consume us with questions about the meaning of our lives, our destinies; basically it was just very, very distracting.
Fictional. I wonder if this means I Joanna knows my fate already, as she's the author and all. Are my actions even worth anything? Am I destined toward one end no matter what I do?
"Help! Assistance! Aid! Other synonyms, just come!" A squeal sliced through my thoughts.
My feet were pelting towards the voice before my brain could react, Fletcher by my side. I had no idea was malicious enemies existed in Joanna's twisted world, but we had to face it and hope for success. Though I was not sure what to do and had no plan, I was knew I had to help this person somehow. Finally, the silhouette of three people appeared in the direction of the shrill voice. It was coming from a little girl clutching a bag filled with scrolls, each with a short passage written in ink. Two other kids were grabbing her bag as well, trying to rip it from her grasp.
I raised an eyebrow. "Really? Just children?" Fletcher and I shared a glance.
"Okay, break it up," Joannander and I smothered grins as we stepped in between the girl and the vicious robbers. Turning to the girl, Joanna asked, "This is your bag, no?"
She nodded, casting her eyes downward. The thieves snickered.
"Well," I prepared to scold the children, "It's probably best you return it to her."
They looked up at me defiantly and shook their heads. The whole situation felt like a huge joke. Joannander let out a small snort, and I could tell he thought the same. Resisting the urge to smile, he bent down to face them and patted their heads. "Come on, just return it."
Reluctantly relinquishing the bag to they walked off without another word.
Just like that? I thought they'd put up more of a fight.
Fletcher turned to the girl and returned her scrolls.
"So...what are those scrolls anyway? You seem pretty attached to them."
Now that she had her bag back, she seemed like a completely different person. The timid nature she once had was exchanged for one bursting with energy.
"Hi, I'm Maya, and I'm so excited to meet you! I knew I'd meet you here. Could've chosen a more civilized location, but it's not like we can choose. It's really an honor, Olive and Fletcher, right? I'll be your guide to Worldex, show you how everything works, help you on your grand quest and all-"
"Wait, wait, slow down." I glared at her. "What was this? Did you trick us?"
Maya smiled sadly and bowed. "I apologize for it, but it was the best way to get you to come to me. Those kids were in on it, too. They're willing to do anything for money, and children work for less."
So it was fake. Unreal. Fictional. Just like my whole universe, it seems.
"Then...then what were those papers?" Fletcher piped up.
"Oh! These!" Maya overturned her bag and shook out the scrolls. "The prophecy, in the excellent prose of Joanna, creator of the most divine of poetry."
Fletcher and I each unrolled one and inspected them. Each had the same short poem written on them in cursive letters, scribbled as if it was written with little patience:
Olive and Fletcher
Save the Worldex
Find the kite
In the City of Light
Go to the cave
To find what they crave
Learn the dance
Of the Land of Ignorance
"Oh, geez..." Fletcher looked scared. "That's...really great poetry." He opened his mouth again to continue, but thought it best to hold it back. Even so, I knew what he was thinking. The prophecy was intimidated him, it gave him more responsibility than he thought he could handle.
Personally, I didn't think our situation was any different than before. We knew before Joanna wanted us to create a grand epic, it wasn't too surprising she wrote out instructions as well. However, what did bother me was how Maya had deceived us. Not only did she fool us into believing she was in danger, the whole time, she had been a messenger for Joanna, our psycho author. We had to follow the prophecy's instructions; it was part of Joanna's big plan. However, if Fletcher and I had to do so with Maya by our side, I wasn't sure I could go forward comfortably. Although, what did I expect? Joanna said she would manipulate everything that came into our lives. Maya was the perfect avatar to do that work on a more intimate level.
However, if Joanna said this is how it had to be, what else could I do? Excluding Maya might mean messing up the story, messing up the story would cause Joanna to...who knows what.
"Well, Maya, if it says you're supposed to be with us, we don't have a choice, do we? Show us this...City of Light. We have some kite to find, some 'lurking evil' to vanquish."
Maya clapped her hands cheerily and promised to be the best guide possible. Fletcher desperately mouthed words at me, but as I couldn't understand any of them, I ignored him. There was no room for discussion. It was time to start our adventure, and we weren't going to put it off with debate. It was time for action.
The journey to the City of Light was surprisingly short in distance but surprisingly long in my mind. Maya chattered on incessantly the whole way, describing ideal tourist locations in Worldex, the flora and fauna, even the "level of antagonism towards shoplifters," whatever that meant. Fletcher listened to it all intently and enthusiastically, so I was spared his additions to the conversation.
Finally, though, a small city was visible in the distance. In fact, it was hard not to notice it, as it was a neon nightmare of color. The city looked as if it was the result of an exploded rainbow.
It had to be the City of Light. There was probably no other place as prone to causing blindness as this one. We were one step closer to finishing the story.