"Get away from me, dickless!" I yelled. My voice was shaky and hoarse. "Leave me alone."
"Come back, honey! Don't you see? I just want to make you feel better!" Aaron grabbed my arm again, this time slapping to the floor. "Babe, listen, I-"
"You what? Huh?" I pushed myself off the ground, wiping blood from my lip onto my shirt sleeve. "Don't. Fucking. Touch me. I'm leaving."
I grabbed my already packed suitcase and bolted out of the door. I hailed a taxi, asking the driver to take me to the nearest train station. I called into work to tell them I am taking my week of paid vacation. Th cabbie stopped outside of an old station.
As I walked inside I was greeted by a flowery smell. Moss grew over the column supports on the inside. The metal benches were rusted over, yet somehow looked prettier than they had. The french doors I walked through were also a similar rust color orange. Walking cross the room I saw a man in his early twenties sitting with his pregnant wife. To my left, there was an elderly man reading the obituary. I paid for my train and ferry trip home to Belfast. I asked I asked for the bathroom and the teller, smiling, pointed it out. I gave a quick smile in return and pushed the heavy wooden bathroom door open.
"You're better than him. He's just a bad egg." I said. Aaron's hand print was still pretty fresh on my rosy cheek. Suddenly there was a noise so terrible that it would frighten a monster. A screeching noise like metal on metal echoed through the bathroom. A bright flash leaked under the door. I ignored it long enough to paint a cherry red smile across my lips. I dragged my suitcase behind me. I stepped out into what I had half expected to be a damaged building. I could not have been more wrong.
Outside the bathroom, where benches once were, there were trees. Tall trees. Stepping onto what was supposed to be rotting hardwood was actually grass. Bright green grass you only see in TV shows. I walked forward through the isle if trees. "What the hell?" I stopped. In front of me was a centaur-from fucking fiction novels. Next to him stood a beautiful, brunette girl about my age. I walked towards them, unknoing of what would happen.
"Excuse me, sir and ma'am," They looked at me as if I was a figment of their imagination, "where am I?"
"You are in Narnia." The centaur boasted. "I am Halycon, military leader for the seven kings and queens of Cair Paravel. Where are you from?"
"I'm from London. My name is Kat. How did I get here?" The girl smiled at me.
"Aslan summoned you. Most likely." She sheepishly added. "I'm Lucy." Everything started to click. Lucy, Narnia, Aslan, Narnia, Centaurs. Wait.
"You mean to tell me, I'm in Narnia? The land of make-believe my mother used to tell me about?" Lucy furrowed her eyebrows at me.
"Make-believe? You're here, how could it be fake?" I looked around me and walked over to a tree. Touching it I felt the damp bark on my fingertips. It was too surreal to be made up. My realization must have been evident, because Lucy pulled me by the shoulder and smiled widely. "You see, it's real."
"It's beautiful. I never thought-I never imagined," Lucy smiled. "Your majesty-"
"Lucy."
"Lucy, did you know they have written books about you? Their titled The Chronicles of Narnia." Lucy was astonished.
"Why us?" I told her everything that happened in each of the books as we walked back to, what I had hoped would be, Cair Paravel. "Oh, wow. That is amazing. Do you have a copy of this book with you?"
"I'm not sure. I might. I just moved my stuff from an apartment I had been living in recently." Lucy looked down at the bag behind me.
"That's an awful small amount to be moving from house to another."
"Yea, things were pretty bad there." On the walk back, Lucy asked me about my life. I told her about the new job, Aaron, and much more. Lucy and I were so caught up in conversation that when Halycon stopped, we ran right into him. I stared up at the stone battlements and the wooden entrance inscribed with beautiful carvings. We walked through the courtyard and into a big hall. Inside the big hall were four thrones in a line. Two very large thrones were in the center and had one smaller, but still rather large thrones on either side of them. What I had not noticed was the four twenty-somethings sitting at a small, round table chatting. Lucy dragged me over to them and the centaur left.
"Peter, Edmund, Susan! Look!" The three looked in amazement. "Another person from our world!" They all stood. Lucy turned to the man she hadn't named. "Hello." They all ignored me and engaged the other man in conversation.
"Lucy, this is Sir Bowen. He will be living in the garden house." Lucy acknowledged him and redirected her attention back to me.
"Like I was saying. This is Kat, she's from London." Peter looked at me strangely. "I think Aslan summoned her."
"Aslan? Why would Aslan summon her? There isn't anything wrong here!" He questioned. "How did you get here anyway?"
"Through a train station." I said leaving out the bit about the bathroom.
"I see. You're welcome here Kat. You can stay in Lucy's room, I guess. Will that be alright, Luce?" Lucy shook her head excitedly.
"Thank you, your Majesty."
"Please just call me Peter. No formalities for friends." He smiled. I followed as Lucy dragged me to our room. This was the new start I had needed. No Aaron and lots of available, attractive people.
