Suze's Adventures in Shadowland
Sitting on my bay window seat, I looked out the window to the red dome of the Mission and the not so far ocean that sparkled in the sun. I had to sigh, everyone was busy and it was just one of those days where you felt tired and lazy. I heard a knock at my door, figuring it was my mom, I said "come in." I turned to see a tuff of red hair followed by the freckled face of David. "Hey Suze, Um, Dad just wanted to make sure you were going to be here for dinner tonight since Jake has to work tonight and can't come."
"Yeah, I'll be here." I gave him a small smile as he fidgeted over his hands.
"Alright, see you later." And with that, he closed the door.
Drossiness was taking over me now and I wanted nothing more than to take a nap right then and there. My eyelids were growing heavier with each second that I fought to keep them open. With one blink the view of Carmel, CA was gone and with a violent shudder of chills, my eyes flashed open instantly to reveal an inky black sky sprinkled with stars all over.
"What?" I said to my self in bewilderment as I picked my self off the fog filled ground. I started to slowly follow the fog as it flowed down like a small stream farther and father than where I had originally fell. It was after walking for so long I encountered the strangest site ever.
"Father Dom?"
Pacing back and forth, the dear ol' Father Dom was wringing his hands worriedly. "Oh Dear, Oh Dear…"
I ran up to him and shook him, "Father Dom! What's wrong? Where are we at? Is this Shadowland?"
Ignoring my presence, he jumped and looked at his clock which caused him to exclaim, "I'm late!" He then preceded to stride quickly down the door-covered hallway.
"Wait!" I called after him. Thinking it would be better to follow him than to sit here forever, I ran after him, "Wait Father Dom! What are you late for? What are we doing here?!"
But before I could catch up to him, he threw open a door to our left, ran in, and closed the door promptly shut behind him- slamming it in my face. In front of my eyes held a sign that read, "DO NOT ENTER"
It was ominous enough but I wasn't a girl to follow the rules plus I needed to know where Father Dominic went, so I threw open the door and fell in. Yelling, I fell into a dark pit until I was caught by a body of water. My instincts kicked in and I swam upwards as fast as I could and gasped as I reached the surface.
"Oh great, now I'm wet. Why the hell is there water in Shadowland? Do they have pool parties here or something?" Images of ghosts in floaties danced in my head. I hit the water in frustration and than began to swim towards a shore I saw before me. I grumbled under my breath the entire time. When I finally reached the shore, I looked back out to see that it resembled a lake but…it looked never ending.
I was soaked now and pissed. I squeezed excess water out of my hair and looked down- I was in my ghost fighting clothes, "My leather jacket! No! It's going to get ruined!" I shook it out as fast as I could before it could start to shrink. Well, there was no use of me waiting around there at the shore, I had to look for Father Dom, and so I began to start walking towards the woods.
"If there is some poison ivy in here, I'm going to have to slap a ghost."
The woods held a weathered path so I followed it in deeper into the heart and it wasn't long before I go in that I heard two people fighting.
"…this is your fault!"
"Oh shut up, cowboy!"
"te voy a madrear, perra!"
I ran forward to see the arguing people- it was Jesse and Paul.
"Jesse!" I ran to see him and hugged him, "Paul…wow, I can't believe I am about to say this, but I'm glad to see you too."
"Querida, you came at the perfect time. Slater here was challenging me to a duel."
"A duel? You're kidding me right? I thought you two were over this."
"Watch and learn Rico Sauvé, you're going down."
"That's what you think. I didn't spend 150 years as a ghost sitting around, I watch some Chuck Norris movies! I know how they get down in The Godfather!"
"Guys! Stop it! I have to find Father Dom and get out of here! Can you like, forget your stupid male testosterone for one second and help me out?"
The two just circled each other, yelling threats at the other, but not doing anything. Getting fed up, I groaned and yelled at them, "Fine! I'm leaving the both of your behind." I continued down the walk in the woods for a good amount of time, occasionally hearing the barking of a dog. Suddenly, I see Max in front of me and then running down the path.
"Max? What are YOU doing in Shadowland?" I ran after him and then started coughing- there was smoke in the air. In my coughing fits, I had lost the dog. But when I looked to my right, under a giant mushroom sat a man with a hookah.
"Who are you?"
"I'm a vampire, maaaaann. RAWR!" He proceeded to show me his plastic Halloween fangs and hold his arms up "menacingly".
"Hold up…I know you! Red Beaumont?" I walked a bit closer to him and saw him smoke out of his Hookah. But this was a completely different scent that you normally get out of a Hookah…it smelt like Jake's friend…
"Oh my God, YOU'RE HIGH!"
"I'm going to suck your blood! RAAAWWRR!" He then started to laugh and fell over. I kicked him in the side and then stomped off- this guy just wasted precious time, who knew how far Father Dom was now?
I finally got out of the depth of the woods and came upon a small version of my house. I walked faster towards it and opened the front door. "Hello?" I looked around and walked into the small room and saw Andy cooking soup, his first wife clutching Spike, and a little boy who was spike's original owner, Timothy.
"Um…hello?" I asked cautiously and sat down at the round table present. Timothy was petting Spike as Andy's first wife rocked him.
"Andy, have you seen Father Dominic?" He shook his head no and pushed a bowl of soup into my hands. Everyone else around me was eating it- even spike had his own bowl. "Eat up everyone!" he said merrily. Andy's first wife just screamed loudly and smiled. She ate a spoonful, screamed again loudly, and then continued to smile.
I took a bite my self and promptly spit it out afterwards. It tasted horrible, "Andy, this has too much pepper!" The lady screamed one more time and I snapped at her, "WILL YOU SHUT UP?"
She pushed Spike into my hands and then left the house screaming. Did she scream ALL the time when she was with Andy? I followed her out of the house to see she had disappeared. Spike jumped out of my hands and up to a tree where he hissed at me.
"Spike, get back down here!" I called at him. Then, to my surprise, Jesse walked by merrily and stopped to see Spike. Spike meowed happily and began to purr.
"Jesse, what is he saying?" I asked.
"Oh, he is just saying how there is a tea party going on down that path."
I turned and looked down at the path, "That way? Maybe Father Dom will be there. What do you think- ?" I turned back but they were gone. Taking Spike's advice, I walked down the rest of the path to find a pasture of grass where a whole tea party was taking place. When I reached the table, I found all four RLS angels sitting down laughing and talking.
"You four are hosting this party?" I asked.
"Like, Yeah! We always throw the best parties." Carrie said as she sipped from her cup. Her gown looked pristine and fluffy as did Felicia's. Josh and Mark's tuxedos were crisp and on perfectly which was different from the last time I saw them.
"Ohmigosh," Carrie said out loud, the rest scooted in closer, "So like I totally heard that the Queen is having this hot party later on.
"Oh! Let's go!" squealed Felicia, clapping her hands.
"Will there be liquor?" asked Josh.
"Oh yeah, I bet there will" said Mark.
"Okay, I'm leaving." I got up and threw my chair back, "This is the stupidest party I've ever been to."
"Whatever Suze, you're lame" said Carrie as I left the pasture towards the trees. I reached the end and entered the woods; something caught my eye. I doubled back and saw a doorknob on the tree. Bewildered, I walked toward it and open it up and fell in again out into the hallway of Shadowland. I was back where I had started.
"You HAVE to be kidding me!" I got up and reached for the door in front of me, opening it and once again, falling in. This time, I ended up in a garden. This beautiful garden was pinned in by black iron fencing and there was lush rose bushes and tree all around the perimeter of the block of land. I walked around slowly and saw three people planting a white rose bush.
"WHITE?" A shrill voice screamed loudly, "WHITE ROSE BUSH? I HATE WHITE!"
The three people started quivering. "Oh no, it's The Queen!" one said.
I turned around to a site that caused my jaw to drop, "Maria? Maria De Silva? SHE'S The Queen? What the hell kind of place is this?"
"Now this is ruined for the party tonight! OFF WITH THEIR HEADS! DEIGO! TAKE THEIR HEADS OFF NOW!" She stomped her foot and crossed their arms.
Diego turned up besides Maria, "Let me guess, he is The King?" I threw up my arms in frustration at this horrible Shadowland place.
"Now, Maria, if I take off their heads, what about the screaming lady? We still have to hold her trial." He said as if he was talking to a child. She huffed and puffed and then took comfort in yelling at the three gardeners.
"Wait, David's mom is on trail? Where?" Maria and Diego ignored me and left into the garden; needing to find out what was going on, I followed them but they walked so fast that I lost them. I had to go save David's mom even though her screaming was enough to make me punch her in the mouth.
I walked and walked looking for Maria or any sign of a court room when I found Neil sitting on a stone bench off on the side in the garden. He sighed deeply and very loudly looking at me.
"Um, can I help you?" I asked rudely; I wasn't about to be nice, he was purposely stopping me.
"I'm so SAD. My brother is GONE and my parents don't like ME. They LOVED my brother and I'm SUCH a disappointment." He sighed loudly again.
"Right…" Well, no wonder no one was paying attention to him.
"I'm so LONELY."
"Well, I'm sorry I can't help you with your emo-fest but I have somewhere to go. Bye."
"Going? Where are you going? Oh, are you going to the trial? EVERYONE is going but ME."
"Uh huh." I started to walk away, hoping he would catch the hint as I left. But he began to follow me. The whole way to the court house he was just whining and crying and NOT shutting up.
At the end of the garden held a court house. I sighed out of relief and opened the door to reveal a court room with everyone in side. At the top sat Maria and Diego looking down at everyone else. In the rows sat Jesse, Spike, Paul, Father Dominic, Andy, Timothy, the RLS angels, and the newly seated Neil. I walked forward to the gate and looked on as Diego said, "We are here for the trial of this lady." He held out his hand and in the witness seat sat David's mom who screamed loudly and then smiled. Everyone in the room winced from the screech.
"Yes, well, The Queen wishes to cut off her head. The first witness is Carrie."
Carrie stood up from her seat and began to talk, "Okay so like, I was just sitting and having my totally awesome party with my totally hot boyfriend here and my equally hot friends when like The Queen came over and I was like, 'OH MY GOD!' and she was like, 'Hey! Like let's party tonight!' and I was like totally-!"
"Okay! Stop!" I yelled. "Why are you putting her on trial?" I asked Maria.
"This B-"
"Hey!"
"Came over because we were going to play croquet and then she just started yelling!"
On que, she screamed on the top of her lungs and then smiled looking off into space.
"WILL YOU SHUT UP?" screamed Maria.
"ARGH! I am so tired of all of this!" I yelled. Everyone in the room looked at me. "This is all so stupid and ridiculous! I just want to know why I am here!" They all just looked at me still. I turned around to Maria but she was gone; David's mom disappeared as well. I turned back to the rows but it was replaced by the inky sky of the Shadowland hallway. The fog was curling around my knees. I turned once more to see Jesse.
"Susannah." He said to me.
"Jesse, what's going on?" But he vanished as well. I kept on hearing his voice calling my name. Susannah…Susannah.
Suddenly I was falling again and all I could hear was Susannah. With a flash my eyes opened up and I was on my bay window seat.
"Susannah!"
I looked to my left and saw Jesse standing over me.
"Wha-?"
"Susannah, are you okay? I came in to get you but you were sleeping."
"Sleeping?" I asked. I touched my head and looked around- I was definitely was in my room.
"Yes, you were sleeping, Querida." He sat down next to me holding my hand.
It was all just a dream…I laughed out loud and shook my head, "Jesse, you wouldn't believe the dream I just had."
