Fall into Paradise
The First Story of Lynette Chevalier
Jasmine Justice
The Moment between Night and Day, Lynette Chevalier's House
He stood in the middle of a room. He could tell this room belonged to a very intelligent girl, because there were books strewn about and-were those notebooks stories? Yes, they were. His decision was easy: this girl was worthy of the 'gift' he had to give; for her, it would be a dream come true. But which 'fictional' universe would she thrive in? A collection of Phoenix Wright paraphernalia caught his eye, and he smiled; this was the easiest Distribution he had ever performed. He scribbled a note, imbuing it with power through his peculiar ability, and then the Distributor of Dreams disappeared into the night, off to change other lives irrevocably.
2:46 P.M., Wednesday, Lynette Chevalier's House
Lyn stomped into the messy room she had to herself, muttering. It had been another rough day at the institution of idiocy they tried to pass off as a school. She had been mocked mercilessly for her constant reading and freakish intelligence. The fact that she replied to each of her tormentors with a bitingly sarcastic response didn't help. She glanced around the room and its myriad books, familiar titles like Lirael, The Dark is Rising, and Marked soothing her. Books were her passion, especially the books on law she had dug up in the library.
She turned to grab True Crime Stories off the shelf when a scrap of paper on top of her Phoenix Wright shelf caught her eye. Usually, it was impeccably neat, without anything out of place. Lyn picked up the scrap and read it quickly:
To Lynette Chevalier
You are not happy in this universe, assigned to you by implacable destiny. However, the river of Destiny can be diverted, and you have been chosen to receive an incredible gift. If you seek to claim it, shout "Hold it!" and you will find your new life.
-The Distributor of Dreams
Lyn laughed, nervously. Surely this was a hoax designed to entertain others at her expense? Logically, that's all it could be…but a feeling slammed her. She got intuitions sometimes, as to truth or lies; they were vague, usually unhelpful.
The feeling told her that this was truth. Her dominant logic fought the feeling, but the mockery that day rose again in her mind: "Logical Lyn, Logical Lyn, always goes with her gut! Logical Lyn, Logical Lyn, never has any fun!" It had stung more than she had let on, but the accusation hit home. "I'll show YOU logical!" she murmured, gripping the paper tight. She stuffed her iPod and a notebook in a pocket, and shouted forcefully, "HOLD IT!" Then time slowed-the fan rotated more slowly and the pendulum of her clock twitched into almost obnoxious slowness.
Lyn was shocked when her room expanded, making a great black hole in the center. Nothing moved, but her room was suddenly a lot bigger. "A tempospatial phenomenon…" she said softly, as the hole drew her to its center and she-and it-disappeared silently, air rushing in to occupy Lyn's former space.
Later, she would describe it as "a fall accentuated by several side shunts and a half-twist to the left," but for now, she simply thought of it as a roller coaster, with fast curves and falling. A great deal of falling.
When the ordeal ended, Lyn fell with a thump onto a wet road, in the middle of the night, in the rain. "Lovely," she muttered. "Absolutely fabulous." The city seemed familiar somehow, but she didn't have time to ponder it, as a bright red car almost ran her over and she had to leap out of the way. "This is an improvement how?" she demanded quietly.