Chapter IX - Through the Hedge

I was taken by surprise when the girl suddenly cried out in frustration: "Where in God's name am I?"

Then she lifted her gaze and our eyes locked.

She had seen me. I had seen her.

"Oh!" she cried in surprise. "Who are you, Ma'am?"

She slowly retreated a few steps, as she must only now have realised that I had been there the whole time, watching her, as she was now watching me.

I was just as much a stranger to her as she was to me, so she kept her eye on me.

But what a cheek to act as if I were the one out of place. It wasn't her back garden, was it?

"Who am I?" I retorted at her impertinence. "Well, I'm the owner of this house and you are the one trespassing." I couldn't help myself, although I didn't mean to come across too harshly, I needed an explanation for all this strangeness and I couldn't find one, no matter how hard I racked my brains.

"Oh, my apologies!" the girl said curtseying slightly. "I fear I am quite lost. You do not happen to know if I am close to Thornfield Hall, do you?"

"Err...What?!" I stammered, as I thought I must have misheard her.

"Thornfield Hall, Ma'am. I am to introduce myself today, for I am the new governess -but now I feel I am nowhere near it."

"Oh dear," I murmured to myself, thinking I must have gone mad. Was I having a nervous breakdown?

This could not be happening.

Either I was still in a daze or this was perhaps, say, a method actress...or was it, dare I say it, Jane Eyre? But how? She was a fictional character. She was made up!

"Excuse my rudeness," I then went on. "My name is Ruby Bunting. And you are?"

"Jane Eyre, Miss."

OK. Time to freak out now.

This could surely not be some elaborate hoax, could it? And if this wasn't a dream either, which I was sure it wasn't, then...maybe this was Jane. Maybe she had somehow come to life. I had always wanted that to happen so desperately. Had my wish now finally been granted?

Ridiculous, I thought, but decided to go with it anyway.

"Pleasure to meet you, Miss Eyre! But I am afraid this place is called Blackfield...and to be honest, I have never heard of Thornfield."

Apart from in a made up world, I added in my head.

"I beg your pardon? How can you never have heard of it, I was just there...just a moment ago, before I came through that...hedge," her voice faltered in realisation. She had walked through a door in a hedge.

Hard to let that one sink in.

"Oh my...," the girl said astoundedly, "I thought I had seen the hedge open from afar, but the light was so dim on the other side, I assumed I was hallucinating. So, Thornfield is just a step away, across the hedge..." She turned round as if she were about to leave. I could not let that happen.

"Wait! Don't go!" I ran after her; and in an attempt to prolong our conversation, I inquired: "So, it seems Thornfield is just over there?"

I hoped she was not inclined to leave so soon after she had arrived.

"Yes, right through that door," Jane explained. "That is where I came from, you see? But the weather here is much different, and the time of day is all wrong. It should be late in the evening and there should be rain pelting from the heavens. Very mysterious and, indeed, impossible."

Yes, impossible -but if I believed her, which I was now inclined to do, then there was another world on the other side of that hedge.

Only a few feet away lay a place I had always dreamt of living in...and now maybe I could.

Perhaps I should give in to the madness, maybe there was a chance this was all really happening, maybe it had even meant to happen.

"Could you show me how you got through?" I asked, hoping my question would distract her from any thoughts of returning to 'her side of the hedge', as it were.

The girl then led me to the doorway and pointed through it. "Right through there, Miss. I came from that place right across from where we are standing."

This much I had guessed. Curious as it may be, it was quite evident to me now that it was Thornfield beyond the archway. Somehow, I knew this instinctively. No other place could exert such a magnetic pull on me. I felt as if it were beckoning me to come in. Despite its gloomy and uninviting nature, this place was luring me in.

Even so, I was afraid of ending up stuck on the other side of the hedge with no means of escape.

In order to make sure no mishaps would occur, I only stuck my head through the doorway, keeping my feet rooted on 21st century soil. I leaned forward, peeking through the doorway cautiously -and as I did so, the first thing I noticed were the blizzard-like weather conditions.

The cold wind and rain were blowing harshly against my face, making my eyelids flutter and my cheeks redden. Attempting to see through the rain, I squinted my eyes to sharpen my view -and indeed could make out what must be Thornfield Hall in the distance.

However, in this storm, the building resembled a giant monster, towering over the desolate moors. A monster with one eye, if you will, for only one dim flickering light was visible in an upstairs window. Perhaps this was the room in which Bertha Mason resided? A shiver ran down my spine at this prospect.

The longer I held my tilted position between my world and Jane's, the uneasier I felt on my feet. Concentrating on keeping my balance cost me all my strength.

All of a sudden, while I was caught up in my own thoughts, a gale swept me right off my feet. I fell forward in dismay, landing on my hands and knees in the mud, several feet away from the hedge -on the other side. I was now engulfed in the vicious storm. My hair was blown wildly upwards and across my face. It only took a few seconds until I was soaked from head to toe as Jane had been, my hair in untameable tangles.

I attempted to scramble back towards the doorway hurriedly, as fear had crept into my every pore.

What if, I thought, what if...I were never to find my way back home?

I needed to get back through that door!

But try as I might, the wind was holding me in place so forcefully that I could not reach it in time.

To my utter horror, I had to look on helplessly as the hedge closed up again. The branches were grasping at each other like long, bony hands; their spindly fingers reaching out to each other, winding their way around each other until they were tightly entwined -impenetrable once more.

It had all happened in a flash, as if a door were slamming in my face.

In a manner of speaking, the hedge was now tightly sealed shut, so even my loud high-pitched shrieks of "JANE!" could no longer reach her.

Jane Eyre had vanished before my very eyes only moments after I had met her, as if she had never existed.

An icy fear took hold of me. I was now all alone in a world where I did not belong...