Genre: fantasy. Not a comedy, this time.
Not everyone knows what to do when opportunity knocks. Some don't even realize that it has...
Episode 3: Mary Sue Without a Clue
"But he's gorgeous!" Katie sighed dreamily. "I'd give anything to live back in those days. Did you see her gowns?" Katie spun around, pantomiming flowing skirts. "Imagine being dressed like that, and going to balls."
"The music sucks, though," Brooke said, with little interest. She was much more interested in the way her new manicure looked under the fluorescent lights. She had considered some cute little Kanji as the design, but she couldn't read Japanese, and the little oriental lady at the salon probably would have made them say something nasty.
"Yeah, but I could deal with that. He's soooo hot!" Katie opened the guidebook to her favorite picture of him. "There's nothing like a man in uniform. At least, old-time uniforms. Uniforms nowadays look lame."
They were fangirls, pure and simple. At least Katie was. Brooke had come along to the outdoor museum because she had nothing else to do, and because Katie had promised to take her to TacoBurgerznMore afterward. Brooke used to like Katie's guy, but now she only liked Orlando.
"Oh, hey! Check out this creepy little gift shop! I bet they have great discounts!" Katie gestured to a shabby-looking store. Inside, a nice older woman behind the counter kept trying to tell them stuff about history. The girls ignored her, and looked at some of the jewelry instead.
"I want to try that one on!" Katie squealed. She pointed at a really pretty silver locket on a velvet ribbon, almost hidden away in the corner of the display case. When the shop lady took it out for her to look at, she could see it had strange designs on it. It was something to buy, and it looked kind of Goth when she fastened it around her neck. Katie's boyfriend was into that Goth stuff.
"Great," Brooke commented without much interest, wondering if she should go with the darker shade of nail polish next time.
It was a lot of money, but it was really cool, and it would look neat with her dress for prom.
"I can't get it open," she complained to the saleslady. There was some plastic or something over the latch.
"Did you want to buy it?" asked the lady. She gave Katie a funny smile. "It's a very special piece: you need to know more about it."
"No, I guess not," said Katie. She took off the necklace, tossed it down onto the counter, and turned away. She wanted to save her money for shoes. She had an idea, though, that had worked before…
She walked Brooke away from the gift shop, and explained her plan. Brooke wasn't too hot on the idea, but agreed when Katie sulked.
Brooke ran back to the gift shop, and called to the saleslady, "Omigod! Do you know CPR?" There's an old lady down on the ground, and I think she's having a heart attack or something."
The harried saleslady went outside to look where Brooke was pointing, and while she was distracted, Katie ran in and grabbed the necklace. Good old Brooke had got the saleslady around the corner, and Katie took off for the exit, where she and Brooke would meet up and go on to get lunch.
Just outside the park gate, she ripped the plastic seal or whatever it was off the necklace, and tried to see if the locket would open.
Whoosh! It did.
It looked a lot bigger now that Katie had it open: the insides were glowing and full of a strange swirling gray liquid. There was a picture in there, but she had to lean really close to make it out….
Whoosh! The bottom dropped out of everything. It was like a rollercoaster at Great America, and Katie thought she was going to barf for a second.
She sat down, hard, on some grass. And looked around….
"Holy Shit!"
The parking lot had disappeared. Katie turned around. Some of the old-timey houses were still there, but weren't painted. The street was gone, and there was a dirt path, and woods were right up next to it. She was sitting on the banks of a little stream and it was really quiet.
She stood up and turned around and around. What was this? This is crazy! She was holding the necklace in her hands and the insides were plain silver metal. Maybe real silver! She thought about that for a minute, and realized that the ground was vibrating. There was a strange rumbling noise, like something she had heard in movies, and it was coming closer.
I shouldn't be here. No-what does Harrison Ford and everybody else say? "I have a bad feeling about this…"
Suddenly a bunch of red-coated guys on horseback burst out of the woods, and they were coming straight at her. They weren't stopping.
"Hey, I'm here, assholes!" Katie yelled, but they didn't pay any attention. A couple of them were looking past her like they were after something.
Too late, Katie thought, I'd better get out of their way.
One of the men saw Katie standing there in front of him and shouted a warning. She recognized him right away. She started to say, "Hey, Tav!" but she was hit by his horse and knocked sideways. She swayed, stunned. Another horse slammed into her, and she was knocked down.
She shrieked. A horrible pain, worse than anything she had ever imagined, slammed down on her, and she could hear her bones snapping. She couldn't scream anymore, because a horse had trampled her chest in. Then a hoof smashed her skull and everything was black.
Katie was sitting in the middle of the parking lot, shaking. She hugged herself, but she seemed OK. She got to her feet, slowly. Some guys getting out their car saw her and laughed. I guess they think I fell down. Maybe I did fall down. She was still holding the necklace, and the locket part was closed. Whatever.
Katie threw the necklace away from her, as hard as she could. It fell next to an SUV, and then bounced underneath. She looked around for Brooke, and then looked at her watch. It was still just about eleven thirty. At least she hadn't passed out for long.
Brooke came running up, grinning. "So? Did you get it?"
"Yeah, but I threw it away. It was crappy, anyway."
"Well, thank you, Miss I'm–Never-Satisfied! We could have gotten totally busted!"
"OK, OK. Let's get out of here, before somebody comes after us."
"Lunch!"
"I'm not hungry, OK?"
"What's your problem, anyway? You promised that we were going to TacoBurgerzandmore- they have this great no-carb Atkins..."
"Why don't you just shut the hell up! We're going. OK?" She had just imagined something stupid. No reason to let it ruin her day. Her hands were cold, and she rubbed them together and pushed crazy ideas away in favor of low-fat, low-carb smoothies...
In the car, she said, "You know, Brooke?"
"What?"
"Maybe Orlando is hotter, after all."
Carefully, the nice older saleslady polished the necklace. It always found its way home, thank goodness. Maybe the next girl who noticed it would make better use of it. She smiled. Maybe she would wear it tonight, herself. It was time for a new adventure of her own.