Disclaimer, you know.
Dorothy sighed and walked over to the door directly in front of her. As she turned the knob and pushed the door open she found herself walking onto a familiar looking grassy field. It looked welcoming and it didn't seem dangerous. She walked into the room and shut the door behind her. She looked up at the sky. It was a beautiful shade of blue with hardly a cloud in the sky. Judging by where the sun was she assumed that it was about noon here but she knew this had to be an illusion of some sort.
"Dorothy slow down, your father and I can't keep up." came a familiar sounding voice in the distance.
Dorothy gasped and looked around her. When all of a sudden a small girl ran straight through her. Dorothy gasped and stepped to the side before turning around. The door was now semi-transparent. She gasped as she saw the figure of her mother and father. Her mother was wearing a yellow sundress and a sun hat to match. Her father was wearing an outfit similar to what her uncle always wore.
"Dorothy I said slow down!" She repeated as the girl turned around to look at her mother.
"Sorry momma, I just can't wait to start the picnic." The girl said.
It was then that Dorothy noticed that her father was carrying a picnic basket. She knew where she had been placed. Turning around again to face the girl she was met with the image of her childhood self. Immediately tears began to cascade down her cheeks. Dorothy reached behind her for the door but then found it wasn't there. She turned and looked around seeing if she could find an exit. Having the memories was one thing. Actually witnessing them made her feel pain.
"What did you pack papa?" Little Dorothy asked as they sat down a few feet away from her.
"Ham and Cheese sandwiches, a bowl of strawberries and blueberries, a pitcher of lemonade and an apple pie." He replied coughing a bit.
Dorothy fell to the ground, she shut her eyes and covered her ears. This memory was definitely one she wanted to forget. It was the last moment she ever spent with both of her parents together. Her father would die a few days later in his sleep. Her mother would fall ill shortly after and Dorothy would watch her die in her bed. Her father had contracted some sort of illness or ailment of some sort. She couldn't remember what really happened and at this point she didn't care. But she couldn't block out of the sounds of something that was in her head as well as right in front of her.
"Momma, why is papa still coughing like that?" Little Dorothy asked curiously.
"Don't worry about it dear, Papa will be fine, the doctor said so." Her mother said reassuring her daughter.
"But he wasn't fine." Dorothy whispered to herself.
"And he died a few days later, Doctor Foreman showed up with the coroner at your mother's request, it was then for the first time you learned about death and dying." Came father time's booming voice.
Dorothy looked up to find herself now inside her parent's old house. The image of her Mother standing in front of the door to their bedroom. Dorothy sitting on a little chair in the corner away from what the adults were doing. A young doctor foreman emerged from the room. His hair was blonde instead of white as snow, he was wearing a suit similar to the one he wore these days but it was white with a patch for the local hospital sewn to the breast pocket. He whispered something to Mrs. Gale so that Little Dorothy wouldn't hear it from her little chair. Mrs. Gale Immediately broke down into tears.
"So, Shall I tell her Madeline, or do you want to give her the talk?" Mr. Foreman asked curiously.
Madeline, looked at her daughter with a look that signaled her to come over. Dorothy watched with tears in her own eyes. She remembered this day. She felt the pain that her mother must have felt that day. As Little Dorothy walked over Doctor Foreman knelt down so she could see into his eyes.
"Dorothy, I'm afraid, I'm afraid there's been, well how can I say it so that you can understand?" He asked curiously.
"Doctor foreman, just tell her!" her mother said sternly.
"Tell me what?" Little Dorothy asked curiously.
"Dorothy, I'm afraid, I'm sorry to say that your father has, well, passed away." Mr. Foreman said being outright with it.
"Passed away?" Little Dorothy asked curiously.
"Dorothy, papa, he's, he's gone." Madeline said before breaking down in tears.
"What do you mean gone?" Little Dorothy asked worried at her mother's actions.
"Dorothy, you remember how your father and mother had to attend a wake for one of their old friends?" Mr. Foreman asked curiously.
"Of course I do, I was left with auntie Em while uncle henry went to do something there, we had pie." Little Dorothy said.
"Well, Dorothy, the reason we do those things is when people die, or pass away." Mr. Foreman said.
"What does it mean though?" Little Dorothy asked curiously.
"It means, your father fell asleep, and, and his body stopped working." Both Dorothy and Mr. Foreman said in unison.
Little Dorothy was taken aback by this. She had heard about passing away. But now she was getting the concept of death explained to her. The heart of two Dorothy's broke in that instant. Little Dorothy's now that she finally understood what was going on. And Dorothy's as she watched this memory. Dorothy found herself crying.
"Please, get me out of here!" Dorothy screamed as she watched her younger self try to get passed Mr. Foreman.
In that instant Dorothy found herself in an Empty room. She immediately collapsed down crying. Father time walked up to her and picked her up. He carried her over to an upholstered couch and set her down gently on it.
"Why?" Dorothy asked now rater upset and shaken.
"That wasn't me, that room you stepped in takes one of the happiest moments in one's life and the closest tragic events and projects them through time as a memory, I merely watched." Father time said kneeling down and wiping the tears from Dorothy's eyes with a white silk handkerchief.
"Why would you keep me in there though, when you saw what it was doing to me!?" Dorothy said lashing out at him, he merely backed away and smiled warmly.
"I couldn't, simple as that, you had to relive one of the most painful moments of your life, the moment you screamed 'Please, Get me out of here!' you shut the memory out entirely and the room couldn't attach anymore of your timeline to it." Father Time said.
Dorothy said nothing, she merely curled up into a ball like a small child. She closed her eyes and began to sob. Father time sighed and walked to the middle of the room. Immediately a small wooden chair appeared which he sat down in just as the clock struck seven. Immediately the sound of knocking resonated through the entire domain.
"Ah, I had almost forgotten its tea time." He said to himself taking out a pocket watch.
Immediately the Nome king appeared in the room. He chuckled and he and Father Time shook hands and embraced quickly. It was then that the Nome king noticed Dorothy. He could hear her sobbing. Father time sighed and whispered what had just happened to the Nome King.
"Should I get Glinda or someone?" The Nome King asked curiously.
"No, but I need you to stay here and watch her while I go and tell them what happened." Father time said as his voice echoed through the room and he vanished.
Back in the emerald city.
"It's been almost an entire hour now." Alex said looking at his watch.
"How long was he supposed to keep her there?" Em asked looking at Glinda curiously.
"At least half an hour, but Dorothy has had some episodes where she's cried non-stop for several hours." Glinda said.
"Well that is true." Alex said.
"Then I won't worry about it, if this is the normal thing for her to go through." Em said as she went back to watching her children.
Glinda smiled and looked over to the clock. It was then she began to look worried. The clock had stopped in the middle. She then noticed Alex was now winding up his pocket watch.
"Glinda!" came the booming voice of father time.
"Oh dear." Glinda whispered as father time appeared in front of her.
"Mrs. Gale, Alexander, Glinda." Father time said nodding at each of them in turn.
"Good morning father time, nice outfit." Alex said.
"Thank you, but, I'm afraid that there's been a bit of a mishap with Dorothy." Father time said, his face not even changing expression.
"What sort of a mishap?" Em and Alex asked in unison.
"Well, Dorothy entered in what I like to call, just for dramatic effect, 'the room of memories' anyone who enters in it immediately witnesses one of their happiest moments in their life, and then the closest tragic thing that happened after it, and for Dorothy, that just happened to be her last picnic with her parents, and the death of her father." Father time explained.
Em was dumbstruck. Dorothy never liked to think about her parents. She knew Dorothy would be crushed having to witness it firsthand more than once.
"Wasn't there anything you can do? Like pull her out of it?" Alex asked curiously and worriedly.
"No, there's nothing he can do once someone enters the room, he can only watch as things play out for themselves." Glinda said in a shaky tone.
"Glinda?" Alex asked worriedly.
"My aunt, I didn't just witness her death firsthand once, I witnessed it twice, that room is enough to shake anyone to the core, Dorothy must be a miserable wreck after seeing that." Glinda said as tears formed in her eyes.
"Ah, yes, I had almost forgotten, you were the reason we called it the room of memories in the first place, you said that room was horrible for showing you what it did that was the first and the last time you would come to my domain in a really long time, your friend Roquat however still returns to have tea and right now is keeping an eye on Dorothy while she is currently sobbing, curled up in a little ball." Father time said.
"Can I go see her?" Alex asked worriedly.
"Alex, I don't think she's going to be in the mood to see anyone." Em said.
"She'll be more likely to talk to family at the moment I should think." Father time said.
"Actually, she's more likely to talk to either Alex or Ellie when she's upset." Glinda said.
"Well, go fetch her then I'll take both of you." Father time said.
Alex nodded and quickly ran out. It was then that Em decided to speak.
"Madeline said Dorothy was heartbroken when Dorothy found out her father had died." Em said as both father time and Glinda looked at her.
"Madeline was Dorothy's mother's name." Father time said.
"Yes we know." Glinda said.
"Right." Father time said as Alex ran in with Ellie.
Father time looked at them and nodded. Alex and Ellie, as well as father time immediately vanished from the city and the clock started ticking again. Glinda looked at Em and then down at the kids and sighed.