Between Dimensions

The bell clings as Becca pushes of the door of the antique shop. Sighing, she steps inside and looks around, scanning the shelves for something worth her father. Antiques. He had to like antiques. He couldn’t be happy with something like clothes for his birthday. After picking up a lot of old and dusty pieces, she still couldn’t understand how they were worth so much.

“Finally!” she mutters as she finds a clock, embedded with fake rubies and emeralds. This thing was as old as most of the things around here but this clock had something about it that was just appealing. She picks up the clock carefully, as if it would break upon touching. Walking to the counter, she places the clock with the money. The man behind the counter looks at her but does not drop his gaze even when she notices him doing so. He’s done wrapping the clock and returning the change, but still not given up on staring at her.

“What are you looking at?” She snaps and he finally drops his gaze, as if realizing, for the first time that he was even looking at her.

She walks out of the shop and forgets all about the weird man, who was still staring at her as she walked away.

“Let no one see me, let no one see me…”Becca wishes as she enters her house. Going to all the pains to get the damn clock, and if someone sees me, it will all be for nothing, she thinks while carefully and quietly climbing the staircase.

“Becca?” she hears her father call out. “Is that you? Come here!”

“Shoot!” she mutters and replies, “Just a minute Papa!”

Hurrying up thesteps she enters her room, opens her cupboard and winces as the cupboard creaks. Carefully placing the fragile piece on a shelf, she hastily shuts the door of her cupboard and rushes back down the steps.

Becca enters her room and locks the door behind her. She takes off her shoes and takes out the antique clock and places it front of her. She takes off the wrappings and examines the clock. It is a beautiful clock, she reculantly admits to herself. The moonlight pouring in through the open window falls on Becca and the clock as she sits there, gazing at it. Suddenly, white light engulfs the ancient clock and Becca! Too shocked to moved, she sits with the clock in her hands as the light slowly fades away.Blinking several times, she squints at her dark surroundings. But this isn’t my room! She realizes as she looks around the small room where everything is made of wood. It takes her a moment to take notice of another girl staring at her, holding a candle. And when she does, she yelps in astonishment. The face of the other girl is illuminated by the light of the candle, which is casting ghostly shadows on her face.

“Am I that scary?” the girl asks, with a sad smile

It takes a moment till Becca finds her voice and she asks a question in turn for the question,

“Who are you?”

“Adrian.”

“What is this place?”

But before Adrian can answer, a voice answers her question,

“Doesn’t matter.”

Yet another wave of shock goes through Becca as she hastily turns around and sees the man standing in front of her. The man’s black hair is streaked with silver, intentionally, it seemed. He has a stocky build, and is wearing a white and black suit, with silver cuffs. But the strangest thing about him was his face. His eyes had an eyeball, but no pupil. They are all blue. His lips were sealed shut. There was no visible connector, but his lips were glued together all the same.

“You have been brought here for a reason. When this clock will strike 12,” he gestures at the machinery behind him. It is now that Becca realizes that she is in the old clock. But how can she get inside it?! “You will be transported to another dimension through a portal that opens up. This place is inter-dimential. The space between two dimensions, which does not belong to any dimension. So any rules of a dimension will not be applied here. The time will cease to move. You will go to my world and defeat the queen, and if you shall fail, you will be struck here forever, like her” He points at Adrian. All through the long speech, his face was devoid of emotion. Totally blank. And just like he appeared, he disappears.

After a moment of silence, Becca hears shuffling and turns around to see that Adrian has sat down on the floor, with the candle in front of her. Without invitation, Becca sits in front of Adrian and starts asking questions,

“Who was he?”

“The original heir of the throne of his kingdom, Quencca, his name is Doerian. He was given the throne upon his father’s death, only when he was ten. You can’t expect much from a little boy. The Queen of Hemride easily overthrew him and banished him when he was fourteen. All of his followers, and mind you he had many by that time, were banished along with him. He found this portal and uses it to summon people from our dimension. We can enter his world. He was so furious because-“

“Furious? He was furious? Looked like he was feeling nothing.”

“You don’t know him. And do not interrupt me again.” Adrian replied crossly, with emphasis on ‘do not’.

“So anyway, it has been a while since someone got hold of the clock. I don’t know how much since time is weird here. He does not have patience anymore. You need to complete this task. His world is not like ours. It has magic and creatures of whom you cannot even imagine. The Queen holds power beyond imagination, but taking it all away from her is easy and difficult at the same time.”

“How?” Becca asks but her words merge with another sound. A sound that makes the hair on her arms stand. A horribly sickening sound that makes her cover her ears and her face twists with agony as the sound grows and grows…