One Step Beyond: 2B

    Esther was still unsure where the sunlight had been coming from, but she knew it was gone now. Instead there was now a darkness so thick she thought she could feel it. There were no streetlamps, stars, or even a moon. Esther had read somewhere that artificial light was so abundant on Earth, that one would have to be on the ocean with no land in sight to experience what they call true darkness. Guess they never tried jumping off the abandoned bridge in Dayton, she thought.


    A sudden gust of chilly breeze rolled through her and she gave an involuntary shudder. A low rumbling started to shake the world. Esther tried to run, but immediately tripped over what felt like a tree root, though she knew there were only those purple flowers as far as the eye could see. When she hit the ground, her confusion yielded itself to terror. The flowers were moving.

    The ones she landed on were pushing and poking her, as if trying to get her off them. The flowers closest to her were grabbing at her hair, wrists, and legs with surprising strength, and Esther swore they were growing. She ripped and tore at the flowers as she struggled to her feet, but she only made it a short distance before she got tripped up again.

    The flowers were relentless, they wrapped themselves her like a giant snake constricting its prey. Before long, Esther had been completely encased and unable to move, pinned in place by the flowers, or vines, or whatever they were. Her clothes began to tear, and she was soon aware that the murderous plants were all she was wearing. The flowers forced their way into Esther’s mouth, nostrils, ears, tear ducts, and any other place they could find their way in. Esther was being pulled into the shaking ground, terrified, naked, far from home, dying.

    She had watched her Grandfather waste away to cancer. By the end he lacked the strength to even pick up his guitar. She had spent countless days by his bedside, listening to his stories, and admiring his courage. The last time she had seen him awake, just before he was moved to the hospice, she asked him how he stayed so calm. “I’ve had a full life,” he said with a smile. “Don’t get me wrong, Essie, I’m afraid, sometimes I’m so afraid I can’t think. But that’s just the way of things, right? It’s like they say, it’s such a long, long time to be gone, and a short time to be there.”

    Esther tried to channel his strength as the ground swallowed her. She could feel herself floating off, and she smiled as she thought about seeing her wild-haired grandfather again. Her panic had subsided, and Esther chose to ride the wave in peace. She was so tired. She closed her eyes and drifted out.

    Her Grandfather was sitting on a stool on his sunporch, playing some blues licks on his beat-up six-string. “Hey there, Essie!” He called out cheerily. “It’s so good to see you, kiddo!”

    Esther ran into her Grandfather’s arms and hugged him tight. “I’ve missed you so much,” she told him.

    “Nonsense, I haven’t been gone but a moment!”

    “Grandpa, it’s been six years.”

    He started laughing, that deep-bellied, good-natured laugh she had missed. “Essie, you’re still very young, but someday when you’re a little older you’re going to realize that even a century is insignificant.”

    She started to cry, “No Grandpa, I fell into some strange water, I think I'm dead.”

    “Are you?”

    Her eyes snapped open and she sat up, the flowers that had pinned her down with the strength of a bodybuilder and entombed her parted as if by command. Light stabbed her eyes, and she took a moment to adjust. She was on a river, floating on a raft made of the purple flowers. On one side of the river was a barren desert, even the river banks on that side looked somehow devoid of moisture. On the other side of the river was a jungle.

    Looking down she saw that the clothes she had been wearing when she fell were indeed gone, replaced by an intricate, perfectly fitting ornate dress made entirely from the flowers. She checked her body for injuries and discovered none. She sat down to mull her options. She could try to steer herself towards one of the banks or allow the river to carry her onward.