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Decisions
~Lindsay Lockhart~
I debated over whether to put this in serials or short stories and I decided it should go here. It would probably be a novella/novelette(I'm not sure which.) I decided to post it here but in parts. Enjoy.
rest. He worked very hard to support she and her younger sister, Mary, but they still struggled. Audrey had been working in a nearby supermarket to help support the family for two years now.
Her evenings were filled with homework and the store while school took her days. The night was the only time she had to herself and she spent it reading and dreaming. Her own life was so tiring and stressful that she could not help but dream of another. She had very few friends and had never had a boyfriend. She was actually a very attractive person but she had never had time to commit to anyone but her family. She knew her father would understand if
she went to a few dances but they didn't have the money for it. She was embarrassed to go in the clothing she had and the family couldn't spare the money for nice things.
Their trouble had begun when Audrey's mother died in a car accident 10 years ago. With both parents working they had been able to have a nice, modest home and live a comfortable, though certainly not luxurious, life. Audrey knew the despair that the family had shared would touch all of them forever. Her father had never been the same after the accident and she and her sister had to grow up without a female presence in their life. Audrey could still
remember the way her mother looked; though the memories faded more with each passing day. She tried to be content with her life but it grew more difficult as her hopes for a better life seemed more futile.
Audrey collapsed onto her bed, letting her backpack slip from her fingers to the thinly carpeted floor below her. She was glad that her sister's bed was empty. They shared a room and Audrey felt like being alone. A group of her classmates had invited her to go to a family cabin in the mountains this weekend. She wanted so desperately to go but she knew she had to work and take care of her sister. When she said she couldn't, they had seemed
disappointed and demanded to know why. Not wanting to give her real answer, Audrey had told them that she was helping to take care of her sick grandmother. They gave her a look like they didn't believe her but put on fake smiles and one girl commented that perhaps they could do something another time. Audrey could tell by her tone that the invitation really would never come again.
Her sister Mary didn't have these problems quite yet. She was only eleven and had not begun working yet. By the time Mary was old enough to get a job, Audrey would be gone and there would be one less mouth to feed. At least, she hoped she would be gone. She never dared to bring up the subject of college with her father but the prospect had been a large part of her recent dreams. Audrey was certainly intelligent enough. She managed to keep her grades
up in the B+ to A range, despite her heavy work schedule. There were many ways she could get financial aid and she was willing to work as hard as she needed to pay for school.
Audrey reached beneath her bed and pulled out the file folder that contained all the information she had gathered on colleges. She leafed through the pile, pausing on the colleges that interested her most. She'd seen them all hundreds of times but they were still interesting. They represented something higher than what Audrey felt she was now. Stepping onto her college campus would be ascension to a higher plain. It would open up doors that had
always been shut to her father and mother. Her mother had managed to work her way up to a high level in a company through years of dedication, but her lack of a college degree had created a glass ceiling in her movement up the ranks. Audrey never wanted that to happen to her.
"Audrey!" called her father, interrupting her reverie. "I need you to make dinner, I'm…" Her came through the door and cut off as he saw the papers strewn on top of her bed. "Whats all this?" he asked, picking up a letter from The University of New York.
"Letters and information from colleges," Audrey replied, she tried to make her voice sound as casual as possible.
Her father frowned and tossed the letter back onto the pile. "So, you want to go to college?" he asked. "Have you thought of how much that costs? How much Mary and I need you here?"
"Of course," she said with a small sigh. "I've been looking into scholarships and financial aid. With me gone you'll have one fewer mouth to feed and I would still help as much as I could."
"You don't need to go to college," her father snapped. "I never went to college. Your mother never went to college."
"Exactly!" shouted Audrey. "I want to make something of myself. My children are not going to have to lose their lives to working. I want to get out of this life!"
Her father didn't say anything for a moment and simply glared. "If your mother hadn't died…" he began.
"She did die dad. There are no 'ifs' about it. Except, if my husbands dies, I'm not going to be finished. My children won't suffer anything more than the terrible loss of a parent."
"You think you've suffered?" shouted her father. "There are people would would do anything to have your life!"
"Then they can have it! With my blessing!"
Audrey's father brought his hand back to slap her. She had never seen his face so full of rage as when he prepared to strike her for her insolence. She knew her face had contorted with terror and her father saw it as well. He lowered his hand slowly, breathing deeply to calm himself from the rage he had entered. He looked at his hand in revulsion and then used it to grab the pile of college papers from her bed.
"No!" she cried between tears.
Her father gave her one look of disgust and then slammed the door as he stalked off with her carefully gathered data. Presumable to throw it into the fire or the garbage, either way her hard work was about to be destroyed.
Audrey threw herself down onto her pillow and sobbed into it. Mentally, one of her dreams was being destroyed. Her image of the bustling college campus was taken apart piece by piece with each piece of paper she visualized her father tearing. Audrey needed solace and her mind groped for another of her standard dreams. However, each dream that she reached for seemed to vanish when she called it up. Like bubbles that popped at the touch of a solid
object. She had never felt so utterly alone. Even in the darkest nights she had her dreams to turn to for companionship. In them, she was a royal, a scientist, a magician, a heroine, a pilot, a pioneer, a dilettante, and a score of others. Now, she was nothing. Audrey wasn't even a girl who dreamed of such things.
Suddenly, Audrey felt like she was blanketed in warmth. She opened her eyes quickly to see her room enveloped in a bright white light. Gold beams swirled around each other and eventually toward her. The delicate tendrils wrapped around her body, creating a veritable cocoon of light. Audrey felt herself levitate above her bed then her body was torn in a million different directions. She had no time to scream before she was enveloped in total darkness.
Audrey awoke within a blue, jelly-like substance. It surrounded her on all sides like a she had been thrown into a swimming pool full of gelatin. The feeling of the cold, slimy material against her skin sent waves of panic her body and she thrashed her arms around. Surprisingly, her arms passed through the substance like it was as thin as air. This did nothing to calm her because she was more disorientated than before. She felt her lungs tightening from the loss of air and she knew she had little time left. A soothing voice spoke into her ear. "This is not your natural atmosphere?" it inquired. She shook her head quickly; eyes wide open in fright. An atmosphere of jelly? Her panic stricken mind recognized this as being odd but the loss of oxygen didn't give her enough energy to contemplate it. "Oh dear, someone made a boo-boo. We'll move you quickly," the voice replied to her movements. With that she was shot up through the jelly until she broke into an immense cavern.
Oxygen greeted Audrey's waiting nostrils and the familiar air made its way into her lungs. She felt herself soaring through the air until her momentum broke and she plummeted to the ground. Audrey expected to meet cold metal when she landed but instead it was bouncy like a trampoline. This new surface didn't give her long to be acquainted with it because she was soon bouncing up into the air again.
When Audrey finally came to a stop, she took the time to appraise her current situation. She didn't know where she was, why she was here, how long she had been here, and when she would leave. Situation appraised.
The walls were an opalescent white and smooth like the inside of an oyster. The light was refracted on their shiny surfaces; sending beams of rainbow light throughout the giant room and down onto Audrey. They turned the silvery surface of the suit she was wearing every color of the rainbow. When she was in the jelly, she had noticed that she was no longer wearing the jeans and T-shirt of her earlier day. Instead, she was garbed in a stretchy silver bodysuit. The material was unlike any she had ever worn. It almost felt like rubber but was light and not quite as stretchy. Her hair was braided tightly around her head. It was woven in an intricate design Audrey had never seen done to anyone else's hair and it made her feel as though it weren't there at all.
She stood cautiously, testing her balance on a surface that altered with every movement she made. There wasn't really anywhere to go but she wandered around the room anyway. It felt good to move her legs, especially since it made this seem more like reality. "Was it really reality?" she wondered, staring in awe of her surroundings. It certainly seemed like it was but she couldn't be sure. Things here were unlike any she had ever experienced and they seemed incomplete, like she wasn't experiencing them to the full. She felt inadequate; her perceptions were no match for what this place had to offer. This feeling passed quickly as it was replaced by fear. This fear came because the springy floor beneath her had vanished and once again she was flying through the air.
Audrey landed on a padded dais in the middle of a silver-walled room. A shimmering form coalesced in front of her, then others appeared around her in the room. They each radiated a light in hues she had never seen on earth. Their forms were simply indescribable because she had no words to do the job.
"Greetings," she heard from the direction of one of the forms. It had assumed a humanoid shape to probably make her feel more comfortable. All of the appendages were elongated and their surfaces were opaque. Other than that, it had created a form that was familiar enough for Audrey to identify with. However, the fact that the mouth didn't move when the creature spoke was enough to dispel any comfort she had previously attained from the form.
Audrey mustered the courage to weakly stammer, "H-Hello." Sounds blew gently through the room after she spoke. It sounded like the tinkling of tiny silver bells in a breeze. It was relaxing and she released a few of the muscles she had previously held tightly.
"Audrey," it said, shocking her with the fact that it knew her name. "Why are you afraid?"
"Why was she afraid?" she thought but could not answer. "I don't know," she replied. "Perhaps it deals with the fact that you know my name and that you can sense the feeling you inquire about."
"Your thoughts speak as loudly to us as your words, Audrey. We know this confuses you but it is true."
"This may be so but I certainly can not read your mind, voice. So this prospect is unfamiliar to me. Pardon my ignorance.."
"There is no need for pardons, no harm has been done."
"You know my name, what shall I call you?"
A sharp tinkling echoed through the room. "That is our name but we do not expect you to be able to even make such a sound with your anatomy," the voice spoke slowly. Audrey attempted to imitate the noise. She failed horribly but was rewarded with very light, quick tinkling from all over the room. It warmed her heart, though she did not know why.
"I'm sorry," she said quietly.
"It is no trouble. Call us Dave."
"Dave?" Audrey asked with a quick laugh, it seemed like such a mundane name for such extraordinary creatures.
"Yes," Dave replied with warmth. "We are glad that you laughed at that. Human laughter is pleasing to our senses."
"When I miserably attempted to say your real name, were the noises you all made your laughter?"
"Very correct Audrey. You are a very intelligent person to have caught that. Your deduction shows that you are not too clouded by confusion or fear to think. We sensed that but it is nice to see it applied."
"I wouldn't go that far. Your noises pleased me and I believe that all laughter is pleasing to the senses. It must be the feeling that drives one to create the laughter in the first place."
"Yes, very good," the voice said with a hint of admiration. There was a moment of silence following it. Silence usually made Audrey uncomfortable but the serenity of the room eliminated any discomfort. "You have many questions," Dave said without a hint of inquiry, breaking the silence. She nodded impulsively but stopped herself. The creatures, Dave, were inviting her to present the questions they already could sense she had within her head.
"Well, it might be nice to know why I am here."
"Are you not happy?"
"Oh yes," she said quickly. "This is very beautiful and exciting but I must be here for a reason."
"We understand. You are here to receive a present."
"A present?" she knew she sounded shocked. That was about the last thing she had expected to hear. Probably because she had already been given so much. Perhaps more than the creatures knew she had been given. She doubted that conclusion because she sensed that nothing escaped them.
"Yes," they replied simply.
"Why are you giving me more than you have already given me?" she asked, pleased at the sound of the laughter-tinkling that resounded after she inquired.
"We do not believe we have given you anything yet, you merely derived that pleasure from what surrounds us. Even if we did, you have given us much to compensate you for. We love your dreams Audrey. They have given us more pleasure. We don't wish the banality of your father to destroy them," the voice said the last part with a hint of sadness. Her father-her broken dreams- the memory stung. "We know how much you wish for a different life and we wish to fulfill this request."
After a moment of contemplation in a silence that had settled over the room, Audrey ventured, "You are going to make my life different?"
"If you wish."
"What are you going to do?"
"We will present you with three realities you can live. They will not be perfect but we do not believe that you wish it to be perfect. What is it you tell you sister, conflict builds character?" Dave asked. Audrey nodded in reply. "You get to experience each without the memory of the others, except your real life of course. We will never take that from you, I don't believe that even we can. We will make it secondary so that it doesn't interfere but that's as far as we go. We also will not mess with the events of it very much. The only times we will have a hand in it is when something needs to be done to progress it in a large direction we wish it to take. For the most part, you and it will be free to go along an undetermined path. That is all we will tell you, for now. Enjoy yourself Audrey, you deserve it." A shimmering arm waved toward a bluish portal that had opened beside it.
Audrey hesitated. This was all unbelievable and so very great. Her mind had been assaulted with so many facts that she could barely comprehend them. She glanced at the forms, who waited for her in silence. She gave one last look to the portal and then said, "Thank you." With that, she stepped into the blue with no idea what would happen or how it would happen. After a moment of surrendering herself to the unknown, Audrey felt herself tear apart like she had before and then shot down the blue toward her destination.