The Story... in bits... and not at all in chronological order.

[night faerie]

It is too late and I’m too tired. Everything’s off. Everything inside me. I’m listening to the darkness, trying to be alert for sounds of danger but all I can do is sit here and twitch. Trying not to twitch is the perfect way to ensure you wont be able to stop, of course. I stand up finally, maybe moving will help me to shake off this nervous energy.

I crouch just outside the cave and peek in on my companions. A. sleeps like a rock. Nothing will wake him till I will it. S. sleeps in a restless series of grumbles and tossing. T. opens her eyes and looks straight at me, unmoved, then closes her eyes again and ignores me. She wants me to know I can’t sneak up on her. Of course, I already knew that.

[night faerie]

I’m so cold; I lose touch with all my senses. All I can feel is the cold. I’m freezing, shivering, everything else fades. All sight, all sound, the feeling of the ground under my back, the metallic taste of blood… it all is released with the overwhelming cold. How can it possibly be this cold? Then in a flash, the cold is gone, replaced with a light. I feel myself moving towards the light; or maybe the light is moving towards me, but it’s getting bigger, more all encompassing, it fills my vision and all is quiet. Silent. The light envelopes me and I close my eyes and fall back into myself. I tune out the light and my own fear and eventually I fall asleep.

I open my eyes and see blue sky. I start awake and sit up. I am sitting on a green field under a sunny sky. In front of me is a tall serene hill. At the top of the hill is what looks like a white rectangle.

I get to my feet, crouching a bit, ready to run. I back myself up against the hill and I begin to stalk around the hill, examining my surroundings. What limited surroundings there are. Green. That is about it. Green grass as far as my eyes can see. There is nothing else, not even sound. Not a bird chirping or wind blowing. Not even heat from the sun which shines brightly in the clear sky. Odd, that.

I wait patiently for something to happen. I wait, pondering my present condition. I can’t seem to remember yesterday. What has brought me here? Where am I? Although I have been waiting for what seems like quite a long time, I notice the sun has not moved from it’s zenith, directly above me. When nothing happens for a very long time, I decide to go investigate the one thing that exists here besides me, the white rectangle at the top of the hill.

It is just that, a life-sized door shaped rectangle, just sitting there at the top of the hill. I feel around the entire thing. It is some smoothed wooden construction, with not a sharp edge nor splinter nor any imperfections whatsoever. I consider it for a time, and then I stand in front of it and look through at the green grass. What the hell, I think to myself, and I step through.

[night faerie]

Waking sucks. It is just this side of cold. I pull the blanket to cover my shoulder. The brash light is softened only by a ragged bit of cloth pinned over the window. I begin to hear. There is traffic outside; the quiet unintelligible buzz of a thousand people talking at once and no to one listen but me. Beneath it, the whistle and whisper of the breeze blowing through tall trees. I arise, clutching the blanket around me. I shuffle, bleary and unimpressed, through the doorway.

In the next room I am enveloped by the warm smell of fresh coffee. I feel better about the day instantly. Wandering pointedly to the kitchen corner, I see Crash leaning sleepily against the cold stove, staring into a hot mug of coffee as though it holds the all answers to the Universe. Maybe it does. I know instinctively that I need one of those myself. It is imperative.

It in’t till the dark liquid makes that lovely bubbling sound as it pours from the pot to my cup that Crash even realizes I am in the room. He looks at me unfocused for a moment. I can't tell if he is hungover or stoned again. Finally he sees me true. He smiles wearily and says, “heeeey. ‘morning.”