Title: Don’t Ever Tell
Author: Me
Prompt: “Goofing off on the school campus after hours, a student discovers a portal to another world.”
Word Count: 1226
It was hot outside, but James and his two best mates, Angie and Mitt, were casually smoking under the shade of a tree on the edge of their college campus.
“Alright, what do you call a deer with no eyes?” Mitt asked James. Angie giggled, for Mitt had told her this joke earlier.
“Hmm, I’ve no idea,” James responded after a few seconds of mock deep thought. Angie’s laughs grew louder and Mitt looked a bit put-out. “What did I do?” James asked, noticing the look on Mitt’s face.
“Well, that’s just the answer: no idea. Get it? No eye-deer?” Mitt said, his face brightening. James laughed
“Tell him the next one, Mitt!” Angie said, using the opportunity to shift her weight to be closer to Mitt.
“What do you call a deer with no eyes and no legs?” Mitt asked, shifting towards Angie in return, who then erupted once again into a fit of giggles.
“I don’t know,” James asked.
“Still no idea!” Mitt said, and the three of them laughed. Angie took a long drag out of her cigarette and blew the smoke alluringly into Mitt’s face. Mitt suddenly looked quite excited.
“Angie, did I ever show you what James and I found under that old bridge?” Mitt asked Angie, and when she shook her head, Mitt looked over at James, hiding his pleading face from Angie.
“Oh, yeah, Mitt should show you, it’s really cool,” James said with an eyeroll, knowing exactly what his friend wanted to “show” her: the inside of his mouth. Mitt mouthed “thanks” as he grabbed Angie’s hand. They walked off, still holding hands, and disappeared under the bridge.
James lit another cigarette and kicked back under the tree. He was unsure when Mitt and Angie would return – they had been giving each other “the eye” for the past three months now, and just last week Mitt finally asked her out. The three of them had always been good friends, and James just hoped that when they broke up, the trio wouldn’t suffer too much.
It had been a long day at Abilene Christian University in central Texas. James, the 19-year-old soccer star with short, sandy-blonde hair, freckles, and poor eyesight, was tired. And just as he was drifting off to sleep, something caught his eye. In this part of Texas, nearly everything was coated with a brown overtone, and this shady part was a rarity even on campus. So when something of vivid, entrancing colours was spewing from a dying bush, it was only right to be curious. As it was only a few feet away, James crawled towards the phenomenon, staring at the reds and blues that were swirling together, hypnotizing the boy. He took off his glasses and wiped them with his dusty shirt, just to be sure. When the vision did not change, James decided to be bold and touch it, which he immediately regretted.
It felt as though someone with huge hands was squeezing his stomach, trying to make his stomach come out of his ass. Needless to say, it was quite uncomfortable, but thankfully lasted only a few seconds before he fell from… nowhere. The bush and strange marvel were gone, and everything around him was full of colours like he’d never seen before. There were more trees than he’d ever seen in his lives, and the leaves were changing hues rapidly. He reached up and grabbed a leaf, and as he held it in his hands, it felt warm. Then, after a few seconds, it grew cold, and then let out a gasp as its colour changed to black. James dropped the leaf out of shock and watched as it shriveled up until it disappeared. His held a cigarette to his mouth and tried to calm himself down, as there was absolutely no way he was in a different dimension.
He wandered about this newfound land, walking along dirt pathways that looked like they hadn’t been trodden on in years and years. His only hope was that he wouldn’t get too lost – not that he knew where he was in the first place, and therefore was lost by default. However, knowing he was in completely unfamiliar wasn’t comforting in the least, so he took note of anything that resembled “his world,” though he didn’t touch anything, as he was still a bit shaken up from the leaf dying. The path was glittering, as if lined with diamonds.
His stroll came to an end as he faced a large black rock blocking the pathway. He was too afraid to go around it, and so, he decided to test his luck. James extended his arms and, to his amazement, the rock opened its eyes, which had just appeared, as well as its mouth.
“What do you want?” bellowed the rock. James, completely bewildered by the talking rock and the fact that it spoke English, fell backwards and landed on his bum.
“I… uh… you’re in the middle of the road…” he stuttered out, deciding it better to look at the almost normal ground.
“Oh, well, I suppose that would be quite obnoxious,” said the rock, though when James looked at it again, it was no longer a rock, but instead a tall, skinny, black man with a top hat and black trench coat. His shoes appeared to be that of snakeskin. “And if you don’t mind me asking, where have you come from, and where are you going?”
“Honestly, I don’t know,” James said as the man stepped out of the way and rested against the trunk of a tree. “One second I was at my school-”
“School?” the Rock-Man asked. “Where are you from, lad?”
“Um, Earth?” James dared to say. The Rock-Man roared with laughter.
“Well, how the heck did you wind up here? And how are you speaking my language?” James just shrugged, resting in the trunk of his own tree and taking out a cigarette. “Toss me one of them, will you?” the man asked.
“Well, like I said, I was at school – a place where we… uh, Earthlings go to learn things – and there was this… portal… thing and I touched it, and now I’m here,” James spat out, hoping he didn’t sound completely insane. The man said nothing, lighting the cigarette James threw him by snapping his fingers at the end of the cancer stick.
“Nice story. And I take it this is just what you speak on Earth?”
James nodded. “Do you know how I can get back?”
The man laughed again, and suddenly James felt the same feeling as before – like someone was squeezing out all his internal organs. He landed back under the tree where he had been before the bush decided to open a portal to another word.
A few minutes later, as James was trying to recollect his thoughts, Mitt and Angie came giggling back from under the bridge. James looked dazed, and Mitt winked at him.
“Let’s go inside, Mitt,” Angie said, her hands intertwined with his. “James, we’ll see you at dinner.” Mitt mouthed “We’re going to her room” as a crazed grin appeared on his face. James stood up and walked back towards the school.
“Don’t ever tell,” he muttered to himself.
