You're Dead: Chapter Seven (special preview)

It’s never really fun to find yourself in a place that’s strange to you, even worse when that place is full of strangers. All my life I had avoided such an occurrence. I never really wandered far from home. I never really left the side of people I knew. So when I found myself sitting in a house I had never seen before, I was quite baffled. Especially since I had fallen asleep on the floor of Bowie’s loft.

The house was old, Victorian maybe. The house from Clue, also a maybe. I was sitting on this rose colored love seat where the wood was carved to match the floral pattern of the fabric. A tea seat that was covered in violets was placed in an arrangement signaling there might be guests. Everything was quiet except for the tick-tick-ticking of the grandfather clock right by the french doors. The swinging pendulum inside would flash in the sunlight. The brilliant gold was shaped to look like the face of an owl, at least, that’s how it looked from where I sat.

I stretched and looked around, afraid that if I stood up from my seat, I’d fall into the void that was the floor. The furniture was suspended above it, held aloft by magic carpets or the will of whatever deity influence this place. I looked behind me, seeing the windows outside reflected back what was in the room. Although instinctively I didn’t think they were mirrors. I heard the sounds of heels upon hardwood floor and the door squeaked open.

There sat a wolf at the door. It was massive and black, it’s eyes staring daggers into me. I held my breath and sat completely still. I thought perhaps it wouldn’t see me, but then I remembered that it was about dinosaurs. I eased my position back to sitting and facing the wolf. It was unblinking, unmoving.

I almost thought it was a statue until it suddenly jumped up. I let out a shrill yelp as the wolf moved away from the door. It came towards the sofa, sitting down on the side where my arm rested. It stood there, staring hard at the door.

The sound of heels upon the floor rose through the quiet and Mara came into the room, carrying a plate of cookies. She smiled at me and lifted the plate. “You’re in luck!”

I just continued staring at her with the wolf.

Mara sighed as she set the plate down upon the table and took the seat beside me. She was dressed in a Victorian gown that was cream with hints of brown and green. She smoothed out her full skirt and laid a napkin upon her lap.

“You’ve been making a mess of things haven’t you?” She chortled. She took a cookie, placing it upon the napkin.

“I have?” My voice echoed in my brain.

Mara then took the teapot and poured. “Freddie is such a nice young man. I remember when he first came to me.”

The tea didn’t so much fill the cup as the cup seemed to pull the tea down towards it. The strange physics of this place were almost as baffling as why I was here. The wolf growled and looked away.

Mara set the teapot aside then pushed the cream and sugar pots towards me. “Running away when you did.” She tutted, shaking her head.

I reached for the sugar, jerking my hand away several times as the sugar cubes would start vibrating when I got near them.“He told me to.” The wolf snapped at my hand and i recoiled farther into the sofa.

Mara’s green eyes flicked towards me as she bit into her cookie. The snap of the treat sounded more like twigs breaking. Small lights fell instead of crumbs and they floated about and began twinkling around the room. The inside of the cookie was bright red jam and it oozed down until she set it upon the napkin. “You ran away, Daisy,” she murmured. “There’s a difference.”

I furrowed my brow but it felt like my skin was pulling too tight. I relaxed my expression and saw sugar cubes jumping into my cup of tea.

“I chose you for a reason, Daisy.” Mara tilted her head to the side as she looked at me. “You were perfect.”

I got a queasy feeling in the pit of my stomach.