The night was empty and brittle drenched with the bitter breath of north. The Sun had already escaped in his golden chariot, leaving the moon to seize the vast gloomy sky.
Birds hurried homes as stars lit the world with their twinkling eyes and the street vendors busied themselves for their twilight business.
The Wind howled in urgency as it drifted between shops and people dancing and swirling in and out the thick trees with the monotonous music of the gossips touring the alleys of Long Street.
Nothing extraordinary was running outside the yellow window of Melody's room. The town stunk the same, the moon still was fighting with clouds which appeared to have blinded her visions again and the roads still whined with vehicles running their courses. However, inside of the same yellow window of Melody's room, the atmosphere was different, almost like another world war was sorting out its path while Melody stood with her ears witnessing the massacre.
" Don't talk to me like that " Aunt Ruby yelled at her husband " I am not your maid, pig-shit "
" Seven Hells! Ruby, it is your freaking job to clean the bathroom. I earn money in this house and you are the housewife " Her husband pointed out louder than his usual voice, " Cleaning your own house will not make you a maid "
Melody scanned the crowd for something intriguing, something different...something that could make the screams and shouts stop and let her be in peace for a moment.
Her books lay in a truce with her cat as they slept without a single care of this world or about Aunt Ruby's continuous curses. Melody slid out of her messy mattress and settled herself in front of her computer.
She was sure that the whole neighbourhood could hear their screams since her usually calm uncle was now answering Aunt Ruby's every question. This had been a part of her daily life for the past eight years but Melody still was terrified of their cries and yells.
Her Aunt Ruby is a small plump woman with hardly any neck and curly bob hair, she loves her son more than anything in the world, her ten-year-old embarrassing brat. Melody's uncle however is half the size of his wife and very calm and gentle, unlike Aunt Ruby.
" Oh! Gerald. I can not take this anymore " Aunt Ruby cried and Melody knew the furious session of her mood was over and the emotional phase had begun. " I shall burn myself to ashes if you ever raise your voice on me again " she sobbed.
Melody sighed as she looked at her virtual reality headset resting beside her table. She wanted to escape reality and its chaos and what better way could she block these noises and relax at the same time.
She fixed the new game she bought from one of the mystery boxes on sale and assigned her headphone to her ears. Her vision was restricted as soon as she put the Virtual reality headset on but then the screen lit up with the opening of the game and Melody found herself enjoying the virtual world more than she could even imagine enjoying in her real life.
As hours passed, the screams stopped and the night fell quiet and beautiful. One small knock from her Uncle whacked the door inside which Melody still was lost in her virtual reality game but then he excused himself muttering something about Melody being already asleep.
~
The night grew powerful and a quiet duvet of sleep fell on the city named Long street. Mrs Ruby Buttom was now fast asleep in her room, her husband snoring just left to her in the same bed. Their ten-year-old nose picker was also lost in his dreamland unaware of the world shifting outside their little house.
The sky suddenly went blank, the moon was lost inside the blanket of dark clouds and stars evaporated out of the night sky. Trees shook with the mischievous aura and bugs went silent, terrified of the distorting climate.
But Melody was still lost in her virtual pouch, her stomach was growling for food but she still could not make herself stop from playing the game. Everything was happy in here and she even had a mom in her virtual game, unlike her real-life where she was all alone. Melody was so occupied in her world that she did not even take an ounce bit of notice of the world shifting under her foot.
Creepers danced around her house in darkness and drifted towards the yellow window in an uncanny mission. Roots long and thin emerged from the depths of hell and proceeded towards the nearby houses. It was no storm but the wind rendered no mercy to the fallen leaves and little animals trying to shelter themselves from this mysterious outturn of events.
The yellow window was wide open and creepers were making their way inside her small messy room while Melody sat foreign to these changes.
Roots crawled up and down as they took hold of the book and an already spooked cat in their domain. The cat was terrified and was fighting hard to free itself from the clasp but no help came her way. The roots slowly shuffled forward taking hold of the chair and slowly fastening around Melody's small leg.
It was not until the root strings tightened around Melody that she felt her legs restricted but by the time this unknown feeling hit her, the roots were already onto her hands. She battled hard trying to move her hands but the cloak of the dark muddy roots went on with their goal. Her whole body was masked under the tight clasps and no matter how much she screamed her voice got muffled under its thick coating.
The floor under her feet shone bright, the colour of blue flames, like the entrance of some magical land and both Melody and her cat began to drown in an endless expense.
Forced to make an unknown journey,
Away from the real world,
Towards the unknown