6.
The light was still blaring but this time it wasn’t silent and calm, there was commotion all around her. Chantel opened her eyes and sat bolt upright, her palms sweating and her heart pounding.
She could see the black crack had appeared again on the wall and a doorway was open. Somewhere, out in the hall, there was banging and crashing and the sounds of a struggle. She climbed off the bed slowly and although she didn’t even know where she was, she knew she had to look.
As she approached the doorway and went to push it open she was stopped by a hand appearing around the frame and pushing her back inside. She screamed as she tumbled backwards but a man came heaving through the door ahead of her and closed it behind him, the line of the doorway completely disappearing again as if it had never even been there.
He panted and tried to regain his breath as he bent down and put a big hand on Chantel’s shoulder.
“Are you alright?” he asked.
Chantel was trembling, and she hadn’t even dared look at him, but as her eyes travelled up his rippling rock hard torso, she was instantly aware that he wasn’t the man from the party or the one who could have been his twin that had visited her earlier. This man in front of her now was tall and blonde with ice blue eyes that were so intense they made her gasp. He was so handsome, like nothing she had ever seen before. When they had walked into the party earlier that night she had thought that the host was other-worldly and attractive, but this man now was so much more. He was like another entity altogether and she couldn’t stop herself from staring at him. She was completely lost for words.
“Are you okay?” he asked again as he took hold of her other shoulder and shook her slightly.
“Yes,” she gasped. “But I don’t know what is happening.”
He smiled with a warm, open look and then sighed.
“Well, it just so happens it’s your lucky day.”
Chantel watched as he got to his feet and lifted his wrist to his lips. He whispered something into what looked like a watch, in a language she didn’t recognize, before he held out his hand and helped her to her feet.
Outside in the hallway the commotion started up again. It sounded as if a group of people were trying to break their way in. The calmness that had been flowing through her had now completely disappeared and she was on high alert.
“Who are they?” she asked with panic. “And who are you?”
The man looked at her and smiled before he took hold of her hand and said, “My name’s Eli, and I’m here to save your life.”
Her heart began to race and even though he was smiling, the noise out in the hallway was causing her anxiety. There was someone trying to break in, and now this Eli was saying he was going to save her life! What was happening!
“Who are they?” she screamed.
“They’re bad news,” Eli said as he gripped her hand and looked down at his wrist. “But don’t worry, as I said, today is your lucky day.”
She noticed the black line of the doorway forming again in the center of the wall and she screamed as she buried her head into Eli’s chest and begged him to get them out of there. He smiled at her and ran a hand through her hair before suddenly and without warning her whole body felt as if it was burning up and there was a gigantic crack of white light all around them.
She woke up on the floor, sprawled out and bewildered as to what had just happened. When she opened her eyes and looked around she thought she was in the same room as she had been in before, but as her eyes focused she realized it was different.
As she looked at the walls she saw color begin to form on them and scenes of a forest took shape before her eyes. Her mouth gaped open as all around her she could hear the sounds of running water and birds singing, it was as if she was in the middle of a beautiful clearing, watching a river flow ahead of her as salmon jumped up the rocky waterfalls.
“Is this better?” Eli’s voice came from behind her and she jumped.
“What the hell?” she asked with complete shock. “What is this place?”
Eli smiled as if he was letting her in on a secret and then he took a step towards her.
“This is the middle of the universe,” he grinned. “The very center… the core of everything.”
Chantel took a step back and shook her head.
None of this made any sense. But she had the overwhelming feeling that every word was true.