Stories

Door Number Eight - Door Number Five Splintered Self

The thing about the human mind is that it trains itself to be very efficient, so it automatically eliminates the events that have an extremely low probability of happening so that the brain doesn’t get burdened with useless information to the detriment of day to day activity. When these very rare events happen, the mind gets confused and resentful, trying in vain to reconcile what it thought it knew about the world with the new image that simply doesn’t fit into that knowledge. Stepping into the hall of doppelgängers without warning definitely fit into this category for Taylor, so she wrapped her arms around the first reasonable justification that came to her mind in order to discount whatever it was that she was seeing with her own eyes.
“I must be drunk, I never should have had that beer,” she closed her eyes to make the image go away.
“Oh, don’t worry, they don’t really look like you, I just altered your perception of them to make it easier for you to notice,” her neighbor whispered behind her.

Door Number Eight - Door Number Four Shared Consciousness

Taylor woke up to a timid knock on the door, followed by a soft fumbling with the door handle. It was Christine, who was trying to balance a large box of jelly donuts and two cups of coffee. She entered, sheepishly, waiting for Taylor’s reaction.
“Peace offering?” she said, from behind the donut box.
“What gives?” Taylor asked, more curious than upset.
“I”m so sorry, Taylor! I realized yesterday afternoon it wasn’t you, it was that girl, Jessica, I told you she’s following Matt and his friend around like a shadow. Turns out I was wrong about which one of them she was after. Sowwy?” she took a comical Tweety bird pose to lighten the mood.
“Exactly how nuts are you? And how can you mistake me for Jessica?”
“What do you mean?” Christine said innocently.
“Well, for one, she’s a foot taller,” Taylor pointed out.
“I just saw them from a distance,” Christine explained.
“She’s blond! Like really Nordic!” Taylor pointed at her own skin and hair.
“People make mistakes,” Christine looked down. “Friends?” she asked.
“Sure,” her friend shrugged off the logical inconsistencies.

Door Number Eight - Door Number Three - Alternate Realities

“Have the lessons from yesterday’s field trip reached you yet?” he asked, smiling politely.
“More than I care to process,” she thought, still upset about the musts and the have to’s, but she answered in the same good mannered vein. “A few, I’m still analyzing them.”
“Just remember, before we go through door number three, that not every rule is there to be broken, but it helps, every now and then, to question your assumptions. It seems fitting, since we are on this subject, and given that all of these doors look more or less the same, to remind you of a rule that you shouldn’t be breaking. Do you remember what I warned you about during our first encounter?”
“Don’t go through door number eight,” she recited, trying very hard to suppress an eye roll.
“You say that, but you don’t believe it, not in your heart, anyway,” he probed her with a sharp gaze, and then, not finding what he was looking for, continued, slightly disappointed. “Anyway, ready when you are,” he took a bow, pointing towards the door.
“What’s through there?” 
“You.”

Door Number Eight - Door Number Two - Time

“I have to ponder this rationally,” Taylor thought and quickly put together a plan to address the current situation. Whether it was real or not, she figured all of this weird stuff kept happening to her around four o’clock, and if she managed to avoid her haunting ghost, hallucination, prankster or whatever he was around that time of day she should be fine. Since the thought of locking herself in the women’s restroom for an hour sounded a little bit like overkill, she moved to the next best option, which was spending every single second in Christine’s company. 
First, she wanted to assess whether Christine could see her “ghost”, or if he was a hallucination of her stressed out mind, and second, she was kind of hoping that a public setting would deter future kidnapping attempts.

Door Number Eight - Door Number One - Space

Taylor woke up and got ready for classes, as if nothing had happened the day before, trying to avoid looking at the door, somewhat uneasy with the thought that if she did, she might not see it there anymore. The first day was filled with the trepidation of adjusting to new settings and finding her way through the maze of buildings and hallways, and in all the excitement she almost forgot about the “class” that was supposed to start at four. She hadn’t had anything to eat the whole day and stopped almost without thinking at the cafeteria for a quick bite.

Door No. 8 - Chapter 1 The Beginning

“Taylor? Taylor Bradford?” a voice called from behind the counter, with non-dissimulated boredom. 
Taylor fumbled with the paperwork and rushed to the counter to finish registering for classes before the four o’clock deadline. The clerk handled the documents absentmindedly, while she watched the clock and switched to a more leisurely mindset in anticipation of the get together she had planned with her friends later at the bar on the campus corner. 
Taylor walked out the door thirty seconds after four, trying to avoid the clerk’s resentful glare and careful not to slam the door behind her. She was a shy person and, even if she didn’t want to admit it, she found this whole situation of being on her own a little overwhelming.

The Gates of Horn and Ivory - Chapter 10.3 Chorus

“Persephone, darling! What a joy to have you back home!”
Demeter welcomed her daughter effusively at the mouth of the cave of Cumae and presented her with the traditional sheaf of barley.
The oracle of Cumae bowed deeply to both goddesses, concealing a resentful glare, while Demeter performed a critical assessment of her daughter, staring her up and down in search of things that required attention.
“You look thinner, Persephone. Are you sure you’re eating enough in the underworld? I am concerned.”
“I’m exactly the same, mother. As you well know, we never change.”
“No worries. We’ll make sure to feed you properly as soon as we reach Olympus. I’ve made you a list of tasks, just to get you started on your duties. Dionysus wants to talk to you. Make time for a meeting with him as soon as feasible, will you?”

The Gates of Horn and Ivory - Chapter 10.2 The Silent Kingdom

Persephone was careful about lifting her torch, to avoid scorching the healthy roots which poked through the vault of the cave, drawn by the sound of the small stream running through it. Plants can hear water from great distances.
Plants can hear water from great distances and extend roots to capture it. They are a lot more sophisticated than people know.
A delicate root tracery was covering the entire vault, surrounding the larger tap roots, which found themselves mimicking stalactites, and growing in thin air, no doubt managing to absorb the water droplets generated by the feisty little brook.
She couldn’t help imagine what a thicket this place became in the summer, when the root systems expanded to fill the entire cave. She was surprised to realize she never gave any thought to what was happening in Hades while she was gone; how different it was from the lovely winter home, which always welcomed her in pristine and splendid glory.

The Gates of Horn and Ivory - Chapter 10.1 Spring Fever

As spring approached, Persephone started getting restless.
She was startled from her sleep, shaken by the feeling she forgot something important, whose absence had consequences which were now piling up out of sight.
Her daydreaming trips to the gardens got shorter, as she spent more and more time with Hecate preparing for her trip.
Most of the hard work of spring was happening underground, quietly. While the dirt was still frozen, the seeds already started their labor of sprouting, and the old roots were patiently rebuilding their aerial parts.
The dark earth concealed this fierce struggle towards the light, which lasted for months before being rewarded with results.
All people ever saw was the miracle of spring, nature bursting suddenly back to life, happening incredibly fast, while Persephone, who looked young and delicate, like she’d never seen a day of work in her life, seemed too unlikely to be its enabler.

The Gates of Horn and Ivory - Chapter 9.3 - The Unreality

Hades always felt empty after Persephone saw the returning souls off into the world. To allay her sadness, she went to the Hall of Scrolls, to reread what the Moirae had in store for them.
Hades’s palace was vast, and not many people knew that, because very few had been allowed past the sumptuous rooms at the front, which were intended for receiving visitors.
It had libraries and vaults, salons and dining halls, and since his marriage with Persephone, interior gardens.
Since Hades didn’t have weather, half of the spaces were open to the outdoors, facing colonnades and atria, fountains of living waters and magical trees.
Everything had spirit in the Underworld, and Persephone often lost track of time talking to the trees in the open courtyards, or the flowers in her daffodil garden.
The latter was a gift from Hades, who worried she might miss the meadows of her maiden days, a garden bursting with daffodils perpetually in bloom.