Of Another Dimension (2 page)

…Like a gleeful old leprechaun who’d just found a misplaced pot of gold, his green eyes alight
and curiously bright to me.

Dimensions, black holes... what the hell
?!

Forget A
lzheimer's and dementia... I think Mr. Clem has officially left the building.

Score one
, Mrs. Johnston, for hitting the nail on the head.

"Oh
, yes," he went on, "I'll show all those stuffy, uptight pricks at the university. I'll show them all!" he cackled gleefully.

I stood there spluttering, trying to compose myself, figure out my next move.

Lightning arched through the sky, hitting the ground hard, striking one of the metal spikes as Mr. Clem lit up the last of his electrical devices.

He jumped back when the lightning hit, slipping on the ground, sliding a little further away as he slipped in the mud and slid around.

I stood there staring, transfixed, frozen in place as it all happened in a nanosecond.

The lightning was going from one spike to the next.

"Lilie! Move, dear! Get out of there! Run!" Mr. Clem warned, his hair and clothes whipping around him wildly, just outside of the circle.

I would have
moved if I could, but everything happened in a flash, before I could react.

I screamed as I was
suddenly surrounded by bright sparks and his machines whirred loudly.

A sharp crack echoed around me and I screamed louder as the light grew bright and blinding, electricity making my hair stand on end, little shock waves hitting me like pin pricks, stinging
and battering my skin.

I shut my eyes tight and threw my arms over my head as I grew dizzy, my ears starting to ring.

Mr. Clem's shouts of distress sounded like they were coming from farther and farther away, adding to all of the confusion as they were drowned out in the mayhem.

It felt like my feet dropped out from under me and my scream caught in my throat
, my mouth gaping open in mute terror.

The world was spinning and I didn't know up from down, so I kept huddled into a tight ball, my hands tightly clasped over my head,
fisting my hair, eyes squeezed shut tight as I spun around and around endlessly.

It turned pitch black
in the blink of an eye.

I could tell that much from the lack of light dancing across my closed lids,
and then I felt gravity kick in.

I hurtled through the air and my shoulder and hip slammed into the ground, skidding me through dirt and gravel.

It took a solid minute before I could remember how to breathe and get myself turned back around.

I slumped and groaned as my shoulder throbbed and my hip protested.

A pitiful sound erupted from me for rolling over onto my back.

I flopped, lolling about
there for a minute and was startled to realize the sun was beating down on me.

Maybe I passed out
, I reasoned.

...
and I've been laying out here all night?

"What the hell," I moaned, cupping my hand over my eyes as I tried to squint them open to take in my surroundings.

Where’s the rain? The lightning and thunder? The wetness? Where's Mr. Clem?

“Mr. Clem?” I choked, “Mr. Clem?”

Nothing.

I felt the groun
d beneath me, running my fingertips over the grainy, dry ground.

It’s dry now.

I let out a long breath, still blinded as I tried patiently to let my eyes adjust.

G
ood grief, the sun is so bright.

The light i
s almost impossible for my eyes to adjust to laying on my back.

I gave in to the inevitable and
just lay there, eyes closed, deciding on waiting until the world stopped spinning to try and pick myself up.

Yeah, Lil, I think that would be best.

Yup.

I don't know
how long I waited, laying there, resting, before I felt something land on my chest lightly and chuff happily, then lick at my face excitedly.

Oh, joy,
I thought glibly
, Mrs. Haversh let her poodle loose again.

He better keep his snuffly nose out of my crotch. The little devil dog wouldn’t leave it the hell alone last time.

It was like the little beast would have liked nothing more than to be permanently glued to my snatch.

A long wet tongue licked at me eagerly and I laughed at all the attention.

“Okay, Noodle,” I giggled, “stop. Down, boy! Where’s your mama, huh?”

I put my hands up to fend off my admirer and immediately realized that something was wrong with the puppy on my chest.

One, he was hairless and two, he felt all wrong, like he was deformed or something.

Soooo not Noodle the poodle.

I cracked my eyes open and gaped as I came face to face with the scariest, ugliest...
thing
I had ever seen.

It looked like a grey…
hairless…
mole rat
with four huge saucer eyes and six legs.

Shocked,
I stared at the creature, in full gawk mode, frozen in place as his little ass wiggled eagerly on me, chuffing at me in a happy huff.

I squeaked when he chuffed again
.

Careful
, Lil, it could turn on you or something
.

...whatever
it
is....

I gently scooted it off of my chest and shuddered at the pitiful looking thing.

Just… ew…

It sat down beside me and chuffed, snuffling and trying to wiggle closer to me.

"You're like a mutant sewer rat!" I muttered disgustedly, backing up so I could use my foot against its chest to keep it away from me.

Its tongue lolled out and drooled all over my boots and that's when I looked up.

I
may be soaked to the bone, but the landscape before me was vast and the area I was sprawled on was a huge patch of naked, dry earth.

Everything was all wrong
,
everything
, and my heart hammered in my chest, adrenaline surging through me.

"Where the hell am I?" I squeaked out, my hands trembli
ng as I tried to tuck the stray fly away hairs off of my face.

I spotted Daddy's hat and care
fully made my way to it, cautiously trying to keep the slobbering sewer rat at a distance.

"You better not have rabies or something," I told the slobbering mess as it chuffed happily and his forked tail waggled on his little ass, whining when I gently slid him away with my booted foot again.

"Uhm... stay! Sit! Nice, mutant mole rat!"

A deep
masculine voice called out as I picked up my hat and stuffed it back on my head.

“Oh, good. There’s someone coming.” I glanced down at my companion, a l
umpy science project gone wrong.
Poor guy
. “Maybe he can help.”

His answer was a chuff.

“I’ll take that as agreement.”

I nodded when he snuffled and chuffed again.

I heard hoof beats thundering and looked up as an enormous, hairy, black beast came rushing towards me, a large, red skinned, horned monster riding atop it as it charged towards me.

I spluttered, unable to speak, I was so horrified.

Giant… red skinned… horned…. Noooo….

This isn’t real!
My mind screamed, beating a hasty drum in my head.

My legs were working just fine
, though, as I ran in the opposite direction of the red horned devil as it made right for me.

Self-preservation has a funny way of kicking in like that.

The mole rat was keeping up with me, excited at the chase.

Ugly as it was, I didn't want it to get trampled by the hooves of the huge, hairy, beast thing.

It can't help it if it’s yucky looking
.

Mole rat dog
seemed harmless enough, from our short acquaintance.

I'd choose him over the red monster any day
and who knows… maybe he could come in handy…

Like a shield or something…

So, I scooped him up and stuffed his squared lumpy butt under my arm and zig zagged through the crazy looking purplish trees I came across.

“What do I do? What do I do? This isn’t real! This isn’t real!”

Red horned, super mad creature started shouting as I scooped up my little comrade.

What the hell! What the hell!

If this isn’t real, right, Lil, then why does it feel real, sound real? Huh?!

The devil monster roa
red out in rage and I could hear it hot on my heels.

There was a huge outcropping of orange boulders
coming up in front of me and I frantically ran towards them, hoping for safety of some kind from the devil demon chasing after me.

Hurry! Hurry! Hurry!

I ran around the boulders and skidded around on the ground.

I rounded a corner and wanted to cry out in relief.

Rocks and lots of them, some with huge gaps and deep looking crevices.

This looks like as good a pl
ace to find a hiding spot as any, right?

Scanning the area quickly, I only
found one option with any hope- a medium sized hole or cave type entrance, like something an animal would call home, just the right size for me to fit into, but not big enough for the raging red brute behind me.

I saw the
opening and didn’t debate it, ducking hurriedly inside, taking my ugly, pudgy companion with me.

"Please don't' let an
ything be living in here!" I cried desperately, crawling further and further into the dark hole on my hands and knees.

I shimmied all the way to the back and thanked my lucky stars that the devil demon/ monster thing looked too big to fit in here.

I kept an arm around my lumpy friend and the other was pressed to my heart as it slammed around wildly in my chest.

"Don't panic, don't panic," I chanted, "This is all a dream
, Lil. Yes, that's it. You hit your head and you're now in a coma, hallucinating, quite vividly. Uh- huh. Hospital must be giving you some really good shit, girl."

Mole rat dog licked my face and I
couldn't help but notice how un-coma like his wet tongue felt rasping against my skin.

No! I'm asleep!

There's no other explanation!

I held my breath and squeezed my companion for comfort as I heard the demon devil dismount, big booted feet hitting the ground.

It was in plain view from where I was huddled and I heard a weird snuffling noise.

Oh
, my god! Is it sniffing around?

Can it smell me?

A shadow fell over the mouth of my hiding spot and I tried to control my breathing as it became erratic.

The monster demon boomed out something and mole rat dog chuffed and let out what I'm guessing constitutes a bark.

It wiggled out of my arms and ran to the entrance.

"You little traitor!" I whispered fiercely.

The little turncoat stopped at the mouth of the entrance and raced back to me, whining when I glared down at it.

The deep voice boomed some type of command and the little sewer rat ducked its forked tail, its itty bitty ears flattening against its head as it slowly crawled out from our hiding spot.

A moment later, I saw an arm reach into the cave and I screamed as large red fingers touched the hem of my jacket.

I slapped at them frantically as I reached around for something to defend myself with.

My fingers scrabbled for purchase.

There’s
nothing here but me and dirt. Lots of dirt.

"Please
, wake up! Please, wake up!" I screamed at myself, slapping myself across the face.

It's not working!
I thought in a panic.
Oh, god! It’s not working.

A hand got a hold of my pant leg and tugged viciously.

"Wake up, Lilie!" I screamed hoarsely and dug my nails into the grasping hand.

Demon devil grunted, but otherwise appeared unfazed, givi
ng another hard yank on my pant leg.

I gripped the hand holding me and bit down hard, teeth clamping down on the red hand of my attacker.

The monster roared out in anger and pain, releasing me, hand disappearing as it let out a string of words in its own language that I'm one hundred percent positive were expletives aimed towards me.

A cry of relief escaped me and I tucked my clothes under me, huddling closer to the farthest wall.