Your Dimension Or Mine? (8 page)

“Ooh!” she said, her eyes bright and wide. “Which site was it from?”

“The dimension one.”

“Uh-huh, uh-huh,” Jane responded eagerly. “Erica and Danielle both met their husbands through there and said they knew there was something special about the guy with the first message.” Squealing she jumped up and hugged Ari, embarrassing her little sister. “Oh, I know you are going to meet someone wonderful, Arwen.” Clapping her hands just like her daughters, she turned her attention back to them.

By the time they left thirty minutes later, Ari felt really good about Terrian’s message and decided to check for a new one. The burn in her ankle was negligible now, so she turned on the computer and sat back. Once her email program was up and running, she waited impatiently for the messages to find their folders. Out of thirty new messages, two dropped into the IDS folder. Deleting all the others without even looking at them, she opened up IDS.

Immediately disappointment and annoyance hit her. Neither message was from CuriousityLemmings, but one was from AttractivelyAgile. “This guy just won’t give up!” Shaking her head, she deleted his message without looking at it. The other message was from some guy called DaringlyGauche. Upset, she closed down the computer. She would look at his message and profile later. Looking at it right now, he really did not stand a chance. She was frustrated at herself for being disappointed because Terrian had not written back yet and bothered that Agile, or Orion as he had called himself, had.

Leaning back, she looked down at her ankle, frowning as all she could see was the gauze her sister had wrapped around it. “Oh please be an easy fix,” she sighed. “I don’t want to have to lose you.”

The rest of the day, she did not feel like doing much. Putting any weight on her left foot made it achy, plus she felt continuously nauseated. After downing some leftovers, she decided a nap was in order. Closing her blackout curtains, she settled into her bed, wincing as the burn came back slightly. Even with the pain, her eyes began to close the second her head hit the pillow. The last thing she saw before she fell asleep was the strange little flower that seemed to be watching her.

Blinking her eyes open, Ari stared around her. Where was she? She knew she had pulled her blackout curtains, but her room had never been this dark before. Also, it was cold, so cold she felt it clear through to her bones. Shivering, she reached out for her covers, but found none. “What the—” Her exclamation was cut off as her hand went to lean on her bed but instead touched something cold and hard. Stone.

Sitting up, she started to feel around her. She wasn’t on her bed, but was lying on a cold, hard floor. As she got used to the darkness, she expected to see something, but so far everything was pitch black. “Hello?” she called out, afraid, and yet feeling stupid for being afraid. This could not be real, could it?

At first there was no response, but then she heard a
c-clap, c-clap, c-clap
sound that reminded her of boots walking along a cobblestone walkway. They became louder and she knew they were coming closer. Gulping, she gazed in the direction she thought they were coming from. “Ah,” said a smooth cold voice, “my pet has awakened.” A loud squeak jarred her mind, making her body shudder. It sounded like an old iron gate that needed oiling.

The quick sound of a match being lit and the flicker of fire and candle coming together met her senses. The light wasn’t much, as it was still quite a ways away from her, but it allowed her to see a man in dark pants and a dark shirt walking toward her, the candle in his hand. Her eyes darted to where his face would be, but it was in shadow.

Everything within her started to shiver as she stared at the man holding the candle as he came closer and closer. When he was a few feet away, he stopped. “Has my pet come to terms with her enslavement?” he purred softly.

She gulped. “Who-who are you?”

He chuckled. It was not a pleasant sound. “Ah, pet, I am your master. I have been since before I found you.” He reached out a hand to touch her, and she shrunk back reflexively. “Do not move away!” he snapped, his voice colder than ice. Moving quicker than she expected, his hand grabbed her jaw, and he turned her face toward him. It must have been her nerves, but she could have sworn the instant he touched her, a strange thrum went through her body. His voice became a low rumbling purr again that made her relax. “Now, pet, again I ask, are you willing to accept your enslavement?”

For some reason unknown to her, she wanted to say yes, but a pain started in her ankle, and it was quickly gaining in intensity and moving up her leg. “Let me go!” she cried out in a whisper.

“Go where, pet? You are in my dungeon, on my estate. There is nowhere for you to go until I am finished with you, and I have no intention of finishing with you for years. “ His words were still spoken in that slow, hypnotic purr, and unconsciously she leaned in toward him. The change in her position allowed her to see his face, and she quickly flashed to his eyes. Their bright red irises caused a terror that made the hair on her arms stand on end.

“NO!” she screamed as the pain in her ankle exploded.

Sitting straight up, Ari looked around her bedroom, breathing in short desperate gasps. “It was a dream, just a dream,” she whimpered as she clutched her ankle, which was searing like crazy.

Reaching up to her face, she felt the tears leaking from her eyes. “That was the scariest dream I have ever had. Why would Orion appear in my nightmares?”

Pulling herself out of the mess she had made of the blankets, Ari stumbled her way into her bathroom, wincing at the pain in her leg. “Need to get this off,” she whimpered as she started her bath. Quickly stripping, she slowly unwrapped the gauze from around her ankle and slipped into the bath before it was even a quarter-way filled. She still shivered from her nightmare and needed the warmth the bath could and would provide.

Leaning back, she tried to breathe through the leftover anxiety as the water slowly engulfed her body. “It was a dream, only a dream,” she whispered to herself.

It was a nightmare!

Thinking back on what her dream mind had created, she wasn’t surprised her psyche had placed the man at the coffee shop and Orion as the same person, what with the last message of his that she’d read.

“Maybe I need to stop online dating,” she whispered as the burning in her ankle became negligible and the heat of the water slowly relaxed her tense muscles. Sighing, she turned the water off and leaned back against the tub. She knew she should start trying to remove the jewelry, but convinced herself it would be best to let it soak as long as possible. After all, she did not want to tear her skin again.

Closing her eyes, she tried to focus on Terrian, but found it difficult to do so. Every time she would pull the image of his photo into her mind, it would quickly be replaced with Orion’s. Frustrated, she elected to think of something, anything else, and before she knew it, she fell asleep.

Arwen!
Wake up!

The sound of someone calling her name had her blinking her eyes open. “In the bathroom!” she called out, wondering who had called out to her. Nobody responded, and when she shivered, she realized she was lying in cold water. “How long have I been in here?”

Groaning, she stood up and got out, quickly drying herself and throwing on her robe. Yanking out the stopper on the tub, she trotted out of the bathroom and into her living room. “Hello!” she called out. No reply. “Who’s there?” she called again, looking around.

Still no reply.

Confused, she checked her front door, only to find it locked and dead-bolted. How strange.

Shaking her head to rid herself of the fluff that still seemed to linger from her impromptu nap, she went into the kitchen and poured some milk into a pan on the stove. “I think I need some hot chocolate.”

As she turned to pour out the hot chocolate, a low thrumming in her ankle made her look down. “No!” The anklet was gone. In its place were raised criss-crossed welts exactly where the metal had been. “No, no, no!” Running back into the bathroom, she checked the tub. The water was gone and at first she didn’t see anything. Then, she spotted it. Sitting near the stopper, was a piece of golden metal. Grasping it, she yanked it up and stared, knowing immediately that it was the clasp of the anklet.

“It dissolved?” she gasped, looking at it. She had showered every day with it on and would never have guessed that the metal would disintegrate like that. Whimpering at the loss of such a beautiful piece of jewelry, she placed the clasp, the only part of it left, on the counter and went back to fix her drink. Once the chocolate was mixed with the milk, she added an equal amount of vodka.

Slouching into her chair, she sipped at the drink. When had this day gone wrong? It had started out okay, but somewhere along the way, it went all wonky. Sighing, she gulped the last of her hot chocolate and stared across the room at her computer. A long thrum settled through her ankle and she stared at it absentmindedly. She supposed her ankle would have some aftereffects of her allergy. Looking back up at the computer, next thing she knew she was in front of it, turning it on.

A small voice in the back of her head said this was not like her, but while she acknowledged that was true, she could not stop herself. “Twenty-two new emails,” she muttered as she watched them fall into folders. IDS had seven. Her eyes lit up and she quickly clicked the folder.

You have a new message from AttractivelyAgile

You have a new message from AttractivelyAgile

You have a new message from AttractivelyAgile

You have a new message from AttractivelyAgile

You have a new message from AttractivelyAgile

You have a new message from CuriousityLemmings

You have mail from DaringlyGauche

She blinked at the messages. The last one was from earlier and she would look at it in a minute, but her heart sped up as she saw the five messages from Orion. It did a backflip as she saw the message from Terrian.

“Yes,” she whispered in relief, opening it up.

Arwen,

That is a beautiful name. So, you live in a library as well? Well, that is wonderful to hear. Though maybe not for you. It can be a bit taxing. I thought it would be nice to tell you a little more about myself, if that would be acceptable to you. If not, read no further.

I am a rather large sports enthusiast and wish I could spend more time engaged in them rather than watching. My favorites are wind surfing and tree skiffing. Do not spread this around, but I also have a deep love for animals. My mount Abriethon has been with me for a few decades and I swear he knows me better than anyone else. I also raise Dipthan Kivees, somewhat similar to the Orenean Brevs, but my mother and I have been striving to breed the perfect corg with a more malleable temper.

Have you ever jumped dimensions before? I did when I was much younger. Unfortunately, I found it did not bode well for my temperament, so I stopped. My brothers Caifu and Stero spent a couple centuries doing it and it never affected them, though, so it might just be me. My youngest brother, Zenun, jumped once but found the shift too painful. He stayed in the Anjolan Sphere for fifty years before he was killed accidentally. We tried to get him to come back home before then, but he stubbornly refused.

I was sorry to hear you lost your mother. Losing one’s parent must be a dreadful experience. My mother has just passed her millennial birthday and is stronger than ever. My father is close to his bimillenial. I am quite young at only 745 years. Within my direct family, I have two older brothers and seven younger. There are many other relations who I will not mention, as to do so would take far too much space.

Besides the books I have read, I am unfamiliar with your particular dimension. Would you be willing to tell me about it? Or anything you wish to write about. I would just like to get to know you better.

Looking forward to your next message,

Terrian

All her excitement about his message died as Ari read it. What was wrong with the men from IDS? Were they clinically insane? Maybe they were trapped in a mental ward somewhere and used this as their way to get to know people? Disappointed, her finger hovered over the delete button. Her ankle stung lightly, and she reached down to rub it. Maybe she would delete it later.

Sighing, she looked at the unread messages from the other two sites. After deleting all of them, she glanced at DaringlyGauche’s. His message was innocuous and rather boring, but considering how disappointed she was, she barely noticed. Clicking on the link to view his profile, she looked at Orion’s messages.

Maybe she should reply to let him know she had received them but wasn’t interested. He might think she hadn’t gotten them. He was weird enough. It might never have crossed his mind that someone would not be interested in him.

Glancing at her browser, she saw only ten percent of Gauche’s profile had downloaded, so she opened Orion’s oldest message.

Corruptible,

Are you ignoring me? It won’t last for long, beautiful lady. I doubt you can resist my charms.

Orion

Snorting, she went on to read the next.

Corruptible,

Respond immediately.

Orion

…and the next.

Write back now!

Orion

…and the next.

If I do not hear back soon, I will be greatly displeased. And, pet, you do not want me to be displeased.

Orion

A shiver went down her spine at the fourth message. Pet? That was what he had called her in her nightmare. How could she have known he would call her that?

Gulping, she opened his last message.

Your master sends you a flower, and you do not even deign to acknowledge its existence? That is very bad behavior. Never fear. I still plan to collect you and turn you into the perfect pet. Your insolence will cost you at first.

I must say, it does warm my heart that you have placed it where you sleep. Dream of me, pet.

Orion

“Oh, no. No, no, no, no,” she murmured to herself, reading and then re-reading the last message. Her eyes slanted toward her bedroom where the flower was and she became aware of a stinging pain in her ankle.