Pandora: A Fantasy To Be Told

“Wha-what was that?” Jalis stuttered, fingering his glowing blade.

DunDun had raced back up the stairs to meet Jalis at the balcony’s doors. Whatever had roared at the base of the stairway hadn’t jumped up the stairs or chased after them. The two boys were now standing at the doors, their eyes on the dark gap where the hall turned into the stairs.

Jalis held the blade like he had seen Jedi in the Star Wars films. He lowered himself into a crouch. He physically was prepared, but mentally was ready to jump off the balcony. He would rather suffer a few broken bones than face whatever creature was down the stairs.

“This is just great! You just made it ten times harder to get out of here,” DunDun complained with a scowl. He shook his head and pointed down the hall at an ajar door that he started to walk towards.

DunDun looked relaxed. He was twirling his blade between his fingers as if there wasn’t a life threatening obstacle downstairs.

That’s probably because he’s not human. Maybe he’s a ghost. A fallen ghost – whatever that is…

“Hey, can you please tell me what the heck is down there? I’d like to know!” Jalis cried out.

The beast roared a second time. It was much louder than before, and now…

“It’s coming!” Jalis screamed, darting to DunDun.

The floorboards under his feet vibrated as something heavy – very heavy – stomped up the stairs. It sounded like there was a stampede moving up. Whatever this creature was had more than two feet.

Jalis didn’t look back as he flung himself into the open room. He somersaulted two times before landing on his chest. Behind him a door slammed shut and DunDun muttered something about humans being retarded.

The beast roared. It sounded like a hundred animals screaming in pain. It was right behind a door, and that made it sound very, very frightening. Jalis cowered into a ball and held his breath in, heart pumping adrenaline.

How is this not a freaking dream? This has to be a dream! I want to wake up! Wake up! Wake up! Why am I still in this nightmare? Wake up! Please!

“Shut up!” DunDun screamed.

The beast’s roars abruptly stopped.

“You’ve been a bad boy. Go downstairs and think about what you’ve done. Now!” DunDun snapped.

Jalis looked up when he heard the beast’s footsteps fade away. He found himself looking into a dark room. He was trying to make out what he was looking at exactly when a light flickered on. He yelped and jumped to his feet, tripping and falling on his bottom.

He held the blade high above his head, for no apparent reason. It was a natural reflex for him.

“I’ll take that,” DunDun said as he yanked the blade out of Jalis’ hand.

“Was that your pet?” Jalis asked, bewildered.

“Yes. You shouldn’t have made so much noise. And you should’ve calmed your fear down. He can smell fear.” DunDun sighed and put the two ends of the blades together. He snapped them back into one long double-sided blade.

“If that’s your pet then can’t you tell him to back off?” Jalis asked.

“It’s in his nature to go after food. I can’t stop that. And if you don’t kill your fear, he’s going to disobey me and come after you,” DunDun explained. He tossed the blade onto a king sized bed.

Jalis was sitting at the foot of a velvet red bed. He stood up and saw that he was in a master bedroom. Along the wall and near the door to get out was a bathroom door. Next to the bathroom door was an old fashioned wooden dresser. It looked like one touch would disassemble it. Above the bed was a chandelier. It was coated with dust and looked like it hadn’t been used for years. The light was coming from a spare light bulb handing from the ceiling.

“You like?” DunDun asked.

“Not really…” Jalis replied.

“Oh. That sucks ‘cause you’re gonna be staying here for a while…”