The Crowleys

The girl who faced me wore a heavily guarded expression. Despite this, she had an aura of confidence about her. I knew that sword wasn't just for show. She had deep blue eyes and longish red hair, and a long-faded scar running across face below her left eye. That, combined with her piercing blue eyes, her sword glowing keenly in the twilight, and her sharp expression, made her look both dangerous and charismatic, a combination I found disturbingly attractive.

Living in our town, the only interactions I had with women my age had been during school, but it had been years since I had talked to a girl casually, let alone one who looked like this. She was on a whole different level than the girls in our town, in every aspect imaginable. It was enough to make me feel like a nervous schoolboy again.

Despite being enamored by her looks, I couldn't help but notice the most bizarre thing about her—her clothing. Not because it was abnormal, but because it looked, well, normal. In fact, she was wearing almost the same clothes as I was: jeans and a hoodie, albeit significantly more worn ones. The jeans were ripped in many spots, and the hoodie was covered in stains and small rips. The clothes suited her perfectly though, and despite walking out of a strange cottage in the middle of a field of infinite flowers in a world that I knew nothing about, she looked perfectly normal.

Well, normal might not be the right word, since she was hot as hell. Maybe it would be more accurate to say that she looked natural.

What definitely wasn't natural was the look she was giving me; I had to imagine that visitors here were not normal either.

"Alright, answer these questions and you won't get hurt, unless you give shitty answers. Who are you and how did you get here?" She asked.

"Uhh, I'm Asher. I uhh... walked."

She raised an eyebrow.

"What a shitty answer. You say you walked? And how exactly did you do that?"

I was silent for several moments while I processed what answer I could possibly give to that.

"...With my legs?"

She snickered and turned her head back towards the inside of the cottage, calling to someone inside.

"It's all good Serric. Looks like another wandering idiot to me."

She started walking inside.

"Alright, come in Asher. Just know this: try anything funny and I'll kill you. Try to hurt any of us and I'll kill you. Tell any jokes and I'll kill you, especially if they aren't funny. Got it?"

I fought down the overwhelming urge to ask how she would "especially" kill me, and simply nodded. My best chance to figure out my situation was to listen to her. Hopefully she could explain to me what was going on.

We walked inside of the entryway to the house, and I was greeted by a much larger space than I anticipated; large enough so that I found it impossible that it was the same amount of space as viewed from the outside. To my left was a large living room area complete with a couch, two chairs, and a fireplace, alongside numerous decorations and a bookshelf running across the back wall. A set of stairs ran up the wall on the left side of the room, leading to god knows where, since the house didn't have a second story from the outside. On the right was a simple kitchen and dining room, the dining room being directly to my right, and the kitchen farther back. The kitchen had no appliances, but it had several nonelectric alternatives: a cooking spit with a fire burning below it, seemingly the origin of the delicious smell I had noticed upon entering, as well as a sink for washing dishes. Nearly everything in the house was constructed from wood, except for several brick wall portions surrounding the fireplace and the cooking spit. The wood seemed to be the same type as used on the outside of the house, but I still hadn't a clue where they were getting the stuff. I hadn't seen a tree in miles.

The unnamed girl led me into the living room and gestured for me to sit down on one of the two chairs. Two somewhat elderly individuals were already present on the couch, and both were staring at me intently. The man in particular seemed to be boring a hole straight through me with his gaze, which was focused directly into my eyes. The woman seemed to simply be observing me curiously.

To my surprise, the man spoke up. His voice was a hearty tenor, which felt bizarrely natural coming from his rather wrinkly and frail countenance.

"Indeed, I see what you mean, Rowan. The boy seems to mean no harm. I have a sense for these things, you know."

The girl, who I assumed must be named Rowan, gave her first genuine smile.

"Sure you do, Serric. That's what you said about the last one. He seemed plenty nice at first, but he turned out to be a Zealot in disguise."

I could see that the woman on the couch was attempting to hold back laughter. Serric gave a chuckle as well.

"Oh please, I was just testing you. If you couldn't even handle a Zealot, how did you expect me to let you go into the Azzurian Mountains on your own? Or tackle the dungeons of the Epochryphal Fissure?" he said.

"And yet, even after that test, you still haven't let me do any of those things. What's the holdup?" Rowan protested.

"Well, it's because you failed the test, you buffoon."

Rowan scowled. I could tell this was a conversation that had occurred many times before.

Serric turned away from her and grinned at me.

"Anyways. Greetings, our esteemed guest. Welcome to the humble abode of the Crowley family. I have but one question for you. How long have you lived here?"

I was struck silent by the suddenness of the question. I wasn't really sure how to answer it either. What did he mean by "here"? It sounded like he was talking about this house, but I knew that couldn't be it. I could only think of one real answer to give. I suppose honesty is the best policy in cases like these.

"This may sound weird, but about twelve hours."

That was around how long I had been in this world by my estimation. He nodded, seeming satisfied with my answer.

"I imagine you have many questions. You can expect many of them to be answered in the morning. For now, lets eat dinner. Gloria, Asher, come to the table."

...

Well, as long as I'm getting my questions answered.

I was extremely hungry anyways; I hadn't noticed it until I smelled whatever was cooking in the pot, but dinner wasn't something I was going to complain about, even if it delayed me figuring out where I am and what this place is.

We all went to the dining room and sat at the table. I could see Rowan in the kitchen, pouring a stew into several different pots, and bringing them over to the table. It looked delicious, although the meat looked rather odd. We didn't have silverware, so I just picked up the bowl and sipped the soup. It was the perfect temperature, and it reminded me a little of my mother's cooking. I could feel tears welling up in my eyes.

My parents...

...

After thanking them for dinner, I tried asking Serric some questions, but he evaded responses.

"We'll talk in the morning. For now, come with me."

He led me up the stairs in the living room, which ended up revealing an entire new story of the house, that most certainly did not exist from the perspective of outside. He gestured to the far room on the right.

"That's the guest bedroom. Sleep there, and in the morning you'll likely learn a few things."

I walked down and sat on the bed. I wanted to change out of my filthy sweaty clothes, but I didn't really know what else I would do instead. So I just layed down under the light blanket and fell asleep, thinking about what tomorrow would bring.

What did my parents think? I had been trying not to think about it, but I couldn't erase those thoughts completely. When I first started running, when I tasted the soup, I knew the reason for those tears. 

Did I really want to live in this world if it meant losing them? Was this world nice? Cruel? Can I go on adventures? A sense of guilt settled into me upon that thought, deepening when I thought of my initial reaction to waking up here.

As I fell further into drowsiness, those thoughts faded away, like bubbles in the  water, until all that was left was my dreams.

...

When I woke up, I felt confused. Lost. Something didn't feel right. It felt like when you wake up after a long dream, and you have to take a moment to process the difference between reality and fantasy. And that's when I remembered the events of yesterday. I bolted up and was greeted by a familiar sight. I was back in my bedroom. My dad was smiling down at me.

"Damn Ash. When was the last time you overslept, a year ago? You're late for work."