Imagine

        --Chapter 1--

         I blinked sleepily in the brilliance of the sunlight shining on my face. Groggy and still semi-conscious, I took no notice of the fact that this was real sunlight, not the early morning glare of the streetlamp outside my window. As this thought sank in, my first impression was, 'This is a dream. I'm dreaming again, and I need to get up before Mistress Peterson finds me and smacks me for not making breakfast.' I imagined the shrill bark of her voice screeching my name, 'Kara!' and shuddered lightly. A slight breeze caressed my face as I slowly sat up, leaving my unawareness on the ground.
         This wasn't a dream.
A million questions dizzied me as I tried to stand, forcing me to fall back onto the mossy ground that I had left only moments ago... '... or has it been longer? How long have I been here, sleeping in the sunshine? Where AM I??'
         Finally I contained myself and looked around. A forest flooded with golden sunlight lay before me, back-dropping a soothing waterfall cascading into a crystalline pond, bubbling only a few feet away from me. The whole picture seemed to glitter with... something, almost like warmth and perfection, yet it was simple. 'Elegance.' I decided. 'Pure elegance.' I felt safe, secure, and ...confused. I wasn't sure how long I had been sitting there staring. Time seemed to stand still and fly by at the same time in this strange place, as though it had a separate way of working through time ...but how? My head ached as I pondered these things.
         Then, a tiny voice that was so barely audible I wasn't sure if I had imagined it or if someone was truly with me, whispered softly, 'Don't think, just enjoy.'
         So I did. I'm not sure why I did what a mysterious unknown voice told me to do, but I did. I stood up, and for the first time, I didn't just look at what was in front of me, I took it in. I savored it. I enjoyed it. I actually SAW it. And then it happened.
         I saw the sparkling waters of the pond go entirely still, the waterfall stopped gushing. A thin ripple surged from the outer edge of the pond to the middle, forming a balled sphere at the center of the surface as though someone had dropped it in, and then reversed the picture. I watched, awed, as the ball rose mysteriously into the air. It stopped midway, almost as if it were waiting for something more to happen. Abruptly, a dazzling beam of sunlight struck the ball, and refracted in a blinding sheet in all directions. The intensity burned my eyes, but I was so mesmerized that I couldn't look away. I observed as the ball of water absorbed the light and formed a smooth glass-like surface, like the small glass marbles I saw in the toy shop windows when we went into town.
         Time seemed to be at a standstill as the newly formed faultless ball glistened and shone in the sunlight. There was another flash, so vivid and intense that I was knocked to the ground, and when I opened my eyes again, everything had gone back to the scenic area I had come to in the beginning. The waterfall was gurgling and bubbling into the shimmer of the crystalline pond. The woods around me were still in the golden sunlight. Only, something was different. A large, flat, table-like rock had appeared to the left of the beautiful pool. I stood up painfully and hesitantly walked over to the rock. On it laid a necklace, the slender chain glittering splendidly in the morning light, with the delicate glass ball as a pendant. A tiny bit of light shone brightly inside, as though it really had absorbed the sunlight, captured it, allowing it to glow from the inside. Captivated by the necklace's beauty, I almost didn't hear the small voices whispering in the slight winds around me,
         ‘Take it, Kara, and come'
A strange feeling of being watched washed over me, but yet I still found my hand reaching out to the orb without resistance. I watched my hand hover over the necklace, as though waiting for my approval or chastisement. Slowly I regained control and picked up the gem...
         I opened my eyes to the harsh artificial light of the streetlamp outside my window, the chill of the morning air seeping through my thin blanket, making me shiver. Was it all a dream? It seemed so real... The brilliant colors were magnified in my memory even more now in comparison to the dull gray sameness of the room. I sat up and stretched, and a glittering shimmer of sparkles dance around the room. I slowly reached up to the delicate orb resting on a thin chain about my neck. 
         It was no dream.
                           
                                                      - < > -

         I was distracted in my work the next few days, spilling tea, tripping over the laundry, and not even hearing the chastisement of Mistress Peterson who was thoroughly annoyed at the anomaly of my poor effort. I just could not forget the feeling of being in that strange world! It was warm and welcoming and I felt almost at home for the first time in my life.
         I was taken in by Mistress Peterson when I was barely a year old. She passed me off to her servants, so that they could take care of me and teach me how to work. Rathina was the kindest and one of the most diligent of the lot. She taught me everything that I know today, including how to read and write. She told me about the world and things beyond the drab walls of the mansion, things that have color and meaning. Talking about it, I could see that's where she wanted to be most. Eventually, one by one, all the servants left for a better job or to get an education. Even Rathina left to see the world she always spoke of with such a wistful feel; thus I came to live alone with the Mistress.
         When Mistress Peterson is angry, she tells me that my mother abandoned me on her doorstep, but I think that she isn't telling the whole truth. I don't believe that my mother would do that to me, even if I only knew her for less than a year. And the way she spits out the word 'abandoned' as though she wish she could do the same to me is the only reason I work without a complaint - so she won't bring back the old, confusing pains.
         It was one of those days, when her screeching was droned out completely by my thoughts, and all I wanted was to go back to that peaceful forest, with warm breezes and shady groves, cool and pleasant...



>>>Yay! no more writers block! i'm going to be re-writing this and the next chapter again soon, i think it will be better then!
thanks for being patient!
--Inne