That Other Side

Ulrich lived quietly with his wife Gertrude in a little "mom and pop" shop in the southern tip of the city. Most of the days working there were spent cleaning the bar in boredom while his wife knitted him sweaters and hats. He would clean the untill his reflection shown right to him and he had to stop, because he would get too depressed from the sight of his wrinkled worn face.
Although today was no day to be depressed. His daughter, son, and the son's fiance were comming by the shop since they were in town that weekend only.
He fixed himself up with the Gertrudes best knitted clothing and patiently awaited their arival.
The car pulled up near the store and out came all three almost at once. There was Marko, and his Fiance Sylvia, and the daughter Gretchen. All where dressed up for the occasion except for Sylvia, for she had been in a terrible car accident weeks earlier and still had a cast around her arm. Gretchen was the first to say hello to her parents and was then taken inside to be shown around the shop. Moments later Marko and Sylvia came rushing in to catch up on whatever they were telling Gretchen. Marko had been impatient and kept reminding the family of the reservations he had made.
"Quit 'ya gosh dang whimperin' Marko. I have to find my hat before we leave" exclaimed the patriarch as he slumped into the back room.
"I coulda' sworn that I left it here" he shuffled through more boxes than before. Gertrude then followed him into the back to help him look, and before anyone realized, everyone was in the back room searching for a withered old hat. After a long search of pushing boxes, Ulrich came across a door. But this door was different, It was taller and more slender than other doors, and the wood seemed as if it were from another world. The door knob was a shimmering gold and almost blinded every one in the room at first sight. A symbol was carved into the door, but no one in the room understood it.
"Well?" Marko said impatiently
"Is the hat in there?"
Marko waited for no response and swiftly grabbed the door knob to move the door from its spot when as soon as he had done so, a light emerged from the spot the door had covered.
"Thats new" Ulrich dumbfoundedly stated.
A quick draft picked up within the room and Ulrich's hat appeared out of nowhere and was swept into the light.
"I got it" Ulrich stept forward and fell into the light following the hat.
Gertrude screeched as she ran forward to help Ulrich out of that blinding strange hole in the wall. But her screaming faded as she fell into the light aswell. Marko's sister scolded him for not stopping neither their mother nor father from going into there, but Marko stopped listening nor could he as the wind in the room had picked up and it was impossible to hear your own thoughts. The next thing Marko saw was his sister Gretchen fall aswell into the mysterious light.
"Marko honey! What do we do?" Sylvia was shocked.
Marko just looked at her, he wanted to leave, but he knew it would be wrong of him to abandon his family at this moment, so he kept staring. Sylvia was fed up and jumped into the light as well.
"Perfect" Marko thought as began to walk away, but he found the wind had become too strong for his body to resist. Struggling, his whole body tried to break free, he started to kick his feet but found himself lifted off the ground and now being pulled toward the light.
"Damn" Marko thought.


A smile crawled across Ulrich's face as he witnessed his family in tears, screaming, clawing, his family was scared. But Ulrich could not help but smile, he felt as if his old body had left him, and he was given a new one. He was confused though, when he saw his family in distortion.
"I wonder what they're feeling"
The white had encapsulated the area. Everyone was floating downward. And soon all of them had a soft landing. Sylvia ran into Marko's arms, although Marko had no return of affection for he was still flabbergasted at what had just happend. Ulrich walked over to Gertrude and held her hand and then her worried face lifted off in appreciation of seeing Ulrich live and well. Gretchan on the other hand had no one to run to, and decided to walk along the plain white surface in hopes of an answer.
"Welcome All...To My Dreams"
Everyone jerked their heads all over to find where the voice was comming from. The white around them was vanishing.
"How are all of you? I hope your trip was safe. The way these days can be bumpy"
The voice was very high and hypnotic, it felt sweet and sent chills down the spine, a sensation that none of them had felt before, atleast not from a voice. With the white gone, it gave room for colors to appear, greens and blues, a field had appeared. And with it a man. Although this man was different, he didn't match the scenery, infact he was dressed in all black. With long stringy black hair, stretching past his hair and to his chest. His face was powder white, with rosey red cheeks. He had a crooked yet genuine smile on his face. He seemed to have realy been expecting company.
"How do you like my place? Hm? I just had it renovated"
"It's beautiful" Ulrich answered
"Please dad, Excuse me mister..." Marko was aggravated
"Oh call me..." He took a pause to think
"Carl"
Everyone was surpised, such an odd man with such a normal name.