Alyssa's Call

Alyssa had known it would rain that day. The sky was heavy with gray stormclouds, and the air smelled like melting snow. A certain chill road the air, the kind that forewarned of moisture from the north. Armed with boots, a coat, and an umbrella in hand, she started for school.

A stiff, eerie silence filled the air, creeping after her with every step she took. Every step to campus and across it. Then, it started raining.

In the elevator.

There was something nostalgic about that elevator. And something very, very bizarre about the indoor rain.

Suddenly the walls of the elevator turned transparents, and Alyssa could see out on campus as though hovering above it. A button lights up on the panel. It has a pair of wings on it.

I must be dreaming. Alyssa thought.

Though, the rain felt cold and wet against her skin. Her dreams were usually less lifelike. But in real life elevators were not transparent. Alyssa noticed a button that she had never before seen in an elevator.

It's a dream anyway. What could happen? Alyssa pushed the button.

(switches tense)

The moment Alyssa presses the button, it retracts into the elevator console. The hole enlarges and shoots something at her. It's purple, furry, and breathing.

http://browse.deviantart.com/?qh=&section=&q=winged+creature#/d2pmjre

Barely the size oh her hand, the bat-like creature crawls up her arm and perches on her shoulder, cooing lightly. It tilts its head up.

Above Alyssa, the elevator roof has turned into a set of wooden, spiral stairs. The first step is behind her.

"Kawaii!" Alyssa scratched the creature under its chin with her index finger. "What's your name?"

So far this dream was turning out to be awesome. Why didn't elevator buttons produce cute, furry creatures more often? Alyssa looked up at the spiral stairs that hadn't been there a moment ago, the rain splashing on her face.

"What do you say we see where they lead?" Alyssa asked her new friend. She wanted to give him, or her, a name once she thought of a suitable one.

Alyssa hoped the stairs would lead somewhere a little more dry. She opened up her umbrella so that she or the creature wouldn't get wet and started up the spiral staircase.

The bat-like creature doesn't reply, only shakes itself dry on Alyssa's shoulder, crawling to her backpack in a curious manner. The stairs creak under Alyssa's feet as she walks, ran pelting her umbrella in an even rhythm. When Alyssa feels she's only climbed a few steps, she looks back to discover she's hundreds of feet from where she was. She can't see the elevator any longer.

The violet creature suddenly clicks its tongue and scurries under Alyssa's shirt. Seconds after doing so, the spiral stairs disappear, causing Alyssa to fall.

She lands in ten feet of water.


If Alyssa swims to the surface, she'll see this:
http://browse.deviantart.com/?q=rainy%20forest&order=9&offset=72&offset=120#/d1rxy2o

"I think I'll call you Stella," Alyssa said as the creature shook itself dry and crawled behind her.

When she was little, Alyssa had read a book called Stellaluna that was about a fruit bat and since then she had loved bats. She wasn't quite sure what kind of animal Stella was (or which gender for that matter), but she thought it a fitting name. Alyssa looked back and her heart skipped a few beats. She was pretty sure she had only gone up a couple of stairs, her legs weren't even hurting yet, but now she was hundreds of feet up in the air.

Alyssa heard Stella click her (for now she was going to refer to Stella as a her until she found out otherwise) and gasped when Stella scurried under her shirt. Alyssa screamed as she suddenly began falling. What had happened to the stairs! Seconds later she hit the surface of some water and plunged beneath it.

This was not a dream. Alyssa frantically swam towards the surface as her lungs burned for oxygen. After what seemed like ages, she broke the surface gasping for air. She pulled Stella from the inside of her shirt and placed her on her shoulder, hoping she was okay. Alyssa swam towards the edge of the water and climbed out onto the cold, damp ground. She was cold, wet, and felt like she had just done a belly flop off the high dive. She took a few minutes to gather her senses again before taking in her surroundings.

"Where are we?" Alyssa asked between chattering teeth.

There were trees all around her, all of which had shed their leaves. The leaves covered the forest floor in a damp, brown blanket. It was kind of dark, which was strange because it had been morning when she had gotten on the elevator. Why had she thought was dreaming? The day had started normally enough. She remembered waking up, eating breakfast, and even speed walking to class out of breath hoping to make it on time. But once she had stepped into the elevator things had started to get weird.

Alyssa looked back at the water she had landed in and saw that her umbrella was floating upside down on the surface. She didn't feel like getting it now. Alyssa decided she would try to find wood and see if she could find out how to start a fire. She had gone to girls camp, so how hard could it be? She had to stay optimistic. Alyssa set her backpack on the ground and went in search of dry wood.

Alyssa has been moved to Tempa.