The Wicked Well of Darkness

By: Bernice Au

PART 1: WANDERING INSIDE A FAKE WORLD

The sun shone brightly in the middle of the day.; clouds floated in soft gentle wisps. Gazing out into the distance, the mountains appeared to be covered in appeared an immaculate emerald-green carpet.

“Such a beautiful day, how could something bad happen?” I thought to myself.

I journeyed out to the mountains by the riverside, where I happened upon a cave. Venturing slowly, I entered. My eyes fell upon a mysterious well. Why would a well be here? How odd, I thought. Among the layers of dust and cobwebs, something sparkled. I peered inside and recognized the colorful gleam characteristic of a crystal. I leaned closer, wobbled and felt both feet lift off the ground. My body fell forward and tumbled inside the well! I woke up, dazed. Inside this well, I could see many doors - all of them locked, except for one. A short, wooden door made for dwarf sized people with red, shiny, small diamonds on the frame of it. I went inside that door.

A beautiful landscape of snowy mountains and lakes with penguins swimming inside, a small, wooden house next to the largest lake! It seemed like something plucked from my dreams. How did this door know?

Just then, I thought of eating a sandwich with sliced lettuce, tomatoes, cheese, and my favorite ingredient in sandwiches, ham! In a split of a second, the exact sandwich I thought of fell in my hands!

I was so confused! Is this MY dream world? Do I control this world?

At first, I loved having everything the way I wanted it to be. I lived like a queen! I traveled to every beautiful destination imaginable, trying all the world’s different cultural dishes. I had everything I ever wanted.

But as the weeks went by, one after another, I began to feel trapped inside my dream world. It was a world where I could do everything I wanted to, but I knew it was fake. I missed my family, my friends, my pet goldfish, my family’s country house, the people I loved.

How could I get back? I went back to the door I got through. But it wasn’t there. Am I trapped here? By the looks of it, I am.

To be continued…

Image: Jensen, H. (2021, January 17). Mysterious Well [Image]. https://hjarnarjensen.artstation.com/projects/Z8Z88