Total pages in book: 17
Estimated words: 15404 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 77(@200wpm)___ 62(@250wpm)___ 51(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 15404 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 77(@200wpm)___ 62(@250wpm)___ 51(@300wpm)
What?
I look back and forth, searching for the glimmer of metallic under the sun that will give away its location, but nothing catches my eye. Huh. That’s weird. It can’t have gone far. I haven’t exactly got a good throwing arm on me, and the grass is short enough that it would hardly have had time to swallow up the phone just like that.
I’ll head back to the car and find a map, see if there’s somewhere I can go to make a call, and-
And that’s when I see that my phone isn’t the only thing that’s vanished. No, my car seems to have dropped off the face of the earth, too, even though that’s entirely impossible. I stare at the spot where it was just sitting, certain that I must be losing my mind, or that some strange heat-haze mirage must be driving me crazy.
There’s no way that it could have just dissapeared like that, could it? It was sitting right there.
As I make my way back towards the spot I last saw it, picking my way slowly as though it will blink back into existence at any second, something else pricks my senses – the smell of the air, the taste of it on my tongue.
It’s different than it was before, I’m sure of it. Cleaner, almost, more pure. And not just in the way that it would be compared to the choking pollution of the city, no, this is something else, something more, something...
Something I can’t explain.
I reach the spot where I left the car – not only is it not there, but the grass isn’t even flattened to indicate it ever was. Gazing at the ground, it hits me that the road doesn’t look the same, either – it might not have been the best-kept road in the country, but it looks to be little more than dirt now.
What the fuck is going on?
But, before I can linger too long on that thought, a sound catches my attention. I look up just in time to see what looks to be an old-fashioned horse and cart appearing on the horizon, a dark brown mare hooked up to a wooden cart that seems to be carrying a passenger, along with someone holding the reins to drive it in the right direction.
Without thinking, I raise my hand to draw their attention. I don’t know how long it might be till someone else turns up here, and I am not willing to risk being stuck out here with no phone and no car with such craziness taking place around me.
As the horse approaches, I can see a man perched on the edge of the cart, the worn leather reins wrapped around his hands – he tugs on them slightly to draw the horse to a halt beside me, and I frown up at him.
He looks to be around my age, maybe a little older, with dark brown hair streaked through with a lighter red; he’s clean-shaven, but that’s about the only thing about him that looks like it could come from this day and age.
He’s wearing a light cotton shirt that’s clearly well-worn and a pair of leather pants held by a tie at the waist, along with some beat-up boots balanced on a pair of footrests beneath him.
A girl’s face pops up from behind him – judging by the matching hair color, I’d say that they were siblings, though she looks a little friendlier than he seems to be.
"What are you doing out here?” she asks, as she hops from the cart and down on to the road beside me. Just like him, she seems to be dressed for another era entirely, with an earthy brown dress that’s laced up the bodice and a broad skirt that nearly trails along the ground.
"Uh, my – I got stranded," I tell them awkwardly. I don’t know why, but something in me warns me not to mention my car to them, like it might not make a whole lot of sense.
"Well, we can’t leave a girl out here all alone," she remarks, and she jerks her head back towards the cart. "Come on – we'll give you a lift back to town."
I can feel the man staring at me, his eyes pinned to me as though he’s not entirely sure if he agrees with that. I glance over to him, those sharp gray eyes cutting right through me in an instant.
"Cade, stop looking at her like that," the girl protests, waving her hand at him. "You’ll have to forgive my brother. He’s in a rush to get home."
"Do you mind...?" I ask him, gesturing to the cart. Something tells me that it’s his permission I need to get, even though the girl seems keen to help me out. He stares back at me for a moment, his gaze trailing down my clothes, taking me in like he’s not entirely sure he likes this idea at all.