A Prologue for an Unwritten Story
Helena pulled back the creaky wooden chair, scooped up the hem of her sweater, and eased herself into the seat. She moved slowly, as her body ached with each motion. Hot tea threatened to spill over the brim of her mug as a shaky hand brought it to her lips. She savored one last sip of the Earl Grey before she began.
Cup aside, she fumbled in the desk drawer to find the journal. For a moment she forgot what she was looking for, and thought instead of what to pack for lunch for work that day. Strawberries sounded nice, or maybe some melon. It was only a second past before she quietly scolded herself. “No, no” she muttered “There’s something else I need to do. What was I doing? Oh dear…” She hadn’t worked in what felt like ages, and the journal was too important to forget. Where was her mind going these days? It frightened her to wonder.
Thin fingers clutched at the leather bound book, pressing it into her chest. Helena closed her eyes, and gave herself to the familiar feeling of falling.
“You’re late!” A creature of slight frame and scaled skin complained. He was wringing his claws together out of habit, yellow teeth the subject of a sick grin. His figure stood out in the surrounding darkness, a green nightmare in a sea of black.
Helena had always been awestruck at how utterly empty this place was. The Meeting Place, as she called it, was not on Earth, or anywhere she knew, other than in her mind. It was where she spoke to those who had walked the Earth before her time, Temly included. Once she had asked a guest what it was like to speak with her, and they said she always came to them in a dream.
“I’m not late,” Helena countered. “There’s no such thing as late in this, and you know it.” She didn’t have time for this incessant bickering. She wished she had looked harder for another way to get what she needed, but she knew that she never would have found one.
Temly threw up his hand in mock defeat. “You got me!” He giggled, shoulders practically shaking with glee. It made her sick knowing how much he loved that he knew something she didn’t. She thanked whatever powers there were that he didn’t know just how desperate she was. “Oh you’re going to LOVE this” he said. “Oh, OH! I can hardly believe it myself.”
“Get on with it Temly. My patience is wearing thin. I need to know.” In fact, Helena felt as though every bit of her was wearing thin lately.
“Okay, okay,” Temly struggled to contain his excitement. “Are you ready?”
“Who is it?” Helena growled. Her tone was all the threat she needed.
“GRIFFIN!” Temly spit it out in a fit, and with another dreadful, booming laugh, he was gone.