Stephanie sat on the corner of her bed in her white cotton nightgown, the one with the little blue roses embroidered along the neckline, brushing out her long red hair. She had been growing it out for two years now, and she was proud of how long it had gotten. She stood in front of the full length mirror that hung on her closet door admiring that it was now past the small of her back. She pulled it back into a loose braid and crawled into bed.
She pulled the covers up to her chin and snuggled down, the excitement of starting high school in the morning was keeping her from falling asleep. She had picked out an outfit for the first day, a blue plaid skirt that came to the top of her knees and a light blue button down blouse, topped off with a pair of Mary Janes. The pale moonlight streaming through her window illuminated the room in an eerie shade of gray. She glanced around the room, checking off in her head all the things she needed to remember for school. Backpack, notebooks, schedule, lunch… She double checked her alarm clock making sure it was set for 6 am on the dot. Stephanie dozed off.
It was still dark when she woke up and looked at the clock: 2:45 am the red illuminated number read. She thought she had heard something, something moving around in her room. She glanced around and decided that she had dreamed it and went back to sleep.
She awoke to her alarm blaring, “I know that I can’t take no more, Ain’t no lie, I want to see you out that door, Baby bye bye bye…”
“Oh god,” she mumbled and slammed down the snooze button. She sat up, rubbing her eyes and stretching. As she was getting dressed she noticed that the closet door was slightly open. Not thinking anything of it, she closed it on her way down to breakfast.
“Morning dear,” her mother said as she entered the kitchen. “Cereal or yogurt?”
“Yogurt’s fine,” she answered, taking a seat in the breakfast nook. Stephanie ate her breakfast and gathered her things for school.
“So are you ready for your big day?” her dad asked as he poured himself a cup of coffee.
“I guess so,”
“You’ll do fine,” he said as he gave her a quick kiss on the forehead.
****
“How was your day?” Stephanie’s mom asked as she entered the kitchen.
“Fine,” Stephanie answered as she pulled a bottle of water out of the fridge and headed up to her room.
“Hopefully high school will expand your vocabulary,” she commented as Stephanie disappeared up the stairs.
She tossed her backpack on her desk and flopped down on the bed. She closed her eyes trying to make the day fade away. She couldn’t help but replay the incident at lunch over in her head.
“Who are you looking at?” Nancy asked as they were sitting at the lunch table.
“What? No one.” She answered being pulled out of a daydream.
Nancy turned around and glanced in the direction that Stephanie had been gazing.
“Austin? Really?” Nancy asked, grinning at Stephanie.
Nancy started to get up.
“No, don’t.” Stephanie pleaded, as Nancy turned and walked over to Austin, bent down and whispered something in his ear. His gaze met Stephanie’s and then he started laughing. Stephanie’s cheeks turned bright red. She hurried to gather up her things and rushed out of the cafeteria.
****
“Bad day, Steph?” a soft spoken voice asked.
“What the?” She bolted upright and stared in the direction of the unfamiliar voice.
The closet door was slightly open and there was a pair of yellow eyes peering at her.
“Who are you?”
The closet door opened a little bit more and a tall figure resembling a man with matted down shaggy hair and long bony fingers moved further into Stephanie’s room.
“I am Walter,” the soft voice answered.
“What are you?”
“Well, where I come from I am called a Runic,” Walter answered.
“Where do you come from?”
“I am from a place called Aunio. I can show you it, if you would like?”
“Come further in so I can see you,”
“Only if you close the shades, the sun hurts my eyes.”
Stephanie got up, closed the shades and turned on the bedside lamp.
“Better?”
“Yes, much thank you,” Walter answered as he pushed the closet door open and stepped into her bedroom.
Stephanie looked Walter over. He was dressed in light brown pants and a white top that looked like pajamas. He stood upright on two long legs, he had bare feet with long toes. His arms were long and hung at his sides. His face was older looking, slightly wrinkled but kind, a slight smile spread across his mouth as she met his yellow eyes. Being a naturally curious person Stephanie asked.
“Is it a safe place, this Aunio?”
“Yes, are you ready to see it?”
Stephanie sat on the edge of her bed twirling her hair between her fingers, giving it some consideration.
“You know what Walter, yes. Do I need to bring anything?”
“You may want to change into something more comfortable,”
Stephanie looked around and picked up her white cotton nightgown.
“Will this do?” she asked, holding up the nightgown.
“That will do, you won’t need any shoes,” he said pointing to her Mary Janes.
“You wait in the closet and I will get ready.”
“Ready,” Stephanie said, opening the closet door.
Walter waved his hand and a darkness appeared within the closet.
“Through there?” Stephanie asked, giving her decision to see Aunio one more round of rational thought.
“Yep.”
Stephanie took a deep breath and walked into the darkness. She felt a strange pull on her as she moved through the opening. As she emerged into the other side, she became aware of a cool smoothness beneath her bare feet. It was cool at first then became a plush softness, like the dark blue throw with silver snowflakes on it that her mom would put out on the sofa during winter break. She curled her toes, enjoying the softness.
A soft yellow light illuminated Stephanie, casting down like a street lamp. As she looked for the source of the light it bathed her in warmth. As her eyes adjusted she could see a rich dark purple sky scattered with glints of silver. It reminded her of an art project they did in school last year with metallic paint and glitter.
She looked at Walter.
“Aunio?”
“Yes, Aunio,”
Stephanie looked at Walter in the dim light. His face appeared rounder, his ears had become pointed, with the tips peeking out from his shaggy hair. Stephanie reached up and touched one of the tips, his ear twitched from her touch. She looked at his eyes, they appeared larger and brighter than before.
“Shall we?” Walter asked.
“I think we shall.”
They walked into Aunio, there were other Runics walking around, taller ones, shorter ones, younger looking ones and older ones. All were barefoot and all were wearing pajamas of various colors.
In the distance, tall structures that looked like pyramids stood while smaller rectangular structures stood in front of them as they walked through Aunio. Stephanie touched one of the structures as they passed. It felt dry and rough, like sandpaper.
“Where are we going?” she asked.
“I want to show you our history,” Walter answered.
They continued walking on the plush ground, passing by the other Runics.
“Here it is.” Walter stopped in front of a pyramid looking structure. A large stone door opened as Walter touched the side of the pyramid. They entered into an open space with pictures carved into the walls.
“Hieroglyphics?”
“Similar to, but it’s our own language. I will read it for you.”
Stephanie watched as Walter pointed with his long fingers, at each grouping of symbols and pictures, explaining what they meant. Walter touched a picture that looked like a large cat with a round symbol over its head.
“This is Keren, our Regina, our Queen, we are all born from her,” he explained.
“We have always been here in Aunio, at least until we found the way.”
“The way?” Stephanie asked.
“A doorway that lets us travel into your world.”
Walter continued showing her their history, how they evolved over thousands of years, becoming more human like than cat. How they built the pyramids and established a community, where they all live and work together.
“So did the Runic build the pyramids on Earth?” Stephanie asked as she sipped what seemed to be a milkshake of some sort.
“Only if you choose to believe it. Are you ready to go back?” Walter asked as they wandered through Aunio.
“I think so, but why did you choose me?”
Walter looked at her with his large yellow eyes.
“Why not you?”
“Valid point, will I see you again?”
“Perhaps.”
As Stephanie finished off the milkshake a calmness fell over her as she gazed out at the dark purple sky. Her eyelids felt heavy, and there was a strange pull on her body.
“Don’t worry, tomorrow is another day full of possibilities.” Walter said as she felt herself falling asleep.
Stephanie opened her eyes and found herself laying on her bed, she looked over at the clock on the nightstand. Only ten minutes had passed since she had come home from school.
****
Many moons later…
Stephanie stepped out onto the deck, the cool summer breeze felt good against her skin. She pulled her tattered, worn housecoat around herself. She stood at the railing looking over the backyard, small glints of light began dancing around. She smiled to herself as the fireflies lit up the quiet night.
Her thoughts floated back to her school days that were filled with so much unnecessary worry and doubt. Then she met David, they were so young, full of passion and ambition. She loved David with all her heart, the two girls that he gave her fulfilled her young life.
Lisa with her headstrong, independence and Katie with her kindness and compassion. Stephanie cherished her time spent raising her two daughters, how quickly the time went, before she knew it they were off establishing families of their own.
The later years with David thinking about retiring from his lifelong career in banking, brought a peaceful time of travel, relaxation and reconnection with him. Then David got sick, it came on suddenly and his battle was lost in a short eighteen months.
Stephanie took a deep breath raising her head and looking at the blanket of stars that covered the night sky. A gust of warm wind blew through her long silver hair as she closed her eyes.
Losing David was painful, the years that followed have become a blur of survival. Full of reading, traveling and searching for something…someone to fill the hole left in her heart.
Then she met Bill, during her time in Southern California, he had been raised on the beach, surfing since he was a boy.
There was an instant spark between Stephanie and Bill, they were both in their late fifties and knew the value of time. Their romance and life spent together was full of travel, friends, food and family. The twenty-two years they spent in each other’s arms felt like one of those lost summers from your childhood.
Stephanie got a chill and pulled the housecoat tighter around herself.
“Steph.” A voice in the distance said.
Stephanie turned towards the far end of the deck, her eyes fell upon a tall figure resembling a man with matted down shaggy hair and long bony fingers.
“Walter?” She asked as her gaze met his round yellow eyes.
“Yes, Steph.” Walter said, moving towards her.
She took a step back and her knees buckled, Walter reached out and caught her, helping her to a nearby patio chair.
“Would you like to see Aunio again?” He asked, kneeling beside her. Stephanie smiled.
“Yes.”
Walter stood up and took a few steps away from Stephanie, he raised his hand and moved it in a circular motion, a dark swirl appeared. He walked back over to Stephanie and extended his hand, she took it and stood.
They walked towards the dark swirl, as she stepped into the doorway she looked back at her body slumped over in the patio chair. As Stephanie emerged from the other side feeling the cool smoothness beneath her bare feet, a feeling of peace washed over her as she accompanied Walter into Aunio.
The End
This piece is a continuation of the Walter piece that I wrote for the ‘Land Without Mirrors’ anthology, and is dedicated to a woman that I had the pleasure of knowing a lifetime ago. For Karen, a kindhearted, ambitious, never afraid to venture out and try new things, woman. Looking back now I understand her friendship, kindness, and love. With Peace and Understanding -Megan