Ethereal by Ellie Anne (e novels to read txt) 📖

I had The Dream again. The world was glittering and new, untarnished. I was in an amazing dress, wieghed down with layers and layers of petticoats, and tulle. I was beatuful. My long honey-brown hair was piled atop my head, held in place with golden pins and combs. Dancers covered in silver, gold, and pearls surrounded me. The high, arched windows stretched from floor to ceiling looking out over a lantern-filled garden. The few walls that weren't entirely composed of towering windows were pearlescent in color and guilded with gold. The ceiling was covered with murals and crown moldings, cherubs and clouds, smiles and happiness. 

I stood in the middle of it all, completely unnoticed. I should've caused a disturbance, a awkward dot in the middle of a work of at, and yet, the dancers dipped and swished right past me. I was awed. Everything was so new, so grand, and yet so familiar. I marvelled at the spledor and beauty if it all, wondering how my mind could've created all of this. I ogled at all the beautiful people; the handsom, chivialrous men, and the beautiful, dainty women. 

Then the dream changed, morphed into something I'd never seen before. Tingles shot down my back. Not the good I-can't-believe-I'm-here kind, but the oh-Lord-what-terrible-thing-is-going-to-happen-next kind. I shivered as I felt cold tendrils pass up and down my arms, icy hands dragging fingers accross my skin. It frightened me, terribly so. The dancers changed from warm golds and silvers to ghostly white, black, and gray. The light left the room, leaving it old and dingy; the walls crumbled, the murals faded, the glass broken, the wallpapers ripped and torn away. Slowly the dancers dissappeared until one was left standing, or rather stuck, in the middle of the ballroom. He looked at me with an indescribable expression. Fear seeped into his eyes, his whole body shuddered. Blood slowly trickled down his nose, welling above his upper lip.

He mouthed something to me, something I couldn't make out. His eyes flitted around the room, shifting from place to place as though he was searching for something. He looked at me again, and this time, I understood what he was trying to tell me. Run.

In one motion, I swept up my skirts, kicked of my beautiful slippers, and raced to the only door. I shook the handle, the rust splitting loose and falling on the floor. I tugged and pushed on the door, praying that it would open. The room seemed to freeze over, and my breathe became visible tendrils that hung in the air. I could hear the sound of ice crackling and breaking as it climbed up the walls. Soon whatever was causing this focused all of its attention on me. My skin prickled, my body shook, and my teeth chattered. I glanced over my shoulder at the man standing on the middle of the room. He still looked as if he were trapped, suspended in mid-air, though he wriggled and struggled to free himself from whatever invisible force was keeping him there.

Not knowing what else to do, I ran over to him, stumbling as my numb feet struggled to find traction on the smooth tile. The closer I got, the farther away he seemed as the room grew and stretched, becoming a long, wide cavern of a room. I realized running was getting me no where, and fell to my knees, my hands flat against the floor. I panted, my stomach heaving as sweat trickled down my neck despited the utter cold. I squeezed my eyes shut, shaking my head and wondering when this dream-turned-nightmare would end. 

Suddenly my head was snapped up by a force I couldn't see. A pair of garish green eyes were boring into my face, analyzing every detail. The pupils were narrow slits, barely visible, and seemed to quiver as though they might grow and expand. I shivered. The man staring me down dragged a finger accross my cheek and smiled wickedly. He licked his pale lips, and whispered something I couldn't understand. 

The sound of shattering glass rang through the room, and something seemed to snap in those cold green eyes. The man whipped his head around, and I took the opporunity to push him away, jump up, and make a mad dash toward the boy in the middle of the room. The moment I barrelled into his chest, he wrapped his arms around, and the green-eyed terror let out a mangled cry of rage cut off by the world fading to black.

The next morning I awoke with a sigh of relief, relishing the feeling of my flannel sheets, and flat but still very comfortable pillows. Sighing, I pushed myself out of bed as my alarm clock blared in the silence of early morning.

Publication Date: 02-16-2015

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Dedication:
For Zarpana, and Akilah, our ridiculously nerdy discussions have are largely responsible for the characters in this novel. Love you to pieces!