Travelling through time and space - a short story

The portal opens. Its bright blue light illuminates the place to which it took me. I step out of the gate, leaving my world and entering the new unknown one. It’s so different to everything I know – so dark, gloomy and silent. I turn around, looking at the portal made of light and energy and wondering whether it’d be wiser to go back home. I’m a scientist and explorer with all of my heart and soul, but not for anything in the world. I hear a voice inside of me, telling me to leave the portal open. Usually, I close it, but not today. Not if the warning is so clear. My curiosity and scientific interest win. I stay. I came here to do research. So I will.

I turn my back to the portal and look round. I’m in some kind of house, I think, and stand in the middle of a corridor.

“Hello?” I shout. For a few moments, I wait for somebody to answer, but I cannot hear anything. Cautiously, I walk on. The floor creaks. With every step I make, I leave the bright blue light of the gate and dive into the darkness of the new place. “Is anybody here?” I ask. Again, I don’t get a reply. I think, this house is lonely and deserted. My trips through time and space brought me to all kinds of worlds. At least I thought so. The longer I’m here the more I feel the hopelessness the place radiates.

I come to a staircase. I put my fingers on the banisters. They stroke over the old wood, leaving tracks in the dust there. As I slowly go down the stairs, I look up to the ceiling. There’s a chandelier above me. The cobwebs on it cannot rob it of its beauty. Yes, it’s a sad place, but you could still see and feel a certain elegance and grace.

Suddenly, I see the ghosts of women and men around me. They wear clothes, which seem foreign to me. I see wide skirts, pointed shoes and extravagant hairstyles.

I hear odd sounds in the distance. The women and men laugh and start to spin round in circles. They dance and whirl through the house.

All of a sudden, something hits me from behind. It takes my breath away. A shiver runs down my spine. I feel sick. When I'm able to breathe again, I see another ghost in front of me, who goes down the stairs, joining the dancers.

“He just walked right through me,” I think and gaze after him. Something like that never happened to me before!

“Come. Come and dance with us.” A ghost woman stands at the end of the staircase, beckoning me over with her hand. She says and smiles. I look at her, confused. “There’s no need to be afraid. We won’t bite you,” she says.

I don’t know why, but my feet start to move. I go to the ghost woman and take her hand. Quickly, she also takes my other hand and spins us round. We dance through the hall. I look up at the chandelier. Amazed, I notice, that it’s on. Its light burns brightly. There’s no dust, dirt or cobwebs on it anymore. I look at my dancing partner.

“Look at you. You’re so beautiful,” she says and turns me around. I stand in front of a mirror on the other side of the hall. I jump at the sight of me. I look completely different. I don’t wear my tight dark blue pants and sweater anymore. Instead of that I wear a dress! It looks like the ones the ghost women wear. My hands stroke over the fabric, the lace and embroideries. My ponytail is gone, too. My hair is curly now and adorned with colorful ribbons and pearls.

“What happened?” I ask myself and start to cry. I wished, I had left this place when I had time to. Now, it’s too late. Now, I’m one of them. Now, I’m light and energy myself.