Wind.

Everything was white.

''And then in the white, came an angel. It spread its wings, illuminating a heavenly colour of gold. It fluttered towards me, and whispered into my ear only 4 words.''

''‘it’s safe. come back.’''

''And before I knew it, the angel disappeared. I was left in the white and gold, all alone once again. I was left alone to float, to soar, to fly. I ventured far and wide, and found nothing. But I loved it. The angel welcomed me here, so here I must stay. This is where I am meant to be, right? This is it. This is heaven.''

''But I felt unfulfilled. I felt like I had a choice now. I could awake back in Croden, back to my husband, back to my bed and my farm and my house and all of that, or I could explore. I could travel through this celestial plain, and find whatever needs to be found on the other side.--''

c o m e h o me

-- But I awoke back in my bed. The sheets weren’t over me– instead they were draped over my husband, the red covering most of his body. I rolled over and almost fell out of my bed. But I got out, put on my slippers, and walked across the wood plank floor over to the kitchen. I groaned as I searched through the chest for anything, anything to eat. All we had was raw chicken, ready to be cooked in the furnace for dinner tonight. I sighed and got dressed and headed out to buy some food.

Croden was a beautiful place. Situated not far from a massive fishing lake, you could see mountains and plains and everything surrounding you. It had a small population of only 500, and not many travellers came to our village. At least not to settle. We get plenty of nomads and salesman that are venturing throughout the world for their strange moral purposes here. Once a nomad slept on my crop farm – I had to shoo him out with my hoe. But it is a humble little town, Croden. We have our general store, for most of our food and leather clothes, we have a blacksmith for the soldiers and hunters, we have a library for public use, run by my good friend Andrea, we have a few crop farms – mine included, and lots of space for the children of Croden to run around and do as they please.

‘Hey, Josephine!’ someone yelled out on my way to the general store. I turned to see Borak, another friend of mine, huffing and wheezing in his iron armour, running towards me like a madman. I was startled, and then I laughed. I walked over to him, and he laughed back. He took something out of his basket that he was carrying and gave it to me. A jar of honey.

‘Yeah, I know how much you like that honey. Also, good morning! Also, honey!’ He was wheezing and coughing and it was very apparent he went out on his morning hunt.

‘Thank you so much Borak!’ I exclaimed. I loved honey. And especially Hajar Forest honey – the location of which is not too far from here. I pecked him on the cheek – everyone does that in Croden – and we bid our farewells. I decided now that I had this honey that I would treat myself to some honey on bread, and so I continued my way to the general store. I passed the library, passed the well, and eventually I arrived at my destination.

‘Hi Steve!’ I said to the man behind the counter at the general store.

‘Hi Josephine! You’re up bright and early. Did you forgot to buy breakfast foods yesterday?’ He replied.

‘Yes…’ I laughed.

He laughed, then sighed, then said ‘Well, my shops just opened. Look around! Take your pick!’

I nodded and smiled and looked around for some bread. It looked like he had recently restocked – a box full of loaves of bread awaited me. I grinned and took a few loaves – my husband Claudius also loves bread – and walked over to the counter.

‘That’ll be two gold.’ Steve said. I passed over the gold and thanked him. I left the general store and began to head home, saying hello to Andrea in the library on the way. We got stuck in a conversation and I ended up eating some of the honey and bread earlier, but eventually I left the library and got home.

Claudius was already up. His tired face lit up when he saw the honey and bread. The kettle whistled and he quickly poured out some tea and sat down at the table, book and quill in one hand, tea in the other, waiting eagerly for the bread and honey to be shared. Claudius was an author – his stories were shared across the world. He was rather popular, but living in such a small town nobody really bothered him. He liked it that way.

His stories were about dragons and knights and princesses – except its twisted. You see, in most Minecraft folklore (Minecraft is what our world is called. Did we mention that?) its all about how the knights save the day. But in this story the princesses are evil and the dragons still die anyway because the knights don’t realise that the princesses actually want to kill them, not the dragons. Sounds complicated, but it’s a great book series and Claudius is very proud of it.

I spread the honey on the bread with my iron knife and gave some to Claudius. He chowed it down. He went all soft when he put it in his mouth – the sweetness of the honey made him giddy. I smiled and made some for myself. Claudius was such a sweet man. Should I tell him?

I looked over at Claudius and gulped. I took a deep breath and said to Claudius: ‘The angel came back.’

And his smiled vanished. He looked at me sternly.

‘Did it say the same thing again?’ He questioned.

‘Yes,’ I replied, ‘But this time it felt like I had a choice.’ I swallowed. ‘She was beckoning me, pushing me to go back to wherever home is. But this is home, right? Surely. I mean, I still ain’t sure of my past before I woke up in Croden, but it’s not like I was anywhere before that, right?’

Claudius stared into my eyes. I look away. ‘I know, I’m just being silly.’ I said. ‘This angel thing – it’s all in my head. It doesn’t mean anything, but…’ I trailed off.

‘You know, let’s not worry about it now. If it comes back, then we can worry.’ I looked down for a bit, then smiled. ‘Care for another slice of bread?’

Claudius’ smile returned. ‘You bet!’ he giggled and we ate like our lives were perfect, like the angel meant nothing, like we had no idea that the events that would play out tonight would even occur. We ate and we dreamt and we talked and we laughed and we smiled, because we loved each other.

I finished the bread and made my way to the kitchen to wash up. The sun was fully up now, and its rays illuminated through the glass windows in front of the cauldron I used to wash dishes in. I smiled gleefully and popped the dishes in the cauldron, pulled out some detergent potions, and poured those potions into the cauldron. I flicked a lever underneath the cauldron and heard it start to bubble and churn. So I left.

I kissed Claudius bye-bye and headed off to work. I used to be a fierce warrior, fighting off all sorts of creatures from the moment I found myself alone in Croden. But I got older, and with age came weariness. So, I am a fisherman now. Everyday I carry my fishing rod and my bait out to the nearby lake, and I fish. The lake is usually filled with fish so it’s not a problem trying to get any. I arrived at the lake and pulled out my rod. I sat down with a thud on the edge of a dock, threw in the line and waited patiently for the fish to arrive. I waited about half an hour before I realised I forgot to put any bait on.

And the day went on like normal.

I caught up with Andrea again for some good old milk and cookies, I talked to Borak about his hunting technique (and some girl he is in a relationship with now, the name is Jennifer) and bought some more things from Steve and his general store.

And then it was night.

I knocked on the door and entered my house. Claudius was still awake, his hands furiously scribbling down ideas and stories and whatever fell out of his massive creative brain. I yawned and he looked over at me.

‘Is it an early night for you?’ He asked.

‘Yep.’ I groaned and walked over to the bedroom.

‘Good night!’ he yelled from down the hallway and I smiled. I plopped into bed with a book – one of Claudius’s unreleased ones (I helped proofread) – and I drifted off to sleep a while later.

And then I had a dream.

''THE ANGEL came to greet me a..aa.again. And itr said hell O and I said Hello back. And it said are you ready? And I said what for and it showed me a castle and I gasped and I screamed and where am I going again …..---wind.''

''but this castle was so beautiful, it was 000 it was so high up. It was so high up in the clouds in the llll//////////////theangelwantsmethere''

WAKE UP!

Claudius screamed at the top of his lungs. I woke up all groggy and disappointed to find it was still night. But Claudius was afraid. Afraid of what?

‘They’re back, Josephine.’

And I know exactly what he is talking about.

The shadows flew through and '''THEY TOOK HIM THEY TOOK HIM HE IS GONE AND HE IS GONE AND HE IS GONE AND HE IS GONE AND HE IS GONE AND HE IS GONE AND HE IS GONE AND '''

 

never to be seen again? (?)

and I sat there and cried. Claudius is gone.

*

Croden is a happy place. Most people here are happy. We all have our ups and downs, but in the end, we all come out ok.

I am not ok.

I ran to Andrea’s doorstep and screamed and kick the door down and Andrea almost had a heart attack. I told her what had happened. I told her about the screams, the sounds Claudius made as he was being ripped apart by the shadows. I told her about how he left, and how I can’t find him, and how he is dead. Claudius is dead. I screamed some more. Andrea held my hand tightly and told me it was going to be ok.

It wasn’t going to be ok.

She fetched me a pumpkin pie and I practically inhaled it. Andrea looked at me with a mixture of sympathy and god-knows-what and went to get me another one. I couldn’t even take a bite out of it. I felt sick.

Borak and his new girlfriend Jennifer arrived to comfort me. Even Steve came. We all sat around, not talking at all. We just sat there, bathing in the fact that Claudius is gone. Eternity lasted before anyone made a sound.

But it wasn’t a normal person no no no it was the 'ANGEL IT WAS THE ANGEL SHE HAD COME'

and she said to me that Claudius was at the castle? And then she left.

And Borak looked at me funny.

‘Are you ok?’ He asked.

‘Yeah… I’m doing-‘

And then I passed out.

and i saw the castle.