The Wishing Map is a full-length fantasy that is being posted episodically at this site. To read the previous episode, click here. To read the entire novel, begin here.

Like her brother, Gina had “fallen into” the mysterious Map their Aunt Aloysius had given them. Only unlike Zack, she’d planned the fall, in order to rescue the little twit. Still, what came next was anything but plannable. All she said for the full first minute was:

“Wha…

a…

a…

a…

a…

a…

a…

a…

a…

a…

a…

a…

aaat?”

She tried to think-dance, but the result was absurd. With her big blue terrycloth robe up over her head and her feet flailing below her she looked like a broken umbrella.

At first, she’d been terrified beyond words. But after about fifteen minutes of mindless screaming, she’d simply become confused. Then self-conscious. Then self-conscious about being self-conscious. And then she’d finally realized it didn’t matter because no one could see her; she was thousands of feet up in the air, maybe thousands of miles! Of course, she screamed—that was instinctual—and lurched about like a mad marionette. But then she decided it wasn’t real; it was all just too Alice in Wonderlandy to be real.

How long had she been falling? Half an hour? Half a day? She couldn’t see the earth below, if there even was an earth below. Above, the sky dissolved from navy blue to squid-ink black. She almost expected to bump into a satellite. Or the international space station: It’ll reach out with its big mechanical arm, she thought, and then a cosmonaut named Alexei will give me vodka, and an astronaut named Buzz (they’re all named Buzz) will show me how to eat out of tubes and…

She was pretty sure she was hallucinating. “Focus, Gina!” She said aloud, because it was easier to think out loud. Her mind somewhat calmer now, she reached up and pulled her robe back down, then held it in place by keeping her hands in her pockets. Why do they make the pockets so they end up way in front when the robe is closed? I mean, if they just— “Argggh! Focus, Gina!” She slapped herself. “Ow!”

The moment she slapped her face she realized how cold she was—it felt like she’d used a shovel. Now, that was real! But it was also what she needed. She was finally able to focus. OK, so I fell through the Map like Zack did, and then…Zack!

She began methodically screaming her brother’s name in every direction so that, no matter where he was, he’d hear her:

“Zaa…

a…

a…

a…

a…

a…

a…

aack!”

“Zaa…

a…

a…

a…

a…

a…

a…

aack!”

“Zaa…

a…

a…

a…

a…

a…

a…

aack!”

No response. Which made sense. Why would he be near here when he’d fallen through the Map at least ten minutes before she had. “Stupid idiot!” she chided herself. Why hadn’t she figured that out at the time? Instead, she’d run downstairs and through the house before she’d realized he’d fallen into the Map and…and now he was probably dead!

And soon she would be too!

φ

Thoughts: Have you ever experienced a future so unlike anything you’d expected that you simply had no basis for knowing what to do next?

To read the next episode, click here.