The Dashboard of Apples



  The Dashboard of Apples

  Ellen Mae

  Copyright 2012 Ellen Mae

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  Chapter 1

  The classroom was vibrant with children chattering away, excited about all that we had gotten up to on the weekend. It wasn’t long, however, before our teacher – a short, plump woman who seemed to have thickening hair instead of thinning – called for our attention. Her name was Mrs Bullhead, though her head was shaped more like a giraffe’s; it was long and bony, in complete contrast to her sack-shaped body.

  The class quietened, and collapsed to the floor, crossing their legs over the sickly carpet with wide eyes on the teacher. As she took the attendance, some of the students leant over to whisper in their friend’s ear, before straightening again, as if their backs had become wooden.

  “Right,” Mrs Bullhead exclaimed after ticking off the last name with a graceful flick. “I want you all to write a page about what you did on the weekend.” There was a collective mixture of cheers and groans. Some of the kids in the class thoroughly enjoyed writing about their weekend, while every other child, including me, thought that there could be nothing worse than having to attempt such a horrific task.

  A mousey boy with bug eyes raised his hand. “But... but I didn’t do anything on the weekend,” he insisted.

  “Yes, you did, Michael. I’ve no doubt that every single one of you did something on the weekend, and I’d like to hear about it,” Mrs Bullhead replied firmly. “Now off you go!”

  We ambled to their seats reluctantly. Even those who were excited to write about their weekend had no desire to sit on the hard plastic seats that promised a sore buttocks and aching back.

  After the initial chatter died down, the class was silent, apart from the scratching of pencil on paper. I stared at my book with hopeless apprehension. Regardless of what Mrs Bullhead had told us, the fact of the matter was that I hadn’t done anything all weekend, and no one wanted to read a page about someone spending two long days trying to think of something to do, whilst also imagining what they would do if attacked by a dinosaur.

  I had no other option. I’d have to make something up. Nothing too exciting, of course, and nothing too obviously made up. Perhaps a trip to the cinema, or the supermarket? I could do both! Mrs Bullhead would never suspect.

  My pencil hadn’t even touched the paper when Mrs Bullhead’s voice rang out through the room.

  “Time’s up! Everyone, pencils down.”

  I dropped my pencil as if it were a spider. I hadn’t written anything, which was fine. As long as-

  “Why don’t you share with us your weekend?”

  Chapter 2

  The whole class stared at me, each of their faces etched with the relieved look of someone who hadn’t just been picked to read what they’d written.

  “Mm... me?” I stuttered.

  “Yes. Stand at the front of the class, and tell us about your weekend.”

  The room was silent, all eyes focussed expectantly on my face. Reluctantly, as though my feet were gravity themselves, I dragged myself to the front of the class.

  “Well...” I began. “On Saturday I woke up and I... uh- well I went to the kitchen.” The class was dead silent, not because they were mesmerised, but because they were bored. I didn’t have any exciting experiences to talk about. Although...

  “Yeah, and so I went to check the fridge, because I was hungry, but there was a note on there. It wasn’t from my mum because the writing was too messy. ‘Beware the red apple,’ it said. I didn’t pay much attention, I just continued my mission for food. There was a nice red apple in there. The rest of the fridge was empty, almost as though someone had emptied the fridge, and placed the apple in there just so I would eat it. Which I did. It was the best tasting apple in the world.”

  The whole class was watching me with interest, and Mrs Bullhead wore a half amused, half confused expression. I ploughed on.

  “But the apple wasn’t good. It was tasty, but not good. You see...”

  Chapter 3

  I’d devoured the apple in record time, not bothering to savour it. Once I had finished, I was overwhelmed by an odd feeling. My body went tingly, my breath caught in my throat and my vision blurred. The room exploded as the air spun around me like a tornado. I could feel myself spinning around and around as nausea filled me.

  Once the world had righted, my vision cleared to the most peculiar sight. I wasn’t in my kitchen anymore. I was in the oddest forest I had ever seen. The trees were an array of bright colours, some tall and thin, while others were shaped like hourglasses. The sky was vibrant pink and the grass a dull blue. Animal cries that I had never heard before reached my ears, some high-pitched and unusual, some low and frightening. They were all unlike anything I had heard before.

  In front of me stood a creature that looked rather like a monkey, only its body was twice as long, and had six arms and no tail. It grinned at me, as though it had been expecting me the whole time. “Tor,” it said in a high voice. I assumed it was a female.

  I was so shocked that I didn’t reply. This thing, this creature had just spoken to me, and it was still speaking.

  “Tor to Windelnold. Tor to Windelnold.” It jumped at me, and I fell back with a yell, the shrieking creature settling on my chest. “Torrr,” it purred affectionately.

  “Tor?” I asked tentatively.

  It pointed at me. “Tor.”

  It became evident that I was Tor, and this creature was excited to see me. “And... You?” I asked, pointing back.

  “Keali,” it replied, pointing to herself. “Keali is Wai clan. This forest Wai clan forest. Keali show Tor to Windelnold, Old Wai says!”

  “I don’t want to go to Windelnold...”

  But Keali wasn’t listening. She grabbed my hand and hauled me to my feet before leaping gracefully into one of the comical trees, not even bothering to see if I had followed. Curious, I did, wanting to see where the creature would take me.

  The blinding sun, the only thing in this otherworldly place that appeared the same, shone down on me with intense heat, at least ten degrees hotter than I was used to. The random placement of the trees made it impossible for me to escape it. Ahead of me, Keali leapt from tree to tree, unfazed by the sun. I jogged after her.

  “Where are we going?” I huffed, sucking in breath.

  “Tor to Windelnold,” Keali replied. “Old Wai says!”

  “Yes, I know that, but what is Windelnold? And who’s Old Wai?”

  “Keali not answer questions. Come. Keali lead, Tor follow. The bright falls, once again.”

  “The... bright?”

  Keali pointed to the sun. “Come,” she repeated, before taking off again.

  I dutifully followed, hopelessly confused; the sun was still high, and wouldn’t set for hours. It would only be midday. I decided not to mention this to Keali, who was gradually picking up speed. I sprinted after he, gasping for breath like a fish. Maybe my questions would be answered at Windelnold...

  Chapter 4

  Keali led me out of the cartoonish forest, through a sapphire field dotted with dark flowers that looked like coffee mugs and whispered dark prophecies to each other as I ran through them. We went into another forest, where all of the trees were dead, and the ground was littered with leaves that crunched an
d crackled. The tree branches reached out and grabbed locks of my hair; they touched my shoulders and arms and sent shivers through my body, and onto a well worn path that was completely normal but out of place.

  The path twisted and turned like a dancing snake, the trees on either side casting eerie shadows over the parched earth. Keali purred happily in front of me, like a cat being lovingly stroked by his master. The creature had abandoned the trees, and was ambling along on its hinds, all six arms making her unbalanced. When standing, she was almost as tall as I was.

  The dead forest was vast, and we walked on, the sun beating down on us like a spotlight. Keali didn’t speak to me; she seemed happy enough just being near me, as though I was her favourite celebrity. I doubted she even knew what celebrities were. The forest started thinning after a time, and Keali fell onto all eights.

  “Windelnold approaches,” she said in awe, picking up her pace.

  I glanced up at the large mass on the horizon, and gasped. Even from this distance, it looked huge. But closer up... I couldn’t imagine. It was an awesome sight. A mass of large buildings, with towers jutting up every so often. The towers appeared to have been built in a competition to see who could build a tower closest to the sun. One was so tall and thin that it was leaning over, adjacent to the rest of the building. It was surrounded by high, menacing walls, with an archway being the only way in or out.

  Most interesting, though, were the colours. The buildings weren’t built out of grey stone as I had expected. Rather, someone had grabbed a paintball gun, and blindly shot random coloured paintballs at the finished buildings. I had a vivid image of a kaleidoscope.

  “So this is Windelnold?” I wondered aloud.

  Keali didn’t speak to me again. Once we reached Windelnold, I was ushered through the archway and into a large hall by a couple of severe-looking guards that resembled flamingos, only they were dull blue and were covered in scales rather than feathers. Keali had been made stay just outside of the city walls, and I could feel tension and worry radiating off of her as I walked through, but it seemed that everyone had been expecting me; the guards welcomed me with a stiff nod. I was overcome by apprehension; something was making me feel uneasy.

  The inside of the hall was boring compared to the outside of the building; it was grey stone, with wooden doors at random intervals along the walls, and white stone statues of impossible creatures in every direction. It was eerily silent, as though the whole world had been muted, and emptied of everyone except me and a curious looking creature at the far end of the room.

  The creature was staring at me with an intense gaze, its bright yellow eyes fixed on my face. It was covered in fur with a horse-shaped face, two spiralling horns protruding from behind its ears, and a body shaped like that of a duck. Instead of wings, however, two short, clawed hands stretched out in greeting. It truly was the most grotesque and most amusing creature I had ever seen.

  It was seated on a throne crafted of wood, the branches tangled together like long frizzy hair that hadn’t been brushed in a month. A crown made in the same manner rested on the creature’s horns, almost floating.

  I stopped before its throne and it spoke, its voice like wind chimes.

  Chapter 5

  “Tor of earth,” it started, “you have come to us, earmarked for greatness. I beg of you; cease the sun’s descent from our land, and help us to resist the moon’s touch! With your strength, we shall never again face a sunless moment, or have the moon grasp us with its spindly frost-bound fingers!”

  “Uh... Sorry, what?”

  The creature stood and waddled to me. “I am Queen Warrie of Imagorium, and I say now, you must help us. Stop the setting of the sun, and we shall send you home. Only you, can wishforth the great switch of sun and moon! If you refuse, you shall never go home!”

  “But... I want to go home now,” I objected. Aside from not wanting to stop the sun from setting, I had no idea how.

  “You are Tor, a human from earth, are you not?”

  “I’m a human from earth, but-”

  “Then no! You cannot leave until you have helped us! I will not allow it!”

  I couldn’t worm my way out of it. I had no choice but to agree to this mad quest, and do what I could. I doubted that, even in a sideways world like this one, I would be able to stop the sun from setting. Perhaps the queen would send me home anyway, after I failed and she realised just how hopeless this whole thing was. I wasn’t even who they were looking for; my name wasn’t ‘Tor’.

  “Okay, fine,” I said. “I’ll do it.”

  The queen smiled, but it was a cold, forced act. “How wonderful. You have met the creature Keali, I imagine. He shall be your guide and companion. Do not fail me. Now begone!”

  With all the grace of a blind hog, the queen spun on her short duck feet and waddled back to her throne. She seated herself, fixed her hard eyes again on me, and the room fell silent. Not wanting to be in the company of this queer creature longer than necessary, I gradually backed out, then turned and bolted, bursting out of the doors into the outside world.

  Chapter 6

  Keali was waiting for me, holding a small dagger in one of his many hands, and an apple in another. Not she – he! Keali was a male! His smile was gone, replaced by a scowl. He took a bite out of the apple.

  “So... Um. Now what?” I asked nervously. The primate took another bite out of the apple before throwing both it and the dagger away.

  “Tor follow Keali,” he said, taking off toward the dead forest. He went a different direction than where we had came. I followed Keali, having to run to be able to keep up with his fast pace; once we reached the forest, he leapt through the trees with speed and grace, as though he was a wisp of cloud in the wind, while I tripped and stumbled, and got snagged on the dead branches that reached out at me.

  The forest passed by us, a blur, and I gravely hoped that Keali knew where he was going. I couldn’t tell if we were travelling in a straight line or doing zig zags; we could have taken a sharp turn and I wouldn’t have even noticed. At first glance all of the trees looked the same. It was only when you observed them closely did you notice the different shades of brown and mahogany, or the unique knot formations and branch placements.

  We came to a field. It stretched on for miles, an endless span of grey. The sun had started to set, casting blue and green streaks across the pink sky; we must have been running for hours. A bird flew above us, cawing much like a sheep would bleat.

  “Keali,” I panted as he landed with a soft thump in front of me, “where are we going now?”

  Keali pointed at the setting sun. “Tor stop the brightfall.” There was a strange note in his voice. Was it sadness? Apprehension?

  We had stopped running, for which I was glad; I was exhausted. Whether because he knew I didn’t like the forest, or for some other reason, Keali lead me to a small formation of rocks, where he turned in circles a few times, before collapsing to the ground, curled like a cat, and started purring. He closed his eyes, and when I was sure he was comfortable enough to fall asleep, I spoke.

  “I don’t want to stop the brightfall. I don’t understand why you want it stopped.”

  “Tor stop the brightfall. Tor go home. Not stop the brightfall, not go home,” Keali replied, as though that settled the matter. Even as he said it, I could sense that there was something on his mind, as though he would have me do something other than stop the bightfall.

  “But why does Queen Warrie want the sun to stop setting?”

  “Because,” Keali started, “Queen Warrie afraid.”

  I almost burst out laughing. “Of the dark?”

  “No. Of what brightfall brings.”

  “Darkness?”

  Keali didn’t answer. Instead, he stood, stretched his arms, and took off before I could fathom what was happening. “Hey! Come back!” I jumped to my feet, ready to chase after Keali, when a faint voice reached my ears.

  “Tor wait! Keali bring food!”

>   So he was coming back. Satisfied, I sat back down, glad to have a chance to rest my feet. I’d been running all day, it seemed, something that I wasn’t used to. My whole body ached. I closed my eyes, and my mind slipped away.

  Chapter 7

  Keali didn’t take too long before he was back, various things clutched in his hands. He dumped everything at my feet, a proud smile on his furry face. “Keali feed and water Tor!”

  “Yes,” I replied weakly. It was fruit that he had collected, but none that I had seen before. There were no apples, bananas or oranges; I was faced with an array of brown, pink, orange and blue, oddly-shaped pieces of fruit. I picked up a lumpy brown piece. It was rock hard, with an opening covered in a thin membrane.

  “Tor must drink!” Keali chirped. He pointed at the piece of fruit I was holding.

  I poked my finger in the membrane. It went straight through, into some sort of liquid. Unsure, I sniffed at the opening. I couldn’t smell anything, so I raised it to my mouth and sipped at the contents. It was water. I hadn’t realized how thirsty I was until now, but as I was satisfied that I wasn’t about to be poisoned, I gulped down the water, as Keali watched, as if making sure I drank.

  “Tor eat,” Keali added. When my mouth was full of a sweet fruit that reminded me of honey and roses, he spoke again. “Old Wai has prophecy about Tor. All Tors.”

  I frowned. “What do you mean, ‘all’?” I asked, showering Keali with fruit and spit. “Are there more of me?”

  Keali batted nervously at his ear, and wiped his face. “Many Tors. All have Old Wai’s prophecy.”

  “If there are many Tors, why don’t you get another one to fulfil your prophecy?”

  “Old Wai’s prophecy! Not Keali’s! Many Tors, but only one at a time!”

  I was down to the last piece of fruit, but I hesitated, shocked by Keali’s sudden outburst; he had been calm and affectionate to me since I had first met him. I risked another question. “What is the prophecy?”