Caught in the Middle Ch. 01

Just like every morning, Maya expected to be woken up by the obnoxious, annoying, blaring sound of her alarm clock. She would then proceed to stumble out of bed, fix her morning cup of coffee, wash up, get dressed, and head to her morning classes. This had become her regular routine over the past few months. It was mundane, and too repetitive for her liking, but she found it was the most effective way for her to get her butt to class on time without looking like a bum.

It was mid-January, and she was just beginning the second semester of her freshman year of college. The bitter, unforgiving east coast winter made getting out the door, let alone getting out of bed, a daily struggle. Maya had lived in the same general area for most of her 19 years, but that never made the quickly changing, bipolar weather any easier to get used to, especially since she had to walk everywhere since becoming a college student.

Lying on her side, Maya began to shiver, and somewhere in her sleep-depraved mind, made a mental note to beg her roommate, once again, to stop turning down the heat at night. She'd rather pay extra money for heat than catch a cold and miss her classes.

As Maya reached for her blanket, hoping she still had a few minutes before her alarm went off, she eventually realized that she was just reaching for air. Her blanket was nowhere to be found. After forcing her eyes open and sitting up, she discovered that her whole room was apparently nowhere to be found, as well. In fact, the only thing she saw was a thick, never ending fog.

But she was tired. Still somewhere between dream-land and reality, Maya brushed off her strange surroundings as her brain playing tricks on her, and laid back down to make the most of her remaining minutes of rest.

Not knowing whether she'd passed out for a few minutes or a few hours, Maya's eyes gently fluttered open. After things came into focus, it seemed that, as opposed to being woken up by her alarm, a stray dog had taken it upon itself to give her face a tongue bath.

"Get OFF!" she shrieked. Maya bolted up and shoved the animal off of her, wondering where it had come from, and who it belonged to.

The dog began to bark and jump around uncontrollably, as though it had just found some fun, new toy to play with.

"Stop, stop, stop! What's wrong with you?" She asked rhetorically, while looking around for the dog's owner, or someone who would know what to do with it. She got up and tried to get away, but the dog followed after her, refusing to let her out of its sight.

Just then, both Maya and the dog immediately stopped when they heard a high pitched, nearly deafening whistle.

In the distance, she heard what sounded like an elderly man calling, "Cass! Cass! Where'd you go girl? Cass!" Assuming the man was looking for the dog, Maya ran towards the voice, hoping that maybe he'd be able to tell her where she was.

Since waking up and entertaining the idea that maybe she wasn't dreaming, Maya tried to determine where she'd ended up, or how she got there in the first place. She was outside, on a field of green grass. She ruled out being kidnapped, or passing out drunk at someone's house. She was used to cities and suburbs, not lush valleys and hilltops. So then, how many logical explanations were there? Sure, she could've still been dreaming, but this was unlike any dream she'd had before. There were too many details that she never would've experienced in a real dream. The grass was too soft, too green, and the air was too fresh, and too cool. There was still a dense fog, so she couldn't see much else around her, but it seemed like she ended up in the middle of nowhere.

Once the old man came into view, the dog completely forgot about Maya, and ran towards its owner, still barking, jumping, and wagging its tail.

"What have I told you about running off like that?" the man chastised, "next time, I'll-," he stopped mid-sentence once he caught sight the strange young woman standing in front of him. Normally, he would've been concerned about finding someone on the hillside so early in the morning, but her appearance left him confused and at a loss for words. She wore a large cotton shirt with bright, colorful letters that read "Aerosmith", and her legs were bare, rather than stocking-clad.

"W-what're you, where'd you, w-who..." the old man stuttered.

Maya slowly approached him. "Please sir, I have no idea where I am. I just woke up here. I'm lost, and I don't know how I got here."

The man just stared at her as though she was crazy, so she continued, hoping she would say something that would get him to understand her situation.

"I'm a student, my name is Maya, Maya Evans. I'm not from this area, so I would be extremely grateful if you could at least tell me what this place is called."

He continued to stare, and seemed even more confused. He clearly spoke English, so it couldn't have been that he just didn't understand her. Maya let out a frustrated sigh, and tried to decide whether or not she should just leave the man alone and walk around until she found someone else who could help her out.

"Esfalda."

Maya was busy looking at how the man was dressed, which struck her as a little odd. But old people always dress strangely, right? She was so surprised when the man had actually said something to her that she hadn't heard what he'd said. "I'm sorry?"

"Esfalda." He repeated, with some sort of accent. "The name of this great land."

"Oh, I see." Maya tried to remain calm, but on the inside, she was freaking out. "Esfalda"? What the hell kind of name is that!? It can't be a country. Maybe it's a city? But surely not an American one, and from the looks of this place, I'm not even sure if I'm still in America. Maybe it's somewhere up north, like Wisconsin or Minnesota...but that still would explain how I got here.

"Um, is there a police station nearby? Maybe an embassy, or something? Do you know who I could talk to about getting back home?"

He looked at her suspiciously, but turned around and walked away. "Follow me," he ordered.

"Thank you so much!" she exclaimed, hopeful that she would be able to figure out what happened, and be back in her own room by the next day. "Oh, by the way, I didn't get your name." The man only grunted in response.

As she followed the stranger down the hill, she saw that, beneath the morning fog, there was a quaint little village, like something out of a fairytale. On the outskirts of the village was a castle, situated on top of a steep hill, overlooking everything. It was gorgeous, unlike anything Maya had ever seen, but it was oddly intimidating. From the distance they were at, she could she it was made from grey stones, with large gargoyles looking out from the many balconies. There were thick, green vines wrapped around many of the tall towers, adding to its mysterious beauty. Maya was no expert, but to her it looked like gothic European architecture, like the kind of buildings they preserve in cities to attract tourists. She was fine just staring at it, but something in her gut told her she wouldn't want to go inside. Of course, once they actually got to the village, she was too busy looking around at all the activity going on around her- and trying to avoid everyone's stares-that she didn't think too much about the impressive building. She also noted that everyone was dressed in the same odd manner as the old man, which made her stick out like a sore thumb.

While walking behind the man and his dog, past the bakeries, the flower shops, and the produce carts, Maya noticed that, rather than just staring at her, everyone she passed seemed to be glaring at her. She knew that she stood out, that she definitely wasn't in America, but had she done anything to deserve the contempt of people she didn't even know?

The general vibe of the village didn't seem to match its fairytale image at all. Everything seemed to have somewhat of a grey hue (the fog still hadn't completely cleared), and its residents seemed tired and unhappy, as though they were just going through the motions of living without being alive. It was depressing.

Maya had been so distracted by all of the oddities around her, that, before she knew it, she was standing at the front gate of the enormous castle while the old man whispered something in the guard's ear. The large, muscular man gave Maya a once-over look, making her feel incredibly self-conscious, more so than when all of the villagers stared at her. The guard shooed the man away, and nodded at Maya, indicating she should follow him inside. Turning around to take one last look at the old man and the dog, she followed the guard into the castle. With every step she took, the sense of dread she felt since laying her eyes upon it seemed to grow more and more.

Maya broke out into a cold sweat as she walked into the massive fortress, and heard the doors loudly close behind her. The idea of being trapped inside, especially with the guard watching her, had Maya's stomach in knots.

When her eyes adjusted, she saw that the inside wasn't too different from the outside. Everything was dark and grey. It was cold, and there wasn't anything to prove that there were people living there. There were no lights, no sources of heat, and no signs of movement or activity. She was beginning to wonder if the whole thing was just a show, if it was merely a monument to represent something, rather than a home to royalty and aristocracy.

Then it dawned on her. If she was going to talk to anyone there, they would be royalty and aristocracy. That wouldn't have bothered Maya too much, except the way she was dressed was completely inappropriate, and she was worried that she would end up offending someone. To her, it was basically the equivalent of the cliché TV/movie nightmare where the protagonist finds themselves in front of an audience naked. Maya looked up at the guard, to see if he would give her some sense of direction, or find someone to talk to her about getting out of there and back home. The guard merely stood there, silent and looking straight ahead. Afraid of getting on his bad side, Maya chose to follow his lead and do the same thing.

After standing in the same spot for a good five minutes, Maya got impatient. Was she supposed to go around by herself until she found someone, were they waiting for someone? The only one who had spoken to her was the old man, and even he had just muttered a few phrases. Clearly, these people aren't too big on communication, Maya thought, as she tapped her cold, bare foot on the stone floor.

Just when she was about to speak up, a set a doors burst open, and a tall, well-dressed man quickly strode in to greet the pair. He glanced quickly at Maya, and exchanged more whispers with the guard. She had no idea what they were saying, but she felt herself blushing when they kept looking at her.

"Thank you very much, Captain. I'll handle things from here," the tall man said. With that, the guard bowed to the man and returned to his post outside.

After the doors closed again, this new man turned to Maya. He began fidgeting with his hands, and appeared to be very nervous and unsure of what to say.

"H-hello. How do you do?" he asked very slowly, annunciating each syllable. Maya fought the urge to punch him, figuring it would be in her best interest to be as pleasant as possible.

"Hello. I came here to see who I should speak to about getting back home. I don't know how I got here, but it's very important that I find a way to get back."

The man appeared to be taken aback at how well she could speak, and became even more unsure of how he should approach her.

"May I ask your name?"

"Maya Evans."

"You may call me Eli. I am the Steward of this estate, and will see to it that your needs are met during your stay here," He declared. Eli seemed to take is job very seriously, and didn't appear to be the type to take nonsense from anyone, just like the guard. He looked like he was around 6'2, and had a very slim build. His eyes matched the grey of the stones on the floor, and made Maya feel just as cold.

"Excuse me!?!" Maya exclaimed. "No, I don't think you understand. I can't stay here. I have a home, in America, that I really need to get back to. I just need to see someone who can get me a passport or a plane ticket or something!"

"First of all, Miss Maya, I can't say that I, or any of my colleagues, have heard of this place you speak of. Second, if you wish to attempt to find this place, your best option would be to use the maps found in the palace library. If you can locate it, we could arrange for a boat to take you back, but even then, the process of getting all that together would take quite some time, so it would be best for you to reside here for the time being."

Maya's jaw dropped. She wasn't sure what to do. Hearing about maps and boats rather than computers and planes made her wonder if she should even try getting back home. First, she decided, it would be best to at least figure out what time period she was in.

"Excuse me, Eli, but could I ask you one question?"

"Of course."

"Well, um, what year is it?" she asked shyly, afraid of what the answer would be.

Eli gave her an odd look, but answered her question. "It's 1483."

That was the breaking point for Maya. Everything went black as she fell to the floor, hearing Eli call out her name before she became completely unconscious.