The Twilight Realm

Amber light filled the solarium, leaded windows throwing geometric shadows on the tiled floor. The room was small and warm, filled with plants and low cushions for relaxing in the afternoon sun. A hospital bed was nestled in the far corner, made up with blankets and pillows in warm, rich hues, softening the hard lines of its metal frame. A woman was nestled among them, her face turned to watch the birds washing in the morning dew just outside the window.

A small sound made her turn as a young boy pushed through the door, carefully balancing a large tray.

“I made you some tea and toast, Mom” he said as he arranged her breakfast on a nearby table.

“Thank you, sweetheart” her whispered answer was faint. “Where’s your sister this morning?”

“She’s already started on the attic” he answered, knowing he’d need to join her soon. They’d worked their way through most of the empty rooms by now, bringing the old house they’d recently inherited back to life.

“You two are working so hard...I’m sorry I don’t have the energy to help. When we found out that your grandfather made us his beneficiaries I thought that our problems were finally over. I thought you two would finally have all the things I was working so hard to give you...and then this...” She gestured at the hospital bed, the machines, the scarf around her head.

Not knowing what to say Tomas didn’t answer, instead he sat on the edge of the bed and rested his head next to hers. He stayed still for a moment then leaned up to kiss her forehead.

“I’m gonna go help Mae” he said. “I’ll be back to check on you in a bit.”

Tomas smiled at his mother and walked towards the staircase that led to the second floor and continued to the attic. He still wasn’t used to living in such a big space, still couldn’t believe a grandfather that had never met had left them his entire fortune. For as long as he could remember it had just been the three of them in their tiny apartment. His mother and his sister tried hard to fill the spaces that should’ve been occupied by a larger family. A father. Grandparents. Aunts, uncles and cousins. They tried hard to hide the fact that they were usually just barely surviving, that everything they had, meager as it was, could disappear with the slightest misfortune. Now they had more money than they’d ever need and it still wasn’t enough, still couldn’t fix what was wrong with his mother.

Tomas reached the attic and found Mae surrounded by old furniture, stacks of boxes and random objects all covered in dust. She looked up as he entered and gestured to a bookshelf on the far wall.

“Want to start with that? I don’t know why all the books are piled on the floor while the bookshelf is empty.”

He crossed the room, disturbing the dust motes that shimmered in the shafts of sunlight coming in through the small round windows under the eaves. He reached down to the mound of books without looking, pulling back in surprise when a shock ran through him, from his fingers all the way down to his toes. He dropped the book he had been picking up, a cloud of dust billowing up around it.

Mae glanced over and noticed him pick it up and flip through it. “Find a good one?” she asked.

“I don’t think so, it's just an old journal” he answered as he wiped off the cover. Underneath the grime gold letters slowly revealed themselves.

“The Twilight Realm” they read in unison, eyebrows raised.

“You said it wasn’t a book” Mae said.

“It’s not, look” Tomas replied as he flipped it open.

The inside cover was blank but when he turned the first page words started to appear.

“What is your deepest desire?”

Tomas dropped the book in surprise as the words finished forming, looking at his sister, eyes wide.

Mae slowly picked up the book and flipped through it, examining the pages. The rest were blank and the back cover was thick, with two spaces hollowed out. One held a small pen, the other an ornate key. She looked at them for a moment before flipping back to the front.

“What is your deepest desire?” she read the mysterious words aloud.

“Should we answer?” Tomas said. “How do we even do that?”

Mae pulled the pen from the back cover “Maybe we use this?”

She pulled off the cap to start writing, then looked at her brother with a question in her eyes.

He nodded. “Yes.”

She wrote a short and simple sentence. Seven words.

We want our mother to get better.

They watched as the two sentences disappeared. An invisible pencil sketched the outline of a rough door where the words had been a moment before. As soon as it was complete the sketch also faded, leaving them more confused than before.

Mae sat, lost in thought. Tomas breathed deep as he reached for the book and pulled the key from its niche, absently spinning it in his hands. Mae turned to him, noticing tears streaking the dust on his cheeks. She pulled him into a hug and as she held him she realized she could see behind the bookshelf. The walls of the attic were brick but she could see wood behind the shelf.

“Hey, look at this” she said as she stood to move it away from the wall, revealing a door that looked eerily similar to the one that had briefly appeared in the journal.

Tomas didn’t say a word as he stood and inserted the key into the door. It opened easily, silently swinging in and bumping into the bookshelf before coming to a stop.

Mae and Tomas stared, open mouthed at the scene before them. Instead of looking into their own backyard they were staring into a forest. Instead of the golden sunlight of a summer morning they looked into a clearing filled with the lavender light of a winter twilight. At the far end of the glade was a small cabin, the windows filled with candlelight and smoke curling up out of a chimney.

Mae closed her eyes and counted to ten, trying to slow her heartbeat and convince herself that this was real. When she opened them Tomas had already stepped through the doorway while it quietly closed behind him. Her heart was still pounding but she jumped after him without a second thought, the door clicking shut just as she crossed through.

She grabbed his arm and turned back to stop the door but it was too late. It was locked and wouldn’t budge even when she tried the key. She knelt, peering through the keyhole saw the bookshelf, the rest of the attic beyond, all of it out of reach.

“Well that was stupid!” She turned to face her little brother.

“Oh like we wouldn’t have come through eventually? A. MAGIC. DOOR. APPEARED. IN. OUR. ATTIC.” he responded.

Mae sighed and rolled her eyes. “Fine...I guess we should figure out who lives there and see if they can help us open the door” she replied.

They crossed the clearing, staring in wonder. Lightning bugs flickered as they chased each other through the meadow and crickets sang each other to sleep. The sky through the trees was a deep purple, the first few stars just starting to appear.

They slowed as they reached the cottage door, both too nervous to knock. As Mae reached up the door suddenly opened, a tiny woman in the doorway. The fire behind her was bright, making it hard to see her face but her voice, when she spoke, seemed kind.

“How did you get here?” she asked.

“We don’t really know” Mae said. “We found a book and then this old door behind a bookshelf…”

The woman held up her hand as Mae rambled, “Do you have the book?” she interrupted.

Thomas held the book out towards her, looking as though he had forgotten he was holding it.

The woman glanced at it without touching it.

“What did you say you wanted?” she asked.

Mae raised her eyebrows, too surprised to even think to ask how she knew about the book. “We want our mother to get better. She’s dying.” Tomas answered, his voice breaking.

The woman nodded, sympathy in her eyes. “Well the book sent you to the right place. I can send you home with something that will help your mother, but there is a price” she said.

“We don’t have any money with us” Mae said, “but we can get whatever amount you want” Mae said.

“Only a life can pay for a life” the woman responded.

“What does that mean?”

“One of you can take the cure back to your mother, the other must stay here with me. Once the decision has been made it is final, and the other shall not return.”

“I’ll stay” said Mae, reaching out to shake the woman's hand.

Tomas started to protest but their hands were already clasped. The clear sound of a bell filled the air and the woman turned and gestured for them to follow her into the house.

She walked to the fireplace and pulled a simple wood box down from the mantle. She pulled out a small vial of clear liquid and gave it to Tomas. “Mix this with some tea and have your mother drink it. She will sleep for a day and an hour and when she wakes she will be cured.”

She turned to Mae and spoke, the gentleness in her voice replaced with steel. “You can walk your brother to the door and say your goodbyes but do not try to go through. When he has gone you will return.”

The old woman turned, clearly dismissing them.

Mae and Tomas walked slowly to the door, then even more slowly across the clearing. The light outside was unchanged, still the perfect twilight filled with lavender, lightning bugs and the serenading of crickets. What had seemed magical and wondrous on their arrival now felt heavy and sinister. As they approached the door Tomas’ hand tightened on Mae’s. She could feel his tears as if they were her own. Though she wanted nothing more than to go with him she forced herself to a stop and pulled him into a hug.

“Take care of yourself, and Mom. Tell her I love her. Tell her about this place and what happened” she said, managing to keep her voice steady.

Tomas took a deep breath and his tears slowed. “I can’t believe you did that” he whispered. “I would’ve stayed. Mom is going to need you. You take care of us.”

“What better way to take care of you both than to make sure Mom gets better? That you get to grow up with a mother? I’m gonna miss you bud...but you have to go now...I don’t think she’ll wait forever” Mae said as she glanced back over her shoulder.

Tomas gave her another long, hard hug. “I’ll figure out a way to come back” he said as he turned away. The door opened as he approached, the attic coming back into view. It looked pale compared to the world in which they now stood, less real than the one that was now Mae’s home.

A sob tore out of her throat as Tomas stepped through the doorway but she managed a smile as he turned and waved, the door silently closing. She thought it would disappear once it closed but it remained, mocking her, a reminder of the home to which she could never return. She wanted to sink to the grass and cry, but instead she straightened her shoulders and turned, walking back across the twilight clearing to find out exactly what she had gotten herself into.