Original Story - Once Upon A Time

(Image by JillWellington on Pixabay)

Once upon a time, long ago, a young girl went to the meadow to gather flowers to decorate the table. She never returned.

Once upon a time, not so long ago, a grown woman in tattered clothes, her long hair unkempt, crept out of the park that had once been a meadow. She stared, wild-eyed, at where her family home had been. It was no longer there. The field that had surrounded her home was no longer there. Strange buildings of glass stood in its place.

Believing her father’s house to be behind those buildings, she lowered her gaze to the wide, black band that separated her from her family. Hesitantly, she forced her bare, dirty foot onto the band. It didn’t yield to her step but held firm.

As she moved her other foot forward, a rectangular beast shot past, wailing as it sped by. Staggering back, she fell. Covered her ears and screamed. And screamed.

When they came to take her, she was still screaming.