Total words written so far: 23,840
I was terribly sleepy when I was writing this part. It feels like I just "blah"-ed on and on and on. Whatever, it's fine. At least I'm getting words! There's time to make it better later. ONWARD!
The lamp bobbed above her as she brushed off her clothes and looked around. Floyd had gotten ahead of the gang. There seemed to be a small animal trail, like were sometimes found in the woods, left by bunnies or wolves or deer or whatever. But, actually, closer to home in Goldie's life, they could also be made by outdoor house cats following the same path over and over again until their footsteps have worn a bare line in the ground. It seemed maybe Floyd or other house cats like him, if he was indeed a house cat... Goldie actually wasn't sure about that yet. Aunt Wilma never said anything about a cat. It seemed maybe Floyd or other house cats like him had been down in this part of the house a lot. Or other types of animals. Maybe monsters, like Kiffen. He was indeed a monster. If a dragon is a monster, then likewise Kiffen is a monster.
She didn't care, though. Monsters weren't necessarily mean. The word does give off a kind of negativity when it's used in phases such as, the monster under the bed, he was a bloodsucking monster, the monster hiding in your closet. But, hey, it can also be used in a positive way, like, cuddle monster, a monster candy bar, and Cookie Monster. The word "monster" was slowly losing meaning in Goldie's head. Suddenly, the only thing she though of when the word "monster" found itself running through her brain was the similar word "monsieur," and she was pretty sure that word was just the French version of "Mister." So, it was like Kiffen was just a "Mister," which he was, because he was a boy, of course.
Hadn't she decided Kiffen wasn't a real thing? That he was just a part of her imagination? How was he holding the lamp, if he wasn't real.
She looked at the palms of her hands. She was definitely not holding the lamp in her hands. He wasn't a figment of her imagination as she'd assumed he was. He was gracefully hovering in the air, while holding the lamp with a strength that must have been twenty times was Goldie assumed he'd be able to hold. He was stronger than he seemed. Maybe it wouldn't be as easy to stomp on him as she had first assumed.
Oh, well, better explore with the rest of them.
Goldie pittered along toward the glow of light that the lamp was giving off. It was a good lamp and it's light spread pretty far, but Goldie had fallen into darkness while she was recovering from her fall. The second fall in one day. She was abnormally accident prone today. She stepped carefully over the dirt covered floor, straining her eyes to see what was on the floor below her. She didn't want to fall through one of those holes that Floyd the Cat had mentioned. That was a good way to get used to his name. Floyd the Cat. Much better. Much easier to remember, for some reason. As she walked, she ran one hand along the items she passed. This one a desk, that one possibly a stone bust, all covered in sheets. Ah, a piano as well. She'd love to be able to play the piano someday. Mom had tried to get her to learn, but she had a hard time focusing on lessons. She pressed a few of the keys on the high end of the piano. Ting - ting - plink! It sounded just like fairies. She would have to try and remember the way it sounded, because she wanted to play it for Mom when she got back home.
Kiffen shushed her playing. She shook her fist at him and continued making her way to the ring of light. She ran her hand along the broadside of a beautiful oval shaped table with lions carved into its feet. She crouched down and walked under the table to touch the feet of the table. She patted the back of one of the tiny lions. It was just so cute! She stuck one of her fingers into its mouth.
"Ouch," Goldie whined, drawing her finger out of the wooden lion's mouth. She studied the finger closely in the waning light. The boys weren't very good at waiting. But then again, maybe she wasn't very good at keeping up. There was a tiny wound on her finger. It oozed an itty bitty bit of blood. What had she cut it on. She studied the lion again. He didn't move. It couldn't have been him, could it?
Since Kiffen was so convincingly unreal at first, it made sense that all the other mythical type creatures and even creatures carved out of wood would probably be able to feign inanimacy.
Suddenly, the lion turned and looked at her. He blinked his eyes. Goldie blinked back. She scooted backward on her seat out onto the main path of the room and waited to see what the lion might do. The other lion, too, was pulling itself out of a slumber of sorts. Shaking its mane. Swatting its tail.
They studied there surroundings, then walked together toward Goldie. When the reached the path, though, they each turned a different direction. As Goldie watched, they walked along the room, touching every thing in there. Including the piano. Slowly, other things began to wake up, slowly clearing their throats and rubbing their eyes, shaking out their limbs. The stone bust Goldie had walked past earlier started speaking. It was a foreign language, though, one Goldie was not familiar with. Creatures, creatures every where, crawling out of hiding, none of them fairies. These seemed to be woodwork type creatures, like the tree with a face in Pocahontas, maybe. Kind of like that. These were trees on a mission. The piano started playing its own song. A beautiful, complicated tune. One Goldie had never heard before. It entranced her.
Fireworks started bursting around the room. Goldie could see them but she couldn't hear them. How does that happen? Optical illusion? What magic were thy using? How might she get her own hands on these silent fireworks, they would do wonders on one of those dreary days when Mom won't et her leave the house because it's raining or too dark to go out. A flashy show.
Now, butterflies. Butterflies flew into the room, all over, everywhere. Their wings getting louder and louder until all the beats of their wings sounded like a motor. A leaf blower in the street. A leaf blower blowing leaves in the street with his leaf blower. Leafy, leafy, leaf. All the creatures gathered 'round Goldie and started dancing. Slow, pretty twirls like ballerinas. All the little lions and tigers and wooden people and tiny trees. Twirling and twirling round and round in circles until Goldie started to feel dizzy. And then all of the monsters came out. They were bigger than the woodwork people and things. They were about half of Goldie's size. She'd always thought monsters would be bigger and scarier and toothier. One of these guys looked like a big, fluffy pile of cotton candy. Another was like a stuffed bear with a rainbow on it's just. Another one had just one eye and super long fur and the only way for it to see was to put a pony tail of hair above his eye. Why he couldn't just cut it was lost on Goldie. Whatever, though, these guys were cool.
But, maybe Goldie, too, was a monster. A creature quite dangerous and strange to the other creatures out there. It was so strange, because all she'd ever meant to be was a cuddle monster, or maybe a tickle monster.
But, maybe she was a scary monster, too?
They each came forward and gave Goldie a colorful gift. One gave her a diamond and she placed it immediately into her pocket. Another gave her a jar of light so that if she ever needs some place lit up, shed always have a jar of light close by. A few clouds rolled in above her head. At first she thought it was fog, but she stood to her feet and reached up and lightning struck her finger. Good thing it was only a small cloud or that would have dismantled her brain right there. The clouds started raining and Goldie sat down under the table the originally had lions. Now the table's feet were bare. It was kind of sad. The table felt a little bit naked.
"Goldie!"
"Goldie?"
The voices seemed far away, calling through a mist, through a fog of thick, fluffy cotton balls.
"Goldie, are you alright?"
Oh, just one voice. And, very close. So close. Right on top of her. She raised her head and looked down along her prostrate body to see Kiffen standing on her chest. Floyd the Cat was hovering closely as well with a barely discernable worried cat look on his face. She thought this must be the way Gulliver felt when he was visiting with the Lilliputions. What was she doing on the floor? At least she wasn't tied up. She'd not like to wake up in chains with little people trying to keep her on the ground.
But, why was she on the floor?
Last thing she remembered was being in the room below the secret room. She'd just discovered the piano. She'd just plunked a few of the keys but Kiffen had told her to stop. They didn't want to be heard sneaking through that room. Goldie wasn't sure why because Floyd the Cat had said there were only holes and darkness to be afraid of. It just didn't sound ominous enough to warrant complete and utter silence. So, she'd hit a few keys. So what? Oh, but she remembered. She'd gotten under the table and she'd cut her finger. She'd cut her finger on a lion's mouth.
"You've been poisoned, Goldie." Kiffen was still standing on her chest. "We're going to have to stay here until it gets out of your system."
She tried to push herself up, but couldn't. In fact, she couldn't actually feel anything below her neck. She couldn't feel Kiffen sitting on her chest. She only knew he was there because she'd seen him. And, she'd heard him. But, if he were to start jumping up and down, dancing on her chest, she'd not notice the difference.
"It's a paralytic and psycotropic type of drug."
"How do you know?" Asked Goldie. Had he administered it? Otherwise, who was to know whether or not any drug or poison had entered her system. How did they know she hadn't just fallen and hit her head on something?
"We found the culprit."
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