The Ink Well Fiction Prompt 109 - The World Down the Hall

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On Sunday night, Hartono scrolled through his phone screen, looking for the right house on a property buying and selling website. Finally, Hartono found a house that suited him. Tomorrow he would meet the seller of the house and transact directly.

The next day, Hartono went to Bogor city to have a look at the house he was going to buy first. The house was quite large and had a European-style building design. Hartono was interested in the house and immediately bought it.

After occupying the house, he felt comfortable and calm. One night, Hartono woke up from his sleep because he had to pee. While walking to the toilet, he tripped over something on the floor. When he checked, he noticed the uneven tiles. He accidentally shifted the tile and saw a staircase. He just found out that there was a basement in this house.

Out of curiosity, he took his flashlight to look down. It turned out that it was not a basement, but a hallway. Hartono traced the long hallway and saw a light at the end of the hallway. Hartono was getting curious and accelerated his way toward the light. Arriving at the end of the hallway, he came out of a tree. The hollow tree was the gate of the passage leading to his house.

Hartono became confused. He didn't know what kind of place he had found. When he was at home, it was already night. But in the place he visited, the weather was very bright. Suddenly a unique horse-drawn carriage passed by. Hartono hid behind a large tree so as not to be noticed. After the horse-drawn carriage passed, he explored the place. The location is like a mountainous area that is overgrown with trees. While walking around, a 20-year-old girl ran over in a hurry. Her appearance was very ancient.

"Help me" the woman shouted while hiding behind Hartono's body.

It turned out that she was being chased by two well-built men, holding spears and shields, and wearing traditional clothes.

"Hey young man, hand over the girl to us," said the burly man.

Seeing the burly body and weapon in hand, Hartono was frightened and confused. I don't know what happened that day. Terrified, he ran into the forest, unconsciously holding the girl's hand as he ran. They hid behind a large rock and survived the pursuit of the two burly men.

"Thank you for saving me, where did you come from? I've never seen you before"

"I was walking down a hallway in my house, then I came out of the big tree."

"Out of the tree? You mean, you live in a tree?"

"No, it's not like that. Let me show you"

Hartono and the girl went back into the big tree. They both went back to the hallway and traced it. When she turned on the flashlight, the girl wondered. How could an object give off light? She thought it was a magic wand. But she didn't ask. Usually, the girl only knew of old-fashioned lamps lit with matches. After they arrived at Hartono's house, the girl was astonished.

"How did you make a house inside a tree? Are you a witch?"

Hahaha, Hartono laughed out loud. He didn't answer her. Hartono felt the need to urinate again. He went to the toilet, while the girl looked around Hartono's house. The things in the house she had never seen before. After urinating, Hartono turned on the TV with the remote.

"What the fck, what magic did you use? You put someone into that box?"

Hahaha... Hartono laughed again.

"You'd better go back to where you came from, it looks like that passage connects two different worlds"

"What do you mean?"

"Your world is from the past, and here you are in the future"

"How do you know?"

"From your appearance and your expression looking at the electronics. There is no magic here, all objects can be powered by electronic energy systems"

"I don't understand"

"Go to sleep, tomorrow I'll take you for a walk"

The next day, they went outside. The girl looked astonished at the vehicles, gadgets, houses, buildings, and more. She had never seen anything like that before. They went to a pizzeria to fill their stomachs. The girl was astonished by the food which she found strange. She had never seen such food before. When she tried it, she ate the pizza with gusto.

"Btw, I don't know your name yet, what's yours?"

"Call me Azula"

"Alright Azula, after eating, we'll go back to where you came from"

"Alright, but I want to bring this food to my village too"

"Fine, I'll order a box for you"

On the way to Hartono's house, they met Roy and Alex. They were both friends of Hartono when he was in college. Roy and Alex always bullied Hartono. And today they will do it again. Roy threw a plastic bag of water at Hartono's face and made him wet. Roy and Alex laughed at that. When Alex approached to hit Hartono, Azula swatted Alex's hand away.

"Hey village girl, don't interfere if you don't want to get beat up!"

Alex's words made Azula angry and beat Alex to the ground. Roy, who wanted to save his friend, was also beaten and knocked to the ground by Azula. Roy and Alex were terrified and ran away. Hartono's mouth gaped wide as he watched Azula beat them both. He didn't expect a girl from the past to be so good at martial arts.

"You're so great and strong"

"No, they are too weak"

The two of them continued their journey home and headed towards the passage that led to Azula's world. But, in Azula's world, it was already night. Hartono wanted to take Azula home because he was worried it was too late. But Azula refused, the girl was used to walking alone in the middle of the night like this. After all, Azula is a tough and strong girl. Since childhood, the people in her place had practiced martial arts. The two of them promised to keep the dimensional passage a secret. Since then, Azula often met Hartono through the passage, and vice versa, Hartono also sometimes came to Azula to her world.

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This story was written in Indonesian and translated by www.deepl.com