• Stranger in a Strange Land

    Chapter One: Down the Rabbit hole


    By: KailinBoBailin

    Look for me on fanfiction.net at KailinMaurine




    I had a palm reader tell me once when I was visiting New Orleans one summer. That I had an old soul and I was living two lives. The one I was living in the here and now, and the one I hadn't opened the door to yet. She told me one day when I least expect it that door would open, and I would find myself on a life changing adventure. Truth be told, I didn't believe in that sort of thing. I thought maybe it was a metaphor for my mediocre life. What I didn't know was that it wasn't a metaphor but fruition. My world was going to change sooner than I thought.

    It had been a hard year and unfortunately life doesn't stop when it feels like your life was crumbling. I grew up in Boston, but my dad was born in Scotland. My parents met when my mother was studying abroad. They fell in love and my father followed my mother back to Massachusetts. Life was average, I grew up as an only child. My father a firefighter and my mother a high school math teacher. Nothing exciting ever happened. But summers, I loved summers because that was when my grandparents would visit from Scotland. I think that's where I got my love for storytelling. My grandpa would tell me these elaborate story's about Scotland and it left me with a nostalgia for a place I had never been. I ended up becoming a writer and it hasn't been the prosperous venture I thought it would be. My fiancé left me for another woman leaving me with no money and all the bills, my grandfather who I was so close with had a heart attack only months after leaving my grandma Rose alone in Scotland. My parents thought maybe picking up the pieces and moving across the world to be with my Grandma would be a fresh start. I had agreed; besides I always want to see where my dad grew up.

    It had been a little over a month since I made my move to Inverness. For a 25-year-old American from Boston it was a culture shock. At the same time, I understood why my grandparents loved it so much. The small city located in the Scottish Highlands was blanketed in history, that history was felt through every stone. Most of my transition was grandma telling me a little bit of the country's history, folklore, and familiarizing myself with the countryside. But there was one place that grandma had brought me that fascinated me. It was called Craigh na Dun. She was told that long-ago people believed that the stone circle was magical and a time traveler's pathway but, only those with the special ability can pass through the threshold. The story was told so beautifully that the stones became a place of inspiration for me. While I was still getting use to my new home the stones became my most favorite place. Most of the time I would just drive up there to sit and think but, sometimes inspiration would hit, and I would find myself writing. One day like any other everything changed.

    My name is Molly Rose St. Claire, and this is an unbelievably true story.

    "Grandma… grandma!" The brunette called as she peered out through the open window of her bedroom. The older female pulled herself away from her gardening greeting her beloved grandchild with a warm smile. "What is it my love?" She called up.

    "I think I'm going to go for a drive do you need anything?" Molly called back down. Her eyes darting away for a moment checking the time on her cellphone.

    "Not that I can think of. When will you be back?" The older woman replied softly.

    "Hour? Two at the most. I'll be home to help with dinner." The corner of her green eyes crinkled as she smiled. Both unaware this would be the last time they would see each other.

    "I'll hold you to that, have fun my dear."

    "I love you." The younger brunette replied. The window closed and the last thing anyone would see was Molly getting into her late grandfather's car and driving away.

    Her brows knitted together as her eyes stared aimlessly across the hill top. Behind her was the paved road she parked the car and before her where the sky met the horizon was nothing but open grass. It was breathtaking. Molly sat in the middle of the stone circle with nothing more than her notebook and a pen. Whatever thought came to mind she would scribble it down. It was in away therapeutic for her, so quiet. Everything felt untouched by man. A place like this was hard to come by in the states. Kicking her shoes off, the young woman stood allowing herself to stretch her arms and legs. Placing her notebook down, the brunette walked along the stone circle her eyes drifting from one standing stone to the next. She wasn't sure why but there was something about this spot that called to her. It was an unexplainable feeling. Suddenly, the wind picked up causing her notebook to roll across the grass. Instinctively the young woman chased after the notebook, every time her finger tips grazed the cover the wind would gust, and the book would dance away. This happened a few times until landing against a large cleft stone.

    Reaching down for the book of her writings, Molly heard the most peculiar sound. A buzzing sound. Her head lifted as her eyes met the face of the stone. She could have sworn the sound was coming directly from the stone. Curious, she leaned in close enough that she still wasn't touching the stone but enough to hear the buzzing clearer. Losing her balance, the brunette pressed the palms of her hands against the stone. It felt like the air was being sucked out of her body and everything went black.

    The brunette woke feeling like the wind was knocked out of her. Her green eyes stared at the blue sky above her. "What the..." escaped her lips as she slowly pulled herself to her feet. She stood there for a moment thinking she had a stroke or something, but she felt fine. Her head darted this way then that while she observed her surroundings. Something was off. It looked the same but different at the same time. The tugging worry in the pit of her stomach snuck up on her. All her stuff was gone. Was she robbed? Her iPhone and her purse sure but, her shoes? Riddled with panic the brunette found herself running down the hill when suddenly she stopped in her tracks. The car and the road had all vanished, nothing but grassland with no sign of civilization.

    "No… no this doesn't make sense." She told herself. Turning her head slowly her eyes landed back on the stones in disbelief. Her stomach was in knots as she made her way back up the hill. She kept telling herself she was dreaming but what she was feeling felt too real to be a dream. The wind blew slightly, and the brunette found herself standing there in fraught. Something did happen, but she was uncertain of what.

    The last thing she remembered was touching the stone. In a desperate attempt to reverse whatever just happened Molly told herself to go back to the cleft stone. That's how it worked in books and movies. Though, this was not a book or a movie, she could have very well been dead, and this was some weird purgatory. Now face to face with the stone. Molly took a deep breath, raised her hands, as she was only inches from the stone, she was disrupted by the sounds of voices, male specifically. The young woman froze, and she found herself panicking. She had thought about calling for help but instead, her flight or fight instincts kicked in and she started running down the rocky hill side in her bare feet in attempt to hide from whoever was passing through.

    It happened so quickly. She was running down so quickly she lost her footing. Unable to stop herself she felt her ankle twist, the sharp pain caused her to collapse and roll down the hill. The next thing she knew the side of her head smacked against a large boulder knocking Molly out cold.