by Andy Coffey
***
Ophelia was enjoying watching the squirrels in the garden. They were ever so playful and cute, with their big brown eyes and bushy tails. ‘Now then, Mr Squirrel, if you come over here I’ll tickle your chin and you can have this nut,’ she said to one of the more curious squirrels, holding the nut out in her tiny hand.
‘Is it a nice nut?’ asked the squirrel. ‘It’s not going to send me to sleep or anything is it?’
‘Of course not. These are very fine nuts. Only the best for you because I love you all,’ she said, smiling widely.
The squirrel came over to her, took the nut and immediately started nibbling on it. Several other squirrels came over, followed by a little deer and some birds. She was soon surrounded by a loving throng of cute animals.
Then two black rats appeared. ‘She’s not what she seems, you know,’ one of the rats said. ‘You animals should be careful.’
‘Well you’re very rude and completely wrong,’ Ophelia said to the rats, as the cute animals started to back away from her.
‘I’ve heard she likes squirrel stew, with deer dumplings and bird fritters,’ said the other rat.
‘I do not!’ Ophelia shouted. But it was too late, the cute animals scattered and the two rats just laughed… and then started to grow. Soon they were bigger than Ophelia and they began to walk towards her, grinning and salivating.
‘You’re coming with us, my dear Queen,’ one of them said as they picked her up, one holding her legs, the other her arms.
‘Help! Help! The rats have got me!’ she shouted, but there was no-one else around. She could see a black door up ahead, but it was very fuzzy and seemed to have a glow around the edges.
‘Let’s get her inside,’ the rat holding her arms said. ‘There’s a special room prepared for her.’
‘Good idea,’ the other rat said. ‘The Baron will want to speak to her when she wakes up.’
As consciousness grabbed a machete and began to chop its way through the thick undergrowth of her unconscious mind, Ophelia’s eyes opened and closed intermittently. She could see walls and paintings, marble floors and pillars… and a big giant man coming towards her. ‘Be careful with nice Queen or Grunt do big whacks on heads,’ the giant man said. ‘Baron said Queen not to be harmed.’
A door creaked open and she was placed on a comfortable bed. The big giant man looked at her and smiled, his crooked teeth appearing more like huge standing stones, defying the force of gravity by leaning against each other. ‘Grunt make sure Queen safe,’ he said. Somehow she found this reassuring.
And so, her consciousness dropped its machete and was swallowed by her unconscious undergrowth once more. She drifted off to sleep but this time there were no squirrels.