The Trap Springs Shut

I wasn't sure what time it was when I woke up, just that I found myself startled awake. The nightmare I had was intense.

It replayed my last day on Earth. I woke up, got dressed, headed out, only this time a man shoved me in front of the truck. And I landed hard on my ass. There was no portal to whisk me away to another, fantastical world. I looked up just in time to see the bug-studded grill with a giant 'GMC' racing toward my face. The impact as I slammed my eyes shut woke me.

Slowly, I sat up, feeling my face and arm, checking that everything worked properly. It had felt so real. Was my brain trying to tell me something? About what REALLY happened?

I shook my head to clear my thoughts, but that last one hung around like a stubborn cobweb. With a sigh, I decided I should probably focus on something else.

My eyes had adjusted to the darkness of the room moments ago, so I looked around. With only one window and a scant amount of light cast by the moon, it was easy to tell that the items I'd asked Caroline for had been brought in and I smiled a little at her generosity. She'd even brought in a bowl of berries of some sort and I popped one in my mouth to taste. I was kind of startled to find that they were strawberries, though it could simply be that I couldn't see clearly and it was dark. I decided to remedy that.

Picking up the candle and the little flint rocks, I began sparking them over the wick until it lit. With the sudden burst of flame from the candle, I found myself flinching from the light before smiling softly. And setting everything on the table beside the bed.

I took a moment to fluff my pillows before I grabbed my purse and withdrew my notebook from before and flipped it open to the pages where I'd written down all my notes to read through the list I'd compiled earlier. Thanks to the candle, there was now more than enough light in the room for me to read and write and with a pen in hand, I set to jotting down more things that popped into my head.

Fiber had been one. With a secure source of flax, they could make better candle wicks, ones that didn't smell bad when you burned them. As for making the thread, I assumed they were using the drop-spindle method, which would take far too long to accomplish and too many hands to make any good quantity for linen-weaving. Plus, there was a wait time for flax to mature enough.

Another idea I'd written down was cotton, but it was notoriously taxing for the soil and required quite a bit of fertilizer, which wouldn't be terrible once they started rotating crops. Then there was inventing the cotton gin for this world, but…I wasn't entirely sure how it worked if I'm being honest. Sure, there were many more steps between flax and linen, but at least it didn't require another piece of machinery in order to be considered moderately efficient to produce.

The pros for utilizing either or both would be more clothing, easier access to bags, bedding, curtains and the like, and even rope, which has all sorts of uses in the medieval era, including things like wind and watermills. The cons, of course, included time and resources; it would take a while before either could be properly implemented and I would have to find a mad genius somewhere on this planet to build/invent the things we'd need.

I'd also written down paper, but jotted a little question-mark beside it. While paper doesn't take very long to make, it would be more about finding the proper plant material that could be used in order to make a proper paper. And though I have pens currently, they won't last forever, so I'd have to invent ink and writing implements, also. But having a writing system wouldn't be of very much use if only one person could read and write…If teaching an entire village reading and writing took as much time as it did in the real world, technically literacy was the longest project of all, at anywhere from 2 to 5 years.

I sighed a little in frustration. There were still other things I'd jotted down on my list but found myself startled out of my thoughts by a stray shadow outside my door. I frowned.

"Hello…?" I called. The shadow shifted before Gharret's voice slipped quietly through the door.

"It's me…Let me in…"

Somehow he didn't sound very inviting. I recoiled a little bit, tensing slightly at a possible confrontation…but about what? There was a strange quality to his voice and he sounded…dangerous. I suddenly had a flashback to all those scary movies I'd watched with the psycho serial killer that pretended to be a nice guy, only to turn out to be the biggest, creepiest, most murderous stalker ever…

I swallowed a hard lump in my throat.

"Zion…?" Gharret's voice was soft, this time. Pleading. Desperate.

Now I realized why his voice sounded so dangerous earlier. It wasn't really ME who was in danger…just anyone who got in the way.

"Uh…come in…I suppose…," I responded quietly. He seemed to have heard me, either way, as the door swung slowly open. I tried my best to push the scary movie scenes out of my head, but it was a little hard, especially when he came in, head bowed, and closed the door behind himself, taking a moment to lean on it.

When he lifted his head to look at me, I could see his cheeks flushed and he panted heavily. He looked…exhausted.

"Gharret? You okay?" I asked before I closed up my book and set it aside. Then whipping the covers back, I swung my legs over the edge and landed on my feet before making my way over to him.

The previous thoughts had all but dissipated and my concern for his health came to the forefront. What had happened since I'd disappeared for a nap?

I hesitated only for a moment when I got close before I saw the true source of his strung-out situation. It was nighttime, after all. He probably headed to bed. And just like I figured, beastman senses were far sharper than human ones. He probably found it as soon as he entered his own room.

Poor thing…

I stepped closer and slipped my hands over his cheeks. He jumped briefly at my touch, staring hard at me for a moment before he began to growl. It was not a 'back off!' growl, but a 'give me more,' one. I couldn't help but smirk a little.

"I see you found my little present…," I whispered. A little teasing would be all it took to finally break his poor little brain. I dragged my hands down over his neck before slipping them under his coat to try and casually push it off of his shoulders, only to find his muscles were far too tense for that to happen easily.

"You…You left that…for me…on purpose…" Gharret seemed taken aback, but the rumbles from his throat continued and I could feel his muscles twitch slightly. My smirk only widened.

"Yes," I whispered.

That seemed all he really needed.

Before he snatched me up like a thief in the night.

And dove at the bed.