Surprise Visit
Eba had told her twenty more times not to tell anyone her real name, and then she had been put in a room. At first, she had hoped that someone would come back soon, and she had gone to sleep, but when she woke up again and realised that it was several hours later, she gave up hope.
She sat up and looked around the room.
The interior was bare, there was nothing at all. The walls were made of wood, as was the roof, and the door.
It felt somewhat like a prison.
She sat down for a moment, thinking about that idea.
It wasn't that strange, was it? That she would be in a prison now? She had just been told that she was probably the daughter of some cruel king, and now they were going to put her in a prison and bring in other people. The more she thought about it, the more convinced she became of her rightness, and the more desperate she became.
At some point, she got up and walked to the door. Because she had slept on the floor, which like everything else was made of wood, her back was stiff and it creaked. She paused at the door to listen for any sound from outside, but it was silent.
She stood there for half an hour before she felt like going mad. Angry, she started banging on the door.
"Hello? Is anyone there? I'd like to get out of this stupid world!" she shouted. When she got no answer, she collapsed against the wall and started to cry without making a sound.
After a while, she walked to the wall on the other side of the room. Maybe she could escape? She didn't know yet how she was going to explain to her mother that she was so ridiculously small, but she would see that once she was gone. Her mother... she must of course be worried. But wait, didn't they say that she had once been a gnome too?
She began to think about her mother, but in a pointed hat, and how this all could just as well be an elaborate joke, while she pulled at a shelf on the wall. All the other boards were very neatly attached, but this one was loose, and she could see the earth behind it. That meant that if she could pull it off, she could dig a hole to the top. At least, she hoped so.
Eagerly she began to work, and a little later she had already made a start on her tunnel. The earth was remarkably clean down here, and unlike when she used to play in the sand, she did not feel dirty.
She had been working for some time when she suddenly heard a noise. She hadn't even noticed it at first because it had been so soft, but it got louder and louder until it was so close that she could hear where it was coming from. The sound was coming from the right, and not from the corridor, contrary to what she thought.
This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.
"Hello?" she asked.
The sound grew louder and louder until at one point she saw something red. The red became bigger until at a certain moment a ladybird came crawling backwards into her corridor. She looked at it in shock, for now, that she was so small it could no longer rightly be called a little insect, for the thing was enormous. She thought it might even be too heavy for her to lift, but its size was probably not the strangest thing.
"Hello," said the creature.
Sofia fainted.
A moment later she woke up on the floor where she had also woken up an hour or so ago. She was quite confused, what had just happened? She could vaguely remember something, but it had probably been a nightmare.
She heard something behind her. She turned around, thinking the door had been opened, but instead she looked into the large eyes of a ladybird. Startled, she recoiled from the sight, so it had not been a dream after all.
"Hello," the ladybird said again. "You were just starting to sleep, so I waited for you to wake up."
Sofia fell to the spot she had on her forehead, so she fainted.
"Are you going to say anything?" the ladybird asked impatiently.
Sofia thought for a moment, what on earth was she supposed to say to a ladybird?
"How can you talk? What are you? How can I understand you?" she finally asked.
The ladybird sighed, for how far an insect can do that. "First she doesn't say anything at all, then all of a sudden she runs incredibly fast. Take it easy, eh?" It began to make a strange noise, and the only thing Sofia could associate with that was that the creature was now laughing at her.
"Are you new?" he finally asked. Sofia nodded. The ladybird's facial expression didn't change, but she thought she saw something of empathy on the white patch that was supposed to represent its eyes.
"Good, then there is much to explain. First, something many people don't understand for some reason, animals can talk too. You just don't understand us," he explained. Then he turned his body around so that his eyes were looking toward the corridor that Sofia had dug. "Were you trying to escape?" he asked.
Sofia nodded again, without saying anything.
"Ah, yes," he said. "You have to understand that this is not a prison, I've had to explain to those little bastards so many times that they shouldn't build their waiting rooms as prison cells," he hid his head in his hands, as far as a ladybird could. Suddenly he turned and crept quickly towards the door.
For a moment he remained silent, and then he turned to Sofia. "Get down on the ground, I'll pretend I dug that passage and accidentally got in here," he said.
"Why were you under the ground anyway?" asked Sofia.
"Do you need to ask that now?" asked the ladybird back. "Well, I was visiting a friend. He's an earthworm, that's why." For a moment he was silent. "And now you lie down on the ground, pretend you're asleep!"