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Jale

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Across the pine forest echoed the sound of axe meeting wood in a steady rhythm. Tucked away in a small clearing stood a log house, from which the sound emanated. Behind said house stood Jale, repeatedly striking at a fallen log, cutting it into smaller pieces. The young otter had been hacking away at the fallen tree for the past hour, decided in cutting the tree up before nightfall. Her father had already chopped up all of the branches, leaving just the trunk, for he had promised that he would let Jale cut it by herself.

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THUNK

Jale wiped at her forehead with her right arm and continued striking at the now shorter log.

"Jale! Dinner's ready!" rang a voice from inside the house. A sense of urgency came as she looked up at the sky. The sun had started to set.

No! It's too soon! I haven't finished yet!

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"Jale!"

"Just wait a second, I'm not done!"

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"It's gonna get cold!"

"Dad! I said I'd finish!

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Jale had not heard the back door opening, nor had she heard her father's footsteps coming up behind her.

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"Jale, it's late."

Jale lost her grip in surprise, sending the axe spinning in the air, finally lodging itself in the slightly moist soil a couple of feet away from her. She gasped and brought her hands up to her muzzle, a sight that was somewhat comical, and her father certainly thought it was so. With a soft chuckle he put his hand on Jale's shoulder and leaned forward.

"Come on baby. You can finish tomorrow."

She turned around and frowned at her father.

"But I said I'd finish!"

"But I made soup!"

"Daaaaad."

"Shrimp soup!"

"Dad c'mon!"

"Soup. Of shrimp. Shrimp that will die if you don't go and eat them."

She knew that he wouldn't stop.

"Dad the shrimp are already dead."

He tried his best to put on a face of mock urgency.

"They'll die even more! Of sadness! Oh my god Jale you have to save them!"

Jale rolled her eyes at her father's silliness.

"Alright alright." she finally replied

She was still kind of mad that she didn't get to finish, but her father would always find a way to put a smile on her face.

"Ep ep ep. Forgetting something?" he said as he gestured at the axe lodged in the ground. Jale groaned out loud.

"Ugh. Fine." She started towards the axe and with a hefty pull dislodged it from the ground. She made her way towards the small tool shack out back, picked up the bucket of water she thankfully had the forethought of filling before working with the axe and proceeded to clean it. When she was done, she walked in the shack to place the axe in its spot on the wall. Outside it had started getting a bit windy. The door slammed shut, making her gasp. She could still see from the small window set in the back, but it wasn't much. She waited a bit to calm down her heartbeat.

"Jale, you okay?"

"Yeah! The wind slammed the door closed."

She made towards said door, took hold of the lever-like handle and twisted. Jale gasped.

Contrary to everything logical and sound, the scene that greeted her was not the area that was supposed to be on the other side of the door. The house that for all intents and purposes SHOULD have been a couple of steps away from the door was not there. In fact, there was no ground that she could see. All she could see was sky. A bright blue sky with a couple of clouds rolling by. At the edges of the other side of the doorframe she could see a bit of grass peeking over the edge, but instead of growing upwards, it was growing outwards.

Jale knew that the whole house-disappearing-into-sky should elicit some form of extreme reaction, like screaming or fainting. She did feel the urge to just slam the door shut and sit in the corner, head on her knees, however that feeling was utterly crushed by an overwhelming sense of fascination. She leaned forward a bit to see to the sides, but as soon as her head crossed the border, a strange force pushed her back. It wasn't sudden, it just pushed whatever crossed backwards. This set her incredibly off balance, making her grab onto the frame for support. It felt as if she was supposed to fell backwards, but her body refused to do so. She looked down at her feet, and what she saw was even more disorienting. She saw the horizon.

Suddenly everything clicked together. The door on the other side was laying on the ground, if that made sense. The strange force was nothing other than gravity, just in a different direction.

Jale stood to the left side of the frame, and in one fluid motion brought her right leg to the other side, resting it on the left side of the door. She finished pulling herself up and was now laying down on the door itself. Although she now understood what was going on, gravity-wise, she was nonetheless incredibly disoriented after the stunt.

She took a few seconds to regain her bearings, after which she stood up.

"There she is!"

She had barely spun around before she heard a loud bang, immediately followed by a sting in her right lower arm. She instinctually reached up to it with her other hand, feeling something warm and wet. She looked at her arm. She was bleeding.

She had been shot. She discovered some sort of portal in her tool shack and she had been shot. She did the first most logical thing that came to mind. Trying to ignore the pain that was now growing in her arm, she bent down, grabbed the handle, and jumped in the doorway, slamming the door behind her. Of course, as she crossed the shift in gravity caused her to fall on the floor, unfortunately with her injured arm underneath her, causing her to whimper momentarily. She looked back up, and saw a bit of light leaking from under the door. The light was orange-ish. It wasn't sunny on the other side of the door. The sun was setting. It was home. The pain in her arm had now grown immensely. She screamed.

Not a second had passed before her father came bursting in through the door.