Abby took the paint samples the hardware store had provided and painted a splotch on each wall – one color per wall. Then she slowly turned about the room, pausing before each splotch to get a feel for her reaction to each one. She stopped in front of the peach splotch and considered. Peach had always been her favorite color, so she knew she was predisposed to like it, but she wanted to make sure she liked it in this space, with this light, before plastering it all over the room. At the moment, she felt underwhelmed by it, but maybe that was just because it was such a pale color it hardly stood out from the white base.
“Personally, I’d go with the azure,” said a voice behind her.
“I was just thinking the same thing!” Abby blurted out before remembering something and freezing in place.
She was alone. Or, at least, she thought she had been alone. So who had just spoken? She hadn’t heard a door or window open. She hadn’t even heard a floorboard creak.
“It really cools off the room, and I can tell you from centuries of experience that this room gets a lot of light, especially in summer, so you’ll want something to make it appear a little cooler.”
“Centuries?” Abby said, finally turning around to face her intruder.
But she didn’t see anyone. She looked left and right, but all she saw were the walls surrounding her and the windows that looked out onto her new front lawn and the street on which she now lived.
“Look closer.”
Abby scanned the room more slowly and off to her left she thought she saw a wisp of smoke, which was odd because she didn’t smoke. Stopping to take a closer look, she realized that the wisp of smoke was in the shape of a person. It was a small woman, about a head shorter than Abby (who was only average height), dressed in something that looked like it had come straight out of Little Women.
“Hi,” said the figure, raising one small hand in greeting.
Abby stood stock still and felt the blood drain from her face.
“Please don’t faint.”
“I’m not going to faint.”
“You look like you’re about to faint.”
“I’m not going to-”
Abby fainted.
To be continued…