picture source:https://pixabay.com/photos/monocle-old-visual-aid-glass-1620948/
“Pop, what’s that?” asked Gina as she stared at her father, sitting on his rickety old chair. He had an old wooden box of black and white photos, and objects Gina had never seen before. Out of all the weird stuff in the box, Gina could only recognize a few, and knew the name for even less like the huge hourglass or that green glass inkwell.
“Oh, this? This is a time capsule, left by my great-great-grandparents.” Pop answered. “I’m opening it now just to give it a visit.”
“So you’ve already opened the time box!?” asked Gina.
Yep. This is your first time seeing it, but it won't be your last.”
That’s a strange thing for Pop to say, thought Gina.
“What’s that small circle glass in your hand?
“This,” her Pop smiled at her, “-is a monocle.”
“What does it do?” Gina came closer to her father and took the monocle.
“Back in times way before us, it helped people enhance their vision in one eye. Here, let me help you wear it.”
At first Gina was quite afraid to wear the monocle. Would it ruin her eyes? Her father fit the monocle to her eye with these two extra plastic bits on it called ‘galleries’. The bottom of it sat on top of her cheek bone and the top was held in place by her eyebrow muscles. And voila! Gina was wearing a monocle!
“This is amazing! Everything looks so much closer in one eye!” Gina yelled. She ran a circle in the living room, looking at how close everything was in one eye.
Then Gina’s smile faded. Neon blue, glowing lights were floating around her living room in a wavy line, and as she slowly moved her head she saw the neon lights headed upstairs. The only problem was that she could only see the lights in the eye with the monocle. Once she took the monocle off, the blue lights were gone.
“Pop! Did you see that!?” asked Gina.
“I can’t see the-I mean, see what!?” Pop asked.
I guess he didn’t see it, thought Gina.
That night, Gina went to her big sister Jocelyn and told her all about the monocle and what she’d seen.
“It was weird, but I wanted to know where the blue lights led,” said Gina.
“Please, you're making this up. Stop lying.” Jocelyn said, putting on her sleeping scarf and slipping into bed.
“No I’m not lying I promise! Come with me, there were two monocle’s in that time-box, and if you put one on maybe you’ll see it too!” said Gina.
Jocelyn rolled her eyes. “You mean time-capsule, and fine, I’ll go see whatever it is you are blabbing about, but if you’re lying, expect a certain look from me.”
Gina and Jocelyn creaked down the old, dented wooden stairs, careful not to wake Mom and Pop.
They went into the living room, the fireplace still warm from burning just half an hour ago. The living room was quite small and cozy, with dark brown walls and a fireplace that had a dusty black mantle. A picture of the family hung over the the brown couch, and the splintered wooden time capsule sat next to Pop’s old chair.
Gina slid out the time capsule.
“Here, you can wear the monocle I wore earlier, in case the other one can’t see the blue dots. The monocle goes between your eyebrow muscles and the top of your cheek bones.” Gina said when she saw her sister struggling to put on the monocle.
“Woah,” was all Jocelyn said, and Gina knew at once Jocelyn could see it.
“Where are those blue fireflies going?” Asked Jocecyln.
“I don’t know,” said Gina.
When Jocelyn started to follow the trail, Gina did too. The trail of fireflies led up the stairs and down the hall. It was weird, but Gina felt like she could feel the fireflies against her bare skin, but if she closed the eye with the monocle on it, they disappeared, and she couldn’t feel a thing.
The fireflies led to the closet, where the trail went downward and under the door.
“Open the door!” whispered Gina.
Jocelyn opened the door.
Behind the coats and boxes and whatnot there was a light purple sky. Vibrant green grass littered the floor and mushrooms as big as trees poked up from the ground. The mushroom closest to the door had a tiny branch with a mushroom cap sticking out of it, where a black cat slept, it’s tummy soundlessly rising and falling.
The cat opened it’s bright yellow eyes, stretched, and simply said, “Ah, so the next generation of the family had found the monocles. Come stay a while, you’ve earned it.”
The sisters looked at each other in shock.
“Uh, you two are supposed to be in bed.”
The girls jumped and Gina squealed. Behind them was Pop. he was smiling, despite his warning tone.
“I knew you two would find this place,” he said.
“You knew about this!?” Gina yelled.
“I do,” Pa answered. “I didn’t show you those monocles for nothing. I was waiting until both of you were old enough to wield them. The monocles grant you access to a world created by each holder’s imagination, via the family home closet. If the right sides of you and your sister’s brains morphed together, it would look like that,” Pop shoved a hand at the door in front of them. “Me and my sister knew about the monocles as kids before you.”
“Cool!” Jocelyn said.
“Well what are we waiting for!? Let’s go exploring!” yelled Gina.
“Uh-uh uh. That’ll have to be tomorrow. It’s late.” said Pop.
Gina reluctantly closed the door.
“Tomorrow morning we can go inside, right?” asked Gina.
Pa shrugged and smiled. “Sure. Just don’t get ahead of yourself and wait for your sister.”
Gina went to bed smiling that night. She couldn’t wait for tomorrow.
Her and Jocelyn, the monocle sisters!
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thanks for reading! :)
Congratulations, @restcity! Your story was selected as one of the weekly highlights in The Ink Well magazing: https://peakd.com/hive-170798/@theinkwell/the-ink-well-highlights-magazine-44. Thank you for sharing your work in The Ink Well.
Thank you!
It was a scary story for a start as I imagined what the blue lights were but it turned out to be a happy one.
That's one hell of a story, nice catch.
My brain was like, "I'm in the world of Alice in Wonderland," but one moment it was, "Wait, am I in Narnia?"
Nice story, by the way. ^_^
Very nice incorporation of the prompt and great description of the setting. We are there with them, we feel and see what they feel and see, and we want to go with them into that magical world they uncovered.
Thank you for sharing that delightful story with The Ink Well, we appreciate your engagement in the community by commenting on other writers' posts.
Great story, the world of magic.
You have got a nice piece.
The monocle sisters in wonderland!
I was hooked and wanted to dive more into that magical scene you created.
Beautifully written @restcity. Well done.
Hello @restcity. I really liked your story full of fantasy. The entrance to a new world through monocles was very original. You wrote it very well.
Regards
This was amazingly written. You have done great with the prompt and how you put the settings.
Great work.
Sweet, magical story. World within our world that is conjured by imagination and a little help from a monocle. Nicely done. Your environment is beautifully structured, it makes the magic “burst”. Fabulous ❤️💕🤗💕❤️❤️
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Quite a great story. I must say that you have a good imaginative sense.
It was a big discovery for the sisters.