Ebony Of Three Worlds

• Ruby Taylor, Grade 6
• Short Story
• 2015

I’ve always been different but I thought I was the same. Turns out I was wrong.
I live in this world. Well, sort of. I also live in two other worlds and I’m almost a different person in each one.
In this world, I’m an average teenage girl called Ebony. I play pretty much every sport and I learn 7 different instruments. The least average thing about me is that I collect keys. I guess I’m not that average.
In my second world I sell lights. I’m not talking about electric lights or candles. I’m talking about sunlight and moonlight. I collect dead leaves, which is kind of strange and disturbing but it reminds me of home.
In my third world, I travel from planet to planet, spending all of my time running and hiding from Wilven, who spends his time trying to kill me. I collect buttons in a glass cylinder.
The reason I didn’t say anything about this, is because I thought everyone had their own three worlds. Turns out I’m the only one.
There’s a time difference, so when I’m sleeping, I’m still awake. There’s not one moment when all 3 worlds are still. It’s pretty normal to me because I’ve not known anything else.
So I guess you’re wondering how I found out about it. Last week, I woke up feeling particularly tired. I walked out to the kitchen and slumped on the chair. My mum was wondering why I was tired when I had gone to bed at 7pm the night before. I told her the reason was because I had quite an eventful night running from Wilven and chasing the robber who stole some of my sunlight. My mum gave me a concerning stare. One of those, ‘Are you feeling alright?’ stares. She often gave me one of these stares but today she decided to take me to one of her natural therapists.
The next day I went to see an iridologist who looked into my eyes, sat back and gave me a blank stare. I started to hear people speaking fast in the background. I felt dizzy and everything was spinning past me in fast motion. My worlds disappeared. There was only black and silence. I realise now my collections have a purpose. Buttons linked our worlds, keys opened the doors between them and leaves made us forget our past. All my memories flashed in front of me and I saw myself the way they saw me.
I am three, but one. I am one, but three. I am Ebony: Ebony of Three Worlds.