The Dream Mansion- in Response to Chill’s First Prompt, "The Unfamiliar House"

The Background

On January 22, 2022, fellow hubber Chill Clinton introduced us to Eight Detailed Creative Prompts which were original and worth writing flash fiction. For my article, I have chosen his first prompt, “The Unfamiliar House” to pen a creative short story.

Chill’s First Prompt, “The Unfamiliar House”

A young woman wakes up on a couch in a home she isn't familiar with. She recalls falling asleep in her bed but has no idea where she now is or how she ended up there. After inspecting the house, she realizes she is all alone, but when she goes to open the front door to leave, it is locked. In fact, every door and window leading to the outside is locked.

The Dream Mansion- A Continuation as Authored by Me

“Wow!” exclaimed Autumn. “I am all locked inside. Let me explore this house.”

She reached the dining table and helped herself to a glass of water. Then she went to the kitchen and peeped through the glass window. Yes, she could see a grassy compound outside with high walls around so that she couldn’t look beyond. The living room was beside the kitchen, and it had a wide flat-screen TV. But she wasn't interested in watching the TV and didn't bother to find the remote control for it.

She was more interested in exploring the mansion house. She went onwards from the living room to find a master bedroom, a guestroom, and a bathroom in between. The main bedroom had a bathroom of its own. There was a highly raised master bed, a dressing table, and a wardrobe in the bedroom.

The guestroom was well adorned- pink curtains, the pink bedcover, and pink cushions. There was also a computer with a printer on a fitting table. She moved the curtains a little, but again she found locked glass windows, which wouldn't open. If only she could find a brick, she would smash the windows and escape. But there were no bricks inside the mansion.

She walked back to the living room and strolled to the left to the larger living room and staircase. Again, she peeped through the windows. She could see a roadside and a lake beyond. But the windows were tightly sealed.

She walked up the staircase. She found two small bedrooms for children and a connecting bathroom. She went to the inner bedroom and shifted the curtains. Yes, she could again see the roadside and a distant lake.

Autumn explored the floor all around and found an office with a printer, computer, laptop, scanner, and piles of books and scattered papers. She also found a theater hall with long seats to stretch your back and legs and watch movies comfortably on the large screen at the very front.

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“There has to be a way of escape!” exclaimed Autumn. “I cannot jump from this floor. Let me go to the ground floor once again.”

She watched her steps carefully down the stairs and noticed a door opposite the master bedroom.

She opened it. Here she saw a washing machine and a dryer. And then she saw another door inside. She went up to it and attempted to open it. It wouldn’t give way easily, but with every ounce of her strength, she tried, opened it eventually, and went out of the door.

Here were a second refrigerator, piles of old clothes, and other stuff in boxes as well as old vehicles. It looked like a garage. But there were shutters at the front. She wondered how the shutters would open up. She was lucky to find a switchboard to her right on the wall. She pressed a switch. Nothing happened. She tried the next one. And to her extreme amazement, the shutter at a distance went up, and broad daylight poured in.

Autumn felt hazy. What was happening now? She opened her eyelids only to find she was in the same bedroom she had gone to sleep in last night. And she had been sleeping all along and having a dream. Glimmering sunlight came in through the slits in the curtains.

Autumn was relaxed. But she realized two evenings back she had discussed with her fiancé about living in a mansion by the third year of their marriage, and their future children- a girl and a boy would have their bedrooms on the top floor.

This was how the universe conspired to give an overview of their heart-felt future mansion. Autumn remembered her dream and all the details in it. She must talk to her fiancé and let him know. After all, she had already taken a vivid peek of their dream mansion!

© 2022 Rosina S Khan