Wayne was having a wonderful afternoon…
The sky was a lovely shade of pink swirled with white, the enormous purple flowers were singing their usual afternoon song, and Jasmine was looking particularly beautiful.
He had been trying to impress her for most of the morning.
He’d told her his best jokes, complimented her eyes, and even performed a little dance that had once made three other monsters fall hopelessly in love with him. Jasmine had laughed at the jokes, thanked him for the compliments, and suggested he might want to practise the dance a bit more.
Wayne was not discouraged.
They were walking through the forest towards the Great Tree, whose enormous branches spread across the sky. Strange little creatures scuttled through the grass, and somewhere in the distance a mountain was slowly changing shape.
Jasmine was talking excitedly about Earth.
She’d heard all sorts of wonderful things about the humans. They built enormous houses, kept animals as pets, wore clothes over their bodies, and apparently spent a great deal of time looking at little glowing rectangles.
She desperately wanted to see it all for herself.
Wayne wasn’t particularly interested in Earth. He was interested in Jasmine.
“Why don’t we go somewhere nice instead?” he suggested. “I know a lovely spot by the silver lake. We could have a picnic.”
“That’s sweet, Wayne, but I’ve made up my mind.”
They had reached the Great Tree. At the base of its enormous trunk was a dark opening, just large enough for a monster to climb through.
Inside was something that shouldn’t have been there.
Space.
An immense black emptiness scattered with tiny points of distant light. And suspended in that emptiness was a shimmering ribbon of rainbow colours, twisting gently downwards until it disappeared into the darkness. It trembled and stretched, as though someone were plucking invisible strings, and every so often a ripple of colour ran along its length.
The Monster Slide.
Nobody quite knew where it went, except that monsters who disappeared down it sometimes turned up in MammaSteena’s world. And nobody knew how to get back.
Jasmine stood at the edge, her eyes shining.
“Isn’t it beautiful?”
Wayne looked at the bottomless darkness.
“Absolutely terrifying,” he said.
Jasmine laughed.
“I’m going, Wayne.”
“Well, yes, but you don’t have to go right now. We could have lunch first. Or dinner. Or perhaps spend a few weeks getting to know each other a little better?”
She turned towards him.
“Oh, Wayne. You’re lovely. You really are. But I want to see what’s down there.”
And before he could think of anything else to say, she stepped into the opening.
The rainbow ribbon dipped beneath her weight, stretched like an enormous elastic band, and sprang forward.
Jasmine vanished into the stars.
Wayne stared after her.
He looked back at the forest, the singing flowers, the blush-pink sky and everything he’d ever known.
Then he looked into the hole.
He had absolutely no idea what was waiting at the other end. He wasn’t even particularly keen to find out.
But Jasmine was down there.
Wayne took one enormous breath, shut his eyes, and threw himself onto the Slide.
