Park Gazebo
A quiet reading spot under the autumn trees... and where the story begins.
The first part of Interdimensional Gazebo, started 6/1/2025 and last updated 6/3/2025
(Note: any real locations depicted in the photos have no bearing on the actual story; they were chosen exclusively for ambience. The entire story takes place in purely fictional locales :)
(Also, everything is subject to change at a whim because this is just a fun little project and I can do what I want; on that note, many things such as names, locations, etc may be placeholders as I work things out)
-1-
Autumn was reaching its peak. The air was swept up a light breeze that made the dying foliage all around sing its own requiem and carried the damp smell of a recent rainstorm throughout the entire park.
Ossie noticed none of this, being lost somewhere across time and space in mid-nineteenth-century Italy, engrossed in the words of the book in his hand. The only signs of life he showed were the occasional reaching up to pull his hat back over his ears and the incessant bouncing of his right leg. To any outside observer looking on from a distance, he might have been an incredibly lifelike statue.
For once, he had managed to rip himself away from the online world and do something constructive with his time.
***
When Ossie finally glanced up, for the first time in nearly an hour, it was because someone had started breathing heavily. He dropped the book and scrambled for the earbuds he always kept in his pocket for just such an occassion. The sound of chirping birds, rustling leaves, and that infernal breathing were drowned out by some soothing French jazz, eliminating his urge to rip the hair from his head without breaking up the serene, studious atmosphere he had worked so hard to cultivate.
The unassuming offender, who had been busy walking away, turned back at the sound of the thick, falling paperback. Ossie, who had just seen her, accidentally met her eyes and, panicking, quickly looked away but continued to observe her from where he was sitting. Her hard eyes were in stark contrast to her long, deeply pink hair and light pink cardigan. She looked like the type to have a perfectly pastel well-decorated closet for hiding the bodies of anyone who dared to cross her. This effect was so strong, in fact, that he felt himself shaking as she, eyes still locked upon him, began to approach.
Ossie rushed down to grab his book, wincing at the few bent page corners it had sustained and not having much hope that pretending to be reading could help him avoid the inevitable interaction. If only the stranger could turn around, ignoring him and just go away.
She didn't. She kept coming until she was standing right above him and he had no choice but to look up and acknowledge her. What had he done to make her look that irritated?
"Excuse me?" she asked in a (surprisingly) gentle voice, her eyes suddenly more inquisitive than angry. "You didn't see anything just now, did you?"
Ossie shook his head, struggling to find his voice. "The only thing I've seen for a while is the book, unless you mean seeing you a few seconds ago-"
She sighed loudly, interrupting him. "I don't have time for this right now. Have you seen anything strange or not?"
"Oh, was that what you were asking? N-no, I didn't see anything, sorry."
"Well, thank goodness!" Her face was suddenly bright and cheerful. "Well, have a good day then, good sir!"
And with that, the stranger was walking away again, humming a little, and Ossie was finally able to breathe again. As he watched her leave, though, he thought he saw something glowing in her hair.
***
His reading session having been irreversibly disturbed, Ossie took the long walk back to campus. No strange girls could disturb him in his room in the dorms.
Sonya, his cat, was curled up like a shrimp in the middle of his unmade bed, sleeping with a tiny smile on her face.
(To be continued)
