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    Taken Away Parts 1 - 3 Complete Edition: Taken Away, #4
    Taken Away Parts 1 - 3 Complete Edition: Taken Away, #4
    Taken Away Parts 1 - 3 Complete Edition: Taken Away, #4
    Ebook108 pages1 hour

    Taken Away Parts 1 - 3 Complete Edition: Taken Away, #4

    By David Sloma

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    About this ebook

    Bob, the security guard, purchases a bathmat that has a rather strange pattern on it: when he steps on it, a portal opens to another world filled with history, myth, and magic! Will Bob get home in time for his next shift? Will he get home at all? A SF/Fantasy short story series. All 3 parts are collected here in one edition..

    Includes a sample of the novel Brainjob by the author.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherWeb of Life Solutions
    Release dateJan 13, 2016
    ISBN9781524204655
    Taken Away Parts 1 - 3 Complete Edition: Taken Away, #4
    Author

    David Sloma

    A writer, artist, storyteller, renaissance man, and seeker.

    Read more from David Sloma

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      Book preview

      Taken Away Parts 1 - 3 Complete Edition - David Sloma

      Taken Away Parts 1 to 3 Complete Edition

      By David Sloma

      ––––––––

      A bathmat purchased at W-mart has a rather strange pattern on it: when stepped on at a certain time and place it opens a portal to another world. Bob, the security guard is taken away; will he get home in time for his next shift? He can't be late for work again or he'll be fired for sure!

      ––––––––

      Copyright © 2012-2016 David Sloma. All Rights Reserved.

      ––––––––

      Published by Web of Life Solutions

      http://www.WebofLifeSolutions.com

      ––––––––

      This is a work of fiction. All names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, organizations, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

      ––––––––

      No portion of this work may be reproduced in any form with out the written permission of the copyright holder. Short excerpts for reviews are acceptable.

      ––––––––

      Author site: http://www.DavidSloma.com

      ––––––––

      January 13, 2016 version.

      ––––––––

      This title is also available as a paperback.

      ~

      1.

      ––––––––

      Bob trudged through W-Mart like a dead man walking.

      It was the holiday season, just before Xmas when the stores would be closed for a couple of days, and it showed: the place was jammed with shoppers who looked frazzled and kids who screamed. He was amazed that the place was still crowded at nearly 11 PM, but maybe he shouldn't have really been. He wove his way through the human chaos to the Bath section.

      It was blissfully quiet there, as not many people were buying items for the bathroom at that time of year. Bob was, because he needed a new bathmat.

      Hot damn! he said when he noticed that he had the entire aisle to himself. He poked, pulled, and shuffled through an assortment of mats, not seeing much he liked. As much as the idea of pissing on certain cartoon characters amused him, he didn’t want to buy a childish-looking mat for his bathroom. He was a single guy with an image to maintain, after all.

      Finally, after he had gone through a lot of mats, and his hands smelled like cheap rubber, he found one that had a unique geometric design. It consisted of concentric circles in black lines on a grey background. He thought it looked like a crop circle. It was stylish, and the price was good. It was also the only one of its kind around. He took his find up to the checkout, and after a long wait, paid, then he was released back into the wilds of the parking lot.

      He went home and put the mat in his bathroom, right in front of the toilet. He was feeling tired, so he decided to get some sleep. He didn’t have to work until tomorrow night, but he was changing from the day to the night shift and that was always rough. Some extra sleep couldn’t hurt. Climbing into bed, he was asleep in moments: it had been a long day.

      It was late at night, exactly 3 AM when Bob’s eyes snapped open and he instinctively checked the clock. He wasn’t sure he was seeing the time right at first, as his eyes were unfocused from sleep. But he quickly rubbed his eyes and double-checked the time. He didn’t know what had awoken him at 3 AM on the dot, but he knew that he had to pee. He sat up and swung his legs over the side of the bed, putting his slippers on.

      Standing up, he heard a noise. He froze. He stood still for a moment, listening: was someone there? He didn't hear anything further, but imagined that an alien might be waiting for him, lurking in the house. Shrugging it off as an over-active, sleep-induced dream-imagination, he crept to the washroom.

      He dreaded the mirror, as it continued to reveal the deterioration of his aging body, though he was only in his 40's. He averted his eyes from his reflection whenever he could.

      He stepped on the bathmat, thinking again that the pattern looked like a crop circle or an old symbol. He didn't have long to continue wondering about it, as he was suddenly engulfed in a bright white light and whisked away.

      He moved through a long tunnel, through banks of mist. There were flashing lights of different colours and noises. The most distinct thing was a feeling of dread and queasiness in his stomach - like a roller coaster drop. Bob clenched his eyes shut tight, not knowing what was happening to him. Was he having a heart attack? A stroke?

      After a few moments, he exited the tunnel and was plopped down on the ground. He was still feeling very sick and was afraid to open his eyes. After a few seconds, he heard a slight wind rustling through trees and birds chirping. He felt warmth. He breathed in and smelled flowers, and grass.

      When he opened his eyes, he saw he was in a green field on a sunny day. The sky was blue and clear, with white fluffy clouds slowly moving by. The field was deserted as far as he could see. It was a large field, with hills running out of sight. Bob stood up and turned around, taking it all in, feeling panic.

      What...the...hell? Bob said. He remembered the flash of white light. Was he dead, now? In the afterlife? He felt his body with his hands, and he felt like himself, pretty much. So, he concluded he was probably not dead. Then what had happened? His last clear memory was stepping on the pattern on his new bathmat, then everything got weird. It was the first time he’d stepped on the mat, on the pattern; maybe the pattern had something to do with this. He’d seen movies and TV shows about people getting taken away through dimensional doorways or portals. He didn’t know how many science-fiction stories he’d read where someone found themselves in another time or place. Maybe that’s what happened to me? he started to think, looking around the place he was in, with no other explanation as to how he got there. It was as good an explanation as any and would have to do for now, until he could find out more.

      He debated taking a walk, but he didn’t think he should go too far. He guessed that he’d fallen through some sort of portal from his bathroom to this strange place and didn’t want to miss the portal opening again. If it did open again. Or if someone came through looking for him. If he wandered off to explore then he might never find his way back. And might never get back home, again.

      That was not a worry for Bob for long, as a volcano suddenly appeared out of nowhere, ready to blow its top. It was not far from him, much too close for comfort. The volcano hissed and spat out magma fire. He ran, his slippers flopping on the grass, as lumps of liquid rock hit the ground where he had been moments before.

      Then, a bobcat with large teeth growled at him from the bushes. That made him scream and run even faster; as if he was not already running away fast enough. He debated taking his slippers off, as he might run better on his bare feet, but he had no time to stop.

      Once Bob had run a fair distance away, he stopped to catch his breath. He turned back to survey the scene and check for the bobcat. The big cat was not following him, but that was not his only trouble. So much for the portal and getting home, he thought. The place where he had appeared was now covered with burning, smoking lava, and more lava was flowing from the volcano and growing its mass.

      He felt a sudden helplessness and a tightening in the pit of his stomach. He really wished it was all a dream now and that he would wake up. Was he still in a dream? One thing he felt sure of was that he’d never get home again...

      He reasoned that he might as well keep

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