#5 Adia Kennedy

Adia grew up with the dreams of domestic bliss in her head. She read all the right magazines, shopped at the right stores, went to the right parties and, thankfully, fell in love with the right man. They were married and settled happily into a home just in time for Adia to become pregnant with her first of what would eventually be three lovely children. Of course, when her husband started to come home from work later and later every night, Adia was pretty sure she knew why (she’d certainly read enough magazines to have a good idea). And when her children’s grades fell further and further behind, she began to fret that her happy life was falling apart. And then she got hit by a bus outside of the supermarket.

She woke up in the Otherlife, the more-or-less mirror image of the world she knew, with a shape that was fitting the harpy of a woman she actually was. Her perfect black hair had been transformed into feathers, her arms into strange wing-like abominations, and her feet were wickedly sharp talons that tilled the dirt as she walked. For days she wandered, chewing on half-dead plants for nourishment, searching for some purpose or reasoning to her new circumstances.

When she happened upon the remains of a battle between two warring gangs, she met an older gorgon-lady who offered a bargain: if Adia would care for the woman until she passed, the gorgon would fill her in on the meaning of the Otherlife. With nothing to lose, Adia took her up on that offer and, for the next week, made sure the gorgon was alive enough to teach her everything she needed to know.

After the gorgon’s death, Adia set out into the Otherlife, armed with the truth and, if not a purpose, at least an idea of what could distract her from the thoughts of home that nagged at the back of her head. At the very least, she decided, she could make sure the Otherlife was an interesting one indeed.

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(Fell way behind – didn’t have time for sketches and then things didn’t get written down and so on…so I’m skipping the illustrations and just writing things down. Will be posting multiples over the next few days to catch up, sorry for the spam!)

Category: 2011, Scifi