Parallel

CHAPTER 5

It feels like time is being stretched out like slime, yet something within me knows that only milliseconds are passing. My eyes are glued shut and I can't open them, but I know that I'm moving through the dark. It's the feeling you get when you're in a car and driving fast; your head snaps back and you're pressed against the car seat.

As I move forward with speed, it seems to last forever until my eyelids fly open and I feel the ground beneath my feet. I see Changmin to my left and Bian to my right, just as we were standing before. Her index finger is still pressed to the screen, but her face displays utter shock.

"It worked!" Changmin exclaims in disbelief, bringing his hands to his hips and looking up with relief. Bian is frozen still, trying to wrap her mind around the situation.

I look around me and realize that we're standing in the middle of a small, paved road. There's a green wide field to our right that doesn't seem to end. It holds transmission towers near the road and scattered wind turbines further in the distance, where the grey sky meets the field. Small amounts of blue poke out of the grey atmosphere. To our left, a long row of green bushes guard the tall deciduous trees behind them, which also stand in a row that seems to stretche for eternity. It's hard to see what's behind them, but it looks like another field.

I turn to find a small roundabout behind me, with fake flowers of all colours growing in its centre. Yes, even the Netherlands, the country of flowers, had to discard its prized possession to make room for the modern plague that is fake plants.

The stop light just behind the roundabout is quite unique, with a black and white striped pole holding the black, curved stoplights. The pole wasn't tall like in Canada. I guess big trucks don't pass through the regular roads like they do back home.

When I turn back to Changmin and Bian, I find them also looking around.

"Is this really the Netherlands?" Bian asks.

"Looks like it," says Changmin.

"Don't tell me we're going to search for people here too," I whine.

"In this deserted place? Of course not," Changmin says.

Thank God.

I let out a sigh and Bian asks, "so what do we do now?"

"Let's go back... right?" I suggest, unsure.

It seems as though Changmin has emerged as quite a leader, and I don't feel comfortable throwing out ideas of my own in his presence.

"Yeah, then we should probably call everyone else to tell them about it. Tell them to join us in Canada so we can work together," Changmin agrees.

"Everyone else?" Bian asks.

"Yeah, the group chat," Changmin explains.

I don't think we have to huddle up to teleport, but we do that again as Bian finds 'Canada' on the map and zooms in on our city. After Changmin helps her find his house on the map, we're sent hurling through some other dimension and back home.

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We find ourselves in Changmin's living room, since Bian worked so hard to pinpoint the teleportation exactly at Changmin's house.

"So, who's gonna call?" I ask, rubbing my hands together in anticipation.

"You do it," Changmin says, grabbing a banana from a fruit bowl on the coffee table and collapsing on the couch.

I cock my head, okay. I guess I'm the communications person or something?

"But I wonder if some of them are sleeping, with time zones and whatnot," Bian adds.