Not Quite Parallel

{2} The Start of Something

Alright here's the chapter I've been waiting for, SHE'S FINALLY COMING DOWN UNDER!!!

Pic of Blythe as a human on the side. 

READ ON!!!!

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Blythe has the most annoying habit of falling asleep on my face. So that when I wake up, she's already there, telling me that she has to go to the bathroom. This is exactly what she does every morning, and she doesn't let up because it's my birthday.

After pushing her off my head so she lands on the floor, I go to my wardrobe to look for some clothes. I want to maintain a tiny bit of normalcy before leaving. I have about two hours to myself before heading to the Hub, to the only portal in the district.

My bag had been packed, and repacked, and repacked maybe ten thousand times due to my nervousness. Though I am still not sure that I've packed enough for such a long trip. What if I stay for a whole year?

I settle on some black skinny jeans, that are stretchy and comfortable enough to travel in and a loose crystal blue t-shirt. With really sturdy leather boots and a matching black leather jacket.

After the shower, I sit on my bed.

What if the earthlings hate on me? What if I stand out too much? I might talk different to them, and they are definitely going to notice.

I swallow back the lump in my throat while Blythe re-enters the room after jumping out the window to go to the bathroom.

"The weather's going to be awful today, there is so much fog out there." Blythe came and plonked herself next to me.

"That's a bad sign." I comment, sighing.

"Come on, Rayne. If you keep moping around like this of course it will turn into a bad sign! Chin up! It's an adventure! You know how much I love your adventure novels!" She did that funny head-butt thing that most cats do.

That made me grin a little.

***

The hub is a small building in the center of town. When I was little, Mum used to tell me poems that were written about this town, one of the lines I remember vividly is this, 'All paths seem endless.  And all roads lead to it.' I love my home to bits.

When a sixteen year old leaves there isn't much fanfare, people think it to be a solemn action, and parents are not allowed in to watch their kid's leave. This rule is so absolute that my dad's boss is the one overseeing my ceremony.

It isn't much of a ceremony though, the Ministry Official says a few words about their symbol, and the journey that every person must take, and how the world will be different when we come back, how it will be a different place.

Just poetic faff mostly.

Then we walk through the portal, armed with only the stuff we bring, and we are allowed to bring one animal with us, for company on our trip.

 Blythe makes me swear on my grave an on the carton of milk in the fridge back home that I would bring some milk with us.

She's happy with me now.

I swallow and look behind me to the doors, how I wish I turn back now.

The words that the Ministry Official says just go in one ear and out the other as I listen to the sound of my thrumming heart.

The portal to Earth is a mirror that ripples like water in a bird bath. There is no image inside it, Blythe told me that this is a scare tactic; to try to weed out the cowards. Me? Well, I didn't know that the system is so brutal to its youngsters.