STRIPTEASE : jacobs

03. her home

ʚ CHAPTER THREE ɞ
𓍼 ︰1303 WORDS 🜸 UNEDITED ╰ ҂
ഒ ˓˓ HER HOME % 𓈈

tobi despised the fact that she couldn't tell anyone about her time traveling tendencies.

she didn't have someone to run off to and excitedly explain her adventure, much like a child would be presenting their artwork to a parent. usually it wouldn't get to her; she found her own ways to entertain herself throughout the days. but with what she just experienced, she really wished she had someone now.

she didn't have someone, but she had something.

she never learned what to call the place, but it interested her from the very beginning of when she found herself in the strange place. at first, she thought it was just some time in the future she managed to find herself in. but, she more so believed that it was an entirely different thing in itself. it was confusing.

the place was beautiful though. considering the bright glow that the palace had with it and the everlasting feeling of comfort. tobi usually found herself walking through the steps in the courtyard after she came away from her little time travel trip.

usually naming things came very easy to her, but she was always stumped with this one. and no matter how many times she asked for some sort of name, she never was given one. the place seemed to have a mind of its own though. everytime she returned, she never found any changes to the design, architecture, detail, nothing. but, she would find little books placed around sometimes, especially in places she wasn't all that familiar with.

tobi didn't really enjoy all that confusion though, so she tended to stay in areas that didn't leave books for her to read. she could always picture the glow of the front courtyard and the surrounding areas. just like any other day, rather than going straight home, she found herself standing in her same spot again.

whenever she got there it was like someone was replaying a record.

her eyes immediately squinted, risking to close due to the annoyance of her eyes having to adjust to the new brightness now. she took a few glances around to make sure nothing was out of the ordinary. like always, it was the same. nothing had changed and that was a welcoming feeling.

even if the place had many questions behind it, tobi learned to trust it. she had no reason to not, right? nor did she really have a reason to have such open arms to it either, but so far it has brought no harm to her. it was quiet. a nice place for her to recollect her thoughts over everything that had just happened to her. her mind was usually all mixed up anyways.

in a way, the place was like a home away from home.

rather than immediately going back to her present time of where she originated from, she could take abreather away from all of the stress and complexity of reality. it didn't feel real, so why act like it was a real thing. to her, this place was her new escape from reality. a way for her to not have to deal with her problems. to not have to worry about losing all of her important memories she had. a way to get away from reality checks. it felt nice.

the girl paid attention to the noise of her footsteps rather than her thoughts as she walked. she didn't want to think right now, only because she knew her mind would be swarmed with her last visit to somewhere new. that boy would only be in her head.

tobi purposely walked with heavy feet; the complete opposite of how she usually gently rested her toes against the ground first before her heel and went flat footed. her hands purposely cupped as she gazed her hand into the water inside of the white fountain. it was calming to watch the ripples start to spread from the focal point of her hand to the edges.

the gentle waves of blue reminded her of the scrunch of pieces of cloth that was collected together on the boy's clothing.

she was thinking again.

but this time she didn't try to stop herself.

he was most definitely a colorful man. something that she not have been expected to witness in the time frame she was previously in. she could also tell there was a significant change with the skin tones of the man. rather than most everyone else she saw, who had some tan complexity to them due to what she guessed just having to be out in the sun a lot during that time. he was paler though and the pink undertones shone through a lot more because of it though. further suggesting that he would rather be inside than out, which just didn't make much sense if he did live in that town.

could he be a time traveler? well tobi was one, so it wasn't impossible for there to be another. even if she wanted to believe that it wouldn't be so likely, the chances were higher than she wanted to admit and she knew that.

if he was a time traveler, did he know that she was one too?

did he also experience memory loss because of it?

had he met tobi before and she just forgot about it because of the troubles?

did he ever happen to stand in the exact spot tobi was now standing in, in the same weird dimension as well?

tobi didn't want to think too hard about it. anyways, any possible questions she would brainstorm and find an answer out for them, she might as well just forget about it. not like she really had a choice on that part of it.

she left the fountain for now. she wanted to return home, because maybe reality was a good thing for her right now. as much as she would prefer this little fantasy of hers, it wasn't really bringing that comfort that it usually did. all because this has never happened to her before (well if it did, tobi hoped that she would remember).

tobi kept her mind set on returning back to present as she paced up the steps of stairs. she glanced up at one of the familiar looking trees, finding anything to distract her before she got transported back and away. she kept walking, not even caring if she was going into unfamiliar territory now. she wasn't going to fully explore the castle, but walking around it seemed okay. then she got distracted on the wrong thing.

finding herself in the gardens section, tobi's mind began to run even wilder than usual when she spotted some grass that seemed to be squished and compacted down into the dirt.

she had never been in this area before. she never seemed to be forgetting about what she was doing or where she had already gone when she was in this dimension. she wasn't the one who had been walking around in the grass and causing this, right?

no. tobi wanted to demand for answers. she felt so powerless. so knowledgeable. she wanted so much help; so many answers. she just knew she would get none in the end though.

she could be brave just this once though and try to find at least something that pointed her in the right direction at least a little bit. tobi looked around at the nearby patches of grass, seeing if she could find any footprints perhaps, or even signs of weeds or flowers getting crushed under the weight of a foot.

tobi didn't spend much more time there before she got back home though.

that dimension wasn't reality. it was her story.

her safe fiction wasn't feeling as comforting anymore.

tobi could tell someone else had been in her home.