Strangers Again - Lumity

Backfire

Several months later

I heard my alarm ringing in the distance. It felt too early to have to get up. I reached the sound on my night stand blindly feeling around for my alarm before smashing the snooze button.

It only felt like seconds before it went off again.

I picked up my phone and started scrolling through my notifications. When I got to the bottom I noticed a notification from my calendar app.

AMITY'S BIRTHDAY!!!

My stomach fluttered at the thought of Amity, just everything about her just, ugh i miss her so much. "I'm coming, Amity, '' I whispered to myself, so as not to wake Vee.

I think I could build another portal, but Mama... would she let me go back. She seems really confused with the whole Boiling Isles thing, which I mean is crazy. But I'm also now enrolled in Gravesfields high so she wouldn't just let me pick up and go again, not that she really let me go the last time. I thought to myself as I pulled a purple hoodie over my head,

I continued to scroll through my calendar, it looked like there was a long weekend soon. That's it I know I'll be late but better late than never right?

I pulled out a notebook I took with me and started planning. I could do this right?

It would be harder to build a portal here, with no natural magic, or magical materials I would have to improvise but since when has that ever stopped me? Never that has never stopped you Luz, I repeated to myself.

A couple weeks went by and I was nearly done with the portal. But there was still one thing, my mom, I wasn't gonna just run away again, she deserved better. Who knows she might say yes.

I took a deep breath and walked downstairs to find her in the kitchen. "Um hi Mama" I said nervously sitting down at the kitchen table. "Hey mi hija, does grilled cheese sound okay for dinner tonight?" She asked, still facing the counter. "Ya it sounds great" I replied rubbing the back of my neck.

"But umm there was something I wanted to talk to you about" I said, playing with a rubber band around my wrist. " You know the umm demon realm I told you about?" It went completely silent. "You mean the one with witches and magic?" She asked, as I heard the grilled cheese cooking in the background.

"Ya that's the one" I replied with a nervous laugh. "What about it?" She asked calmly. "So I was wondering if I could, maybe visit?" No response. It felt like sirens were going off in my head, why did I ask this of course she wouldn't want me to go back, Luz what were you thinking?

"It wouldn't be for long, it would just be for a couple of days?" I tried to reassure her.

"Do you really want to go back?" My mom asked, finally turning to face me.

"Ya, I mean I know I'm in high school so I couldn't just pick up and leave... not that I would want to, but umm" I couldn't think of anything else to say. We both sat there in silence for a minute, both looking at the table.

"I guess I just don't know why." She said sadly. I knew the thought of me returning hurt her.

"Well it's been a while since I visited my friends there, and well.." I said my last words trailing off. "So you want to visit your friends? I guess that could be okay, but I'm gonna have to think about it. Maybe you could visit this summer"

My heart sank. This summer, no, I couldn't wait 8 more months to see them again, to see Amity again.

"Umm yeah that could work, but I was maybe thinking I could visit sooner... like maybe over the long weekend coming up?" I asked nervously.