mixed-up

final

Mixed-Up

My vans crunched with every step as I trudged through milky white snow. My socks were wet and frozen. I could feel my toes pruning, which sent resonating chills up my spine. I was trying to get to my home as fast as I could after my long study day at the library. I can see my dirty blond locks howling around in the wind, while I watch the snow slowly make it's way into my jet black vans. I feel the tip of my nose become red. Without watching where I was going, I fell into a hole waiting for me to hit the cold cement floor, but...it never came? I sat there floating in the air, wrapped around a pink forcefield. That was close. I slowly got pulled down to the ground, my eyes meeting a short girl's bright pink eyes. She wore a black hoodie and a pair of shorts. I step out of my trance when the tiny girl speaks, "Stop staring, and how did you even get here?" I realized I must have landed into another dimension. I quickly reached for a lamp post, widening my eyes at my hand that went right through the lamp post. I can sense the tiny girl's shocked expression with what happened with my hand. She quickly walked up to me touching my arm, but it didn't go through me.
"Where did you come from? Did you fall through a hole? ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND?!" she rambled on while shaking me. I didn't know what to say so my mouth spoke for me, "Umm, yes I did fall through a hole...I think." She deadpanned and rambled about my stupidity.
"What's your name?"
"Zephyr. Zephyr Oak," she hummed at my response. She made a little hand motion, gesturing to me to come closer. With a swift hand movement the tiny girl pulled up her phone. I know I'm not supposed to be looking at other peoples phones when they're texting, but I want to know what she might say. The text read: Hey father, I think I found that one girl you were looking for. She just landed on the floor. Now I was just confused. Who was looking for me, and why were they looking for me. I heard a buzz, indicating that her dad responded back to her message, but I couldn't bother to look back at the message.
"I'm Anika Wayne, you've probably heard that name somewhere. Yes, I am The Batman's daughter, so don't be too shocked." I had a million thoughts going through my head at the moment, but I thought it was best to drop the topic and I just nodded. I play with the hem of my shirt, waiting for Anika to carry the conversation. I'm a really reserved person, and I do not like starting conversations... not to mention with a stranger, who was also Batman's daughter. She looked around the dark streets, as if searching for someone, or something. A small car shows up, and with a swift move, she enlarges the toy looking car to a massive black car, signaling for me to come inside. She hopped into the driver's seat, while I stood there not knowing what to do. She let out a loud sigh and said, "Are you getting in or not? I don't have all day." I flinched a little as she rolled her eyes and followed into the car. We rode in silence to wherever Anika was taking me. She stopped the car next to this building with a board reading 'Wayne Manor', which I remembered as the name of the Mansion thing in Batman. It seemed very... dark I guess. The sleek black car came to a stop, and the lights came on. It was easier to see Anika's features. She has a small button nose, and jet black hair with bright pink highlights. Not to mention her pink eyes shimmering in the moonlight, she led me into the Wayne Manor. My jaw must've dropped to the floor because Anika closed my mouth for me, which was pretty unnecessary because I am a civilized human and I don't drool. Anika shot a text to her dad, while telling me to make myself comfortable on the couch while she made some calls. Anika seemed to be around the same age as me, eighteen or nineteen. I played with the glass of water she gave me until she came back. Her footsteps echoed across the smooth flooring making my head lift up.
"You should wear this for tonight," she says tossing an oversized t-shirt and shorts, "My father is going to slow up later tomorrow so you should probably get some rest." She led me to one of the guest bedrooms that was right next to her room and closed the door for me right after telling me to get ready by 5:30 in the morning. Who actually wakes up at that hour of the day? I quickly change and snuggle into my blanket. Dear lord, why must the Wayne Manor be so cold at night. I tossed and turned on the squishy mattress, not being able to sleep, and I finally decided to get up and go downstairs to explore. I don't think I would get caught at this hour, when it's just me and Anika at the mansion. As soon as I got downstairs the lights flipped on, and I turned around like a deer caught in the headlights. I let out a nervous chuckle and backed away slowly from Anika, but came to a halt when my back hit the counter.
"What are you doing?" Anika glanced at me waiting for my answer.
"I couldn't sleep so I was getting water," I managed to mutter out. Knowing Anika heard me, she asked me again to say it louder. My mom always told me that whenever I lied my voice always became small, as if it were packed inside a tiny box. Somehow Anika must have sensed my hesitation, and shook her head, "You know if you really wanted to look around you could've just asked me right?" I slowly nodded my head and shivered. She looked at me with amusement, and gave me a glass of water. I followed her back up the stairs, feeling a lot colder now. She gave me two extra blankets apologizing for the temperature being so cold.
•••
I woke up as a flash of thunder struck outside the window. I listened to the raindrops pelleted against the mansion. It was soothing until the thunder rumbled again. At this point I was wide awake. I held my phone up to get a clear view of the time, when I realized I haven't texted my parents since the day I fell down the hole. I felt guilty for not telling them where I went, but there's no point in telling them about 'fake magic' and how I fell. My phone read 4:33 AM, which I thought was a good time to get up, as Anika told me to get ready by 5:30. I walked into the unusually large bathroom, and to my surprise, there were brand new clothes laid out. There was a silky black and white dress placed next to the quartz white bathtub. How can one be so rich? I quickly brush my teeth and get into the bathtub. The water was really warm compared to the freezing mansion outside. If I had a choice, I would never get out of the water. After what I think was about thirty minutes, I got out of the tub and buttoned up the dress. I slowly step out of the room, making sure everything is ready. I checked my phone again and it read 5:30. I let out a sigh as I walked down the long and narrow maroon stairs. I was pretty scared to meet Batman I hate to admit. As my foot pressed against the first floor, Anika lifted her head up from her phone and coffee. She motioned for me to have a seat on the couch. She handed me a crystal clear glass mug with some iced coffee in it. How did she know I liked iced coffee? We sat there in silence, but it wasn't uncomfortable or anything. The sound of sipping coffee filled the room. We waited for about another 5 minutes until a man walked in. He was 6'2, deep blue eyes, and he was wearing a fancy suit. Anika stood up so I stood up right next to her. He shook my hand and we all sat back down on the plump couch. I played with the hem of my dress until Mr. Wayne broke the uncomfortable tension. He asked me, "So Zephyr... you fell through a hole, and landed in this alternate universe?" I slowly nodded my head. "And you can't touch anything here except my daughter and the stuff in this mansion," it was more of a statement than a question. I shrugged my shoulders at his statement. He must have muttered a little 'interesting' before he continued to ask me questions. I responded to everything that he asked me, not knowing where this conversation was headed to. I took a quick glance at Anika, hoping she would assure me with something, anything. She shook her head and shot me a small smile. I looked back at Mr. Wayne, as he motioned for us to get up and follow him. We walked through this gigantic modern hallway that was decorated with many superhero stuff. We kept walking down until we reached a white and silver door. Batman pressed his hand up to a detector, which lit up green and read 'welcome back batman' in big bold black letters. We entered the room, and to my surprise, there stood all the superheroes I knew. From marvel to DC, everyone was there. I was starting to get a little anxious around the number of people that surrounded me. I take a seat in between Anika and Mr. Stark. They both shot me a smile that read 'it's going to be okay' as I shuffled in my seat. Mr. Wayne explained my situation by falling into the wrong dimension. I figured out that Anika fell through a much similar hole that I fell into. I don't know how Batman got here first though, but I decided to drop this topic. Anika has been trying to get back up to the other universe just like I had to, but they could never find out how to do it. They sent Anika and I outside to continue their little conversation, which I thought was unnecessary as it was me who they were talking about. Anika started heading towards a room, so I decided to tag along, after all I didn't want to be left alone in such a big building. She pulled out a sandwich from a fridge that was about 25 feet away from us. She brought another one using her magic and plopped it down into my hands. We started eating the leafy sandwiches, which was not very appetizing to me, but Anika seemed to enjoy it very much. We headed back to where the meeting thingy took place, and sat near the benches in front of the door. We overheard Mr. Banner talking about a device he worked on with Mr. Stark, or Tony. It was like bits and pieces of Anika and I having to fight some kind of 'alter universe boss' or something. My eyes widened in fear as I heard what they talked about and I faced an equally shocked Anika looking back at me. An alter universe boss? What universe are we even in? Being lost in my thoughts, I was slowly lifted up into the air, wrapped around a pink bubble, flying right behind Anika. She shot a quick text to her dad, while we basically flew back to the mansion.
"Do you have a single clue on what they're talking about? An alter universe boss? Really?" She shook her head at the thought. I didn't know if that was to me or something, but I just shrugged it off.
"Is this why I can really touch you? Are we both from the same dimension?" The question flew out of my mouth before I could think about it. Anika nodded her head, and said something about tripping over some rock and landing through a hole. I was still curious about how she found out that her father was Batman. I guess that's a story for another time. Once we made it up the stairs, my body sunk into the white bedsheets, and before I knew it, I was gone into dreamland. Roughly an hour later, I was woken up by soft notes of the piano humming. Curious, I crept outside of the room, making sure I didn't make any noise. I trailed my way over to the music's output. To my surprise, I saw Anika's fingers brushing against the piano tiles, shedding a tear. There was a piece of paper on the floor almost next to her, so I decided to pick it up and read it. It might have been the cause of why Anika must've been sad.