Meap Me in St. Louis

Chapter 14: Making New Friends

UNIVERSE 252

SHANNA

This isn't the first time I've been someone's hostage. Three years ago, our group was competing with each other in a treasure hunt, and at one point I was taken by an evil warlock plotting revenge on an African village. The difference is that time, the team was fully equipped, and we were in our prime. Most importantly, I was still in our universe, and I wasn't in space.

Two Meapians, each holding ropes tied onto my wrists, guide me through the hallways of Mitch's ship, with Mitch in front. Each step feels like an eternity. It doesn't help that, even though it feels much better than it did before, it still hurts to put too much pressure on my ankle. Every time I slow down, the Meapians lurch me forward to keep up.

After the third time they do this, I complain, "Hey! I've got an injured ankle here!"

"Tough it out, kid," one of the Meapians says with a tough-guy voice.

"You know, if I'm going to be your prisoner, the least you could do is accommodate for me."

Mitch turns around and glares at me with a sinister grin. "Little one, you are not the only one here who's had a rough day. I've been hopping back-and-forth between different universes, and in each one I've been attacked and I've lost significant numbers of my forces. I am in no mood to have any sympathy for you at this moment, let alone give in to your demands. I'm the one in charge here, and therefore you will do as I say without complaint. Do I make myself clear?"

How selfish! He just beat the crap out of my friends (and brother), desecrated an entire field, trespassed into multiple different realities, destroyed valuable technology, and took me against my will, and he's saying HE had a rough day?! I've been running with little sleep, a bad ankle, and high stress for the past 18 hours! He's got no right to dismiss my feelings!

But, I've seen what he's capable of. He sliced through my friends, the toughest people I know, like a knife through melted butter. He has one of the largest alien armies I've ever seen and has a boatload of tech at his disposal. And it probably wouldn't be a good idea to make him even angrier. So, I just nod my head weakly and carry along.

I'm led to not a cell, but a large open space that resembles the surface of a planet. Here, many different kinds of creatures–some more pleasing to look at than others–roam about. The terrain is a weird orange-brown color, rugged and filled with artificial craters. The "sky" is clearly just a projected image of a starfield, like in an observatory.

The door is slammed on me, leaving me in the "zoo" (I don't know what else to call it, and it kinda feels like a zoo) all by myself. To put it bluntly, I'm scared. My friends just suffered the hardest defeat I've ever seen them take. Will they be able to get back up? Mitch wants to use my cuteness for something. What will he do to get it out of me? Will I die? My life's been in danger many times before, but never this much. And when he gets it, what will he do with it? He already has this universe in his grasp. Is he going to go after mine next? Even if my friends do come for me, what chance do they have?

I hear sniffling from far away. It's coming from a girl sitting far away from me, her head buried in her arms. It looks like she's crying.

I slowly approach the girl. As I near her, I notice that she's actually another cartoon character, likely from this world. She's wearing a white t-shirt underneath a pink dress with a purple belt, and pink shoes. Her hair is in a unique style: straight, black long hair with thin blue highlights, curtain-like bangs, and a round bottom. Her head is oval-shaped and she has navy blue eyes, which are filled with animated tears. Something about her looks familiar, but I can't place it.

"Hey," I say softly to her. "You okay?"

The girl nods, wiping some tears off her face. "Yeah, I just got something in my eye," she replies, her voice quavering. She has a high-pitched voice, one that sounds lovely and pleasing to the ear.

I sit down next to her. "Yes, you do. It looks like sadness."

She sniffles again. "You could say that, yeah."

I offer her a handshake. "I'm Shanna."

The girl smiles through her tears. "Isabella," she replies, accepting the handshake. Her hand feels like actual skin, and not like paper.

THAT'S where I know her from! She's the first girl Mitch captured, the one Meap told us about.

"That's a beautiful name," I tell her. When someone is upset, it helps to compliment them or say something nice about them. "And that dress goes really well with your hair."

"Thanks." She blows her nose on a tissue that she pulls out of her sleeve. She then spends a few seconds looking over me. "You're not from here, are you?"

"I'm afraid not," I answer. "I'm from another universe. One where we aren't drawn figures."

Isabella giggles. "You do look way more refined."

"Well, animated or not, you're very pretty."

Her smile goes away. "Well... I won't be for long."

It takes a second for me to understand. Mitch took her for the same reason he took me: to use her cuteness on himself. "We'll get out of here," I tell her, trying to sound hopeful. "We've got people coming for us."

"Yeah, I know,"

Isabella turns away from me, looking over something. When I peek over her shoulder to see what it is, she puts it back in her pocket. In the split second where I had a glimpse of it, it looked like a picture of someone.

"Who was that?" I ask.

"Oh, nothing," Isabella chuckles. "Just someone I'm close to."

It sounds like she doesn't want to go any deeper, so I don't ask any further. We remain seated with our backs to each other for a few minutes. Then, Isabella asks, "Do you... have a... boyfriend?"

That came out of left field. "I haven't had one in a few years," I reply. "I'm not really in the dating scene at the moment. Why do you ask?"

"Well... imagine that you like someone. Like, you really, really like them. You've known him for many years, and you spend almost every day seeing him. You try to make it obvious that you like him, because you want him to like you back. He's a great guy... smart, kind, creative, helpful, persistent, fun... and sees you as a good friend, but that's just it. No matter how hard you try, he just doesn't pick up on your hints. You don't want to just tell him directly, but you're worried that it just isn't meant to be, even though you really want it to be. What do you do?"

I've never been good at giving relationship advice. The last time I had a boyfriend, it never felt like a fulfilling bond. I've never seen someone else as my soulmate, who I'd want to spend the rest of my life with. But it seems like Isabella's really struggling with this dilemma, so the least I can do is try.

"So... for one, you can't force anything. If he doesn't like you back, that's it. But if you don't know for sure whether he likes you or not, then you probably don't want to risk coming on too strong. It sounds to me like you two have a great friendship going, so stick with that for as long as you can. From what I've seen, the best relationships are the ones that grow naturally. I've known couples who were best friends all the way through high school who didn't start dating until college. Sometimes, it just takes patience. All you can do is keep being his friend until he figures out how he feels about you. It may take a while, but if it all works out, the wait will be worth it." For the record, I don't know where half of this is coming from. Once I started speaking, thoughts just kept entering my head, and I put them into words.

The more I talk, the more Isabella's smile starts to come back. "Thank you, Shanna. That might be the best advice anyone's ever given me," she says.

Hearing that brings me incredible joy and satisfaction. One thing I've always tried to do was find a light in the darkness. In this time of despair, I was still able to use that philosophy to help someone. It won't help us escape, but it still brings me hope that maybe there is still light at the end of this dark tunnel.

"Why don't we walk and talk?" I suggest. "It'll help get our mind off of things."

Isabella concedes to my idea. I help her to her feet and we take our stroll through this vast new world.