Imperfect Life: Arc 1

Chapter 14

When Brandon woke up, he stretched a moment before getting out of bed. He went over to the guest room down the hall and knocked on the door.

Crys was still asleep. She was having bittersweet dreams, that is until she heard Brandon's knocking on the door. Crys slowly stirred awake. She sat up in bed and took a moment to rub her eyes. She grunted a little, annoyed that she was now awake, then got up and got dressed before making her way to the door of her room and opening it to see Brandon.

"I was having a good dream Brandon... Why did you have to wake me up?" Crys murmured.

"Sorry, didn't know you were still asleep. It's already ten." Brandon said, apologetically.

"Already?" Crys said, still shaking off her sleep.

"Yeah. Come on, let's go find something to eat." Brandon said invitingly.

The two of them then went downstairs and made some brunch. After, they went out into the city and wandered around aimlessly, just enjoying the day and wherever it took them. That night, the two of them made their way into the forest. They were out near the cliff that they had discovered not too long ago, although Brandon made sure to stay back quite a distance compared to the last time he was there. The two of them were sitting down on the grass admiring the view. Neither of them spoke. They just relaxed in the calm of the night.

Crys looked over to Brandon. She remembered seeing Brandon having a necklace awhile back, and she thought that now would be as good a time as ever to ask about it, though she wanted to try and do it in a nonchalant way. "Hey Brandon?" Crys asked.

"Hm?" Brandon mumbled in reply.

"Will you be honest with me?" Crys asked with a nervous tone.

"Of course!" Brandon said.

Crys took in a deep breath. "What's that necklace you're hiding?" Crys said. She didn't realize how nervous she was while asking.

Brandon looked confused for a moment, as if he was debating if he would tell the truth or not.

"I've seen the chain around your neck. I'm just curious about it. Plus... I think I've seen it glow, and I just want to know I'm not crazy."

Brandon sighed. "Well, uh. Hmm." Brandon didn't know where to begin. He directed his eyes away from Crys, and then pulled out his necklace from under his shirt.

"Oh, how pretty." Crys said, a little bit enamored with the necklace. She could see it was a pristine crystal with a deep purple hue embedded in gold and placed on a thin gold chain. "Where'd you get it?" Crys asked.

Brandon sighed and looked at Crys. His eyes were filled with guilt. "I haven't been honest, Crys." He said.

"What do you mean?" Crys asked, suddenly weary of her friend.

"I'm uh... not from around here." Brandon said with no semblance of confidence in his voice whatsoever.

Crys tilted her head a little, obviously confused. "From a different city?" Crys asked.

"No, I." Brandon started before giving a grunt of frustration. "Just, listen." He said. "I know this is going to sound insane, but I'm from a different world."

"Uh..." was all Crys could say.

"A different, uh..." Brandon was looking for the right word. "A different dimension. Yeah, that's the word. Dimension."

Crys shook her head. "You're making no sense." She said, completely confused.

"Let's try explaining it in a different way." Brandon said, not really knowing how to explain any of this. "The necklace lets me travel across dimensions. I'm from a different world and decided to come here for some relaxation."

"Well, okay then." Crys said, just accepting what Brandon was saying. "I mean, that's not bad, is it?" Crys asked.

"No. Not really. Though, one day I might want to go back home." Brandon said, with a down tone in his voice.

"Oh." Crys said back. There was an awkward silence that ensued for a few moments before Crys decided to end it. "Can the necklace do anything else?" She asked out of curiosity.

"I think." Brandon said. "Never really tried though. I'd really rather not use the necklace even if it can do other things. Just don't want to mess with anything, you know?" Brandon tried to explain.

"I guess that makes sense. Just don't want to go power mad is what I'm getting out of that." Crys said, still going along with everything.

Brandon nodded his head in response.

"Are you able to bring people with you to other dimensions?" Crys asked with genuine curiosity. She would be interested in seeing what other worlds would be like.

"Yeah, I could. Don't want to though. It's best for everyone to remain in their own worlds." Brandon said, hypocritically.

Crys stared at Brandon. "Really?" She said, calling out Brandon's hypocrisy.

"Listen, after nearly dying here a couple of times, I definitely think it's best to not bring anyone anywhere." Brandon said flatly.

"So what about you?" Crys asked.

"I've been here too long to just leave. Besides, that wouldn't be fair to you." Brandon said.

Crys pondered on all this for a few moments letting an awkward silence encompass the forest for a bit. "Alright." Crys finally said.

Brandon looked at Crys with a confused look. "I'm really sorry I didn't tell you. I just, didn't think you'd really understand it." Brandon said apologetically.

"You thought I wouldn't understand?" Crys said with a mixture of confusion and shock. "I'm a werewolf for crying out loud!" She exclaimed. "But, yeah. That was a lot to take in. Very confusing, but you know what? Now I know. No need to talk about it any further. Let's just put it behind us, alright?" Crys offered.

"That would be appreciated." Brandon said in a quiet tone.

"So I'm a werewolf with an interdimensional friend. Not bad, eh?" Crys said, jokingly.

"Yeah." Brandon said with a slight smile.

"One more thing though." Crys said with a more serious tone. "You don't have to hide things from me, alright?" Crys said. "We've known each other for a good while now. We don't have to keep secrets from each other."

Brandon nodded. "Alright." He said, even though there was one other thing he was keeping secret from Crys.

Crys smiled at Brandon and he smiled back. The two of them looked back out at the view and let the calm quiet of the night set back in. They didn't say a word to each other, putting the whole conversation behind them for now. After a few minutes, Crys scooted in closer to Brandon and leaned up next to him.

"Bit chilly tonight, yeah?" Crys said as an excuse.

"Yeah." Brandon said. He was glad that Crys couldn't notice his face which had begun to blush.

The two of them sat there for the next while enjoying each other's company until they grew tired and decided to return to their homes and head to sleep for the night. The next day, the two of them relaxed and didn't even mention the previous night to each other. Their whole day was absolutely wonderful, and as they drifted to sleep that night, they hoped that their school day the next day would be just as good. Little did the two of them know that the next day was going to be quite eventful, and not the good kind.