Elenor 'Nell' Bennett is an overworked and underappreciated cake decorator. Stressed out after being taken advantage of yet again by her manipulative and gaslighting manager, she joins her sister on a trip to Costa Rica. One day while hiking, in the...
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"It's a long story, Bubbles."
Saying that felt like an understatement. It wasn't only a long story, but one I didn't know whether Esther would believe. Esther might have looked the same to many people, but I could see the toll my disappearance took on her. She had lost weight, looked bone tired and a lot more emotional than what was normal. I hated that my twin had gone through so much because of me. Esther was the stronger one of the two of us; she was the one who comforted me, not the other way around.
"You know, we scoured the rainforest for weeks looking for you but there was no trace of you. Not your backpack, any of your clothes torn or scattered... not even any footprints that matched your shoes. It was some Harry Potter Platform 9¾ disappearing shit that you pulled, Squish. One minute you were standing at the top of the stairs, and then... Poof!
"I had no idea what to tell everyone. I mean, who would believe me if I said you vanished into thin air in front of me? I had to lie. I said that you fell off the stairs and that I couldn't find you after that." Esther took a breath from her long rant, tears once again staining her cheeks. "The phone call telling Mum and Dad that I had been the one to lose you was the hardest one I've ever had to make. Even though no one blamed me for your disappearance, it didn't change the fact that if it hadn't been for me inviting you, you would never have gone missing in the first place."
My heart broke watching my twin break down into inconsolable tears. I had thought of her every day that I was away, but it seemed that she was holding onto guilt that wasn't hers. It was no one's fault that I had gone through the portal—especially since we had no idea they even existed in the first place. I reached across and grabbed one of the sandwiches; not because I was hungry but so that I would have something to do with my hands.
"Wait, how did you get here?" I began to tell her about Ray and how he'd offered me a lift, but Esther cut me off. "No, I don't mean at my house, I'm talking about how you got here to Australia. Your passport was still in the locked safe in our hotel room, and your luggage was there, too. And because I am your Power of Attorney, I was able to find out that there had been no replacement passports issued in your name."
"This is gonna sound like I'm nuts, Bubbles, but please listen and keep your mind open, okay?" I requested while placing the mangled sandwich back on the plate. I grabbed hold of Esther's hand, took a deep breath and sent out a silent prayer. I hoped that she could be receptive to hearing the truth.
As I told my sister about the fact that the staircase in the Costa Rican jungle was actually a portal that transported me to a parallel universe, the disbelief on Esther's face slowly began to transform the more I spoke. I told her about how I found I was in Daegu when I came down the stairs, and that a fortune teller had told me about the fact it was another universe. I was worried that it would make me seem crazy as I spoke about the other universe. Esther, though, never looked at me like I was losing my mind.
