The Guide

Chapter Three

When Grace and I were younger, we would play a game we liked to call "magician". I would drape a dark tablecloth over her, and when I counted to three I pulled it away and poof! She was gone! My mom never failed to act surprised every single time.

"Oh my gosh! Grace! Where did you go?" She would pretend to search for Grace when Grace was still standing right in front of her. 

 I would hush the crowd that was my father and mother. "Now it's time for my next trick! I will bring her back!"

I draped the tablecloth back over Grace and removed it again. "Ta-da!" And Grace would be standing there just as she had been the entire time. But to us, it was real because we made it real. That's the great thing about being kids. The game was magical because we used our imaginations. People and things disappeared and appeared because we imagined it.

So you'd understand when I tell you I couldn't believe that a doorway could just appear by the click of a toilet scrubber. I mean seriously...a toilet scrubber? Out of everything to open a magical entrance, and it's a gross toilet brush. It could have been anything I suppose; a book from a floor-to-ceiling bookshelf, the back of a wardrobe even. But no. My entrance is opened by nothing more than a toilet brush.

"How do we go through it?" I ask Olivia while staring at the glowing rectangle. I can see silhouettes of someone on the other side.

"You and Grace just hold my hands, and we'll walk through together." She grabs Grace's hand and then mine.

"Guys, I'm kind of scared." Grace's eyes has tears welling up near the rims.

"Just follow Olivia, Grace!" 

Then, the barricaded door comes crashing down. Three adults come rushing in, but they get caught in the mess of boxes that we had scattered on the floor in our attempt to escape. 

"Stop! Don't go! We just want to help!" One of the ladies yells right before we leave them.

"Now!" Liv yells. 

As we walk through, all I feel is a rush of cold air, almost like I've stepped into a walk-in freezer. Looking back, I see our "doorway" draw smaller and smaller just before the three strangers can reach us. Then, almost instantaneously, we're in a different location all together, and the entrance is gone.

Whatever transported us was so bright and cold, I have to squint and blink my eyes a few times for them to adjust. When I open them again, I look around trying to figure out where we are, but it's just a home. After looking around for a minute, I realize it looks familiar and that I've been here before. I remember playing here when I was younger and then Olivia's father,  Mike Bloom, appears from the hallway.

"Hey, dad." Olivia says casually.

In shock and frustration I blurt out, "Whoa, whoa, whoa. 'Hey, dad'? Really? We did not just walk in here from the school through using some magical transporter, and the first thing you say is 'Hey, dad' like nothing's happened."

Mr. Bloom looks at me with a half-smile. "Well aren't you quite demanding. Liv saves you and doesn't even get a thank you." 

He's a tall, lean man, but his grey hair makes him look older than he actually is. He raises his glasses up from the bottom of his nose.

I flush and look down at my feet, embarrassed. 

"I'm sorry, sir. Thank you, Liv. For saving us, I mean. I'm just exhausted, and Grace and I are both very confused and in need of some answers. We have no clue what's going on or what just happened back there." I say pointing towards where we came from.