Portal: What Cara Mia Means

Chapter 4: Back to Aperture

It had taken only a few days for Chell to return to America. Her strict determination to return home drove her quickly. If the flight or ship was delayed she traded places with others on different flights or boats or bought new tickets. At this point, all that mattered to her was going back. Going home to Aperture. Where she was raised. Where she met someone important. Someone she fought with but was strangely important to her. 

Chell didn't understand her outstanding need to return. She hated that place but she'd be damned if she didn't go back. When she was forced to stop and think about it, she didn't want to. She thought about turning back. She tried to force herself to return to her travels but she couldn't. Something inside of her drove her back. She wanted, no, needed to go back. And she was going to if her subconscious liked it or not. 

She landed in America and went straight to the home she was sharing with a few friends. She walked in as they were all sitting down to dinner, ran past them into her room nodding at them as she passed. They looked at each other in confusion. 

"Chell... You're home." One stated.  

"I thought you were going to be gone at least two months." Another said. 

She emerged from her room wearing an orange jumpsuit tied around her waist and an off white shirt with the words "Aperture Science" written on it. White, odd looking boots strapped tightly around her legs and the portal gun in one hand, holding up the companion cube. 

"I'm going back," Chell said with heavy determination. 

They all stood up and blocked her way, keeping her from leaving the apartment. They knew the look they were getting from her. They always said that she had the look of a villain from a movie. The "get out of my way or, so help me God, I will cut you so bad, your spirit will feel the pain" kind of look. 

"You can't go back. Why do you want to? What the hell man?" Her closest friend Michelle said. 

Michelle had always been demanding and loyal. She found Chell wandering in the streets after Aperture. She took her in and kept Chell as sane as possible for someone who went through all she had. Chell respected her but would never let her get in the way of something important. 

"Chell I'm serious! Answer me!" She demanded.

Looking back at her just then made Chell angry. She wanted them to just get out of her way. She doesn't need to explain herself to them. She wasn't going to. This was her issue and she would fix it her way. 

Long moments passed as both parties glared at each other, saying nothing. Suddenly her friend's hard expressions softened. They knew they would not win. She was going. 

"Can we come?" One of them asked.

She shook her head. She wasn't about to give GLaDOS new test subjects. She knew she was safe. GLaDOS would not let her stay if she could help it but her friends would give her a whole new game to play. Open season for GLaDOS to hunt and test humans. Chell would never allow that. She was going alone.

They nodded and said their goodbyes. Wishing her luck. Telling her that they would call the police if she didn't come back. She nodded and left. She now faced the task of finding her way back to Aperture. That is, if she could even remember. Locals didn't talk about it much. Ever since the accidents at Black Mesa and Aperture Science, people generally tried to forget about both of them. All Chell could remember was that it was outside of town  In the middle of nowhere. But it had to be relatively close. 

It took her hour of searching forests and fields. She wandered around looking for any sign of Aperture. She thought about turning back or going to find a map of the area to do a more thorough search but her feet never stopped. She pushed through the pain she was feeling in her legs as her long fall boots dug into her. They didn't fit as well as they had or she just wasn't used to them anymore. Despite everything, she pushed through. 

Suddenly she stumbled into a field. A wheat field to be exact. With a metal shed in the centre. She knew it immediately. That was the shed she left the Enrichment Center through. The one that directly leads to GLaDOS. She ran towards it basically ripping the door off of its hinges. It was rusty and broken and inside the elevator was still there. It wasn't as clean as it had been but it still sent a wave of excitement through Chell. She stepped inside and pressed the button to go down. This was it. She was in Aperture science again.