Tale Of Two Worlds

7

Earth

Kailee stood at the edge of a small clearing. Off to one side there was a small, ramshackled house, in need of a serious makeover. It was dark, giving everything in the clearing an air of 'creepy'. Kailee couldn't place where she was, but it felt familiar to her somehow, almost like deja vu, but the opposite. Instead of feeling like she had already been there, it felt like a place that she needed to go to.

"Hey! Earth to Kai?"

A hand waved in front of her face, making Kailee blink. She turned and looked up at Nick, a good friend from childhood that had moved back into town a year ago. His bright hazel eyes squinted against the sun as he looked down at her. "You okay there, Major Tom?"

"Yeah, of course. Sorry Nick, just lost in thought I guess."

They were eating lunch outside, leaning against the largest tree on the school campus. Kailee looked around, embarrassed at having been caught not paying attention to his story, and inevitably locked gazes with Mitch. Again. He smiled his cocky smile and waved at her from where he sat, surrounded by any girl silly enough to fall for his looks.

"Oh great," she sighed.

"What?" Nick muttered behind a mouthful of sandwich.

"The new guy over there, Mitch," she answered, nodding in his direction. "I think he might be stalking me."

Nick leaned forward; "What, seriously?" Kailee could barely make out what he was saying.

Kailee rolled her eyes as she suppressed a smile. "Would it kill you to swallow before speaking?"

"Oh come on, I'm starving!" he replied as he shoved even more food into his mouth, making Kailee laugh. She looked back over to where Mitch was sitting, taking a bite of her apple as she watched the girls around him try to capture his attention.

Suddenly she was back in front of the cottage from before, but this time someone was there. She couldn't make out who, they were just a black form standing in front of her.

"Kailee, it's dangerous. Don't come. Whatever you do--"

And as quick as it had come it was gone, whatever it was. All that was left was the worst headache Kailee had ever had. She was now huddled over her knees, clutching her head with her hands and breathing hard, feeling like she might throw up.

"Whoa, Kai, what happened? You okay?" Nick had a hand on Kailee's shoulder, his look of concern from earlier back in place.

"Yeah, I'll be fine," she said, shrugging off his help. "I've just been getting these...really bad... I don't know, headaches. Or migraines, but they never last for long." Looking over and seeing that Nick still wasn't convinced, she looked him right in the eye. "Nick, I'm fine, okay? It's no big deal."

"How long has this been going on, Kai?"

Kailee sighed and slowly stood, feeling cold. "I don't know, a few days at least... Did it just get cold to you?" she asked, folding her arms.

"What? No, it's like, 70 degrees out." He stood too, towering over her, the sun shining off his bronzed colored hair. "You sure you're okay?"

Kailee nodded. "Yeah, it's nothing." She averted his gaze and once again caught Mitch staring at her, his face showing what she thought was something like concern.

Her vision started to get dark and she felt dizzy, making her grab onto Nick. He caught her easily, letting her rest against him. Her vision came back slowly, but everything seemed too bright, making her squint.