The Other Side

04 | somnambulist

When I reached my room, I realized that Ambria was the same size as me oddly enough. As far as I knew, I was the smallest person in the village even though is I was 5 foot 6. I chose to give her a comfortable black sweater since she seemed really cold along with a pair of green saddle pants. I brought her a pair of boots the same as mine. I found it weird how she wore all white. People in the village rarely wore white as they had too much work to get done.

I made my way downstairs with the clothing and saw Nona and Ambria discussing what Diatora was like and how to fit in. "You don't want to draw too much attention to your tanned skin, so if in any case you need to leave this house, always wear a hood." Nona addresses to her.

I give Ambria the clothing and show her to the bathroom to change. I then sit beside Nona as she smiles at me. "What?" I ask.

"This is an amazing discovery Everly. I don't think you guys understand it as much as I do. When the government teleports between Diatora and Hiraeth, they use a 'pre-made' portal. But this, this is... the most brilliant thing I've seen in my life--and I've lived a long time." Ambria enters the room with her new clothes that fit perfectly and takes a seat. "But you both have to understand that it can also be dangerous. If the government found out Ambria teleported here, there will be serious consequences. They kept this a secret for a reason. Its even dangerous that we are keeping you here."

"Why did they make teleports in the first place then?" Ambria asks curiously.

"Earth was ruined because we overused all of its resources. They had these things called cars that just ruined the planet. Cars were like horses but much quicker and made out of metal. And even worse than cars, were planes. Planes would fly across large distances. When they were looking for Earth 2.0, they made sure never to make cars and planes. Hence, why we use horses. But to get over large distances was tricky because it would take days and days. The teleports that they created used magnetic electricity, which is not dangerous at all for the planets. But at the beginning of the new era, the teleports were used so often and malfunctioned killing countless lives. Since then the teleports were kept secret, only for government use.

"There were some times, like now for instance, that teleports worked naturally due to a connection between two people-- I'll get into that later-- and the teleportation happened randomly. But, unfortunately the government found out what they had done and arrested them immediately" She then looked me in the eyes with sadness, "Everly, you father didn't die after a bar  fight. He was never that kind of man. He was caught teleporting. He was charged with the unlawful teleportation. I'm sorry I didn't tell you this. I was part of the government. If I told anyone anything I would be sent to  jail."

I try to process what Nona had told me. It was the most unusual thing to experience. I had grown up believing I was an orphan, but now a father I never knew was alive for doing something that I myself am now involved in.

Ambria sits there awkwardly until speaking up. "This might be a bad time to ask, but are any of these books," she says pointing to the bookshelf, "about teleportation, or Earth 2.0 or their construction of creating the new planets?"

Nona laughs before replying, "Yes we do in fact have a book called 'The Design of Diatora' right on the bottom shelf. There are other books related to that topic all in the bottom shelf."

Ambria goes to start looking for the books while me and Nona discuss the family business. "So my father is alive? Have you ever visited him? Am I allowed to visit him?" I urge on impatiently.

"I have gone to see him a couple times when I told you I had government business to attend to. But no you cannot visit him. As I said before, if the government knew you knew he was alive, they would trace that to me. We would both be in trouble.

Nona and I go back and forth talking about everything with the occasional comment from Ambria who had surrounded herself with a pile of books on the floor.

• • •

At around 9:00 at night, Ambria decide to head upstairs as it was a long day for the both of us. As I start getting her bed ready, I notice Ambria holding one of the books from the bookshelf. "Was that a good book?"

"Actually no it was really boring but I found some really informative things." She replies laughing.

"Like what?" I ask curiously.

"Like what your Nona was saying with two people being able to teleport because of their connection. Well guess what? And I bookmarked this." She says as she flips to a page, "It says and I quote 'Teleportation was discovered when scientist James Dowel was testing his theory of teleportation' it goes on talking about his theory but then it says 'When testing his object, he was able to teleport to his very close twin brother Benjamin Dowel...natural teleportation occurs when two people with the same blood type and sometimes DNA are able to teleport to each other by touching an object of specialty... Natural Teleportation can only occur when the two people are bonded.' Everly do you have any idea what this means?!" She exclaims excitedly. "We're bonded! This is the coolest thing that has ever happened to me!"

"Ambria keep your voice down! We have neighbours who can hear you" I say giggling. "Anyway we should go to sleep. We wake up really early in the mornings. Goodnight"

"Night" And like that we are sound asleep.

• • •

I am suddenly awoken by Nona opening the door. "Girls we have a problem. The government is coming around the village. If they see Ambria we are all dead." She says frantically with a nervous voice.

"I think I might know who can help." I say as an idea pops in my head.