A Week in a Different World

A Week in a Different World: Chapter 1 out of 8

   Another normal day in San Francisco, California. Bright yellow sun in a big blue sky. Lots of cars passing back and forth on the street. Children playing outside, screaming, laughing, crying. God, I miss being a child. But I guess adulthood is alright, too. "Hey, Summer," says mom, the tone in her voice clearly implying she wants me to do something with my life. "Why don't you invite a friend over and head down to the pond behind the hill in the backyard? I need to get some work done, and you know what else I need? A quiet house."
"Mom, I'm just reading," I reply. "Well, sweetie, that's great, but I can't work knowing you're just sitting inside on a beautiful day like this! If you're gonna read, do it outside! But I really want you to have friends over so you're not lonely!"
"Mom," I start, but she cuts me off. "And don't give me any of that,'But the book is so real, I feel like I'm there, and the characters are my friends,' crap."
"How did you know that's what I was going to say?" I ask, although I already know the answer. "Because that's what you say every time, honey. And besides, I'm your mother. Don't think for a second that I don't know you as much, or maybe more, than you know yourself!"
"Okay, fine. I'll call Clarissa," I say, finally giving in to my mom's clever observations. "Good, I bet she'll enjoy that. Didn't you two take that test that told you what your element is, and you both got water?"
"Yeah," I say with a slight annoyance in my tone. I just wanna read.
"Great, perfect, lovely, nice. Go to the pond. Bye, Summer!" says mom a little too excitedly. I take out my phone while shouting back,"Bye, mom!" I dial Clarissa's number and wait for her to pick up. One ring. Two. Three. Four. She answers around the fifth ring. "Hello?" she says. "Hey, Clarissa, it's me, Summer. I was wondering if you would like to come over for a little while and head down to the pond?" I hear her shout to her mom for permission. "One sec," she continued. After about forty seconds, Clarissa comes back with an answer. "Yeah, I'll be right over."
"Okay, bye, see you soon!" I reply cheerfully.

She's at the door in two minutes flat. "Hey," she says softly. "Hi," I babbled. "Let's go to the pond. My mom needs a,'quiet house.'" Clarissa smiled. "Okay cool, let's play Truth or Dare!" That was random, but okay. I'll go with it. "Alright, let's go!" I almost yell. We run down to the pond happily.  "So, truth or dare?" Clarissa asks. "Um... Dare!" I reply brightly. Oh, God, what was I thinking? "I thought about this on the way here," she confesses randomly. "I dare you to jump into the pond!" Most of you would be like,'Oh, that's so easy, I can do that,' but this pond makes you think differently. "Are you kidding me? No one's ever done that before! People say it emits a weird energy or something like that! And it could be really cold!" I argue. "Okay, then I triple-dog-dare you to do it. That means if you don't do it, I get to pick whatever I want out of your room and take it as my own!" Did she make that up? I think she made that up. My room is amazing. "Oh my God, fine, I'll do it!" I say, less than excited. I stand up quickly. Step toward the pond. Touch the water gently. A sharp pain shoots through my body. "Ouch!" I exclaim. "That water is cold!" Clarissa's smile broadens, and I know I have to do this. I place my foot in the freezing water. More pain. I kick around to find the bottom of the pond, but I can't. Does it end? What if it's a bottomless pond? What would I do then? Negative thoughts cloud my mind as I take my foot out of the water and ready myself to jump. I count down in my mind. Three. I step even closer to the pond. Two. I crouch down slightly. One. I jump. Once I'm in the air, I know there is no going back. First, my feet hit the water, then my thighs, then my hips. A new kind of pain overwhelms my body as I submerge into the nearly frozen depths of the pond. My breath is running out quickly and I feel as though tiny icicles are jabbing me everywhere. My lungs start to burn. I must swim back to the surface. I try to move my arms, but I can't. Am I frozen? No, my legs are still moving. The edges of my vision go black from loss of air. I just barely see the bottom of the pond, which I didn't think existed until now, and my eyes flutter shut. I can't breathe at all, I can't move at all, I'm drowning. Drowning in pain. Drowning in loss. Drowning in fire. I'm dying. Dying quickly. Suddenly. Stupidly. I feel someone's—or rather, something's—hands around my waist, pulling me. But where? Where am I going now? I hear a door open and water draining. I can breathe again, move again, feel again. I look up and take a deep, deep, deep breath. The water is much clearer down here in this unknown place. Through the glass ceiling, I see a silhouette. A strange, yet familiar, silhouette dancing above the water. Clarissa. "CLARISSA!" I yell. "CLARISSA!"
I hear odd laughter coming from behind me. "Oh, darling, you look pathetic trying to catch her attention, she can't hear you." I turn around slowly to see a woman's backside, clothed in all black. She turns around after opening a strange metal gate. Then I see the exact face I didn't want to see, didn't need to see. My mouth opens to speak, but a group of four people dressed in blue takes hold of me and shows me what's inside of the gate. That shut me right up. One of the groupies shoves a needle in my neck and injects some sort of liquid inside of me. The last thing I remember is being pushed down into the world behind the gate, my nightmare world. The Other World.