Naturaka

Chapter One

It was 11:58 PM, and Kesia was splayed out on the couch in her living room, re-re-re-re-re-watching Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Her mind wasn't really focused on the movie, but how strange her family had been acting today. In the morning when she woke up, her mom was standing over her, crying her eyes out. Kesia had asked her what was wrong, but she had wiped her tears away and told her to get ready for school. Then, when she was on her way downstairs to make breakfast, her grandma had burst out of her room, grabbed her by her shoulders and told her to, "Go inside the washing machine when the lights go off tomorrow," Actually, she had said it in pidgin, not Standard American English. It sounded something like, "When light finish tomorrow, go inside washi mashi." To top it off, her dad was nowhere to be seen. Usually he was in the living room meditating by the time she came downstairs, but he was gone.

The drive to school with her mom was filled with tension. When she asked her where her dad was, her mom said he was preoccupied because something had come up at work, but she knew she was lying. Kesia left it alone and stayed quiet.

School was a bore. As always.

Kesia sighed and reached her hand out to turn off the TV when all the lights in the house went off. She repositioned herself to look at her watch. It was 12:00 AM. Was this what her grandma meant by "tomorrow"? Kesia shrugged and tried her best to get to the washing machine without getting a concussion.

She padded her way to the small little corridor in her house that held the washing machine with her hands out as if she was blind. Her hands soon fell upon the machine, which opened from the top. Kesia's palms felt the edge of the cover and lifted it up.

WHOOSH! A blast of golden light instantaneously flashed up out of the washing machine. Kesia let out a small scream.

"Oh my god," she whispered, looking down into the washing machine.

It's bottom had transformed into a swirling mass of black, empty space with little twinkling white bits that looked like stars. What the hell? Kesia thought to herself. She looked around turning her head from side to side, but then remembered that the house was pitch black. Then, as if things couldn't get anymore unusual, she heard a very small, faint voice coming from inside the washing machine.

"Hurry up, anegeh!" the voice said. Kesia rolled her eyes. Anegeh meant stupid in Ngie. She stayed still.

"Come on, jump inside!" the voice whisper-yelled. Kesia looked inside the washing machine once again. The same empty, star-filled black mass remained. She sighed and pushed herself up to enter feet-first into the washing machine.

Kesia was unconscious for most of the stomach churning trip to her unknown destination, but when she was conscious, she was thisclose to smashing her head into pieces for her stupidity. Who knew where she was headed to? Why would she do this?

Ohmygodohmygodohmygodohmygodohmygodohmygodohmygodohmygod why did I do this to myself?????

Thoughts ran quickly through Kesia's head, dizzying her, adding on to her already lightheaded standing (or, more accurately, sliding). She blacked out and came to, over and over again. Then finally, the horrible trip ended and Kesia's body descended into a large pool of water. Her clothes ballooned as she sank slowly deeper into the pool.

Kesia's eyes opened wide. Her hands shot out, pushing herself to the top, swimming upward as hard as she could. However, her previous unconscious state hindered her ability to hold her breath. Nonetheless, Kesia's arms worked harder than they ever had before, pumping her body up so that she would not drown. Kesia's eyes strained as she struggled to look up; her body was quickly losing strength.