The Floaters [cake au] ✔

⌛ ➇ : scar. ⌛

Chapter 8: scar.

"Will you let me explain myself?"

I pursed my lips and folded my arms, mainly in attempt to hide the fact that my heart was beating so fast but also to give off the impression that I wasn't going to be fooled so easily. "What's there to explain? I think I've heard it all," I replied arrogantly as I slapped myself internally for being such an idiot. Why was I being so mean to him?

"You really haven't. There's a lot more to my story than first meets the eye. Will you give me some of your time today and let me tell you?"

Sighing, I gave in. "I'm sorry for being such a douche. And also... before you tell me... I went to the voice fountain despite you telling me not to go. I'm sorry for that too. I regret it, a lot."

We started walking aimlessly (to be honest I was just following him – he seemed to know where he was going) and he smiled. "I told you so."

"Oh don't be a kid."

"I am one."

At that point I could no longer maintain any resent I had for him and I burst out laughing, making him give me the strangest look I'd ever seen him give. "Where are we headed?"

"The town centre. There's a class I want to attend, it's supposed to be really interesting. C'mon, it starts soon," he said, grabbing my hand and dragging me as he ran.

"Wait, what about you explaining yourself?!"

"We can save that for later!"

~

The speaker adjusted her glasses and continued. "That's right, I've been to this world twice now. I've already told you about the experiences, but what you'll find intriguing is the research I did when I got back."

I yawned. How was this interesting? It was just a scientist who'd been sent here after almost drowning during a field trip, who was about to present her findings. I glared at Luke who simply shushed me and fixated his gaze on the woman.

"I found out when I woke up that I had a scar on my stomach. It was a rather large one, and looked as though I'd had a Caesarean surgery – except, I hadn't. That's when I remembered – when I was here, a young boy accidentally ran into me whilst holding a sharp rock he was bringing to me for observation. Without thinking he'd stabbed my tummy and the reason why I didn't remember at first was because in this world, we don't feel pain."

I felt Luke freeze against my arm next to me, resulting in me shoving him. But when I glanced over, he looked as though he was about to cry. "Dude, what's wrong?" I whispered.

He gulped and ignored me, continuing to listen.

"Anyway, I went to see a doctor back on earth but clearly they weren't interested. People still don't believe this place exists which is absolutely mad, seeing how everyone who enters a coma is exiled to this land of perfection and strange wildlife.

"That was when I decided to visit a psychic. He told me that this was quite uncommon because whilst we cannot feel anything here physically, our brains still react to stimuli so we move away to avoid getting hurt. I suppose it must've taken me so much by surprise that reacting didn't occur to me at the time."

My ears perked as I began to take in what she was saying. It was actually kind of interesting, wasn't it? How despite this being a place where your mind drifted, your body could still be affected. Luke was still somewhat shaken though, and no matter how many times I jiggled his arm, he didn't take any notice.

By the end of the talk, I was dozing off again. The sound of clapping made me jolt upwards and we watched as the streams of people left the large room so that it was only me and Luke left.