The World Through Various Eyes

[10] Out of Place (Alex's POV)

My mouth was dry. My lips were chapped. I felt around with my tongue to increase the flow of saliva.

Bad idea.

Where the hell were my braces? I frantically shot up from my warm bed, instantly regretting that decision. The teeth in my mouth felt as smooth as a wet stone in a shallow pond.... and strangely straight. But how had my braces just "come off" like that?

My breath began to become shallow, in intermittent bursts, struggling for air as I assessed the scene. The room was an unfamiliar location. Great, just what I needed. I delighted in the fact that I was indeed not tied to a cold metal chair this time. Surprisingly, I recognized this location, albeit vaguely. But from where?

It reeked of perfume, with base notes of amber and musk, and the assorted posters plastered on the walls were from classic books and plays. I spotted "The Great Gatsby" on the left wall, with "Pride and Prejudice" next to it, along with various musicals such as "Les Misérables" and "Wicked".

After noticing these, I immediately remembered this room's owner.

This was Jade's room.

Many questions fired off at the speed of light, pelting me like a soldier in combat under fire. But one rose above all else to claim its spot on the throne of importance.

What exactly was I doing in Jade's room?

And then I saw it.

My shaky breath caught in its throat, forming a large lump as my eyes drifted their way to her old wall mirror, which was in the shape of a large, elongated oval.

The face before me was foreign, its nose curved, skin pale and hair dark in coloring. It was long, thrown into a loose braided ponytail that could barely be categorized as such at this point. Upon the aforementioned nose sat thin, black, metal-framed glasses.

This appearence description was far from me. I realized this, and so did my brain, which most likely began to pump a stress hormone called cortisol, which I vaguely recalled Jade lecturing me about before a presentation, for whatever reason.

Or was it her brain that was pumping it? I didn't even know anymore. Whoever's brain it was, it seemed to be entertaining my thoughts as well as hers.

Agh, I couldn't take it! My thoughts, her thoughts, whatever the hell was going on, and the situation at hand overwhelmed me to the point of being relatively distraught.

The now-feminine voice that I possessed yelled out an incoherent exclamation.

This whole experience had my head (or Jade's) spinning. I had always wanted to know what went on in someone else's head- but this certainly was not how I wished to accomplish that.

I listened as the yell echoed through her room and out the open window to the right of her bed. Shortly thereafter, a female adult figure who I recognized as Jade's mother rushed in, staggering towards me. She kneeled by the bed with a look of extreme concern plastered on her face, its shade as pale as my current one.

I hadn't seen her for sometime, so a couple features were visible up close that I didn't recognize. Her hair was curly as usual, short and shoulder length with prevalent frizz. It seemed that its presentation hadn't changed the least bit, but the color was obviously a lighter auburn.

I had slid back down into the covers after my assessment, but she clearly wasn't done with me. The sheets covered my face completely as I rested my head on the matching pillow, which was an elegant bordeaux shade. After much prompting, I sat up to face her, but continued to stare straight up at the ceiling in order to avoid her expectant stare.