The Other Side (YouTube FanFic)

[Chapter 8] You're Back

I woke up from my unconscious state to a faint gray world. I groaned as I turned my head to the right to see that I was sitting at a dining room table, and Anna was getting some things out of the cabinets on the wall of a kitchen. She looked over at me and smirked, "Hey, good, you're up."

"Why are we here?" I asked her as I pulled myself from the back of the chair. The mild headache I had got worse. I grabbed my head and squeezed my eyes shut in pain. "Shouldn't we be in a bathroom? Not a kitchen?"

"Shh! You'll wake them up..." She murmured as she sat down next to me and started dabbing my forehead with rubbing alcohol. A whole new kind of pain jolted down my body.

"Wake who up?" I growled through my clenched teeth.

"We're in Isla's reflection's house right now," She answered quietly, setting the cotton ball she used to apply the rubbing alcohol down on the table and picking up a band-aid, "I think you said his name was Ian?" I nodded my head as she stuck the band-aid on my forehead. "Anyways, we came into his bathroom. I couldn't take you far, so I thought I'd fix you up. And that should be good for now..." She stood up and went to put everything she got out away.

"How are we going to get out?" I questioned, rising to my feet. She glanced over her shoulder at me, "I mean, his front door's locked. Trust me, I know. And we can't just leave it unlocked when we leave."

She suggested, "Use a spare key."

"A spare key?" I repeated.

"Yes. We get outside, find wherever they hide their spare key, which should be in the same place as Isla's spare key, and we lock the house back up. Simple as that."

"But then where are we going to go once we're out?"

"Anthony, you ask so many questions," She retorted irrelevantly to my question. She interlocked her fingers with mine, "Let's just go to your house, okay? Because I have a bad feeling that if we stay any longer discussing where to go, we'll get caught." I nodded my head in understanding and the two of us walked out the front door, and just as the door clicked shut, the lights inside turned on. Anna gasped and ran away. I followed after her.

We hid behind the car parked in the street and peeked over the top. We watched as the front door opened and whoever was standing in the doorway looked out, turning their head both left and right before walking back in and closing the door. Anna sighed in relief and leaned back on the car, "That was close," She murmured, looking up at me.

I laughed and ran my fingers through my hair, "Yeah. Close."

She bit her lip and inquired, "Do you know where to go from here? Because we may have similar worlds, but none of these houses look familiar to me."

"Yeah," I held my hand out to her. She stared at it. "Come on, let's go." She reluctantly placed her hand in mine. I wrapped my fingers around hers and led her down the street towards my house.

We walked for about twenty minutes until we reached my house. It was minuscule in comparison to Anna's. It wasn't even the size of her garage. My cheeks blushed in embarrassment.

"Is this your house?" Anna questioned.

"Uh...yeah..." I admitted sheepishly.

"Well then let's get inside!" She exclaimed, taking her hand out of my hold and rushing up to the door, looking back at me. I heaved a sigh and walked up to her. I went for my keys in my backpack, but then I remembered my backpack was in The Other Side, in Anna's house. "Shit," I mumbled.

"What?"

I scratched behind my head, "I lost my keys."

She crossed her arms over her chest, "Don't you have a key hidden outside? I know I do."

"Where?"

"Under the..." She glanced down at the doormat that was beneath our feet, "...mat."

She and I both stepped off if it and I bent down, lifting it up to reveal a key. I picked it up and looked up at her with a smirk. I stood up and slipped the key into hole. I unlocked the door and opened it, only to see my mom sitting in the arm chair, watching TV. She glanced back at me and gasped, dropping the coffee mug she had in her hands.

"Oh my god, you're back," She said under her breath, jumping to her feet and pulling me into a tight hug. She stepped out of the embrace and cupped her hands on my cheeks, "I thought you were missing, Anthony! I was about to put out an Amber Alert!"

"Mom, I'm fine," I reassured her.

She hugged me again, "You had me worried sick."

"I'm sorry," I apologized. She gasped and pulled away from me. I followed her frightened gaze back at Anna.

"Who's...that?" My mother whispered under her voice, as to not sound rude, though she was totally being rude.

"Uh...she's...my...um..."

Anna stepped forward and stuck her hand out, "I'm Anna, Mrs. Padilla. A good friend of his. Anthony's told me so many good things about you."

My mother placed her hand in Anna's and shook it up and down, "It's nice to meet you, Anna. I'm his mom. Anthony hasn't told me...anything about you," My mom glared up at me. I shrugged my shoulders and my mother returned her attention to my reflection. "When did you two meet?"

"About a few weeks ago when he hit his head and..."

I clamped my hand over Anna's mouth and finished for her, "Went unconscious because of the bullies I always tell you about. She found me and took me to the nurses office and stayed to see if I was okay." Anna looked up at me confused, my mom had the same expression on her face. I lowered my hand to my side and cleared my throat, "After that, we kind of just started hanging out."

"So you hung out with her for a few weeks?" My mom crossed her arms over her chest, "Making me think you were dead?"

"Mom, it's not like that..."

"Anthony!" One of my little brothers exclaimed as he ran out of the bedroom hallway and wrapped his arms around my legs, "You're back!"

I laughed and hugged him back, "Yeah, it's good to see you too, Matt." I looked up at my mom who rolled her eyes and walked away from me. I glanced over at Anna and smirked. She smiled in return.