Questions

Part Three: Reflecting

After my family bantered for a bit, my parents when into their room and my brother tucked himself into bed.

I retreated to my own room to sleep. Here, I didn't necessarily sleep, but had more of a half-dream. Hallucination? Maybe. More of an epiphany.

This came in the form of my mom. She was sitting in a mirror, talking, and I was on the other side of that mirror. She had kind of a structured position. She did not look relaxed, the way that my mom looked. She was very stern, almost angry.

"You have a complex situation Autumn." She told me.

"Mom?" I asked. "Can you hear me?"

"I am not your mom, but I am her shape. Your soul has created a comforting image in a time of distress." She replied.

I shivered. "Can you help me? What is happening?"

"You are in a coma. Your soul is seperated from your body. You cannot be percieved in your own world. The longer you are here, the more of your second option you will see. The harder it will be to get back to your old world."

"How long do I have to get back?"  I asked.

"To fully transition to another world, it will take about a month, your time." She replied.

"What other world would I go to?"

"It's difficult to explain to someone used to this universe. The first stage is a developmental space. It is dark. You won't have sight, but will rely more on hearing, feeling, smelling, and the other senses that you don't have yet. You can gain sight, but it is very difficult to do. It is a relatively small universe, as it is a transitional space. Depending on how long you are there will determine where you go next. That I have no information on."

"How do I come back to my world from my current state?"

"You need to search you soul. Find your terror. Conquer it. Then you will be able to reconnect your bond to your body."

"How do I reconnect the bond?" I asked. "After I 'conquer my terror.'"

"You will know." She said.
She shifted, becoming more relaxed. Her face softened.
"I love you, Autumn. Good luck."

And her vision faded away into nothing.

...

I woke up with a warm feeling blossoming in my chest. I sat up, refreshed. I looked at the clock and it was only 6:30. My brother was getting ready for school.

Out of curiosity, I went to school with him. We normally rode the same bus, went to the same, small school in different hallways. Walked to the bus stop with him, and boarded the bus behind him. The morning was very cool, with bits of frost on the ground. I'm sure me being so close to him didn't help. Sorry Jake.

I sat all the way in the back, in my usual spot of the single seat, the shortest one by the emergency exit. No one sat there, no one sat even near me.

I listened to the conversations of the bus. A few people asked Jake why he wasn't in school yesterday. He didn't want to talk, and they egged him on until he snapped at them, and told them I was in a car accident. Their goofy smiles dropped, and they sat quietly in their seat.

This was the first time I felt a glimse of the other world. My vision cut out even though my eyes were open, and my whole body tingled. I heard some sharp cracks of what sounded like very distant lightning, and smelled a mix of roses, sea salt, and coffee. Around my legs, I felt the tingling sensation reside and a scratchy, sandpaper like sensation replaced it. I screamed and I heard the world go silent. A large grunt sounded behind me and I felt something move a few feet to the left of me.

Then the bus hit a bump and I came back to earth. The other world only lasted maybe ten seconds, but it definitely shook me up. I guess one of the other senses was to feel where things moved. Kind of like echolocation? I guess that's my best example.

I got off the bus and went to my homeroom. There, Liliana was sitting in her usual spot next to the window. She was jumpier than normal. Anxious. Her leg was bouncing, she was playing with her hair and had her eyes closed.

Liliana's notebook was infront of her, open, and a pencil was out from doodling. I snuck over and in the top corner, I drew a tree and a heart. I touched her arm, giving her chills. She looked up, directly at me.

With bloodshot eyes, she stared into my soul. The very bottom of it. How upset she was spoke to me. I realized in this moment that I couldn't leave. I couldn't leave Liliana, Jake, my mom, my dad, cousins, family, friends, acquaintances, anyone. No matter what other world there was, I couldn't  leave my own. My time wasn't done yet.

She glanced down at her paper and burst into tears. She saw my doodle. I connected to her.
"I'm not going to leave." I said, outloud.

...

"I believe you," she whispered.