The Portal - Pain Is The Password

Chapter six - Horror Stories

"So what's it like?" Fate pauses, "back home?" The girls are both lying on the bed, Fate's legs resting on the wall and Audrey slipping but feeling no need to push herself back up.

Audrey thinks hard for a second, she's never really thought about it as she's never needed to. What is it like back home?"

"Well, the sky's blue instead of purple." Audrey answers after the silence become awkward, Fate sits up straight but Audrey stays lying.

"A blue sky! Oh my Ciano," She squeals and stares out into the black stormy night "I know you have a blue sky from the nursery rhyme!"

"What's a Ciano?" Audrey asks, Fate opens her mouth to reply but she answers herself, "is it an instrument?"

"No, it's the world." Fate reaches over and flicks Audrey's forehead. Audrey slips the last few millimetres and she lands on the floor in a ball. Both girls laugh so hard they can barely breathe.

"Moron." Audrey could have sworn she heard Fate whisper.

Finally, when Audrey brings herself together she confidently states. "This world is called Topa." Fate doubles over again in laughter and once she stops she tells Audrey.

"Topa is the town we live in, Ruskana is the country we're in and Ciano is the world."

"That's too much knowledge." Audrey deadpans. Audrey pulls herself back onto the bed and this time chooses to sit next to Fate. Fate is chattering about how crazy it would be to see a blue sky, Audrey thinks of how nice it would be if one day she can show her.

"So what else, let me guess, you don't have rain?" Fate says and points out of the window, "that's rain by the way."

"I know what rain is, I come from a place called England and it rains a lot." Audrey tells Fate, "but it only rains here at night, your lucky, it rains no matter the time of day where I come from."

"Lucky? If we ever leave our possessions outside during the night, they get soaked. No chance of keeping it." Fate pauses for breath, "and there are other times when it rains but I can't explain it. What other things are different?"

Audrey thinks harder this time, what is different about this place and home. A difference that doesn't stick out like the sky being purple instead of blue, the houses are weirder sure but then Audrey has only been inside so many houses.

"I don't think our worlds are too different, maybe just the people." Audrey finally says as she realises that the way the people act here is different from the ones back home. The people in this foreign land are more confident with themselves and their opinions so they walk freely without tension in their shoulders.

"Hm." Fate presses her lips together and lies back down again, pulling the pillow from under her head and cuddling it. Both of them are searching their heads for a conversation topic but these do not come easy when a few hours earlier Oit had said words that twisted Audrey's stomach.

Suddenly, the door is kicked open, the handle smashing into the wall behind it. The girls jump in fear, turning quickly to see who the attacker is. Sias is standing there, balancing with one leg in the air and looking incredibly proud with himself. Bo is behind him with his arms filled with snacks, his chin resting on a paper plate. Evert is next to him, his hands stuffed in his pockets and he's staring at the floor.

"You guys scared the hell out of me." Audrey states, breathing hard and Fate nods, the boy's faces change from laughing to confused.

"What's hell?" Asks Bo, as he pushes his way into the room and over to the bed. Pouring all the snacks from his arms onto it, then separating them quickly so they do not stain.