For hundreds of years, humans classified a race of people called realm jumpers as a myth. Realm jumpers are people who spend as long as they need to jump from realm to realm, finding their true identity. The only clue that they know about their real identity is their name. From each realm they jump they are given a different body with a different life and a different name, but the same mind. Once the identity of the person is found, the person has to stay in their true realm in their real body.
Are they real?
They most definitely are real, because I am one of them.
My breaths become shorter and shorter, my legs searing with soreness and my arms weak, pumping at my sides. My bare feet hit soft moss still covered in morning dew and moist dirt. I dodge oak trees, amber colored sap dripping down their trunks into crevices inside red-brown bark. Whiffs of rain and sap smells fill my nose. Wild rabbits, turkey, and caramel colored deer roam the area, red-breasted birds and flocks of gray birds flying high up above the treetops. Sun filters through the trees and I continue to run although I want to stop and catch my breath. Through a clearing I can see a cliff up ahead, with about a two hundred foot drop. I run faster, not slowing for the drop. Suddenly I'm falling. My heart stops and my stomach feels like its dropping. My hair whips up and my body turns upside down.
When I am inches from the ground, my body feels light again and I'm in the next realm. I lay in a hospital bed, scratchy sheets over a thin cotton gown. I notice my breathing is hoarse and next to me is a machine with green lines running through it. Tubes are stuck into my arms, and a white hospital band covers my wrist. I read the name scrawled on the band, black letters standing out against the white. Amanda Smith it says. I'm not Amanda Smith. I carefully pull the tubes out of my arm and I get up from the uncomfortable bed, throwing the sheets on the ground. I slowly walk to a window and look down. Cars dot the streets down below and buildings stand proudly in the distance. Using all my weight in this new, fragile body I lift the window. The outside air smells vaguely like gasoline and paint. I wrinkle my nose. Taking a deep breath I climb up onto the windowsill, sitting on it with my legs dangling into air. I push off the window, my delicate body flipping like a rag doll through the air, this time with no hair to flow behind me. I close my eyes.
When I open my eyes, bright green vines are all I see. I stand up, looking at lush green trees with big leaves, vines stretching from tree to tree like ropes strung as decoration. The ground is moist like a rain had battered the ornate wonderland just hours ago. I look for any signs of identification in my new body. Is this me? I think. I kind of hope its not. I sink my hands into my pockets, feeling for cards or a phone with a name. My hands grasp something slim and smooth. I pull it out. It is a glossy card with a name and job with a picture.
Maria Lopez
Director of W S I- Wildlife Saving Incorporation
Not me.
I start walking to find higher elevation to jump from, and I start sweating immediately, humidity making droplets of sweat fall down my head. I walk for an hour until I realize that soon darkness would take over the sky. I check my pockets for a flashlight or a weapon. I didn’t find anything except for a pair of eyeglasses. Crap I say aloud. Alone in a jungle full of vicious animals, waiting to feast on me. Finally I spot a thin river that twists into a waterfall. Relief floods my body. Still the river is far. The sky was covered in streaks of pink and orange and beyond mountains I could see dark blue starting to fill the sky. I take a deep breath and begin running. My legs are still sore from the run in the forest this morning. Hopefully the next realm is safe. I need a place to sleep tonight unless I want to spend another sleepless night running from animals in the dark I think. Twenty minutes later I’m at the foot of the river. I bite my lip. The sky is dark blue, soon to be even darker. The current sucks everything straight towards the waterfall. A few big logs rush past me but I am too scared to get on. Fewer logs rush past and I throw myself onto a smaller log. My palms are scratched and bleeding and my chin burns because I hit it on the log. The water is cold and I feel a sprinkle of raindrops tickling my face. I think of all the snakes and bacteria in the water. I curl up my legs. The sky darkens
