Parallel [ONC 2020] // Shortlisted

Chapter Three

Mitch regarded Ricky – strange name for a girl – with furrowed eyebrows and a tilt of his head. I didn't know who Einstein was and I certainly had no idea what they were referring to, but I would have taken anything if it meant finding out just what had happened. The idea of parallel universes made as much sense as their attire and overall attitude, but I was prepared to trust them if they could explain any of this to me.

"Einstein was one of the greatest scientific minds of all time, he wouldn't have just been wrong. How can everything happen at once and none of us ever see it?"

"But we do! Ghosts could be tears in the fabric of one universe crossing into another. What if every single timeline happens parallel to one another and ghosts are points in which two seemingly different timelines cross one another? If you think about it, it makes far more sense than a spirit, in the literal sense of a ghost anyway."

"Or she could just be a very dedicated cosplayer."

I had no idea what a cosplayer was or why being dedicated would be such a bad thing and I resented the idea that they thought I was not the person I told them I was. Mother had always said that lying, even a seemingly minor liar, would be one of the biggest sins a person could commit. The mere thought that I would lie to them about my own identity seemed absurd, especially as everyone knew my family.

The two of them continued their exchange for a few minutes more, neither of them acknowledging my existence or even offering to explain themselves in a way that may have been more understandable. If this were the future, they really needed to work on their manners a little more because this would be considered the height of rudeness to anyone who had undergone lessons in behaviour.

"This is getting stupid. Cosplayer or not, she can't stay in that dress, she stands out like a sore thumb," Mitch said. He looked at my dress in a way that would have deserved a slap.

"I agree. Go to the library and dig out those books we were reading about the family, oh and any on time travel or ghosts."

"What are you going to do?"

"Where do you think she's going to get new clothes from?"

Mitch shook his head and turned before heading back in the direction of the drawing-room, though why he went there remained a mystery, the library was further down the hall. Ricky turned to face me and motioned back to the entranceway and the stairs. I didn't like the idea of having to change out of my gown, especially if it meant wearing something far too revealing. I didn't want to have to change clothes.

Still, I couldn't see any other option around the situation I found myself in and if Ricky's seemingly nonsensical idea turned out to be relevant, I wanted to stand out as little as possible. Ricky lead me up the stairs and back down the hallway I had come from less than half an hour before. We passed by several rooms, including Luke's, each one had four beds, several bedside tables, drawers and wardrobes. They had brightly coloured posters on the walls of men and women in barely anything.

It certainly wasn't 1882 anymore.

We walked a little further down the hallway and Ricky pushed the door closest to the end of the hall open. My room. Only it wasn't my room, not anymore. Much like the other rooms, there were four beds in each corner accompanied by a bedside table. The walls were covered in multi-coloured posts just like the previous rooms but there were also people plastered on small rectangles of paper. They looked like photographs but coloured.

"Huh, odd. That bed was stripped this morning," Ricky said, she looked at the bed in the far corner. "Stripped as in empty, there are usually only three of us in here."

"This is my room," I said.

"Was it? I didn't know. By the time the hall had been confirmed as part of the school, your room was storage and it had been that way for a very long time."

"What happened to all my things?"

"I'm not sure, I think most of what used to be here is in the attic." She paused. "Let's get you something to change into."

I watched Ricky cross to one of the drawers and pull it open. She thumbed through the clothing within, but none of it appeared appropriate. The skirts were far too short to preserve any form of modesty and I certainly didn't plan on walking around in male attire. I would have rather stuck out in my dress then broken the rules of modesty and decorum that Mother had fought so hard for me to maintain.

"I know none of this is suitable for your era, but there is nothing else and with any luck, it'll only be for a little while. We're on half term so most people have gone home for a week, no one will see you in it except for the few left behind and some of the teachers."

"I can't wear any of that, it's immodest."

"It's the twenty-first century and that really won't cut it around here, despite the few people that will be around. It's either this or you walk around stark naked, your choice."

Although I despised the idea far more than I despised Luke's ghost ramblings, I couldn't think of another option that would make my life in this new environment any easier. I didn't plan on wearing it for too long, but I didn't have any other choice but to grit my teeth and do as told.

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A/N - Back with Chapter Three! Let me know what you think!