Journey to Sanity

Chapter II: The Beginning and Adapting

I decided not to tell anyone what I know; about my real name and that I’m not from here. Even if I do try, no one would ever believe me so I’ll just keep it a secret for myself. I tried adapting to the people around me, trying hard not to let them notice or suspect anything strange about me. It was hard to act like nothing’s wrong when everything is in complete and utter mayhem. Who in the right mind would even enjoy this kind of absurdity? Seriously! The first time I woke up here, I thought, “Maybe they’re just pulling pranks on me,” but no, no jokes implied at all. I even tried pinching myself to see if I was dreaming but to my luck, I just ended up hurting myself. I find it most difficult getting used to being called Allina.

~

“Allina! Wake up already, Allina! It’s already lunchtime! We’re hungry!” said a voice. Who the heck is yelling? Ugh. And who’s Allina? I don’t remember Starr having a friend with that name. “Just ignore it, Skye. You just heard wrong,” I murmured to myself. I was trying to go back to sleep when someone shook me to full consciousness. “Allina, we’re hungry! Get up and cook already! We’re going to die of hunger.” Oh, it’s just Starr. Wait… When did Starr get her hair dyed? And what did she just call me? Allina? “Ugh. Stop it, Starr. I’m getting up so stop it. By the way, when did you go blonde? And why are you calling me Allina?” I said without pausing. I couldn’t explain Starr’s reaction; it was somewhat a mixture of confusion, worry and anxiousness. “Ha ha. Very funny, Allina” she said sarcastically, “I’ve been blonde since I was born, duh? Now go downstairs and start making lunch.” “You’re kidding, right?” I thought she was joking but I couldn’t see any hint of humor in her eyes, she was dead serious. I, actually anyone, would know if Starr would be lying or joking. She has this weird mannerism of twirling the end of her hair every time she would lie so I am sure she’s telling the truth. I didn’t know how to react. To say I was shocked was an understatement. “You’re acting really weird today, sis. Are you sick or something?” she said. I shook my head to fully awake myself before saying, “It’s nothing. I’m fine. Let’s just go down now.” Maybe this is just a dream; I just need to play it out.

“What took you guys so long? I’m starving here!” said Silver, acting like he’s about to faint. He’s blonde as well. What kind of dream am I having? Is this some kind of inner desire I, myself, didn’t know of? I’m having too many questions; let’s just see where this dream ends up. “Oh, uhh… Sorry, I overslept,” I said apologetically. I just can’t come up with a reasonable explanation why I am having this dream right now. It’s quite interesting though.

I let my dream continue until I discovered something spiteful. “Allina! Your friends are here!” Skye called downstairs. I got really excited, expecting to see Nina and the others. I rushed downstairs and into our living room. To my surprise, there was another twist to my dream. “Hey, sissy! Ready for our study group?” My jaw was literally hanging. My mouth was open wide as if I just saw my biggest idol of all time. If you’re wondering why this is my reaction, I’ll elaborate it to you. Standing in front of me right now, the one who just spoke, is the most popular and the most envied girl at school. Yes, I’m talking about no other than Celeste herself, with her gang all sitting at our couch.

When I say gang, I meant her entourage of dumb but beautiful followers. But something’s different with all of them. They’re known for being popular but also for being the dumbest people at school. When you look at them now, you’d never believe they’re idiots at all. Celeste is wearing the thickest pair of glasses I have ever seen and is holding a massive book that said, if I read it correctly, Principles of Physics. Arianna and Adriana, the nincompoop twins, never learned how to read long sentences but both are holding and reading novels. Shanon, our very own super model, is wearing the dorkest clothes like fashion is not in her vocabulary. She is wearing an orange long-sleeved shirt topped with a white vest, a blue plated-skirt that is around 2-inches below the knee long, and long rainbow socks. Then there’s Haru, the brains of the group. She’s really great at academics but she doesn’t want to admit it to anyone. Haru thinks that being smart is lame and uncool and that that would hinder from being famous. How do I even know this? Well, she was my friend before she became popular but that was a long time ago.

It took a more time that it had to come back to my senses. I was horrified to know that I am friends with these people even though I know this is just a dream. I tried pinching myself real hard so I could wake up already but I grunted because of the pain that felt afterwards. As soon as I realized what was happening, I excused myself and went upstairs. “Excuse me for a while, girls. I forgot something in my room.” I said awkwardly. I closed the door immediately after going inside my room. “This has gone too far. I need to wake up,” I whispered to myself, not wanting anyone to overhear. I tried slapping myself in the face but it just stung. I also banged my head to the wall but still, nothing happened. I closed my eyes convincing myself I’ll be waking up when I open my eyes but nothing. I even tried hitting myself with a book; I ended up having a bleeding nose.

It took me an hour or so before giving up because someone was knocking on my bedroom’s door. “Allina, are you alright? What’s all the commotion in there? Do you feel sick? Do you want me to tell your friends to just go home?” Silver asked. “No, no. I’m fine. I was just looking for something. I’ll be out in a minute.” I composed myself, removed the cotton that covered my nose, made sure it won’t start bleeding again, and went out. I flinched a bit with surprise to see my brother just outside my room, facing me with a worried look. “What were you even looking for? Did you find it?” he asked. “Uh… Yeah, just some notes I’d need. That’s all,” I said, trying to be as convincing as possible. “Well alright,” he replied, obviously wasn’t convinced but didn’t try to ask any more questions; and to that, I sighed with relief.

“Sorry for taking too long, girls. Now where were we?” I said once I reached our living room. I quickly scanned the area for other weird stuff. This might just be another hyper sleep dream test I tried at home and forgot about. I’ll only be released if I could find it; whatever it may be. I just need to play along for now.