not from around here | Zuko X OC

| chapter one |

Just a real fast A/N here:
This book is currently undergoing editing (not major), and so the chapter with the • next to the title is the one being edited.
Any questions, feel free to put them comment them.
Enjoy!

I sat in my room on my laptop.
Glancing at the clock I saw that it was just gone 10pm.
Normally I would stay up until the AM's, but today I decided to get some sleep, as I had a busy day tomorrow.

Closing down my laptop and getting under my duvet, I thought about everything I was going to do the next day.

My parents had passed away a year ago in a fatal car crash. I was living with my grandmother because she was the only relative that we were still in contact with.

But, a few weeks ago, my Grandmother passed too. I stayed long enough for the small funeral, but I didn't plan on staying any longer.
I didn't have many friends and basically no relatives to live with.
After a fight with the rest of my relatives and our family dividing itself, I knew it wasn't safe to go and ask them for help.

Tomorrow, I was leaving early to go and hunt for a better life. I had heard stories of finding another world to start a fresh and so this was where I was going.
I didn't have that much to live for anymore in this world but I didn't want to give it all up.
Not yet anyway.

If I couldn't find something to live for - some ray of shining hope in the dark tunnel that seemed to endlessly stretch through my lifetime, then maybe it was a sign for my path to end.

My grandmother was the only reason I was still here, and if she was still alive now, I wouldn't have considered going.
However, that has all changed.

Tomorrow's plan was to search Tokyo, Japan, which is where I live, for the portal to another world. I had an idea where it would be because of the research I had done on my laptop over the past weeks.

After any all nighters, I discovered that portals are usually found in places that are not buzzing with human interactions.
You could also walk past one without knowing, because they only show up to people who they think should be trusted enough to shift into another universe. Or whether they really needed to or not.

With all of this in my mind, I slowly drifted off into my last sleep in that bed.

When I woke it was 5:34am.
"Too early." I muttered to myself and slowly shuffled out of bed.

I pulled on my mom jeans with a white belt, a neon green cropped vest top, some mismatching key and padlock earrings, white socks and a pair of chunky trainers.
It was hot, so I wouldn't need a jacket unless I was asking to die in a puddle of my own sweat.

I glanced at my arms.
They were littered with straight lined scars. Every scar had a memory, a bad one. I had been clean for a long time now and my grandmother told me that that was something to be proud about, and the fact that I'm still here today is something I should not be afraid to show.
So, I was confident enough to show my scars because I knew that I shouldn't be afraid to show the scars that showed how strong I am.

Of course I had my days, but I always pushed past them.

Shoving more clothes, some money and other things I think I will need into a black backpack, I made my way downstairs.

I stopped by the door and waved to a picture of me, my parents and my grandma.
"Bye you guys. I'll be safe, I promise. I'll see you one day."

I took one final glance back at the house, and made my way down the path.

"First I've got to check behind that food place near us. I don't think there's one there but people have said they've seen a portal." I reminded myself.

After checking behind the food place, the skate park, the abandoned tree house and countless other places, it was around three o'clock and I was getting hungry.
The exact time was unknown to me, as I had left my phone at home. I didn't own a watch, so had nothing except the sun and my body clock to tell me what time it was.

I sat on a bench and pulled out my lunch.
I was disappointed I hadn't found it yet, but not very surprised.

I had stopped for a few minutes and decided to keep on walking to my next destination.
It wasn't too far from here but I was exhausted from walking for hours.
I spotted an old, abandoned arcade and something about it drew me in.

I quick detour couldn't be too bad, right?

I weaved my way through the dusty machines until I got near the back.

A strange glowing light radiated from somewhere just around the corner of where I was standing.

"It can't be..." I muttered, quickly following the light to the source.
"It is! I found it!" I exclaimed.

A hole that looked how I would imagine a black hole looked was in front of me. Radiating purple and blue light onto my face.

"I can do this. Right?" I reconsidered. Once I'm in, I won't be able to come back. Well, no one has so far.
Oh well, I hadn't searched all day and done hours and hour of research just to chicken out at the last second.

I backed up and stopped, tapping the toe of my shoes on the floor, one at a time. Taking a deep breath in, I ran at the black obis and jumped.

Henlo.

First chapter: ✨ f i n i s h e d ✨
As the story progresses, the chapters will get a lot longer, I promissse.

But for now,

Bea, out.