𝐁𝐋𝐔𝐄 𝐁𝐋𝐎𝐎𝐃 ; 𝒃𝒐𝒐𝒌 𝒐𝒏𝒆 | (being rewritten, on hold)

𝓞𝐍𝐄

♔ ♛ ♔

"𝐅𝐈𝐍𝐀𝐋𝐋𝐘, it's over! Aren't you excited Charlie?" Harper sighed comically as she walked out of the school doors with her best friend. Of course, he was too caught up in his book to notice what she said.

He didn't look up from his novel. Instead, he acknowledged her with a slight nod. "Mhm. . ."

"Charlie! You're not even paying attention," she frowned, nudging him. "Come on, you have to be excited, even just a bit."

"I'm reading, Harper. Can't you give me five minutes of peace and quiet?" he grumbled, continuing to walk with his nose in a book.

"Okay, I guess I'll let you walk straight into a busy road then," Harper noted casually. Charlie's eyes darted from his book, towards the empty sidewalk in front of him.

Harper laughed. "Made you look!" she smirked, and he shot her an annoyed glare.

"Really."

"Mhm."

Charlie rolled his eyes and went back to reading. She continued her normal pace down the vacant sidewalk, bored of the familiar sights and sounds she passed by. Harper didn't have much to look forward to besides spending time with her best friend, although occasionally he would steal time to read.

She couldn't blame him though, supposedly to Charlie, reading was another world that you could escape to whenever you wanted. Harper, however, couldn't read three pages straight without getting sidetracked.

The obvious signs of winter nearing were almost everywhere now, with the cold chill settling in and the colored leaves decorating yards. That also meant one other thing — snow.

Harper remembered the times when she would sled down snowy hills with Charlie, and her younger brother. When they would play all day in the winter wonderland, and come back inside for hot chocolate. But that also reminded her of him.

Looking at her wrist, Harper adjusted the old watch secured on fairly tightly. Sucking in a deep breath, she closed her eyes and thought of her father. He gave her the trinket as an early Christmas present, before his disappearance a couple of weeks later. Harper didn't understand how, or why it happened, but she did know that it changed her. She never understood how much she loved him until he was out of her reach.

Harper didn't realize she was silently crying until Charlie stopped walking and grasped her hands. She bit her lip — a habit of hers — and looked away. She didn't like people seeing her vulnerable side, especially when she cried like this.

"What's wrong?" he asked, his voice filled with worry.

Her eyes didn't meet him. "Nothing."

"You're crying, Harper. You hardly ever cry."

"Well maybe I can now." she countered.

Charlie hesitated, before letting go of her hands taking his warmth with him. "Okay, then I won't pressure you," he paused. "We should head to your house. I think it'll be better that way."

Harper merely nodded, and the duo started their slow walking pace once again. She closed her eyes once more, assuring herself that she was fine.

But she really wasn't.

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"𝐃𝐎𝐄𝐒 your mom have any more cocoa? I want some hot chocolate." Charlie asked. Harper grinned and shook her head.

"Nope. We ran out."

"Who drank it all?!" Charlie pouted.

"You did," she smirked.

They both shared a laugh before Charlie left her room to go ask her mom for food. She knew if she asked, her mom would "kindly" decline.

Harper played with her watch some more, adjusting it, readjusting it, removing it. She was still a bit dazed from earlier, but she was convinced she was okay. At least, for now.

She put her watch back on her wrist, careful not to mess with anything. It was fragile, and Harper was not the most cautious person in the world. Thinking that she had successfully reattached it to her wrist, she got up, wanting to check on Charlie.

Although, that wasn't what happened.

The watch slipped from her wrist, falling to the floor. Harper's eyes widened as she tried to save it, but before she could grasp it, the small trinket hit the floor, surprisingly fully intact.

Harper breathed a sigh of relief before the confusion settled in. She did not expect that.

"How. . ?" she whispered to herself.

"Harper? I'm back," Charlie said, entering her room. He didn't notice the watch until he saw her facial expression. "Wait...what did you do now?"

"I may have accidentally dropped my watch?"

"Harper, really?" he asked. She could tell he wasn't surprised.

"Hey, in my defense, it didn't break," she argued.

Before Charlie could think of a retort, the polished trinket glowed, grabbing their attention. The several faint carvings on the watch band began to glitter, and soon enough a large beam of light appeared in the middle of Harper's bedroom,

Harper's eyes widened as she stared in disbelief. She never expected her winter break to start out like this. Neither did she expect a flashing portal to appear in her bedroom.

"What do we do?" she questioned her best friend, not taking her eyes off the large portal.

"How about we slowly walk away...?" Charlie suggested, nervously backing away from the glowing beam. She knew that Charlie would be reluctant. He was not the kind of person to do something so radical without a reason. Unlike him, she was curious about what would be waiting for her on the other side.

"Well, we only live once. I guess we're going in." Harper exhaled slowly, looking back at him one last time before walking into the glowing, unknown beam.

This was going to be an eventful day.

♔ ♛ ♔

AUTHOR'S NOTE —

chapter one is done, at last!! hopefully, you all enjoyed this chapter, bc there are a lot more to come. anyways I promised to ask questions in these ANs so here we go:

Q: if you had to choose to stay in one place for the rest of your life ( and never leave ;) ) where would it be?

A: hmm, if it was possible to have an entire IKEA to myself, that would be amazing lmao, but a girl can only dream :,)

thank you for reading, love you all!

— mika —