The Alternate Universes

CHAPTER 3 - Imaginary Friend

"̷̡̤̠͈̼̼̺̀̈Ą̷̡̛͉̻̮̠͎͙̬̽̏͐̿͛r̴̬̝͌͠e̷̗̮̙͕̫͍̽̏̑̎̃̒͝͝ͅ ̴̟͉͑͗͐͗͆͝y̷͈̬̩̖̰̍͌̊͛͌͊̅̿̇̓̈͆ͅȍ̶̺̘̈́u̴̹̲͒ ̸̱̦̝͎̜͕͓̬̥͚̣̳͎͌̿a̸̝̲̗̥̒͆̑͘l̴̡̛̰͕͙̭̗͉̥̦̙̼͍̫̑̒̊̉̚͘͜͜͝ĺ̵̢̛̠̜̮͔̥̳̬̺͙̘̤͙̑͛̃͘ ̶̘̀͆̋̋͌͊̊̀̎̆̚s̷̢̛̱̬͓̮̞̠͇̻̘͇̄͊ͅu̶͚̺̩̟̰̝̮̦̐̈́͗ͅr̴͉̤̩̲͈͓̟̟͚͎̝͚̯̟͌̌̄̽͘ͅẹ̶̈́̈́?̷̘̇͋̄̑̇͂"̸̶̣͍̙̻͙̖͉̿̈̈́̏͌͠ͅ

"̶̧̧̢̮̼̤͓̙̤̙̤̰͉̇̒̈́ͅY̶̛͍̺̗̰̹̜͎̺̅͛̑͒̈̈́͝è̷̡̩̮͍̯͙͚̣̊́̈́̽̋̀́̀͌͘͜͝͝a̶̡̰̟̲̘̹͈̻̙̽͑̆̐͌̂͊͗͜͝ͅh̵̡͉̭̫̯̭̽͆̀͒̿̃̈́̎̇̀̒̽̀̅͝"

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Dirt was excited, he was about to meet his friends that he'd only been able to talk to online for so long. They were going to the plaza to meet up, then have fun in an event being held in a mall nearby. He walked leisurely, despite being a bit late. He laughed a bit at the thought of them getting mad at him for being late. Just like before.

He smiled softly at the thought, his phone suddenly dinged with a notification. He lifted up his phone and read the message.

"DIRT, RUN AND DON'T COME HERE. PLEASE, THERES A SHOOTOUT GOING ON, PLEASE JUST RUN."

Dirt's eyes widened. No.. No, not again. He looked up from his phone. They said to run. He breathed in. Fuck it. He ran forward, I'm not going to lose any more people. He kept running, towards the plaza. He wasn't going to let them die. He heard a loud honking noise, he turned and saw a truck. Before he could react, there was a loud crash and screech. Everything went black.

Dirt opened his eyes. Everything was bright, he let out a breath he didn't even know he was holding. The light began to dissipate. It looked like he was in a room, a child's room at that. He was sitting on a chair in front of a table with teacups and a teapot. He looked around him and saw his friends.  All of them blinked when they saw Dirt. "Wait what the heck is going on-" The white haired one with orange highlights, Minko asked. "I don't know!- Wait a second, Dirt did you die?" Asked a raven haired boy, Oku. "I think? I got hit by a truck .. ?" Dirt answered. A pink haired boy with a single green hair strand poking out, otherwise knows as Lychee, spoke up "I think all of us are dead." Potato, a brownish-orange haired girl, blinked. "Then where are we?" She inquired. "I don't know either, but this looks like a girl's bedroom." Koko, a brown haired girl said. The door suddenly opened. "Hallo!" A little girl appeared, she was holding a bottle of water. She closed the door and sat down on a chair.

Dirt blinked and said a small "Hi.." The girl smiled and filled the teapot with the water. She smiled. "Any of you want some tea?" Potato's heart softened, she covered her mouth. "She's precious" She sniffed jokingly, "I am quite parched" Oku said at the girl, who responded by cocking her head at the side in confusion. Lychee started laughing "Do you think she would understand that??" He wiped a tear, still laughing. Dirt nodded and the girl filled the cup with water. Dirt tried picking it up but he phased right through it. "Huh.." Koko tried poking the cup, but just like Dirt, she phased right through the cup. The girl giggled and she filled up her cup with water and drank a bit, her parents called for her, so she stood up and went to get something that laid on the side of her bed.

The little girl came back with a plush, a Pikachu plush. Potato let out an 'Oh my god-'. The girl put the plush on her chair. "Please take care of Pikoi while I'm gone!" She waved and went away. "She named it fucking PIKOI-" Potato screeched the moment the girl left. "She's precious." Potato concluded. "We don't even know her name." Oku said leaning back a bit. "I think her name is Paris." Minko pointed at her bed, which had the word 'Paris' engraved on it. "Probably," Dirt said. "You think we are her imaginary friends?" Lychee asked. All of them turned to him. "Not a bad hunch.." Oku said. "We're like- Winnie the Pooh-" Koko said. "Lets explore a bit." Koko said standing up. Koko walked up to the wall and phased right through it. "Well, that's one way to do it-" Dirt chuckled before following. The rest doing the same.

"The girl is eating." Koko said coming back up the stairs. "Oh. Can she hear us?" Potato asked. "Dunno." Koko said. They first explored the 2nd floor.

"Guys look, there are three beds here." Oku said, his head poking out of a wall. "Oh ok." Minko said, walking forward. "Darwin, Edith and Aoife." Koko read out loud. "Interesting names." Minko said leaning down at the engravement of the names on the beds. Lychee went to the beds and saw a paper on a table beside Darwin's bed. One word he saw on the paper explained it all. 'Divorce'

"Guys, look.." Lychee pointed at the paper, they stood up and looked at it. "Oh.. This must've been Paris's brother, probably he was taken away from her." Potato murmured. Minko went to Aoife and Edith's bed, she didn't find anything. "That's the only thing left behind." Oku kneeled down, and peeked under the beds. "There's a box here but I can't open it, my hand just phases through." Oku said. "Ah, so the rest is hidden away.."

A girl suddenly opened the door and went through, the six froze. "Guys, I don't think she can hear us," Oku said walking towards the door, where the girl was. She was carrying a box and continued into the room, passing by Minko. "That's nice to know, I guess," Dirt said as he followed Minko, who was walking up to Oku. Potato, Koko and Lychee followed as well. They left and went off to another room.

They saw a room with a label, 'Aunt Finch' Koko went in and saw an old person laying in bed. She seemed to be sick. She was barely moving, she could be considered a corpse. "Perhaps we shouldn't be here.." Potato said, getting Koko's hand and going through the hallway with the others.

"Shall we explore more, or go back?" Oku asked. "Well, the only thing left for exploring now is the first floor. The girl might see us, wouldn't want the parents to think she's schizophrenic or something, y'know?" Dirt replied, with Oku nodding.

They got back to the room and talked a bit, the girl suddenly came back. "Hallo again!" She grinned and got Pikoi and hugged him. "Thank you for watching over Pikoi!" She moved Pikoi to her bed and sat down with the six on the table. She started drawing. Oku waved his hand around the girl's face. "Oku!" The others hissed at him. "What? I'm just checking if she can see us or not." He chuckled. The girl didn't react though. "Oh, so sometimes she can't see us.." Potato murmured. "Lets go downstairs then!" Koko said standing up. She phased right through the door and jumped down the stairs.

"Wai-"
"wHEEE-"
"Wait we can fly?"

Potato looked down the railing and saw a slowly falling Koko. "ME TOO-" Dirt yelled as he jumped off the stairs. Oku jumped and rolled while in the air. "You guys are weird." Minko laughed, Lychee laughing a bit as well. Then the remaining three walked down the stairs.

They were in the dining room, Oku looked around. "This is a pretty nice house.." Lychee whispered in awe.

"Guys, the living room is over here," Dirt said, gesturing to a hallway. "Ah, the kitchen is right here." Potato said going to the left side of the dining room. Minko was still checking out the entrance of the house. "We can leave." Minko said, her hands phasing through the door. "But the girl can see us, wouldn't that mean something?" Potato asked. "I dunno, I don't really feel like leaving her." Koko shrugged. "Let's just stay until we decide not to." Oku said. "We can always leave, but we can't always come back after leaving." Dirt stated. "True.." Lychee considered it.

They decided to stay.

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"̶̡͉̳͕̪͔̖̜͑̀̎͗̀́͛̅̀̎̈́̚̕̕ͅP̸͙̙̏l̶̡̗͓̰͒̑̆̾̆͋̀̃̚̚͝͝ȅ̵̢̨͎̰̣̥̮̟̦͔͇̣̆̐̎͑̀͒̍̈́̽͂͠a̵͆̓͗̽ͅs̷̡̞͔̯̋͌́̇̕͘e̷͂͋͜,̴̝̭́̋̉̈́̀̉̿̎̍̕͝͠ ̷̛͓͎̩̞̟ͅb̴̧̈́̋͒̐͑͂͗̇̓̏́̽̂͠e̷̲̭̘̳̣̗͎̼̰͆͛̃̃͘͝͝f̶̬̻͎͉̻̜̭͍̣̜̙̩̻͖͑́́̍̚̚͜ỏ̶͍̳̪̰̲͔̙̘͉͓̫̏̓̎̎͑̈͂͝r̶̨̝̟͔͉͈̯͎̍̔͝ȩ̴̛͙̻̌̆͂̓͊̐͐̄́̅͘͝ ̴̩̖̝͚̣̰̈́̑͂̄ì̵̛̟̪͖͈̠͈͙̩̖́̄̓̀̏̂̈́̑̚͜͠͝t̷̪͂͗̎͘͜s̸̢̮̏̽̆̌̾͠ ̸̨̡̜̟̼͉̯̟̝̙̥͓̂̃̔̋͛̈̽͆͊̍͗͛͘͝͠t̷̟̻͔̭̥̠̩̒́͜ǫ̴͎͍͙̝͓̜͉̉̓͑̐̏̄̓͒̍o̶͉͚̝̖̱͎̘̮̟̮̝̳̺͒͒̎́ͅ ̵̨͍͖̰̫͍͇̞̝͎̠́͜l̸̙̘̯̺̅͒a̷̮̝̿̃̉̇̉̉͐̏̀̉̄̀͌͜t̵̨͍̣̪̖̰̳̭̋̈́͐e̸̖̭͇̰̻͙̮͋̾̊͆͂̍͐̚͜͝͠͝ͅ!̶̧̺̘̼͗̍̀́̉̇̔̽̑̈́̚"̸̜͙̀̀͋͗̀͠