Between Realities

Awake

After the party was over I decided to use my safe action to wake up. I tapped my index fingers together three times. In my desired reality one week is one hour in my current reality. I could have stayed longer but I remembered that I would have to get up early to walk my friends dogs and I didn't want to be mentally exhausted for the day. Time also pauses in my desired reality so it wasn't a big deal if I left suddenly. I woke up in my room, or what I call my room, for a minute before rolling over and going to sleep. My alarm went off at 7:30. I got up and put on a sweatshirt and ripped boyfriend jeans, cuffing the ankles. I put on my beat up vans, put in my earbuds, clicked on my playlist and hit shuffle. Sweater Weather came on first. I grabbed my skateboard and opened the garage. "Shit. Its raining." I said to myself. I put my skateboard down ad grabbed an umbrella, hesitated, then traded the umbrella for the skateboard again. "I love the rain anyway" I thought. I got to my friends house, put the key in the door and opened it. A large, brown Rhodesian Ridgeback puppy and a small elderly Dachsund greeted me at the door. "Hey boys" I said to them. I stepped aside and let the puppy out before scooping up the senior to carry him down the stairs. I went in the house and got a bag of treats and waited a minute. Then I opened the door and yelled "Duke! Come on buddy come inside." He galloped in in the usual puppy manor. He was so big though, that when he actually got in the house it sounded like a violent earthquake was in motion. I laughed at his floppyness and went outside to get the smaller dog. "Rusty! Rusty come! I walked to the side of the house where a large conifer grew. Rusty was sniffing the bottom. I scooped him up and went to walk in the house, when I heard a familiar noise. A noise that was familiar, but not one that I was used to. I turned around. A large owl sat in the tree I just got Rusty from. "Weird. There are owls around here but you usually don't see them outside the woods" I thought. I brought rusty inside and shut the door and locked it. I grabbed my skateboard from where it had been, leaning on the porch railing and walked to the driveway. I looked at the tree again before setting it down. The owl was gone. "Maybe I was just seeing things" I said out loud. "Seeing what?" I turned around. That voice. I had just heard it. But...last night...and in a different reality. I ran to the edge of the driveway where my skateboard was rolling towards.I didn't make it in time and the board rolled into the middle of the street. I ran to grab it before it reached the other side. Then I heard it out of nowhere. The crappy exhaust from the crappy car the idiot up the street recklessly drives. He wasn't paying attention and was playing with the radio. The house I was at is only the second one on the corner, close to the turn. He came quickly around it and the bushes on the corner are so tall you can barely see the other road. By the time I had picked up my skateboard the car was only about 20 feet from me. I froze in fear. It got closer and closer and I closed my eyes. "JENNA MOVE!" There it was. There was that voice again. I opened my eyes and looked around. I was on the grass. The guy in the car had realized what had happened and swerved to a stop. I didn't see because my eyes were closed. He got out of the car and helped me up."Are you okay? I'm so sorry I didn't see you. Those stupid bushes. Can I give you a ride home or...?" "I'm fine. Don't touch me. I don't need anything from you." I despised this guy already and this just made me more mad. He put his hands up and backed up towards his car, "Okay, okay you got it." He got in and I watched as he drove away. I didn't have time to be mad anymore, though. Now I was confused and forgot all about my anger. "Hello?" I called out. Nothing. I put my board down and stood on it. I pushed softly and cruised pretty slowly down the road. I got home, put my board in the garage, and went inside. I changed into sweats and got back into bed and drifted off the sleep again.

I woke up again to the sound of the garage opening. My aunt was home. 'Greaaattttt" I thought. I heard the door open. She came up the stairs and I jumped out of bed and put new clothes on as fast as I could. I opened my door and looked down the hallway. She carried a brown paper bag into the kitchen. "Morning" I said, trying not to sound too bitchy. She handed me a bagel from the bag and said "Here's breakfast. Go eat." She tossed a butter knife and paper plate towards me. I picked the stuff up off the counter and walked to the table, grabbing the butter from the fridge as I passed by it. I sat down and ate. Aunt Carrey doesn't like me. At all. My parents died in a plane crash when I was 5. Aunt Carrey raised me, but never liked me. She wanted nothing to do with me. She was never a nice person either way though, it didn't matter if it was me or not. It was kind of ironic to me though. She reminded me of a more realistic version of aunt Petunia. I tried to stay out of the house as much as I could. She couldn't care less. I didn't have many friends because the people in this town were mostly either "the boys" or straight girls with the suffocatingly light skinny jeans and white vans. I had no desire to make friends here and I was ok with that. I finished my breakfast and brushed my teeth. I put on my vans again and before I got in the garage, aunt Carrey called to me. "Where are you even going? You have no friends, what are you gonna do? Trudge miserably around town?" I laughed at this. "Yea that sound like a good plan. What the fuck do you care anyway?" I didn't wait for her to answer. I hopped down the stairs, opened the garage, grabbed my skateboard, and left. The rain had stopped and it started to dry up outside. I skated into town and to the cafe that I spend a lot of time at. I leaned my board on the outside wall and walked in the side entrance. "Morning Tom, morning Francesca" I said to the old Italian couple that owned the cafe. "Ahh giorno, giorno. You gonna help today?" Tom asked. I helped out in the cafe whenever I could. I did't let them pay me more than $1.50 an hour. I enjoyed helping them. They were like the adoptive grandparents I never had. "No sorry. Just wanted to stop in and say hi to my grandparents." I said taking a seat at the bar. "Oh ay whatta ya think I'm 100? Look at me. Still beautiful." He winked at me. "Yes sir still beautiful." I laughed. I didn't laugh or smile a lot in this reality. Only at the cafe. I flipped through a Thrasher magazine someone must have left. Francesca put an iced latte in front of me. The same one I get every time. She glanced at the magazine and up at me. She raised an eyebrow, "Aii Gesu, Maria e Giuseppe. Betta be careful on that thing." She looked towards the door I always kept my skateboard outside of. "Don't worry Fran. I promise I will." I sipped my drink. Nothing could beat the coffee from this place. After I finished my drink I said goodbye to Fran and Tom, picked up my board, and cruised down the mostly deserted sidewalk. I got to the brick wall I usually spent time alone at. It was only about 4 feet tall and in a more hidden part of town. I hopped up on top and sat with my eyes close, taking in the fairly warm fall day and the very light, cool breeze. I took the cigarette, that I had sneaked from Tom, from behind my ear, put it between my lips and lit it with a lighter I had pick-pocketed from a jerk who was arguing with Fran. As I was taking my second drag I heard a voice. "Smoking is bad for you ya know. Especially at age 14." "I'm 15, thanks." I said without looking up. The owner of the voice hopped up on the wall next to me. I looked up. I was almost startled at how similar his style was to mine. He wore loose, cuffed jeans, a big crew neck, and a black beanie over his hair that looked exactly like Leonardo DiCaprio's from the 80s. I looked at his shoes and noticed he was wearing beat up vans. I immediately knew he was a skater too and looked down where my board was leaning against the wall. Right next to it stood a slightly bigger board more beat up than mine.

Hi everyone thanks again for reading. The chapter was a lot longer today because I didn't publish one all week. The chapters are probably gonna be longer from now on. :P