"SHE WAS TRYING TO WALK AWAY
AND HOLD ON
AT THE SAME TIME THAT'S THE MIND AT WAR
WITH THE HEART"
-ANONYMOUS.
The frightening revelation of Millie's dream feeling more like her reality, hindered the emotions in her heart, she desperately wanted to know the cause of it, better yet she wanted to know about that mysterious inked man, but her curiosity wasn't about the man or his inked face it was about the small whisper in the mind constantly reminding her that he was someone she already knew, there was an air of familiarity around him, the only problem was she wasn't able to put a finger on it. She hurriedly threw the blanket that was covering her body and stepped down. Her bare foot graced the floor as she hissed against its coldness.
"What are you doing up. you need to rest." a worried Virushka entered the room carrying a warm bowl of soup.
Now that she was slowly trying to come to terms with her situation she observed the lavender haired girl standing in front of her. With a well built frame of 5 feet 7 inches, a beautifully carved petite face resting over slender long neck paired with the most beautiful doe eyes and pink thin lips, the girl was a show-stopper. If she wouldn't have been so preoccupied with the whole parallel universe thing, Millie would have loved to draw her. she was shamelessly eyeing her when she felt Virushka gently push her back on the beck. cautiously resting her back against a fluffed pillow she handed her the plate that held a delicious smelling soup.
"What is this?"
"It's soup."
Millie narrowed her eyes at her reply and glared with a blank expression. the minute Virushka saw the weird girl staring at her with what seemed like a poker face, she wanted to burst into laughter. This girl was getting more interesting with every passing second, her resemblance to her bestfriend was too uncanny, She was Velia but at the same time she wasn't, but studying this cute little girl, with her pixie cut, round rimmed glasses and enchantingly warm golden eyes, she wanted to hug her tight. Where Millie looked a bit clumsy and confused, Velia was a delicate but a strong headed girl. They were so different yet so similar, just like the 2 sides of the coin.
"Not to sound rude or anything but, I just didn't expect to see... how do i put this?...hum …'normal food'." Millie said with hesitance clear in her words. she timidly glanced at Virushka expecting her to be angry but instead, she witnessed a small smile curl around the edges of her lips, that slowly separated to give a full view of her pearl white teeth. her smile was mesmerizing, the way her gorgeous eyes crinkled at the end, her lifted blushing pink lips, the small dimple on her cheek, it was beautiful and Millie's lips formed into a curve too, as she noticed herself smiling with Virushka, 'looks like smiling is contagious', she wondered. her fingers itched for a pencil, she wanted to capture Virushka's carefree smile on paper and just like that Millie was sure that they were going to get along well.
"it's ok, In fact I would have found it suspicious, if you would have eaten this without confirming it's ingredients first." Virushka replied, "Don't worry, It's good, but let me warn you the ingredients are a bit different than what you would know but they are definitely safe. This soup is made from 'VIRIBUTAS', it's a special herb that helps you regain strength."
she gingerly scooped a spoonful of the warm soup and carefully took a sip of the strong yet sweet smelling liquid. the gentle flavor of the drops grazed her taste buds as she savored the surprisingly sweet and sour taste of the soup, she moaned against the taste and hurriedly scooped another spoon just to end up burning her tongue, she hissed in pain.
"You should be careful." Virushka scolded her as she pried the bowl and the spoon from her hold and started feeding her the soup instead. "So tell me more about you."
"My name is Millie black, I am from Los Angeles," she noticed Virushka's confused expression as she mentioned the place, "It's a place of earth, the planet I am from." understanding dawned on her features, a sign that permitted Millie to continue further, "I am 16 years old , Yeah pretty much that's it."
"16 years? what does that mean?"
A horrified Millie stared back at the girl who had innocently posed this question to her. Just what planet had she landed herself on? these people didn't even understand years, she tried to figure out the easiest way to explain it to her, "uhhm, so on my planet, we measure age in terms of years, from the day we are born, every year on that day our age gets increased by 1 year and 1 year consists of 365 days. therefore, what i meant to say is that I was born 16 years ago."
Virushka nodded her head at Millie's reply as she tried to understand the information that she provided. "What about your parents?" she asked as she moved the spoon towards her mouth and when she didn't open it, she raised her head to witness a blank expression blanketed over Millie's feature. she could figure out over a thousand emotions running rampant in those golden orbs, but the most significant one was 'longing', she wanted to take her question back but she couldn't, she was about to change the topic when Millie softly replied, "I don't want to talk about them now, maybe later."
Millie wanted to forget about her parents for a while, but she did find herself wondering about what they would do the minute they find out that she was missing. maybe they'll be scared, terrified even? there was a fair chance that they might miss her and just for that she wanted to see her parents long for her after a long time of her waiting for them and them never returning to her, maybe then they'll understand what it means to be left alone.
"okay, let's skip this part." Virushka's voice suddenly broke her chain of thoughts, "tell me exactly how did you end up here?"
"i was at my cousin's place for my summer holidays. after dinner i remember going to bed, but then suddenly this weird talking otter showed up in my room and dragged me to the garage..."
"Wait, wait, wait a minute you followed a 'weird talking creature' and then even chanted a mantra?" Virushka sarcastically added while emphasizing each and every word, "don't you see the problem with that?"
annoyed at Virushka's interruption and her lame comment, Millie narrowed her eyes at her and crossed her arms across her chest. seeing Millie glaring at her, Virushka sheepishly glanced at her and sporting an innocent smile she said, "I'm sorry please continue."
"So like i was saying, this otter shows up in my room..."
"But still how could you follow a talking creature?"
Millie picked up a pillow and smashed it across Virushka's face that sent her sprawling across the floor. she tried to hide her smile as she observed a flustered Virushka struggle on the floor.
"This is called as 'domestic abuse'." she said while pointedly staring at her.
"oh! so you do know 'domestic abuse' but you don't know what a birthday is." Millie feigned her surprise as Virushka pushed herself off the floor and resume her position.
"If you interrupt me one more time i won't send you crawling across the floor but throw you out the window so that you can say 'hi' to your new bestfriend, 'grass' if there is any down there." she warned her.
"the otter came to my room and asked me to follow him, i thought i was hallucinating because i have seen him in my dreams before, it's just that, that was the first time he talked to me and since i thought it was a dream i followed him, he went to the garage and opened some sort of a portal and asked me to chant a mantra, i know i was foolish to do so, now that i find myself trapped here."
this time Virushka was listening to each and every word Millie was saying, because this was confusing for her too, but why would a weird creature try to coax her into coming here? she was trying to figure it out when suddenly a thought struck her mind. "Describe the creature to me." she asked with impatience.
Millie screwed her forehead at Virushka's sudden outburst, "The otter?"
"Yes." Virushka rapidly nodded her head.
"It's this small creature that has a long cute furry face with whiskers, but the peculiar thing was it was transparent blue in color and was floating mid air."
realization dawned on her face at Millie's divulgence as she softly whispered, "It wasn't an otter, it was a scared spirit, one of the nine sacred spirits bought you here, but why?"
"I MET A WHAT NOW?" she yelled at Virushka who somehow was trapped in her own world, why would a freaking "spirit" bring her here, no it's not possible, how can her life in one night go from, 'boring, always neglected by parents and tormented by the cousins' to 'chanting a mantra in the middle of the night while being accompanied by a spirit just to find herself stranded in a parallel universe having a weird but surprisingly tasty soup from a girl who doesn't know what birthdays are'? yes she did want to make progress in her life but not this drastic. her emotions were all over the place, she just wanted to disappear into thin air never to be found again.
"listen to me carefully Millie," Virushka's voice suddenly grew more serious as she took Millie's hand into her soft palms, "You were summoned by the spirit of 'SAPIENTIAN', he is one of the nine spirits that guard our land, till now i thought they were just a legend but listening to you i finally understand they are true, i don't know why they bought you here but trust i won't leave you alone, we will get through this together, we will bring you and Velia back home. it's a promise."
and as Virushka sealed their fate with a promise a soft voice in Millie's mind reminded her that this was just a start and a lot is yet to happen.