"HIGH SCHOOL IS EASY. IT'S LIKE RIDING A BIKE AND THE BIKE IS ON FIRE AND THE GROUND IS ON FIRE AND EVERYTHING IS ON FIRE BECAUSE YOU ARE IN HELL."
-SAID EVERY TEENAGER EVER (AT LEAST I DID BACK THEN!)
MILLIE'S 5 STEP SURVIVAL PLAN
1. TRY TO BE SANE EVEN IF YOUR MIND IS AT THE EDGE OF GOING INSANE, 'FAKE IT TILL YOU MAKE IT'.
2. TRY TO BLEND IN TO AVOID ANY SORT OF COMPLICATIONS EVEN IF IT MEANT EATING SOGGY CEREALS FOR BREAKFAST.
3. LISTEN TO VIRUSHKA NO MATTER WHAT- VERY IMPORTANT!!!!
4. DO NOT TALK TO STRANGERS!!!!!!!!!!!.....WELL EVERYBODY IS A STRANGER IN A STRANGE WORLD...SO IN SHORT DO.NOT.TALK.TO.ANYONE.
5. MAKE IT THROUGH SCHOOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Getting trapped in a parallel world that somewhat looks like it had stepped out of a fairytale was cool until Virushka calmly pointed out that Millie had to attend school in place of 'Velia'.
"But i don't want to go to school." Millie whined early in the morning as Virushka entered her room with a hot plate of breakfast. She gazed at Millie with a sympathetic look and finally said, "you have to we can't let anybody know about Velia's disappearance. " but Millie just wanted to close her eyes and fall in a deep sleep, not being able to get even a wink of sleep due to the horrifying nightmare had entirely messed up with her working capability, she was tired and exhaustion threatened her mind to lose her consciousness, she was trying her best to keep her eyes wide open and listen to Virushka. the entire chain of events had not only surprised her mentally but had also affected her physically and all of her weariness laid down on her heavily making it impossible for her to even move an inch, a slight movement was enough to drain her off any existing energy and now Virushka was telling her to go to school. A bed had never looked so appealing to her, she craved to cuddle in and relax her muscles that were screaming for their much needed rest.
"i know you are tired and want to rest but i am so sorry, today you have to attend the school, because if Velia's uncle comes to know about her disappearance we won't be able to lie."
The statement was a splash of cold water on Millie. she was wide awake now that she heard Virushka talking about Velia's uncle, "Her uncle?" this was the first time that Virushka had mentioned about Velia's family, initially she was curious about them and wanted to ask about her family but for some reason she had not.
"Yes, her uncle Andrew. He is her only relative."
With a wrinkled forehead she asked, "What about her parents?"
A sombre expression crossed Virushka's beautiful features, the eyes that were smiling brightly just seconds ago, were now brimming with undeniable sadness, as her sorrow formed into glistening pearls that traced her cheekbones as they escaped her chocolate orbs. Millie felt the sudden urge of hugging and crushing away her sadness but stopped short as she knew that they weren't yet so close for her to hug her. She noticed Virushka wiping away her tears, she replied in a hoarse voice, "We have to get ready for school, let's talk about this some other time okay?"
nodding her head in agreement she walked towards Virushka and gently grasped the uniform that she had bought for her. it was a decent plain white shirt, with a pair of black fitted trouser, a navy blue piece of cloth that resembled a cravat and a cute light blue colored jacket blazer. the attire was quite normal to what Millie had thought it would look like. the part that caught her eye instantly and made her curious was the symbol etched on the breast pocket of the blazer. Intricately designed curves of soft blue petals with streaks of white delicately came together to shape an entrancing flower , so beautiful that it had a tranquilizing effect, formed the center of the logo with a large silver 'S' cutting through the center of the flower. Surrounding it were different colored stones, crimson, azure, amber and black ash.
"Its the symbol of our school, THE SILVER STONE HIGH." Virushka voice interrupted her thoughts as she looked up at her and asked, "SILVER STONE?" she asked with a dubious expression on her face.
"Yes, THE SILVER STONE HIGH has been around Amortesia for 100 norums."
"Norums?"
"Yes, the way you count time in years like you said, here we count it in norums. 1 Norum has 1000 dinas."
Millie's mind was a mess, all these terms that Virushka was throwing around weren't answering her questions but were creating new ones, "you know, i think you should talk 'normal people language' because I didn't understand a single word you sprouted."
She heard Virushka releasing a deep sigh as she continued to answer, "Alright, explain me what you told me about 'years' in detail."
wrinkling her forehead she answered, " ok, so on 'my' earth, 1 day, that is from 12 am midnight till the next 12 am midnight make 24 hours, that is one day. then add 7 days they make a week, then on an average 4 weeks make 1 month and 12 months in total make 1 year."
"exactly, we call 'years' as 'norums' and days as 'dinas'. the only difference is that your 1 year according to my calculation has 365 days, but our 1 year that is 'Norum' has 900 days or dinas."
"ohhh....this is so interesting, but i have another question, if our worlds have so many different things, then why do you know our language?"
"That's because we are not that different, we have the same language only the terminologies used are different."
"But you just said that we have different times."
Virushka pushed her lips into a pout and said, "When did i say that?"
Annoyed with her answers Millie threw her uniform on the bed, "You just explained to me and now you are saying that we are not different."
"Oh Millie that's not what I meant. See, you grew up being taught that the earth takes 365 days to complete one revolution, that's the traditional, scientific way made for your convenience so that you can understand time better and calculate it better and also your earth takes that much time to complete one revolution, but our year consists of 900 hundred days that's what we have been taught, so that we can calculate time according to our convenience, but then again there is no definite way of knowing exactly how time passes and how much."
" 'time is just an illusion.' like Albert Einstein quoted." she whispered as she finally got the hang of what Virushka was trying to convey.
"uhhm... don't know who he is but he sounds smart. Anyway, get changed or we will be late for school."
after wearing the school uniform she finally got the chance to step out of the room that she was living in. walking out the door she stepped on the dark wooden flooring that gave the house a look of elegance. A warm lavender like scent hit her nostrils making her greedy enough to sniff the sweet smell and relish it. as she timidly glanced around she noticed the cream colored walls covered with various photo frames, 'so this place does have photographs too.' she thought as she admired the faces trapped behind the glass frames. the smiling face of a girl that resembled her up to the very dimple on her chin not only bothered but also made her feel uncomfortable especially when she knew that she had to be the very girl that was in the frame for sometime while being aware that she was out there, somewhere in danger and maybe waiting for someone to come and rescue her. She was so lost in thought that she didn't even notice Virushka's presence who was watching a stranger with the same face as her best friend admire her photograph, it was weird and she was trying to keep her mind as sane as she could when the only thing she wanted to do was throw up and cry over her missing friend that she failed to protect.
"Don't worry we will find her and bring her back.' Millie whispered to her and even when Virushka knew that it would be almost impossible and very dangerous but as she saw the look of determination on Millie's face she felt this slight flicker of hope in her heart as she heard the girl assure her and somewhere she unknowingly at that very moment had given her trust to the stranger from another universe.
"Let's get ready for school."
Millie registered Virushka walking towards a cupboard that was place at the far left corner of the living room. She studied the living room that had a cute cream colored couch and a fireplace that showed the obvious absence of wood and ash. there wasn't much to the room aside for the couch and a coffee table and a book case that she made a note of checking out later.
"so, whose place is this?"
"It's Velia's house. she stays with her uncle."
"and you don't think he would notice something strange about me, like..uhhm, i don't know, maybe why his niece is acting out of ordinary suddenly? because acting like a total different person while being 'me', ironically, in another universe wasn't in my summer getaway 'to do' checklist." she voice her concern over the obvious topic that they still had to discuss on a lot.
Virushka huffed as she turned to face her, "You don't have to worry about her uncle because he is away, don't ask where, and I will explain to you about Velia and how you are supposed to act but right we have got to get to school."
Millie begrudgingly decided to leave the topic for the moment, "Why is your scarf red in color while mine is blue?"
"We are in different houses." she replied as a-matter-of-fact.
this caught her attention as she continued to ask, "you mean something like Hogwarts?" she asked with excitement and a huge smile on her face, but Virushka on the other hand just looked clueless, as Millie tried to understand why she was confused a bizarre thought struck her mind, "OH MY GOD!" she yelled as she covered her mouth expressing her disbelief and making Virushka afraid of her sudden outburst, "Don't tell me you guys don't have harry potter?" she whispered in disbelief.
releasing a relieved sigh she took a step towards the over-dramatic girl wondering how she was doing to handle this little little bomb of trouble.
"Let's go we will be late."
"But you guys don't have harry potter." the still shocked Millie said in utter sadness making Virushka feel as if her universe had done some crime of not knowing a potter, seriously why not knowing a potter was a big deal? she wondered as she took out a vial of transparent liquid and handed it to Millie.
"What is this funky stuff?" Millie asked as she stared at the liquid with suspicion.
"This will help you get through the portal."
The minute Virushka uttered those words, Millie flicked her hand that was on her shoulder off and walked as far away from her as she could, Millie's expression looked as if Virushka had just announced that she was going to kill her, her face had gone sickeningly pale and her lips were trembling with obvious fear, "NO! NO! ABSOLUTELY NO! A BIG FAT NO! NO WITH CAPITAL 'N' AND 'O' NO!"
"Why what happened? you were fine just now." Virushka asked as she cautiously took a step towards her.
"Do not come closer to me with that stupid vial i am not going through any portal last time i did that i ended up in a stupid parallel universe who knows what's gonna happen after i drink that." she said with a squeaky loud pitch while pointing at the vial.
"Nothing is going to happen to you."
"Well the otter said the same thing and look where that's gotten me."
"so you can trust an otter but you can't trust me." she asked dubiously.
"i am sorry ma'am but i strongly believe that animals are better than humans."
she rolled her eyes at her stupid reason and judging by Millie's expression she wasn't the only one that thought the same thing.
"listen we have to go through the portal to get to school, and i am sure you are going to get dizzy, this," she said as she pointed to the vial, "will help you with that nausea and since you don't seem to believe me i will take it with you when i don't have to because i am from Amortesia and therefore used to it, but i will do it for you." she downed a vial and gave handed the other one to her.
"What is it with you people and your portals can't you travel like normal people on foot or cars." she whined as she unwillingly took the vial with the liquid. gathering up courage and looking at Virushka who nodded her head in encouragement, she screwed her nose and with her eyes closed shut tight she emptied the liquid in her mouth in one go. she felt a sharp sting as it travelled down her throat and she hissed against it, it didn't have any taste though. she gave her head a sharp shake as she opened her eyes and stared back at Virushka, "Do you feel anything?"
"Apart from the fact that i feel as if i have just downed a shot of vodka? no."
"That's good, let's go." she took hold of her hand that felt strangely familiar and opened the portal in the wardrobe, as just when they were about to step through it she asked, "Why is it a big deal if i don't know a potter?"
She felt a whiff of strong air pass through her body as she experienced every cell in her body shrink and get sucked into the energy field, she inhaled in a greedy amount of air as her body plummeted towards a free fall, she grabbed onto the only thing that she could, Virushka's hand and squeezed it tight and just when she felt as if she was about to pass out she felt her body come in crashing contact with hard ground. black spots covered her vision when she opened her eyes indicating that she had closed them shut the entire time. as her vision cleared, beautiful blue sky with the presence of fluffy white colored clouds greeted her vision. blinking her eyes a multiple times she tried to get her body into a sitting position, occasionally groaning due to the pain from the impact, while being thankful for her unharmed bones. her hands grazed the soft green grass, she glanced up to see a rather unaffected Virushka staring up ahead massaging her left wrist that had a painful bruise forming. she winched as she registered the assault that her fear had inflicted on her, "I'm sorry, i didn't mean to harm you, its just that, portal-travelling is not my thing. wow i never thought i'll live up to the time to say something as weird as 'portal-travelling'"
Virushka gave her an expressionless look making it difficult for her to comprehend what she was thinking, "It's ok, but you have to get used to it i am not going to let you assault my wrist again."
"Instead i can hold your hand the next time." she replied sporting a teasing smile.
refusing to comment any further Virushka helped her up. "any way where's this famous school.'
Virushka flicked her head into the direction of the school and Millie followed her line of vision. the minute her gaze noticed the 'infamous' school, her eyes widened to the size of potatoes and her mouth opened wide enough to swallow an entire burger. to say that it was a high school would have been the understatement of the year. it wasn't just any building it was an entire palace with all the towers and the grandeur, it was magnificent and humongous just like it had stepped out of a fairytale. she couldn't believe the structure that her gaze was witnessing, the towers were high and the palace eerily resembled the one that Disney showcases at the start of its movies, it was magical.
"Welcome to Silver Stone School of Amortesia." Virushka whispered with pride.
"It's....epic." that was the only word that Millie could think of saying she was too overwhelmed with the entire look of the building to even think of any word to describe it.
"come on." Virushka urged her forward.
"By the way why was i the only one who had the 'fortunate ' fate of saying hello to Mr. Grass down there while you were standing like a freaking Avenger." a confused look crossed Virushka's features, "Oh no please say that you know THE AVENGERS." her comical begging expression seemed to make Virushka smile at her silly antiques, ignoring her drama she walked in the direction of the school as Millie walked behind her whining, "Oh please, please i beg of you, say that you know avengers, come on say something." And just like that Virushka knew that this pure hearted soul that was way different than her best friend was the one that was going to stand by her and help her no matter what she goes through.
"You know your land looks quite 'normal' considering it being a parallel universe and all."
"This is the tenth time that you are using the word 'normal' so stop or I might permanently leave you alone."
"i don't know if i should be surprised at you keeping count of my words or be afraid of your 'not so sincere' threat." They had now entered through the cliché black and gold gilded gate that had the symbol that was the mixture of three different colored 's', azure, crimson and emerald embedded within a huge light an arctic blue color, with streaks of white that somehow resembled an orchid. the symbol yelled royal and all the students that she noticed walking down the pathway wearing the same uniform depicted their royalty through their regal postures and personalities. It was intimidating and Millie knew that she would be a prey to their intimidation sooner or later. she squeezed closer to Virushka's side who noticed her discomfort.
"You have to get used to this."
"Used to what? kids who look like they belong on the Forbes's billionaire list?"
At her comment Virushka came to an abrupt stop, "Listen i know that what has happened to you in the past few days has been an elemental change in your life but we can't change it, we have to get through this, Velia is out there somewhere, in a situation we don't know and don't have the means to find, desperately waiting for us to rescue her. If you don't make it through this, she won't too." her words were hurried and Millie could sense the fore boarding fear in her words that she was desperately trying to mask behind her calm voice. Millie understood the situation and could empathize with her, because if she was suffering then in a much deeper sense Virushka was suffering too, but her maturity that Millie had sensed the first time she had met her, was keeping all her emotions in check and Millie didn't wish to be any nuisance to her. Nodding her head in agreement they moved towards the school's building. now that she was closer to it she raised her head to see the total length of the towers, it really was a miracle. a huge mahogany door separated the outer world from the school. it was an arched old-style door that palaces usually had, Virushka guided her towards the first building. She could almost feel the royal aura that the building was radiating through its appearance, they entered the grandiose corridor with ochre and golden tones covering the walls and squeaky clean marbled floors that Millie was afraid of walking on in the fear of ruining them. A lot of students were hustling down the corridor, she could sense the buzz of excitement floating through each and every one of them. Smiling faces, discussions about their new projects and weekend parties struck a chord in her heart, a trace of longing passed through her veins as she registered herself wishing for the normal life, exactly like these teenagers where 'what to wear for the party' was their only concern.
she was so engrossed in her thoughts that she didn't even notice the sudden change of behavior in Virushka. She felt a sharp jolt pushing her behind a huge pillar, she hissed in pain, when Virushka pushed her further behind it. "Shh, be quite." Virushka whispered as she gestured for her to keep her mouth shut. Surprised at her sudden change she tried to peek a glance around the pillar to look at the source of her fear but Virushka once again pushed her. "What are you doing. i asked you to hide not peek."
"Are you and Velia a murderer?"
Virushka looked at her as if she had lost some of her screws, "What? no."
"A thief?" she prodded.
"No. what is wrong with you? why are you asking me such silly questions?"
"Because we are hiding behind a pillar, and i think that pretty much defines criminals."
Virushka rolled her eyes at her reply but somewhere was already aware that it was going to be something silly, she knew her at least this much now. "Are you always this dramatic."
Millie gave her a blank stare in reply.
"And we are hiding because of that. "
Millie cautiously peeked at the person she was pointing to, and it was the last person she was expecting to see in a parallel universe. she froze the moment her eyes met the frightening face that was ironically very beautiful, the same cream smooth complexion highlighting her cheekbones, the same plump pink lips stretched in their signature sweet smile hiding her rotten thoughts from the sidekicks that worshiped her, the same manicured red nails that looked as if they were painted with real blood, the same long silky brown hair that should have been replaced with snakes, as they would have suited her better and the same dark eyes that gave a sense of fake hope to her preys before she decides to devour them, who knew that this innocent façade hid a cruel soul behind it, she gulped down her breakfast that was threatening to come out . This same innocent girl had made her life a living hell during her high school and now she was here too, she wanted to run away and hide like a little kid but couldn't because her feet for some reason had become completely numb, "Cynthia." her lips formed into a soft whisper as she stared at her slender form.
There was something wrong with Millie as Virushka noticed her staring at Velia's tormentor. Her face was sickeningly pale as if she had just come across a ghost, her body was trembling and her lips were quivering, her beautiful molten eyes that were always filled up to brim with joy had instantly lost their light, making them dull and lifeless. Virushka registered utter fear in them, this was the first time that she had witnessed her being scared. Not even when she had travelled universe had she witnessed her being scared, in fact she was doing quite good for someone who had been sucked into a total different world. she placed her warm palm against her surprisingly cold ones and dragged her towards the direction of the garden. Millie was in some sort of a daze, she pulled her in the direction towards the garden and once they reached outside, she carefully placed her on the wooden bench and knelled in front of her.
"What happened Millie?" she softly asked, her voice seemed to work on her like water because Millie instantly glanced into her eyes and held onto to palm tighter. the amount of fear that was radiating through her, invoked a desire of protecting her. she tapped on her palm and looked at her hopefully, waiting for her to answer her question.
Millie gulped and slowly her lips folded to form the words that she was eagerly waiting for, "That was Cynthia."
"No, sweetie it wasn't, that was Crystal."
"Crystal?"
"Yes, uhhm...she is kind of royalty here and Velia's.."
"Bully."
she scrunched her eyebrows at Millie's reply because it was right, "How did you guess?"
"Well, she is mine too and the way you instantly hid behind the pillar after seeing her pretty much evidences that there's something off about her, and in my world her name is Cynthia."
"Are you sure that's her."
"For once I might forget my parent's faces, but i can never forget hers."
This was the first time that she had talked to someone about her bully, every time she had tried to talk to her parents they had either called her an attention seeker, or a brat. She was quite surprised to find that she was comfortable telling Virushka about her. And with her palm trapped in her warm ones for the very first time she wasn't scared of Cynthia or a doppelganger because she knew that she now had someone very trustworthy by her side. with her right palm still in her grasp.
"Do you want to talk about crystal?"
"It's a long story."
Virushka gave her a sincere smile and moved closer to her, Millie snorted at her actions, "So, if i am going to tell you about her you have to know about my cousins too."
"go ahead."
" once upon a time there were two best friends Mr. Black and. Mr. Miller both of them were so close to each other that they decided to set up their own business and rule the world, they even got married on the same day to the women that they loved. Mr. Black had a daughter who he named Millie and Mr. Miller had 2 kids, Sebastian and Rebecca. unfortunately tragedy struck his family and he lost his wife. finding solace in his work and his kids he decided to forget about her and live his life for his family, but after a few years he found love in another woman called Clair. Clair is his second wife and he had Octavian and Arianna his two beautiful kids with her and their family was a happy and a delighted family. My dad had always spoken very highly of him but visiting them was nothing but a self-inflicted torture, to me. Every single time i visited them i somehow knew that it was not going to be good and my intuitions were always right but i couldn't do anything, it was more of a punishment than a family get together. So as the story continues his children grow up and Sebastian the eldest, the main lead of the story not only grows up to be the man of a girl's dreams but also becomes my personal tormentor and has been one for the past 10 years, i never understood the reason behind it and even tried to talk to him but it was like talking to a stone. i used to eagerly wait for the holidays to end because after that i never had any reason to visit them but god somehow thought it wasn't that entertaining to spare me so he sent Sebastian to my school and on top of that as my senior. It hadn't even been two days when somehow the school turns into a palace, with Sebastian as the king and guess who his queen was?"
"Cynthia."
"Exactly." Millie yelled in frustration, "Now presenting the female lead of the story, Cynthia Windsor. Daughter of the real estate mogul, George Windsor, an angel reincarnation, the muse behind everyone's inspiration and the source of jealously of every single girl because of her impeccable elegance and goddess beauty becomes the girlfriend of Sebastian Black. each of them breaking a million hearts. Then these two somehow come into a collaboration of 'how to disrupt Millie's life'."
"Wow this is getting intense." Virushka said with an excited smile on her face like a kid who is eager to know the end of the story.
"and intense it did get, because i had the unwavering attention of the two people who you don't even wish for to know about your existence."
"But why did they target you."
"Exactly i have been asking this question to myself for as long as i can remember. i mean, i am not even an extra character in their story then why bother me?"
"You know there's a fact, bullies only bully you because they want your attention when you fail to give it to them."
"You mean Sebastian has been bullying me to grab my attention. i don't think so because the things that he has done are horrible and no excuse can ever cover them."
"Well boys do have the weirdest way of gaining the attention of the girl they like."
"Ok now you are not even making any sense and i refuse to listen to you defend a guy who you not only don't know but is also someone who exists in a total different universe."
Silence covered them as Millie tried to forget about all the painful experiences that she had to go through all those years alone without anyone's support, but talking about it felt really good and she was thankful to Virushka for listening to her. Soon their peace was interrupted by the bell and Millie found herself walking towards a class she knew nothing about preparing to act like the person she had never met but looked exactly like her. and just when she was about to enter the building a weird but possible thought flicked through her mind, 'if Crystal has a doppelganger then maybe Sebastian....?'