The clock showed 2:54 AM.
Salish got up from her sleep panting heavily like she had just finished running a incomplete marathon.
"Phone... where is phone...?" She said and started searching for her phone restlessly. She got up to turn on the lights of her master bedroom but then, the power went off in a split-second.
"Shit..." She muttered under her breath after seeing that the time showed on the phone was exactly 3AM.
"What if whatever I saw... was true? No, it can never happen. It's not scientifically proven then why am I worrying?" She said slightly pulling her hair.
"Should I try it? I should. I have been looking for those answers and it finally seems like it's the time to do it." Encouraging herself for doing something which was unknowingly going to change her whole existence, Salish got out of her bed and straight away drove to her complex 17-floor apartment building.
She didn't bother to change her clothes neither tie her hair. She was restless and could not think right at the moment. With her heart beating fast, she reached her destination which was 1 hour away from her previous location in just twenty-five minutes.
Taking up all her courage, she walked into the building.
There was no one around. Just a few guards and security cameras along with some decorations and lighting on the ceiling welcomed her into the building.
The question again roamed around in her head," YOU WANTED ANSWERS HUH?! THEN PLAY THE ELEVATOR GAME! I WILL MEET YOU THERE!" in her best friend's voice, Aera Tulips, who died five years ago in a freak accident.
Aera, Aera Tulips was her friend of about complete eight years. Salish always felt like Aera was her well-wisher but in reality Aera was a girl who was very jealous of Salish. Aera hated the fact that Salish always got the first rank in the class while she always came second. It was her birthday that day, her hatred for Salish grew even further when her crush of three years proposed Salish Infront of the whole school in the cafeteria during lunch time when she was thinking about asking him out at the same time.
Though Salish rejected the guy knowing that Aera had a crush on him, this was still not enough to convince the girl.
One day, she created a trap in which Salish was supposed to fall into but then she accidently tripped on a wire and fell into her own trap causing her to fall on her head and die on the spot. She died with the feelings of hatred and pain in her heart and mind and was very much adamant on seeking revenge on Salish even if she, herself was dead.
Returning to the present, Salish left her phone in a safe just outside the elevator.
"Mason, you and every other person in this building can go back home. I put you all off duty." She said the head guard while the guard replied with a sharp "yes ma'am".
It was 3:40AM. The time period when the line between the parallel universe and their universe was supposed to be the thinnest according to the said rumors.
She got onto the elevator after brefily memorizing the rules to play the game.
"Okay so, I am alone. No one is there around me. No technology in my hands or anything, no nothing. Let's do it." Salish said encouraging herself.
"The order of the numbers was 4... 2... 6... 2... 10... 5... 1...."
With each number she pressed, the lift went on to its floor and opened it's doors and then closed. It all went normally till a young women dressed in white came inside on the fifth floor and stood next to Salish.
"So, you are the chosen one, I see." The women in white began to talk.
According to the rules she should not talk with the woman, and neither should she look into her eyes, and of course Salish followed each one of the rules perfectly leaving herself puzzled by the talks of the lady in white.
"So, you're not going to talk to me huh?" The lady's voice grew deeper and sharper by the time she reached the final floor, the tenth floor.
Salish noticed that the lady was getting aggressive and aggressive so the moment the elevator doors opened, she ran outside for her life but to her horror the lady ran behind her with a big knife in her hands.
Salish felt hopeless. Throughout her running she kept hearing the creepy laughter of her dead best friend telling her that she, Salish herself was the reason why she, Aera had to die. The evil spirit of Aera even confessed why she died and how she left being friends with Salish all along.
With the truth coming in light in such an unexpected way, Salish did not know how to react to the scene. It turned out that all the bullies she faced were provoked by her only friend.
With tears forming in eyes, she saw a door, shining bright at the end of the endless hallway and without wasting time she opened it and went through it.
Salish heard the scream of the same lady who chased her but before she could realize anything, she fell straight into a water body, a hot spring.
Barely managing to get herself balanced because of the dept of the hot spring, she was supported was supported by a muscular hand which bought her straight to the edge of the lake where wooden seats were made to rest.
After rubbing her eyes and adjusting to the newfound environment she opened her closed eyes just to see a seven-foot-tall man standing Infront of her along with men coming towards her
"Who are you little girl?" Asked the unknown red eyed man in a language she did not knew.
"Where am I?" Salish asked in English.
"IT'S A HUMAN!" Yelled another man in the foreign language which startle the best out of her.
"A human? It's been so long since someone came here." Said another guy while scanning Salish from top to bottom.
Soon, the commotion started, feeling the panic rising inside her she gripped on the tanned arm of the man who stood protectively beside her after partly saving her from drowning and soon with three heavy breaths, everything went black Infront of her eyes.
The man gave out a shaky sigh while noticing her condition. Although her tried to comfort her, the language barrier between then did not help in any way at all.
"HEY! STAY AWAY FROM HER! IT'S THE KINGS ORDER!" Yelled a solider coming in their way with a royal carriage behind him.
"Who is she anyways?" Asked one of men in the group.
"The king's biological daughter...." Replied the solider leaving silence to start taking over the place.
To be continued...