It took Ezra a few minutes to fully absorb her words. The initial shock dissipated as quickly as it had settled in, a realization that prompted Ezra to scoff inwardly. He brought his palms to his face and rubbed them harshly before releasing a frustrated, muffled cry into his hands.
He then directed a pointed look at Celeste, who wore a genuinely perplexed expression. Ezra spoke dispiritedly, almost sulkily, "Every moment lately, I try to convince myself that nothing more absurd could happen to surprise me. But, like a stubborn child, I never seem to learn my lesson. This time, however, my shock didn't linger as much. Perhaps I'm somehow getting accustomed to the unnatural and unexpected."
Celeste blinked, her annoyance evident as she scrunched her nose. "Well, I'm not used to this, okay? What the heck is happening, Ezra?"
"You tell me!"
"What can I tell you? It seems like you know more than I do!"
"This is absurd." Ezra closed his laptop with a disheartened sigh. "When did something like this even happen to you? I've noticed nothing out of place with you recently, nor have I ever seen you in that world."
"Oh, that... It might be because nothing of the sort happened to me recently. I've only been zapped into a different world three times. The first time was when I was around seven or maybe eight years old."
Ezra listened, his expression shifting as Celeste continued, "The second time, I remember it was around the time you and I participated in the school dance show. You know, the time you embarrassed yourself, and Aunt Maria witnessed it, eventually asking you to dance in front of her café to further embarrass yourself?"
"Yeah, you didn't need to go into detail about that. I remember that very, very clearly without you or her reminding me every chance you got."
Ignoring his words, Celeste continued, "At that time, I was twelve, right? So, the second time something like that happened to me was when I was twelve. The only other time it occurred was three years after the second incident, around the time you and your man broke up... no, wait... it was more around the time that Alice passed away..."
Celeste always felt a pang of bitterness and pain when discussing that time. She winced slightly before letting out a sigh, "It was also the final time I experienced that. But each of those three times, it was there for quite a short duration, making it feel rather surreal as I had no time to adapt. Moreover, the entire ordeal was so peculiar that it added to the confusion. All these factors contributed to me thinking that those times were merely dreams..."
All three instances were hazy in her memory. Growing up, she had considered them products of her imagination, dismissing them as dreams no matter how disconcertingly realistic they felt within the recesses of her mind.
She couldn't recall much from those experiences; they remained elusive and blurry. Besides the peculiar detail of sentences changing above people's heads and the presence of a line extending from one's feet, all she remembered was being zapped into a meadow-like place surrounded by overgrown vegetation of various kinds during each occurrence.
It resembled an ill-maintained and abandoned garden scape, with one prominent feature drawing all attention to itself. A pavilion, its tomb broken, stood with only the pillars remaining, adorned with vines of silver lace flowers.
Celeste always vividly recalled those flowers. They were among the most prominent details etched in her memory. Whenever she randomly revisited those three incidents in her mind, the first thing that surfaced would be the image of those flowers.
Perhaps it was because, back when she was alive, Alice used to compare the color of Celeste's eyes to these flowers. Over time, Celeste developed an affinity for the silver lace flowers. When those three incidents occurred, with the flowers taking center stage, Celeste merely assumed that they were happy dreams. In her understanding, a dream encompassed a cluster of all things that left even the tiniest mark on one's being, whether they were desires or fears.
That's also why, during those three occurrences, when she encountered a tall, beautiful lady dressed in gorgeous ankle-length dresses, radiating a distinct and lovingly awkward aura, and looking at Celeste with the most desperate expression, she couldn't help but believe it was a dream. The lady bore an uncanny resemblance to Alice, yet each time, the Alice doppelganger appeared as a grown woman around Ezra's current age, likely nineteen or twenty. Despite the striking resemblance, she was undeniably beautiful, leaving the younger Celeste in a state of uncertainty.
Back when she was young and had found herself in that world for the first time and met the mysterious lady, Celeste was awestruck. The very next day, the younger Celeste excitedly approached little Alice, gushing about how she might have experienced a dream that prophesied the future.
Being kids, such fantastical notions were entirely believable to them. Little Alice, brimming with excitement, asked about what Celeste had seen. With the biggest grin on her face, Celeste cheerfully pointed at Alice and said,
"You! I saw you as a big, big girl, maybe the same age as Auntie Evelyn, or maybe younger? I dunno! But, Alice, you were so beautiful! Like a princess! Like those on TV. You were dressed in a golden dress... It was so sparkly too. You were tall and had even thicker brown hair. And boy oh boy, was your hair shiny. Like shiiinny! Also, your eyes looked so green. They looked the same color as your brother's parrot that had died a few days ago. That green." Celeste paused, mulling it over, then mumbled to herself in a confused manner, "There was also this odd blue line at your feet... and strange text...?"
"Ouch, Celeste... I'm still sad about MR. FEATHERINGTON'S passing! Mr. Featherington, okay? The parrot had a name! Other than that... gosh, you really have no filter," Alice reprimanded in a grumpy tone.
"Wow, Alice… 'I have no filter'? That's such an adult sentence… Where did you learn it? So cool."
"Ehehehe, well, I am just naturally that smart. I picked it up from here and there." Alice giggled with a little pride in her tone.
"That's awesome." Celeste's eyes twinkled.
"So…" Alice hesitated before asking Celeste shyly, "Was grown-up me really that pretty? But my hair is very thin though. My mom said they are weak, and she worries they might get too thin. Also, my eyes, they're not green-green… they're more… uh, cognac? Also, they are so dark that they sometimes even appear brown in the dark…"
"What in the world is cognac? Now you're just showing off!" Celeste's brow twitched.
"No, WAIT! I promise I wasn't this time!"
Reflecting on that moment, Celeste's words to Alice about supposedly glimpsing her future self in a dream might have been one of the reasons Alice developed an obsession with her appearance. Alice became particularly attentive to her looks, taking extreme care with her makeup and overall grooming. She started giving extra attention to her hair and even grew dissatisfied with her eye color, leading her to wear green contacts from time to time.
It seemed that Celeste's words had quite an impact on Alice. Although Celeste felt guilty, every attempt to assure Alice of her natural beauty led to Alice becoming extremely grumpy and distressed. Eventually, Celeste stopped bringing it up to avoid causing her friend further discomfort.
In the subsequent two incidents of being zapped into another world, Celeste refrained from mentioning them to Alice. Truth be told, after Alice started to undergo changes, Celeste developed a certain disdain for the lady from her 'dream.' In those subsequent occurrences, she was convinced that the woman was not Alice, yet indirectly became the cause of Alice growing insecure in her own body.
While Celeste acknowledged that she was probably the direct cause, the sudden appearance of this lady in her dream seemed to amplify the situation. If it weren't for the mysterious woman, nothing of the sort would have happened. Despite her dissatisfaction, though, the lady remained undeniably beautiful.
For Celeste, it became even more convincing that this mysterious woman was nothing more than a dream—someone born from a core part of her life that had left a significant impression: Alice Hughes, her cherished best friend. A girl whom she held dear, but simultaneously, a girl who brought her nothing but worry.
Sharing most of this with Ezra, Celeste purposefully omitted the part about Alice potentially growing slightly insecure due to something Celeste had said as kids. It was one of her darkest memories, one she loathed and hated. It served as a crushing and heavy reminder of many unpleasant things for which she felt directly guilty, even if it was unintentional.
"I see... and what happened with that lady during those three times?" Ezra asked softly, a peculiar note in his tone.
"I honestly remember nothing of substance. The first time, I do somewhat recall running towards that pavilion with that lady in tow, but that's about it. The second time, she and I talked about something while... um... gazing at the flowers? I'm not sure. The third time, we were sitting on the seats at the broken pavilion, also talking about something... And before you ask, no. I remember nothing of those talks I had with the lady. My mind is pretty much blank. It was mostly occupied with the nice vibe of the place and just how damn pretty Alice-beautified-lookalike was... Also, the continuous streams of texts appearing over the lady's head were pretty distracting too." Celeste nodded seriously.
"Yeah, indeed. We share the same blood, alright. Immediately blinded by appreciation for good looks… How painfully relatable," Ezra chuckled awkwardly. He then turned to Celeste with a grin, "You know, the people I met in that world are pretty darn good-looking too. There's this guy, Carlos – he looks like a doll for real, almost unreal. A half Asian albino with purple eyes… And he looks very good. Sickly and pale, if that's even possible, but good."
"That's insane, what?" Celeste could only imagine.
"Then there's this girl called Eloise; she may as well be mistaken for some otherworldly being. She almost looks like she farts gold dust, and I am being serious here. The girl's also got the prettiest blonde hair I have ever seen. They may as well pass off as gold threads."
"Don't exaggerate, Ez. Farting gold dust? Seriously?" Celeste chuckled.
"No, I'm dead serious! One hundred percent. Totally! But I've gotta say, the most beautiful person I've ever seen there, even more than my biased view of my man, is this incredible woman named Penelope, uh, Penelope Rosalind something. I swear, cousin, she's so stunning it's almost tear-inducing! And to top it off, she has the most gorgeous NATURAL pink hair! N-A-T-U-R-A-L… Life can be so unfair to some people." Ezra spoke, his expression a mix of sincerity and amusement.
"Haha, right. Sure." Celeste gave an equally bland laugh, not quite sure where Ezra was taking the conversation but expecting a surprise, which she probably will not like.
"I get it, you don't trust me on this. Ask Max or Hug – Louis, yeah, Louis and Max. They're fellow victims too." Ezra chuckled.
"You don't say… I feel like I've had enough surprises for the day…"
"Why, what do you mean? There's something else I have to tell you. About this other incredibly beautiful girl in that world that I forgot to mention earlier… Her name is Alicia Heathers. And oh my, what an absolute beauty she is. Luxurious, thick brown hair. Her eyes, the prettiest shade of green. Parrot green almost. And she's pretty tall too. Also, did I mention she tends to wear golden and black clothing a lot?" Ezra looked at Celeste with a funny expression, shaking his open palms in a gesture that screamed an almost sarcastic, 'surprise~!'
A harsh and incredulous 'ha!' left Celeste's lips as she looked back at Ezra with an almost dumbfounded expression. But Ezra didn't allow her to dwell on thoughts about this Alicia girl when he suddenly leaned in and asked seriously, "A pavilion? Long dresses? You, a character that came out of nowhere and has no place in the story that I get dragged to… I have an awful hypothesis… which I unfortunately have to confirm…"
"What is it?" Celeste asked numbly.
"You said that you were distracted by the text that appeared over the head, right? Did you notice that the top two lines are unchanging?"
"Oh, now that you mention it… I guess they were pretty much unchanging. The paragraphs below them were changing continuously… I do somewhat remember that the second line mentioned something like a chapter?"
"Do you remember which chapter?"
"Nope."
"Aish… then do you remember what was written in the top line? Was it a bold 'White lies'?" Ezra asked hopefully.
Celeste thought carefully, trying to recall as hard as she could. Ezra did not disturb her; he just sat there as quietly as he could, awaiting her answer. He then suddenly saw her snap her fingers and bob her index finger with a 'I remember!' expression as she answered, "I just remembered… It was a pretty long line actually. I don't really remember it word for word, but it was something like 'From heart to heart until I reach the flowers'… Yeah, something like that. It was in bold too and was underlined. It looked like a title."
"So it was not 'White Lies'?" Ezra asked with a complicated expression.
"No. No it was not."
Ezra bit his lower lip and sighed harshly, his heart filled with disappointment and unease. Even though he had a hunch about such a situation, he didn't want it to come true. But here it was, unfolding before him. It seemed that Celeste, during those three times, was thrown into a completely different story. Not the story that Ezra and the other were thrown into... Things just got more complicated by the minute.