4 • In the elevator •

'What?'

"What happened?" I tried to sit upright. I was on the comfort of my bed. I recognized the furnitures of the room to be mine. I found the bright sunlight that shone through the floor to ceiling windows to be making the pain in my head worse.

My body felt weak. My head was spinning.

"You passed out," I heard Dinah say. The right side of my bed where she sat sunk down a little under her weight.

"In the elevator?" I asked, confused. I laid back down when I realized I didn't have the strength to not be laying down yet.

"In the elevator?" Dinah repeated as if it was so wrong. "No. In the lobby, Kaia. You were chasing Jericho, remember? Then you bumped into someone?"

I remembered. "Yeah."

But, was that before I met Nathaniel Fumero? Or after?

"How long was I unconscious?"

"Five hours, more or less," Jericho said. He was sitting on one of my couches as he looked down at his phone. "Our parents checked you up real quick. Said you were fine."

"But, it was like all your energy was drained out of you," Dinah added with a touch of worry. "How hard did you guys collide with each other?"

"Pretty hard, obviously."

"Well, when you feel better, your mom wants to see you?"

'What?'

"What?" I couldn't help but jolt upright, making it feel like I just shook my brain out of place. "Again?"

"What do you mean, 'again'? She probably just wants to see if you're okay."

Wasn't I just in an elevator ride to see my mother?

"But, I was just. . .I was. . ." I tried to form the words in my head but couldn't really get them out without sounding stupid. "Are you sure?" I asked instead.

"Yes, I'm sure," Dinah said confidently. "So rest up. You know she hates being kept waiting."

'Who needs rest when something is about to happen all over again. Wait, did this conversation already happen before too?' I didn't remember having this conversation, though.

I hurried out of bed. I looked at myself and found that I was still wearing the same thing as when I was in the lobby just, apparently, five hours ago.

I rushed towards the door of my room. Dinah tried stopping me, she said I should stay in bed longer and regain my strength and all that things my mom should be telling me. I told her I was fine. On my way out of my suite, I saw the time. It was 5:50. This was supposed to be around the same time I met Nathaniel Fumero. Did I even ever meet him?

I wasn't sure of anything at this point.

That couldn't have been a dream. It felt so real. I seemed so real. I remembered it so clearly that there was no way that was just a fragment of my imagination.

I reached the elevator. I pushed the up button more times that appropriate, as if clicking it more made the elevator travel up faster. After almost a minute, the quiet sound came, and the doors slid open.

And there he was. Nathaniel Fumero, standing alone inside this moving metal box.

My knees felt weak. Was this real? Was this a coincidence?

I found myself with enough surviving brain cells to drag myself inside the elevator. I wondered what I looked like. Did he think I looked weird? My emotions were a mixed of being shocked, confused, scared, with a pinch of excitement. I didn't know how my face expressed all that at once.

Wait, should I be saying the same things? Doing the same things?

"Woah. Nathaniel Fumero." That's what I said, right?

The elevator doors closed.

'Woah. Malchaia Park.'

"Woah. Malchaia Park."

'I knew it!'

What was happening? Did I dream of the future while I was unconscious? That would make the most sense since I knew I had this conversation with Nathaniel Fumero already, but the conversation with Dinah I had no idea of. So maybe I only dreamt of this future and skipped the parts with Dinah.

Did this mean I had powers?

"You were supposed to ask: you know me?" he broke the silence that was kind of my fault since I got lost in thought.

"I didn't want to hear the whole Asa Clavel rant again," I explained.

Then, I gasped, for real. "Omg. Nathaniel Fumero, you remember!" I turned to him. He was wearing the same maroon polo shirt as just awhile ago when I first met him in this same elevator. "Something's weird. I for sure know that I was already on my way up to my mom, and that I've already met you. And that this whole thing already happened. But, it's happening again!"

"And so you concluded that you can dream of the future," Nathaniel Fumero said.

"Well, yes," I admitted. "How'd you know?"

He gave a one shoulder shrug. "I'd think of the same thing."

"Okay. But, now that wouldn't work since you're also aware of what's happening. Wait, do you have future dreaming powers too?"

Nathaniel Fumero let out a small laugh. "No."

"Do I?"

"No."

"Then--" he was cut off the the elevator doors opening. I was so preoccupied I didn't even hear the bell ring. I started making my way out of the elevator until Nathaniel Fumero stopped me.

"We still need to go back down," he said.

"Oh right."

I went back in.

"So. . ." I began. "What's happening?"

He leaned back on the walls. We were on the same sides as when this whole thing first happened. I was on the right back corner, he was on the left.

"Nothing much. I just checked-in here a few hours ago. Just got back from rehearsals. Oh, I have a show tonight. Which reminds me--"

"-That's not what I meant. I mean, what's happening? How come time kind of reversed? Did anyone else noticed?"

"Right. I thought you meant that." It took him a few couple of seconds before he could say an answer. And even then, he sounded hesitant. "Not really the time and place right now to do this. . ."

I actually wanted to say more. I wanted to ask about how come he knew so much about this. I wanted to insist that there was no one else in the elevator. But, he was right. It wasn't the time and place.

Not long after, we've reached the lobby again. The same people came in. The same suitcases. The same conversations. The same first girl who noticed Nathaniel Fumero.

I did my best to hide myself. I just woke up from a five hour unconciousness. My hair, dead straight as Jericho said, was not looking so good. I hated it whenever I would just see a picture of myself in a random magazine somewhere and it'd just be the worst candid photos of me all the time. At least Nathaniel Fumero, who was actually a celebrity, actually knew how he could look good in candid pictures. I, on the other hand, was just someone born into a rich family. I didn't get the 'How to Live As A Famous Person For Dummies' handout thank you very much. It's not my fault my grandparents' business turned out well.

"You coming?"

I was suddenly the only one left in the elevator. We were back in the 35th floor of the building. Nathaniel Fumero waited for me on the other side of the elevator doors.

"Where did everyone else go?" I asked as I stepped out.

"My guess is that they're in their hotel rooms," he said. "What were you thinking about?"

"Nothing important," I looked up to him so I could see his face. "So, just, tweet me or something if you ever decided it's the time and place already or whatever it is. Make sure to make it sound dramatic so I could feel special."

I wasn't really sure how to feel about this. He said it himself. I didn't have future telling powers. That was actually the only part I was excited about. For all I was concerned, maybe I didn't even need to know what just happened.

"How do I make a tweet sound dramatic?"

"I don't know. Hype it up. Be like, 'Malchaia, it's time'," I said with a deep voice as if I were Chris Evans in an end of the world movie. Or don't even say my name so your fans think that you're releasing a new album."

"That is evil."

"Yeah. . .too much." An awkward silence here. "Okay. Well. Bye."

I turned around and started walking towards the right hallway. It wasn't a very long hallway. It just led to the entrance of my mom's office area. I pushed open the door. I was immediately met by Matthew. He was one of the security guards here so that not just a random person could barge in the offices.

I smiled at him as I passed by. Then, I pushed open another set of double doors that revealed to me my mom's busy staff.

Considering as most people went home by six, it wasn't very full here anymore. As I made my way towards my mom's office room, I smiled and waved at the people who greeted me.

"Hey," said Nathaniel Fumero who was jogging a little bit when he got to me. Then, we started walking side-by-side.

"Hey," I said casually as if we've been friends for a long time. "Wait. . hey?" I repeated. "What are you doing?"

"Not following you."

"Well, then, what are you doing?"

We both stopped infront of the closed doors that led to my mom's office.

"I might've already caused some troubles." He looked at me. Then, he motioned his head towards my mom's office. "The hotel president called for me."

"Oh."