Hesitations

'Did the bastard just try to drown me?' I thought while trying to swim back up to the surface.

Emerging from the deep pool, I took a sharp breath, my brother's face greeting me.

He was resting his chin on his hand, and he wore an amused expression—akin to a mother watching her child play.

"Are you trying to murder me?!" I said while making my way to my floatie.

"How are you able to make that big of a wave anyway?"

"Magic, obviously." He jested, lying lazily on his dino floatie.

I stared at him for a few seconds, his brownish-black hair, the same as mine, glistening under the sun's rays.

Although in my eyes, he's just an idiotic existence, I admire him.

He—for the most part—is intelligent, and quite mature for his age. "Your 23rd birthday is coming up, what would you like as a present?"

"I would like for you to stop reminding me of my age." He said while slurping a different drink this time.

"What's that? Can you make me one?"

He looked at me, then pointed to the rounded glass table in between the two sun lounger. "It's just soda. Go get some on your own."

"Tch." I swam back to the lounger, but I feel something different. And no, it's not another giant wave. Looking down at the pool, I was suddenly scared.

Under me is a deep dark blue water that seems to be ocean-deep.

In a panic, I looked back at Kolin but he wasn't there, nothing was there. Around me is a vast sea, and the sky is a dark, stormy, pond of lightning. I swam around, but found nothing.

"KOLIN?!" My shout of panic was drowned out by the booming crackle of the sky.

If that wasn't scary enough, a huge tsunami at least a thousand times bigger than Kolin's splash was about to drown me to death—for real this time.

"Bevie!" I heard his voice somewhere like it was right next to me.

"Bevie! What the heck are you doing?" I heard it again, but he was also mumbling—like he was talking to someone else, not me.

I swam, searching for the voice. "Brother..." I heaved, my legs giving out.

Somewhere ahead of me, there is an island, there are no clouds there at all, like they did not dare touch it.

In contrast to the atmosphere around me, the white sand reflected the lightning behind.

I was so close to reaching it, but my legs cramped.

'Crap, am I gonna die?' I tried to flail my arms to stay afloat, but it didn't work.

As I was about to lose consciousness, however, I suddenly found myself back in my brother's backyard.

He still wasn't there though.

The world was silent, even my own breathing was muted. The previous sunny sky was ashy gray, and the city was engulfed in an enormous tornado, but it wasn't moving—only spinning wildly.

I looked around the backyard, noticing that nothing changed.

From the drinks to the flamingo floatie, it's all the same. But there was a glow from the shed, dim, but a glow nonetheless.

'The books?' I suddenly thought.

It once piqued my curiosity, but now I have to look at them. It's a temptation, like ice cream during summer. I walked there—or at least I tried.

I suddenly found myself floating, and I felt the wind behind me.

A tornado, possibly taller than the Burj Khalifa, was sucking me in.

"Be.."

"..erly!"

"WAKE UP!!"

*Gasps*

I coughed, so hard that I probably coughed my heart out.

As my legs gave out, I blech, throwing up the bacon with Ramsay-style eggs on top of medium-toasted sourdough bread and the drinks I had.

"Bevie! What happened? What even was that?!" I'd never seen that expression on him before, he was obviously panicking.

I tried to answer, but all that came out was the food I previously had.

He suddenly seems to be out of it though. His face is dazed like he's daydreaming. 'Oh no, is he gonna go through it as well?'

Fortunately, I thought wrong. He held me, his warm hands touching my shoulder—I noticed my arms are unusually pale, and my body was shivering madly.

"Tell me, what did you see?" His voice was different this time. None of his playful attitude was showing, it was even weirder than what I went through just a minute ago.

"I-I don't know." Slowly, I began telling him what I saw... from how I ended up in a stormy ocean, to the tornado rampaging in the city.

"A-a-am I s-schizophrenic?"

Is this why I started sleeping a lot these days?

Is this why my dreams are so vivid?

I couldn't help but think I'm crazy, who wouldn't?

Tears started streaming down my face. I was so overwhelmed that I just cried. Kolin, however, looked at me, his eyes dazed—again.

It makes me wonder what kind of world is in his mind to easily get lost in it.

I looked him in the eye—they're pale dark green with a tinge of gold. "S-shouldn't you take me to the Psychiatrist? I might be going crazy..."

He held his chin with his left hand, and he looked at me.

"If you are, then what do you think I'll be?"

"Kolin, I'm not joking." I looked at him, expecting some sort of reply.

My face was full of seriousness, but he must've noticed the confused expression behind it as he explained.

"It is because I believe that what you saw is real, or at least not an imagination." I was even more confused, understanding nothing about the situation.

He paused for a second, then he helped me get back on my feet. "Let's go inside, we have a lot to talk about."

He gave me some spare clothes, 'these are not mine'. I got up and then change into an oversized cyan t-shirt, and a pair of pajamas.

I sat on the white sofa while I waited for him, my mind still unable to process what happened.

After a couple of minutes, I saw him walk up from the kitchen with a tray of drinks. "You should drink this chai; your body is unusually cold."

I nodded, then I took a sip; it filled me with warmth. I continued drinking it, waiting for him to talk, but he didn't.

It seems like he was waiting for me to finish my drink—or to calm down.

Normally, silences like these are okay, pleasant even. This time though, it was unbearable; I was tense the whole time waiting for him to say something, anything.

"Bevie, I am also not sure about what exactly happened, but I have a clue." He looked hesitant like he was holding back.

He was caressing his cup which had now gone cold.

I stayed silent, afraid that a word might disrupt the silence in my head. Instead, I just listened to him.

"I—uhh... it's like—uhm, the thing is—"

"Tell me, I want to know." I was frustrated at his stutters, he's usually straightforward and honest.

He didn't answer me, however. Instead, he reached out his hands. Not thinking too much about it, I took it. Then he stood up, and pulled me up.

We floated.

We really did! It was a weird feeling suddenly finding your feet above ground. But what was more surprising was the fact that he was just holding my hands, almost delicately.

I couldn't say anything, I wanted to know what this is, or if this is another daydream.

Thinking about that, I panicked, accidentally letting go of his hand. He was quick on catching me, however, and he held me tightly this time.

We really were floating, almost touching the ceiling.

To my right, I see the cat lying on his hanging platform—he was looking at us, clearly confused. 'I probably have the same expression right now.'

I looked at him, my expression giving away the questions in my mind; I still asked them though.

"A-are you a w-witch?" I saw him frown at my question.

I've known this guy my whole life, and yet he seems unfamiliar. I just can't see the playful Kolin being a witch.

"What? You gonna burn me to death?" He asked with a smirk plastered on his face shamelessly.

'Now that looks kinda more like him.' I felt the edge of my lip twitch, almost smiling.

"No, I am not a witch, those are women." His smirk was even wider. At this point, we were now floating down.

"What a sexist remark, you're definitely getting canceled." I am full-on smiling now, like the near-traumatic experience I had didn't happen.

I stared at him, not making a sound. Boldly, I just observed him.

"So, what exactly are you? Are you even real? Am I actually schizophrenic, and I'm just imagining all of this?" After a couple minutes of silence, I bombarded him with questions.

Although I have now calmed down, I am still confused.

He paused, set me down on the carpet, and stepped back a couple of steps away.

With my expectations full of curiosity, I stared at him, but he just closed his eyes.

"Now wha—" Before I even finished my question, he suddenly glowed, like a miniature sun.

I had to shield my eyes from the sudden brightness. Then he opened his eyes—glowing green with a dust-like gold glow surrounding them.

With quite a silly expression, he smiled playfully.

With the hesitations he had earlier now gone, he revealed.

"I, Kolin Evasphear, am a mage from another world."