Chapter 7

It was not a very comfortable night to say the least. Emma slept in the wardrobe though she left one door open. Sandy gave her one of the pillows and a spare blanket. It wasn’t so much uncomfortable in the wardrobe (being an artist Emma was used to sleeping in strange places) as it was somewhat worrisome that somebody can come in and see her.

Emma turned a lot and hardly slept at all. When the first light finally hit the window the girl was fast asleep. Sandy woke up at 8 and left for breakfast. She didn’t want to wake Emma up so she just closed the wardrobe door leaving just a little crack.

When Emma woke Sandy already returned from breakfast and had some news to share with the girl.

“What time is it?” asked Emma when she finally crawled out of the wardrobe.

“10 to 11 in the morning,” answered Sandy. “I brought you some food to eat”. She indicated the table. There was indeed a plate with eggs and sausages with bread on the side. “I wasn’t able to preserve it, so it’s already cold”.

“That’s OK,” said Emma. She was so hungry she could eat anything in the world. “Thank you”.

Sandy nodded. “While you eat, I have news for you”.

Emma knew what it was about. She felt her stomach twitch. But maybe that was just hunger. She sat at the table and took the fork.

“So,” Sandy began, as Emma dug into her eggs. “Today at breakfast I talked to Mercury”.

Emma slowly chewed her food. She didn’t turn to face Sandy.

“He’ll come round at about 12 today”.

Emma stopped chewing and swallowed. “He’s going to come here?” She was incredulous.

“Well, yeah. Where else did you want us to discuss it?”

“I don’t know. I thought I wouldn’t be there”.

Sandy looked at her puzzled. “It’s your story. Obviously you are going to be there when we discuss it”.

Emma sighed. She knew that made sense. But it didn’t make it any easier.

After eating the rest of her breakfast in silence, Emma with Sandy’s help, sneaked into the bathroom.

“Here are my clothes and a fresh towel. I’ll wait for you back in my room. Just be careful when returning, OK?” asked Sandy. Emma nodded. And she was left alone again.

She looked in the mirror and her own reflection scared her. The young woman looking back at her was not at all what Emma was used to seeing. That woman had dirty dishevelled hair and her face was that of a mature woman who had seen some stuff. Also she saw fear. Maybe it was just because she felt it inside but Emma could tell that behind those muddy hazelnut eyes there was fear splashing.

Emma went to the shower, avoiding looking in the mirror again. Hot water made her feel much better. And yeah, there was hot water. It surprised Sandy only a little though. After seeing light bulbs.

She then brushed her hair and put Sandy’s clothes on. Emma didn’t notice it before but now she saw that it wasn’t a dress that she used to see on women of the Victorian or Renaissance period. It was a neat costume made up of a blue blouse with puffy sleeves and black trousers that were wider on the end. She also put on socks and a pair of blue shoes. The clothes were much more comfortable than expected.

After dressing she looked at herself in the mirror. The other her looked refreshed and ready to go. A little hot water can do miracles. Even her freckles did not look to her as hideous as before. Emma smiled a little and went out of the room, carefully picking around the corners and taking care not to be caught.

Back in the room Sandy was reading a book. She looked up as Emma came in. “You are just on time. It’s 10 minutes to 12”.

Emma sighed. Instant regret washed over her. “What are we going to tell him?”

“Everything,” Sandy said.

“I meant how are we going to tell him “everything” and not sound crazy at the same time?” Emma sounded irritated. She felt irritated.

“I don’t know yet,” Sandy admitted. “We’ll think of something”.

Well, that wasn’t helpful at all. Emma sat down on the sofa near Sandy. She felt helpless. The girl wanted to be over with it as soon as possible. But it was still 10 long minutes to 12.

“Why don’t we dry your hair, while we wait?” Sandy suggested.

Emma looked at her in surprise. “Do you have hairdryers?”

“Are they the same thing as drying monitors?”

Emma became even more incredulous. And that’s when she again thought that she doesn’t know anything about this world. She just assumed that it was an earlier historical period on a different planet. Now that she started thinking about it, it actually made a lot of sense. The names were different so why not the whole structure of the planet.

“Just show me,” she said to Sandy.

The latter got up and went for what Emma assumed to be a mirror to the right of the wardrobe. “Come here,” Sandy said.

Emma stood up and went to the mirror. Sandy touched the left corner of it and with her other arm put Emma’s face close to it, so that her right side would be parallel to the surface. This made most sense as Emma had her hair shaved off on the left side. In an instance she heard a sound as though of a hairdryer but just for a few seconds. Then it became silent again. Emma looked at Sandy, who was smiling. “Touch them,” Sandy said, nodding encouragingly.

Emma put her hand on just an instance ago wet hair. It was dry as though she never had a shower. She looked at Sandy, her eyes opened wide.

“Cool, right?” Sandy asked still smiling. “Are your hairdryers like that?”

Emma shook her head. “No, they are much much slower”.

Sandy looked a bit surprised and was about to ask something else when the women heard a knock on the door. They both turned to look at the door as though it was a strangest thing that could possibly happen on both planets.

Emma forgot all about their soon-to-be guest. To be fair, Sandy did too. But she composed herself and went straight for the door.

As she opened it a young man entered the room. He was alone this time and nobody followed him. Sandy closed the door behind Mercury. He looked around and when he saw Emma he smiled brightly and curtsied a little. Emma didn’t respond. She didn’t even smile. An unpleasant pit in her stomach made her sick.

“Thank you for coming, Mercury”, said Sandy.

“My pleasure, ladies,” he answered still smiling. Sandy offered him a sit and sat down herself. Emma didn’t want to sit or move for that matter. She was far too sick to move even her arm. As she thought of her arm she felt her palm sweating, so she clenched it into a fist.

“What is it you wanted to discuss with me?” Mercury asked. “Other than my good looks of course”. He flashed a smile again.

Emma rolled her eyes. She knew exactly what this type of man was. They are so full of themselves they think all of their jokes are funny. When in fact none of them are. But despite that and other facts somehow you find that half of your school is in love with this guy. How? You might ask. Well, nobody knows exactly. But just wait and your best friend will be saying something like “I don’t know why, but I like this guy. He’s so cute”. And just a week ago she hated the man.

Sandy cleared her throat and looked pointedly at Emma. “We wanted to discuss with you a matter of high importance,” she began. “But first we would need your word that everything you hear in this room will stay in this room”. She looked at him in silence.

“I give you my word then,” Mercury nodded.

“You understand that you cannot mention a word to anybody,” Sandy repeated, testing him.

“I’m not a church-bell6,” he said, suddenly becoming more serious.

Sandy nodded satisfied and looked at Emma. She wanted the latter to begin her story. Emma cleared her throat just as Sandy did a few moments ago.

“This thing we wanted to talk about,” Emma began; her voice didn’t want to obey. “It’s rather unbelievable, but it’s one hundred per cent true”.

Mercury didn’t so much as move a muscle. So she continued. Emma told first about this different world with cars and mobile phones. Then she began telling a story from a third person about how a girl got lost in a fog and found a door in another world. She then made a pause to see Mercuries reaction. He listened carefully up to this point. Then he said: “Well, ladies, I really enjoyed your little story but what’s the point?”

To be fair Emma expected disbelief and maybe even some joking about the time-travelling from Mercury. But expecting it and hearing it first-hand are two completely different things. She saw the sparkle in his eyes again and something in her clicked. She suddenly became really irritated.

“It’s not just a joke for you to laugh at,” Emma said through gritted teeth. Somewhere in the back of her mind she understood that her anger was not a good response. They really needed Mercury to believe them.

He was taken aback with her response for a moment but then he recovered and told her, laughter could clearly be heard in his voice: “Oh yeah?”

“Yeah,” Emma could feel rage boiling inside her and she could not contain it any longer. “Just because you think you are so smart doesn’t mean you are. And just because in your little corner of a world your jokes are laughed at doesn’t mean you are funny. You are literally the most unpleasant person I have ever met in my life. And you know what? I don’t even know why I told you all of that”.

The last two things were not true at all. But Emma could see that she hit this guy right in the stomach, so she could not help but be really proud and pleased with herself.

“Just because you’ve seen me for a couple of minutes and heard me tell one joke doesn’t mean you know me. You know nothing about me,” Mercury said it so quietly that it was hardly audible. But Emma heard him loud and clear. And her pride as well as happiness evaporated like it never was there.

Mercury got up and went out of the room without another word. And now it was as clear as day for Emma that she did not know this young man at all.

After Mercury left heavy silence settled in the room. Emma could not pluck up her courage to look at Sandy. It was literally their only shot at doing this. And she just blew it up.

In a few strolls Sandy crossed the room and went out as well. Emma was alone in a room that seemed far too small now. She felt as though she was a spoilt child that was left alone to think about her behaviour.