Chapter 4

A girl had brittle hair from the days she had gone without having a proper shower. There was no colour left in her flat cheeks, and the skin on her lips was on the utmost verge of peeling off. The body that she looked at was uglier than ever, as she was pale and weak, about to collapse. Even the mirror she was looking into seemed disgusted at what it saw. I guess it was the fact that I didn't want to have anything to do with my mum after what she had insinuated about my dad. I wasn't one to lock myself up, cry and discontinue eating, but I was a hypocrite.

My relationship with mum was more strained than it could ever be, but I made no big deal in fixing it up, my main priority in getting out of this place. My purse, phone and car keys in my hand with no idea where to go, I climbed into the driver's seat and slammed the car door shut.

I thoroughly remembered the park I had gone to the night of the party. It was a good place to escape. I wanted to whirl over there again and forget.

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Orange and red coloured leaves were falling off the trees in front of me, and some of them even resembled a sunset, leaving me fascinated by their colours. I was standing in the park I had run off to back at the party.

July 13th was the day the news of my dad's death arrived, and I was even shocked to find out later that it was my mum, who had killed him. They had been at a new year's party and to say that they were drunk, would be an understatement. Getting a taxi or asking someone to drop them off would be much easier, but I had no idea what caused a 'let's have some fun and drive back home ourselves' idea. Dad would have been smarter, but since he was drunk, there was no stopping him and Mum was the one who decided to drive that night. Young me was staying with my uncle that time basically in another state and they had kept the news hidden, trying not to upset me. When I arrived home, I felt like I was cruising through life until I saw mum.

"Hey Mum, I'm home! Uncle Ben's place was so good, we did lots of-"

I didn't get to finish. Mum was on the floor with bloodshot eyes, and her hair was messily everywhere. She had been crying. Hard. I wondered what had happened as I went over to her. She spilled the news to me in light sobs.

"Mum, what's going on?"

"Honey... He's gone."

"Who Mum, who are you talking about? Why are you crying?"

More sobs.

"Mum, where's dad?"

She was breaking down now. I went over to her engulfing her in my arms to comfort her while patting her hair down.

"Jenn, dad... he..."

I was desperate and curious to know what was going on.

"Tell me, mum, please," I asked my voice cracking down.

"Jenn, your dad, he passed away. It was an accident Jenn, I'm sorry."

What? Everything was going fine. It had to be some kind of joke.

"Not funny mom," I sternly said.

"Jenn, I'm serious, just listen to me okay? It's my fault, I know and I'm sorry I didn't tell you earlier."

My head was spinning, and I wanted to throw up.

"Mum, how?" I sobbed

"It was my fault, I was driving, drunk, and we crashed-

I didn't let her finish; instead, I raced up to my room, shutting the door behind me. I hated mum. For killing my dad, she’s a murderer.

It was from then which our quarrels had begun.

Darkness had begun to settle in, and I was hesitant in leaving the soon to be the starry sky. Yet, I picked up my belongings and started to walk to my car as to reach home before I was a shivering mess. Not even reaching halfway, I could hear the ruffling of clothes and strained breaths. A musty smell was wafting around the air around me, making it clear that someone was behind me. Adrenaline ran through me. My heart picked up its pace, and so did my feet. I speed walked with the never-ending urge to turn around. I was smarter than that though and was not interested in facing a wanted murderer, so all I did was move. Fast. Unfortunately, with fear rumbling inside of me, I lost all other senses and the capability to realise what I was doing, leading me to tangle myself up in a bundle of long twigs. I made contact with the grassy floor and was luckily not injured. For tripping on some sticks, I sure can make a scene quite dramatic.

I pulled myself up, brushing off the dirt and glanced behind me to see if anyone was actually there. To my relief, there wasn't anyone or anything. Though, I was positive that it was not my imagination.

It was after that, I froze, feeling a hand on my shoulder. Turning around, my face was in shock as I looked at the man in front of me. Smoke came out of the cigarette which was placed on his other hand, the cause for his yellow, dirty teeth. His black hair, which looked unwashed, was hanging over his head. Baggy pants and a hoodie fitted him, placing the stereotype of a drug addict over him. His fingers slid over to where my purse was, but before I could yell for help, he had me in a headlock, making me gag at the smell that travelled from his incredibly dirty body. I bit his arm hard, making a run for it while I credited myself for my incredibly good sprinting skills.

Oxygen was spilling out of me fast, and I bent over, quickly regaining my composure, so I would lose him. Footsteps were approaching me, and I hid behind some bushes hoping he would just give up. Money was probably what he wanted and seeing a teenage girl with no-one except a purse had given the guy more encouragement. I peered over the leaves and in the distance could make out an old man getting back inside a white van while tending to his arm.

I was happy that I had escaped the creepy old man, but I was standing in an unknown place and wondered how I was going to get home. Trees and bushes stood tall, gently swaying in the wind, picking up some leaves on its way. My eyes followed in the direction of which the autumn leaves were getting carried to and immediately stopped. In front of me stood a portal, bordered with vines and flowers arched around the frame. Inside I could see tall trees that managed to stream little sunlight, give the aura of the woods. I wanted to investigate it as the portal seemed beautiful as if it was ready to let someone in, yet all individuals seemed to walk straight past it.

Plodding over to it instantaneously, I placed my hands inside the magic in front of me and let out a small shriek in return. Half of my hands had disappeared inside! I pulled it back with a jolt, aghast at what had happened, deciding not to do anything for a second. I was in need of a breather. Not giving it a second thought, I placed one foot after the other into the frame and scowled when nothing too terrific was happening. There was a possibility of it being an illusion or a prank. But then again, I could be completely delusional as well. Maybe I needed to take a step back and rethink this, ten times before doing anything stupid and regretful.

"Jenn?"

I looked over at to see who had called me, making my face light up as I saw Jess standing behind me with her hands in her pockets.

"Jess, what are you doing here?" I asked

"I was just taking a walk, what about you?"

"I came here for some fresh air here, but then found this portal looking thing," I replied, lamely.

"You think it's real?" she questioned me.

"But you can see it?" I reassured to confirm that reality was going out the window soon.

"Other people can't see it, just you and me."

"Watch," said Jenn.

She marched up to a woman, walking along the path, however, I couldn't make out what they were saying. The woman looked startled, and a confused-looking Jess came back with a blank look on her face.

"What happened?" I asked

"I asked that woman over there about what you had said, but her response was that she thought I was crazy."

"So, she can't see it?" I asked with a huge amount of hope.

Unsure of what to say next, Jess managed to stammer out a response. "I g…uess?"

“Then we're going inside."

She backed up slowly, with wide eyes. Terrror noticeable in her stance, my memory faded to the gold gem I had found in the same park. I had picked it up and held onto it so I could later place into my purse but never took it out after the drama that had happened at home. My hands went inside, frantically searching for the object.

"Jess, I found a gold gem thing at this park on the night of the party. I have it with me, and I have a feeling that it has something to do with this portal in front of us. It can't be a coincidence that it was randomly found here," I explained.

"Maybe, this so-called gem is just a child's toy, you know what I'm saying?" she said.

Completely ignoring Jess, I walked up to the portal, not knowing what to do with it. Looking over to Jess for help, she grabbed the object off me searching for something.

"What if it has nothing to do with it?" exclaimed Jess.

"Let me throw it in, it's worth a shot," I whispered, grabbing the shining object back from her.

I aimed at the portal and let go of the minuscule object. Shutting my eyes tighter than ever, I clung onto Jess and took deep breaths. It was painful to remind myself that I wouldn't be able to rethink this any further. Deep in anticipation, I was disturbed when Jess shook me multiple times.

"It's not working, stop with your dumbass expectations. The gem literally just dropped in front of our feet. Let's just go home," she sighed.

"Wait, no, please!"

Jess' eyes searched over me, waiting for me to fall into her pleading and go home. But I didn't move. She shook her head in annoyance. "What's gotten into you recently? You're really busting to take yourself somewhere other than here, aren't you? I don't think you see yourself or what you're doing.”

Her unexpected outburst triggered silence. It had taken a few moments to understand her with regretful thoughts. I hadn't meant to drag her into a personal adventure or my own rebound pit.

"I’m so sorry! That was stupid of me to pull you into something that didn’t interest you. It’s my problem. My bad.”

Jess broke out into a grin with a shrug.

"Can I at least get the gem back?"

She nodded her head and let me receive the gem that was laying on the floor.

"Why do you even need that thing, again?" she inquired with confusion.

"Consider it a souvenir," I replied.

"From what part of the world, though?" Jess asked, squinting her eyes in doubt.

"Z-I-A-R-A." I pronounced slowly from reading the letters carved onto the object.

"Never heard of that pla-

It was quickly that Jess' voice felt as if it was fading away slowly and that she was moving into a corner, far away from me. The heavy wind blew across my face, and I closed my eyes to prevent anything from getting inside and blinding me. I tried my best to keep my insane hair that was flying around, intact and flailed my arms around in an effort to feel what was going on.

"Jess?!" I called desperately, trying to hear her voice or see her, wherever she was.

Nothing.

Gusts of warm air were still blowing around me and were beginning to collect a pile of autumn leaves, sticks and other nature that had been previously piled on the dirt floor. It was like a heavyweight was inside my head, yet with the pounding and confusion, my heart began to beat faster than ever for the third or fourth time today. Each second passed by, and I felt weaker and weaker. Like I was carried into a night of sleep, my eyes closed on their own accord.

And perhaps, I had then drifted out of reality.