Sounds to the Universe

It all started a few days after she moved into her new city.

In the middle of a dimly lit room, a girl sat crossed legged on the ground while holding a hand mirror, her eyebrows furrowed as she stared intensely at a part of her face. Something didn't seem right to her.

No matter how many times she rubbed her eyes or pinched her cheeks, the sensations all seemed too real for it to be a dream.

"Hey mom," Minji called out. She stood up and staggered to the living room, where her parents were watching television.

"Were my eyes..." she started out before immediately stopping in her tracks. Something's changed again.

Her usually overweight and lifeless dad was skinner and seemed to be full of energy. The gray hairs on his head, as if time was rewinded, were replaced by healthy black hair. Her mom who usually had a lousy posture because of her injured back was sitting upright with less wrinkles on her face than before. They both reverted back to a more youthful appearance.

"Yes, Minji?" her mom replied while smiling at her with the same familiar voice as before. While the voice remained unchanged, the outer appearance looked so different. It rubbed her the wrong way.

"Uh... were my eyes always this color?" Minji swallowed before asking.

Pushing aside the fact that her parents changed, she was most curious about her own change in appearance. When did she have bright purple eyes when she always had dark brown ones. Was it even possible for a person to possess purple eyes?

Her mom laughed at her question and dismissed it all together.

"Of course you did. Did your beauty amaze you once again? I'm always proud of my beautiful daughter," her mom beamed at her 'beautiful' daughter.

Minji rubbed the palm of her hands together anxiously while her 'mom' beamed at her. Even her habitual words were the same as before.

"No, mom. I'm being serious. They used to be dark brown." Minji refuted as her voice began to shake.

A little taken aback by her daughter's serious tone of her words, she stood up from the couch to grab a photo album. She handed it over to Minji while giving a worrying smile.

"Maybe looking over your baby pictures again will relieve you of whatever concerns you have. I hope you're doing alright..." her mom said as she handed her the photo album.

Minji almost yanked the album from her mom out of nervousness and flipped through the book quickly. She felt her heart drop after seeing the evidence before her. She had purple eyes in all of her baby pictures. Everything else was the same, but only her eyes were different.

*How is this possible...? This is clearly me, but my eyes are so different*

Minji hastily placed the album in front of the TV and quickly retreated back into her room, receiving a small scolding from her mom for being so unorganized. She closed the door, bewildered by the entire situation. Not just hers but her parents appearance have also changed.

*Just what the hell is happening??*

...

From that day onwards, Minji observed other minute changes that occurred throughout her environment. One of which was that whenever she stepped outside, more and more people possessed bizarre hair and eye colors. But no one batted an eyelash at this entire situation or at even her own unique-looking purple eyes, except for a few compliments here and there from random passerby. Another change was that she was certain that her next door neighbor was an elderly lady with a fat orange cat which she often played with, but it changed to a family consisting of an especially handsome son with black hair and pink eyes who seemed to be around her age. The other family members also had striking appearances but they seemed to pale in comparison to him. Although she never interacted with him, she would occasionally see him leave his house with his group of friends. The last and most important change was that her new school's name, location, and uniform had changed. Her usually tacky uniform had changed into a gray and white fashionable one. No amount of searching brought up the results of her school's 'previous' name and location.

She had no idea what to think of anymore about these changes. There were too many questions left unanswered and before she knew it, time passed and it was almost the start of her new semester at her new school.

"So, tomorrow's finally the first day of school here! Are you excited?"her mom brought it up while they were eating dinner together. It took some time, but Minji was accustomed to the changes in her parents to the point where she could eat and converse with them normally. However, the thought of attending a new school with these bizarre changes was giving her a major headache.

"Yeah, I can't wait to meet my new classmates tomorrow" Minji forced out a smile and gave a white lie. She didn't want her parents to worry, especially since they moved halfway through her first year of high school.

Everyone has probably formed their own groups by now

Minji sighed internally. Her dad's transfer was sudden, but thankfully it overlapped with summer vacation. So, she at least had a summer in order to mentally prepare herself before going to school. Transferring halfway through the semester will definitely prove to be challenging for someone as shy and timid as her.

*Happy thoughts. Happy thoughts.*

Minji pushed her worries to the back of her mind and focused on eating her dinner. The tomorrow her will deal with these issues.

...

The day of her first day at school in the new city finally came. She sighed while putting on her new school uniform.

*At least it became cuter*

Her previously tacky uniform made her too embarrassed to even wear it outside. If she had anything to be thankful about these new changes, one was definitely her uniform. She looked at her reflection and prepared her heart, praying internally that she would have a smooth experience.

*I have to figure out how and why everything suddenly changed*

She repeated this line to herself like some kind of spell and she got ready to leave her house. While grasping her door's handle, she noticed her next door neighbor also leaving through the window by the door. He was wearing the same uniform as she was. Minji momentarily paused and waited. She watched as he made his way towards the building's elevator.

"Aren't you leaving? Did you forget something?" her mom asked, a little confused as to why her daughter had not left yet. And as if woken up from a trance, Minji was slightly startled by her mom's voice and nervously smiled.

"Ah... no I was just trying to remember if I gathered all of my belongings. I think I did, so I'll be heading out now!" Minji replied frantically before opening the front door.

She wanted to avoid meeting anybody from her school, especially on her first day. And fortunately, she did manage to avoid having a conversation with anybody wearing the same uniform until she made it into her school's staff room.

After taking a deep breath, she politely knocked on the door before opening it. As she opened the door, the smell of freshly printed papers and coffee greeted her. These signaled a bright and busy morning for the school's staff members. The majority of the teachers in the staff room didn't seem to pay much attention to her; they were all focused on their own individual tasks. Minji stood by the door for a moment before making her way towards a tall male figure.

"Excuse me, it's my first day here, and I don't really know who to approach so..." Minji trailed off, hoping the listener would get the message.

"Oh, sorry I'm also a student here," he responded, a little flustered. Minji felt her heart sink; she mistook a student as a teacher?

*Oh god I can't believe I just insulted this random dude by saying he looks old*

I'm so sorry, it's my first day here and I don't know what to do, so I just approached the person who gave off the friendliest vibe..." Minji frantically tried bullshitting her way through her mistake. Hearing this, the student no longer seemed too flustered and instead gave a warm smile, his dimples grabbing her attention. After getting a closer look, he also seemed like a handsome character with light brown hair and dazzling yellow eyes. He guided her to a teacher and gave another smile.

"I guess I'll be seeing you around then," he said as he gave her a small nod before leaving her to the hands of a teacher who enthusiastically took her from his brief care. During the mist of this chaos, the boy who's name she didn't catch slipped away and left.

"Ah..."

He left before Minji could even thank him. His figure disappeared as he swiftly exited the staff room. She refocused her attention back to the teacher.

"Transferring during the middle of the year is difficult, isn't it? But don't worry, a lot of the students are friendly and you'll adjust just fine---..."

The teacher's voice seemed to drown out with the background as Minji heard the same familiar lecture again for what seemed to be the nth time. She rubbed the palms of her hands patiently while waiting for the teacher to finish rambling on about unnecessary advices.

"Yes, I can adjust well, sir" Minji smiled in response, yet it didn't seem to reach her now purple eyes.