a better world

 

Chapter 1

 

Melanie was a good girl, or at least she believed that she was. In reality a tumultuous home life had made her rather....emotional to put it lightly. Still though, among her peers she didn't have the worst reputation and her best friends Emilia and Marie kept her mostly in check whenever she was on the verge of an undue outburst. Unfortunately for her though, her friends can only do so much for her when they don't actually live with her.

 

The truth was that Melanie was not raised by loving parents, her mother was a narcissitic hot head that took offense at even the smallest of slights and her father was an overly critical control freak that came off like his favorite hobby was to closely examinine her face for even the slightest hint that her internal monologue might contain even a single thought that would contradict whatever random mandate that he'd just made up. They were a perfect pair of terrible parents, but instead of that causing her to recede inwards and hide away the rough edges that she was so often unfairly chastised for, her more stubborn side usually took hold and forced her to assert herself more strongly. As one can imagine, arguments between her and her parents were frequent and intense.

 

Today Melanie had spent her hours after school hanging out with her friends at Marie's place, a well needed break from the turmoil at home that she was almost grateful her parents hadn't denied her. Unfortunately for her, though, not all good things can last forever and Marie was soon giving her a ride back home.

 

Melanie stared blankly out the dark window beside her, resting her chin on her palm and her elbow on the door's armrest so that she could watch as the ghostly shadows of the trees in the night outside flitted by the window of the moving car. She wasn't really thinking of much, honestly, more just trying to soak in what she could of the relaxing silence even as a light sense of dread hung around in the back of her mind, coloring her mood oh so subtly dour. Her friend had had enough of the silence and decided to finally break the ice.

 

"Hey."

"What?"

"You okay?"

".....Maybe."

"Look, it'll be okay, it's not like you're out without permission. And hey, we're on time too! They're not gonna complain!"

 

Melanie shifted herself a bit, the noise of the fabric of her jean jacket shuffling against her dark pink sleeveless top being some of the only sounds of life that the car ride has had for the previous 15 minutes outside of the two girls' own breathing. They sat there for a minute in silence before Melanie finally spoke up again.

 

"You don't really get it do you?"

"Huh?"

"Like, I'm not judging you or anything, you're one of the only two people in this world who I feel come even *CLOSE* to understanding me and I love you two for that but....but you just don't GET it do you....." She threw her hands half heartedly upwards in defeat.

"..."

"..."

"......Do you wanna talk about it?"

".....I don't know.....it's just...I know that I say this all the time but....when I get home you don't see how bad it gets when nobody else is around. All the yelling, the screaming over inane bullshit...it's just....and then I act out at school and it only gets worse for me and I-!...."

 

She begins to tear up just a little, Marie would've comforted her a bit more fervently if she were able to see it but with her eyes so thoroughly focused on the road right now it's not like she could even look over anyway.

 

"....Look.....it's.....it's only gonna be a year okay?....Just one more year and then we'll be free at college!...Just you, me, and Emelia....we're all adults now...it'll be okay. We're here for you. If Emelia were in the car right now she'd say the exact same thing and you know that." 

 

Marie took her right hand off of the wheel for just a moment, only long enough to give a comforting squeeze on her friend's thigh. She can't see it very well in the darkened car but Melanie's detached frown almost began turn up into a smile.

 

"....Thanks....I think that I needed to hear that..."

 

Marie cracked a smile of her own now.

 

"Well you're welcome. And just remember, I'm always ready to talk if you need it."

 

Melanie finally gave in, she couldn't help herself, Marie was just too good at getting her to smile.

 

"Yeah, I know. You're the best you know."

 

Marie put a hand to her chest in dramatic flair. 

 

"Naturally!"

 

The rest of the ride home was less tense, but eventually they reached her driveway and she had to say her goodbyes. Melanie walked up to her front door and took out her keys, opening the lock and shuffling inside. Her dour mood had returned. 

 

She walked into the nearby kitchen, her dad was scrolling through his phone as her mom cooked up some macaroni to pair up with whatever meal it was that she was cooking them for tonight. She gave the briefest of greetings and sat her backpack down on the floor next to a stool by the counter, as Marie had predicted there had been no complaints from her parents about her visiting Marie. This would be a relief for most people, of course, but she already knew that there was going to be something stupid to argue about within the next five minutes somehow. She walked over to a coat hanger and unzipped her jacket, hanging it up and enjoying the cool house air on the bare skin of her arms and midriff, she may have enjoyed riding with Marie, but that car was feeling a bit stuffy and overly warm. She adjusted the bracelets on her wrists, one of which being a charm bracelet her friends and her had made together a few years ago, and sat herself down next to her backpack. She put her auburn hair up in a ponytail and tried to relax.

 

Nothing really happened until the food was ready, her mother had set up a rather nice spread of chicken, macaroni, and even some beans for her father (they were his favorite). Melanie sat down at the dinner table with her parents, older sister, and twin brother to eat, the whole time glumly keeping her head propped up with a fist to her cheek as she lazily ate at her meal. Her mother was having none of it.

 

"....Is there something wrong?"

"It's....it's nothing..."

"If it's about the food you don't have to pretend to like it."

"No, its great, really"

"Oh? Is that so? Well it doesn't seem like it is"

"I'm serious, the food's fine."

"No, no. I insist, let me throw away the food for you, I don't wanna torture you." She begins to reach across the table.

"I said it's fine!"

 

Melanie moved her plate away to keep her mother from grabbing at it.

 

"Then act like it!"

"I'm telling you that it's fine! I'm eating it aren't I?"

"I did NOT cook an entire meal just for you to be this ungrateful about it!"

"Who's ungrateful here?! I said I liked it!"

"And you're LYING! I can see it on your face!"

"No I'm not!"

 

Her dad slammed his palms on the wooden table, drawing the argument to a halt.

 

"That's it, I'm sick of this! I worked all day, stressing for HOURS just to make some money for this family and I do NOT need to be stressed out at home too while I'm trying to eat some goddamn beans and chicken! Melanie, eat in your room."

"But dad!"

"Room! Now."

"But-but I'm an adult now! You can't punish me like a little kid anymore!"

"Did I ask for your opinion? I said room. NOW."

"......UGHHH"

 

She picked up her plate and her backpack and marched off into her room. Like usual her siblings didn't even say a single word in her defense as her parents complained at her for no reason! It was like they didn't even care that her parents gave her the worst of it out of any of them so long as they didnt get caught in the crossfire! She tossed her backpack onto the far side of the bed and sat cross legged on her sheets, finishing up what was left of her meal as she silently stewed in anger.

 

It was now almost time for bed. Her homework and studying were thankfully done, all that was left was to change her clothes. She walked up to her closet and began to undress. First she stripped off her top, then her bra, before looking across the various tank tops and t-shirts that she liked to sleep in. She pulled out a stone grey tank top and shuffled it over her head, adjusting the hem of the shirt to sit comfortably around the top of her jeans. Just as she had finished pulling off her shoes and pants, though, there was a knock at her door; while she wasn't looking forward to the possibility that it was one of her parents coming over to chew her out she might as well just get it over with so that she can go to bed already. She marched over to the door in resignation only to find her older sister there instead.

 

Her sister was about half a head taller than she was, meaning that most people, including Melanie, had to tilt their gaze slightly upward to talk towards her face, but besides the height difference and an only slightly larger bust size they were both rather similar in appearance, a fact that was only further aided right now by the fact that her sister was wearing a nearly black grey it tank of her own (though her height made into a crop top short enough to just barely show off her navel) and that she was walking around in her own pair of pink panties. Her sister spoke first.

 

"Oh, was I interrupting something?"

"No, I was just about to put on some pajama pants....why are you here?"

"Oh um....can we talk inside?"

"ummm...sure"

 

She waved her in and closed the door. Her sister took a seat on the bed while Melanie stood, the back of her left hand resting on her hip. 

 

"Well, what is it."

"Its about mom."

 

Melanie pinched the bridge of her nose and released a deep sigh. She knew what was coming. Excuses as per the usual.

 

"Let me guess, you're gonna tell me that I need to apologize to her or something?"

"Well no it's just...the table was kinda tense after you left and...."

"and?"

"....well....you really shouldn't be arguing with mom so much is all"

"Well it's not MY fault!" 

 

She tossed a free hand up. 

 

"You saw just as well as I did how she started randomly accusing me of being ungrateful and hating the food just because I wasn't smiling or some shit."

"Look, I know it was a bit out of line-"

"A bit?!?!"

"Look, sometimes you just need to pick your battles. I mean just look at me and Julian, we nev-"

"EXCUSE ME? Pick your battles??!! It's not up to me to do the picking when they start fights over every small little thing!"

"Look, me and Julian never have these kinds of fights with them. I'm just trying to help you here!"

"Help me? You mean you wanna make me a doormat! She was totally out of line and you know it! The only reason that you and Julian rarely get any crap is because you just sit there and take it!"

"Look, you're gonna be out of this house within a year for college. I never got to go. Do you want to start off your college years with fighting and arguing before you leave us for four years?"

"I don't believe this! I'm not the problem here! I can't believe you two never push back on this stuff! Do you wanna be a doormat your whole life?"

"Stop calling me a doormat!"

"Well that's what you ARE! And you let them walk all over you!"

"Well maybe if you just behaved yourself then you wouldn't get yelled at so much that you need to push back on them all the time!"

"I don't believe this, this is unbelievable! Alex, you are letting your life get run around by crazy people!"

"Well maybe if you just paid attention then you wouldn't be feeling like we're all persecuting you or something! I'm trying to help you out here!"

 

Melanie tilted her head back and pinched the bridge of her nose again.

 

"Unbelievable. UNBELIEVABLE! Get out. Get out right now....I can't even deal with you right now."

 

Alex slapped her right hand down on the bed in frustration and pushed herself upright.

 

"I'm trying to help-"

"OUT!!!"

 

Alex walked past and out of the room, closing the door shut. Melanie threw herself onto her bed, sprawled out and frustrated; she didn't have the energy to finish getting dressed anymore, but it's not like she wants to leave her room for anything anyway so who cares. She placed her hand over her face and slid them down as she talked.

 

"Uggghhhhhh-huh-huh-huhhhhhh...

I fucking hate these crazy asshooooolesss.....man, if only I could like....trade them in for a different family, you know? A far less crazy family....man I'd probably do that in a heartbeat...."

 

Her hands fell onto the sheets, she didn't even bother getting up to turn off her closet light or to slide under the covers, that last argument had simply drained her of all of her remaining energy. Slowly but surely her eyes closed tight and she drifted off to sleep.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

She woke up just in time for school. Normally she'd set an alarm for herself but this time she got lucky and woke up at the usual hour without having prepared for it. She scratched at her legs for a moment as her mind slowly whirred back to life, briefly confused on why her pants felt different before remembering a moment later that she hadn't put on any. She felt like shit, both emotionally and due to her tiredness, but at least today was a friday. 

 

Another knock on the door. Fuck. She pushed herself off of her bed and opened her door, it was her sister again. Standing before Melanie was her sister in a dark grey tank top, jeans, sneakers, and with grey purse slung across her torso, clearly she had just gotten ready to leave the house. Alex clutched the strap on her purse nervously as she began to speak.

 

"Ummm...hey uh....I'm sorry, about last night. I didnt mean to start a fight, I should've known better and I didn't mean to upset you."

 

Melanie squinted, she may be tired and her brain might be running on fumes right now but this all seemed a little....suspicious....especially with that very particular wording.

 

"......Julian sent you didn't he?"

"Wh-what! No I-!"

"I'm not stupid you know, you're trying to pull the same crap on me that you two pull with mom."

"No I-"

"Alex, did he or did he NOT send you here"

"..."

"..."

"...

"..."

"He did."

"I KNEW it!"

 

She threw her hand up into the air.

 

"You just had to....ERGHHHH you're so frustrating!"

"I can go-"

"Wow! Can you? I had no idea! Now leave!"

 

Alex sheepishly shuffled off, Melanie then got ready to take her morning shower. A million different thoughts ran through her head as swiftly as the water ran through her hair, but all of them had the same essential themes.

 

"Ugh! It's just! None of them understand me at all! They constantly push shit that our parents do to the side and treat me like ass for so much as DARING to have a single differing opinion! Even my own sister refuses to acknowledge how fucked up this all is and is trying to make me look crazy! I can't even tell if she even knows that she's doing it either!"

 

She swapped to her body soap as she began cleaning her torso. She rubbed down her breasts and stomach somewhat aggressively as her continued thoughts added fuel to her emotional fire.

 

"It's just....sometimes I get to thinking...like what if I just woke up one day and things were just suddenly different you know? Like my parents actually loved me more than their own ego and my siblings actually gave a crap about how I feel when people treat me like ass instead of trying to sweep it under the rug or appease me like they do with our parents you know?.....I guess I just wouldn't feel so alone and attacked all the time....fuck..."

 

She moved onto her legs and continued with her shower, feeling more sad than angry now. She turned off the water, dried herself off with towel and.....fuck, she forgot to grab any clothes. Well screw it, she had her towel after all. She got to work wrapping herself up enough to be decent and stepped outside. Her brother was standing there in his boxers with a towel, looking a bit surprised.

 

"Oh! Forget your clothes I guess?"

"Shut up, jerk, I know what you did"

"What I...di-?"

"Alex tattled on you."

"Oh...."

"You know, I don't appreciate you two treating me like some sort of loose cannon"

"Well I mean, its just sometimes you get a little too-"

"Fuck it, I don't need to hear this nonsense"

 

Melanie walked off to her bedroom, shut the door, and walked up to her closet, the light was still on. Picking out a dark pink bra today she decided to follow Alex's example and put on a similarly colored tank top to hers. She pulled on a matching pair of panties, a clean pair of jeans, a pair of her favorite outdoorsy sandals and tied a pink jacket around her waist (she wasn't feeling up for the jean jacket today). She slung her backpack over one shoulder and made her way towards the front door of the house.

 

Unfortunately, her dad and mom were in the kitchen today eating breakfast. As soon as she saw her father open his mouth she made a dash for the door and cut him off. She was NOT in the mood for a potential lecture about....whatever it was that he was going to complain about. Her phone buzzed in her pants pocket, she could already guess who it was. She pulled out the phone and checked her messages to see what her dad had to say now.

 

"How dare you ignore me as I'm trying to speak to you! As soon as you get home from school you're going to march back here and we are going to discuss your punishment, do you understand me?"

 

She scoffed in annoyance, he was treating her like an unruly five year old. She put her phone back in her pocket and made her way to the bus stop to get to school.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

The school morning was uneventful for the most part, classes were boring, she didnt really talk to anyone, the most exciting thing that she did was put on a ponytail. It wasnt until lunch that she could finally have any fun, and that was because her favorite people in the whole world were there.

 

Marie is a hispanic woman with wavy hair and a deep caramel skin tone, she was a little chestier than Melanie and Emilia and she knew how to wear her dress shirts to compliment it, no cleavage necessary. Her usual attire was a pair of faux-gold earings with a baby blue rock set in each one hanging down from thin chains below below her piercings (perhaps it was some kind of lapis? She didn't know her stones at all) that ended in small spikes below that, a dress shirt of some primary color (today it was white), and a pair of dress pants, her shoes rotated out regularly. 

 

Emilia was a blonde white woman with a bit of a punk styling to her looks, at least in terms of how Melanie assumed that punks looked. She had a bit of a side shave to her long hair and today she wore a grey band themed tank with a few pins attached to the strap, a plaid jacket around her waist, jeans, and a somewhat bulky pair of sneakers. Her backpack was utterly COVERED in pins and symbols that seemed to her to be part of the punk aesthetic, but she never cared enough to ask if she was ACTUALLY punk or if it was just an aesthetic or whatever, not that she actually knew anywhere near enough about punk to be able to tell the difference. Emelia put a hair pin on as her hair was being a bit uncooperative today.

 

Marie waved melanie over.

 

"Hey you two, how goes it"

"It GOES boring as shit"

"Oh yeah Em? How so?"

"Okay so you know that english teacher I got put up with last month? Y'know the boring one? Today was basically all just her lecturing fuck out of us on a book that shes so clearly obsessed with"

"Let me guess, assigned reading too?"

 

Emilia points at Melanie.

 

"Bingo."

"And you Marie?"

"Nothing to report, math was pretty fun though"

 

Emilia turns to her in confusion. 

 

"What do you mean that math was "fun"? Are you planning to turn into a mathematician on us or something?"

"I mean I just like math okay?"

"Whaaaatever ya dork, just don't infect me with like a math addiction or whatever."

 

Marie chuckles.

 

"I won't" 

"So, Em, any plans for the weekend?"

"You bet your ass, Mel! You know these tats I got last month?"

"You mean the sleeve?"

"Well it's not a sleeve yet, but I'm thinking that it's about time I consider making it one you know? I'm between a few designs right now if you'd like to see them."

"Maybe tonight, I'm kinda too burnt out to help you pick anything."

"I mean I wasn't thinking of asking for help so that's cool, but I'm guessing that you had some family trouble today?"

"You dont know the half of it. It's just like, sometimes....sometimes I just wanna wake up to find out that all the bad things in life were just all in my head you know? That I dreamt up having crazy parents or dissmissive siblings....that I didn't feel like I was gonna explode at people for even minor annoyances all the time....I just....I just....sometimes I wanna wake up and find myself just magically in a better world you know?....maybe somewhere where I don't have to deal with all this craziness and I can just be...just be me you know?"

"I hear ya."

"Yeah, I get what you mean Melanie, but I still wouldn't wanna trade you and Emilia for the world"

"I wouldn't trade you either Marie."

"Hey Mel! Why is Marie the only one who isn't gonna trade little old me!"

 

Melanie chuckles.

 

"Fine, i wouldn't trade you either Em."

"Now that's more like it."

 

The three women chuckle and continue to enjoy their lunch. The rest of the school day passes as uneventful as ever, but at least Melanie manages to shake off the stresses of this morning.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 

When she returned home that day her father kept his promise. The exact details of his shouting were unimportant, but the gist of it boiled down to him being her father and her having to do as he said, yadda yadda yadda. Unfortunately what followed this verbal assault was the punishment, also as promised.

 

"Now, I've been discussing this with Julian-"

"With Julian?"

"What did I just say about cutting me off?! Now your brother and I got to talking and we both agreed that you need to learn some responsibility-"

"Dad, I'm not a child any-"

"Zip it! Now originally I was going to take stuff away from you, like your phone or your computer, but Julian here talked me out of it. all you have to do is to clean and organize the garage and we're square, you understand?"

"But dad-"

"UNDERSTAND?"

"...yes dad" 

"Good, now get to work."

 

She got up and went to the garage, glumly starting on her task. Moving about old boxes and tools wasn't exactly her idea of a good way to pass the time before she met up with her friends again tonight, but even though this garage was messy as fuck she should at least be done in time to hang out. Just in case she'd be late she shot them a message.

 

"Hey Em. Hey Marie. Dad got pissed at me and now I have to clean the garage. I should be done soon but I'm telling you just in case I'm late."

"Aw man! That's so lame, Mel!"

"As long as you're can make it I don't mind if you show up late, Melanie. We both know that you parents are crazy and al-"

 

"So, messing with your phone instead of working?"

 

Melanie yelped in surprise and nearly dropped her phone. She turned to see her brother was standing in the doorway, a dissapointed glare as he thought that he had just caught her "slacking off" from her responsibilities.

 

"What are YOU doing here?"

"I'm just checking up on you. I did you a huge favor you know, don't waste it by getting lazy"

"I'm not being lazy, I'm just telling my friends that I might be late tonight."

"Well that's certainly responsible I suppose, but it won't mean much if you don't finish up here"

"Are you just here to mock me?"

"No, I'm just making sure that you're handling this all okay. Contrary to popular belief we're not out to get you, you know" 

"Who said that you had to be?"

"Either way I'm not allowed to help you move anything, but if you need any water or a even snack just toss me a text okay? This stuff can get heavy and you need to keep yourself fueled up"

"Whatever."

 

Julian left and closed the door after him, leaving Melanie entirely alone. She heaved a sigh of despair as she thought about all of the work ahead of her and began to shove around boxes and tools again. She sorted wrenches, containers, drills, and more...but then something caught her eye. It was partially hidden by a pair of stacked boxes, the one on top just barely being unevenly placed such that the corner of some black frame could be seen. At first she thought that it must be an old picture frame, but when she tried to pull up on the corner that she could see the "frame" felt like it was attached to the wall. Curious now she moved the boxes out of the way to find, for lack of a better phrase, an impossibly gaping hole. Surrounded by the black picture frame-esque border was the maw of a dark tunnel just barely tall enough for someone to crawl into, and the fact that it looked manually hewn out of some black and red streaked earthen material that stretched deep into a pitch black void only added to the creepiness of it.

 

Melanie was utterly confused, this wall was an interior wall, if you knocked it down the wall simply led into the hallway that connected to the front door, but here was a tunnel that looked like it had been manually dug into the earth itself. She pulled out her phone again and turned on the flashlight, but the shadows cut deep and the tunnel clearly extended far further into the wall than could actually be physically possible. She now felt like she was going crazy.

 

At this point she was freaked out, but also perhaps a little excited? This tunnel defied all logic, she could personally attest to having seen this wall years ago before the boxes ever covered it and that tunnel was absolutely never there before, but yet here it was, and it seemed to open up into a physical space that impossibly overlapped an open walkway without either one cutting through the other. Tentatively she stuck her hand through the threshold of the frame....just to make sure that it wasn't a hallucination....and there was no resistance.....freaky.....she should tell someone.....yeah, her friends!

 

"Hey, so I found this creepy-ass tunnel in my garage"

 

She attached a photo. 

 

"Should I tell someone? It didn't used to be here?"

"What even is that?"

"Yo Mel, is this real?

"It's real alright, and it seems to go deep into the wall....but the wall isn't even 2 feet thick"

"Don't go inside it"

"I agree with Marie on this one, this gives me the creeps."

"Alright...I'll see about telling someone then..."

 

Before she could read the responses to her last message she turned off her screen and reached out beyond the threshold again. No barrier....either she is hallucinating so badly that she is seeing a tunnel that's not there, can't feel the wall that she's CLEARLY bumping into, and is reading messages from her friends that they never even sent.....or this is real.... She sat there in silence for a moment...there was something...enticing about this...it wasn't some mystical pull or anything that was drawing her in, it's just that the natural mystery of whatever the fuck this tunnel even IS was just too tempting to not investigate.

 

She dug through a box that she had just finished sorting and pulled out an old tennis ball before bouncing it down into the tunnel.

 

*tap*

*tap*

*tap*

*tap*

*roll*

 

She couldn't see it start rolling now that it was so far into the darkness but....it went in deep and hit....nothing. This felt...scary.....it felt...exciting! She ran over to the door that led back into the house and cracked it open just a peek, she couldn't see her parents from here, but she could hear that her mom and dad were definitely somewhere around the kitchen area...fuck, she can't check the other side of the wall without risking another lecture or something can she? She closed the door gingerly, enough that she was sure that they couldn't hear her and considered her options before deciding, perhaps immaturely, that she couldn't bear to risk another lecture even over something as huge as this.

 

Melanie ran back to the tunnel and turned on her phone light, pointing it towards the deep mass of blackness that hid the ending of that gaping hole. She saw something and squinted at it, just barely she could make out the green of the tennis ball in the distance....surely she could just....go in and grab it right? Really quickly?

 

She contemplated the idea for a bit, then she put a hand on the floor of the tunnel....no reaction. She placed another....no reaction. She gulped, perhaps because of the growing fear that she was continuing to ignore, and decided to crawl inside for real; while nothing had forced her to climb in, Melanie's curiosity and impulsivity were simply too much for her to ignore. Occasionally her bare arms scraped against the walls of the straight tunnel in the dark, causing her to worry about the chance that she might get a cut and an infection, but the tunnel edges were never sharp enough to do more than coat her skin with a bit of dirt. As she pressed forward her palm eventually bumped into the ball by accident; it rolled for just a second, but she was easily able to grab it once she turned on her phone light. 

 

Melanie looked behind herself, the exit back out wasn't very far, and she could easily jist crawl backwards towards the light......but curiosity was getting the better of her again.....she couldn't help but press on.

 

For a while nothing happened beyond the light behind her growing dim, as one would expect, but then she saw it, a second light right in front of her. She kept crawling, some hidden part of her being excited to see what kind of exit a tunnel like this could even have, but as she got closer the light looked a little.....familiar? She was reaching the end now and could clearly see that it was...the garage?....Had she gone in a circle somehow? No, that was impossible, she went in a straight line....but maybe a supernatural hole could curve space like that she supposed.

 

She stepped out of the hole and brushed some of the dirt off of her shoulders and arms, but something felt...off....like there was this strange sensation permeating not just her, but the space surrounding her as well. It was like the lights had been drenched in this strange blue visible noise and now felt less...real...but everything looked exactly the same though? And it also felt like wading through a thick smog but she could see just fine and there was nothing that she could tell actually felt different about the air. It made no sense and her description made no sense, she supposed, but then again she did just crawl through a strange supernatural looping tunnel, who knows what kind of weird fumes or illnesses that she might've inhaled or touched. Perhaps it was a kind of cold? She doubted that even a supernatural tunnel would make her have a cold that would affect her that fast so maybe she got it earlier in the week and it was just hitting her now....or maybe the tunnel could do exactly that because magic is bullshit or something....whatever, she had more important things to focus on anyhow.

 

She shot her brother a text asking for some water, but the response felt....off somehow.

 

"Hey Julian, can you pass me a water?"

"Sure sis! Whatever you need!"

 

Well that felt oddly chipper to her, and since when does he call her "sis"? Whatever, she'll just wait for the water....something about the colors in garage feel....off still....now it FEELS like everything is tinted white but....it all looks the same? But the flourescent lights already gave off a white light though

.. Was she developing like....syneth-syn-synesthesia or whatever it's called? She really oughta look up how that's spelled. Or maybe she just needed some sleep.

 

Her brother opened the door a few minutes later and it was clear that his chipper attitude wasn't solely in his text.

 

"Here ya go sis! One bottle of water!"

"Uh, thanks"

 

She grabbed the bottle and leaned against the wall, cocking a leg up against it and trying to relax as she began to drink. She felt "better" emotionally but...those weird sensations remained just as strongly as ever.

 

"So, what are you doing in here anyway?"

"Um, cleaning?"

"Oh? Need some help?"

"Didn't you say that you weren't allowed to help me?"

"No? You didn't mishear me did you?"

"Whatever, if dad gets pissed about it then that's on you. Just help me out okay?"

"Okay!"

 

The cleaning went smoothly from here, though those strange feelings didn't fade. Feelings like...she didn't belong here? Maybe that's what it was all along, not any of that colors or noise nonsense....but then again why would she even feel that way to start with about her own house....she had to be losing it. In any case she finished cleaning up the garage way faster than she expected to now that she had some help and tossed her friends a message. Needless to say they were ecstatic. She didnt bother saying anything to her parents as she picked up her purse and left, she knew that Julian would vouch for her, he's never been a liar after all.

 

She arrived at the hangout right on time and was glad to find that she had way more fun than she expected to! But those uncanny feelings still remained. What on earth was wrong with her? Whatever, a good night's rest would do her well anyhow.

 

When she got home she made a beeline to her room and closed the door, tossing her purse on the bed so that she could immediately begin stripping. First she took off her tank top, then she unclasped and slid off her bra, then next came her sandals and her pants, though she left her panties alone. She walked over to her closet and....nothing stuck out to her....Normally she'd at least pick a tank top and at least some shorts or something but...she just wasn't in the mood she guessed....huh.....Well it's not her usual style but she guessed that panties could count as pajamas too, her sister always slept in a tank and panties and even walked around the house in just those and nobody ever complained. She supposed that she could sleep topless tonight, who's it gonna hurt anyhow?

 

She reached for the edge of her bed sheets but stopped. For some reason she didn't feel like...tucking in tonight...huh....Well whatever, the top of the bed was plenty comfortable. She moved her purse to a nearby table and laid down on her back, for some reason this position felt more comfortable today...it was nice! The cool night air caressed her chest, her nipples responding positively to the gentle caress. A contented moan slipped past her closed lips before the sweet embrace of sleep overtook her and she drifted off into unconsciousness.