Note to Self: Apparently I’m Not Insane

I sat on my computer that night looking at hamsters on a pet stores website. I always said I would adopt a couple hamsters and a rat. I had never gotten around to it but the guys had said something that stayed with me for some reason.

While I was going over the current topic on the life of Jeremy Bentham, Jared Ryker, the captain of the team, told me he wouldn't be able to come to the Thursday's session as it was his one year anniversary with his girlfriend and he was surprising her with dinner at one of the more exclusive restaurants a town over. He seemed so excited, it was straight up adorable but I was suddenly really aware of how I'd never had that with anyone. Having never been in a relationship or even on a date.

So the cliche thing to do is get a cat so, clearly, I was not gonna do that. I suppose I could attempt to get a boyfriend but starting a relationship because I'm lonely doesn't exactly seem healthy. So a pet to fill the void will work fine for now.

I glanced at the clock and did a double take at how late it was and shut my computer before getting up and setting up the camera to record the room. Before jumping into bed again, I plugged my laptop in and check my phone's alarm. I grinned at my screensaver, the girls and I posing like Charlie's angels and Archer face palming next to our KIA squad pose, then locked it and turned out my lamp. I unwound the curl holding my hair in it's bun, saying a quick prayer as I do every night and snuggling down in my duvet.

My mind, as it often did wandered, till I found myself fantasizing about what it might be like to have some guy take me out on our one year anniversary when it happened. I heard a small sigh and instantly I was sure there was someone right over top of me. Without thinking I shot my hands out and one whacked into what felt like a face. So, naturally, I screamed but was almost immediately cut off by an invisible hand that clamped over my mouth. All I could see was the vague outline of a creature.

No, not a creature, a guy?

I cocked an eyebrow at the translucent, floating man, curiosity overriding fear. He seemed to sense that I wasn't going to scream and he took his hand off my mouth. As soon as he did the questions started pouring out. "Who are you? What are you? Where did you come from? Why are you in my room? How did you get in my room? How are you invisible and flying? Are you a ghost? Wait a second, were you watching me sleep? Why were you watching me sleep? Do you know how creepy that is? Get out of my ro-"

He placed a hand back over my mouth. He rubbed the back of his head with the other hand. I reached up to pry his hand off my mouth but it wouldn't budge so I did what any mad and tired girl would do. I licked his hand. "Hey, eww, do you mind!" he hissed in a voice that I guess counts as a whisper, "I'm trying to figure out what to do about this."

He waved his arm rather dramatically at me and floated off my bed to stand on the floor. "I could just leave, I mean no one would believe you if you told them. But what if they do?" He began muttering and pacing back and forth beside my bed. I didn't really notice as I was trying to place his voice.

I know I've heard his voice before, but where? An old school maybe.

I tried to make out some more of the features on his face, a task made difficult by to whole him being transparent. It was easier to see him now that I knew what I was looking for. I could see the outline of a strong jawline and wavy, swept back hair. I thought back.

No, nope, yuck definitely not, oh maybe but that might just be because of how much I've been thinking about him lately. But then again that voice, it must be. It couldn't be…

"Kegan?" He stopped pacing to stare at me. "No way, you're Kegan or- wait, are you?" I said, slowly crawling across my bed towards him. He suddenly spun around and waved his hands in the air. A blue swirl appeared in front of him. "Wait!" I called. Instinct kicked in and I leapt off the bed and straight through the blue swirl after him.

There was a flash of blinding blue light then a falling sensation before a splash landing. Disoriented, I spun in the water before swimming to the surface. I emerged with a gasp.

Where am I?

I looked around and realized Kegan was swimming away. Panicked, I began swimming after him as fast as I could. I was about to call out to him when a thought struck me.

You just followed a guy you haven't seen in about six years through what appears to be a magical portal after you caught him flying invisibly above you watching you sleep halfway across the world from where he lives, he then tried to escape before you found out too much, you do want to see where he's going, right? Or are you trying to get caught and taken home, you idiot!

So I kept quiet and kept swimming. He wasn't a very fast swimmer as I had to keep stopping so I wouldn't pass him. He came up for air way more often than I needed to so I had to keep ducking underwater to avoid being caught. But eventually, he stopped swimming forwards, took a deep breath and dove. I followed suit, diving after him. We swam down till I was near out of air. I saw him swim through a perfectly circular hole in a rock spire on the floor of the waterway. I did the same and as I entered I realized it was dry on the other side. I was all the way through and had the time to wonder how the heck I was now dry too before falling down and through a swirl of blue light like the one we entered through.

I came out once again disoriented and falling towards a forest a few miles below. This seems like the right time to start screaming. "AHHHHHHHH! KEGAN, HELP!" He was flying away and I wasn't sure he heard me but then I saw him spin around, see me, and started beating his striped tail as he plummeted towards me.

What a hair-splitting minute, TAIL?!?

The trees were really close now, as was Kegan. I slammed my eyes shut and not a second later felt strong arms wrap around me. I curled into a ball in his arms as he decelerated to land softly on the ground. I felt like my heart was in my head and my stomach in my mouth. I took a moment to settle before opening my eyes to find Kegan's worried face examining mine. "Are you alright?" he asked clearly worried. His voice was deeper as though he'd somehow aged ten years in the six it'd been since I last saw him. I studied his face.

Holy crap, he has aged ten years since I last saw him.

"Yeah, I look a bit older now, don't I?" he said with a chuckle.

"Put me down," I said, pushing on his chest. He set me on my feet. I nearly fell since my legs were still shaking from the adrenaline of nearly falling to my death. I threw my arms out for balance as Kegan reached for me again, "Careful."

"Don't touch me!" I shrieked running a few steps away and picking up a stick. "Now you're going to stand right there and tell me where I am, what's going on and why you have a tail and, hang on, are those… tiger ears?" I ordered rather hysterically as I waved my stick at him.

He raised his hands in mock surrender as a grin to envy the Cheshire cat's spread across his face. "Well, you haven't changed at all, I see."

He laughed as I picked up another stick and threw it at him, "Stop it and answer me."

He caught it, twisting it between his palms as he sighed, "Alright, but promise not to freak out and ask a million questions?"

I nodded, "Fine, now…"

"Yeah, I know, ok, you're on Felinis Galisis otherwise known as Fega, you apparently followed me through a portal to my world, and I am a Zonoya which is a species of Galiation shifter. Hence why my ears look like this and, you know, the tail. This," he said gesturing to our surroundings, "is my home world."

I dropped the stick in shock, "Fega? That's not possible, no, I made that up, this can't be, you're lying, tell me the truth."

"That's the only truth I've got," he said hesitantly, tilting his head at me, "What do you mean 'you made it up'?"

"No," I said backing up and looking around me.

We were standing in a clearing, one that felt familiar as I gazed up at the trees around me. This can't be what I... but if it is he can read my thoughts, I need mental barriers. I imagined my mind was a fortress and threw up thick concrete walls around it. He flinched and then stretched his ears towards me. I could feel him trying to beat down the walls but they held strong. "How do you know how to do that?" he asked, giving up on trying to breakthrough.

It worked, I thought happily. Then I turned back to the trees. As I looked around there was a flicker of something, like a fracture in reality itself. I shook my head. What the hell? I squinted once againat the spot that glitched before and it fizzled again. A searing pain shot through my skull as a memory formed. Myself, I think, younger, standing in this clearing counting these very trees, searching for the right one.

One, two, three, four, got ya, I thought. I glanced back at Kegan, edging toward the tree. He was so in his own head trying to figure out how I knew to mentally block him, he didn't notice as I slipped out of the clearing and took off running through the jungle.

I swerved around trees and ducked under vines, letting memory guide me through the jungle that shouldn't exist. This is exactly the way I always pictured it.

There's the tree Coco and Sunny always sharpened their claws on before they hunted together.

I slowed to walk around the base of a massive trunk. Ancient, deep gauges made a jagged circle around the tree. Claw marks. I ran my fingers across them, closing my eyes. I caught a sense of a forgotten something. But this was new. Not a memory, like the first, more like an instinct. I turned my back on the tree and walked away through the undergrowth. As I continued through the damp jungle brush, I heard an angry roar from behind me.

Serves him right, everyone knows never to turn your back on an intruder.

I grinned and glanced behind me as I picked up the pace. Eventually, I burst through into an overgrown clearing. I turned in a circle taking in my surroundings. A high-pitched squeal hissed through my mind and I clutched my head as an image of this clearing, neatly kept with no plants on the ground due to constant foot traffic. The trees, that now towered over me, merely sproutlings. A massive tiger lounged on a branch that now, even after all these years, was still worn smooth from all the days she'd spent lying there. It stared regally down on two identical cubs with a hint of amusement.

I was seeing the scene through the eyes of one of the cubs. The other jumped on me and we rolled through the dust until stopping at the edge of the clearing with me on top of the other tiger. I looked up at the tiger in the tree as she stood and slipped out of the tree with one fluid movement, graceful despite her size.

She stalked over to her cubs and we leapt to attention, sitting up straight side by side. Her gaze fell on me with a look of pride as she moved in a sort of sign language that I understood for some reason. "Very good, Sunoles, as for you," she said setting her gaze on the cub beside me. A look of disgust flashed in her eyes as she said "Another failure, Coconsense, disgraceful as usual." Coco ducked her head under our mother scornful gaze. I was snapped out of my trance by Kegan yelling my name through the jungle.

But is Inaya really my name?

The thought unsettled me but I continued across the clearing, picking my way around thistles and poison ivy, to a wall of vines on the other side. I pushed a hand through them and felt a hard rounded surface. I ducked under the vines to get a better look at what blocked my path. A huge boulder was sitting in the entrance of what I knew to be a cave.

After searching for a way to move it for a few moments, I finally noticed a gap at the bottom to one side, just big enough for me to crawl through. I dropped down and began shoving through the hole. It was a little smaller than I'd originally thought so it was an effort to get through. As I was standing up, I heard what sounded like something falling from the sky then only to realized Kegan was the something as he called out to me again.

As quietly as I could I made my way back through the cave, still facing the entrance. "Inaya, I know you're scared but would you please come out." I had made it to a tunnel that led deeper into the cave and crept down that as Kegan continued, "I promise I'm not gonna hurt you, I just want to take you home."

That's just the thing, for the first time in my life I think I finally am home.

I stopped in front of two more boulders blocking two rooms. The one in the first was dirty plain rock gripped by roots coming from the ceiling.The second boulder, on the other hand, was a clean shiny gray with gemstones studded through it. Even though by now it should look just like the other someone had clearly been coming here and cleaning it often so it looked as new as the day it was bought. This was the door to my old room the other was the door to Coco's.

I pushed on the boulder and it slid cleanly and, thankfully, silently back on the track in the floor. I slipped into the room, it was exactly the way I left it the day we all moved into the palace. Just like the door, it was immaculately clean when after all this time it should have been overgrown by roots and dusty. The carpet of moss on the floor was soft underfoot, a welcome difference after running across twigs and stones.

As I looked around the room memories flooded in. Coco and I sitting on the floor playing a board game as young children. Mother conducting her weekly inspections of the rooms to insecure they were clean and tidy as I stood to attention, a young teenager, waiting silently for her verdict. Coco and I, around eighteen, sitting on the bed as I gave her a birthday gift. Me, as an adult of about twenty, standing in front of the mirror, determined tan face staring back at me, braiding my long curly hair on a battle training day.

Overwhelmed by the sudden flow of information I dropped to my knees, clutching my head. The room seemed to be laughing at me, closing in on me. I jumped up and ran from the room, not bothering to shut the door I ran up the tunnel and squeezed through the hole I entered through and burst out into the clearing.

Not feeling far enough away I took off into the jungle again, running in a random direction until I popped out in an open area with a lake. I ran as fast as I could to a willow tree on a spit that extends out into the water. Once on the other side of it I curled into a ball and squeezed my eyes shut. What's happening to me?

"You look funny." I opened my eyes to find a tiger cub and two kids, a boy and a girl, with tiger ears and tails. The girl frowned at the cub, "You can't just say something like that to a sad 'noya."

"Hey, funny-looking, sad girl, are you alright?" the boy asked.

"Umm, yes?" I replied. I unfurled myself and stood up, just a bit taller than the boy who I guessed was the eldest. "What are you wearing?!" the girl asked, suddenly behind me.

I jumped at her sudden movement, "How'd you do that?"

She zipped back in front of me, laughing with who I assumed were her brothers. "Ain't ya ever seen anyone run before?" the cub said as he stood on his hind legs. His features shifted, nose shrinking and pulling in, green eyes shifted as his head shrank and jagged, brown hair replaced orange, black and white.

Clearly the youngest of the three, he grinned, gap-toothed, at my shocked look. "Never seen anyone shift either, huh", he said with a cheeky grin.

As I was about to answer, a roar came from the distance, "INAYA, GET BACK HERE!"

I glanced behind me nervously as the three of them poured on their questions. "Where are you from?"

"Why don't show your tail?"

"Are you running from someone?"

"I'll tell you everything you want to know," I said glancing at the trees behind me again, "but first you guys have to get me out of here."

The kids glanced at each other, probably communicating telepathically before the eldest boy stepped forward. "We'll help you on one condition, answer every question we ask and you let my sister pick you a new outfit."

I beamed at them, "Deal."

"Get in the water."

I silently followed orders as they gave them. We all swam across the lake as fast as I could since they could swim an awful lot faster. We all made it into the tree line on the other shore just as Kegan burst into the clearing. He looked around frantically, shouting a few choice words as he searched. His eyes started to sweep the forest line on the other side of the clearing. When the explicits started, my guides grabbed my arms and started running with me in tow.

Adrenaline fuelled, we weaved through the trees. After running for a good ten minutes we slowed to a brisk walk. "We're almost there." I nodded in acknowledgment, too tired to speak. We ducked under a pair of low hanging branches with vines dripping off them, hiding whatever I was about to walk into.

I stepped out the other side, blinking as my eyes adjusted to the brighter light. I reopened my eyes to find a pair of stone huts in front of me. The girl took the lead, ducking between the huts as we followed. She jogged the last couple of steps, tuening to face us as the breath whooshed from my lunges at the view before me. She swept her arms out, "Welcome to Tiger Falls."