Chapter 2: Out of Thin Air (Kael)

"Sit," She said, pointing to the cushioned chair next to hers.

I'm still freaked out from what I'm seeing. The girl led me to a house (looked like a cube) a few meters away, which is also mostly made out of glasses; the front glass walls were tinted. Now I'm inside the glass walls, I can clearly see the driveway and the road. I followed her in and sat, as soon as I settled myself, the material beneath me flexed, relaxed and a warm comfort ran through my body. Automatically, the headrest aligned and the armrests shifted a fraction up, leaving me in a comfortable posture. I'm all comfy, like being wrapped up in a warm blanket. And for a minute, despite all the bizarre things that I'm seeing, I relaxed. But then, instantly my mind came back to reality. I looked up at my host. And I'm still shocked by the rain, for the few minutes I was standing out; there wasn't a hint of rain outside. Most of all, it looked like she knew it was going to rain. When I looked up, she was looking at me.

"I'm Ziola," She introduced herself.

"I'm Kael," I said. "Thanks for letting me in."

"Yeah, no problem." She shrugged. "I don't have a good feeling about this- the rain." She looked out at the rain.

I tried to understand what she meant, but she continued.

"So, you wear glasses?" A hint of humor in her voice.

"Yeah," I answered, a little self-mortified. "I have short-sight."

"I see." Was she surprised?

"So, you're new here?"

"Um, sort of?" I had no idea how to answer that particular question. A moment of silence passed like both of us trying to figure out what to say but she saved me from it.

"You're from?" (Seems like she didn't save me, actually.)

"California," I answered automatically, not even knowing how far this place is from home.

Instead of replying or acknowledging me, she looked surprised. Her eyes have gone wide and her lips parted a little.

"As in?" She raised an eyebrow.

"California, United States." I clarified.

This time I was the one surprised. She started laughing, loud that her golden curls covered her face.

"Why?"

"You're funny." She laughed harder. I'm mortified, for sure. But I couldn't be mad at the only person who was nice enough to notice me. Can I? So, I just sighed and asked, "Where am I?"

"Inside my house." Her laugh became louder. But she stopped, maybe seeing my serious look. "Lockwood Street, District 7, Ceyland." She chanted.

I looked at her with a puzzled face.

"That's the address." She tilted her head like a kid who said something genius.

"Ceyland?" I repeated.

"Yeah." Her voice rose like she was crossed.

But I had major problems to consider than her annoyed face. For one, I don't know where I am. For two, I don't know how to go back home (because I'm pretty sure this isn't a dream, now.) For three, I'm penny-less, and for four_

"You'd have to leave, after the rain." She looked at me.

"Oh," I nodded and sighed. God! I'm hopeless. "'Ceyland'? Which state is it in?"

She breathed aloud like she has to collect every piece of her self control not to kick me out.

"It's A COUNTRY, you dummy." She said in a calmer voice than I expected. But it's not her voice surprised me. A COUNTRY? One I've never heard of?

"Where_ err- where is it?" I stammered the moment I recovered from the shock.

"For your information, it's right there in the Indian Ocean, right below Indianna, like a cute little tear-drop." She looked at me, "But I think it's a pearl." She almost added to herself.

But my mind wasn't at a stage to comprehend what she said. I breathed a lung-full of air, closed my eyes, the rain pouring outside. I listened and listened. 'It's fine,' I told myself, 'You are just dreaming,' –only it felt real. This is weird, I know. I don't want a whole panic episode here. Maybe, I'm claustrophobic inside the small music room at our High School. This rain and the panic are driving me crazy. It's just an illusion. There's no girl with golden hair walking with a golden retriever. I'm not sitting on an ultra-comfortable chair inside a glasshouse. It's just my mind playing a trick. When I open my eyes I'll be in my room, in the basement, or maybe inside the small dark music room at school. I convinced myself that I need to breathe and just open my eyes. But when I opened my eyes, there was nothing I expected to see – instead, it was Ziola, looking at me with wide eyes.

"Are you okay?" She asked me

No. I needed to say. But my body isn't taking it, I'm sweating harder. I sank into the soft material of the chair again, feeling dizzy. Breathe in, breathe out, I ordered myself, like I'm suffocating, which is sort of true at the moment, my lungs followed the command. 'It's not true.' I repeated again and again in my head and started counting to ten. But I knew better than fooling my mind, instead, I started mentally counting to hundred, to control my body, my mind, to accept the truth and slowly regain my sanity. Slowly I opened my eyes.

Ziola was standing in front of my chair, bent towards me with big eyes. "You freaked out." She held me a small glass of water.

"It's," I took the glass from her and drank its content in a split second.

"What happened?"

"Err-um_ a panic attack." I sank further into the chair.

"You okay?" She asked again.

I nodded, too tried to answer.

"Forget about you leaving, I thought I'd have to take you to a hospital." She sighed in relief.

I looked outside the glass wall, the rain has stopped. I straightened up.

"You shouldn't walk like that." She creased her brow. "Just stay a little, until you feel a little better."

I thought she would kick me out the moment the rain stopped, but it seems like she's not cold as she seems to be.

"Thanks." I managed a grateful smile.

Suddenly, the Golden retriever who was inside the house all this time, came running near its owner happily wagging its tail.

"Oh, no." Ziola looked over her shoulder and shrugged, then even before could catch my breath, she was grabbing my arm and ascending the staircase. I'm still exhausted that my mind couldn't process anything happening. It felt like I'm inside someone else's body, just seeing, not feeling or understanding.

She opened a door and we were inside a big room. A double wow! My mind seems to be playing with me. I nearly cursed, but with a strange girl near me, I reminded my now-ill functioning brain to stop cussing. The walls were dark tinted walls decorated with dark curtains. The floor was entirely covered with a grass-like mat. A king-size bed stood in the right corner of the room, only it���s not a regular king-sized bed we see. God, it's like a private cabin –a four-poster canopy bed –only it looks like being exported from outer space, simply one of the walls contained a full built-in HD screen. Few feet away across the bed was a glass table and a stool, it looked like they were kept for just display, I remembered mine at home books scattered, notes, pens, DVDs taking the entire space on the table. The opposite wall of the room was entirely covered with a closet, wow; it could contain an entire cloth-shop inside it. I tried to save all the details inside my head, but my brain couldn't take much.

"Wait here!" She ordered in a hushed voice. "Don't come until I call you." Before I could ask or say anything, she darted out of the room and the sliding French door automatically closed behind her. I looked at the door again- which leave me pretty with no options, there was no handle, no key, no lock –nothing, instead it had a kind of dial-pad lock used in VIP Safes in banks.

I looked around the room, how long have I been here? I sat on the edge of the high-tech bed in the room – which happened to be the only furniture in the room except for the table and stool. I removed my converse- the mat felt like real grass beneath my soles. I remained like that for another few minutes, but I felt tired to death. So, I removed my glasses and placed them on the table, it looked odd –not because it was the only thing on the table but it looked different, in an odd manner.

I lay upside on the bed, I wished if I had this back at home –I would probably be delighted. But inside this big but empty room, I felt deadly homesick. There was a lot to think, but the mattress beneath me gave me an undeniable comfort, like earlier on the chair, like a thousand hands massaging –my muscles relaxed instantly. I wished if I could vanish out of thin air, I smiled at the irony. I needed to recap the day, but my eyelids started feeling heavier.