Into Another World

"Where are you?" I whispered in the air. Three days have passed since my best friend Ashley went missing, like a bubble that disappeared out of nowhere. 

She didn't leave a message nor a letter of where she could be at. And what's more surprising is that their huge house was missing on their block, making it look like a vacant lot.

What could have happened?

Looks like a work of a great magician. It will be believable if things like magic are true in this world. But that's not the case, so how could something so big, went poof like it doesn't exist in the first place?

Everything is making me feel unclear and agitated. There's half a month left before I leave the orphanage. Ashley, my best friend whom I've been with ever since we were children, promised me that we'll live together. That we'll find an apartment just for the two of us.

I let out a sigh as the freezing weather makes me distracted. I'm wearing my scarf and my gloves, but that didn't suffice. I wasn't expecting that it'll be colder than the other day. 

And this is why I shouldn't have trusted the weatherman that much. It's freezing, and I am still here near the vacant lot, trying to think of ways to know where she is.

"Nina?" My head turned to that voice. "What are you doing in our block?" I saw one of my classmates on her bicycle.

Her name is Jenny. Ashley introduced her to me in 7th grade because she thought that we'd get along just fine. We did get along, but we're still nowhere near being friends. Oh yeah, maybe she knows where Ashley is.

Ashley is a social butterfly. She can literally make 100 friends with strangers in a day. She's the talkative and sweetest person ever. 

Although she's indifferent and freaky sometimes, all in all, people still love her. Who wouldn't? I'll say this without exaggeration. She's the whole package. I can call my real friend the nicest and the only person since no one can handle my moods. No one but her.

"I'm looking for Ashley. Do you know where she is?" I asked.

Jenny's eyes looked at me with uncertainty, and she began scratching the back of her head. I felt puzzled when she started acting like that. She habitually does that when she doesn't understand what other people are trying to say.

Like, when you make her listen to a joke that you find funny, she'll act exactly like that if she doesn't get the fun part of the joke you just told.

"Uhm, I don't know. Who is Ashley anyway?" She said with a confused expression. I was bewildered. Is she joking with me right now? Are they pranking me? Because the two of them indeed love those things.

"What do you mean by that? Ashley is our friend." I emphasized 'friend' and tried my best not to look weird, but she looked serious. Still, how could this happen? How could she just forget about Ashley as if she doesn't know her since the beginning?

This isn't right. Nothing about this makes sense.

"I- I don't know about that." She said while stuttering and trying to avoid looking at me in the eye. "I... have to go." She bid me goodbye and immediately left.

She must think I was delirious, but how could she? I am the one who should feel weird. Did she lose her memories out of the blue? Is that why she can't remember Ashley?

But that's ridiculous! She still remembers me. My birthday was three days ago, so there's no use to prank me now, isn't it?

I let out an audible sigh as I looked up into the dark sky. I wouldn't feel surprised if the snow begins dropping any minute from now.

I think I might worry Mother Karla. She's the one who took me to the orphanage and took care of me from the day my mom abandoned me. I forgot to tell her that I was going to Ashley's house since she wasn't home when I departed.

I keep on sighing as I continue to walk back towards the orphanage. I'm looking at my feet as I walk, without minding that I might bump into someone. The sound of the busy streets doesn't affect my train of thought. 

'Where is Ashley', the question that keeps coming back to my mind. 'She wouldn't do something like this to me. She'll never,' is what I keep telling myself.

"Nina! We've been looking for you." I raised my head and saw my younger siblings at the other end of the crosswalk.

They're waving their hands at me with cheerful smiles on their faces. It was Sheena and Jonathan. I couldn't help but smile after seeing the two. When the traffic light changed into a green color, I tried to look happy as soon as possible and went my way towards them.

"Why did you get out of the orphanage? Mother Karla will scold you again." I said as I reached them. I crouch down to look at their faces more clearly.

"It's too cold today, and you're just wearing thin clothing," I said as I removed my scarf and placed it on Jonathan's neck, who is wearing nothing to fight the freezing temperature. This boy sure knows how to cause a headache.

Furthermore, I noticed how Sheena kept rubbing her hands together to keep herself warm, so I decided to let her wear my gloves, although they were ten times larger than her hands. I have a big build, you see, I am tall, and my arms and legs are long.

"I'm used to the cold," Jonathan said as he wiped his snot with the back of his hand. I chuckled as I took my handkerchief from my pocket to wipe his face.

Jonathan is a ten-year-old boy living in the orphanage with me. Mother Karla found him on the side of the street near the orphanage, crying and all alone. 

"You know, a boy who doesn't care about his appearance wouldn't be popular," I said as I finished wiping him up. Jonathan stared at me with his discerning eyes.

He's still young but quick to notice things. I hope he'll let me go this time and pretend that he doesn't notice something. It won't make me feel good if they see my weak side. They'll be sad, that's for sure. 

"It won't matter, as long as Nina could stay by my side." He said as he smiled proudly.

"No!" Sheena disagrees as she clings to me. "Nina is mine." Sheena declared while pouting.

Sheena was 5 years old when Mother Karla met her. Her mother suffers from depression and schizophrenia, which makes her unable to take care of Sheena. And so, Mother Karla decided to take care of her and took her to the orphanage. She is currently seven years old.

I was also near that age when Mother Karla found me. I was six years old back then. Whenever my Father drank, he would end up hurting my mother and me. My Father loves drinking, you see, he drinks beer and sake every day, even during the daytime.

One time, my mother gave in to her tiredness and disappeared from our life. She abandoned my Father and me. That made my Father furious, and every time he saw my face, he would remember my mom. That's why he became unstoppable. The continuous beating that I received from my Father at that time was what kept me alive.

A day came where he became sick of everything and wanted to stop his suffering. And so, he tried to kill me. He said that I was the source of his agony. Why my mom disappeared, and why he ended up in pain. All he wanted was to finish me off. 

I received bruises that time and trauma that still haunts me in my sleep. But still, I am glad that I survived that day. I wasn't a happy kid because of that experience. Although that didn't last long, my view of life became more straightforward and colorful ever since I met Ashley.

"No. I belong to no one but myself." I said while giggling as I stood up and patted both of their heads. "Let's go back now," I said as I reached for both of their hands. We've been staying in the middle of the street. Someone might get angry if we stay there any longer.

"You know Nina, I saw Ashley before." What Sheena said caught my attention. She still remembers Ashley! Was Jenny pranking me? That must be it.

I smiled and tried to act normal. I don't want these two to worry for me.

"Really? Where?" I asked as we continued walking down the street towards the orphanage.

I can see many stores with Christmas decorations already. Only a few days left before Christmas. The world is filled with cheers while I am feeling down without my friend. 

I had always thought about how we would celebrate Christmas together when I finally got my own house, but I doubt that it will still happen. Now that I can't see her anywhere. 

"At your birthday party." What was I expecting? "But she said something weird," Sheena said with a confused expression. Ashley says weird things a lot. You can say that she's a total free-spirited girl, and no one can stop her. She influences me a lot. 

As I was waiting for what Sheena has to say next, the loud sound of the honking of a truck disturbed us and made me failed to hear what came out of her mouth. I could only see her lips moving, but I couldn't hear anything.

"That's what she said." Sheena smiled, I didn't know what could Ashley told her, but I just smiled back. Shortly after, we reached the orphanage, and Mother Karla greeted us with blankets on her hands.

"Mother!" Sheena jumped in glee as she ran towards Mother Karla and hugged her. Mother Karla carried Sheena as she passed the blankets to me. It was my first ever blanket, gifted to me by Mother Karla when I was still younger.

"The food is ready. Let's all eat now." She said as I wrapped Jonathan in his blanket. We both followed her inside, but before I forgot, I closed the gate of the orphanage. There are many burglars nowadays. It's better to be safe than sorry.

As I entered the orphanage, my other siblings greeted me with their usual cheerful voices. I think they're all excited about Christmas.

"Nina, help the others." Sister Leah said.

Before I helped the others prepare the dining table, I excused myself to change into more comfortable clothes. I went to my room on the third floor.

It was another tiring day. Searching for someone who doesn't want to be found is hard.

Maybe I should think about our last conversation. Maybe Ashley told me about this, and I just accidentally ignored it, or perhaps I didn't pay attention.

As I try to dig deeper inside my memories. I can only remember Ashley's random talks. Like how she told me that she loves eating ice cream in the Winter. And also she said to me that she had to give me something important. Wait...

"I hid it in the attic."

My eyes widened after remembering something important, I think?

She gave me a flower hairpin on my 19th birthday. She said she saw it in the attic before when we had a general cleaning of the whole orphanage. That's the last place that I've heard from her. I might find some clues there!

I got out of my room and rushed to the attic. It was dusty and dark, it was hard to find the switch for the lights, but it didn't take much of my time. As I opened the light bulb, I saw how messy this place was. I think it wasn't that long since we last cleaned it, though?

I started finding some clues, although the things here are so dusty that they make me cough a lot.

I first looked inside the box where I saw my old toys. I felt nostalgic when I saw my favorite doll. Although she seems ragged and her arm is already breaking, she still looks pretty as when I first met her. Mother Karla said that she had thrown these in the dumpsters before. I wonder how they end up back here?

Wait! There's no time to reminisce! I put back the doll in the box and made my way to the bookshelves.

I remember Ashley saying that she loves mystery stories, especially those with detective protagonists. I don't know, but that's just her being an oddball. I began searching all the books to find letters or anything that Ashley might left.

As I was checking the 10th book, a weird light came out of one of the books near me. It is placed on the top of a chair in between the two bookshelves. I was born as a curious cat, and my curiosity won't stop until I find out what could cause that blue light to come out.

I picked up the book, and that made the light coming out disappear. It felt unnatural, but I was still intrigued. I blew the dust off, but it made me cough like a sick man. How stupid of me. I've decided to just sweep the dust off the book as I sat down on the chair.

My forehead creased after seeing the front page. It doesn't have a title or anything like that, just plain and blank. 

As I open the book, it only shows the list of the characters. Maybe the author forgot to put a title in this or intentionally left it blank. I started reading it.

"Cassandra? Oh, Cassandra Margaret Astley." I read the first name written there in a prolonged manner. It's a lovely name, sounds like an elegant person. I'll just read all of their descriptions since I am already reading it anyway.

"'She is the adopted daughter of Duke Astley.' Wow, is she an orphan?" I asked. "'She will fall in love at first sight with the Archduke, and they will get engaged.'" I was amazed after reading that. This girl must be the protagonist of the story.

"'Vivica Embeth Byron?' Another nice name." I said after reading the next character. "She is the daughter of Marquess Byron. She is in love with the Archduke."

So Cassandra and Vivica are both in love with the Archduke? Wow, is he really that handsome? I feel bad for Vivica, though, because it said that Cassandra and the Archduke will get engaged to each other.

"'She hates,' wait, she hates Cassandra? And she bullies her?" I was surprised. Now I don't feel bad for her! That must be the reason why the Archduke didn't choose her. I see that we both don't like bullies. Anyway, let's read the next character.

"Lennox Miguel Coventry." They all have great names. How delightful.

"He is the fake Emperor, who is obsessed with Titania and would end up killing her." My eyes widened after that. W-What? Lennox is such a lovely name! But he is a murderer?! What a waste.

But wait, who is Titania?

I flipped the page and saw some minor characters that didn't pique my interest. And so I kept on flipping the pages until I reached the page where the information about the Archduke that caught Cassandra and Vivica's attention was placed.

"Sylvester Vinn de Monde Alynthi."

"'He is the powerful and fearsome Archduke. He was famous for leading all the wars at the age of…' 17?!! And he won them all? Indeed, what a frightening man!" I couldn't help but raise my voice due to surprise. This is just a storybook, but that was still awesome.

"He became the Captain of the Imperial Knights at the age of 15?! That's insane!" Isn't he too much of an overpowered character?

"One of his greatest features is his deep purple eyes. This color means death."

He's already powerful enough, but I guess his eyes added even more depth to his character.

They also included a lot of information about him, even his deepest desires and secrets. After reading all of that, I flipped the page and saw the name Titania. She's the woman that Lennox killed, isn't she?

"She is the Fairy Queen? 'Her beauty is out of this world. She was loved by many, and one of them is the Emperor.'"

Wait, did the Emperor killed her because she wouldn't reciprocate his feelings? If that is the reason, then he's a madman. 

"She will be caught by the Emperor and will be locked in a cage forever where only the Emperor could see her." My brows snapped together because of how f*cked up that situation is. I flipped the page to see what was next, but it was empty. Was that it?

When I was about to close the book, words began forming inside that empty page.

"Titania is dead. And she will die again."

After reading those words aloud, a blue light came out of the book, and it began sucking me inside. W-What's happening?!