The Portal

Faith's second academic year at Birchmount university was very different from her first year. She was not the talk of town much because she stopped mingling with the boys. She occasionally hanged out with Josh. Her closest and only friend on campus was Sarah and Faith liked it like that. She sometimes spent time with Keisha but not as much as the previous year. Faith loved the fact she was not in the public eye and she wanted to keep it that way. Little did she know what was coming.

After so many futile attempts to confess his love, Josh was finally ready to do so with the help of JJ. JJ told Josh that ladies were touched when confessions are done on a large scale. Of course, such a generalization was misleading.

It was the busiest time of the school day one Monday when Josh took action. There was a lot of chatter and bustle as students navigated the campus to get to their next classes. That was when Josh made the announcement on the megaphone.

"Can I please have your attention. I have an announcement to make. It has been a year since I've fallen in love with someone. I have made many advances but she is too dumb to get my hints. So I decided to make it clear to her and everyone. Faith Johnson in her second year of the psychology major has been my favourite person for a year. I hope you will be my girlfriend Faith. On behalf of Faith and myself, there will be a food truck at the Science and Technology department building. Everything there is free. Please yourselves and I hope you will be supportive of our relationship."

Josh's announcement was met with 'oohs' and 'aahs' from the student body. Faith was in the halls finding her way back to the dormitory after class when the announcement was made. She was mad. She felt like she was on a dark stage and the light from above shone on only her. The whole thing was cheesy. This would be cute for the little girls in 2020 who loved cheesy rom-coms on Netflix but this was not for her. Besides, Faith was serious about having no romantic relationship.

As Faith was nearing the dormitory she saw Josh running up towards her from afar. She wasn't in the mood to talk to him. She prayed that the ground would split open and she would sink into it. She already had enough of the whispers as she walked to the dormitory.

"Faith, did you hear what I just said? I really mean it and I know you feel the same way. So what do you say?"

"I am sorry Josh I do not feel the same way. Fo something like this I would've appreciated it if you had told me personally instead of announcing it to the world. I have to go now." Faith's words shattered Josh and she walked into the dormitory.

"Faith! Faith! Let's talk." Josh called after her.

That was the last time Faith saw Josh that semester.

Attention was on Faith again after Josh's confession and all the previous rumours and scandals involving Faith came to light. Everywhere Faith went, she felt heavy eyes on her. So she started to spend more time out of the campus with Sarah and Keisha. The three often went to the movies together. That became their favourite activity together.

One Friday night, their movie night went a little differently. That day, the girls were watching "Back to the Future" because they thought it would be a very relatable movie to travellers. A couple of minutes into the movie, Sarah went to use the bathroom. When Sarah wasn't back after 30 minutes, Keisha and Faith started to worry. The two girls decided to go check on her. However, they couldn't find her in the bathroom.

"Where could she have gone?" Faith was worried. Keisha and Faith looked for Sarah in the cinema. They entered all theatres calling her name, they looked for her in the snack area and even in the boys' washroom.

"Could she have left the cinema?" Keisha asked. They went out of the building and looked for Sarah in the surroundings. She was nowhere to be found. Faith and Keisha sat down defeated on the stairs that led to the cinema's entrance.

"At first, I thought she was just very constipated but now I am getting very worried. She really is missing." Keisha said.

"Oh my goodness! What if she has been kidnapped?" Faith voiced her fears.

"Faith you have your lighter right? Summon your over-watcher. Mine is always mad at me because I get into a lot of trouble. Maybe Guy can help us." Keisha suggested.

"Good idea." Faith checked her purse for her lighter.

"But wait. Put on this t-band. I know you swore not to but it is an emergency. We don't want to look like we are talking to the air when we summon guy." Keisha said.

"But we are two people. If people see us talking they can just assume we are talking to each other."

"Good point but just wear it!" Keisha place a t-band on Faith's wrist.

Faith summoned Guy.

" It is always somewhere new with you Faith. Why are we in a cinema?"

Faith and Keisha told Guy about the situation.

"Do you have any physical item of hers? I will try to contact her over watcher through that."

Faith gave Guy Sarah's jacket which she had left in the theatre before going to the bathroom.

Guy summoned Sarah's over-watcher. Sarah's over-watcher was short and stout. He had such a full beard that his lips were barely visible.

"Where is Sarah?" he asked.

"That is precisely why you are here." Guy said and filled him in.

Sarah's over-watcher set to work. He enhanced his senses to locate Sarah.

" I can't find her anywhere in Cher....or Salem....or Tupot...or Dunia....." Sarah could not be located anywhere on the planet.

"Now that's weird. Where could she be? You said she came to the cinema with you right?" Sarah's over-watcher asked.

Faith and Keisha nodded in the affirmative, their faces panic-stricken.

"Unless..." the two over-watchers said simultaneously.

"Unless what?" Faith asked.

"Unless she mistakingly entered a portal to an alternate universe." Guy explained.

"An alternate universe? How is that even possible? Mr over-watcher, you can get her back right? Please tell me you can get her back." Faith was anxious.

"Don't call me Mr. over-watcher. My name is Minky. I will try my best to get her back. The portal must have been opened from the other universe. First let's try to find the portal."

"It has been a while. Don't you think the portal might've closed by now?" Keisha asked.

"Yes it might be closed now but when a portal is opened, over-watchers can find the location where it was opened even 24 hours after it has closed." Guy explained. Minky was already in the cinema. The other three followed him inside.

"You said she went to the bathroom right? Let's check there first." Minky suggested.

The two over-watchers could sense that a portal had indeed been opened in one of the walls.

Guy and Minky worked together to re-open the portal. They succeeded easily thanks to their cooperation. The portal was about six feet tall and looked like a purple cloud.

"Can we come?" Faith asked.

"Sure you can but you've got to stay close to me all the time. That's for you Faith but Keisha has to ask for permission from her over-watcher." Guy replied.

'Oh she is never going to let me. You guys go ahead. How long would it take? Will you be there for a couple of days, weeks or months?" Keisha asked.

"It doesn't matter how long we spend there. You can wait here because to you, we would be back in a second. When we find Sarah, we will travel back to this universe and to this time. So you don't have to wait long." Guy explained.

"Oh that' s great exam week starts on Monday. I was a little worried that I might miss my exams." Faith added.

Minky, Guy and Faith went through the portal. Faith looked around. People were going about their business as normal in a busy city. Faith would've never guessed she was in an alternate universe.

"We need to figure out what universe this is and what planet we are on before we start the search for Sarah." Minky said.

"Guy?" Minky waited for Guy to get the hint.

"Oh right! Faith I have to make you unconscious because we have to visit the overseeing world of this planet and the journey will..."

"Alright just do it. We need to be quick." Faith cut Guy off.

Minky and Guy made the journey to the overseeing world with Faith on Guy's back.

On arrival, they were taken to meet the head of that overseeing world as was protocol for foreigners.

"Hi, I am Minky, an over-watcher from the Zelia planet of universe 63. One of my travellers seems to have mistakingly gone though a portal into this universe. May I know what universe and planet this is?" Minky asked.

"Yea this is universe 25. This planet is called earth. Right now you're in the overseeing world for earth. Let me check the records to see if and why we opened a portal to universe 63. Give me a second." The head said as she walked through a door behind her throne.

She came back after some time.

"So a traveller from France, a country in this planet was expiring. So he went through the doom or salvation procedure. When asked if his extended time as a traveller was his doom or his salvation, he chose doom. To make up for it, we gave him a chance to work in the overseeing world of an alternate universe so he could experience other time travellers find salvation through time travelling. That alternate universe happened to be universe 63. If you suspect that a traveller from your universe is here I will give you visitor passes and allow you to look for her in earth. Earth is the only human occupied planet here."

The head hanged visitor passes over the necks of Minky and Guy and handed them one for Faith.As they descended from the overseeing world, Minky tried to locate Sarah.

"I think I can sense her slightly in the European continent. Follow me." He said to Guy. When they got to Europe, they landed in London. Guy was about to put a t-band on Faith when he realized she was still wearing the one she got from Keisha. Guy woke Faith up and the two over-watchers narrated everything that had happened since she went unconscious.

"You lost me at the doom or salvation procedure. What the hell is that?" Faith asked.

Guy took his time to explain. "The reason why we give people who die young a chance to live as a traveller in another time period is because we foresee a potential to live a brilliant life. So instead of letting them die, we save them and give them a life in a different time. So the goal of time travelling is to save the person, to save their brilliant future that would otherwise be lost. The goal is salvation. So, before a travellers life expires, we ask the traveller if their extended life was indeed a salvation or if it was their doom. Sometimes, things don't go as planned and the extended life becomes an unhappy life. That is considered a doom. If the person chose doom, the promise the overseeing world made to that person is unfulfilled. So, we give them the chance to find peace by extending their live further.. We extend their lives in an alternate universe so that we cut all ties they have with their original universe. In the alternate universe, they are trained to work as over-watchers so they can witness other travellers find salvation through the travel system. So some over-watchers you see, were likely travellers in an alternate universe." Guy was done explaining and he noticed Minky getting physically impatient.

"Oh I see, I've only heard salvation used in a religious context so I was really confused when you first mentioned it." Faith said.

"You do realize that salvation literally means to save from harm right? It has been used so much in a religious way that many people forget this. It is similar to the word Jehad which literally translates to 'struggle' or 'effort' but is popularly understood by the meaning extremists give it.

"Can we start the search now?" Minky was done with all the talk and wanted to accomplish his mission fast.