I MC Difficult Decisions
Abbreviations:
I - Illusions
MC- (Main Characters) Apocalypse Sun and Moon
WM - Wonderland Mafia
DW- Dark Water
DIMENSION: Illusions
“You can't start a book with 'Ned liked his best friend as much as he loved farting,” Sera said to her student. Third graders sometimes. “Change it.”
“I can put it in the middle,” her student tried to reason.
“You can't put that, it isn't school appropriate. No one wants to read about farting.” Sera stood up. “Find a different way to express the same idea. You're dismissed.” Sera gathered her papers as her student walked out.
“I would want to read about farting.” Her sister laughed at the door.
“Hey, Jinna.” Sera smiled as she headed to the door. “Oh, I'm so happy it's time.”
“I imagine. Come on, I've got us gassed up. Not the same way as Ned, but it'll get us home,” she teased. “Winter vacation officially begins.”
Oh, such lovely words. Sera lugged her bag behind her. She was going to spend Christmas with her mom and dad along with her sister Jinna. Even though her and her sister weren't kids in high school, the whole family always came together for the holidays. The ride would be four hours, and her sister's stories about her life usually kept her entertained each year.
The ride itself wasn't bad, and she hardly saw her sister since they lived so far apart, so the conversation was lively. The only thing that wasn't sitting well was the food. She felt bloated and fat on the fast food her sister wanted to eat to save time. Her weight wasn't the best, so eating a burger with no guilt felt impossible. Plus, it wouldn't help her acne.
Even though Sera was far from a teen, she still had a problem with acne and had to take a prescription to keep it under control. It wasn't a huge deal though, she never wore makeup. Sera never felt like she was something to look at.
She didn't focus her life on it though. Looks didn't matter much around elementary students anyhow, and dating took time away from grading papers. Besides, when she did date, she always knew it wasn't for her looks. It was a benefit in a way. How could she ever find a prince charming that stared at her body?
Her sister Jinna was the opposite. She was a great weight, had sexy long legs, and dressed sexy. She had a boyfriend all the time, but she never had a steady relationship. It was the curse of beauty and she wanted no part of it.
Her mother had arrived first at her sister's house because she didn't live far away. They each exchanged some stories that had happened since last they saw each other, but most of all, they wanted to relax. Vacation was their chance to unwind, and Sera was making the most of it. No grading papers. No students to call out. Just relaxing. Tomorrow would be Christmas. The day the town shut down and the last day she would be there.
Sera relaxed that night in the guest bed she had to share with her sister. Being able to sleep later than usual would be a blessing, and she nestled her head cozy in her pillow.
"Jeremy proposed to me," Jinna said in her bed. "I don't want to, but I don't want to lose him." Jinna looked over at Sera. "What do you think?"
What did she think? Sera tried to hide her sigh. She had never even met this Jeremy. She had talked more than once on the phone with her sister, and she had never bothered to mention him. "How long have you known each other?" Sera didn't even know that her sister had been going steady with anyone.
"We've known each other for years, but we only started going out like three months ago." Jinna flipped over on her pillow. "We were having such a great time. What should I do?"
Give it time is what Sera wanted to say. "Ask him for time to think about it?"
"He doesn't think I am committed," Jinna added.
That's because she wasn't. Sera could never see her sister settling down. "Sleep on it." With those last words, Sera turned to get cozy in her pillow. That was not the case though. For a brief moment, she had thought she had fell off the bed, but landing would be within a second. It was past a second. Past five seconds. Past a minute . . .and she continued to fall.
Dominic had grown used to soft landings as he tumbled into a new dimension. He'd done this enough times that after a sentence, he was ready to be whisked back into the tunnel he was traveling.
He had no thoughts about who lived there. He didn't know who the destined couple were supposed to be. The landing had been a hard thump on the floor. He grabbed his arm as he stood up. It was the dead of night and only a surprised person had been there.
It wasn't anyone he knew. He'd seen her briefly, but not much.
“What are you doing here?” she asked. “Do you know what happened to my sister?”
Her sister. Dominic didn't say anything, but clearly he wasn't in the right place. “No, what happened to her?” Her face told the fact that she knew what happened, but would not outright say. "I won't judge you if what you say sounds strange. I've seen many strange things myself."
“My mom doesn't believe me. No one believes me but last night she fell through the bed.”
Through the bed? Dominic looked around the bed but heard the despair of her sister.
“She's not there anymore. She's gone. Everyone says that I've lost it and that she only ran away.” She looked toward him. “I know she didn't, she was just turning to go to sleep, and then she was gone.”
“What happened?” Dominic didn't understand, he should have been able to reach her to warn her.
“I don't know. One minute she said to sleep on my proposal decision, and the next she was falling through the bed.” Her sister was beside herself. “Where is she? When will someone real believe me?” She grabbed her head. “Now I'm hearing ghost boys, what is wrong with me? Mom's right, I'm not fit to be back on the road yet.”
“I'm not a ghost, I just look sort of like one.” Dominic knew that was little relief. He bent near the bed again. “Hello?”
“Apocalypse Sun.” A voice murmured to him from beneath the bed. “We meet at last.”
That was not the voice of a woman either. “Who are you?”
“The Boogeyman.”
Dominic held his position. “Do you know Mister Umbrella in the Sky?” There was a strange sound of confusion.
“That's an odd name.”
“I thought so.” This wasn't Mister Umbrella in the Sky's Boogeyman. That had only been someone who liked the name's reputation and made it his own. No, this was the real Boogeyman. Dominic couldn't take him lightly. “Did you take Sera, the woman in the bed?”
“No, that wasn't my doing. However,” Boogeyman noted, “I know where she's at. The Lost and Found road. Humans aren't supposed to get through.”
So far, Dominic had no trouble going through the different dimensions. He'd never had an obstacle. His biggest so far was Cheshire, but only because he wouldn't let him get involved. “I must reach her.”
“Then come down and we'll talk.”
Dominic felt a tug on his body as he was thrown beneath the bed. Feeling himself continually rolling, he knew he'd been entering into another dimension. When he finally landed, he stood up and dusted himself off.
“I can reach anyone in their dreams and nightmares. Anyone and anywhere.” A shadow emerged toward Dominic. It was a figure in a cloak, his face completely hiding. “I will allow you to warn her through her dreams, if you provide a favor to me.”
“I don't have anything of value,” Dominic said. “I am only a messenger. I can't provide any ways into other dimensions, I simply come and then fade. I have nothing.”
“You have something. Memories. I want your memories.”
“Memories?” Dominic took a step back. “Memories are all I have left!”
“I know.”
“My memories can't do anything for you.”
“That is only what you believe.”
“No.”
“Okay then. Stay here. Forever.”
It was a threat. Dominic tried to climb up the side, but they were too slick. He waited several minutes to see if he would fade away, but he didn't. He remained.
He was stuck. Dominic made one last attempt to climb out, but simply tumbled down again.
“Without reaching her, you'll never leave this dimension,” Boogeyman warned him. “Don't take my word for it. Wait it out an hour. Days. Weeks. Years.”
No, he couldn't give in. Memories were all he had now. Dominic tried to knock out some of the wall. If he made it uneven, maybe he could scale it? He didn't have experience with doing it before, but he had to make it. Up and over, if he could get free, he'd be away from there.
“Need a lift?” Boogeyman's voice echoed through the walls as a ladder popped up right in front of Dominic. “Go ahead, go up. Live a happy life with Sera's sister because you'll never move to another dimension again.”
Dominic followed the ladder up, but it stopped.
“Or not. I haven't decided yet.”
Dominic pushed, but there was some invisible force keeping him from leaving the bed. Stuck beneath a bed, how could he get out? He called out for Sera's sister but she wasn't around anymore.
He laid down for some time beneath that bed. His thoughts and options twirled around each other. Cheryl and Guyver had their own destiny, but he was still her little brother. As time went by, his existence became lonelier. The only thing that sustained him was the thin maybe. The maybe that he might get back to her. The maybe that one day he could live a normal life again.
He would be stuck beneath the bed until Boogeyman set him free. Even if he did free him, then what? Would he fade away to the next dimension?