Chapter Eleven

There was a deep sadness in me that rest beneath the depths of my heart. The kind of ache that you could feel when someone punches you in the gut and it takes the breath out of you. But instead of having your breath taken out of you, you feel like your heart would stop beating any moment you exhale. There were things that I remember her saying to me when we fought. And maybe, she was right after all. The delusions I think, the things that I think too much – she was right. Catherine was right about all the hurtful things she told me. I thought, that those words she threw away didn't matter. That at least I was expecting something – thinking that I was prepared for anything if I expected something that would happen. But she was right about me, the delusions I make. I didn’t even think how it would have looked for others.

I exhaled loudly, getting the ache out and the exhaustion from the teleportation we went through earlier. Gripping the rim of the faucet, closing my eyes for a second, focusing my hearing to the sound of running water. I still wasn’t used to teleportation unlike the three of them. I wanted to puke all over the carpet when we arrived, but I knew that carpet and vomit do not mix well. It was worse swallowing up my own vomit though than making a mess. But, I can't really make a mess with the carpet. So I had no choice but to swallow it back.

Just thinking about it made me retch and hog the sink. “Oh, God.” I shakily mumbled. I shivered from the grossness, leaning on the sink once again, I looked sick, my hair disheveled and the bags on my eyes became visible as my complexion became pale.

“You look awful.”, Leah commented. She was leaning on the door frame, her arms crossed and her hair in braids resting on her shoulders.

I sniffed, cupping my hands and placing it under the running faucet, filling it with water. “ I know.” I brought my cupped hands full of water to my lips and sipped the water in it, discarding the rest whilst I gargled the taste of vomit in my mouth and spewed the water out. “God that is gross.”

“ I know. you’ll get used to it someday.”, Leah tried to comfort.

“Hopefully.” I grabbed the towel on the rack and wiped the excess water on my mouth as I walked out of the bathroom – Leah stepped out of the way and followed me to the living room.

“You sure do have a nice house.”, she complimented behind me, glancing around at the paintings and the rooms that we passed by. As we passed by near the library, she saw the huge painting of my parents. My mother carrying me in her lap as she sat down whilst my father, standing behind us with a serious handsome face with a crown on his head. “So that’s what the majesties look like.”, she gaped at the huge painting on the wall.

I stopped walking and glanced back at her. “You guys never saw their faces?”

Tyson and Mike came out of the living room and approached Leah who was still gaping at the huge picture. ”What’s up?”, Tyson asked. Mike followed next to him, he was now wearing a white sleeveless shirt smeared with some black soot on the center of the shirt, and a black suspenders that made him look skinnier than he already was.

Mike saw what Leah was staring at and formed an ‘O’ with his mouth. “Oh wow.” he gawked as he walked towards Leah’s side, fixing his round-rimmed glasses on his face – almost stumbling in the process but caught himself up. “So that’s how they look.”

I was curious yet baffled that they didn’t know the faces of their King and Queen, yet they speak of them so highly. I joined in with them at their quest to be awestruck of a painting that I’ve seen so many times when I come down the staircase.

“They look so amazing.”, Tyson complimented.

I pursed my lips, raising my brows. “Thank you?” It was more of a questioning reply than a response meant to know what to answer to his compliment.

Mike’s grumbling stomach interrupted the silence of the room. We looked at him and laughed. “Right, so I supposed you can lead us to your kitchen?” His face reddened from embarrassment.

“Come on.” I nodded my head towards the direction of the kitchen, leading them the way. “There’s a lot of food stored in the pantry. Hopefully, they're still fine.” I mean, why wouldn’t they be fine? I just disappeared for two days. Right?

“Um…”Leah started but I ignored her and opened the doors to the kitchen.

It was odd. The countertops were clean – the condiments looked like they haven’t been touched for a long time. As I approached the counter, I noticed the noticeable dust resting on top of the plates on the corner of the countertop. My brow furrowed in confusion and in curiosity. “The servants must not have done their job.” I mumbled.

“Selina…” Leah started again, and once more, I ignored her and made my way to the pantry. “Selina wait!”, she grabbed my wrist away from the handle of the pantry. I looked at her in puzzlement.

“What?” I look at her confused.

She looks at Mike and Tyson on the back who were avoiding her eyes. Tyson scratched the back of his head and Mike seemed to be interested in his dirty hands. She tutted and rolled her eyes and looked back at me. “I…we wanted to tell you something. But we didn’t know how to tell you.”

She let go of my wrist as I lowered my hands down on the side, waiting for her to explain the explanation they wanted to tell me. I glanced at Tyson and Mike who was now looking at and to Leah like they were kids waiting for their friend to tell their mothers that they wanted to hang out.

“This might come in a bit of a shock to you, but,”, she exhaled loudly. “Time here and on the other side is kind of different.”

I stared at her with a blank expression, waiting for her to explain further but I was met with silence. “Okay…?” I was still confused about what was going on here. What does time have to do with us being here in the kitchen to eat something?

“Okay?”, she said in a confused tone.

“Okay.”, I replied back rhetorically.

She opened her mouth to answer but closed them seemingly as she was confused with my short answer. Her emerald eyes slowly turned towards the two brothers behind me, asking for help.

“What does time have to do with this?”, I asked.

“It means that you weren’t only gone for two days.”, Tyson said.

Still confused, “What?”

“Time is different here, Selina.”, Mike said as if his statement would finally come clearer to me.

“Okay, hold on, let me explain it properly.” Leah interrupted. “You disappeared here for a long time. A year probably, in the real world. And, the thing is, time runs slower in the other world than in here. It’s like two really different places. To most people here, they would think you were gone. Do you understand now?”

I went quiet, processing the words she said. I stared at her emerald eyes. “You mean to say…”, my words faltered after. I was missing for who knows how many years? But that’s impossible. I was just one for two days. “How is that possible?” I look down at the black and white tiles.

I felt Tyson’s hand on my back. “I’m…We’re sorry we didn’t tell you about it sooner. It didn't seem like it mattered, or something.”

Leah shot a keep-quiet-or-I’ll-smash-your-face look his way. “What he means is, we didn’t tell you because it wasn’t in our minds that you’d come back. It only occurred to us now when,”, she looks around and back at me. “It was too late?” Her tone rose at the end of the sentence as she winced a bit as she said that. 

Should I be worried? Is anyone still looking for me? The mansion’s practically empty. The servants are nowhere to be found, nor my parents. I looked at each of them and ran out of the kitchen without saying a word and into the staircase. They fumbled in their places as they tried to follow me to wherever I was going.

“Selina! Where are you going?!”, Leah called behind. The two brothers coming in hot in her wheels behind.

I skipped two stairs at a time as I rushed to the master bedroom, the three still following. I opened the door to the bedroom and went to the closet to which I paused as I opened it wide. It was empty. Barren of clothes and things that my parents owned. I backed up still looking at the empty closet and landed on the bed – also now sheetless

The three that followed me came bursting into the master bedroom, finding me sitting in the bed. Mike glanced at what I was looking at and realized that I had just been left behind by my own parents. Tyson stayed at the door whilst Leah came beside me with a worried look. She huffed from the panic mixed with exhaustion. “I’m sorry.”

“It doesn’t make any sense. Why would they leave?”, I whispered but enough for them to hear.

“Maybe they are still looking for you in places that are far from here?”, Mike suggested, trying to cheer me up. But that wasn’t enough to cheer me up.

I stood up. “Why would they look somewhere else?”, my voice rising in anger. “Shouldn’t they have looked at the world they created before they went anywhere? It doesn’t make any sense at all!” Upon clenching my fist, I accidentally let out a spit of a circle of fire around me for a split second. They recoiled away as they saw the fire. 

I jump at my own accidental fire tantrum, holding my hand to my chest, looking apologetically at them. “Sorry…”, I mumbled.

Tyson chuckled shortly. “It’s alright. It happens.”, he shrugged.

I sighed loudly, closing my eyes. I need to calm myself down if I don’t want to burn the mansion down to ashes. I cleared my thoughts and thought of what I should do. Mike’s grumbling stomach interrupted the silence once again. I glanced up at him with disbelief, but it brought a smile to my face anyhow, breaking the tension and the annoyance I had towards everyone leaving. “You are unbelievable, you know?”

He blushed a red, “Can’t help it, Tyson’s rabbit barbeque wasn’t enough.”

His brother scoffed behind him. “You eat too many lavish dishes brother. I doubt you’ll survive in the wild.”

I chuckled, placing my hands on my hips. “Come on. Let’s get some food.” I walked past Mike. “If there are any left in the pantry though.” I pursed my lips. The annoyance surfacing up once again.

“Don’t worry, I’m sure we can still find something in your pantry.” Leah tried to assure me.

I sigh. “Hopefully.”

We walked down the stairs once again, and into the kitchen – opening the pantry door this time. “Well…” I inspected inside and found a molded cheese on a plate on the corner, and a rotten vegetables that made me want to gag from the stench. I shivered from the smell and got out of the pantry. “Sorry, there was nothing in here.” I pointed inside with my thumb – still covering my nose from the smell.

Mike took a peek at the pantry and leaned out the second. “Maybe we can find food somewhere that’s not in the pantry?”, he looked at the cupboard on the far end of the kitchen where the oven was, and started walking towards it.

Tyson opened and closed each of the cupboards. Leah meanwhile took an interest in the drawers and found knives. She took them out and smirked in victory – I’m guessing knives are her specialty in combat. She gently touched the tips of the knives, testing if they were still sharp. What she did next startled me to let out a squeak.

“What the hell?!”, Mike, fortunately, avoided the knife that Leah just threw his way by surprise. He grabbed the handle and plucked it out on one of the cupboards that it impaled in.

She sheepishly smiled at Mike, his brother laughing. “Oops?”, she raised her hands in surrender. “At least you avoided death once again?”

Mike groaned in annoyance, throwing the knife on the floor, and continued his way towards the inner kitchen where the servants make the food, still hoping to find one. Tyson followed behind him.

I glanced at Leah picking up the knife that Mike threw on the floor – approaching her side as she placed the knife on the counter with the other knives she found. “You’re skilled in knives.”, I complimented.

She took a quick glance at me before she opened a cabinet below a drawer. “Thank you. I learned it since I was eight.” She crouched down.

I hummed not knowing what to say next, leaning on the counter. It went quiet for a short while before Tyson and Mike came bursting out the door hysterically.

“You guys,” Mike started.

“There’s something you should see.” Tyson finished.

Leah and I looked at each other before following them in the inner kitchen. What did they see?