Ellie remembered too much. She was moving her body back and forth in her sleep. Nels was over her, holding her wrists and she couldn't move.
"Please stop, please brother..." she cried, but she was almost not making any sound while doing so. Her dream about what happened a year ago was almost too real. She moved back and forth in the bed and made anxious noises. In a moment she will wake up and feel water drops of sweat on her forehead and a heavy breathing taking place in her internal anxious state. And so it happened. She woke up, ready to scream out loud but it didn't end in a scream. She woke up just to see Nels standing by the end of her bed looking at the floor.
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"I'm sorry little sister..." he said and turned his back to her. Almost like a dream, even though she knew it was real.
"Nels, wait!"
He didn't wait.
"I saw Ingrid today".
Finally, he stopped at the door and turned around, looked Ellie in the eyes, and said:
"I'm sorry, I don't care about her anymore. I just care about you". Ellie forgave him again that night. Exactly as she did every time.
Ellie felt a bit better that morning and walked through the cold and misty park on her way to school. She saw Ingrid and Aline at the bus stop.
"No, not that little crybaby" Ingrid sighed when she saw Ellie.
"What's the problem with her, she's just a high schooler?" Aline watched Ingrid as she stomped her feet on the ground to get rid of some invisible dirt on her shoes. She didn't answer.
"Why are you so mean to a high schooler?" Aline continued the conversation, but Ingrid played hard. She refused to even look at Ellie even though she saw that the girl stood at a great distance from her and didn't even attempt to bother the two young adults.
Before anyone at the bus stop could recognize it, a door appeared in the air behind them. It looked antique and most certainly scary enough for Nels, who was walking on the other side of the street to react.
"Ellie watch out!" he screamed, and before Ellie or the young women even reacted to the fact that Nels appeared outside - he had been inside for almost five months now - they were all four pulled inside the door and it slammed behind them. Nobody else was around to see what happened.
Ellie opened her eyes just to see Ingrid in front of her.
"Hey, little one, are you okay?"
"Why do you even care...?" Ellie started but quickly realized that something wasn't as it used to be. "Where... where are we?" Ellie asked out in the emptiness in front of her. She touched the ground below her and felt soft grass between her fingers.
"What the...?"
Ellie turned her head around and saw Nels and Aline slowly waking up on the right side of her. She turned the other way and saw Ingrid standing up with huge eyes staring at her own hands.
"Where are we...?"
The words came from Ingrid. "What happened?"
"I don't know", Ellie responded and noticed that what looked like grass on the ground actually was a purple color. "What is this place? Are we dreaming?"
"I don't think so, I've been pinching myself for several minutes" Ingrid complained.
Suddenly Ellie and Ingrid heard a scream that belonged to Nels.
"What the he..."
Nels was hysterical. He had crazy eyes and tried to run away just to be chased down by both Ingrid and Aline.
"Stop! Let me go!" he cried. "I'm crazy, let me die!"
"You're not crazy... for once," Ingrid said and looked at Ellie while holding Nels down. Ellie was still fascinated by the purple grass under her feet.
"I don't know how it happened, but we seem to have left Earth"
"How do you know?" Aline sounded confused.
"Because I've been here before, I think"
"Have you given us drugs?"
"Oh my... Aline! Do you really believe that?" Ingrid looked shocked.
"No I don't, but I don't know what's happening... I didn't mean to blame this on you"
Ellie finally stood up now.
"Come on, let's explore this place", Ellie said and the other three just looked at her, but slowly they agreed and started to follow along.
They started to walk through what looked like a miniature forest of equally purple trees. Miniature trees.
"Are you sure we aren't on drugs?" Aline mumbled, but even though her voice was almost non-existent Ingrid heard her and sighed. They continued until they naturally stopped because the ground was appearing darker and darker. Ellie was the first one who said something.
"I think it's evening now"
"How? It was morning just for a moment ago?" Ingrid replied.
"Not in this world, I believe" Ellie's voice sounded like it was more of a musing than an actual sentence.
"Are we in another world?" the question came from Aline who started to appear anxious. "Are you sure?"
"Pretty sure, we're all experiencing the same thing and it differs from our world. We aren't dreaming. So we are most certainly in another world" Ellie explained like she knew more than she actually did.
They didn't need to think more about that before they all four were surprised by a shadowy figure slowly but surely floating towards them. Before any reaction appeared, the figure revealed itself and it was a creature with dark green hair, lighter yet equally green skin, and pointy big ears. He or she had black eyes, in fact, the black color was covering the entire eye-lobe.
"Don't be afraid" the creature said in a calm manner. "I'm a friend of yours".
"How do we know that for sure?" Ellie was the first one to point out.
"Because you don't really have a choice, do you?" the green elf responded.
Ellie looked at Nels who finally seemed to be stable again. He looked back at her.
"Don't you dare to hurt her!" Nels grumbled, but more to the air in front of him than to the actual elf. He felt protective of his sister after all. The green stranger didn't even bother to reply.199Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡorBhuiT3nj
"No need to be defensive. I have no weapon and no company. On the contrary, you're more likely to hurt me" the stranger said.
"What's your name?" Ellie asked because her curiosity took over.
"I'm Erya"
A smile appeared and for the first time, the stranger looked really kind in the appearance. It could be a fraud of course, who knows.
"What are you?" Nels asked with half a smile on his face. "Are you for real?"
"What kind of stupid boy is this?" Erya complained and looked straight at Ellie.
"Don't worry, it's just my brother"
"Well, I see you are not Avoranicans" Erya continued seemingly undisturbed. "You act like earthlings" she laughed.
"What are 'Avoranicans'?" Ingrid was the one who dared to speak now.
"Silly you, you are in Avoranic. Didn't you know?" Erya laughed, but this time the laughter sounded more cruel than earlier. "You really didn't know?"
"No..." Ingrid looked down at her own feet.
"Well, I must be the first one you meet here then, how unfortunate!"
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