Lost in Reality

10

The New York night brought a sudden chill to my bones. The wind blew harder as I wrapped my wool coat tighter around my body. The city seemed eerily quiet tonight. There weren't as many cars bustling to and fro on the almost desolate streets. I only saw the usual homeless people gathered in their respective corners around barrel fires. 

I made it to Ned's grandma's house and knocked on the door. A small woman announced and ushered me in.

"Ned, tu amiguito esta aquí." (Ned, your little friend is here.) Ned's grandma says. 

I see Ned and Mj sitting at the kitchen table, fawning over the strange box. 

"What's going on guys?" I ask, walking toward them. Upon further inspection, I see the box is shaking violently. 

"The box won't stop shaking, we don't know what's going on with it." Ned says. 

"I wish Strange was here, he'd know what to do." Mj says. 

"Well where is he?" I ask. 

"Oh..." Ned says. "Peter left him falling in the Grand Canyon." 

I shake my head, pinching the bridge of my nose. "Of course he did. He stranded the one person who could help us out of this mess. What is going on in that boy's head?" 

"You're guess is as good as mine." Mj says. "Can you take a look at this thing, maybe make it stop having a seizure?" She asks, motioning to the shaking box. 

I laugh at the ridiculousness of all this. How was it just a week ago I was a normal girl with a normal life? Now I'm helping my friends try to send villains back to their universe with a strange magic box that nobody knows anything about. 

"I'll take a look, keep in mind my college study is biology, not magical arts." I say, extending a hand towards the box. 

As soon as my hand touches the box, I feel a chill go down my spine. The box stops shaking and instead begins glowing. I feel the power of the box coursing through my body. 

"Makayla..." A voice in the back of my head says. "You are lost, let us help you."

"You guys hear that?" I ask Ned and Mj. 

"Hear what?" They ask in unison. 

"So you're telling me you guys don't hear those voices?" I ask. 

"Makayla, take your hand off the box." Mj instructs. She tries grabbing my hand, but it seems as though the box was glued into place.

The voices return, this time, sounding like someone I know. Or I should say, knew. "Open the letter, Makayla. It has all your answers. Open the letter. Open the letter. Open the letter." My father says. 

Suddenly, my hand is thrown from the box as if it were an opposite magnetic force. I gasp for air. 

"What was that?" Mj asks, placing a hand on my shoulder.

"I don't know..." I answer honestly. 

Suddenly, voices from Ned's grandma's television breaks us from our conversation. 

We look towards it, seeing a disaster adorn the screen. A lady stands in front, reporting the story.

"...so far, there has been one confirmed casualty." The lady says. Behind her, multiple police cars and SWAT trucks inspect the rubble. 

"Oh my god..." I say when the realization hits. 

It was Peter's apartment building.