Between Worlds

The Girl

*Ring! Ring! * "Sorry for the interruption everyone, today's date is April 23rd 2025. It is a blue day, please make sure to be mindful and respectful of the school rules. And please, please, stop clogging the toilets in the bathroom. The amount of money the school has had to spend to repair the pipes is ridiculous. Do better. And as an fyi the school is hosting the regional games this year so show that school spirit by buying merch in our colors. Talk to Ms.Abricot for more information. And as always, learn more by learning less. Have a great day." The intercom went off and Willow sighed. Mondays were always the worst at Shanely High. Typical morning announcement, followed by a lecture in class. And her teacher Ms.Tapoca was the worst. She always wore an ugly bright yellow top, along with dark green jeans. Her breath reeked of coffee. And she would spend hours and hours ranting about her life. Her whole class now knew when she married, every divorce, and every time she caught her partner cheating.

They had all become a small part of her life, and what a life it was. "Ms.Burough, Ms.Burough!" Willow snapped to attention. Ms.Tapoca was scowling at her as she looked up from her desk. "As I was saying, it is important to uphold one's values. Like in the school handbook, unlike my cheating dirtbag of an ex-husband." "We know Ms.Tapoca," the whole class sounded. "Good, now on to today's lesson, the human anatomy is a complex system of many different," bleh, bleh, is all Willow heard as she tuned her out. The rest of the day was mildly better. Willow went to lunch, learned other subjects, and had a good day overall. But she didn't have any friends. The greatest question that always went on in her mind is why didn't she? Her classmates would often converse with her, she could make small conversation, and she wasn't a loner or anything. So why didn't she have any friends?

I'll tell you why. Ashley Patricia. The most popular girl in school. Ever since day one Willow accidentally bumped into her and she dropped her purse. Being the insanely spoiled and entitled girl she was, she made Willow's life a nightmare since then. She would play pranks on her, call her all kinds of names, and she would turn people against her with all sorts of lies and rumors. Even those who didn't believe in her lies kept a distance, they didn't want to incur Ashely Patricia's wrath. Willow could only live through it and quietly wish that Ashley's personal limo drove off a cliff every day. Today though she walked up to her locker and found in bold words plastered "WHORE" on her locker. She sighed, put in her combination, got her stuff and left.

She walked past Ashley in the hallway, her bright red glitter plastered lips curved into a smile. "Oh come on Willow can't you take a joke?" She cackled and her little fake entourage cackled with her. Willow wanted to go home, she wanted to go home so bad. She went to the bathroom, splashed her face with some water, and composed herself. As she was drying her face, she looked up to see Ashley in the mirror reflection. She always wore that damn hot pink fur coat, with the bright neon jeans. And her hair was a striking blonde, like the ones in the movies. And she always wore glitter red lipstick with sunglasses, even indoors. But today those glasses sat at the top of her head and she was chewing gum. She was leaning against the wall near the door.

"I don't know how you do it," she said nonchalantly while looking at her colored nails. "What? you mean live life?" Willow answered. "I will break you eventually, Burough, and we'll see who's living life then," she popped her gum as she finished her statement. "Why do you do this? Was an accidental bump really that offensive?" Willow's voice cracked at her question. She was so tired of this. "Simply because I can," her voice was cold as she left the bathroom, but not without plastering her gum on the door frame and stretching it across. Willow wanted to scream, she wanted to cry. But she couldn't, not here.

The walk home was empty and without sound. Willow passed many puddles on her way down the street. It had recently rained and the terrain near her house was rough and bumpy. She lived on a backroad near the school. Her house was near the woods and most of her neighbors were separated by a couple of miles. She kicked a stone as she always would coming home, sometimes if the stone looked good enough, she brought it home and kept it. She was almost home, just another turn and several minutes of walking and she'd be there.

The dirt path had so many cracks in the middle of the path. She could see her house right down the road, it was a large house for one that would be in the middle of nowhere. She stopped to investigate it. Another strange thing about it was its movement. The puddle seemed to have many vivid colors swirling around in it, similar to how exhaust mixes with water and creates those weird colors. But this was very strange. She was about to put her hand to it when "crash!" "crackle". It seemed like the storm was rolling in. Rain came pouring down heavily. And she ran to the porch. The house's old wood welcomed her with a familiar "creek...." She took off her boots and went inside. Her house was old and had a similar layout to its age. When walking inside you have to be careful not to keep your shoes on, so you don't track in water or mud and cause mold.

Her mom of course was toiling away in the kitchen. They had a typical kitchen, cupboards, cabinets, and other various typical things. But with a little old house flair they had an old gas stove, a fire oven, and old pots and pans everywhere. "I'm home!" Willow shouted while walking up the creaky old stairs. Her mom of course probably didn't hear her. That woman could get so focused she couldn't even notice a fly in her ear, or a bug in her boot. Willow went into her room and shut the door. Her bedroom had a typical bed, some posters here and there, forest designed walls, and a closet full of stuff. She also had a nice desk and wardrobe with a mirror.  

She reached under her bed and pulled out a box. It was an old shoe box from a brand that was discontinued decades ago. Her mom let her have it. She opened it and inside were many various stones of different shapes and colors. Some had markings, others had rough textures. A commonality in the stones is that most of them were quartz. But she swore she found an amethyst once, but it vanished when the rain came. "Another for the collection," she smugly laughed with satisfaction. 

She closed the box again and pushed it back under her bed. As the storm raged, she went over to her desk and lit a few candles, just in case. She sat down and opened a desk drawer. Inside were crumbled pieces of paper, old candy wrappers, and the occasional tin foil ball. After pushing some of it to the side she found an old journal underneath. She placed it on top of the desk and opened it. It had old tea stains from an accident one time, but she thought it only added to its rural charm. Pencil in hand she began to write.

The date 4 . 23 . 25 

"Today was uneventful, the typical harassment of Ashley, and other things...."

She spent 30 minutes writing down in her journal and then closed it with a satisfying "rumple" of paper. Afterwards she got up from her desk chair, did a stretch, and decided she wasn't that hungry tonight. She closed her window blinds despite the storm raging on and got settled in bed. She felt the dread of the day reach her eyelids as they grew heavy. "What I wouldn't give to have some friends," she sighed. She turned and then fell asleep, just before that strange puddle outside started to glow. 

My first chapter in many to come! I've been wanting to express these ideas and themes for a while now so sorry if the chapter is spread out too much. Anyway, thank you again for reading and more will be coming soon! 

Kind Regards,

BlessedPandemonium (Writer, Author, Editer)

Also again pictures from the net.