P.R.I.S.M of Memories -on Hold

Chapter Sixteen

~Conrad~

I can feel the warmth of the sunlight outside. How annoying. Grandma must've opened the blinds. I groan. I told her to stay out of my room. At least it's nice and cool in here and I burrow deeper into my bed. The familiar weight of Grandma's chubby cat on my back is comforting. I can hear him purring contently. I roll over onto my back and narrowly avoid crushing Bon Bon. He hisses at me displeased and trots over to the sunlit edge of my bed.

That was a vivid dream, I'm not sure if I would call it a nightmare. At least the girls were hot. I wonder if that's how Astra really looks or if my subconscious just made her hotter for me.

Groggily, I sit up and examine my knees. No scratches or scabs. Not even a bruise. I take in my surroundings. My video game collection, gamer chair, my work desk... not a thing out of place. I check the led alarm clock next to my bed. 

Ten? Well too late for me to go to school.

I stretch my back and climb out of bed.  I'm surprised Grandma didn't come in here to wake me up or throw ice in my bed. I should probably write this one down before I shower. I always forget things in the shower.  Half asleep, I grab my towel hanging from the hook behind my door.

When did I even get back? I don't remember coming home.

I open the door and head into the hallway. I find myself in Laura's guestroom's bathroom. It's luxury glaringly contrasting against my room. I rub my eyes and walk back into my room.

I must be more tired than I thought. I think I'm still dreaming.

I close the door and then open it again. Laura's bathroom is still there. I close the door and open it again. Nothing changed. I close the door and double check that this is the door to the hallway in my house. I open the door again. The eloquent bathroom is still there.

...What the hell?

"Good Morning, Conrad!"

I freeze. I clearly heard a overly cheerful feminine voice behind me. But that's not possible. Because the only door into my room...leads to a bathroom. Hesitantly, I turn around to face the girl in my room that must clearly be a ghost.

An Indian girl slightly older than me stood behind me dressed in a frilly black dress with galaxy stockings. Her rainbow hair with hues of purple and blue tied into two childish pigtails. A giant grin on her face.

She punches my shoulder a little too hard. "Wakey, wakey Conrad! There are people waiting on you. So hurry up and get dressed."

Waiting on me? ...Oh no....

"Oh my God, I'm awake."

She looks at me confused.  "Well...yeah."

"This isn't my house , is it?"

She inclines her head. "Well...no. It's not."

The towel falls from my hand and the room tilts. Rainbow catches me before I hit the ground.

"Damn, boy. You are more fragile than glass. You know that?"

She takes me to my bed—no, my fake bed to sit down.

"Do you remember anything that happened yesterday?"

The dream or I should say, memories, are flooding back now. It wasn't a dream. All of it happened. These people can do magic and they're terrorists and I'm stuck here. My breathing is becoming shallow.

"Dude, calm down. You're fine. You're not dead."

Focus on something else. Anything!

"Where am I?"

She purses her lips. "I bet you don't even remember my name. How about a 'Good Morning, Data! How are you?'"

Data? What a strange name. Is that her real name? Or is an alias? But I can see she is sincerely annoyed that I forgot her name. Fine, I'll play along. But I need to know what the hell is going on.

"I'm sorry, Data. Good morning."

She cheerfully replies, "Good Morning, Conrad. As I said before, hurry the hell up because there are people waiting on you right now and it's actually kind of a big deal."

"But where am I? And who is waiting for me?"

Data pulls me off the bed and hands me my towel. "Get in the shower, Conrad. We'll talk on the way there."

Reluctantly, I walk to the bathroom when something occurs to me. I turn around and spot Bon Bon sleeping on the edge of the bed.

"Is that cat real?"

Data turns and looks at Bon Bon. "Huh...what do you know?"

She reaches out to pet the cat. I didn't warn her quick enough.

Bon Bon hisses and swats Data's hand away.   "Stupid cat!"

Bon Bon quickly leaves through the open door next to the window that I had not seen before.

"So that is Bon Bon."

Data looks at me quizzically. "Bon Bon?"

"That's my grandma's cat. I don't know why he's here though."

She remains silent for a moment. "How long has your grandma had that cat?"

I shrug my shoulders. It's really weird that Bon Bon is here but there are so many stranger things going on. And I honestly don't know what's going to happen to me. Bon Bon is the least of my worries.

Data pushes me towards the bathroom and I drudgingly move forward. I would've taken a longer shower had Data not been pounding on the door every five minutes asking me if I was done yet. When I came out she had laid out on my fake bed a plain dark grey long sleeved tunic with black pants.  On the floor were simple black shoes that reminded me of old Asian martial arts movies.

"Put these on. Your other clothing was disposed of, so don't ask for them."

"What if these don't fit?"

She crosses her arms and huffs, "We're running late and you're wasting time by asking dumb questions. Change. I'll be outside."

She left through the same door that Bon Bon had run out of. The tunic is clearly cotton but the pants feel strange to me. They felt similar to jeans but didn't really restrict my movement the way jeans do.

"Good, you're done. Now come on. We're late."

I follow after her and step into a long hallway with vaulted ceilings. There were no windows and everything was made of the same dull stone. Like a dungeon.

Data is already a few feet ahead of me. "Move it, Conrad. We're late."

I catch up with her and ask, "Where are we?"

"We are at the Order's Headquarters."

The order? The way she said it creeps me out. Almost reverently. But this place is giving me goose bumps. And not the good kind. Maybe this is a cult. The hallway is lit with torches for the love of God. ...But since she seems to be in an answering sort of mood.

"Where's Astra?"

Her eyes shift towards me, a small half smile on her lips. "We are going to meet her now. She is meeting with the Council in the Chamber of Arima."

...I'm getting a really bad feeling about this....

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