Parallels | Dylan O'Brien

4 - The Red Fury

-Dylan O'Brien-

A loud bang is heard from the room where Lydia just entered. My heart quickens as I look around the room to see if anyone has heard it too. The way Tyler's and Holland's eyes are widened, I think I might've heard it right. All of us rush towards the conference room, me going in first. She's lying on the floor, her makeup smudged and her strawberry blonde hair a little messy.
"God, Lydia, are you okay?" I ask as I rush up to her. I help her up, the others just staring at us.
"Yeah, I'm fine," she mutters, but I don't believe her. I keep my left hand on her smaller back, my right holds onto her hand. "I said I'm fine," she now shouts, swatting my hand away. I jump a little, not expecting such a reaction. This isn't the same Lydia that just left us to get her stuff. She's not the kind, shy girl I met in primary school, not the one I just met in the hallways. I step away from her to look at the angry, messed-up girl in front of me. This isn't Lydia. This isn't her.
"Where am I? And who are you?" she asks as if she's completely out of this world. I look at my cast mates for a moment and I can tell they're equally as confused as I am.
"You're in San Diego, Lydia. Still in San Diego," I tell her, but try to leave as much sarcasm behind as I can. She looks at me, her eyebrows furrowed.
"No, I'm not. I live in New York where I was having a blast at my birthday party until some alien-sort-of-thing brought me here," I glance at my friends again. Yep, I'm not the only one who thinks she's crazy.
"Alien-sort-of-thing?" Holland asks and that's when she completely freaks out. She stares at the girl that looks just like her as if she's seen a ghost, and starts screaming. My reflexes are fast enough to cover her mouth with my hand before anyone in this building has heard her scream and think she's being murdered.
"Let me go," she says, but her voice is muffled. She tries to wriggle herself out of my grip, but I'm stronger than her. When she has finally calmed down a bit, I let her go.
"What's going on in here?" her uncle asks when he walks in.
"I think Lydia has hit her head and completely lost her mind," Shelley tells him honestly.
"She doesn't recognize any of us," informs Posey. The older man looks at his cousin. Maybe he'll notice something different too. He steps a bit closer to her, only for her to step back and bump into my chest. That reminds me of earlier today when Lydia bumped into me in the hallway.
"Uncle Rich?" she whispers, completely in shock. "What? How? I thought you were dead?" Rich's mouth drops open and I watch as his eyes dart across the room like he's thinking of something. Like he's figuring out what's happening. Then, all of a sudden, it seems like the light behind his eyes has flickered on and he's come up with an idea.
"Your mother told you that. She didn't want us to see each other again," he lies, obviously. He may be an event manager, but he's no actor at all. Not even the slightest talent for it. "Hey, sweetie, why don't you go and fix yourself up in the bathroom? I'm going to finish up here," he tells her, slightly pushing her out the door. Lydia obeys, still in a daze from the news-bomb that had just exploded onto her. Richard closes the door behind him and looks at all five of us.
"We have a problem, guys," he then says and signals us to sit down around the conference table. All five of us do as he told and sit down. Neither of us saying anything as we're all too scared of what's about to come. "This isn't our Lydia," he starts. Tell us something we don't already know. "This one is from another universe, one in which we don't exist or not in the same way. In her universe, you guys are classmates of hers," he points to me and Posey, "And some of you, she doesn't even know at all," he points to the rest.
"Wait, so, we don't really exist in her world?" Shelley questions, completely confused about the situation, and I must say, she's not the only one.
"Not as actors, no. You're all ordinary people in her world. You two auditioned for Teen Wolf, but never gotten the roll. She doesn't even acknowledge you," he tells me and Posey. I furrow my eyebrows. This day has quickly changed into a real-life episode of Teen Wolf.
"And how do you know all of that?" Dylan Sprayberry questions. A great question, if you ask me.
"Because I'm from that same universe," all of us give each other a look before turning our focus back on Richard as he goes on, "One year ago, I travelled to this universe. I don't know how I got here, I just appeared one day, just like Lydia did just now. But I got used to the way you live here and how things are so much different from our world. That girl you saw, that is my cousin, not the one you met earlier today. Well, she is, but she's my parallel self's cousin," he explains and I'm trying to get a hold of his words, but I fail. This is too crazy for words. How is something like that even possible? "That's why she thinks I'm dead," he points to the wall, but we all know he's talking about Lydia. "I switched places with my parallel self from this world and became your Lydia's uncle whilst he became hers, then we switched back, but then we realized life was better on the other side and so we switched again. Travelling between universes can be dangerous, guys. That's how my parallel self died. He died during the travel between the universes," I blink a couple of times to try and process all the information we just got.
"So, how do we get our Lydia back?" I ask, not even caring about the consequences. I need my Lydia back. The Lydia I wanted to take on a date, not this Lydia who nearly screamed my head off. Rich looks me straight in the eyes.
"We wait for a full moon," I glance over at Posey who nearly loses it. He covers his mouth with his hand to keep himself from laughing out loud. This is a real-life episode of Teen Wolf. He walks towards his bag and takes out a dusty old book, wrapped up in a leather cover. He opens it to a certain page, then slides it across the table towards us. I quickly scan the pages. Something about a spell that we need to cast over her whilst she stands in the light of a full moon. This is a nuthouse. Different universes don't exist, neither do spells during full moons. This is mental. Absolutely insane. I might as well check myself into Eichen House next time we film an episode there.
"So, when's the next full moon?" Shelley questions, taking this a little too serious if you ask me. I look at her, my eyebrow raised. When she notices the look on my face, she gives me a look, "What? I only want you happy, Dyl. And if that strawberry blonde girl is going to do that, then we need her back. Because I don't think this one is going to do that when she screams every time she sees Holland," she explains herself. I nod, agreeing with her. This one isn't going to make me happy. At all. This one seems like a total narcissistic bitch. I need to get my Lydia back, whatever it takes.
"Rich," I start, turning towards the old man, "When's the next full moon?" he leans forward, his hands resting on the table, supporting the weight of his body. He looks me straight in the eyes again. This is getting slightly uncomfortable and weird.

"July 20th," he replies, his voice low.
"That's like a month from now?" Sprayberry reasons, shaking his head. I throw my head back in despair. I'm going to be stuck with this version of Lydia for a whole month? I can't let her out of my sight, because who knows where she'll go and where she'll be the night of the full moon. I need to keep her close to me, just so I can keep an eye on her.
"We'll do it," I tell Rich and he gives me a court nod. I need to get Lydia back. My Lydia. The right version of her. The sweet, loving and slightly awkward version of her. Not the narcissistic bitch version of her. Just her.

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