Other World

"Silly girl"

Ariel, with her brown backpack, covered in pins of her favorite quotes and story characters, on her back, headed up the stairs leading to Mya's porch. Before even reaching the door, she stepped back a little, taking a quick look at the house and how little it had changed since the last four months. The shutters were painted a different color, green now, instead of the boring white color they were before. There were more plants and flowers growing up the brick-stone steps since it was May now, and of course plants grew a lot more when it was warm. Ariel sighed heavily, clutching her right backpack strap with her hand and stepping up to the white, wooden door and knocking on it. After a few seconds of waiting, she heard a click, meaning the lock had just unlocked. The door opened a crack and an old, wrinkled face peaked out.

"Ariel?", the voice of an old woman asked. Ariel knew that voice. It was Mya's grandmother, Pat. The woman opened the door all the way, stepping aside to let Ariel in. Ariel did so, wiping her feet on the rug as she walked in, slinging her bag off and holding it by the left strap now. "Well, young lady, what are you doing here? I haven't seen you in- well a year!", Pat closed the door, locking it and turning around. Ariel looked at some pictures hanging on the wall, seeing pictures of Mya's mothers' wedding day, a small Mya standing in between the two women. There were pictures of Mya as a kid, Mya as a pre-teen, mostly doing the peace-sign. Ariel giggled. Mya didn't really like her picture taken, so when it was being taken, she'd always make a 'peace -sign', trying to make it seem less awkward. 

"I usually come every month to look around. Why are you here, Pat? I thought you lived in Ohio?", Ariel looked at the frail, old woman, who was looking at some of the photos hung on the wall as well.

"I'm house sitting while the ladies are on some 'get away' trip for the weekend. You come here often, you said? What for?", Pat walked into the kitchen, taking a sip of her mug of coffee that was sitting on the counter. Ariel shrugged.

"Yeah, it's just comfortable here, ya know? One of those feelings...", Ariel took a look around the kitchen, only seeing small changes; like the bowl of apples that always sat in the center of the table being missing, the dog bed being a new one, and new magnets on the refrigerator. 

"Alright, you go do what you do... just don't anything to annoy me, alright?", Pat sips her coffee once more and sits at the kitchen table, turning up her radio, playing some old-timey music. She taps her foot and Ariel bobs her head slightly to the beat as she walks out of the kitchen, heading upstairs. She walks into the upstairs hallway, taking a turn and walking down the hallway that lead to Mya's room. Her hand reached the door knob, touching the cold metal. It clearly hadn't been touched in weeks. Not since she had last visited. She twists the knob, opening the door and stepping into the room. It all seemed untouched. Ariel walked over to Mya's bed, sitting down on it and spreading her fingers as she did, tracing the comforter. She set her bag on the bed, looking around the room. It was strange how everything stayed the same while Mya was missing. Ariel's eyes traced the room, suddenly landing on a small, blue light coming from under the crack of Mya's closet door. What...? Ariel gets up, walking towards the closet. 

"Ok, I've read enough stories to know that this'll either be an old toy, or lead to some explosion, knocking me unconscious... except those are just stories, so... I'll be fine.", Ariel reassures herself, though she well enough down to ground to know that -most likely- nothing would happen. Ariel's hand reached the knob, opening the closet door with ease. Nothing. The light had suddenly disappeared. Was she seeing things? Certainly not. Ariel got on her knees and looked at all the boxes and dirty clothes on the floor of the closet, untouched since Mya didn't return home one day after school. Ariel took one of the boxes, about to open it and go through it when she saw a peculiar looking book on the floor that was out of sight before. She put the box down next to her, picking up the book instead. It had a plastic feeling vine pattern tracing over it, giving the book a nice texture. The book was brown, and a pretty big sized book. Ariel traced her index finger over some of the vines and smiled. She opened the book, flipping through the first few pages, expecting there to be an introduction. But there wasn't. Nothing. The pages were blank. 

Ariel flipped through a few more pages, shocked that they were all  empty. Strange. Ariel shook her head and put the book down, wondering why Mya would have something like that. Was she planning on writing a book? Surely not, she wasn't into that sort of thing. Ariel blinked. She picked the book up again, double checking she wasn't just seeing things, flipping through pages again. Still nothing. Weird. Ariel heard Pat call her name, so she picked up the book and slammed the closet door shut, wincing at the loud sound it made. She quickly got on her feet and grabbed her backpack, shoving the book inside and running out of Mya's room, closing the door. 

"Ariel! Get down here, someone wants to see you!", Pat shouted from downstairs. Ariel made a confused look. Who would want to see her at this time? Her date- study session- with Ryan wasn't until the next day. Maybe he actually had this huge crush on Ariel all along and wanted her now. Ariel's heart beat increased as she walked down the stairs, not from running, but from just the thought about Ryan. Goodness, she had lost her sense of everything when she first ran into him. Lilly made it to the front of the house, walking to the door and looking passed Pat. Jam. Jamiah. The person Ariel wanted to see the least. Why was she here? She didn't have any business with her? 

"Jamiah? Why're you here?", Ariel asked in a nice tone, though that isn't the one she'd like to use with the bully. Jamiah scoffed and rolled her eyes. 

"We need to talk, Ariel.", Jamiah walked down the steps that lead to the sidewalk, physically inviting Ariel outside to talk. Pat shrugged and opened the door all the way for Ariel to go. Ariel walked outside, down the steps and stood in front of Jamiah. The two heard the front door close. "So word got around you're hanging out with Ryan tomorrow. After school. Some kinda date.", Jamiah stated her words, cold and bitter. Ariel's face flushed.

"W-well, I wouldn't call it a date, heheh...", she laughed nervously as Jamiah stomped her foot. Ariel looked up, her flustered attitude dropping at the sight of the taller girl's face. It held an angry expression, a jealous one. 

"You know he doesn't like you, right? He's just using you for homework.", Jamiah crossed her arms. 

"I-I don't know, he was acting really-"

"Really what ? Really nice? Cocky? 'Cause he's always like that, Ariel. Don't flatter yourself. He likes me anyways, he asked me out... yesterday.", Jamiah was telling a lie, but Ariel couldn't tell. The red head was good at lying, always had been. Ariel gasped audibly. "What? Mad he didn't ask the weird, "quirky", girl that wrote romance novels in her spare time first?", Jamiah laughed, "Silly girl! He wouldn't!", Jamiah clutched her stomach, leaning over as she laughed. Ariel looked down, tears forming in her eyes.

"I didn't expect him to ask me. But- you don't have to be such an ass about these things! What happened to you, Jam? We were best friends. Then you-"

"What? Changed? Sorry it's so hard for you to grasp, Ariel, but I've moved on. It's time you do the same.", Jamiah stepped on  Ariel's foot and stomped away, walking across the street and heading down the hill. Ariel groaned and face-palmed, needing some alone time. She started walking up-hill, heading the way her school was.