New York City in the night.
There was nothing more beautiful.
I took a deep breath.
Well, this was it.
I was only ten feet from home, from Myra, my houskeeper, from my old life. From television, internet, cell phones, and high school.
I couldn't honestly say that it would be like I never left.
That would be the biggest lie I'd ever uttered in my entire life.
Because everything about me was changed.
I'd left the love of my life behind me - he deserved much better than me, and I'd found a way to change between the two worlds again.
Now I was in my condo's building.
As the elevator rose higher, I could feel my nerves do the same.
My stomach was twisted into a complex arrangement of tight knots.
I felt clammy.
How long had I been gone?
It'd been over two years for me, but had any time passed for New York City?
What would I tell everyone?
My heart's pounding filled my ears and deafened me from any other sound when the elevator doors opened on the 5th floor.
I took a deep breath and stepped into the hallway.
Not much had changed here.
The same painting hung in the same spot over the same ugly chair in the same small section of wider hallway.
I smiled at the familiar sight.
I knew it was a sad smile - for many reasons.
It'd been so long.
The doors were still painted that deep green color that, before, had always made me want to throw up.
Now I thought it was an extremely beautiful and welcoming shade of green.
The same numbers 458 was written in the same golden font as it had always been.
I took all this as a reassurance that no time had passed - maybe I'd been brought back to the night I left.
It'd probably be a little weird that I looked two years older.
It's probably also be a little weird that I was wearing a dress. A very old-fashioned dress.
I touched the cool, golden door knob.
I slid my hand around it, shaping my hand as a sort of shell around it.
I tightened my fist slowly.
I was very nervous.
I turned the knob.
To my relief, it was locked.
I wanted to kick myself.
Duh! Of course it would be locked!
Well, I'd long since lost my key, but Myra would open the door for me when I knocked.
I slipped my fingers around the knob and balled them into a fist.
I raised it higher.
I knocked my fist against the door once, really quietly so that no one could hear me.
I took another deep breath.
I'd have to get this over with sooner or later.
I knocked again, this time loud and imposing.
I knocked three times.
Then I waited.
After a few seconds, the doorknob turned.
The door swung open.
A little boy of about seven years was smiling at me expectantly from the doorframe of my condo.
Too late, I remembered the magic book in the carriage on the way to finishing school in Jenn.
Ella's book had shown a newspaper add - a MISSING note - that had been about me.
Ella had said that the book showed present time.
"Who is it, honey?" asked a middle-aged woman's voice from somewhere inside the condo.
I was frozen.
Of course, of course, things had changed.
Time had passed - over two years - here, too.
My parents owned the condo for me right? Or, they had owned the condo for me. For a place to keep me while they traveled the world.
Of course, now that I was out of the way, they would have sold it.
They didn't have a need for it anymore.
It felt like someone punched me in the gut when I thought about something else.
Myra... ? What had they done with Myra?
She'd always been the closest thing to a motherly figure I'd ever known.
Was she fired?
Probably.
That seemed reasonable.
The only problem, was that I didn't know where she lived.
She could have been from out-of-state, and I didn't know.
I'd never cared enough to ask her.
I felt a lump in my throat.
I turned from the cute little boy and walked away quickly.
I passed the elevator.
I sped down the stairs.
One thing I knew for sure, totally and completely: I was alone.
Utterly alone.
Author's Note: Sorry, I know this is a really short first chapter, but anyway - please review!