~Chapter 1: Everything Is Not Always As It Seems~
Paige
My alarm went off harshly making my ears ring in the process. Ugh.
I blink open my eyes only to quickly shut them as the sunlight blinded me. With my eyes still closed I reach over and slam my hand down on the snooze button, silencing it.
I pull my pillow over my head in effort to drift back into dreamland. Much to my dismay, it was of no avail. I chuck my pillow weakly across the room and sigh. My kitten, Leia, jumps up on my face and nuzzles my cheek.
My Great Dane, Harley, whines in attempt for me to let her out.
I wanted to just keep laying there, but her face literally said "I must pee now or I will explode and you will have to clean it up."
I groan and pick up Leia, swinging my legs off the bed. I walk down the hall swiftly with Harley tailing me. I open the back door and Harley ran out yapping happily. I rolled my eyes at my dog's playfulness.
I set Leia down on the kitchen counter and pour her and Harley's food in their respective bowls. Once I set them down I let my dog back in whom was now damp from the dew on the grass and the morning mist.
I have my own bowl of cookie crisps and munch on them while scrolling through my phone. Pintrest. What can I say?
I place my bowl in the sink, and hear a knock at the door.
"WHO IS IT?" I scream at the door.
"Your Stalker!" I hear one reply. "Lokitty!" I hear the other and immediately know who they are. I smiled and sashay over to the door and open it up to reveal my neighbor and her best friend.
"Hey y'all. How's life?" I ask stepping aside so they could come in. "Normal."McKenzie, my neighbor, replies cuddling my cat. " My boyfriend broke up with me." Abigail her friend, said exasperated.
I shrug.
"I'm just happy we are getting some cool weather for once. There is suppose to be a storm tonight." I say sipping my juice.
"Who wants to bash some zombie brains? Stark? Paige?" McKenzie asks.
Abigail glares at her. "Don't call me that. Remember I have something against you too. Widow." She growls at her.
"Why do you have to bring that up every time?" McKenzie snarls. She was unfazed by her sudden harshness. This seemed to happen a lot.
"When you stop calling me Stark, I will stop reminding you, McKenzie." She says and sticks her tongue out at my little sister, she was the closest thing I had to one. She returned the gesture. I step in between them before they could argue any farther.
"Calm down small children." I say. Abigail scoffed. "Everyone is small to you, Paige." Abigail remarked. "Yeah, but you're the one who is fun sized." I shoot back. McKenzie held back a snort of laughter.
Abigail out of the three of us was the shortest standing at 5'3. McKenzie came next standing at 5'6 while I being the oldest and tallest stood at 5'11.
"Can we bash some zombies now? I feel like decapitating something." I say in a bored tone. They just shrug and set up the game.
TIME SKIP
"Careful! Don't startle the witch!" I warn. "Uh huh." Kenzi said not really paying attention to me. I walk through the doorway and find a health pack. "Score!" I say excitedly storing it in my inventory.
"See. I told you Left 4 Dead was more fun and scary than Black Ops 2 Zombies." Abigail boasts. I roll my eyes.
Here we go...
"I believe that was me Abigail." McKenzie corrects as I just shoot a zombie.
"Nuh uh." She protests.
"Uh huh." Abby shoots back.
"Nuh uh"
"Uh Huh"
"Nuh uh"
"Uh Huh."
"Shut it!" I cry out in frustration.
"What? Our mouths or the safe room door?" Abigail asks sarcasm lacing her voice. I roll my eyes. "Both." I deadpan. They quickly shut up and close the door.
I put down the controller, my hands started cramping up as we have been playing for at least 3 hours. "Okay We need food." McKenzie declares. I laugh. "Alright then we can all sit around and be bored until we decide what to do next." I suggest.
"That my dear, is a fabulous plan." Abigail remarks curling up on the couch.
"Where are your parents and brother?" Abigail asks. "Parents are working and little bro is doing some weird school shit." I reply nonchalantly.
A loud rumble of thunder cracks overhead and lightning lights up the dull sky. I shiver as the lights flickered for a moment. "Gosh, this isn't normal. This is starting to look like some freak electric storm." I comment.
"Is lightning suppose to be ice blue? And Sparkly?" Kenzi asks looking out the window.
"Not theoretically. Why?" Abigail quips. "Cause it's heading this way that's why." She says. Panic edged her voice making it 2 octaves higher than normal.
"What the hell is going on?" I ask fear was gathering in my stomach and it weighed me down like a stone.
Thunder booms again and the lights flicker. A chill runs up my spine. Something was definitely not right here.
A huge strand of lightning strikes the roof of our house creating a hole in its wake. I cry out as another beam falls through the hole and hits the TV. We all screech and duck out of the way.
The wind is howling outside and rain splatters against the windows. The TV starts sparking and another beam of lightning falls through the hole and strikes our DVD player. Coincidence? I think not! More sparks admit from both objects and collide together. A loud clap of thunder follows another beam of lightning.
The sparks keep coming, but our path is blocked by a fallen part of the roof. They start swirling in a circular motion and it shines like a star. "What the hell is that thing?" Abigail screeches.
A beam of light shoots out of the vortex and it hits me. It is very painful. I could feel myself being lifted into the air. Power rages through my body and races through my mind. I scream in agony.
"Paige!" The girls chorus. My hair whips around hitting me in the face, I would have swatted it away but that was minor compared to the pain I felt at this very moment. I writhe in the air full of agony.
My body convulses and jumps as I have no control over it. Tears stream down my face and I have the gut wrenching feeling that this was not going to end well. The energy pulls me towards the vortex like thing and it spins faster.
I struggle in its grip, but I am no match for it's strength. So I kinda just stop fighting it. I let myself go limp as it was sucking all of my energy anyways. Then it completely engulfs me.
Swirls and shades of blues and purples dance around in my vision and black dots edge it. A light opens up, the other side of the portal I'm guessing, and I land on the ground.
After all, the doors open from both sides.
I open my eyes after my harsh landing and groan, trying to adjust to the dim light. My muscles scream in pain, and my head hurts like a bitch. As my vision begins to clear up, I begin to realize we were not in the same place as we were before.
I pull myself up into a sitting position and look around. We seem to be in an ally of sorts.
I heard a groan near me and I gasp. I scramble over to McKenzie whom was whimpering in pain. "Kenzi, are you alright?" I ask the young girl. She opens her eyes but quickly shuts them again. She curls up into a tighter ball before stretching out her long limbs.
"Yeah I'm fine. I think."
I pull her into a quick hug before helping her stand up.
"Where the hell are we?" I ask. McKenzie and I look around at our surroundings. "It seems we are in an ally of sorts." is her idiotic response. "No Shit Sherlock. What I meant was where, specifically." I retort harshly.
"Ooh Ooh! I Know!" She raises her hand like a perky schoolgirl. I roll my eyes then put on a sickly sweet smile. "Hmm, yes McKenzie? Do you have the answer to our problem?"
She glares at me before whipping out her phone tapping a few things then she raised an eyebrow. "We're in New York. It seems we're in the city and its..." she drifts off. She slowly looked up at me. "Can you check your phone? Mine must have glitched or something."
I fold my arms. "Why do you think it glitched?"
She walks over to me, while shaking her head as she keeps glancing down at her phone. "The date. Its completely different than the one back home." This catches my attention. "How different?" I ask my curiosity peaking.
"The date back home was February 16 right?"
I only nod in response. "The date on my phone says its April 2-"
"So we skipped forward in time. So what?" I interrupt. She glares at me. "I wasn't finished. Its April 22, 2011" She says with a hand on her hip. My jaw drops open.
She smiles. "Hey maybe we are in the Avengers." She jokes. I snort and whip around in fury and spite.
"2011? 2011! This cannot be happening! I cannot relive 2011! You rememb-" I stop when I realize she's not listening and she is staring at something up ahead with her jaw open and eyes wide as dinner plates
"Where you even listening to me rant? What are you even looking at? I hav-" She grabs my chin and forces it upward to focus on something. My gaze stops on a building and I just about drop to the floor in shock.
There, on the streets of NYC lit up like a tree at Christmas, in all of its glory is Stark Tower.
"Is that?" I ask. She nods slowly. "Stark Tower." We are silent for a few moments before Kenzi starts freaking out. "I CANNOT BELIEVE WE ARE IN THE MARVEL UNIVERSE. I CAN'T... I JUST...AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" She squeals.
"I can't believe you got a pitch so high that only dogs can hear." I say as I'm rubbing my ear. "Heh, Sorry." I ring my hands through my thick brown hair. "Wait a second. Kenzi, call your family... I'll call mine." She raises an eyebrow at me before realizing what danger we are actually in. Fear takes hold in her green eyes. She whips back out her phone and dials a number. I do the same.
Pick up. Come on Please pick up...
"The number you..."
I end the call. This cannot be happening. I turned to the small child. "Anything?" I ask. She quickly ends the number with laughter in her eyes. "What? Did you get a hold of someone?" I prompt. Pursing her lips and crossing her arms she replies " Oh I got a hold of someone alright." I look at her. She was trying her best to keep her composure. "Who?"
"A chatline." She responds with muffled laughter. I snort in laughter.
Wait. Food. Money. Shelter. Think of the basics...
"How much money do you have on you?" She thinks for a moment. "60 I think. Why?" I pace back and forth as I ponder. "Okay, we need to find an ATM. I will withdraw as much money as I possibly can. Then we need to find a cheap motel we can stay in, then we need to think."
"I understand but here's the thing. I'm only 15 remember? And will your cards even work in this world?" She says. I didn't think of that. Crap. Wait. "But here's the thing we are in an alternate universe."
"So?" Was she seriously this dumb? "WE ARE IN AN ALTERNATE UNIVERSE." She flails her arms. "So?" I am getting excited and frustrated at the same time.
"Do you know what this means? Please tell me you do." I plead with her. She bites her lip. "Um Identity theft?" I give her a look. "N-" I pause for a moment. "No. We don't exist here. We can create new identities, new ages, new everything! You could be 18 for all anyone knows." She nods slowly. "Okay, I see where you are going with this, but how are you going to pull it off?" I give off a smirk worthy of the Joker.
"Oh trust me Hun. I've got my ways."
Abigail
Great just great. Both of my friends were just sucked into a portal and they landed who knows where. I still clung to the couch like my life depended on it. It probably did. The vortex was still swirling and sparking. Rain was still pouring in through the roof and thunder still boomed in the sky.
It had only been about 3 minutes since they were sucked in and I am slowly losing strength. Things were flying everywhere. A silver glint caught my eye. FRICK. KNIFE ALERT.
I let go in a panic and realize my mistake. I was floating towards the portal. Great I'm screwed. I'm gonna die. I just know it. Why do things like this happen to me? The portal was right in front of me. I stare into the twirling blue hole. It sparkles again. Wait a second. I know that energy signature somewhere. I relax my body and I float through. It was surprisingly calming. It's like its calling me.
Being engulfed in a vortex is honestly not how I pictured this weekend would go. I was hoping for some video games and binge watching on Netflix, but it looks like that is going all down the drain-erm vortex?
A giant flash of white blinds me. I see a platform of some kind. But it is growing? Nope. It's just getting closer. Shit. Fuck. Shit. Fucking Shit! I collide with metal and then all I see is darkness. Black. Nothing there. Just an endless void of nothingness. Then I feel coldness gripping me. But it wasn't death coldness, oh no. Like something metallic is holding onto me. I didn't hit the platform. At least I was pretty sure I didn't. My face would be broken. I am just sore. Like really sore. But I did collide with something, and boy did it hurt.
I can't see anything or move, but I can hear a robotic like voice and feel a warm wind lapping at my face. It almost seems like I am flying. But humans can't fly, not unless you were a superhero. But something did catch me. That I am sure of. But what?
The wind is changing direction, so by calculations, so were me and my savoir. I hear metal clinking on metal and muffled voices, but sadly my head was still ringing like a wedding bell. I force myself to attempt to open my eyes. It works, but not well. I see colors of all sorts, a women walks into my vision. She is thin and red haired as of what I can make of her. She beckons the person holding me to go inside. Warmth floods my body as we enter the room. I let out a small groan as I shift my head.
The man, I'm guessing, sets me down on the couch and I stifle another groan of pain. My vision is bleary as I try to make out where I just landed.
"Who is this?" I hear the woman say to the man. "I have no clue, she just fell like 50 feet from the sky. She practically landed on top of me" The man said. "Is she okay?"
"Tony, she just collided with the Mark 7 and promptly passed out. How do you think she is doing?" The woman retorts.
Wait a second. Tony? Mark 7? Where have I heard that before? An image of McKenzie flashes through my mine, her arc reactor necklace gleaming. Then it hit me. Either I'm dreaming or I was in a different universe. But I hardly think that I am dreaming.
"Hey she's waking up! Maybe we can-" He walks toward me.
"Tony No!"
Then everything really fades into darkness.