Past The Screen

Chapter Two


Okay… I think I just misheard what she just said because I could have sworn I heard her say that she was my mother.

I blinked once, twice. Nope, she still had purple hair and grey eyes. There was no way she could be my mom. My mom had dark brown hair and brown eyes.

"Are you sure about that? Being my mom and all…" I trailed off, not really sure where I was going with that.

She walked over towards me and I eyed her warily. Imagine my surprise when she passed by me and took a seat on the bed. Smiling, she patted the space next to her and I cautiously moved to sit by her. Of course I left space between us though. She was still a stranger but she at least seemed nice.

"What do you remember?" She asked, causing me to grimace. Something was off, I could tell. It wasn't my hair and eyes or my 'mom.' It was something else...

I was forgetting something, something important...

However my thoughts were interrupted when I heard a distinctively male voice coming from behind the door.

"I believe she has amnesia, she doesn't seem to remember me or Leila."

As the doorknob turned I belatedly realized that it was the voice of the man who had been holding the fire hydrant earlier.

Huh, if the woman was apparently my mom then does that make him my dad? He seems too old to be a brother…

The door opened and yup, that was him. 'Dad' walked in and motioned for someone else to do so too. The woman who entered the room however caused me to gawk in absolute surprise.

What the… Is that who I think it is? She looks kind of like...

"Dr. Claudine once again I just want to apologize for calling you over so late at night." He said as he closed the door behind the young woman.

Dr. Claudine apparently didn't seem bothered in the least and offered him a polite smile. "There is no need to apologize Mr. Hertsh. In fact, I'm glad you called me. I was getting quite worried about Eliza's fever. It's good to see her up and moving about." She walked towards me and 'mom' and placed her hand on my forehead then proceeded to take my temperature.

"Her fever has gone down drastically. She should be fine with a bit more rest along with plenty of liquids." Dr. Claudine noted. Mom and dad nodded, dad leaving the room presumably to get me some water. (Oh how nice of him)

Claudine's eyes however took on a more serious glint. Oh wow she's kind of intimidating.

"I'm particularly concerned about your supposed amnesia, Eliza." While saying this she walked over to the side of the room and brought over a chair so she could sit in front of me.

My thoughts raced, oh shoot what was I supposed to say? I didn't actually have amnesia. I just seemed to be in another person's body-

Wait.

Another person's body…?

Yeah… it was as if my soul had been switched… or rather, it had been warped into another person's-

"Tell me Eliza, what do you know about Edelstein?"

My train of thought abruptly crashed. Drat, why'd you have to interrupt me Dr. Claudine?

Shaking my head I contemplated my answer to her question. Well…

"Edelstein is a place isn't it?" I answered her question with a question. Ugh, my voice sounds so high. Just how old is this body anyway? Six years old?

Dr. Claudine smiled at me. If that was meant to reassure me it didn't because now I'm even more scared. She's supposed to be the leader of the Resistance isn't she? Oh god…

"Yes it's a place. In fact, you are currently in Edelstein and are also a certified citizen of Edelstein." She explained.

I am where and I am a what?

Wait a second... if I'm in Edelstein then that can only mean one thing.

I'm in Maple Story.

"Ouch!" I rubbed my arm, trying to relieve myself of the pain. Pinching my own arm probably wasn't my smartest idea.

Claudine (adding the doctor part of it sounds too long) watched me with slight amusement while my mom frowned.

"You know about Edelstein but you don't know that it's where you live?" Mom questioned. Oh yeah, that seemed kind of fishy.

I smiled sheepishly. "I can only remember some things…"

That seemed like a good answer. It wasn't entirely a lie, but my stomach still churned at telling the half-truth, half-lie. Isn't there such a thing as partial amnesia anyways? It seemed probable.

Claudine looked thoughtful. Now that I'm actually focusing on her I noticed she seemed younger than she did in the game. To me, in the game she seemed to be in her late twenties to early thirties but now… She looked maybe twenty four or twenty seven at most.

"Aren't you kind of young to be a doctor?"

Wait… that high voice that just spoke was me.

Crap, I didn't mean to say that out loud…

Thankfully, Claudine didn't seem offended but my mom on the other hand seemed like she wanted to reprimand me.

I inched away from her a bit. I didn't like being scolded.

"Don't worry Mrs. Hertsh. I don't take offense to that. It's a normal question that I've been asked before." Dr. Claudine reassured. "I'm still in training right now so technically I'm not a fully fledged doctor yet. However I'm expected to complete my training soon and since I handle some appointments originally for my mother many of the citizens here in Edelstein have already labeled me as 'Doctor' Claudine."

That caused my eyes to widen. Did she just say mother?

"Your mother is a doctor?" I questioned. The game never mentioned that Claudine had a mother…

Wait. Of course she had a mother, how else would she have been born?

"Yes Eliza, my mother is a doctor. She is in fact head doctor of Edelstein Hospital. I hope to be as good a doctor as her." Claudine said, sounding just a bit proud of her mother and determined to reach her goal.

I hummed to myself. So Claudine's mom was a doctor huh? That's cool…

Yawning, I rubbed my eyes. Wow, I just got up and I'm tired already?

Claudine took this as her cue and stood up from her chair. "Well since you seem to be quite okay I'll take my leave. Mrs. Hertsh I don't recommend her going to school tomorrow, also don't forget what I said earlier." She picked up the chair and placed it where it originally was.

Mom stood up from her spot on the bed and said her thanks to Claudine to which the doctor replied with, "You're welcome Mrs. Hertsh, have a good evening."

At this point I was already lying on the bed, not even having enough energy to insult the color scheme. (I was really tired.)

Mom laughed a bit at seeing me before fixing the bed so that I was lying underneath the blankets and properly resting my head on the pillow. It was at this time that dad came into the room holding a cup of water.

Kind of late don't you think dad?

He seemed a bit put out that I was ready to go back to sleep and when asked by mom why he took so long he said, "The twins wanted to leave their room to see their sis. I had to convince them to go back to sleep since there's still school tomorrow, or actually today, seeing as how it's past midnight already."

Wow it was past midnight and Claudine still came over to check up on me? That's some dedication… Now I feel kind of bad.

Dad noticed this and smile reassuringly. "Don't worry Eliza, Dr. Claudine told me she was already awake when I called so you didn't disturb her sleep."

That caused me to smile a bit before I yawned again. My eyelids felt heavy and I could feel my mind drifting.

"Good night Eliza." Was the last thing I heard before I drifted off to sleep.


"Should…wake…"

"She…amnesia…don't you remember…"

Ugh, go away. I'm trying to sleep here.

"Do you think…us?"

I frowned. Who was talking? It sounded like some kids…

"She moved! She's awake!" A high pitched voice squealed. Okay, that's a girl's voice for sure.

"She's frowning Alishar, we woke her up more like it." A slightly lower voice stated. Huh, this voice was still a bit high but sounded more like a little boy's voice.

Cautiously I opened my eyes to see a little boy and girl. They were probably about five years old.

The boy had curly purple hair and grey eyes. The girl on the other hand had straight black hair and clear blue eyes. Both however had pale skin.

Wait a second… Were they the twin's dad was talking about last night?

The girl after noticing I actually was awake beamed brightly at me, blue eyes practically sparkling. "Hi Eliza, if you don't remember who I am I'm Alishar your little sister!" She pointed to herself while saying this before pointing to the boy next to her and continuing, "That's Zeno and he's your little brother. We're twins."

My eyes widened, Alishar and Zeno? Weren't those two bosses in Maple Story?

Wait a second…

Wasn't Eliza a boss in Maple Story too?

Its official, my parents are weird. I mean, who names their children after monsters?

That sounded kind of wrong…

"Are you okay sis?" The boy, Zeno asked me. He looked particularly concerned and so did his twin, Alishar.

Smiling, I reassured them that I was alright. Alishar seemed to believe me but Zeno still seemed a bit skeptic.

Rolling my eyes I gestured towards the clock on the side of the room. I didn't realize it was there last night but I noticed it when I woke up. The clock read 7:30am and didn't dad say last night that there was school today?

"Shouldn't you two be heading to school?" I asked them. They both looked at the clock and their eyes widened. Ironically, it was also at that time that we all heard dad yelling from behind the door.

"Ali! Zeno! Where are you? We need to go or else you're going to be late."

Both of them then ran towards the door shouting their goodbyes and Alishar even threw in a "You don't remember but you owe me five hundred mesos!"

"Sure I do." I called after them, dragging out the sure. They both laughed at that and I couldn't help but giggle a bit.

However my smile faded and my posture drooped as I actually thought about my situation.

I was still here.

I was in Edelstein.

I was in Maple Story.

This wasn't a dream.

And I really am…

Far away from my home.

I brought my knees up and buried my face in my arms.

I wasn't going to cry.

Sure, I'm in a different world and in a different body but…

It could be worse.

So I need to be strong and smile because this isn't just any world, this is Maple Story.

It's a world full of magic and things that don't exist in my world.

And maybe… maybe there's a type of magic that can send me back.

So I need to make the best of my situation and be productive because I will find a way to get back to my world.

Grinning, I got out of my bed and walked to the window on the side of my room. Pushing back the curtains I saw many people walking on the sidewalk and cars driving through the street.

This will be interesting.


I wanted to keep writing but this seemed like a good place to stop.

And yeah, Claudine's mom is a doctor. Or at least she is in this story.

I'm pretty sure that the game doesn't talk about her mom so this could entirely be possible. Maple Story doesn't exactly go into detail about things like this for any of the characters.

Does Eliza seem like a Mary sue? I don't think she does but I'd like input on that.

Oh and the way I'm doing mesos is that 1USD = 100 mesos.

So that would mean that Eliza apparently owes Alishar 5 dollars huh.

Next time on Past the Screen: Library trip to get to know more about this world.