Chapter Two

You are waking up, seemingly after a very long nap. It wasn't very refreshing, though, and you can still see those nightmares running through your mind. You shake it off, and decide to get out of bed. You are covered in a layer of sweat, and want to change your pajamas and get something soothing, like warm milk.

You change into some fresh pajamas, and as you are slipping a nightgown over your head, you accidentally knock something off your desk. Once you are completely changed, you bend down to investigate. It is a ring. It's just some cheap trinket that came with one of your new video games. It is covered in twenty sparkling rhinestones.

You hear shouting from outside, and you run out the front door, and down the hall. One of your neighbors is jumping up and down and shouting like a maniac. "What is it?"

Your neighbor turns to look at you with wide eyes, like they hadn't realized there were other people on the planet. He clears his throat. "Erm, sorry to wake you up. I didn't think I was being so loud,"

You place your hands on your hips in the sassiest manner that you can manage. "Well, I think you woke up half the building. What the hell were you shouting about?"

He shrugged, his face getting red. You are sleepy, and still a little skittish after that nightmare. He reaches up to push his sunglasses up his nose, since they were slipping down. "It's nothing to worry about, sorry."

You glare at him. He disturbed you, no way were you just going to walk away without giving him a little bit of a tough time. "And that's another thing, too. Why are you wearing sunglasses in the middle of the night? Even in Texas it gets dark at night, you know."

He just smiles awkwardly. "Again, I'm sorry to have disturbed you, but I really need to get back to the important thing I was in the middle of."

You peer past him, and make out some strange silhouettes in the darkness. "Is that a bed in your doorway? Are you moving out in the middle of the night?"

He started to shake his head, then changed his mind and nodded. "Um… yeah. Yeah I'm moving. That's all. Nothing to see here besides that, sorry."

You don't believe him, even though he's a pretty good liar. But you've always had the uncanny ability to see through lies. But whatever he's doing doesn't bother you too much, so you decide to just leave him alone. Then you frown as you realize that you don't even know the name of someone who lives across the hall from you. You hold out your hand in a gesture of peace. "I'm Alexis Rose."

He looks surprised, or at least you think he does (it's pretty difficult to tell when he's still wearing those ridiculous glasses). "Rose? Huh." Then he realizes that you are trying to shake hands. He reaches out to grasp your hand and shake it firmly. "I'm Dave."

Now it's your turn to look surprised. "Dave? That's my dad's name."

He smiled. "Well Rose is the name of one of my friends." He sighs. "Weird, right?"

You nod in agreement. It is strange when coincidences like these occur, though you do seem to have a higher rate of being involved in coincidences than most people. "So is there any particular reason that you're moving out in the middle of the night?"

He shrugs. "When the mood strikes, you just have to go for it."

You feel the sudden urge to look at the ring. One of the little rhinestones has begun to glow. How strange. Maybe it isn't as cheap as you originally suspected. Looking at the ring reminds you of the game that it came with. You decide that you feel a connection to this neighbor who you've never spoken to before in your entire life. "Have you ever played this game called Sburb?"

He shrugs. "Nah, but my brother has that game, I'm pretty sure. And I'm pretty sure that my friends are into it. John, Jade, and Rose."

You frown. "What are the odds, really? My father's name is John, my middle name is Jade, and Rose is in my first name."

Dave frowns as well. "Didn't you say that your dad's name is Dave?"

You bit your lip as you think of a good way to explain this. "Well, it is. My dad's name is Dave, my father's name is John." He still looks confused. "The thing is, where most people have a mom and a dad, I have a dad and a dad. I differentiate between them by calling one 'dad' and one 'father'."

He nods. "Oh, I see. Well, you're right, that is all pretty strange." He tilts his head. "How long have we been neighbors? I don't think I've ever seen you around here before."

You laugh. "Well, I could say the same of you. How is it that we could be living in the same building for who knows how long, but we've never once bumped into each other? Not even passing by each other in the hallways or something?"

He shrugs. "So. Gay dads. That must be cool."

You laugh at the absurdity of the statement. "I don't have gay dads. I was raised by two guys, who are just friends. It's a little weird. They had already been roommates for a few years when they found me, and decided to take me in. It's a little unusual, I know, but what can you do, right?"

Dave nods again. "Yup, I suppose you're right about that. It's just so crazy though, that we know people with the same names and all. Hey, maybe it's like the universe wants us to be friends."

You laugh. "I don't think it's possible for us to ever know exactly what the universe wants."

Dave stares at you in awe (or at least you think so, it's hard to tell with those glasses, though). "That was deep. Hey, how old are you?"

You pretend to look offended since you know that there are rules saying that you're never supposed to ask a lady her age. But then you decide to answer anyways, because it would be so boring to just end the conversation now. "I'm twelve. How old are you?"

He grins. "I guess I'm older than you, I'm already thirteen."

You pretend to look impressed. Along with being able to see through any lie, you are also the master of telling them. "Wow, you're already a teenager. That's so great."

You hear a familiar voice echoing down the hallway of the apartment building. "Alexis Rose…!"

You groan. Your father can be so embarrassing sometimes. He was probably woken up by Dave's obnoxious shouting as well (neighbor Dave, not dad Dave). You give Dave an apologetic look. "I guess I'll see you around?"

He nods, so you head in the direction of the voice. Like you thought, your father in standing there, his hands on his hips. "What are you doing out so late? You have school tomorrow."

You just shrug. You've been giving your father and dad the silent treatment for the past five months, and there was no reason to stop now. You brush past him back into the apartment, and go to your room. Your guardians were complete idiots. They had forgotten about your birthday last October, and even though it was already the end of March, you were still pissed. How could they just go and forget about your birthday like that?

You lie down, and put a pillow over your head, hoping it will block out all the sounds of the world around you. Then the phone rings, you and feel like you're destined to never sleep again. You slip into the living room under the cover of darkness and pick up the phone so you can listen to whatever conversation is going on.

Your dad's sleepy voice answers. "Hello?"

"John? It's me."

Your dad immediately sounds more alert. "It's time?"

There was a pause, then the stranger continued. "No, but almost. Only two weeks away, and I thought you deserved some fair warning. Can you get her to put on the you know what in time?"

You frown. People shouldn't talk so cryptically over the phone. "That'll be a little difficult, considering she hasn't spoken to either of us in what has literally been several months." He groaned. "Geez, it's just one birthday, not all that important, right?"

"Well, you know how they can get. But I didn't ask whether you're being ignored or not. I asked if you can get her to put it on in time. That's crucial."

Your dad sighed. "I honestly don't know. All I can do at this point is try though, right?"

There was a click from the caller hanging up. Then there was a second click as your dad hung up as well. You put the phone back, and rush into your room. What the hell is going on? You decide that your guardians need to be further punished for screwing up, since just refusing to talk to them clearly wasn't enough.

You change into jeans and a tee shirt, and you knock something off your desk again. It's times like these that you wish you lived in a full size house. You bend down to pick up that funny ring. It's too heavy to just be cheap plastic, and one of the little jewels is still glowing. You dig through your jewelry box for a plain silver chain, and slide the ring on it. You close the chain and slip it over your head. The cool surface of the ring settles against your chest, and is quickly warmed up.

Then you go to leave, carefully maneuvering through the obstacle course of a home in the dark. In the hallway outside the apartment it is just as dark as inside, because no one had ever considered lining the halls with little lights. Well, no one except you, of course.

You don't want to take the elevator, since you've always been a little claustrophobic. So You quickly scale the stairs, and you are soon standing outside. It's still the middle of the night, but you've always preferred when it was dark out, so you don't feel bothered at all.

You begin walking, not quite sure of your destination. You reach up to grab your new necklace, but it's tucked beneath your shirt. You frown as you sit down on a bus station bench. You remembered that you were ignoring your guardians, and why, but when you really think about it, you can't recall the particular moment.

And now that you're thinking about it, you don't even remember ever getting into bed. Or doing anything else for that matter. Your head is filled with memories, but they feel more like a movie playing in the background than something you've actually experienced. You're starting to freak out a little.

Something is going on here, you just have no idea what. So you run away as fast as you can, hoping that there is no one else out tonight who will catch you and force you to return home. You're not going back until you can figure out why you feel like you've never been here before in your life. And the way that your neighbor from right across the hall didn't know you is also quite strange.

You pull up the necklace to stare at the ring. It's rather pretty when you look closer. And really, there's no reason to avoid putting it on. So you undo your necklace, and put the ring on your finger.

Before you can even blink, you are somewhere else, very unfamiliar. You pull off the ring, but this strange new world doesn't fade back into the one that you know. So you put the ring back on, since it is safest on your finger when you really think about it.

You look around. The land you are standing on looks very barren, and it could just be from the darkness, but it appears that all the trees and other random things you see are in black and white. But of course, you know that this must all just be some crazy dream anyways, so none of that really matters.

You have no idea when you'll wake up, though, so you decide that you may as well explore. At least then you'll be getting something a little productive done. But you have a strange feeling, like this place should be more familiar than your own home. But of course, that would just be ridiculous.