Mona Lisa

A.N. This is a story about a normal sort of person. She learns, she falls in love, and out of love, is loved and not loved,makes friends, wins and loses, is happy sometimes and sad others, and does her job. It's not a story about death or romance, it is a story abot life. This is the story of a Redpill named Rachel, who is sometimes quietly called Mona Lisa.

01. Rain, A Telephone Call, and A Glass of Water

0915 - nine-fifteen a.m.

It wasn't right.

Nothing was ever right those days. First it was the air. She would lie awake in her little bed and breathe, and know, somehow, it didn't taste right. Then the déjà vu came. Falling things, two or three times in a row. But no one else seemed to notice. And something in her head. Not quite a word, not quite a feeling. A sound, maybe. A color. A name.

And then the damn computer fucking up. Spewing code and bullshit about something called the Matrix. Algebra. Her computer was talking algebra at her. Rachel resisted the urge to punch the screen in as her printer belched forth pages of code and nonsensical strings of words. Finally, it stopped, and she bent to pick up the paper on the floor. The henna designs she'd been trying to print were not anywhere in the mess.

The machine clicked and whirred as a last page emerged. Sighing, she tugged it from the printer before it was done. She stared long and hard at the words in her hands.

Good morning, Rachel. Pick up the phone.

She jumped when the telephone rang. Without a moments hesitation, she snatched at it furiously, a scream in her throat.

"Leave me alone!"

Silence. Then, smooth, deep and calm. A young woman. " I am sorry to have disturbed you ."

"Why are you following me? What the fuck is wrong with me? How do you know my fucking name?"

"Questions that can all be answered if you listen to me."

"Who are you? What do you-"

"Listen."

"I'm listening."

"I am Niobi."

"Okay. Niobi. Right. Why are you following me?"

"You know why."

"The Matrix."

"Yes."

"I'm being stalked by a math teacher?"

Niobi laughed. "If you want to be able to sleep again, go to the Sundt building at nine tonight. Wash your hair." The phone clicked.

She kept the phone pressed to her ear, the wheels turning in her mind. The old Sundt building was at least a three-mile walk, and she couldn't afford a taxi. Rachel put down the phone slowly, and wandered over to her mirror. She scowled at the huge old t-shirt covered in paint, at the too-small shredded denim shorts. Bitten nails. A tangled thatch of long, wheat-colored hair hastily tied into a lopsided bun. Wash your hair. It needed it. And her closet? Insert malicious laughter here.

She looked out her single grimy window with little appreciation. Brick, concrete, metal. Rain. Heavy, torrential rain fell, just like every other day in that godforsaken city. Her one-room apartment was her refuge from the world outside. Not that the walls would ever be thick enough to keep it out.

Maybe Niobi had the answers.

2003- eight-oh-three p.m.

Rachel again stood in front of her mirror. Her gangly legs were obviously too thin for the pair of ancient jeans she'd burned while trying to iron, but she'd made a fair attempt at brushing and washing her mane of hair. It wasn't model material, but it would have to do. She wore a dull pinkish blouse dug up from beneath her bed, and looked presentable, if not attractive in the least.

She glanced at the blank computer screen, then the printer, then the phone. And the computer again. Nothing. She sighed and headed out the door with an old plastic raincoat and a battered red umbrella.

In the hallway, she stopped. Not going hadn't even crossed her mind until then. Rachel looked back at her door. The painted number 8 was peeling. She put her hand on the well-worn doorknob, then withdrew it with a sigh.

She turned and kept walking.

3012- nine-twelve p.m.

The heavy door to the Sundt building slammed shut. Vibrations echoed around the foyer.

"Hello? Anyone here?" Rachel called, shaking out her umbrella on the carpet. Her voice fell flat. Her hair did looked freshly washed- too freshly. It was soaked like the rest of her. Damn rain.

"I said, he-"

"Hello, Rachel."

She whirled, sending water flying everywhere.

A woman stood there, in a deep red turtleneck with a wide belt slung low on her hips. Her skin was a warm milky tea color, and her hair was elegantly twisted and coiled into a dark rippling mass on her head.

"You're Niobi?"

"Yes."

"Mmm. So, what's the trick? Have I won the grand prize?"

Niobi's cheeks turned round as she smiled. It was a close-mouthed smile. "In a sense," she said. "Come with me."

The woman in red walked to the end of the foyer, her sharp heels clicking on the black marble floor. There was a set of stately-looking double doors, and Niobi pushed one of them open. Rachel followed her into a large room with wood-paneled walls that looked as though it might have been inviting, before the building was condemned. There was a slightly moth-eaten sofa beside a small coffee table on one wall, and Niobi seated herself there, beckoning Rachel to join her. The young blonde woman folded her legs beneath her and sat as far away from Niobi as possible.

"What is all this? You told me I'd get answers," Rachel said accusingly.

Niobi ignored her tone. " Have you ever thought you were seeing, and it turned out to be a dream? Have you ever thought you were dreaming and it turned out to be real?"

"Cut the crap," Rachel snapped. "I want to know what the fuck is wrong with me. I don't have time to listen to your fairytales."

"Time?" Niobi laughed. "Of course you have the time. What are you in such a hurry to do, Rachel? Walk home in the rain, sleep, wake up, and spend another day starving to death and painting because it's all you can do? I don't think you're as eager to get back to that life as you'd like me to think."

Rachel was silent for a long time.

"You ever read 'Alice's Adventures in Wonderland', Rachel?"

"Yeah, when I was a kid."

"Ever felt like Alice?"

"Hell yes. Falling down the goddamn rabbit hole into some sort of psychotic acid trip. Yeah. Been there. But you know," Rachel said slowly, "I always wondered what would've happened if Alice hadn't woken up. What if the dream world became real to her and she forgot the real world? What if she'd gone on and made a life in Wonderland? Grown up, had kids? What if no one even knew about the real world, and-"

Niobi put a hand on Rachel's arm. Rachel looked into her eyes, trying to read her. It was impossible. Warm, black brown eyes, deep and noble and utterly unyeilding. Niobi was skilled at keeping secrets.

"Why am I here, Niobi?"

"Because you, like so many others, have realized that you're in Wonderland."

"So where's outside? I mean, awake? Is it outside the city? Overseas or something?"

Niobi said nothing. Instead, she reached into her pocket and pulled out a small envelope. Opening it with care, she emptied it's contents onto her palm. One red pill, one blue pill. Red like blood, blue like water.

"The red ones make you fly, the blue ones let you fall," whispered Rachel. She shook her head. " No. I don't do that shit anymore."

"They're not drugs," said Niobi. " But they're important. Take the blue pill, and you go home. Nothing happens. Life progresses as normal. But if you take the red pill, you'll get your answers. They're not pretty, I give you fair warning. And no matter which pill you choose, you will never have peace of mind. But you have a choice."

"Can I have the red one?" She said immediately.

"Are you sure?"

"No. Yes. Yes."

Niobi lifted a small glass of water from the coffee table and handed it to Rachel, along with the oval-shaped red pill.

Rachel hesitated.

"You have a choice," Niobi repeated.

Rachel quickly swallowed the red pill and drained the glass of water.

"So? What now?"

Niobi smiled. Rachel's vision began, very slowly, to go dim and grey, and she felt herself falling backwards onto the arm of the couch. Her limbs were heavy. Somewhere far away, she heard voices. One was Niobi.

"Have you got a lock on her?"

"Yeah, she's close. The signal's strong. "

"Come on, girl," a ragged voice said above her. She felt strong hands lifting her into the air, and for a moment, everything was warm and dark.