Okay, so the story officially begins now.

I wanted to inculcate some similarities and also some parallels with the Cannon New Moon because I feel like Tulika would respond somewhat like Bella to her separation with Edward but not to a very extreme extent. Let's be honest; Tulika wouldn't throw herself off some cliff for a man. :D

Enjoy!

Reviewers:

inuyashademons14 - Thanks and welcome back sweetheart!

latinagirl-reader2010 - Glad you found the story...and that you thought the Prologue was interesting. Well now, if I told you everything at the first chapter, you wouldn't come back for the rest of it now, will you? ;)

Guest - Hi, I don't know if you're a newcomer or you were with us throughout Touch in the Worlds but welcome! I'm glad you like the story and Tulika. If you Review on this chapter please leave me a name so I can personally thank you! Hope to see you again!

Ironically, I was dreaming. It was ironic because that's what Bella did the day of her birthday and I was reading New Moon. Not so ironically, it was Edward I was dreaming about. Only, I wasn't dreaming about getting old and withering while my boyfriend remained perfectly ageless.

No, what I was dreaming about was worse…and also a lot deeper, if I do say so myself.

I was back in the Twilight world, in the Seattle Art Museum, dying in Edward's arms. I promise, I heard his voice reverberate in the contours of my skull just as I let go of the last thread holding me to that world – literally and figuratively.

I woke up.

I turned over to look at the ceiling, my eyes adjusting to the sunlight streaming in through the open windows. Sunlight, I thought, had never been the waking factor back in Forks. It had always been an alarm, or Bella waking me up. Now, it was the sun, the alarm or my mother who had taken to peeking in my room just to see if I was alive – not awake.

Not many teenagers could say they had died in their favourite book world and had woken up in their own. Oh, what I would not give to be one of those kids…sadly, I wasn't one of those kids. One of the two kids ever, to be truthful…

I got off the bed and padded to my mirror, looking into it to see the same face, brown eyes, brown hair, pyjamas and glasses. Not one thing was out of the ordinary, yet all of me was pressed up against the phenomena of extraordinary.

All because of Meyer…I thought viciously.

She'd ripped me and Stephen from our normal, happy, not-liking-Twilight lives and thrust us right into her crazy book world where we'd made the worst mistakes of our lives. Not only did we fail to do whatever the hell she wanted us to do, we also got close to the characters – ones we had to leave behind.

At least that was what I did. I fell in love with Edward Cullen. How stupid could I be?

The worst thing was that I still did. I missed him, I dreamt about him, I thought of him, I even tried to play the song he'd made for me but I hadn't been able to get the same amount of perfection to it.

I promise…

I thought of his voice again, remembering the texture, the tenor, the intensity of it. That was one of the main things I had to hold on to, the fact that I hadn't just dreamt up the whole thing. I'd read somewhere that you couldn't make up voices – and I remembered his clearly.

Well, there was that…and there was Stephen.

Impulsive, rash, and thoroughly real Stephen…the poor boy had woken up hours before I had in the same hospital, miles from home.

He'd gotten in trouble both ways till I stepped in saying that he was a friend and he'd come over to meet me. He had spent a week in the hospital before his folks came over to get him, asking all sorts of questions about how we knew each other and how he'd gotten a neck injury so severe it seemed like a miracle he was alive.

Honestly, it wasn't a miracle. It was Quantum Physics and a whole lot of dimensional theory, I couldn't explain to his parents without being tossed into the sanatorium.

Good thing was; he'd convinced his parents to let him visit me again. This time; without the reality shifting and almost illegal travelling…so, I supposed it was a good thing.

After all, it was, my birthday…

"Happy birthday," My parents shrieked and my brother emitted a shrill screech when I came downstairs bearing on my face a grin. If anything, I had no right to ruin this day for myself and for the people in my life. What was left of them anyways, I thought, sighing.

Ok, Tulika, get happy…and fast.

It wasn't that I wasn't thrilled. It would've been horrible to celebrate my birthday without my parents, my friends and my family. However, it still didn't feel right that I didn't have Edward's arms around me, Alice and Rosalie fighting to dress me up and Jasper and Emmett being goofs in the background while Carlisle and Esme kept a close eye on us. It didn't feel right that Bella and Charlie wouldn't fawn over me and Jake and Billy wouldn't come over from the reservation to spend my birthday with me.

What can I say? I liked the attention when it was legitimately focused on me. Who doesn't…especially if it was their birthday?

My parents had a whole party planned.

A fancy restaurant, my close ones, lots of food and dancing and fun and also, the imminent arrival of Stephen. To be honest, I was kind of anxious to see him. Our injuries had been troublesome to hide and the extent of it made contact overseas a little difficult.

Around six, I was dressed, made up and heeled up, all set to show everyone that I was well past the coma. People at the party would likely be there to see the survivor of a mysterious accident. At least, that's what this party felt like, a survival party.

"We were so worried, you know," My best friend, Aisha, said as she pulled me close to her.

"I can tell, you might want to ease up a bit, sweetie," I winced, unable to hide the place where my ribs had broken and healed.

"Right, sorry,"

I moved through the throngs of people slowly, receiving each greeting and pat on the back, feeling strangely like a celebrity out of rehab. God, the things a near death experience did to your social status…

"Excuse me; we have a special guest here, who travelled the continents to see our little girl. He shared the same trauma as Tulika and I'm glad to say they both pulled through magnificently." My dad said and I turned around to see Stephen standing next to him, bag in hand, looking thoroughly embarrassed.

"Oh my god," I said, grinning as his eyes found me, his lips curling into a familiar goofy smile.

"Hey, birthday girl," he said, dropping his bag as he intercepted my wild hug.

How was it that I missed this big monkey so much? Maybe, Twilight did make me go mad.

"You buffoon; you said you couldn't make it till late at night!" I smacked the back of his head. "My flight went early, midway, I was asked to take a first class seat…it was all very confusing, but here I am!" he yelled as the music thumped around us.

"Come on, let's head to the tables," I said, pulling him towards the booths.

"Tell me everything," I said, once we were safely in a stall.

He rubbed his face. "I don't know what to tell you, honest. I mean, I wake up, see, and my neck is in a stupid brace and I find out I freaking died! Plus, they kept giving you these meds and you were conked out half the time…so you were no help, as usual."

"Hey," I protested.

"Ok, half the time," he amended grinning.

"So, your folks tell you what happened at your end of the world?" I asked.

"I'm their star kid; T. they have no clue why I supposedly 'ran away'. Plus, I asked my little sister about her Twilight books and they kept giving me these weird looks." He finished, sipping on his coke.

"Yeah, tell me about it. My parents tried getting me into medical therapy but I said no. I don't see how any therapist is going to believe I was in a fictional world for 6 months." I shrugged.

He looked down.

"I thought about it, you know. I guess it felt like I'd rather some stranger think I'm mad than my own self. I have these nightmares but anyone can have nightmares, right? That's why I wanted to see you again. Just so I can convince myself I'm not crazy." He mumbled.

I considered him. His skin was tanned, way more than I remembered back in Forks. His reddish brown hair was shaggier, his eyes almost hollow. Maybe I wasn't the only one going through an existential crisis.

"Hey, you're not crazy, ok? No less than the usual amount," I teased to which he gave me grim look.

"You're not funny, you know." He said.

"Oh shut up, I'm hilarious."

We both laughed before we sobered.

"Seriously though, how have you been holding up?" I asked, lowering my voice.

"I'm getting through it. Still feel the snap of bone when James gets me in my dreams but yeah…what about you? You still holding a torch for Cullen?" he asked and I paused, smiling slightly wryly.

He nodded, still looking a little bitter. "Sorry; stupid question,"

"Don't worry about it." I slid out of the bench. "Come on, let's take a little walk, clear out our heads," I offered him my arm and he took it, looking at it like I was swinging a viper at him.

"Stop it," I smacked his arm and he laughed, leading us out.

"So…nothing," I concluded as we walked across the pavement of the restaurant. I could still hear the pulsating beats of the music in there as we walked on, each wrapped in our own bubble of thought.

"Nothing, I don't think I'm there yet. I mean, it's not like I'm holding out for Bella but still, I don't think I could do worse." He shrugged.

"She was my best friend." I warned.

"And we're never going to see them again, so, let's put it behind us," he said bluntly.

I frowned.

"Steph, you ok?" I asked, slowly. "Yeah, just, jet lagged and being really mean to you, sorry," he raked his hand through his hair, cursing softly to himself.

"Hey, stop beating yourself up about it. You didn't say anything that was wrong." I said, calmly.

He was right. We were never going to see Edward or Bella or Alice or Charlie ever again so why bother fighting for it?

"How about we get your stuff and get you to our house? The guest room's done," I offered and he nodded. He swivelled on his heel and began leading the way when I saw it.

Headlight flared around the edge of the road, making a couple of two wheeler drivers' honk madly as they swerved to avoid the hulking sedan. I watched as it moved around, facing the road of the restaurant, disgusted at how obviously drunk (or high) the driver was when they suddenly accelerated.

The car was only a few meters away when I realised they were heading straight for Stephen and me…and Stephen was in the middle of the road.

"Watch out!" I shrieked, throwing my weight forward to add a desperate bout of speed and crashing into Stephen's back, making us both hit the grassy sideways.

"Hoof," Steph huffed as I landed heavily on him, the car missing us by inches as they sped away.

"You ok?" I asked trying to ignore the way people swarmed over to us. This was bad. The party was supposed to have no such attention. Stephen and I quickly disregarded any form of help and went inside, trying to appear unruffled.

"What the hell was that?" He asked as he downed a glass of water in one go.

"I have no idea." I said, thinking of the black car.

Don't you just love when two characters can't live their happy go lucky lives?

Yeah, ok, so I'm being a little mean to my darlings but it has to be done...

Hope you all like this chapter!

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