Chapter 2

There was a hole in the sky. Lorraine continued watching it for a moment, dully lying on the ground. Something was coming from the hole, it reminded her of wasps angrily flying from their hive to sting anyone who dared disturbing them. Sudden screams finally reached her ears. She got up from the dusty ground just to see people running beside her, no one bothering to even look up at her. Panic raised in her as people continued running. Breath got stuck in her throat. Could it be?

Without hesitation, she started running in the opposite direction. She pushed people away as hard as she could and moved them out of her way. A car was on her way, but she slid over hood and just kept on running. Doctor Flag's voice rang in her ears: you have only one hour. A hour. She had to use those sixty minutes to see, to make sure that all of this was real for now, that it was actually possible.

Sudden burst of heat and noise next to her made her to instinctively bow down, but keep on running. She turned around, breathing heavily and saw a car in flames. A smirk she couldn't suppress appeared on her lips. Excitement rose in her stomach, gripping her heart and lungs, making it hard to breathe. Right around the corner she stopped. Ugly creatures that looked like bodies in the first stage of decomposition, with some sort of helmets on their heads, were shooting at people, killing them. The scene froze her for a moment, letting her only to breathe.

A grin flashed over her features. The Chitauri. Yes, this was it. This was it. She couldn't believe that all of this was actually there, that she was there. A world not available to her, not to any other human being before, but now it was possible. It was real as much as her world. Cars flipped on roof seemed real, fire seemed real, hideous monsters with odd weapon human technology couldn't even imagine seemedperfectly real. She was finally there. She couldn't believe what she was seeing. Her eyes widened as the creatures turned around and saw her.

Her mind wasn't focusing on the blue light that was missing her only by inches. She thought only of where she was. Lungs could barely suck the air, but they seemed to not mind when she started running again. The pain in legs she felt just few minutes (or seconds) ago seemed to disappear, just like the stabbing in ribs. Eyes were wide while trying to see every detail of the battle for New York, but common sense was too much occupied of keeping her alive.

Something large was flying just above her so she looked up, widening her eyes at the giant monster ship that gracefully moved around the buildings, hiding the sun. She grinned and ran faster, seeking for more evidences like seeing the alien army wasn't enough. In any other occasion she would stop running after less than thirty seconds, but this was a special opportunity. She pushed her limits as hard as possible, and stopped as she saw a man with the infamous shield looking up in the skies at the spy that managed to get on small flying ship.

Not even aware, she stopped and stared at him with half opened mouth, breathing heavily as few drops of sweat slipped from her forehead. Her heart was hurting her like it wanted to get out of her chest. Her mouth turned dry and mind went completely blank. He stood only fifty feet away from her, real as much as she was. Like he sensed someone watching him, he turned his head towards her and their eyes met for a moment.

Then her head cracked when a ray of blue blast hit her.

Scream escaped her lips as she opened her eyes again. Pair of hands clenched her shoulder and tried to push her back furiously, but she kept on screaming. Somebody was yelling too. She tried to push those hands away, but they were too strong. Something in her mind clicked and everything turned back. The screams from her throat were croaks and something inhuman like; she was calling for help. In self defense she started kicking and scratching and biting, still screaming like somebody was ripping the skin from her back, but stopped few seconds after she was pushed back with a big palm over her mouth. Scared watery eyes of doctor Flag met hers. "It's alright, Lorraine", he said trying to cover the shaking of his voice, but failed. "You're alright, you're safe."

Sharp breathing was coming from her nose as she continued staring at him with wide eyes. It took her brain a second to realize where she was and what was happening. She nodded quickly. Doctor Flag slowly removed his hand. Lorraine quickly rushed for her bag since she was choking - a strong hand was squeezing her lungs. She though she'll faint. As soon as she took the inhaler, everything was better. She was okay again, so she closed her eyes with relief. Warm tears were streaming down her now pink cheeks. Lorraine was left like that for few moments before she managed to put her legs over the uncomfortable bed. She stared at her outwear sneakers, feeling heart pounding rapidly and her hands shaking. Quickly, she wiped the tears away with her hands and sniffed slightly. "Sorry", she managed to murmur, embarrassed.

"It's alright", the doctor said quietly. Lorraine could feel presence of Mrs. Sean somewhere in the corner. "How was it like?" She noticed he skipped 'you died' part. That was good, she didn't want to think about it. She brought the inhaler back to her lips.

After short pause she spoke up to break the tension. "It was real", her voice was hoarse from screaming. "It was like...it was completely real, just like this. I felt I was really there, like everything around me was completely real." She licked her dry lips. "How longs was I out?"

"Six and a half minutes", he replied. What, only six minutes? It seemed much longer. "What did you see?" He was excited - she could hear his voice trembling slightly and his eyes wide of expectation as she tilted her head to glance at him. She wiped sweat from her forehead.

"The monsters", she replied through a murmur. "I saw New York in ruins, those creatures with space guns all around the place...I saw Steve Rogers."

"D-Did he see you? Did you t-talk to him?", he questioned impatiently. Lorraine rubbed her eyes and pulled her sleeves down again, letting out a sigh. She was still scared. Her mind kept on replaying the scenes from that night, but she did her best to make them go away. That was past. She had to concentrate on this, on the present.

"He saw me, and then he saw me getting killed", she replied through a whisper. Suddenly, she got up and grabbed the bag from the floor. She avoided looking him in the eyes. "Look, it's late, my parents will be worried, I have to go now, alright."

"But it worked, right?", doctor Flag questioned with face full of hope.

Lorraine managed to only look at his wrinkled face and gulp. Tears started forming in her eyes. "Oui", she replied simply. "But I'm not going back."

Her room wasn't like it used to be in France. Bordeaux was much more interesting than Atlanta. She missed that one stupid picture of some meadow on her wall, she missed those dumb pink walls with posters of horses all around. She missed her petite bed and her window that looked on the small street where people passed by. She missed the smell of baguettes and creme brulee, she missed her childhood. Now she had nothing. All of her friends were back in France and she could only contact them over social networks. It wasn't the same. First they talked every day for more than five hours. Then it turned on two days, then a week, then three weeks. Now she barely even talks to them. It was sad of how their paths separated so quickly. Even sadder was the reason that made them separate.

Instead of doing her homework, Lorraine was sitting on the floor and listening to music from her laptop. Deep in her thoughts, she didn't notice when the rain started hitting the glass of windows.

What she lived that day was, with one word, strange. She couldn't imagine that something like that could be real. Such sort of a machine was supposed to be real only in science fiction. But there she was sitting on the floor, thinking of how an alien blew her head. Shivering, she knit her eyebrows together and pushed the though of death away from her as far as possible. She did something remarkable that day - she was the first one to use the machine to actually get to know how it was like living a virtual life. It was so simple, yet so complicated. Doctor Flag worked very hard with his friends to make such thing possible. But she had to admit that it was nice at the beginning, and then terrifying.

They just killed her, like she was nothing. That wasn't important now she wasn't actually dead.

She got to see something that possibly nobody ever will. She managed to get into Marvel universe without any problem, trough a simple dream. She could never guess that one of her greatest wishes would come true by a dream. Now it seemed stupid that she said she'd never do that again. It was a decision she made in a moment, without thinking, without any common sense. It was because of panic. Something like that was dangerous, yes, especially because of asthma. But she couldn't really die in reality, right? All of that was just a projection, a dream. She couldn't really die in a dream.

Lorraine thought about going back and apologizing to doctor Flag and his assistant. Yes, she'll do that. Maybe.

For days she thought about it. She measured pros and cons again and again and again, over and over again. Worry would overwhelm her whenever she thought about that, but curiosity was there, and her bravery too.

Why shouldn't she try that again?

But if she gets another asthma problem...

So what? It's not the end of the world! She has the inhaler! And it's not that big of a problem!

What if something goes wrong?

What could go wrong? It's a dream! Besides, she really wanted to meet Loki, if that was even possible...

But asthma...

After nine days of constant thinking and measuring pros and cons, Lorraine decided to go and now she decided she'll last much longer than six and a half minutes.