A week goes by and nothing happened. No dreams, none I can remember clearly, no dimension slips, nothing!
For past three consecutive days, I kept on wondering, thinking and researching about this dimension overlap/slip theory. If it is possible or not. Every time, it ended up giving me a severe headaches.
Over and over again I am ending up with the same conclusion that it is possible but there is no solid evidence to confirm it or maybe there is only limited information out there in the books and on the internet.
In addition, Emily keeps demanding me to give her details as to why I looked so petrified that day and I always ended up changing the topic whenever she brought it up. She is annoyed by my lack of enthusiasm and ignorance but decides to let me be for the time being. I know, I have to tell her sooner or later, at least give her a reason to not to worry and that I am perfectly fine.
With a week gone by. I am back to normal somehow. Lack of information and evidence to rely on is making me think that it was just a mirage, a beautiful yet dangerous mirage, created by my wishful mind. Maybe, I am overworking myself. Should I change my major?
'Me and my pitiful brain. Are you that desperate?' I question myself.
It's Monday today and my class is assigned to give lectures on global relations in fresher's campus. I and Emily decide to opt for a professional look.
After all, first impression is the last impression.
The sole purpose of this lecture is to built work relationship between juniors and seniors, and to get acquainted with each other.
Hoping to give my best, I dress myself up in off-white suit with satin blue round neck blouse and nude pumps. Today, I am in the mood for wavy curls. When I'm all done making myself look presentable I look in the mirror.
'Damn, I look good.'
I look like I am off for an important meeting.
'This is important to me. And this is my armour.' I prep myself.
'Confidence is the best accessory or outfit, one can wear. Your outlook determines how you need to appear and how you need to be treated by the world and by the people around you.'
OK. Enough pep talk. I correct my hair and once again, do a brief checkup to see if anything is out of place. Finding no flaws. I'm all good to go.
Outside my apartment, I meet up with Emily.
"Ooo girl! Slayin' it." Emily exclaims as she eyes me up and down, giving me a wink at the end of her sentence.
"Says the girl who stands out the most." I further hype her up, correcting a strand, which is stuck in her hairpin.
"Born this way, honey. Born this way!" She teases me a little as she sticks her tongue out to playfully mock me.
"Yeah, and I love you this way."
She gives me a side hug for this comment.
She is dressed in a high waisted checkered brown pants, sea green shirt and matching checkered waistcoat. She looks stunning. Her hair is tied up in a messy bun. Her red hair really adds up to her personality.
Everybody in the campus is dressed accordingly, some opted for casual wear but they still put some thoughts and work in it, some are like us, going for the professional look. As I said earlier, first impression always matter. Everybody is excited about this.
.
.
The event goes by smoothly and is reaching its climax. We all are gathered in the University's park/ground, at the back of the main building. The lecture was given in the lecture hall. And now it is the get-to-know your junior/senior part, bombarding them with your questions and suggestions, also to seek advise.
To be honest, everybody in my class is really enjoying it. After all, we alone are the center of attention for today's event. Every single one of my classmate is surrounded by our juniors and other students who attended their lecture session. They are all eager to ask their queries. Emily and I are also busy. Our topic was the same as the one before, that was given to us to do some research on, that is, International threats and their effects on internal security.
I am all done with the question/answers part and small talks with my juniors. So for the time being I'm free.
To my left, siting on a park bench, is Emily. She is still surrounded by a group. I guess, she will not be done in like 15 minutes or so.
'*sigh* I am hungry'.
I am leaning against a nearby wall already feeling hungry. I decide to gather and organize my papers in order to once again look at the materials I collected on this dimension overlap.
I look to my left, catching eyes with Emily. I place my hand on my stomach, telling her that I am hungry, with my facial expressions.
She looks away and begin typing something on her phone while conversing with her juniors. I raise an eyebrow at her, bored.
*Ding* A message.
"I'll be done in 10 minutes or so."
It's a message from Emily. I chuckle a little. Damn, this girl. I look up at her and she gives me a head-nod. I think she will be done quickly now.
I look back at my papers. And whosh.
Another dimension overlap/slip.
However, I am just so into reading the papers that I fail to notice the shift this time.
The overlap is extremely smooth that if you are not aware of your surroundings, you may never find that you are no longer in the world that you know of so well.
In my peripheral view, where Emily is supposed to be, I see a group of 4 to 5 people. I glance up at them as I sense their eyes on me.
Too lazy to notice the environment, I only take a glimpse of the group, they are all boys, they all look like hoodlums. Somehow, they are talking about me, I can hear their faint chatters.
How come there are these type of people here? Who let them in?
They are eyeing me up and down and I can feel their dirty gazes. Ah, I feel disgusted. I am about to snap, when someone disturbs me.
"Um, excuse me! Do you teach here?"
A male voice so familiar, ring in my ear. To my ear, it sounds like a deep melody which my ear longed to hear, which was so fade that it was bound to be forgotten and yet here it is. Strong and firm, like it always existed somewhere out here and not just in my head or ear.
My eyes widens as they recognize this voice.
I look up and it's him.
I quickly look at my surroundings and only then I realise that I am no longer in my University, Emily is gone too.. And that explains these hoodlums and why no one is saying anything. I can't recognize any of the faces aside from his. I lower my head once again, not to look suspicious or lost. Once ready, I again look up to see his face and I see him throwing daggers at that group of boys. One of them clears his throat and suddenly they all scattered away. I questioningly look back at him and he catches me looking.
His facial expressions changes from angry to sweet in milliseconds. If I had not been staring, it would be hard to notice. He gives me his sweetest smile.
I lower my head, blushing and hoping he won't notice.
'Dang! Get it together, Nadia.'
"Sorry, I didn't catch that. What were you sayin'?" I normalize my mood and emotions, gather up all the courage I have left and look up, right in to his eyes. 'AH! His eyes. His deep blue, ocean like eyes'.
"I was asking if you teach here", he asserts, bringing me back from my trance.
He is looking right at me, with a slight grin on his face. However, I can tell he is frustrated about something from his tone, even though he is masking and suppressing it perfectly.
"No. No, I am here for someone."
"Figures, no one in their right mind would come here alone", he mumbles.
"Pardon?"
"Ah, nothing! I was hoping if I can wait with you. I am also waiting for someone, you see." He looks here and there as if checking something.
I sense something is odd. I look around and this area looks a bit shady, not to mention I am no longer in my University. I don't know the layout of this world. And I am here alone with him. No matter who he is, no matter how sweet he is in my dreams. I don't know him as a person in this world. He may be very different from my dreams. It's better to leave now and my gut is telling me that something is definitely fishy. But I don't want to leave yet as we just started talking. I have so much I wish to discuss.
'Oh my gawd! Mind yourself you stupid heart. This is not the time for this, you don't like fish and anything fishy.'
The eerie feeling and my inner thoughts gets me good. A gust of wind comes, blowing my hair and giving me goosebumps. Something is definitely wrong, I feel uncomfortable.
'Always go with your instincts. Your gut is never wrong. It's better to flee.'
"Oh, now I remember. This is not the spot where I am supposed to meet my friend. I better go, she must be waiting. Thanks for the offer."
With a heavy heart, I utter these words to him but I convince my heart that it is an appropriate thing to do, so no second thoughts.
I turn and head towards where I think the exit is. I look back and he is looking at me, but do I see worry?
NO, no no. Don't ponder over this.
I initiate walking, heading straight, with no idea where I might end up and where I am heading. The road is eerily quiet. How come no one is here? I also see no turning points. Oh god, what have I gotten myself into? Take me back to my world, please! I feel alien and insecure. It is a feeling you get, when you visit a new place and you know no one, you lost your map and belongings, no one to turn to and you feel insecure and scared.
To add up to my horror, the road I was thinking might lead me to an open area with lots of people, have come to a dead end here.
I turn back with a heavy heart, only to face up with those hoodlum guys whom I encountered before.
'Were they following? But I saw them leaving in the opposite direction. How come I hadn't noticed them approaching?'
I take a deep breath. I knew something was fishy. I carefully put my hand in my purse, looking for my baton. I learned to use it for situations like this. But how am I not able to find it? Now, when I recall it, I think just before exiting my apartment, I left it on the table, forgetting to put it back.
'Hah! You stupid Nadia. How are you gonna deal with this now? How can you be so reckless?'
As I am panicking and those hoodlums are getting closer, I find something in my purse. I feel it through my fingers and I recall that I also have a pepper spray. 'Lucky', I exclaim covertly.
I quickly take it out, with my other hand still in purse and point it towards those hoodlums.
"She thinks she can scare us away with a beauty product", one of them notifies and all of them starts laughing hysterically.
I look down and notice that in the moment of rush and panic, I have pulled out my hair spray instead of pepper spray.
I grunt and with my other hand, pull out the right product. I look at it and thanks heaven it is pepper spray.
They all get serious when they see pepper spray in my hand. I make a quick plan to use both, the hair spray and pepper spray. Let me show you how a beauty product can be fatal, you good for nothing burdens on Earth. I curse inwardly as I prepare myself for the necessary action. Hoping I'll be able to handle it.
One of the guy, rushes to get me, but I dodge him and spay hair spray directly in to his eyes. He stumbles backwards, hitting the ground and squinting his eyes.
Seeing that, two guys decide to approach me this time from opposite sides, the one on my right is quick to approach me, I spray the pepper spray. He hunches down covering his face. To my horror, nothing comes out. I shake the bottle, finding it broken. In the meantime, the other guy had already taken the hair spray from my hand. Before he can grab me, I twist my arm and strike him with the side of my hand. He coughs up as my hand hit his chest. I immediately take few steps back.
They are four now, with one still on the ground, squinting and rubbing his eyes.
Hair spray got him good, huh?
They all are ganging upon me. I curse under my breath, throwing the useless bottle away and taking a step backward.
They all are pleased to see me in a corner.
But little do they know, I always give preference to learning a combative skill as I think it is necessary for every girl. Also, to beat my brother whenever he tries to mess with me.. I never thought I will be using it right now in this situation. I grin as I charge towards them, from my left. I step on the wall, lifting myself higher of the ground and strike one a***ole with a kick to his neck. I also learn from my brother to always attack the vulnerable points. I am glad to see our useless fight, that we often pick to get on each other's nerves is somehow useful in a way. Vincent is very health conscious and engage himself in combative sports. I never managed to hit him as he reads into almost all my moves but the situation here is different. Two down, three to go. Seeing that, the remaining three are all on their ground now. They know they can't take me lightly.
I manage to kick them here and there but they still manages to get a hold of me. It's unfair, going 3 against 1. I need to practice more, I was too slow and that gave them an opening.
I struggle in their hold but they are just too much for me to handle alone at once. I am not some she hulk. But I am wishing I was.
'Is this the end of me?' I think to myself.
"No. This can't be. You are a strong woman, you need to fight until it's over." I hear a voice around me whispering these words. I look here and there and no one is in sight. Am I making this up in my head? Commanding myself to not give up, not yet.
I don't know who does it belong to but it's not mine. I decide to focus on it later as I start to think of ways to free myself.
'I need to distract them to set myself free. But how?'
Think, Nadia, think.
"Oye. Haven't I told you guys to behave?" A firm voice yells, from some distance.
I don't have to look to know who this voice belongs to. And here I get myself a distraction as the guy in front of me turns around to look at the owner of the voice.
I knee the guy in front of me in a place where it hurts the most, elbowing the one standing behind me in his solar plexus. And the one to my left is already being taken care of by Theo. Theo grabs his hand and twists it, taking it up to his back, holding it firmly and squeezing it. I can see the guy in immense pain, groaning and tapping Theo's hand with his free hand.
Theo pushes the back of his knee, making him collapse on his knee.
"How many times do I have to warn you to not wander around near the campus, threatening the students?"
"Ah! sorry. We forg..." He is cut of by his own grunts, followed by ah-ah groans. I stand there, rubbing my wrists, to be honest I am happy to see him in pain. I look up at Theo, his eyes are tracking the motions of defeated hoodlums, checking for any further threats. Now that he is here they are hesitant to make any moves. I wonder why? He looks at his far right. I don't know what he saw. But he left the guy on the floor, groaning.
"Bunch of morons", he curses under his breath, he picks up my purse, grabs my hand and in an instant we begin running.
I look at his wide back, he is taller than me. I am 5 foot 7 inch and if I do my calculations and make a guess, he is 6 foot 3, maybe?
He looks *ed. His hold on my hand is firm but gentle. I can see his efforts to not harm me. And suddenly I am recalling a memory and a scene from one of my dreams where he and I were in a similar situation, running like this. We were being chased by some bad guys and he wore blue round-neck t-shirt with black jeans. We hid behind the wall near an alley and he complained "You always make troubles for me". A slight smile appears on my face as the flashback of the scene comes to an end.
This is somehow different from that dream as he is wearing a red checkered shirt and ripped blue denim jeans. Also, we are not chased by some bad guys or are we? I look back questioningly and I see no one. Why are we running then? I want to ask him but decide to stay silent. He leads me to the entrance of this Munic College of Arts. There are people here. And I somehow feel safe, no gut feeling telling me that something is fishy anymore.
We both are panting and out of no-where, he bursts out, almost yelling, attracting attention of some passerbys.
"This is why I told you to wait with me".
Noticing his tone, he clears his throat and takes a deep breath.
"I am sorry for yelling. I got worried. The anger took the best of me. Where is your friend? I will take you to her." He starts explaining himself. To be honest, I am finding him and his actions cute and a tad bit funny. I feel no longer uncomfortable, now that I think about it. Earlier too, I was feeling irky and goosebumps due to those hoodlums and not because of him. I should have waited with him. But right now, I need to get out of here, before another situation creates itself.
This definitely won't work. How am I suppose to tell him that my friend is in Chicago and we are in Zaron right now. I pull out my phone, pretending that I have a call. I start talking...
"Hello. yeah! So you changed locations again?"
"You must notify me about these things first-hand."
"Uh huh. Uh huh."
"Yeah. I am at the entrance of your college."
I look at him and he seems to buy it.
"Oh, so you are just at the corner. Ok, wait. I am coming right now."
I tell him through hand signs that I am going that way. He nods.
I head straight in the direction I was pointing at. I take a turn and luckily I am back at my University.
*Phew* I sigh.
One heck of an experience it was. Heh, I laugh as I recall the bittersweet moments. The time when my heart skipped a beat for him and the time it raced uncomfortably encountering those hoodlums. I was lucky today, better not leave important and life saving stuff home from today. A strange yet important lesson learned today.
I look down at my phone, and it says 19 missed calls from Emily. I am just about to touch the call back icon, when my phone starts ringing. It's Emily.
"Where the heck are you?"
"At the entrance!", I reply.
"You better stay right there."
She hangs up. And by the tone of her voice I know I am *ed.
Five minutes later. I finally see her, stomping her feet as she makes her way to me.
"I was waiting for you, for straight half an hour. What the hell? Where did you disappear to? At one moment you are just going through your notes and seconds later when I check, you are nowhere to be found. Do you think, I am some kind of a pushover? Also, why in the world were you not answering your phone? Just answer the damn pho..." she stops in the middle of her nagging as she stresses her eyebrows and tilts her head to look at my neck.
"Is this a bruise on your neck?"
I quickly touch the area where she is pointing and I recall that one of the guy had my neck strangled to prevent me from doing or trying anything funny.
"Oh, it's nothing." Suddenly my head starts feeling heavy, I feel dizzy and it's hard to focus.
"Nadia! Nadia!"
Last thing I recall is Emily calling my name. Then I pass out.