The Other Realms

¨Jeez mom I’ll be down in a minute!¨

Mom is always starting arguments or finding faults in everything, and don’t even get me started with Dad, all he ever does is sit on the couch and drink wine. If he is not at work or on the couch, he’s glued to his phone! Whenever both of them are not at home, they are at work or attending parties, though I suspect they just say that, but they go somewhere else other than parties.

¨ROSE!¨ Mom screeches.

It’s probably because she doesn’t want to do the dishes or walk the dog. I rush downstairs so she doesn’t get even more angry than she already is.

¨What mom? What do you want me to do this time?¨ I ask, scowling.

¨Clean the table!¨

¨Why?! It looks perfectly clean!¨

“It is not! Look at that little puddle of water and the crumbs over there!”

“Mom,” I say exasperatedly. “A few crumbs and water won’t kill the table!”

“Fine if you’re just going to disrespect me, then go walk Max then!”

Max is our dog, he has a perfect golden coat and is one of the best dog breeds, a golden lab. He walks like he’s a superstar and is so loveable. I love him so much, so I don’t really mind walking him. He’s pretty cooperative so the walks are always pleasant. I clip his leash to his collar and he barks, I can tell he’s excited. I open the door and a cold breeze blew into my face. It’s cold, but we walk anyway. The sun shines but the clouds slowly come to cover it, the cold wind becomes colder and water hits my nose, a light pelt of rain covers us. I don’t want to go home so we walk to the park, and I settle down on a swing. It’s quiet because there are only a few cars driving and even that noise is covered by the rain. I sit there for a while until my hair is drenched and my carefully styled bun turns into a messy one. My phone buzzes, it’s Mom.

“What Mom?” I ask.

“You’ve been gone for an hour, where are you?” she asks, and I think I can actually hear worry in her voice.

“I’m…” my voice trails off. “I’m walking the dog, like you asked.”

“But it’s been an HOUR!”

“I’ll be home soon,” my voice quivers and I hang up.

She’s worried. She’s worried. She never worries, especially about me. I never really thought of my mother as overprotective, or that she really cared about my well being. I guess enough to work for money to buy food or clothing, and stuff like that. She always wants things her way, she never has asked what I wanted or my opinion on anything, but now she’s worried. I suddenly realized the absence of the gentle droplets of rain on my head. Max raised his head, sniffing the air for some smell I probably could not detect. He stood up warily, glancing around. Then he bolted, and I screamed. He pulled me through the trees that surrounded the park and wouldn’t stop.

“MAX!” I yell.

He stops, and is sniffing at something on the ground. It looked glittery.

“It’s...it’s kinda pretty,” I say to myself.

I don’t know what it is though because it’s a little too dark to see clearly. Max barks. Then he stops. I wonder what will happen if I touch it, and what won’t happen. My phone buzzes, its a text from Mom. After a second of indecision, unwound my pale pink scarf from my neck and wrap it around the object. Then I run home hoping that my mom wouldn’t notice that I was carrying something I had picked up on the grass. I rush through the trees and past the park. Not many people are outside at this time because families are probably having dinner right now at home or in restaurants. I burst through the door and past my mom. I shove the thing into my jewelry box and right when I closed it, Mom walks in.

“WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?” she pauses then starts again. “It’s been an hour or two and you’re filthy!” she’s mad and worried, but she cares.

I started to realize that my mom wasn’t all that mean. I think she really meant well, but didn’t really know how to show it. But her attention quickly shifted from me to Dad when he walked into the room.

“Please go take a shower Rose,” she says before turning to Dad.

I nodded. “Okay Mom. I’ll be down for dinner soon.” I hugged her before I left the room and I thought I saw something like surprise and affection flit through her eyes before she turned back to Dad. Maybe it’s not that she doesn’t care about me, but maybe it’s because she cares too much and I never take the time to appreciate it. I take a quick shower and change before going down for dinner. After a dinner that went quite well, surprisingly, I headed back to my room upstairs. I carefully took the object I found this evening from the place I had hidden it and studied it. It looked like a hairpin. The hairpin had intricate designs that looked like two dragons entwined with a dark gray stone in the middle. At the bottom of the two dragons, a word was engraved.

Ατρόμητος

I didn’t know what the word meant. I whipped out my phone and typed ατρόμητος in. The word was in Greek.

“Fearless?” I whispered.

Then something happened. The edges around everything blurred, as if reality was erasing itself. I blinked and everything returned to normal.

“Fearless,” I said confidently, not like I was saying the word for the first time.

It happened again. Hard edges blurred and the room started to spin, making me feel dizzy. Everything turned black except for what seemed to be twinkling stars in the distance. The I had a sensation. I felt like I was falling, falling, falling...