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sweaterrat · 8 months

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PORTALS ✦ Chapter 1

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“Apple Juice” — Madilyn Mei

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Niyah’s body rocked with the sway of the rickety bus. In an attempt to get her mind off of what she was doing, she stared out the window to her left and admired the handful of stars in the sky. While clutching her little bookbag, she tried to ignore the shaking of her sweaty hands, the bobbing of her leg that seemed to have a mind of its own, and the pit of anxiety– a dark, sticky feeling that festered in her chest— spreading quickly all over her body. Despite all the worry, Niyah tried to shake it off. This would be fine. Everything would be fine.

Who was she kidding? This was the stupidest idea in history. She would be grounded for months, no, years for this.

‘It’s only for a day,’ She thought, trying to reassure herself (which didn’t help at all). Sighing quietly, Niyah let her chin rest in the palm of her hand as she stared out at the sky that seemed to be lit up more by street lights than stars.

Niyah thought about the events that led to where she was now. Much to her surprise, she didn’t feel an ounce of guilt. In fact, she felt alive. More alive than she had felt in the past week, the past month, the past year.

Hell yeah, she was terrified of the consequences that were sure to bite her in the ass after all this, but she felt so… relieved at the thought of freedom. Even if it was only for a day. Maybe she was a bad kid and maybe her parents didn’t deserve this, but she couldn’t care any less.

Niyah was free tonight. Even if that meant she’d be trapped tomorrow.

She just couldn’t stand staying in that awful place she called “home” anymore with those awful people she called her “parents”. Home never felt like home to her. It was just a house, a house that she always dreaded walking back to after school.

So, she left.

The idea of her being a runaway put a smile on Niyah’s face, oddly enough. Normal people wouldn’t approve of such a title over their heads, but then again, Niyah was not normal people.

As the bus slowed to a stop, Niyah gave the driver a halfhearted thank you and stepped off the ride. She looked around at the vaguely familiar place she was in. Clutching the straps of her bookbag, she slowly treaded the ghost town. While wearily walking down the sidewalk, Niyah nearly jumped out of her skin at the buzzing of her phone.

Her heart sank. Was it her mom? She swallowed a lump in her throat as she slowly pulled it out of her pocket and read the contact.

One unread message from Comet💫

Niyah let out a soft sigh of relief. It was just Kat (Comet was just a nickname she came up with and it kind of stuck). Quickly, Niyah checked her surroundings before reading the text.

‘r u here yet?’

Niyah blinked and texted back, ‘Yeah I’m omw now!’ She paused for a moment, then typed again. ‘You sure you wanna do this?’

Her phone instantly pinged again. ‘i want to!! But idkkkk i feel so eueue.’

Niyah wasn’t quite sure what ‘eueue’ was supposed to feel like, but she tried to sympathize nonetheless. ‘Do you wanna go back home? I’ll walk you back <:]’

‘no no, im gonna suck it up. i swear i’ll have fun!’

Niyah’s lips turned down slightly in a frown, but she replied anyway.

‘If you’re sure :[’

She then turned off her phone and continued down the crooked sidewalk, feeling a bit paranoid about how dark it was at night. There were barely any street lights here.

Eventually, Niyah was beginning to arrive at her destination. She spotted the familiar silhouette of her good friend Kat in the distance. Breathing a sigh of relief from finally not being alone, Niyah called out to the other.

“Kat!”

Kat in turn looked up and smiled widely.

“Niyah!” They called, walking towards her, then they started sprinting.

“Ohhh boy.” Niyah chuckled nervously and braced for impact. Kat practically flew at her, jumping into her arms, (Niyah attempted to catch them, but her little bones could only hold so much weight) and they both went tumbling into the concrete pavement (not escaping without a few scratches).

Pained laughter echoed through the empty streets. “Why do you do that every time?” Niyah complained, trying to push Kat off her now.

“You took forever!” Kat shouted before getting up on their own. They extended a hand out to the other. “Now, c’mon. I found something cool!” They flexed their fingers as a way of saying, ‘Hurry up.’

Niyah rolled her eyes, “What happened to ‘Hi, Niyah. How are you?’” She took Kat’s hand in her own.

“‘Hi, Niyah. How are you?’ Now get your ass up and come on!” Kat replies with a grin on their face. They hauled Niyah up, nearly sending them flying again. It's funny how Kat, who was iffy about this whole plan, seems more excited than Niyah.

“Alright, alright. Where are we headed?” Niyah dusted herself off, glancing around again. Suddenly, she was pulled by Kat in a random direction.

“Through the underbrush! I know a shortcut.” They claimed, strutting towards a dirt path through some bushes. Niyah winced at all the dirt and possible bugs, but went along anyway.

“You still haven’t told me where we’re going,” Niyah mentioned, stepping over a shrub and nearly yelping aloud when she saw a rather large spider web on a tree.

Kat groaned and rolled their eyes. “Do you trust me?” They asked, turning towards Niyah and raising an eyebrow.

“Unfortunately,” Niyah mumbled and shot them a sarcastic smile. The other glared right back before they both erupted into giggles.

Niyah then piped up, “Did you ever finish that Rise marathon you started?” Kat only hummed and shrugged in response. “I just started watching the movie. I’ll finish it later though.”

“Honestly,” Niyah started, “I only watched the Donnie centric episodes and skipped to the movie.” Kat only laughed in response.

“Why am I not surprised?”

After a few steps more of walking, Kat smiled excitedly. “We’re here~!” They sang, pushing back a bush to reveal…

“A… convenience store?”

Niyah’s head tilted to the side as the building came into view. It was just some old, run-down looking little shop that kinda gave her all the wrong vibes.

“Not a convenience store, It’s kinda like those stores at gas stations. Or Clair’s. I passed it while heading to you and it has Hello Kitty stuff! Let’s check it out!”

Niyah examined the rusty exterior of the store, grimacing at the cracks on the walls and the moss growing on them. “I dunno, Kat. This place looks… not great.”

Kat huffed defiantly, “You already forced me to accompany you as you ran away from home. It’s only fair we do something I wanna do first, right?” They rested a hand on their hip dramatically.

“I gave you multiple chances to back out, but sure; fair enough.” Niyah shrugged and followed the other into the decrepit-looking shop.

The first thing she noticed when she entered was how much bigger it looked on the inside. It wasn’t huge, it was just bigger than she thought. It honestly wasn’t as bad as it looked, but Niyah was still on edge. She skimmed around the store, looking down the tiny aisle (and noticing that there was in fact Hello Kitty stuff).

“Welcome, welcome,” rasped an elderly voice. Niyah practically jumped out of her skin and whipped around to see what seemed to be a store employee.

The woman was… well, old. But she has this casual aura to her. Her grayed hair was done nicely in a bun and she had rectangular glasses. She wore a cream colored blouse, and on it was a brooch or pin of some kind.

“…Hello,” Niyah spoke cautiously, feeling awkward for flinching.

The lady smiled, the concerns of her eyes crinkling. She seemed to study Niyah. “You look like you’re a bit far from home, hm?” She responded, folding her hands together while maintaining eye contact.

Niyah glanced around frantically for Kat (who was indulging themself in all the Sanrio merch they desired). She swallowed a lump in her throat.

“I guess you could say that,” she mumbled, wishing desperately that she could exit this conversation. The old woman seemed to sense her discomfort and she offered up a comforting smile.

“Well, look around and see what you might like.” And she propped herself up and left to the back. Niyah let out a breath she didn’t realize she was holding and basically sprinted to where Kat vanished.

She turned the corner and saw her friend examining a little keychain. Kat blinked and looked up at the other.

“Oh hey! Where’d you go?”

“You left me! That lady up front gives me the creeps, dude,” she whined, pulling at Kat’s wrist. “When can we leave?”

“As soon as I finish shopping,” they answered. “Now shoo, I’m tryna figure out which one I should get.”

Niyah let out a strangled groan as she dragged herself away, leaving Kat with their stupid keychains. She walked back to the front of the store, glancing at where the old woman was. Thankfully, she was nowhere to be seen.

Niyah let out a quiet sigh of relief before turning to look ahead. She peeped into one of the isles to check out what was there. Niyah was met with crystal necklaces— the ones that were cut in some kind of hexagonal shape.

“Oooh!” Niyah piped up, going into the aisle to get a closer look. Her eyes landed on a purple crystal that resembled amethyst.

A small smile made its way onto the girl’s face. As she held the necklace, her expression softened. It seemed like everything reminded her of him. Her stupid fictional turtle crush. It was… embarrassing to say out loud sometimes, but she couldn’t care less more often than not. She liked a fictional guy, so what?

“Find anything you like, dear?” The woman suddenly appeared beside Niyah, her eyes squinted slightly as she smiled. Niyah let out a small shriek, then instantly covered her mouth in embarrassment.

“Oh, I’m sorry! Did I startle you?” she questioned, but Niyah quickly shook her head.

“N-No! You just, uh, I’m just a bit jumpy tonight, I guess.” She laughed a bit awkwardly, gripping the ends of her hair (a nervous stim of hers). She avoided eye contact like the plague.

The woman gazed sympathetically at the younger one. “Is something the matter?” She asked.

Niyah fumbled with her hands. “It's been a long day,” she sighed, glancing back to where Kat was. “Sorry I freaked out on you.” She rubbed the back of her neck.

“That’s quite alright, dear,” The elder spoke with a knowing smile. She moved her gaze to the shelf in front of them.

“Interested in these, dear?” She chuckled, eyes shining. “My daughter used to love this stuff.” The woman picked a necklace with a stone that resembled amethyst and handed it to Niyah.

“Purple suits you,” she smiled.

Niyah felt herself relax a bit, subconsciously smiling. “Thank you, miss…?” she trailed off.

“Miss Chiyo.” The other— Miss Chiyo— replied with a smile. Niyah reciprocated the gesture with a smile of her own.

“Thank you, Miss Chiyo. I, uh, I’m Niyah by the way,” She stated a bit awkwardly. Niyah felt a bit bad for judging Miss Chiyo. This lady seemed pretty nice.

Miss Chiyo began walking back towards the front and Niyah was inclined to follow. In fact, part of her felt like Miss Chiyo expected her to. It was almost as if any nerves or distrust she may have felt about the odd lady melted away as she followed, though of course her anxiety was still there, just slightly less apparent. She felt safe. Well, as safe as one can feel in a run-down retail store, this late at night.

Miss Chiyo went behind the front desk while Niyah stood there idly, taking a better look at her surroundings. “So, Miss Niyah, what made you run away from home, hm?” Miss Chiyo suddenly asked, that same knowing smirk on her face.

Niyah’s eyes grew a bit wide in alarm. “How did you know I—“ But she was cut off by a wave of the other’s hand. “I was a teenager too, always wanting to run off. So, what’s your reason for leaving home?”

Niyah hesitated for a moment, then sighed. She figured she had nothing to lose. What was Miss Chiyo gonna do, tell her mom? “If I’m honest, I hate living with my mom. So many rules and restrictions, I just wanna be free y’know? Plus, it’s not like I’m leaving forever.”

Miss Chiyo nodded in understanding. “Well, wherever you’re going, get there safely, alright dear?” The other just smiled and nodded.

A slight glimmer caught Niyah’s eye. She blinked as her eyes landed on a beautiful, milky white crystal wrapped in a small brown rope. The rope came up into a necklace with a golden hook at the end of it. It was just laying there on the back counter.

“Hey, what’s that over there?” Niyah asked, tilting her head while leaning on the counter. She gestured to the lazily luminescent stone behind the other.

Miss Chiyo turned to the large crystal necklace. With a slow inhale, she replied, “Oh, that old thing?” She went over to retrieve it. “It was a… family heirloom of sorts.”

Niyah simply ginned. “Cool! What kind of crystal is it? Quartz?”

Miss Chiyo just laughed, “No, not quartz. This crystal is one of a kind. Well, one of its kind. I used to have its little twin— a black crystal just like that one. But, I lost it.” Her expression fell into a sad smile.

Niyah offered the older woman a sympathetic smile. “Who knows, maybe it’ll turn up. If I see anything like it, I’ll get it to ya.”

That seemed to cheer Miss Chiyo up a bit. She let out that sweet little laugh of hers. “You remind me so much of my little Emiko.” She turned back to retrieve the crystal. “Always trying to help someone.” She cupped the stone in her hands.

With a smile, Miss Chiyo extended her hands out to Niyah. “Here,” she said, holding out the crystal to the other. “I think you could take better care of it than me.”

Niyah sputtered wildly. “Wh— me?! Wait, isn’t— isn’t this your family heirloom thing? I can’t just take it!” She yelped, waving her hands around. Miss Chiyo only smiled and took Niyah’s hands in her own.

“I think I can trust you,” she replied simply. Niyah wordlessly blinked and looked down at the jewel now in her hands. The elder only chuckled, “I’m far too old to keep looking after it anyway, haha!”

The crystal in Niyah’s hand felt… electric in a way. It was a feeling that she couldn’t quite place. It was like the shard was buzzing with energy.

“Take it,” Miss Chiyo whispered with a small smile. “On the house.”

Niyah was still in disbelief. “I… thank you,” she smiled. “Y’know, Miss Chiyo, you really made my day— er, night.” The girl chuckled as she threw on the necklace. It was heavier than it looked, that's for sure.

Miss Chiyo chuckled in response. “It’s nice to come across some kind souls these days,” she sighed. “Now, It’s quite late out. Shouldn’t you two get going?”

Niyah nodded, “Yeah, we’ll be on our way.” She then turned to call out to her friend behind her. “Yo, Kat! You almost done over there?”

Kat did nothing but send a silent thumbs up as a response. They stared thoughtfully at what bag of chips to buy before they seized some jalapeño chips and skedaddled over to the front counter.

“Just these, please!” they sang and placed a bag of chips, a drink, and 3 Sanrio keychains on the desk. “How much do I owe you?”

The older woman only smiled and replied, “Just take it, honey. Make sure you both get home safe eventually.” Miss Chiyo then put the items in a plastic bag and then pushed them back across the counter.

“Oh wait— for real?” Kat stared in surprise but then shrugged. “Thank you!” They look at Niyah, signaling that they’re finally ready to go. Niyah turned back to the elder behind the desk.

“Well, we’ll be on our way,” she sighed, offering a kind smile to the other. “It was really nice meeting you, Miss Chiyo.”

Miss Chiyo said nothing but smiled and waved the pair goodbye as they exited the store.

Niyah glanced at the stone again, holding it and feeling the same static spark between her fingers. A wave of nausea washed over her. She blinked drowsily in an attempt to fight the sudden tiredness.

She looked back at Kat, “Hey, Comet, you think we can still make it to the beach on time…?” Niyah trailed off as she saw Kat turned around, staring at the store behind them. They looked almost puzzled.

“What’s up?” Niyah asked, but Kat only shook their head and walked back to Niyah’s side. The other narrowed her eyes… but then shrugged.

The two made their way to their next location, chatting about their plans for the summer.

“I seriously hope Rise gets a season three. Do you think that Netflix might pick it up?” Niyah asked, sipping on a Capri-sun she snagged from her backpack (strawberry kiwi, because that’s the best flavor).

Kat (who was sipping on a Pacific cooler) replied with a shrug, “Man, I hope so.”

Niyah kicked a loose pebble on the sidewalk, nearly tripping while doing so. She had a slight sway in her step which caught the attention of her friend. “You okay?” Kat asked, placing a comforting hand on Niyah’s back.

Niyah nodded, “Yeah, just tired. I’ve been feeling all funky ever since we left the store.” A funny idea popped into her head. Ha, what if that crystal was magical or something? Niyah internally laughed at the idea. Hopefully, she didn’t jinx herself.

Niyah continued to stumble over her own feet despite her reassurances that she was fine. “Do you just— wanna go home?” Kat asked as they held her up, attempting to help her walk.

Niyah would’ve answered but a deafening, high-pitched ringing echoed in Niyah’s ears. She felt like the life was being drained out of her. She was fine a minute ago— what happened?

Niyah’s eyes landed on the white crystal around her neck. It almost seemed to give off a soft glow. She wouldn’t have questioned it (maybe it was the trick of the light?) but then the soft glow turned harsh, making her squint at the brightness.

“What in the…” Niyah whispered to herself (not that she could hear herself over the loud ringing in her ears). As the crystal glowed brighter, it started to levitate. She blinked rapidly, thinking she had finally lost all her marbles.

“Am I tripping or is that thing—” Niyah turned to her friend who looked just as horrified. Kat took two steps away from Niyah, causing her to stumble a bit.

The crystal had floated high enough to hover a few inches away from her face. Welp, she jinxed it.

Niyah heard voices in her head. Voices that weren’t her own. Whispers, cries, pleads. She tilted her head inquisitively, and out of pure curiosity, lifted her hand up to touch the stone.

As soon as her fingertips came into contact with it, the electric feeling returned. For a second, it almost felt nice— new. But it quickly became overwhelming. Niyah yelped out in pain.

Niyah couldn't see what was happening around her— just feeling all too many things at once. She felt despair that wasn’t hers. Worry, sorrow, panic, most of which didn’t belong to her. And in the midst of it, she felt a new feeling. A feeling of change. Things were changing.

In front of her, something flashed, then flickered, then sparked. A swirling circle of what seemed to be pure white lightning formed. Speckles of gold littered the neutralness of the white and in the center seemed to be the galaxy itself. The dark purples and blues contrasted beautifully against the white and gold.

A portal?

Common sense told her to turn away from it, to run as fast and as far as she possibly could, but… she couldn’t.

Something drew her to it, a force she couldn’t possibly understand. Niyah thought she could just vaguely hear the yells of her friend, the frantic pleas for her to stop and not get any closer, but the other voices were so much louder.

She took a step.

Then two.

Niyah kept approaching the gateway. Her head dipped to the side as her pain— and consciousness— slipped. Taking a swayed step, Niyah reached a hand out into it.

Everything around her was telling her to go.

Go.

And she did.

Niyah only remembered falling into the warm white. She had blacked out the second after.

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Chapter 1 is out! Woooo!!!! Yyayayayy!!!! I’m setting up the master list now :]

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