At first I was sure that getting out of the bathroom would be difficult, as I no longer had hands or fingers. But as Rei asked questions on whether everything was all right and why I sounded different I quickly figured out a way to turn the door handle and stepping out into the bedroom, I waited for the other girl to say something. When it became clear that she wasn’t, I cleared my throat and stated, “I suppose there are a few things I need to tell you.”
Seeing the look of shock on Rei’s face, I smiled as she sputtered out, “Alex?! Is it really you? What happened?” and turning toward the beds, I made my way over to the one I had been sleeping in. Hopping easily upward, I laid down and made myself confortable, even as Rei was still sputtering out question after question.
When I was finally confortable, I paused in reflection that I was clearly heavier then I had been when I was human and that the bed hadn’t even creaked when I leapt up onto it and could clearly support my new weight. Deciding that for the moment that was not really relevant, I looked at Rei and simply told her, “Hush.” and with an audible click, she closed her mouth, apparently content for the moment just to look at me as she drifted closer to her bed, where, after a couple attempts, she finally managed to sit down.
Gazing down at my legs, I adjusted them a bit. As I did this, I stated, “There is something I need to tell you, as I said a bit ago. But the first thing I suppose you should know is that I am no longer Alex. At least I still am but ain’t. It is all rather confusing because of what has happened, which I’ll get to in a moment. But, what I need you to understand right now is that my name is no longer Alex. For some reason, possibly because of the magick that transformed me, I know my name to be Reiko,” and gazing at the other girl, I waited a couple seconds to see if she would say anything.
When it became clear that she wasn’t going to say anything, apparently content to merely nod, I took a deep breath and pressed on. Searching for a proper way to begin, I finally settled on a point and started by telling her, “My was Alex. I was born male and though I never wanted to be a girl, I enjoyed dressing up and pretending to be one,” and seeing that Rei still wasn’t going to say anything, I pressed on.
For the next hour or so I explained how, in the world I came from, which I thought of as the real world, I explained my life and what I liked to do in private, especially when no one was about. I explained the strange white light that had drawn me into the computer. Finally, I explained the confusion I had felt since arriving in what I was sure was the world of Choose Your Own Change, the house that looked like the one my family went on holiday to one summer and the strange dream that I had had within and I ended my tale with my walk in the park, the men’s and woman’s toilet, the abandoned restaurant, the double egg prizes I’d received from the turn-style crank machines and how I had been transformed into a filly unicorn, “All, apparently, from just putting on a leotard and pair of underwear,” I stated as a form of conclusiveness and lapsing into silence, I waited, sure that Rei was either going to laugh, call me a freak, reject me, or do a combination of all three.
To my surprise, Rei did neither, but instead remained sitting silently on her bed, a look of thoughtfulness crossing her young face. After a moment, she whispered, “I knew you weren’t a girl,” so softly I almost missed what she said.
“WHAT?! I screamed, leaping from my bed and marching the couple steps to her bed, I glared at her and after a moment, sputtered, “All this time. You knew. You knew, and did nothing. You merely encouraged me to continue to dress in girl’s clothing. I suppose you are also responsible for my slow transformation to a girl?”
Tears falling now, she hiccupped a couple times as she attempted to say something. Finally, after taking a deep breath, Rei whispered, “Please don’t be mad. I saw you as a boy wearing girl’s clothing when you first appeared in the white room and what I thought you wanted was to be a girl,” and lapsing into silence, in which I continued to glare at her, torn between hating her and feeling sympathetic toward her because of her mistake, Rei simply continued to silently cry for a moment before finally saying, “I as well have a truth to tell you. Something that goes beyond my mistake upon meeting you in the white room.”
Confused, I sat back on my haunches and looked away, my mind suddenly in a right turmoil as I wondered what she had to say. After a moment, finding my anger leaving me, I returned to my bed and leapt back up. Making myself confortable once again, I glanced at Rei and simply stated, “Spill it.”
Still crying, she whispered, “I can understand you are angry at me,” to which I immediately cut her off by stating, “I am no longer angry. I feel that all truths should be present, as I just want to know your side of things and see if they can offer any other piece to the puzzle as to why I am here,” and waiting, I watched as the other girl continued crying for a bit longer before, finally, rubbing her eyes with the palms of her hands, took a deep breath and started to speak.
“What you call the world of Choose Your Own Change, what other’s call the realms of the Imagination, are but one level. What you call the Real World is another level. These levels go many levels deep and many levels high. I suppose you could say that what you might perceive as the real world isn’t and that there is another world beyond, where someone is sitting before a Macbook at this moment, typing what I am saying,
The first thing that you have to understand is that I do not come from what you classify as the Real World. Nor do I come from any world beyond it, if such worlds do exist. And if you want answers as to whether such worlds do exist, you’ll have to ask the one that recruited me, as it were. Meta-physics aren’t my strong point.
My strong point, usually, is being a guide and guessing correctly what is and isn’t what people want,” and pausing, she took a deep breath before standing, announcing she need a glass of water and heading for the sink, she drew herself a cup full before returning to the bed. As she did, Rei stated that for me to understand, she would have to tell me her whole story, “Or as much as I feel is relevant to tell,” she explained as she sat back down on her bed, put the cup of water on the stand between the two beds and shifted about until she was comfortable.
Lapsing into silence, Rei gazed off at nothing for a couple seconds before finally gathering her thoughts. Looking at me, she took a deep breath and continued her tale by stating, “I was born Rei Monotok and grew up in the ruins of the city of Blue Diamond.”
-----
It was just some time after the celebration of her thirteenth year that her parents disappeared. Rei knew she shouldn’t put too much thought into it, as most adults eventually disappeared. Some claimed it was Isis, Inari or Quondams, come back to enslave the people. Others claimed it was the Followers of Truth, the ones who had started the war, coming to abduct anyone over a certain years. Another group claimed that was poppycock, and that most adults either left the city or messed with whatever tech that was left over and were killed.
Whatever the cause, Rei found herself determined to find the cause. Just as she was firm in her decision that she wouldn’t wind up like the adults, despite the fact death was always a constant when survival was need on a regular basis when living in the ruins of what was once surely a great city.
Strong in this determination, Rei set out each day, dividing her time between finding food and other needs that would strengthen her chances of survival, and always keeping an ear open for some clue as to why her parents had simply vanished. This was off course difficult because there were certain places in Blue Diamond you didn’t go. Some of the buildings, mostly the taller ones, were in a state of high decay and simply weren’t structurally sound any more. Some, like Gregorskies School and certain hotels, were reported to be haunted and anyone who dared to trespass usually disappeared faster then Rei’s parents had vanished. Other places gangs had taken over, the sewers and abandoned tunnels under certain parts of the city, being popular choices.
Knowing this information, Rei always kept to the known areas she had been taught, but always had the nagging sensation that by doing so, she would miss something vital. And basing some of her conclusions on this belief, she decided that what she needed to do was to explore the out of bounds areas, being careful of the gangs in the sewers and tunnels, anything that might be hostile in the buildings that were supposed to be haunted, but avoiding the unsound buildings all together.
Weighing her choices, Rei eventually settled on exploring the buildings that were supposedly haunted first. Near the outskirts of the city, while was almost a full days walk, Rei knew that there was Gregorskies, but didn’t feel like starting with it. Instead, she decided to start her search with the buildings she had heard were haunted and choosing a nearby hotel, she steadied her nerves, located a way in through a busted window that led into the basement and slipping in, she dropped to the floor nearly fifteen feet straight down and waited. When it became clear that nothing was going to attack her, she began to make her way across the room, wary of the shadows and anything that might be lurking in them.
The room she was in, it turned out, had been apparently a room for storage as she found what appeared to be broken chairs and tables piled against one wall. Not having an interest in furniture, Rei passed them by and continued exploring. When she found a door leading out of the room, she paused. Glancing back toward the busted window, and then toward the pile of furniture, she formulated an idea. Taking several sound pieces of furniture, she piled them up in front of the window, made sure they would hold her and satisfied she had a way out if need be, she returned to the door she had discovered earlier.
Trying the handle, she found it didn’t turn really easy, but after a couple tries she managed to get the door open, the hinges making a squalling racket as she did so. Hoping that nobody had heard this, Rei stepped out of the room and into the hall on the other side. Pausing, listening, making sure she was indeed alone, Rei waited a couple minutes before glancing up and down the hall. Deciding to head left, she thought about closing the door, decided not to press her luck and instead began walking. Passing doors, she found herself curious as to what was beyond, but remembering the noise the one she had opened made, Rei found herself hesitant to attempt any other doors, but knowing that sooner or later, she would have to.
When she came to a flight of stairs going up, she once again stopped. Peering up the narrow stairwell, noting the steps appeared to be made of the stone her parents had called concrete, she pondered over what might await her by going up. Gritting her teeth, she whispered, “Either go up, go back and check the doors you passed or go back and leave via the way you came in. Just stop pussyfooting about.”
Finding strength in what she’d just told herself, Rei decided on a course of action and silently, she began moving up the stairs. When she reached the first floor, she found herself looking at a corridor stretching out before her and the stairs continuing upward. Deciding she didn’t want to go up any further for the moment, she began to walk silently down the corridor, coming to a pair of faded silver doors with a round window set into each that easily swung back and forth when she pressed on them.
As Rei stood there, pushing the doors open and watching as they swung back, sometimes swinging fully into the hall, she peered into the room beyond, curious as to what it had been used for at one time. After some time, unable to make any sense as to what she was seeing, she turned away and continued down the hallway, stopping every once and a bit to look through windows in doors, through doors that were open and, once, in a room with a desk, a large portion of the wall that was missing and allowed her a good view of what she was sure had been the main entrance at some point. When it became clear she wasn’t going to find anything on the first floor, she thought about returning to the stairs she’d come up and either returning to the basement or trying the next floor.
Back at the stairs she peered down and then up. After some thought, she told herself, “I’ll try the next to floors up. If I don’t find anything, I leave and go try the next building that is supposed to be haunted.”
Her resolve made up, Rei glanced one final time down the stairs before silently making her way up to the second floor.
When she reached the next floor, she paused and peered down the corridor, noting the amount of shadows and hoping that there wasn’t anything lurking about. Treading lightly, she began to walk down the hallway, stopping every once and a bit to either peer into the shadows or look at the floor, where she noticed the prints of animals in the dust. When she came to the first door in the corridor, she pressed against, tried the handle and when it didn’t budge, she figured she should have expected this and pressed on.
Several doors down, she discovered a room that was open and examining closer, Rei could see that it appeared that the door had been forced at some point and stepping past the threshold, she paused. Before her she could see what had been a bedroom at some point. But what sort, was beyond her understanding. A bed in the centre of the room looked have been the brunt of someone’s frustration and closer inspection revealed that the head and foot portions where all twisted up and the mattress was slashed in various places, exposing the springs and batting inside.
Turning away from the bed, Rei noted that the curtains apparently had been ripped from the wall and where the window used to be was now a gaping hole. About the only thing Rei could see that hadn’t suffered someone’s wrath was the dresser, with the mirror above it being the exception as it was now smashed, and approaching it, she immediately saw that there was something sitting on it.
As reached out to pick up whatever it was that was sitting on the dresser, a voice behind her said, “I wouldn’t do that,” and spinning around, Rei found herself staring at a girl, sitting on the ruined bed.
Staring at the girl, guessing her age must be around seven or eight, but the way she held herself made her seem so much more mature, Rei found it odd that the girl’s ears came to a point and that her short hair was rainbow coloured. As she also took in the fact that the girl’s eyes appeared to be shaded purple and that she was wearing a denim vest, a short-sleeve shirt underneath it that had a puffy white cloud with a rainbow coloured lighting bolt shooting out it, a denim pair of shorts and a pair of canvas high-tops, also rainbow coloured, the girl stated, “They aren’t meant for you.”
“Who are you?” Rei demanded as she took a step toward the door, sure that she could easily get away if need be, hoping this young girl had nobody with her.
Smiling, the girl stood and instead of answering the question, merely stated, “You don’t really have to fear me, Rei. I’m here because I am searching for someone and I think that someone is you.”
As Rei stared at the girl, thinking something was off, but unable to figure out what it was, she finally asked, “Why me?”
A shrug from the girl and taking a step closer to Rei, she peered closely, almost as if studying something she found interesting. After a moment, she asked, “If given a chance to something beyond the scope of your limited reality, would you take it? Say, if I was to ask you to be a guide for someone, use you best intuition for what is best for them and gently nudge them in the best direction possible, would you?”
Unsure how to take this, suddenly finding the conversation to taking a turn for the weird, Rei glanced at the door, back to the girl and shrugging, she stated, “I don’t know. I know I am good at guessing what it is a person needs and doesn’t need. It’s a great trait to have living in the ruins of Blue Diamond.”
Immediately the girl raised a hand, cutting Rei off before she could say anymore. Announcing, “I believe you are one of the one’s I am seeking,” she made a follow me gesture and started out of the room.
Again, the unsure feeling could be felt, almost overwhelming her, but after a moment, Rei followed the girl out of the room. As she walked down the corridor, following the younger girl, she mentally went over in her mind all she wanted to ask. After some time of deliberation, she asked, “Do you know where my parents went? Or for that matter, any of the adults that used to live in the ruins?”
A shrug from the girl and after some time, she simply stated, “I have my theories. Such as one might be something to do with those watches, like what you found on the dresser, which are really watches but something else. Another one involves the Followers of Truth, who are still a menace even though their deities are no more,” and as the girl lapsed into silence, Rei found herself puzzling over what she had been told, confused because she had been told all her life that the followers where no more and had left shortly after Isis and Inari.
Suddenly wanting to explain to the girl a flaw in her theory about the Followers of Truth, Rei was cut off before she could say anything when the girl, who still hadn’t said what her name was, stopped at the first door Rei had passed on the second floor. Reaching into the pocket of her shorts, the girl produced a flat piece of plastic, rainbow-coloured and sliding it through a metal piece on the door, Rei listened as something in the door clicked and watched as the girl pushed open the door and entered the room. Following, Rei paused some steps beyond, unable to process what she was seeing, sure that it was a trick or something.
Where the last room she had gone into had been in shambles, this one was still in one piece. Two beds where nearly made with comforters, sheets and matching pillowcases. The mirror about the dresser was intact and the dresser wasn’t missing any of the drawers. But what really caught Rei’s attention was when the girl walked over to an object in the corner, reached up and clicked on something, flooding the room with a soft, yellowish-white light.
Seeing that Rei was still standing by the door, the girl waved her in, telling her, “Come in. You are invited.” and stepping further into the room, barely giving it a second thought as the door slowly swung shut behind her, Rei watched as the girl went to a black cube set under one of the counters and opening it, announced, “Are you hungry? I know I am,” and then proceeded to draw more food than Rei saw in a week out of it,
When the girl bid for Rei to sit down, she was only to happy to as all that she was seeing was somehow to much to take in all at once. As she did sat down on the bed, the girl sat down next to her, folded herself up lotus style and dropping the food next to her, so that it was now between them, she made a motion that Rei was to help herself. As she did this, she stated, “My name, for the time being, is unimportant. I have a quest for you. It might take you a couple years. Or it might be instantaneously. I don’t really know. But what you should know is about a white room, one of your goals, the worlds we inhabit, and what you are to do once you reach the white room, which will probably be occupied.”
-----
Stopping her narrative, Rei gazed off for a couple of minutes and for a moment I was afraid she wouldn’t continue. After some time of silence, Rei looked at me and finally said, “After I was told that I was to be a guide to select people in the white room, and that I would know who because I would feel drawn to them, the girl explained that I was to offer them assistance. If they asked, I was to tell them I was drawn to the white room by a white flash, which had drawn me from where I’d been sitting before a computer into a world called Choose Your Own Change.
“After I’d been drawn to the person, and given them my fabricated story if they asked, for they weren’t meant to know my story until sometime after we’d journeyed beyond the white room, I was to use my instincts to tell me what they needed and what they didn’t need and assist them in any way I could. You were my first charge, as it were. And I managed to mess it up,” and looking away, she began to cry again.
Leaping down from the bed, I trotted over to her bed and climbing up, I snuggled up close to her. As I did, I commented, “Hey, hey. It’s all right. We all make mistakes. My mistake was falling for the lure of the magick of this realm. Now look at me,” and when she did, her eyes read and puffy, tears still running down her face, I stated, “I’ve been turned into a unicorn filly,” and leaping off the bed, I turned to her and said, “Now. I could either mope and cry about the poor choices I made. Or, I could accept that I made a bad decision. Or, in this case, wasn’t strong enough to avoid the lure of the magick. And go from there.”
A nod from Rei and leaning forward, she hugged me and whispered, “Thank you, Alex.”
Liking how comforting it felt to be of assistance and how it felt that we were growing closer emotionally, I nuzzled my head against her and replied, “It’s no problem. And, for the time being, could you call me Reiko? For some reason, it just doesn’t feel right for me to be called Alex anymore.”
Another nod from Rei and as she withdrew, she sniffed, rubbed her eyes and face and after cleaning herself off as best as she could with only her hands, she asked, “So what now?”
Sitting down on my haunches, I thought for a bit. After a moment, I replied, “I think we should find this girl that recruited you. She might be able to provide some answers and, hopefully in the process, we may find a way for me to return to my human, male self,” to which Rei offered another nod and then added, “I think I know a way out of this town and into another world of the realms of Imagination.” and standing, I nod and then say, “Lead the way.”