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Chapter Seven

A sea of nausea washed over me in vicious tides from the journey to the Human Realm. The path was much like a wind tunnel, pulling me through vehemently and allowing absolutely no possibility of turning back. While within, time seemed to stretch on endlessly and though I am not entirely certain of just how much actually progressed, it felt as though days had crawled by before I reached the Realm of humans.
I stood alone in a dark, trashed, and frigid room; the curtains had been drawn and I was taken aback to see that every light bulb had been taken out of their respective sockets and smashed to pieces upon the tarnished, dull, blue-green carpeted floor – or whatever part of the floor that wasn’t completely covered in articles of clothing, art supplies, books, etc. The room was quite large, however, there was a queen-sized bed pushed against the south wall that claimed a good amount of the floor space. The walls were painted in a feminine lavender hue; I contemplated a minute about the choice of color scheme. Without further deliberation, I crossed the floor charily, hopping over pencils and t-shirts, shattered glass and graphite shavings until I reached the bed where I immediately collapsed. My body swayed about as the bed sloshed and rippled and I grinned in silence until I whispered to myself, ‘A water bed…’.
I began to wonder about the location of my human when abruptly the door swung open with wild force and in stormed a young woman, looking to be the age of sixteen. Startled, I sat up, my heart racing lightly until I willed it to calm.

“Who the fuck are you?!” The human demanded in a shout, and I took her in slowly. Deep chocolate-brown hair, slightly golden-tan skin and hazel eyes with the smallest amount of a grey tint – as far as descriptions go, this was my human.
“ Who am I? I’m your friend! You can call me Thalia.” I offered with the warmest smile. The girl scoffed.
“I don’t have any friends…” Slipping the book bag off her shoulders, she shuffled through the debris that dominated her floor and flopped face first upon her bed. “… Name’s Nikola.”
“Oh, surely you have friends, Nikola.” I insisted while continuing my observation of her. Her style of dress was depressing: over sized clothes that hid her body from any discovery and deprived her of compliment opportunities. Her aura, dead as it was, screamed low self-esteem and self-hatred, but most of all it cried out for companionship. I realized now why I had been assigned to her.
“I really don’t.” Her words came out flat, muffled by her pillows.
“You say that now. I’ll make a bet with you,” I tugged on the bagginess of the tent of a hoodie she wore. “I’ll find people among your peer group that consider you a friend. If I do, you have to promise me you’ll open up a bit. Deal?” There was a long silence between us as I sat staring at her, waiting for her response. Groaning, she rolled onto her side and peered into my eyes with the slightest irritation, however, the emotion of hope glimmered powerfully over her moodiness. Something was strange between us, though; she looked at me as if the two of us had met beforehand.
“Seriously, who the hell are you… are you like a ghost or something?” With this, she reached out slowly and cautiously, poking me hard about the shoulder. “An angel? The devil…?”
“I promise, I’m nothing more than a friend. I’m here to help you…” As I rubbed my shoulder I stared at her, her deportment growing stranger by the second. “What makes you think I’m a ghost, angel or demon?”
“Because you keep showing up in my dreams.”

Chapter Eight

Every time I believed that I had made steps forward regarding my friendship with Nikola, she proved that this would not be an easy task. She was increasingly morose no matter the circumstance and nothing I said or did would amend this. Matters were only made worse by her acute mood swings, ranging from the lowest of lows to the highest highs. I was a failure as a friend to her, as I was failing the Alter Realm.
“I wish I was of use to you…” I sighed to her one morning while trailing her to school. The air was crisp yet warm as it had just begun to creep into the summer season merely a month prior. Digging her fists deep into the pockets of her jeans, Nikola tilted her head slightly to look at me.
“What do you mean by that?” Her voice was a whisper; her volume decreased with her will to live, just as the color in her eyes and cheeks faded more and more with the passing days.
“I mean I wish I could take your pain away from you. I want you to be happy.”
“Happiness is an illusion people want to believe in, even if it was only made up. It’s false… like Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny.”
“Santa Claus?” I asked, my brow furrowing in confusion.
“Never mind…” Nikola sighed heavily, the school just peeking into view.

After relentless pleading, she at last allowed me to have my first experience of human school. She was bewildered that I wished to be subjected to the stresses she had constantly, arguing as adamantly as I until she grew tired of my pleas. Calculating the likelihood of my presence holding a detriment to her, it would seem the odds were in my favor – this would be the last week of school, which consequently meant little to no disadvantages.

Within the walls of the school, it was terribly muggy, noisy and crowded with the most human beings I have ever seen held in one area. Many were shouting down the length of hallways, running freely, lingering in doorways of classroom or lounging upon the staircases. I was immediately overwhelmed and we hardly stepped further than the foyer!
“You see now,” Nikola muttered to me under her breath. “Why I hate this place?”

Throughout the course of the day, I was Nikola’s shadow, following her from class to class, amazed at how diverse the Human Realm was proven to be. There were no chambers to segregate elements, no beasts to patrol corridors – albeit there were what the human youth called the hall monitors within the school to ensure no cutting of class – and no wandering doorways. Here in the Human Realm, I felt alive as though I never knew the true meaning of the term.
It was around two thirty in the afternoon that the intensity of the school’s atmosphere increased dramatically. Each time I found myself spying on Nikola’s actions, her eyes would drift towards the clock, linger a moment, then drop to her desk in dismay.
“You seem very uncomfortable.” I murmured softly. She didn’t offer any reply to me, in fact she refused to look in my direction. Earlier in the day, this came as a shock to me that I had suddenly ceased to exist to her, however, at this point, it had become familiar.
“… You said this morning that you wished you could take my pain away.” She whispered suddenly, her eyes still glued to a spot on her desk.
“Yes? What about that?”
“Is it possible…?”
“Only if you want it to.” I watched her, recognizing the appearance of vacillation in her expression. “I’m here for your benefit, Nikola.”

The bell rang for the release of school and students flew out of their seats to rush the door. Nikola, however, stayed in her seat, still burning the spot on her table with her gaze.
“I want your help…” She whispered, clutching the sides of her seat tightly. 

It wasn’t until now that I realized how deep her pain truly was.