THE MOMENT
"There's nothing to be scared of...," Mikey reminded himself between deep breaths. He stood on the front step of the old, abandoned house in the middle of the afternoon. There had been signs of activity in the house the night before. He and his friends saw the lights come on and shadows moving between rooms. It was quickly decided that one of them should go, then it was decided he was the brave one. None of them were brave enough to go during the night; but, he hoped trespassing during daylight hours would be less scary somehow.
His three best friends walked up to the house with him; but, they scattered as soon as he pushed open the creaky gate. He walked along the overgrown path and reached the door where he paused long enough to gather his courage. He knocked, then waited. No one answered. He knocked and waited again, but there was still no answer.
"GO INSIDE!" one of his friends called out from his hiding spot.
"I'm going, I'm going...," Mikey mumbled to himself and twisted the knob. It was unlocked and the door slid open. If he was wiser, or maybe if he had gotten more sleep the previous night, he might have had the presence of mind to consider what he was doing. But, at 14 years old all he needed to know was his friends dared him to. They kept him up late discussing all the horrible things he might discover in the house.
"HELLO??!" Mikey called out. If there was anyone in the two-story house, he wanted them to know he was in the house too. The foyer led to a dusty, dim living room. Beige blinds covered the windows and left stripes of sunlight on the coffee table and the dishes left behind. There were two empty mugs on the table along with a silver platter still half-full of cookies and a deck of cards.
"Maybe…," Mikey picked up the white deck and studied it. It was solid white with a red scissor logo. He had never seen the logo before, but the deck looked brand new. The box didn't have the same build up of dust as the rest of the table. "Nah, too new," he decided. His friends saw him enter the house, but he still needed 'proof' of his bravery. He held on to the deck but moved into the kitchen through a swinging door.
"Hello?!" he called out again as soon as he saw the table. Two full, brown paper grocery bags sat on the small round table. He stepped closer to the groceries when no one answered; a glass quart of chocolate milk was wet with condensation. He touched it and it was still cold.
"Uh oh," Mikey had the clear realization that someone had been there recently. He didn't know who they were or why they were there, but he knew he did not belong there. He left the kitchen right away. As soon as he was through the door and it swung once, he heard a voice.
"Hello? Is someone there?" a girl's voice came from the kitchen. Mikey froze, he was unsure what to do. He heard the door swing open again behind him.
"Hi, I'm sorry. Do you live here? I thought it was abandoned." It was a teenage girl with long silver hair carrying another bag of groceries.
"Who are you? Where did you come from?" Mikey asked. He didn't hear a door open and there was no other way for her to be in the kitchen.
"Hold on," she smiled then disappeared into the kitchen. Then, she came out without the grocery bag. "My name's Emily, and I came in through a portal." she threw a black card at the wall when she said 'portal'. It opened a black hole on the wall that was tall enough to walk through.
"What?" Mikey was at a loss. He was mentally prepared for a family of cannibals. Maybe vampires or plain old murderers. Instead, he found a friendly teenager that looked about his age. And, she was somehow able to create portals from somewhere. As he tried to gather his wits, he remembered why he was there at all.
"Were you here last night?" he asked. "Are you a runaway?"
"I was here last night," Emily nodded first. Then, she shook her head. "I'm not a runaway. My school is having a big Halloween party at the end of the month," she said. "I'm scouting locations. This place is plenty spooky, you don't live here, right?"
"No one does," Mikey shook his head. The fact that she was there past sunset spoke to her bravery. Her calmness helped put him at ease too.
“Great!” Emily grinned. “Do me a favor please,” she said. She moved closer to Mikey and offered him a transparent glass card.
“Sure,” he accepted the card and looked it over. The time appeared on the display as soon as he touched it.
“That’s a node,” Emily said. “It’s like a smartphone. Learn how to use it and let me know if someone buys this place before Halloween.”
“Okay,” Mikey nodded. He didn’t know what else to say but he had dozens of questions forming in his mind. “What school do you go to?” he asked. It was the first question he managed to find the words for. She was about his age, but there was only one high school in the small town. He hadn’t seen her anywhere on campus and there was no talk of a Halloween party.
“You probably haven’t heard of it,” Emily replied. “It’s called Toku-high,” she added.
“I haven’t,” Mickey shook his head. "Where's that?”
“It’s in a different universe,” Emily replied. She took a step into the portal on the wall. “..and I’ve got to get back.”
“A … different universe??” Mickey asked. “Wait! What’s it like?” The portal began to close with Emily on the other side. She winked at him.
“Bring your friends to the party on Halloween night,” she said. “You’ll find out.”