Devin

"You have your stuff, right?"

"Yes." I groaned. "Can I get going?"

"Call us when your settled."

"If I have to."

"Stay safe! Don't get hurt." My mom pleaded.

"I will. Now I'm going." I clarified walking over to the blue glow of the portal.

"Wait!"

"Dad not you too."

"Don't break my car." He warned, tossing me the keys.

"Wasn't planning on it." I called picking up Mercedes and pulling boxes through the portal. Once on the other side I shoved the boxes into the trunk of my dad's pick-up and several minutes later, everything was piled on. I brought my cat up to the front seat and drove off through the city using Google Maps to find my way to P386 portal.

The portal was in a large parking garage that housed about three other portals, but the one I needed to go through was on the third level. I winded through the concrete monstrosity until I reached level three. I found a parking spot and turned off the engine. There were about 20 parked cars, but they all looked like they haven't been driven in a VERY long time. Since people spend most of their lives inside one realm or another, the cars in the city sit idle for most of their lives.

I restarted the tedious task of unloading all the boxes, moving them through the portal and trying to figure out where I wanted to settle for the beginning months. I knew the general area I wanted to live, but I was never good with maps, so finding it may be a challenge. After an hour of wandering around, looking like an idiot, I found a nice place in the forest to unpack. It was a little secluded, but if you build it, they will come.

After another couple hours, everything was unpacked and in the correct place, Mercedes was sleeping on a box and I started to wander around, looking for food. I didn't find much, only some mushrooms and berries, but it would do. I walked back to my campsite only to find someone rummaging through my stuff.

"Hey!" I yelled. The figure jumped and slammed the lid of the box. "Why are you going through my stuff!"

"You live here?" As I walked closer, the figure came into focus. It looked to be a girl, around my age, with long blonde hair wearing tattered jean shorts and a cropped top. "I thought this was remnants of my camp, sorry."

"It's all good." I reassured.

"Are you new here? I don't recognize you." She stated.

"Yeah. I just came in today."

"If you want, you can come to dinner with me and everybody on the south side. We're all pretty close and think you should join." She offered. I was baffled by her offer. Why would she want me to tag along?

"Sure, I'll come along. Are you sure it won't be weird?"

"Nah. They love new people. By the way, I'm Lizzy."

"Devin" I replied. "So where should I meet you guys?"

"Uh...walk east from here, and when you see a big white and purple building, that's where we'll be at, like, 6:00 or something. Also, did you happen to bring any cheesecake?"

"Not that I'm aware of." I answered.

"Darn, no one ever has any cheesecake. Well, I'll get out of your hair, see you later."

"See you later." I echoed as she left. I checked my watch. 4:26. I figured I might as well get some work done.

/-/

Around 5:45 I started my walk over to Lizzy's place. Mercedes was still doing her favorite activity, sleeping, so I figured I could just leave her at the campsite. She was never one to wander, so I knew she would be OK.

After hiking through the forest for a bit, I stumbled upon the white and purple building Lizzy was talking about, and it was magnificent! There were swirls and loops outlined with shades of crème and somehow a whiter white and the purple cloth draped beautifully over the walls. The entrance didn't look finished, but it was more finished than the rest of the building. Scaffolding and wooden beams littered the area around the partly finished bit. I admired the architecture for a bit longer, but I remembered what I came here for and awkwardly went inside.

I wandered around the building, but I couldn't find Lizzy, or anyone for that measure. I didn't have her number so I couldn't call her, so I just kept wandering around the unfinished castle.

"Devin there you are!" A voice said behind me. I whipped around and saw Steven, the man-bun guy from orientation.

"Oh, hey." I replied.

"Did you come for the BBQ?"

"Uhh.. Yes?" I answered, confused. I thought only south side would be here. Or did Steven live in south side?

"Were out back." I followed him up to a door and we stepped outside.

"You get lost or something?" Lizzy joked, standing by an open grill.

"Yeah. Kinda... Food smells good." I said changing the subject from my own stupidity.

"Thanks!" Lizzy through open the grill top to reveal a roasting chicken. She turned the food over and let it continue cooking.

"INCOMEING!" Somebody yelled. I looked up and right then a person dropped in from the sky and landed in a sprint, then tripping on a root and falling face-first onto the ground.

"Nice landing! Way to make an entrance!" Steven cheered pulling the guy up from the ground.

"Let's just pretend that I planned that." He said, brushing himself off. Wow, he's cute. What? Why am I thinking that? STOP!

"H-hi." Quit stuttering you idiot!

"Hey" He replied. "I'm Benjamin, but never call me that, call me Ben. You?" I stood in front of him, trying to remember my own name. What was it again? Oh yeah.

"Devin" I stood staring at him for much too long to be considered 'normal.'

"How are you doing, Liz?" Ben said moving away from me. I sighed and realized that I was holding my breath the whole time. We chatted for a bit about nothing. It was mostly. 'Chicken smells good.' 'Thanks' 'How was your day?' 'Good.' No real topics. When the food was finished and taken off the grill, silence fell over us and we nearly inhaled the delicious food.

"This is amazing!" I complimented.

"The perks of living in southside." Ben added. "You get to mooch off Liz's food."

"In your case, everyone's food." Steven joked.

"It's not like you don't do that also!" Ben returned.

"I do it less than you." Steven fired back, stifling a laugh.

"I'm just sitting here watching this whole thing go down." I commentated.

"Well ANYWAY." Lizzy interrupted with a laugh. "Let's try not to scare away the newcomer."

"Oh no I'm very intrigued." I piped up.

"So, which realm did you grow up in?" Steven asked, changing the subject.

"C3. It was nice, but it was really small."

"I heard it was really small, but I wouldn't know. I've never been." Steven replied.

"Yeah. We both went to C5." Ben added.

"Did you guys know each other before this?" I said.

"I think we met each other Junior year?" Ben questioned.

"4th period science class. Mr. Whiting put us together for a group project or something."

"Ah, the good old days."

"I was never close with anyone in high school. I was pretty quiet so I can't blame them." I contributed.

"I don't remember learning anything in high school. I just remember being on the dance team and doing pointless fundraisers." Lizzy explained.

"The true high school experience." Ben responded.

You would be amazed to see how long four people can talk about high school. Ben was more on the nerdy side; he was in the AC classes and such, but still had a social life. Steven didn't care much about school; he wasn't good at it and knew what he wanted to do with his life, be an architect.(Let's just pretend architecture doesn't rely on math) Lizzy, on the other hand, was one of the "popular girls" not mean-popular but friendly-popular. She was friends with everyone (mostly) and lived those years doing clubs and what not. As for me, I laid low, did what I was supposed to do, and drew as little attention to me as possible.

For the most part, we all clicked like a puzzle. Conversation came easy and we only broke apart because if it got dark, there was no way I would be able to find my way back to my camp.

"So, what do you live by?" Ben inquired. I shrugged at his question.

"Somewhere in the woods, kind of near the coast."

"Weirdo Woods." Lizzy clarified.

"Ohhh there." The guys expressed.

"Hey!"

"It's not you." Lizzy reported. "A couple months ago, a new guy joined the realm, and he settled in southside. The thing was, he was 60 or something! It was like my grandpa joined us. We met on the first night, he said he was building an underground bunker. He moved in it the next day, and we've never seen him since."

"Creepy."

"The records say he is still in the realm." Ben defined. "He must be still underground in those woods." We all stood in silence, contemplating the story of Weirdo Woods.

"I think he died down there."

"Steven!" Lizzy barked.

"Is it NOT a possibility?" He questioned.

"Well I gotta head back." I said, breaking the silence.

"See you around!" Lizzy waved. Steven went left, I went right, and I saw Ben trailing behind me. I slowed my pace, so we were walking next to each other.

"If you want, you can crash at my place." Ben offered.

"Oh, no thanks. I wouldn't want to get in your way."

"It's no problem. Are you sure?"

"Yeah. It's no big deal. And anyways I gotta take care of my cat."

"Oh. Your cat person." Ben judged. "I'm kidding. I love cats. My dog on the other hand..." He trailed off.

"I also really like dogs. And cats. I'm an animal person. What breed do you have?"

"He's a Border Collie; name's Ziggy. What about you cat?"

"She's a Russian Blue named Mercedes."

"I've never heard of that breed. Sounds cute though." We kept walking and talking about our pets until we came upon a small modern house.

"This is mine." Ben stated, breaking away.

"It's beautiful!" I applauded, looking up at the nearly perfect build.

"Thanks." He smiled. "See you 'round."

"See you." I echoed, continuing to walk straight. I noticed a smile stretching across my face. Ben was such a nice guy; it was so nice talking to him. I made my way back to my camp, but by the time I was 'home' it was already pitch black.

"How you doing, M?" I said to Mercedes as she stretched on top of the same box she has been sleeping on for the past couple hours. "Hard day, huh. Yeah, it's hard to be a cat where everything you would ever need is given to you for free." I sarcastically replied. She gracefully jumped off the box and rubbed up against my legs. I picked the kitty up and kissed her little head. "I hope you don't have a problem with dogs." Mercedes wiggled out of my grasp and jumped down to ground. "Seriously, M. Don't mess this up."

WOW! That was a looooong chapter. 1,914 words to be exact. I didn't plan it to be so long, but too late now. I still like it and I hope you guys to. Also, about Weirdo Woods, I made that up right on the spot and I actually kinda like it. Improv for the win. See you guys on the other side!

Love y'all!

-Kio