I. Inside Looking Out

Her mind would take her to wherever she wanted to go. The power of her imagination exceeded that of a normal person’s.

When Elise closed her eyes she could no longer feel the physical conditions surrounding her body. The shimmering heat waves didn’t affect her any more, and the sounds of children screaming in excitement fell upon deaf ears. Elise couldn’t feel the hard wood of the bench beneath her nor the soft breeze that would have normally tickled her skin.

Instead, her mind made up a fake body that could feel the atmosphere of her mind. It was as if she had a new body that lived in her imagination.

Elise could feel her eyelids lifting, and she was standing exactly where she wanted to be. She had left the park behind her, but the people in the park could still see her. They glanced over every so often to see her sitting with her eyes closed, and they thought she was sleeping. Maybe she was in their world, but not in her own.

The sky was a steel blue color covered by iron clouds that threatened to pour buckets and buckets of raindrops. The grass was yellow and almost dead, first from being caught in a drought, and then from being flooded. The tree branches hadn’t produced any leaves yet, but if any had sprouted, they would have been blown off by the relentless wind.

This is what she wanted. If the one person that mattered to her had left her, the world should have at least taken notice! After a week of clouds and cold weather, the sun was finally visiting. She knew it came just to mock her as if daring her to stay in a bad mood when the weather was so wonderful. The feeling of happiness spread like wildfire among all of her peers, and probably the whole damn city, but no one seemed to notice that she wasn’t happy.

At least here, the weather felt her anger, her disappointment, her hurt… The sad sky sympathized with her broken heart, ready to let the tears fall because on the outside world Elise would not cry. The raging gusts of wind here blew her hair back and released the anger that she could not tell anyone about.

Oh, Elise had wanted to tell people, but no one ever seemed to notice that her life was less than perfect. Her peers knew when she had gone through a rough day, but it would always be okay. Why bother asking when Elise was a perfectly capable person?

They wondered what kind of problems Elise could have. They would make excuses as to why there was no real problem.

“She has amazing grades, and takes part in at least eight extracurricular activities.”

“She’s a gymnast, and she almost always wins at the high school meets.”

“Elise will never have to work because her parents can pay for everything that she wants or needs.”

“She is liked by our whole school. At least no one really hates her, and that’s what is important.”

The list seemed to go on and on. Their final conclusion was that it was probably nothing or PMS.

If someone would have asked her what was wrong, she may have found the courage to tell him or her, but that didn’t matter because no one ever asked. Things look different from the outside in.

On the inside looking out, Elise walked slowly around this cold, damp, environment. A part of her wanted to lie down and cry, but why do that when she could make her surroundings cry for her? She walked around numbly before sitting in front of a small river.

There grass was conveniently soft, but it was still wet because that’s how Elise had imagined it, how she had wanted it to be. Because of these conditions she would have preferred to sit atop of a large rock instead, and so one appeared seconds after she had wished it.

Elise sat there gazing at herself. This body looked just like the one she had left behind her in the other world, what she now called the “outside world” only to herself. She was petite with a muscular build. (Those gymnasts had to be in good shape.) She had straight, dark hair that fell slightly below her waist. Elise was tan, and being of an Asian heritage, her skin could be referred to as “yellow”, but she hated that color being used to describe her skin tone just as she hated people cooing over her tiny feet. Sure, it was attention, but she figured that she could live without people stating the obvious.

Elise lost her train of thought when she realized someone tapping her shoulder… She looked around wildly, wondering how someone could have gotten to her inside world. No one was there.

Suddenly, the chilled air turned warm, and she shifted back into her real body. In the outside world someone had been tapping her. The two realities had gotten blurred together, but now she was back at the park where she could interact with everyone.

“Mrs. Leigh?”

The lady who had been trying to wake her up now had an odd expression of dreaminess on her face. Then she shivered and greeted Elise.

“Oh hi, honey! Excuse me; I just got the chills… Anyways, I’m sorry to disturb your little nap, but it looks like it’s going to start raining any time. I thought you’d want to know so that you could get home before the storm hits.”

Elise’s eyes rolled upwards to see black clouds rolling in over the horizon. Mrs. Leigh was right. She had to get home.

“Thank you very much! I appreciate it. Well, I guess I had better get started home. Bye now.”

“Bye sweetie! Take care!”

Elise slammed the car door of her little Mazda Miata shut, and she unlocked the door to her house before scurrying up the stairs to get to her room. A few seconds after she sat down on her bed, lightning flashed through the sky and the drops began to fall. She had made it just in time.

No one was home, and she hated thunderstorms. She dug the flashlight out from under her bed just in case the power might go out and she called her dog into her room. The pudgy little cocker spaniel came waddling in, and laid herself on Elise’s lap.

Although Elise couldn’t talk to her peers about what had went on recently, her dog, Maggie, was always there to listen.

“Maggie, baby. You remember James, don’t you? Yeah, you liked him, didn’t you? He came over yesterday and you went to go and play with him. Yes, you did. He’s sweet, isn’t he?” But Elise decided that she didn’t want to finish this one sided conversation with her dog. When her talking ceased, she could hear the pitter-patter of the rain and the thunder.

Elise commanded, “Come on, Maggie. Let’s get up off of the floor. Come on, princess; get off of my lap… That’s a good girl!”

Maggie’s little stump of a tail wagged as she licked Elise’s hand with affection. Elise smiled and suggested, “Hey Maggie girl, let’s take a nap. You and I can cuddle and forget about the storm and all the strange things that have been going on.”

Elise’s hand patted the bed, and said, “All right, Maggie! Come up, and we’ll be set.” The dog obeyed, and in a few minutes they were both sound asleep.

This time when Elise left her body behind, her mind wrapped her in a soft darkness that allowed her a blissful time of not having to think.

A/N: Wow, this was something totally random that came to me, I hope you like it! Reviews are always welcome. .

Born Mistake: Thanks for the review already! You make me feel quite special indeed, and guilty… I’m glad you enjoyed my “Marriage vs. Murder” story. . It’s just I seem to have lost inspiration for it; I know what’s going to happen, but I need something fabulous to kick start everything off! (And a refresher of how each of my characters should act… sweat drop) But no need to worry, I will finish it… eventually, lol.