Portal (3 page)

My eyes focused in on a big blank screen on the wall opposite the bed, a flat screen TV. Cool! I noticed two doors on one wall. Could these be the
nightmare
doors that had monsters on the other side? I slowly walked over to the first door, opened it and peered inside. It was pitch black. I felt around for a light hoping not to lose my arm to a beast. I found the knob and turned it.

What a pleasant surprise. My own bathroom! Hey, I’m beginning to love this dream! It was small but had a shower, sink and toilet. Excellent, it was all clean and tidy; I would soon change that. I opened the cabinet under the sink and found sets of towels and extra toothpaste.

I walked over to the second door with more confidence and opened it. I was floored. Now I knew I was in a dream–a walk in closet. It was huge, at least three times the size of the bathroom. All the clothes were neatly hung; there were drawers and even shoe stands. But I didn’t recognize the clothes. I would have to inspect them later. First a shower, I stank.

I took off my muddy jeans and hoodie, threw them into the laundry basket and stepped into the hot spray of water. It felt so good, soothing my aching back. That ride must have been long, my muscles hurt. I shampooed and conditioned my hair and wrapped myself in the large,
pink
(I am not a pink girl!) towel that hung on the railing outside the cubicle before I stepped back into
my
room. I dried myself, located a comb on a very prissy-looking dressing table and sat down on the bed to untangle my hair.

I absentmindedly relived my last hockey goal, my very favorite pastime. It had been my finest moment on ice this season. I had broken loose and jammed the puck right through the goalie’s legs. I could still feel the amazement of both my teammates and the opponents – sweet!

As I idly glanced into the mirror at the far end of the room, I was jolted back into the present. Who was that staring back at me? I slowly walked over to the mirror and gazed into it. My hand wandered up to my hair, I pulled it. Ouch! It was attached to my head, but it couldn’t be mine! It was BLONDE…platinum blonde! I looked ridiculous. Straight, blonde hair. I looked like an awful Barbie doll. I pulled at it again, harder this time, willing myself to waken. It just hurt more as I pulled off a clump. I stared at it in my palm, feeling the strands with my fingers unbelievingly. I felt a sense of dread and lost control. I screamed.

“MOM!”

I ran out of my room, still wrapped in my towel and stumbled down the stairs, nearly tripping. Halfway down, I stopped. I held my breath.

This was a dream, it had to be. Stop with the hysterics and get hold of yourself, I told myself sternly. In the grand scheme of nightmares, blonde hair did not really qualify. I sat down, put my chin on my knees and felt my eyes getting heavy again. I went back to my room and looked in the mirror at blonde Barbie and laughed, possibly slightly hysterically, but hey…it was
blonde
!

When I heard Gertrude jump into bed, I turned around. Bed was the best place for dreams, so I climbed in beside her and buried my face into the familiar smelling pillow. Gertrude made herself comfortable nuzzling up against my legs and fell asleep. I listened to her comforting snores until my mind blanked.

I woke to the sound of more rain clattering against the bedroom window. I was happy to be awake, the dream/nightmare now behind me. It had felt so real. I had sort of enjoyed having my own walk-in closet and en suite bathroom. However, I was glad to be awake again and back to reality.

The SAT’s must have really tired me out, especially since I didn’t sleep much the night before. I was mad that I had slept right though my movie date with the girls. I better give them a call and apologize. Today was going to be busy – hockey practice in the afternoon followed by a birthday party. It was Darren’s birthday; he’s one of my teammates. I don’t like him much, but decided that I had to go anyway. I just would go, hand him his present and then hang out with Will and Justin. I had actually totally forgotten to pick up an iTunes card for him, better do that soon. I guess it was time to get up.

I sat up and turned to put my feet on the floor but immediately pulled them back on the bed in horror. The floor was cold and hard! It didn’t feel like my blue-carpeted bedroom floor, which is always warm. I looked down and saw a stone floor. This was not my room.

I sighed, back to this old nightmare again? Surely I couldn’t possibly still be dreaming unless I had been in a nasty accident and was in some kind of coma. This looked too real, felt too real. I looked around. At least things were consistent. I was in the same room as last night. I slid my feet into the flip flops conveniently waiting by the bed and hurried into the bathroom where I splashed cold water on my face hoping that would force reality back into my life. No such luck.

When I looked up into the mirror, Barbie stared back at me. I struggled to remain calm. I tried holding my breath, unsuccessfully, and instead gave in to full blown panic. I screamed at the top of my lungs and collapsed on to the floor in a bundle.

Ella came rushing into my room with her mouth opening wide as she saw me on the floor and just as quickly, she turned around and vanished. She returned back with Mom who ran over and tried putting her arms around me.

I struggled out of her grip and yelled hysterically, “I hate you, leave me alone!” I could tell she was shocked but she let go.

“Ollie, what’s going on?”

It was a male voice, no doubt the stranger from yesterday.

“I’m not sure, Rupert. Arizona seems very upset about something,” said Mom with an edge to her voice.

Rupert
came over and sat down beside me on the floor. “Arizona, whatever it is, we’ll sort it out. You do need to tell us what’s going on though so we can help you.”

I struggled to calm down. A thousand questions were thrashing around in my head; just one came flying out my mouth.

“Why is my hair blonde?”

There was a dead silence in the room as everyone absorbed my words. They’d clearly not expected this particular one. I could hear muffled giggling noises coming from my annoying sister. I wanted to turn around and hit her. Mom took hold of Ella’s hand and gave her
the
look
. It just made Ella giggle more and she turned and fled from the room, exploding into laughter right outside the door. Mom sighed and tried to remain seriously concerned, I could see that she was as bemused as Ella.

“Arizona, you’ve had it blonde for at least five years now. What’s the matter? Do you want to change the color back? It’s really no big deal.”

It was totally clear that I was making no sense whatsoever to the people around me. I needed to be more careful or they would think I was completely mad. I really couldn’t risk being sent off to a psych unit. So, I clenched my teeth to stop them from talking, stood up and walked over to my bed.

“I guess I’m just tired and I do have a headache. Can you leave me alone for a bit?”

Rupert and Mom nodded as they left my room. Mom turned around to remind me to come down for breakfast.

I sat down on the bed and stared at the wall, the wall with the flat screen TV. I wasn’t sure what to make of all this. Mom is my mom, same bossy person. Ella is still annoying and Gertrude does not seem to be the least bit worried.

Where did this
Rupert
come from? Could he be Mom’s new boyfriend? Gross! And where was Dad? I would do what I always did in difficult situations, what my Dad always did
– nothing
. I would wait this out, whatever it was.

I lay down, looking up at the ceiling until the smell of maple-covered bacon seeped into the room sending Gertrude into a frenzy. She darted over to my closed bedroom door, whining to be let out. The bacon smell was followed by a whiff of cinnamon. I opened the door and Gertrude shot out and scrambled down the stairs.

The mouthwatering aroma was strong, my stomach grumbled. I decided that I was perfectly capable of
doing nothing
and eating at the same time. I quickly grabbed my dirty jeans and hoodie from the laundry basket, put them on and went to get Ella from her bedroom.

Ella looked at me in disgust. “Arizona, those clothes smell.”

I ignored her, grabbed her arm and led her down the stairs.

As we walked down, I noticed large pieces of framed artwork, Mom’s digital art. The giant hallway from last night came into view. It was covered in framed black-and-white photos. I’d need to take a closer look later. I followed Ella into the kitchen and into a scene out of the
Brady Bunch
– perfect domestic bliss. There were Mom and
Dad
preparing breakfast together.

There was another person in the kitchen. She was standing by the refrigerator with her back to me. She turned as she closed the refrigerator door. I did a double take. It couldn’t be, but it was–
Grandma
! I was overcome with emotion again, so unlike me. Tears started streaming down my face. I brushed them away hastily before anyone would notice. My grandma had passed away a few years ago, how could this be? Whatever the explanation was, this was the best ever. I rushed over and hugged her.

“Are you ok, Arizona?” Grandma whispered as she wiped the escaped tears drops off my cheeks.

“I think you must be coming down with something, Arizona. You seem overly emotional today,” offered Mom unhelpfully.

“Sit down, kids and help yourselves,” said Rupert.

I sat down between Ella and Grandma and found myself helping Ella select items to put on her plate – bacon, eggs and pancakes. This was extremely unlike me. Maybe I was coming down with something. My hand then decided to pat Ella’s head. I didn’t seem to have control of my emotions or body parts by the look of things.

There was nothing wrong with my appetite though. I helped myself to bacon, cinnamon rolls and hot chocolate and ate without a sound. Gertrude, who had finished her own bowl of bacon, sat by my feet staring at me, hoping for stray bits to hit the floor. Mom and Rupert joined us at the table and proceeded to chatter endlessly about mundane stuff. Rupert had his arm laid comfortably over the back of Mom’s chair. They seemed very close. I had never seen her like this with Dad. It made me angry but I ignored it by concentrating my attentions on Grandma.

Most of all, I just liked listening to my grandma’s voice. I had really missed her wicked sense of humor. She had apparently just returned from London where she’d been vacationing for a few weeks so she recounted tales from her vacation, the wonderful shopping and sights. I recognized places and names she mentioned–Wimbledon, Harrods, Harriet, Mortimer, Paddington… all very familiar. I gathered that she lived nearby and that we were to go over to her house for lunch next week. I was so happy to see her; I reached for her shoulders and squeezed them.

Once breakfast was over, I excused myself and went back to my room. I needed time to think. Closing the bedroom door behind me, I looked for my most important gadget, my cell phone. I had to talk to
my
dad and my friends.

There was an orange leather bag sitting on the couch next to the prissy dressing table. I picked it up and unzipped it.
Hermès
, not surprisingly, as my mother is a fan and is always trying to get me hooked on the brand. I found a wallet (Hermès again), credit cards, some cash and a driver’s license. I looked at it closely. It was a California license with my photograph (the Barbie version). I looked for my name, but found the name Arizona
Darley
instead. Who’s Arizona
Darley
? This was really strange.

I found a cell phone in the bag, my iPhone, which was comforting. Well, that’s until I checked my contacts, music and applications. Someone had messed with it. I didn’t recognize most of my contacts but I did notice Simla and Justin in there though. I had a look at my favorites: Mom, Dad, Harry, Ella, Kellan, Ali, and Maria. Who were these people (apart from Mom, Dad and Ella of course)?

I decided to give Dad a call first. I needed some answers. So, I clicked on
Dad
and waited for him to pick up. A man answered on the second ring. It wasn’t my dad but I recognized the voice. It was Rupert. I disconnected quickly but he called me right back.

“Arizona, you called?”

“Just pressed your name by mistake, sorry,” I said apologetically.

“Come downstairs, Grandma is leaving soon,” he said as he turned off his phone.

I tapped my dad’s cell number into my phone and hit
dial
. It went straight through to an automated message telling me that the number was not in service. I have to try his office later, I thought to myself as I heard the loud honking of a car and went to investigate out the window. It was a taxi to take Grandma home. I rushed down stairs to hug her goodbye.

As I walked back upstairs, I stole a glance at the various photographs on the wall. It was mostly pictures of me with Mom and Ella. Most of the pictures also included Rupert and a boy I didn’t recognize. These were mostly staged photographs taken during vacations (I recognized Paris and London) and artsy shots. I guess Mom was still into her digital photography thing. I looked so different in these photos, always smiling and not a blonde hair out of place.