On The Other Side

Chapter 008: Strange Events

                "You've arrived." the monster bellowed in a rough voice. Eli glared at the monster through slitted eyes. "Wait here." he told Mi-Ok and Hyun-Ki before turning around and entering the room, shutting the door behind him. "You must be Eli." the monster said in a more quiet tone than before, which Eli figured meant that it didn't want the others to overhear their conversation, either. "How do you know my name?" Eli asked. "I've heard a lot about you from him." "'Him'?" "The one who created this world, and who brought you here." Eli's widened. If what the monster was saying was true, that would mean that Eli's theory was most likely correct. The theory that he had wished was false more than anything, could possibly be the truth that Eli wanted to ignore, as if doing that would make it disappear. "You don't mean-" "Yes." the monster interrupted. "That means that my theory is correct...' Eli thought. "Then, is the way to get out of here also the same?" he asked. "Yes. You also remember what happens next, don't you?" "I do." Eli replied in a grim voice. "Good."

                Mi-Ok noticed that, ever since Eli had spoken with the strange monster, he had looked sad- grieved, almost. When he had exited the room that the monster had been in, he hadn't said anything. Mi-Ok remembered that Hyun-Ki had asked Eli something in a hushed voice, but Eli had just walked past him without answering. That had seemed to annoy Hyun-Ki, although he didn't try to follow Eli or anything like that. It had been two days since that had happened, and he still seemed just as upset as he had been. She thought that, perhaps, his theory had been incorrect, or maybe it had been correct, as she knew that that could be just as bad, depending on what his theory had been. Then, suddenly, she saw Eli collapse. "Eli?!" Mi-Ok and Hyun-Ki said at the same time, both running over to where he was lying, unconsious.

                Eli opened his eyes. He was in a hospital room. He looked around. Instead of seeing Mi-Ok or Hyun-Ki, he saw his sister, who ran out of the room, calling for a nurse as soon as she saw that he had opened his eyes. A moment later, she came rushing back into the room with a red-headed nurse just behind her. "Can you hear me?" asked the nurse. "Y-yes. What happened?" Eli responded. "I found you unconscious in your apartment  a week ago ago." his sister told him. 'So, it's only been a week here, since I fell through...' he thought. Eli knew that he needed to get back to Mi-Ok and Hyun-Ki, which meant that he needed to find the mirror. "I see... Luna, where's my phone?" Eli said, looking towards his sister, Luna. "It's right here, why? Is something the matter, that you need your phone right after you've regained consiousness?" Luna asked. Eli knew how strange it would seem to be asking for his phone, but he didn't care. He needed to check something. "No, I just ned to check something." he said. Luna looked at him, confused, but then she shrugged and handed Eli his phone. When he grabbed his phone, he quickly typed 'Idol trainee Hyun-Ki's disappearance'. He remembered Mi-Ok mentioning once that Hyun-Ki had been a k-pop idol trainee before his sudden disappearance, so Eli figured that finding out exactly what had happened then would be a good starting point. 

                After Eli read a few articles on Hyun-Ki's disappearance, he decided to see if what was supposed to happen had occured yet. He looked at the top news articles from the past week and, sure enough, he saw exactly what he had expected. The headline for one of the top articles read, 'Thousands of people from around the world found unconsious.' As he continued to read the article, it said, 'The first reported case was a man by the name of Elijah Smith, who lives in the US and has not yet regained consciousness.' The article went on to say, 'Many of those who were found unconsious have died, although a few have regained consciousness, while others remain unconscious.' "Luna, did you talk to reporters and tell them what happened?" he asked. "I had no choice. After more people were found unconsious, reporters started looking into who the first person was, and someone must've tipped them off. When I came to the hospital four days ago, they were there. I'd imagine that they're probably outside now, too. They keep coming to try to get me to tell them more about what happened." she told him. Without saying another word, he went back to reading the article, surpressing a gasp as he read the next paragraph, which said, 'The only known facts linking all those who regained consciousness is that they all claim that, while they were unconscious, they were in a parallel world, one in which the only differance between here and there is that it is inhabited by human-eating monsters. Some even claim to have been together in that world, and to have exited together, through a portal similar to the one they claimed to have entered said world through.' Eli knew that he needed to find the people who got out through portals and speak with them. Maybe, if he spoke with them, they could tell him where the portal was. 

                Eli was kept in the hospital for two more days after he had regained consciousness. Now it was the day on which he could leave. As he stepped outside the door of the hospital, he was immediately surrounded by reporters. "Mr. Smith, is it true that you were the first of many to loose consciousness?" "Mr. Smith, were you also in the parallel universe that so many have claimed that they were in while unconscious?" The reporters were all spewing questions faster than he could even think of an answer. "I was in the parallel world, and I was the first human to be transported there." Eli said, making himself able to  be heard above the reporters. "Are you going to do anything about the others still trapped in the parallel world?" "Did you also enter and exit through a portal?" "I exited a bit differently than the others who have already returned did, although I entered the same way." he told them. The reporters kept asking more questions, but he had already grown tired of giving them answers, so he simply pushed his way through the reporters. "Mr. Smith!" "Mr. Smith!" they called after him. He simply sped up his pace, not answering them. 'I need to get out of here.' he thought to himself. As he was getting away from the reporters, someone grabbed his arm and pulled him into an alleyway. The person covered his mouth. 'How ironic..' he thought, remembering his first interaction with Mi-Ok. He looked at the person who had grabbed him. It was a man. He looked like he was in his late 20s to early 30s. He had light brown hair and an olive complection. "You're Elijah Smith, right? The first person to loose consciousness when this all started?" the man asked. Eli simply nodded his head, as the man was still covering his mouth. "Then, is it true what they say? That everyone who lost consciousness was in a parallel world?" Now Eli removed the man's hand. "Yes, it is." he told him. "Did you see a lot of other people? While you were unconscious, I mean?" "Yes, I saw quite a few others." the man was asking a lot of questions, but something told Eli that he had a good reason and desperately needed the answers. "Were you working with anyone? To escape, I mean?" he asked. "Yes. I traveled with two people from South Korea. That's why I'm trying to get back. They're still there. They're still on the other side." "'You mean, you got back, but they didn't?" "I got back in a different way than most. A way that shouldn't have been possible. A way that he made spicifically for me." Eli regretted saying the last sentence as soon as he said it, but the damage was already done. "'He'? Did someone cause this to happen? Did they make the other side? Is that how you know so much about the other side, because you know the person who created it?" the man was growing more hostile by the second. Eli needed to calm him down. "That's correct. I did know the man who created the other side, and that's how I know more about it than most. I was a bit surprised when I found out that place is real." Eli knew that the man would most likely tell the reporters what he had just said. "Then, please help me. My daughter is unconscious, and I think that she is there. When you go back, please find her and bring her back for me. Please." the man pleaded. Eli was caught off guard by the man's request. "Even if I were to agree, I would need to know what she looks like in order to be able to find her." Eli said. "Yes, of course. Here's a picture of her." the man said as he handed Eli a picture. His eyes widened in disbelief as he looked at the red-haired woman in the photo.