Worlds Apart

Awake

Deirdre began to stir from her sleep when she felt a tickle on her face and something wet tapping her nose. The bed she was in was very comfortable and the heavy blanket she was wrapped in made it that much more comfortable. It wasn’t until she recalled the last thing that had happened before completely blacking out. Her eyes shot open. She immediately realized she was not in her room and definitely not in her apartment. ‘Zuki!’ Deirdre replayed the memory of the angry yowls and hisses coming from her cat before blacking out.

Deirdre tried to sit up, but found it difficult with her body feeling heavy. ‘How long have I been sleep?’ She thought to herself. Deirdre was no doctor, but she’s sat on her stool in front of a canvas long enough to know that staying in one position long enough comes with its regrets. At her second attempt to sit up, a panther sized wild cat leaped on to the bed. A wild cat, that in fact, held a major resemblance to Zuki. Deirdre didn’t know whether to be afraid or confused. Maybe both. Yes, it’s both.

‘Durdy.’

She heard a man’s voice in her head, then the sound of purrs coming from the wild cat. Deirdre stared at “Zuki”, trying to wrap her head around what was happening right now. ‘Durdy,’ she heard again as the wild cat stepped closer to her lying form and sat on its hind legs near her head to look down directly at her face. Something he’s done on the weekends when Deirdre didn’t have to be at work. She’d sleep in and Zuki would be at her face to wake her.

She was able to mobilize her limbs a bit now to sit up, which she did slowly. She couldn’t believe what, or rather who she was seeing. On instinct though, she began to raise her hand so she could pet this wild cat that was once her average sized, chocolate Maine coon. His frosty, white tipped paws with the ears and tail to match. A pair of Halloween orange eyes watched and waited as Deirdre was about to run her hand between his ears.

“You are awake.” A soft voice spoke from somewhere in the dimly lit room adorned with candles here and there. Deirdre put her hand down to fill where the voice had came from and over on the opposite side of the room, she spotted a woman standing over a desk like work table. She didn’t see the woman’s face, just long, kinky, dark curls down a petite back. The woman was pouring a dark liquid into a chalice. Deirdre was frozen to her spot on the bed. She was so focused on the woman and waiting for her to turn around she didn’t even flinch when Zuki’s whiskers tickled her cheek.

“You have been sleep for about six suns since your arrival.” The woman continued as she finally turned around with the chalice in hand. Deirdre’s eyes widened once she got a look at the woman’s face. “Toni?” Deirdre’s voice croaked between a whisper, she herself realizing how dry her throat was. The woman sat beside her on the bed. “I am sorry about that.” Deirdre stared intently at the woman. Toni is her best friend back home going on four years and counting. While she was relieved to see a familiar face, she had a plethora of questions that needed answers. “My name is Navina.” She smiled warmly as she handed Deirdre the chalice. “You may call me Navi for short.”

Deirdre opened her mouth to form words, “No, no,” Navina said calmly placing a gentle hand on her shoulder. “Hydrate first.” She held out the chalice to Deirdre; she took it. “And then I shall answer any and all questions as best as I can.” Navina held her smile.

Deirdre eyed the chalice. “Tonic.” Navina spoke again getting Deirdre’s attention. “This is what I’ve been giving you for any pain or bodily tension you might have upon waking up.” She reassured. Deirdre eyed her for a few more moments before hesitantly putting the chalice to her lips and began drinking the “tonic”. She wasn’t sure what to believe and what not to believe. Attacked by a smoke cloud. Waking up in a bed and a room that wasn’t hers. Her cat is a character from the National Geographic channel? And the woman sitting beside her is wearing the face of her best friend, but isn’t her best friend.

The tonic wasn’t nasty, however. She was too distracted with her reeling thoughts to savor what she had drank, but was still present enough to taste the hint of lemon, honey, and clove. Anything else present that she missed in the flavored mix was left to chance that it was poison. Any how it’s too late now, she had finished the drink. Navina gently removed the chalice from her hand and set it on the bedside table. Deirdre was finally able to clear her throat. “Where am I? Why am I here? How did I get here?!” She had a lot more questions that could have easily started the conversation but she went with whatever rolled off the tongue. “That… thing, in my room… is that why I’m here?” Deirdre’s chest fell and rose as she tried to compose her breathing, but failed due to all the nerves and the severity of her predicament. She didn’t know yet how severe it was.

Navina spoke softly. “You are on Suleria.” Navina spoke slowly. “You were brought here because the planet is in trouble.” She did her best to not to alarm Deirdre in anyway, but she knew that this conversation would come as a shock no matter how she said it and no matter how she put it. “The being that retrieved you… and your companion,” Navina gesticulated towards Zuki, who has slipped into a cat nap, curled up into a ball on the other side of Deirdre, “was a shroud, something you would know as an obscure from the moving prism, that your people watch Earth.”

Navina sat quietly as Deirdre reflexively blinked her eyes numerous times trying to process the Harry Potter reference she’d just gotten. She begun to believe that this could possibly be a joke. A prank. All out together by her best friend who isn’t her best friend but looks just like her, in every capacity. Toni stood about the same height as Deirdre, 5’3”to Deirdre’s 5’1”. She wasn’t tall but her petite frame and long figure gave the illusion. Just long and skinny. Toni didn’t have long, kinky curls that went down to her back. She kept a short pixie cut and always added a color to her bangs. Toni wasn’t a prankster. She had a knack for throwing surprise parties and holiday get togethers but not a prankster. If this was Toni pulling a fast one on Deirdre she did one hell of a job.

“Deirdre.” Navina took it upon herself to break the silence as well as Deirdre being lost in her thoughts. “I know this is a lot to take in and there’s more to be taken in. But you are not on your planet anymore. Suleria is sort of a parallel to your planet. So there’s a chance that my face won’t be the only face you recognize.” Deirdre looked at Navina, looking for any sign of a break in character. She didn’t find any. “I know Toni is your best friend on your planet and I am aware I favor her.” And that she did, her slim features of both her face and body, the color of creamy dark chocolate. The ever so slightly slant in her almond shaped eyes and a pair of pouty lips. The only difference was the hair and her eye color. Toni’s eyes were a dark brown. Navina on the other hand had blue eyes.

Deirdre couldn’t spot the lining of a contact lens in the lighting, so she had to let that go for now. She couldn’t sense a lie or a joke being made. Zuki had grown into a predator of the forest from the predator of her small apartment. And she had heard him say her name twice. One thing that Deirdre couldn’t deny was that this all just seemed to real. She wished she had been dreaming but she wasn’t. She wished the shroud that Navina mentioned earlier was just a nightmare, but the fear she had felt when she found it staring back at her was very much real.

Deirdre didn’t know where to begin to process any of this. “So, what does any of this have to do with me?” She looked at Navina intensely, hoping that maybe the shroud took the wrong girl and the wrong cat.

Navina sighed, holding Deirdre’s stare, her brows furrowed and her eyes empathetic.

“Everything.”