Suddenly, the beginnings of sound came back, and the world seemed to be dragged roughly back into its proper place. The spinning door was gone, and so was the silver-haired version of me, the crumbling multiverse everything was absolutely gone, just like the morning fog had disappeared from front of anyone’s eyes. I was still in the lab and my hand was extended as if to grab hold of something that wasn’t really there.
“Brianne?” Realization slowly dawned on Chase’s face, there was clear concern in his voice. “Are you okay?”
I closed my eyes for a second, several seconds, maybe even a full minute, it seemed, until I was able to gauge my surroundings again. Chase, Zoe and Detective Morris were all looking at me in different ways, with Chase seeming most concerned.
It was quite the contrary; the lab was untouched: there were no fallen equipment and no dark vibrations troubling the building’s ground.
Somehow, the simple question threw me back to the present gentle environment, ‘I…’ ‘What just happened?’
Zoe then moved closer and scowled deeply, wearing a look of concern. “Once you mentioned the information that we have been accumulating and analyzing, you suddenly disappeared to another level of our reality, mentioning something as impossible as portals into the other parallel universes. ”
Then a cold feeling of anxiety clawed its way into my stomach. “But it was so real,” I said softly, more to the air than to the rest of them. They’re so real, so tangible to me. I could see it, feel it: the rift in a continuum, I could see myself standing next to me, and she was talking to me.”
Suddenly, Chase put his hand on my shoulder, a comforting gesture. “Brianne, maybe you are under too much stress and after all the experience you have been through, it is natural that your mind might be tricking you”.
Part of me wanted to argue with him to demand he let me prove that what I saw was actually happening was real. But the doubt was stirring in me and that feeling of assurance that I had only a few moments ago now fading. Could it all still have been just a dream? As the mental picture is a product of an overworked imagination which is already in shock from the incredible experience I had?
“Perhaps you’re right,” I said, and I sank into the chair and felt so tired. “I just… I have never experienced it myself, but it felt so real. ”
Detective Morris, who had been observing the conversation with a fair amount of perplexity and animosity, looked at Zoe and said, “Well, Brianne, I don’t think I am quite up with the state of the art… With whatever has happened to you.
But I have worked with a number of psychological issues that would make me know when a particular person needs to take a pause. And you know what, for your own good, and for the good of everything that is going on, I believe that you need to take a break. ”
At the same time, a part of me wanted to reason with him to engage in counter arguments and discussion in the sea of data and theories that attempted to make sense of experience of what was happening to me to the world. But when I looked around the room and saw everyone, my friends’, and their distressed looks, I thought they were right.
“Alright,” I replied, slowly shaking my head up and down. Can you already answer for me? Why do I need a break? “Maybe I do need to take a break and clear my head. ”
Chase closed his eyes and sighed heavily while he rubbed my shoulder gently, and I could see that there was clear relief in the man’s eyes. “I believe that is a good idea. Why don’t you take a short nap? We will be able to discuss this further once you are more relaxed. ”
Following Chase’s lead towards the tiny break area next to the laboratory, I could not dismiss the feeling of the tight deadline that my hallucination had put inside of me: What if it was real? What if it was a sign, an alert to something which should not be allowed to happen?
But before I could say anything like that, the door to the lab swung open. And there, standing in front of me, framed in the door, was a sight which instantly stopped the reckless thoughts in my head.
Alessandro.
I just do not know how to describe the feeling of relief that I had when I first saw him. He was like salve for my overwhelmed state of mind and an anchor in the tumultuous sea of confusion I had been stuck in.
“Alessandro,” I whispered, the name was magical as it left on my lips.
He advanced into the room, his dark eyes passing over me, my obvious upset, Chase’s hand still claiming my shoulder, Zoe’s disbelief etched on her face, and Morris’s curiosity.
“I came as soon as I heard,” Alessandro said, a deep and sensual Italian accent resonated through the room. “Brianne, are you alright?”
I could hardly answer Chase to take the lead and his body language made him seem more like he was ready to become the defendant. “How are you still alive, Alessandro? We are not allowed to allow strangers to come near this place, especially when we are in the middle of a certain operation. ” Chase chuckled.
Alessandro gave a slight smile and his eyes bore into mine. “Sorry for coming by unannounced, I am just from the House, Brianne. Your parents are worried sick about you. They don’t even know where you are. All they want is for you to come back home and when I, heard about what happened to you, I needed to go back home.”
Saying the words ‘Parents” somehow carried an odd resonance which produced the shiver of recognition not of discomfort but of thrilling anticipation. A few fleeting images surfaced as though the memories was but a shadow of itself.
“It’s okay, Chase,” I heard myself telling him, even though I really did not understand why I was saying so. “We have… Well, if Alessandro is here… yes, he is reliable. ”
Chase scowled, still not totally willing to accept those words given by Alessandro. However, before he could continue further at this point, Zoe said something.
‘Oh, well, you are here then ?’
” Alessandro, please,” he repeated so obliviously as a well practiced habit.
“You have come just in time. Maybe you can help us try to persuade this girl Brianne to take some rest; she has gone through a lot of stress. ”
Alessandro’s eyes, now firmly glued to me, glanced at the rest of the group for only a moment. “Of course,” he said, and he was entirely understanding,” okay let me understand this. ” “Brianne is most important to use now, but maybe before she takes a nap, could we talk alone for a while there are things that could help us in… diffuse some issues. “