I lay on the bed, thinking about my mom. She has to be sick with worry and wondering where I am. Does my dad even care?Knowing I disappeared after we fought is a thorn in my side. That’s the last memory she’ll have of me, my stomping off in anger. Will she think I hate her and ran away? Will she blame herself?Tears burn my eyes. They roll down my cheeks and wet my pillow. I’ve moved beyond sobbing and can only muster silent tears. If someone told me a week ago I would agree to go to another universe to see my dead best friend, only to be put to death for the crime of existing in the wrong world, I would have asked if they were smoking crack.The ironic part is that I’d gone through all of this and never saw Monica.I have the worst luck ever.I fall into a fitful sleep filled with nightmares. Monsters in hazmat suits trap me in the corner of my cell and claw at me with giant hooks. One of them grabs for me and calls, “Julia!”My gut clenches. The monsters know my name.“Julia, wake up!”I squint my eyes open, disoriented and expecting to see hazmat suits.
