Parallels: Coming Home

 

The idea of being stuck in a parallel universe, away from my family, was terrifying. I crouched and held my face; I didn’t know what to do.

“How are we getting back?”

Alice crouched next to me and placed her hand on my shoulder. “We’ll figure something out, Clarissa.”

Right then, a passerby handed five bucks to Alice and walked away.

“Wait, did he think we’re…”

“I guess so,” said Clement.

I couldn’t help but burst into laughter, and Alice and Clement joined in. For a moment there, we forgot about the situation we were in because of the kindness of a stranger.

“Maybe this is how we get our funding now,” said Alice.

We went back to our table and had finished our meal. Afterward, we set out not knowing yet where to go or what to look for; but right then, a car stopped in front of us. A lady got out of the car and hugged Alice. 

“Who are you?”

“Alice, it's me, Lana: your mother.”

“I lost my mother eighteen years ago.”

“I didn't die; you did. How are you alive?”

Alice tried to explain what had happened, but I said it would be best we do it somewhere private. Lana then offered to take us to her house, and we agreed. We got into her car and she drove us there, where that world’s doppelganger of Alice’s father was also stupefied at the sight of her. Alice explained to them what had happened; although skeptical at first, with more explaining, they were convinced. Alice’s father in that world, Dominic, was a retired scientist; if anyone could help us at the time, it was him.

Even though they weren’t her real parents, I could see how emotional Alice was to see them both back then. She lost her mother in a car crash when she was just 12, and then lost her father to cancer when she was 20. I couldn’t imagine what was going through her head at the time, given that it had been a decade since she had last seen one of her parents alive; but I was happy that they had that reunion.

Since it was getting late, Lana insisted we get some rest and begin working on the teleportation device the next day. We couldn’t have agreed more with her, given how exhausted we were. The following day, Dominic showed us the laboratory in his backyard and we got to work. Days became weeks, and weeks became months. Meanwhile, Alice had grown fond of her parents in that world; it was so heartwarming to witness how they interacted. I missed my own family back home and wondered how they were doing all that time. Eventually, we completed the machine. I turned it on; it was stable.

We all cheered and hugged each other, but for Alice and her parents, it was still a bittersweet moment. Lana asked us to stay for one last dinner with them before we left; it was a wonderful night—we enjoyed and cherished every second of it. When it was time to leave, however, while Clement and I stepped forward towards the machine, Alice did not.

“Alice?”

“Say hi to everyone for me, will you, Clarissa?”

I smiled and nodded as Alice stepped back with teary eyes and hugged Dominic and Lana. Clement and I were happy for them. We said our final farewells and crossed over to our world. Reuniting with my own family made me appreciate Alice’s decision to stay with them even more. We were all where we belonged.

—End—