Realities

In the first reality, I was a teenager in a strange, almost kind of disciplinary school-styled house, with many staircases. We lived in the middle of an urban jungle, with fences marking the boundaries, and playsets crossing the borders. There was a girl there I'd known since childhood, who was patient, firm, and always somewhat annoyed, and an older man that would appear sometimes. It came to note that this older man was in fact the master of criminal ring, a fatherly scam artist who'd exploded from obscurity into a powerful figure almost overnight some twenty years ago.

At one point I decide I've had enough and spy on him, and watch him suddenly vanish before my eyes when he places his hands on a clock. I touch the same clock and suddenly! I'm in the second reality. A different reality. A clean house with lush green trees hanging overhead, where it's always raining. This is a facility for genius teenagers, and the childhood friend is here- but she's never met me before. This new place is bizzare and similiar, heavily policed, with a green architecture aspect in everything.

Here, the older man is somehow a benevolent tyrant, loved by many and despised by some, who somehow keeps the world running under his benevolently iron heel. I have a very bad encounter with the local security, and escape by the skin of my toes, hiding in a green room with my childhood friend's counterpart.

I admit to being frightened, and she embraces me. After a moment, it becomes more, but it stops before it goes too far. She invites me to meet three friends who are intrigued by the fact I'm off the security radar since I've never been "chipped"- nor am I part of any resistance, which is confusing.

One of them slips me a name. Security is coming. We scatter, and security splits up, but one of them is chasing me. I run down a long hallway and leap off a balcony. I land in the dirt in the first reality.

The Tyrant-King is caught by surprise as I land at his feet, curious just where I came from. I say I fell out a window and he's concerned and gets me to a nurse's office, but notices that I'm more fearful of him than normal. He begins to suspect I know the truth.

He invites me to tea. Childhood friend is bothered by my behavior towards her. Correctly surmises I might be seeing someone. I tell her she's the only girl in my life. She is confused and touched and somehow offended.