"Never stay up on the barren heights of cleverness, but come down into the green valleys of silliness."~ Ludwig Wittgenstein

Falling Through

Chapter one: Ice

The best day ever...

Oh, behold the irony! I growled as I picked up my backpack. Well, 'picked up' wasn't the right phrase. Today, it weighted 15 kilos. For some reason, my teachers always managed to give out bunch of homework all at the same time! Two weeks without even a calculation to do, and then it all comes falling down on me!

I had woken up that morning with the worst teenage mood you could imagine. I practically snarled at my mother when she came to get me up. Then I spent five minutes in front of the bathroom mirror only focusing about the fact that I was a bit chubby, totally overlooking all those things I actually love about myself. My eyes, my cute nose, my curves and my thick brown hair were suppressed by my dark mood.

Then I went to school to participate in another day with boring subjects and just as boring teachers, knowing that there would be no friends waiting for my arrival. Not that I didn't have friends; it's just that neither of them went to my school.

And after suffering through a long, hard day, I headed home, my mood possibly even darker than this morning.

Have you ever been in the Norwegian countryside during springtime? I have one word for you: ice. Walking home, I had to be very careful where I stepped. It was all uphill, and I knew that if I fell forward, the heavy backpack would crush me against the asphalt. To make it better, the government had tried to make it less slippery by using gravel on the ice. I can tell you right now, it doesn't always work. Instead you end up scratching up your hands when you try to catch yourself as you fall.

God, why did I have to be so blue today? It was Friday! The weekend was about to start! I should be thrilled!

'Why?' my brain asked. 'What are you going to do this weekend anyway? Sit in your bedroom and surf the net?

'I'm gonna write stories!' I tried.'Yeah. Another hobby to do alone! You need to get laid, girl!'

I blushed badly of my own thoughts. Hell, my hormones were kicking in again!

'Shut the F up...'

My brain giggled back at me. 'Pathetic!'

Goddammit! Even my own mind was turning against me today! I sighed and stopped to watch the view; snowy mountains covered with forest. It was very pretty, really. But nothing could get my mood up today.

How long was it since my life was normal? I thought back and decided on kindergarten. Before the boys started to call me names and before I lost my confidence. I had never been bullied like those kids on TV, but words can sting just as bad as getting beaten up. Because of them, I was who I was. Problems making friends, and scared of what my classmates might be saying behind my back.

I wouldn't pretend my life is all black, not at all. But it was no paradise either.

My favourite hobby was to dream. Whenever I got the chance, I escaped into another reality. Either by listening to music or by writing stories. Dreaming was the only thing keeping me sane. If I couldn't escape on a daily basis, I'd go crazy.

Sometimes I'd dream myself into a movie or a book I liked. I'd visited Hogwarts and I'd been in The Court of Miracles. Hell, I'd even beaten up my share of enemies in Lord of the Rings!

The newest addiction was 'Megamind'. To be honest, I couldn't remember being this obsessed about a movie ever before! The past couple of months, I'd seen the movie nine times, made two AMV's and written more than 20 stories. All proof about how much spare time I had.

Why on earth had I fallen in love with this movie? Easy; I could resemble myself to the main character. The underdog. The person who was left out of life. Maybe the reason I was so obsessed was because I hoped for a happy ending for myself as well? I too hoped to be let into society and of course, I too dreamed about finding love! After all, I am a hopeless romantic! Well, I am when I'm not in my worst, darkest, most hormonal mood.

"It will get better soon," I told myself, whispering just in case someone was nearby. "Next semester."

A flame of hope lightened inside of me and tugged my lips to the first smile that day. In August, my life would change. I was going to a folk high school to take a year of writing studies. Can you imagine? A whole year doing what I liked best, meeting people with the same interests as me, learning how to use my skills properly!

The clouds inside of me were slowly letting go.

"I'm going to go home, do some homework, go for a walk and then try to finish my story," I said to myself, thinking of my latest Fanfiction. With renewed happiness, I began my walk again. My brain went into author-mode and began working on my story while I smiled.

As a Norwegian, you learn one important thing from the moment you learn to walk; when it's late winter, always be careful where you step! Unfortunately I was already so deep inside my own thoughts and dreams, that I didn't notice how I stepped on a spot of clear, hard ice.

For a millisecond I was flying. My arms waved, my feet left the ground and I let out a surprised gasp. I instinctively closed my eyes, waiting for the hard impact. Oh, this was going to be painful!

The fall was surprisingly long. Too long, actually. I slowly opened up one eye...

"Åh, fy faen!" I swore.

There were no Norwegian mountains, no forest and no ice. My whole world was gone and replaced with endless blue light.

"Åh, herregud, herregud, herregud..." I mumbled and clung onto my computer bag. My body was still falling thought the strange blueness; I could feel it in my stomach. "Herregud, herregud, herregud!"

I tried to look down, but there was nothing to look at!

"Hello? Anyone?" I tried. "Anyone at all?."

"Here!" a voice called from somewhere to my left. I turned and saw a figure somewhere in the distance. Whoever it was, he or she was waiving at me. The person came closer and closer, or maybe it was me who was moving? It was hard to tell when there was nothing else around.

When we were close enough to truly see each other, the first thing I noticed was the fact that this girl was wearing freaking pyjamas! I mean, if you met someone while endlessly falling, would you expect this person to be wearing her pyjamas? There was something strangely familiar about her, something I couldn't quite place.

"Hello, there!" she said with an accent which instantly made me think of 'Home and Away', the show my mother watched every afternoon. The girl didn't seem scared at all over the fact that we were falling though endless light.

"Uhm... Hi... Wait, I know you!" I said, suddenly remembering seeing her once in a YouTube video. "RemmyBlack?"

She grinned. "BFire92?"

I started to laugh. Of all the people you could meet when falling into a strange world of blue light, I didn't expect to meet the Australian girl I had discussed the movie 'Megamind' with online.

"Oh my god! Didn't expect to see you here! Well, to be honest, I didn't expect to see myself here. But... what's the deal with the pyjamas?"

Remmy rolled her eyes. "It's the middle of the night in Australia! I just fell asleep and woke up here," she said and did a gesture towards the blueness. "And what's the deal with the coat and scarf?"

"It's March. It's early spring back home now," I explained. "So, where do you suppose we're going?" Again I tried to look down into the endlessness.

"Ah, come on, Fire! What is the one thing the two of us have in common?"

I scratched my hair, thinking. "We're both teenagers with a weird fascination of 3D alien's personal business?" I asked, referring to our messages. To be honest, Remmy and I had talked quite a lot about the male characters in the movie we both had a strange obsession over. After all, we were teens.

Remmy rolled her eyes. "Almost there!"

I blinked a couple of times as the realization of what she meant came over me.

"No!"

"Yes!" she grinned. "Oh, this is gonna be totally awesome!"