Leaving Laurabelle Falls

Chapter 2

Waking up in Laurabelle Falls was different.

I was in a bed, but it wasn't a hospital bed. There were several others in the room. The room, which was the kind of red-brown you can only get from stained wood. The sunlight was coming in through the windows. It smelled like freshly cut grass.

"Where am I?" I asked.

I was able to sit up.

A glance to my left side revealed a table, a dark metal tray. It had syringes and vials of varying colors, all sparkling in the sun. I looked up.

The ceiling was made of glass. Through the glass, I could see a thick, orange light. It glowed and pulsed, like a warm-tone aurora.

There was a knock on the door.

"Are you up yet?" Someone asked. The voice sounded... familiar.

"Am I?" I asked. I threw the woven blanket off of my legs, and swung them off the side of the bed. My plain white dress hung to either side of my legs. The other beds around me were all empty, which felt... Odd.

The door swung open.

A teenager with dark hair, and kind eyes stared back at me. They were green, and familiar. Her smile was wide and friendly, though her lips were thin. They matched the rest of her frame; she was built like a set of poles, but it was natural to her. It was Torrent. "She's awake!"

Behind her came three other people. Madeline, with her striking blonde hair and lively curves, was in a red dress that very well complimented her figure. She had a vest made of leather and was wearing shoes that we both would have considered incredibly impractical. Sam, who had curly red hair and was dressed in a soft, green suit. It looked like the fabric was made of various mosses. Finally, there was Bethany Lawless.

Bethany. Lawless.

My eyebrows rose, and my mouth dropped open.

"Oh my God," I gushed. My thoughts of figuring out where the heck I was flew out the window. "I'm a huge fan."

I stuck out my hand, on instinct. She laughed, and Sam waved their hand, a move that was all too casual for what happened next.

A blackboard suddenly appeared behind them, with a piece of chalk resting on the wooden frame. Sam picked it up.

Written on it in bold, vivacious font was "'Oh My God, I'm Such A Huge Fan!' Count." Below it was a series of tallies. I couldn't count them, but it looked to be around forty, if I had to guess.

Bethany reached out and shook my hand, bringing my attention away from the spectacle.

"Sorry," She apologized, shaking her head. "You say that every time. We started keeping track for fun."

As she shook my hand, the blackboard disappeared. Sam turned back to me.

Bethany Lawless, star of the hit sitcom TV show Lawless, was standing right in front of me. I had been watching that show since I was seven, sneaking up past my bedtime and plugging the earbuds into the family computer in the living room once my mother had fallen asleep. Bethany was my inspiration.

She was one of the people who had taught me that women could be funny.

I turned towards my friends, looking for some sort of explanation.

But these weren't just my friends, either.

Their eyes were bigger, their skin clearer. The clothes that they were wearing fit them perfectly, but I didn't recognize any of the outfits. And Torrent. I hadn't seen Torrent since I was in the fifth grade; her parents had moved her away before either of us had phones, before either of us had instagram or facebook. I didn't even know where she had gone.