Traverse

“The two enemies of human happiness are pain and boredom. The real problem is which one to choose”

(Shizune - shiz oo nay)
“Thank you, have a nice day.” Shizune said with a smile for the thousandth time.  “I’m sick of my job”, she thought. “I have been standing behind this register for 3 days a week for the last 4 years of my life.  I’m in my third year of highschool and I haven’t done anything even slightly noteworthy.”
    Her shift ended and Shizune punched out. As she walked to her car the leaves swirled around her feet as if taunting her. By the time she had arrived home it was dark.
    “Hello” said Berny.
    “Hi, Bern,” she said.
    Mom’s head poked around the wall separating the hall and living room.
    “Hi honey, How was your day?”
    “It was fine, made some money.” Shizune said
    “Anything new?” She asked questioningly.
    “Almost never.”  Shizune sighed.
Mom frowned.
    “Shizune, your such a downer,” Bern said.
“I’m tired,” she said flatly
“Hi tired, I’m Bern.”
Shizune stared at him in distaste. She walked to her room and dropped her backpack. And flopped on to her bed, shutting her eyes in the already dark room  “Living here is so…  mundane,” she murmured.
“You are just one salty dog aren’t you?”
    “Go away, Bern.” she said
    “I think we have a case of misidentification.”
    “How so?” she asked.
    “My name is Caz.”
     Shizune opened her eyes and looked around the room. A blonde boy about her age, dressed in a black hoodie and shorts, sat legs spread, in the corner of her room. Shizune  eye’s widened.  Her mother called for dinner. She got up and walked out of her room. “Yeah, I’m losing it” she thought. “ That stuff only happens in comics” she thought.
“Hey now, don’t leave me by my self.” the boy called from her room.
Shizune sat down at the table for dinner. Half way through the meal the boy walked into the dining room.
“My my, I haven’t seen food like this in forever!” he said as he clapped his hands together.
Shizune ignored him.
“So, what's new with you today Bern?” Mom asked.
“Andrew got sent to the office today.” Bern said.
By this time Caz had pulled out a chair and sat down, making himself quite at home. Shizune was staring daggers at him.
    “What did he do?”Mom asked.
    “Oh, um, he was swearing and Mr. T  heard him,” Bern responded.
    “Ah.” she said “ you weren’t though, were you?”
    “Nope.”
    “Well that's a lie.” Caz interjected.
    “Shhh!’’ Shizune hissed.
“Excuse me?” Mom said with a surprised tone.
“I-”
“No, I don’t care. If you’re going to be like that, go to your room, now,” her mom said.
    Shizune sighed, got up and sulked off to her room. “What a bother,” she thought as she flopped onto her bed, her black hair spreading like a fan on the blanket. She looked at the window sill, her green eyes reflecting back in the window. A withered lily sat there, its flower turned down, grey, in the unlit room . “Reminds me of myself,” she thought with a sigh. The boy came into the room.
    “You sigh too much,” Caz said with a mouthful of food that had probably come from her abandon plate. “You’ll age ten times faster you know.”
Shizune rolled over on her bed to face the wall, “and to top it all I am seeing an ‘apparition’,” she muttered.
“Wow, that's rude. I never called you anything mean did I?” Caz asked.     Shizune turned to face him.
“But you’re not real,” she said flatly.
He looked amused. “The term ‘real’, my angsty friend, is fairly abstract,” Caz said knowingly.
“Yeah?” she said.
“Just because numbers aren’t a concrete thing , they still govern the laws of nature, right?” Caz questioned.
“They don’t, they only give a name to the laws that are already in place,” Shizune said.
Caz thought for a moment. “Damn, you got me.”
“Sure do.” she said flatly, she turned to face the wall.
“Well, you can’t feel fog, but that's still real!” Caz said triumphantly.
    Shizune shrugged.
“ You’re gonna have to prove it to me,” she said still facing the wall.
“Alright.” he said. “Go to sleep, and I’ll prove it to you.”
“You realize what you just said sounds creepy as hell right?” she said.
“Just go to sleep,” he argued.
“Not until you leave,” Shizune said.
“What? Don’t trust me?’” Caz asked.
“Not even a bit.”
    “Fine,” He said.
    Then he was gone. “Finally. What an annoying person. I’m surprised I thought that up.” She closed her eyes. “I hope I won’t have to go through that again,” she thought as she drifted off.

Shizune woke up to a start, her alarm blaring.
    “Goodmorning sunshine! You look fine today,” the boy said.
    Caz sat backwards in the chair to shizune’s desk. Shizune inspected him
“So?....Can I help you,” Shizune said wiping the sleep from her eyes.
“No. Well yes, but not right at this moment.  Actually, I came to prove my existence to you,” he said smugly.
    “Why did you need me to go to sleep for that?” she said.
    “Oh, I just needed time to think of something.” he said
    “Okay then, show me I don’t have a screw loose,” Shizune said
    Caz, turned around. Studying the desk for a moment he reached up and pushed a book that had been there onto the floor. It hit the ground with a resounding thud. Caz turned toward Shizune.
    “Tada!”
    “Huh. I don’t know how to feel about the fact that the strange man in my room is real,” Shizune said.
    “Indeed, that would probably weird most people out. But it’s not like I’m some kinky weirdo, so i think you're probably fine.” he said with a wink.
    “You're creeping me out,” Shizune said
    “That's a rather painful thing to say to a man,” he said
    “I never told you my name,” she said.
    “Not here, no. But you actually did tell me your name and, various other things” Caz said.
    “When was that?” Shizune asked
    “Not so much when as where,” he said.
    “You know what. I don’t have time for this. I have to get ready for school,” Shizune said.
    Caz laughed as he plopped back down in the desk chair.
    “School? What kind of place is this? You get to go to school, eat warm meals. Why are you so cranky?” Caz asked chuckling
“Get out I, need to change,” Shizune said

After she had finished changing. She sat down in the dining room to eat.
“You sure have  been talking to yourself a lot to day Shizune”, Bern said
She continued eat for a moment.
“Yup,” she responded
She finished her food and put her dishes in the sink. She got her backpack and walked out to her car. Caz was sitting in the passenger seat waiting for her.
“I thought I’d be fun if I came to school with you.”
“Please no,” she said flatly.
“Oh c'mon, don’t be a fun sponge. No one else can even see me. Do you  know how boring it gets to be all alone with no one here beside me?”  he said, breaking into song.
    “Why are you even here?” Shizune asked
    “I came to talk to you,” he said with a beaming smile
    “Why?” she asked
    “To propose a deal to you.”
    “What kind of deal,” she asked
    “Well, you obviously have an attitude problem and, you seem incredibly un-entertained by your current living situations. So I have come to offer you this magical thing called ‘opportunity’,” Caz said staring at her expectantly.
    Shizune raised an eyebrow.
    “Change? What kind?” she asked.
    “Something more interesting,” he said.
    Shizune stared for a moment “ I could do with ‘more interesting’,” she thought.
    “How is it more interesting?” she asked.
    “I can’t tell you,” Caz said, “until you agree to come with me.”
    They arrived at school and got out of the car. Caz started skipping towards the school's entrance.
    “Caz, you are not coming in,” Shizune said.
    “Why not? It’s not likely I’ll embarrass the princess in front of her of friends,” he said defiantly. “From what I remember you were never insanely popular.”
    Shizune stopped walking and looked at him for a moment.
    “You’re staying outside. Or wherever you'd like to disappear to. Also, what do you mean ‘from what I remember’. I don’t know you,” She said.
    Shizune entered the school
    “But I know you!” Caz yelled as the school door closed.
Pondering over whether or not to take Caz up on his offer the rest of the day sailed by. Finally, the bell signaled the end of eighth hour. As Shizune walk out of school she saw Caz sitting on the railing swing his legs back and forth. She was almost to the her car before he ran to catch up with her.
    “Greetings, great scholar. How was thine tutelage?” he asked in a shakespearean accent.
    “Same as yesterday’s,” she replied.
“You know what? Somehow I’m not surprised by your response.” he said with an accusing face.
They reached the car and Shizune turn around.
    “You are quite an inconvenient person to have around,” She said
    “That depends on how you look at things doesn’t it,” he responded. “Some people think I am just honest.”
    After getting in the car Caz stared out the window silently for most of the ride. Shizune looked over at him, studying him. He didn’t seem flamboyant as he had been  before they had gotten in the car.
    “What shut you up?” She asked
    “Ah. It’s just weird to talk to you again,” he responded.
    “Ok, could you please explain why you keep talking about me in past tense?” she asked. “How do you even know me? If I ever met you I sure don’t remember it.”
    “It’s not so much as I know you, as I know Shizune,” he responded.
     “ What do you mean. I-”
    “Before I answer that,” Caz interrupted. “ You have to agree to come with me.”
    “I haven’t decided yet,” she replied.
    “You gonna need to, because I don’t have a ton of time you know,” Caz said.
    Shizune was taken off guard by his sudden seriousness.
    Soon they arrived back at home. Shizune got out of the car a walked into the house. Nobody was home. She checked her phone.
                                                                    (1) New Msg
From: Mom

Hi honey
Dad and I went out for dinner and
won’t  be back until late. We told
Bern he could go to his friends
house. So don’t expect him you
know  how he is.  :-)
P.S. please have leftovers for
Dinner.
Love Mom..

    She put her phone in her pocket and sighed.
    “No one is home?” Caz asked.
    “Nope.”
    “Where are they?”
“Out I guess,” Shizune responded.
Shizune turned and walked down the hallway to her room, Caz followed. She sat down on her bed and Caz leaned against the wall.
“So have you decided yet?” Caz asked.
“I’ll go with you but, can I get a few more details,” Shizune said.
“Only after we get there,” Caz said. “But just so you know, what I need your help with, what We need your help with, is not a simple thing.”
“Okay. So where are we going?” Shizune asked
“Well, have you ever heard of string theory?” Caz inquired.
“Yeah, they talk about it on ‘Big Bang Theory’ it is like parallel realities and such,” She responded.
“The thing is. Is that, that is all true,” Caz said
Shizune started to laugh.
“You’re not going to tell me we are traveling to a split reality were monkeys took over the world or something, are you?”
Caz stared at her like she was crazy.
“What do you mean?” he said, confused.
“Never mind. But honestly where are we going?” She asked
“You were right on, up until you started talking about the monkeys.” Caz said
    Shizune rolled her eyes.
    “Where are we actually going,” Shizune asked
    “Well, you want to take a right out of the driveway, then a left at ‘Common Sense’ then strait at ‘Bounds of Reality’,” Caz said, seemingly amused by himself.  “You really want to know?” he asked chuckling.
    “Yes,” she replied.
    “Aight fine. You have everything you need? Cloths and toiletries will be provided.”
    “I guess.” She replied skeptically.
“Alrighty then. Hold onto me please. Use your better judgement on where.” he said with a wink.
    She got up and grabbed his arm.
    “You’re disgusting.”
    “You think so?” he questioned sarcastically. “You may feel a little bit of a rush, and if you pee your pants I am told that's normal.”
    Shizune sighed.
    “Tough crowd,” chuckled Caz
    “Just do it,” Shizune sighed.
    “Okay then,” Caz smiled. “Close your eyes please and, do not, I repeat do not, open them.”
     Shizune closed her eyes. It felt like she had been plunged into ice cold water.  There was no sound, there was a light so bright she winced with her eyes cold. Then her feet hit cold cement. She gagged.
    “Okey, we are here. You gonna make it princess?” he said.
    She opened her eyes and looked around. They were in a city with black and gray buildings. There was no sky, next to her a garden of white lilies sat staring into the endless dark above as if they were looking for something.
    “Welcome.”
Shizune looked at Caz, astounded.
“To Makala, the city under my earth.” Caz said with a grin.