Strange Girl In A Strange Place: Welcome Home...Kinda

Diana told Mara of her decision and they came up with a game plan: School would be over by the end of the week and she would have the week after to say her goodbyes and get her things together. By the end of the summer, they should be back home and back to normal or "at least as normal as we were before," as Mara noted after a skeptical look from Di. Normal was never a word that described either of them.

The rest of the week was a blur; everyone gushed about their vacation plans, summer goals were established and scheduled and the two weeks passed by without a second thought. When the day arrived, Diana couldn't help feeling pensive as she met Mara in the living room with a duffel bag packed. "So, are you ready, kiddo?"

"Um, no but yes. I'm still nervous about all of this but I'm doing it." Mara nodded in approval. "So, how are we supposed to get there? Secret base that you guys build here? Click our heels three times? Ask a chubby Scottish man to beam us up?" Diana's eyes widen as she gasped mockingly. "Secret hidden spaceship in the garage?!" Mara shook her head and laughed. "You managed to go two weeks without some science fiction reference. I thought you'd break sooner." "Nah. It's not fun if everyone expects it."

Mara grabbed her suitcase and walked across the room to the door leading to the garage. "By the way, it's more like a portal than a secret base. Less noise and effort required." Diana's jaw dropped as Mara walked into the garage. She had spent most of her life in that house and crawled into 90% of the spaces it had to offer. How could she have overlooked something like that? She ran into the garage after Mara, searching for some indication of a portal but the family car, bicycles, a tool shed covered in dust and other ordinary things filled the room. She looked to Mara. "Where is it?"

"You're looking at it." Mara reached into her pocket and pulled out a ring, holding it out in her hand to Diana. "Your father designed this years ago. He wanted something that no one would stumble upon, something sturdy and portable." Mara had a nostalgic look in her eyes. "He practically poured himself into every detail from the power source to its weight. He wanted it to be perfect." Diana examined the ring in her hand. She could see lights twinkling on the inside so indiscernible that she almost swore the lighting was playing tricks on her. She didn't know what to say.

"You put it on your ring finger and place press here and here," Mara demonstrated on her wedding ring. "Think about where you want to go, then hold your hand in front of you."Diana resurfaced from her thoughts. "Wait, is our wedding ring a portal thingy?" "It's called a 'Portal Key' and yes. It made sense to combine it with my ring. He also made you one, just in case this would happen." Mara grabbed her suitcase while Diana put the ring on her finger and slung the duffel bag over her shoulder. Mara took Diana's hand and spoke. "Take a deep breath and relax."

The garage got dimmer and dimmer as if Diana was going to sleep until they were both engulfed in the darkness. Soon, the outlines of a room appeared:  more small tables chairs on the room's borders, what seemed to be a fireplace and more chairs that surrounded a long table covered in cloth,. No lights were lit, giving the room with its high walls a steel color. Diana swayed on her fee and leaned against a wall. "Welcome home... Kinda," said Mara as she left the room.

The stillness of the room calmed Diana down and she decided to walk around, exploring. She noted the room was probably a family sitting room, judging by the furniture and guessed that no one had been there for many years. What surprised her most was the lack of pictures. On Earth, it seemed like Mara covered every surface with pictures and knickknacks but here, there was nothing. Diana walked over the fireplace and noticed that there was something the size of a small notebook on top of it. Curious, she went over and tried to dust it off but the moment she touched it, she heard something spark. She leaped back as far as she could. "Mom! Something weird is going on and I need you to fix it so it doesn't try to kill me!!" She saw something flicker on the wall behind her for moments afterwards until it revealed what it really was: a holographic recording of something.

The video projected was of a young man holding a toddler. "Riordan, it's recording. Are you ready?" The man was playing with the toddler. "Of course we're ready. We're always ready, aren't we, Little Bit?" The young toddler laughed and hugged the man as Mara walked back in the room. The sound from the hologram had warped a little but the faces were bright and clear. "Dad?" Diana whispered into the air. She collapsed into a nearby chair, dumbstruck for the third time that day. She used to wondered what her parents was like at her age; now she could see and hear them.  Mara sat down next to Diana as the image showed different videos of a past life. "Was Riordan Dad's real name?" Without taking her eyes off of the recordings, Mara nodded. "Yes. Riordan Gallenos was his name, mine is Xiomara.Yours is still Diana, though." Diana absorbed all of this information in silence. New house, new technology, even a new last name. Somehow, none of this scared her anymore. She did what she always did: put faith in her family, even the ones who were gone. 

Strange Girl In A Strange Place, Part 2: Stupid Truth

As they searched for the words to say, they heard a loud, disembodied voice declare "Wipeout!" and start drumming on the door frame. They both laughed and looked at each other. "Gregory's here," said Diana, thankful for the interruption. Mara saw Diana's subtle relief and said "We'll continue this conversation later," as she crossed the room. "Looking forward to that one." Diana took a sip of her coffee, trying to shake thoughts of the impending arguments of Einon from her mind. She heard Greg chat up Mara in the living room. Something about wanting to kill his little brother but that was basically his morning routine.

"Why are you here early? You're not allowed to eat my cereal!" Diana yelled into the living room. "Aren't we rude and selfish this morning? Tyler woke me up early therefore I am here early," Greg responded. He walked into the kitchen and settled himself next to Di. He stood an easy 6 feet to Diana's mere 5' 5", with indifferent green eyes (He always called Poop Green), and shaggy blond hair that fell into his face whenever he looked down, which was often considering his best friend was 5'5".

"By the way, I wasn't going to mooch for the cereal. I was going for the coffee. It's like you don't even know."  She smiled. "I'm sorry that I was suspicious of your intentions. Please, proceed." "Thank you."




Soon, they were driving to school together when Greg spoke into the steering wheel. "So what happened between you and your mom this morning before I showed up?"

"What makes you think that anything happened?"

"Well, you both seemed a bit tense, not really tense but more of a nuanced tense, you guys were deflecting something and you have your 'I don't want to talk about it' face on again"."

"Because I don't want to talk about it."

"Which denotes that something happened this morning because you just said so. See?" Greg glanced at her, a smug smile on his face.

"Argh, I hate you so much."

"And yet you love me. What happened?"

Diana shifted in her seat. "I had that dream about Dad again."

Greg frowned. "The one where you're hiding?"

"Yep. So now Mom wants me to visit their old home. Where they grew up, where they went to school, the whole nine yards."

"What's wrong with that?" Diana always gave Greg the partial truth about her family's past. Surprisingly, exchanging an alien planet for a foreign country was easy to exchange in a conversation.

"What's wrong? I don't want to go because A. I like staying in my shell like a hermit crab, B. my parents left for a reason and it's probably wasn't for a better view, and 3-," "You were on letters, not numbers." "Whatever. And C. I had plans for this summer!"

Greg parked in the school parking lot and they both got out. of the car. "First, my dear crazy friend, when hermit crabs find another shell, they moved into it. They're adaptable that way. Secondly, just because your parents moved doesn't mean that they don't have good memories that Mara wants to share with you. Thirdly, gorging yourself on junk food, movies and cartoons doesn't as a 'plan' ."

"I see your logic and replace it with my own. Next week, you're abandoning me for 8 weeks in New York with your family. Have I mentioned how much you suck for that yet today?"

As they were discussing this and walking towards the school, Greg noticed that her mood was improving but she still had the proverbial black cloud over her head. He then had an idea. "Di, quick questions."

"Okay.

"What's my little brother's name?"

Diana looked warily at him. "It's Tyler. Why?" They stood nearby the school's doorway, Di looking at Greg curiously and Greg had a knowing expression of his face. "How long have my parents been married?"

"20 years in October."

"And my grandparents live where?"

"New York." He continued to ask her more questions about his life and his family until Diana snapped. "Why are you asking me this stuff? I know the answes and I'm sure you know them too."

"I do but my point is this: you know all this stuff about me and where I come from. What that about your mom? What she was like at your age, where was her favorite hiding spot, where she meet your dad, things like that. Not only does she want to tell, she wants to show you. You've already told me that you still miss your dad like crazy. Maybe this can help you. Go for it, D. It's an opportunity of a lifetime." With that, he turned and walked into the school, leaving her with his words and the morning's incident fresh in her mind.

She already knew what the right thing to do was. She just had to brace herself to accept it. "Stupid truth and people knowing me. I've got to get new friends."