Update for National: Emergency and about Reality..

Umm.... about the update, though.

 Really sorry, my life's jam packed with exams right now. I've actually written till Chapter 7, and I hope to type it out soon.

 Again, I'm really sorry.

 Dear readers, thank you so much for the love this book has received. I hope to meet your expectations with this novel.

 And, also.... about Reality...

 I deleted it because I think a short story won't do for this storyline.

 So if anyone wants a novel version of this story, please let me know!

 Thank you all so much!

 A preview of Reality(please don't mind the typos, if any) - 

1.

Thirty years ago

 They were real to me.

 Unfortunately, not so for others.

 That would have to stop.

 No, I would not try to make them realize that it’s real. I’ve already tried that for too long now. It just wasn’t worth the pain and rejection that always came.

 It was time for me to let go. For good.

 That day… that day would be my last visit. And then, I was done.

 I ignored the abuses, the jibes, the stones thrown at me as I jogged out of the school campus. The wind hit me in the face as I turned onto the main street. Home was only a few minute’s walk.

 I dusted off my shoes, standing the mat in front of the front door. It was open.

 “Hey, boy,” the familiar face of my father turned halfway towards me.

 “Hi dad.” I got out of my shoes and slid into my slippers.

 “How was your day?” The same old question I was asked almost every single day.

 “Good.”

 “Good… or great?”

 I laughed a little and replied untruthfully. “Great.”

 “Alright. Get yourself washed up already.”

 I walked up the stairs into my room. Tossing my bag onto my table, I head into the washroom.

 About ten minutes passed by.

 I was lying down on my bed, my vision fixed on the ceiling above me.

 One last time, I closed my eyes, waiting for the change to occur.

 The air started to feel stronger, cooler. The mattress beneath me progressively turning harder into something rigid.

 The clatter of horse carts. The feeling of being in open air.

People muttering.

 I opened my eyes.

 The world around me – the world you could imagine a few hundreds of years ago.

 No – no fancy unicorns, no weird animals, no ‘flying horse with wings’ or whatever. It was simply a different reality altogether.

 Green grass fields on my right extending to faraway mountains. On my left – the cobblestone city I knew well.

 People dressed up like Abraham Lincoln himself – long coats, bowties and hats – looking at me like I’m some sort of madman.

 Right. My outfit.

 A familiar face of a girl my age stared down at me.

 “Are you getting up or not?” The seven-year-old brunette asked.

 “Ellie, I-” I murmured as I got up to my feet. “I… need to tell you something.”

 “I know,” she nodded with a sad look. “You want to stop coming here.”

 On other instances I would’ve smiled. She always knew what happened in my world, down to every last detail.

 “You want to stop visiting me. And the others,” she said.

 Beside her, a few other boys and girls I knew by the name Brent, Chris, Sherry and Tanya, all stood with the same look.

 It was hard for me, but I guess I had to get it over with.

 “I’m not even sure you guys are real,” I said.

 That seemed to hurt them all the more, but I was being honest. They understood. At least I hoped they did.

 “Goodbye then, Landon,” Ellie said and hugged me. The others did not move, but bore the faces which bespoke of a sad farewell when reunion would never be possible in the future.

 The light got brighter and brighter till it was too hard for me to see.

 The air changed into a mustier smell. The familiar smell of my room.

 I opened my eyes yet again. I was back.

 I let out some air, more relieved than sorrowful.

 Next to me, however, a fresh rose, wet with dew, lay beside my pillow. I put it into my drawer.

 Somehow, it never decayed.

 And I never let go of it.