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CONROY

A woman walked up to me and gave me a small smile. I smiled back, making note of her curly hair, brown eyes, and how eerily similar her clothes were to an Extranei. However, there were multiple other people who were wearing foreign clothes as well. But then it could be to blend in. Or it could be to distract me the actual traitor.

“I don’t know about a waiter, but I might have some water,” the woman said, scattering my thoughts. She took a small flask out of her bag and poured it into a glass. “Here you go. Don’t spill it, ’cause I don’t have much left.” She smiled at me again.

I added her constant smiling to my list of characteristics.

I grabbed the glass with both hands and downed it all in one gulp. I wiped my mouth, satisfied.

“Thanks for the water,” I said.

She nodded and a pause ensued. Clearly, she was not the talkative type. Finally, she asked, “What’s your name?”

“I can’t tell my name to strangers.” I responded immediately.

“Oh, that makes sense.”

“You can call me CF if you want.”

“Are those your initials?”

I froze. They never asked that question. “Um, no. They stand for cool…friend.” I groaned internally. I had just failed.

Amusement sparkled in her eyes. “Okay, CF, I’m Valencia.”

“Nice to meet you Miss Valencia,” I mumbled miserably.

I scanned the room, expecting one of them to pop out of the wall pointing out to a dozen kids all I did wrong. The walls offered up no people.

I scrunched up my face. “Isn’t this a test?” I muttered.

Miss Valencia caught my question. “Is what a test?”

I glared up at her. “You don’t have to keep up the act. We all know that this is a test, and that I failed it. Remember, no names.”

She stares blankly at me.

“Congratulation, you’re a great actress. Now, can we please just get over the humiliation and let me go home?”

“CF, you’re nowhere near home.”

“I told you; you don’t have to pretend anymore. The test is over. Once someone guesses at my identity and gets close, I fail, and the test is over.”

“Um, this isn’t a test. Listen, you’re in a completely different world,” she explained.

I scoffed. “This is a new one. Can I just leave, please? I know what I’ve done wrong, won’t do it again, and would really like to not be made into a lesson.”

“CF,” she said seriously. “You are not where you think you are. You are in a different world. I wish I was joking, but that’s the truth.”

I starde down at the floor. Different world? Why would I be in a different world? How could I be in a different world? I took a deep breath. “So, I’m in a different world.”

She nodded.

“And there’s no way I can go home.”

She nodded again.

“But I’m still not telling you my name.”

“That’s up to you.”

A silence falls. “I like your hair. It looks nice. Most girls I know have one half of their hair chopped short. Actually, all the girls have their hair like that. Anyway, how old are you? And do you like singing?”

 

@calidris

Change anything that didn’t fit Valencia 🙂