Chapter Text
Clicking away, the show Island Life popped up on the TV screen. Hesitation took a hold of me and kept my finger from pressing the ‘next’ button, the sound of soft waves and seagulls sounding off in unison, along with upbeat music, grabbing hold of my yearning heart like an anchor on a stony ocean floor.
A tragedy, honestly. A pettiness like you would not believe came over me as my lips pursed and my forehead wrinkled just as the camera shifted to a stereotypical rich white couple talking about how the house on the beach needed a new refrigerator and a new toilet to shit in.
My eyes darted away from the TV, and I gazed upon my humble abode. In contrast to the bright colorful beach life these people had in their grasp, I was in the middle of the cloudiest thunderstorm of the year. Not a single peek of sunlight could be seen, despite it being already noonish. The sound of raindrops like pellets hit my window, furthering the irony as I side eyed the TV screen as if in preparation to count all the differences in my surroundings.
As the crispy tanned, platinum blonde lady with a mid-life crisis continued to list all the changes she wanted made to her paradise beach home, I thought about the trek it would take me to get to a place like that. To see a nice beach with clean water, that would be like an eight-hour drive, easily. Not a trip for the faint of heart, especially without a wingman. Just the thought of asking all my friends if they wanted to go on vacation with me was merely a dream, as we all had different schedules with our evil corporate overlords. There was a beach I could get to, sure, an easier hour ride south, but again, I didn’t want to go swimming in the full brunt of multiple cities mass pile of crap to go anywhere near my legs.
So instead, I sat there, pouting like a little bitch and going through the motions, crushing my own aspirations and dreams to be in my own tropical paradise. Unlike me, Karen and Bob on the TV show looked happy, at least.
I turned my wrist upwards to check the time on my smart watch, my estimation on it being around noon correct as the digital display struck 12:04 PM.
A flash of light illuminated the grey world beyond my window, seconds later the rumble of thunder rolling in after. This caused the indoor lights to flicker and the TV to shutter and blink off and on again; a common occurrence in the area for our electricity to fail, of course.
Dropping my arm back down on the couch, I returned my attention to the TV. The image of the ocean was on full display and seemed to light up the room. For a moment it was as if the sounds of the waves and the seagulls grew more vibrant and very real as if I was there. Dreamily, I went along with this, imagining the feeling of the bright sun hitting my face, and the smell of the saltwater from a pristine ocean.
The longer I stared at the moving image of the beach, the more I realized that it was lingering for a very long time, no music added. The minutes that passed and my strange hyper focus on the image grew instead from a fun feeling of imagination to that of an unnerving realization that the image looked wrong. Like, something was off about the beach. The waves and the sounds started to get more intense, and I actually started to feel the sea breeze and smell the salt.
But for the life of me I could not look away. It wasn’t so much as I was entranced but that I was flabbergasted by what was happening. I thought maybe I was having some sort of mental break, so I pinched myself. The sharp feeling of pain, bad enough to cause me to wince, proved to me I was awake, and yet the image remained, growing brighter and more intense as the seconds passed.
“What the—” I began to mutter as I stood up, but merely coming to a stand from my seat on the couch caused a force like gravity to start pulling me in.
In an instant, I went from my dark room and onto the bright beach, sand flying everywhere as I landed like someone had thrown me. Disoriented, I was desperately trying to comprehend what the hell was happening when I turned around and looked upward at an angle, seeing my couch on the other side of a portal that had miraculously opened and spit me out the other side.
“Holy shit!” I yelled, gasping for air in a panic. With wide eyes I scrambled to my feet, reaching upward at the portal, seeing through it my comfy sofa, and watched the multicolored portal begin to close around it.
“No!” I yelled again, panic and dread overcoming me as I jumped upward like I was trying to throw myself back in, but it was no use. Like I was in some kind of horrible nightmare, the portal grew smaller and smaller until it came together in a tiny ball of light and vanished before my eyes.
Now, I was alone on an island out in the middle of nowhere. My mind was all over the place as the panic grew worse amongst the tranquil serenity of the beach, again clashing circumstances taking over my psyche as if keeping up with my new daily record.
“My… my couch… my house,” I said with a thousand-yard stare. Yes, it was true. They were all gone! No more would I play video games or tend to my pumpkin garden; no more would I get to drive my beautiful car that I was merely months away from paying off; and no more would I click away at the TV watching the Travel Channel, cartoons and… I don’t know, E Sports? The fact was that was all over!
I dramatically fell on my knees, my hands balled into fists as I looked up at the direction of the sky where the portal had been, and yelled, “NOOOO!” for as loud and for as long as I could.
After my long and loud exhale of emotion, I took a deep breath and dramatically flailed onto the ground. I was already covered in sand anyway, having fallen in the first place, so it wasn’t like I was making anything worse by doing so.
I started sobbing for a couple minutes before I had the bright idea to use the emergency feature on my watch and call for help. “That’s right! My Apple Watch!” I exclaimed, a deranged smile overcoming my mouth as I lifted the watch’s face to my own, and immediately held down the panic button.
Watching it do the countdown and begin to call the emergency line, however, soon shoved all my hopes down the drain as I heard the automated computer voice say, “Sorry, the number you are trying to reach is unavailable, please try again later,” and then went into that dull annoying tone, leaving me again speechless and my eyes twitching.
Looking at my watch again carefully, I saw I had no Bluetooth connection to my phone at all, and even doing some more legwork, and checking the maps app, revealed nothing.
It was like I wasn’t anywhere, really.
“I’m going crazy, that has to be it,” I said, now too afraid to use the device it in the event it ran out of a charge. “This is like some kind of joke, right? My brain playing tricks on me? A dream?”
Yes, that was it: maybe this was a dream! I was sitting on the couch, it was rainy and thundery outside, and I was watching Island Life on the TV. It was a good nap time! I must’ve fallen asleep and now I’m just living my fantasy of being on vacation.
A loud, strange whoosh sound, accompanying a blue blur, suddenly appeared, passing me momentarily before returning and stopping right in front of me. In the blink of an eye, instead of looking at the water I was looking at a blue hedgehog thing wearing red shoes and a brown scarf around his neck.
“Hey, are you okay? Where did you come from?” he said, his voice filled with curiosity but more so concern.
In any other situation I would have been extremely happy to see someone else, but because I was still very much in the mindset that this was all a dream, I replied, “Are you a real life furry?”
“What?”
“What?”
We stared at each other awkwardly for a long time before everything started getting to me again. This was way too real to be a dream. The sounds, the smells, the feeling of gritty sand all over me, and now this talking animal.
I think when I started to stare off into the void again, that made him grimace, and he said politely, “Um, I’m going to get help,” before running off again as a blue blur once more.
Again, I was alone, this time alone with the overwhelming reality setting in that I was not in Kansas anymore, (in my case Texas, but whatever, fuck that place). I needed to lie down. So, I let myself noodle down in the sand again, still and wide-eyed as I tried to process everything internally.
I don’t know how much time passed between that moment and the next, but it was like a blip. Whether or not the crabs decided to come eat me, I could not have cared less.
But alas, I never was eaten by crabs, and before I knew it, I heard the sound of footsteps and mumbling. I could hear a bundle of voices, some carrying tones of concern, others with caution, when five more furry animals stood over me, each colorful and bright like the world around me.
“Is she dead!? Oh no, we’re too late,” the tallest red one gasped.
“She’s not dead, don’t you see her eyes are open and she is breathing?” the pink one stated, rolling her eyes and gesturing down to my limp body on the ground. She turned her attention to me, shifting her irritability with sympathy. “Hey, you alright? What are you doing all the way out here?”
“Me?” I answered. I contemplated if I should even sit up or not, but judging by how this was all going I didn’t think I had a choice. Slowly I rose to my feet, dusting off what sand I could before I finally responded, “I’m a little shaken, not going to lie. I just fell out of… some portal or something.”
“Not the first time something like that has happened,” the blue hedgehog thing from before stated bluntly.
“Interesting. Did it happen right here?” a little yellow fox asked, seeming interested in the situation.
I nodded, raising my arm upward to point in the diagonal direction I fell out of from the sky. “Yeah, about eleven feet or so up there, give or take.”
“Falling out of portals? And she’s a human? I am not buying this; she has to be an alien!” the brown badger said.
“Hey now, there is no need to be throwing out accusations like that,” the pink one interjected.
Thank God someone here was looking out for me and was speaking sense into these guys, otherwise I think I might as well have gotten up and walked into the ocean.
I cleared my throat, managing to get their eyes on me, and said, “My name is Kailey. Yes, I’m not an alien, I am a person. As in a human being? Um, and I… have no idea where I am or who y’all are.”
“Oh, that’s right, where are our manners!” the pink one responded immediately. “My name is Amy, this is Sonic, the one who found you, and that is Tails, Sticks and Knuckles.” She gestured to each of my new colorful acquaintances as she named them, making it both easy to remember who each of them was due to the fact their presence was so different and unusual, and for being so accommodating.
By this time, Tails had pulled out some sort of device, his eyes shifting back and forth from whatever he was reading on the screen and to where I had pointed earlier. It seemed he was the only one more preoccupied with the portal that I had come out of than me personally.
“We can head into town, show you around maybe, and think of some things to get you situated,” Amy continued.
“You guys go ahead,” Tails said. “I’m going to stick around here and see if I can get any readings on this portal situation.”
“You don’t think it was Egghead that’s up to this, do you?” Sonic asked.
“I’m not sure, but it doesn’t hurt to look into what’s happened here.”
“Whose Egghead?” I asked out of curiosity. This took Tails away from his intense concentration on his device, and likewise, everyone else from their churning conversation and back to me. I felt like I shouldn’t have even asked at that point as it seemed they all cringed in unison.
“Don’t worry about it, he’s just some weirdo doctor that—” Sticks began to answer but was cut off by Sonic.
“We don’t need to talk about him! Last thing we need right now is for him making things complicated.”
I kept my mouth shut, but I couldn’t help but wonder why this guy was so… I don’t know, despised by this group. I hadn’t met this Egghead, but knowing he was a doctor of some kind made me think he could be helpful somehow. Alas, I took the hint, and looked to Amy for next steps.
“Okay then,” I said, taking a deep breath as if I was about to go deep sea diving or something. “Lead the way. It’s not like I have anywhere else to go.”
. . . . . . .
It was a long trek to wherever we were and to the town I was promised. Half the time I was dissociating, my brain really, truly unable to cope with everything that had happened, although outwardly I thought I was holding myself together quite well.
As for the group of animals, I guess they were just as awkward as I was, because nobody said a thing for the longest time. Wasn’t sure if it was my presence or the ludicrousness of it all. I mean, portals? Please, that was some sci-fi trope bullshit. Anyone else could have come up with a better plot. And on top of it all, why did it have to be me? That’s like the kind of stupid thing… I don’t know, I would write about.
“So, what was the last thing you were doing before you got here?” Amy asked, finally breaking the silent trek. “Any idea how that portal opened?”
“To be completely honest I was just watching TV,” I said, shaking my head. “There was a thunderstorm outside, but… nothing out of the ordinary.”
“I’m sure Tails will have something for us soon,” Sonic said, trying to remain positive. “Again, this isn’t unusual for us, and everything has worked out before.”
“Let’s hope,” I said, managing to smile a socially awkward, forced smile, like white people did when they passed each other.
“Well, we’ll help you out. I figured we could grab a bite to eat and then start thinking of getting you situated here. Maybe get you your own place setup,” Amy suggested.
“My own place?” I asked, raising a brow. I felt a shiver go up my spine. I don’t know why I was thinking this would all get sorted out in one day. Maybe subconscious hope or something, but that was shattered pretty quick when Amy’s suggested getting my own place.
That meant I would be here. Indefinitely.
Swallowing to myself silently and trying to fight back the urge to have another breakdown, fire was going off in my brain like that dog meme, but outwardly I simply said, “That’s fine.”
“Hey, we’re almost there, guys!” Sticks said, shifting the tone.
We walked just a bit further, and soon a small yet lively village revealed itself nestled within the jungle. It all looked pretty normal with the exception of every resident being some type of animal, making me feel like I was sticking out like a sore thumb. Ironically, as I walked along with the group, I got a lot of weird looks from the locals like I was the freak.
It was weird getting the turnaround with odd feelings with these… people? Sentient creatures? Quite frankly, was I even on an ‘Earth Planet’ anymore, for that matter? I suddenly started getting intrusive thoughts of what this all meant metaphysically. Like, what was worse? Interdimensional or galactic travel? Being separated from my home by distance or by realities? Both options were a great dark void of unknowns, and there was not a single human being to take comfort in all this.
That was, until I saw one. A human being. His back was turned, his face was skewed, but I could see him. I suddenly felt a pull in my heart, like I had been adrift at sea, and I saw a ship on the horizon. Desperation seemed to cling onto my psyche to find something familiar, and so I tore myself from the group and approached the large and tall man in red.
A smile, a genuine smile came over me like I was walking into Disney World, and just as I got behind this person, I said, “Excuse me, sir! Can you help me?”
The guy started turning around, irritably at first, but his tone shifted to something softer as he met my gaze. “That’s Doctor to you! To…you…” he stuttered.
I was a bit jarred by how he looked, but I think the odd bliss I was feeling seeing another human overcame all that. He was bulky and broad shouldered, bald as bald could get, but somehow his exaggerated, perfectly groomed mustache and round sunglasses seemed to balance it all into a very… unique look. He wasn’t normal by any means, at least as far as guys I typically saw in my world, but in this case abnormal was great.
For whatever reason my heart skipped a few beats. I coughed lightly, assuming I was just having another random round of PVCs or something and ignored the feeling. I started opening my mouth to say something else, but that’s when both my wrists were grabbed sternly, and I was escorted away.
It was Knuckles and Sonic that had made this decision for me, both of them dead serious as I looked at them with irritation. “Guys, what are you doing?” I huffed.
“Do not talk to him,” Sonic said, his eyes focusing on the path ahead. “He’s the last guy on this island you want to get involved with.”
“Yeah, he causes us all kinds of trouble. Double trouble,” Knuckles added.
I was starting to connect the dots then, and I blurted out, “Wait is that the Dr. Egghead you mentioned at the beach?”
“Um, yeah… that’s him,” Sonic replied. “But again, and I cannot emphasize this enough, do not interact.”
And here I thought that the only human being here could help me. I guess that’s why they say don’t trust strangers.
“Great, you’re back!” Amy said, eventually everyone reuniting around a series of outdoor tables, the smell of meat on a grill instantly hitting my nostrils as I walked up. “Was wondering where you went off too, Kailey.”
“Yeah, um, sorry,” I said, unsure of how to respond. “So, what’s with this place?”
“Figured we get that bite to eat here at Meh Burger and we’ll tell you all about it!” Sticks said, raising a finger, and then two, and then three as she started counting down different things. “Sure, we’ll talk about the town, but you’re also gonna tell us more about where you came from. Such as, what is your town like, what’s the weather patterns in your area like, do you by any chance live in a flat two-dimensional plane? You know, all that normal stuff.”
“What are you talking about; you mean like two-dimensional as in I’m flat or the earth is flat? Because it’s neither of those.”
“Flat earth? The dirt is already flat. We’re walking on it. What are you trying to imply, that the ground isn’t flat? That we’re walking up a hill constantly? What are you saying?”
“I’m not saying anything.”
“You’re lying!”
“Sticks, calm down, I think we’re all three-dimensional here,” Sonic said.
“You say that now, sure, but what if we’re all just a bunch of words scrambled on a computer screen or cartoons or something! What then?”
“Can I take any orders here?” a sad looking nutria thing said, seemingly coming out of nowhere. He was very unamused about our conversation, let alone working.
“Yeah, give us a round of burgers, Dave,” Sonic answered, the conversation continuing without missing a beat. “Maybe we should talk about something else.”
“Okay, well, I can tell you a little about my world,” I said. “It’s less colorful… it’s not as pretty, that’s for sure. The springtime is nice though, it’s pleasant outside and we get wildflowers. Summers are brutal, winter doesn’t exist, and the power goes out all the time. I work an at-home job, I have a car cause the place I live isn’t walkable. Um… what else.”
“What do you mean not walkable?” Sonic asked.
“Like, we must drive cars everywhere. If you don’t drive a car, it’s dangerous. You can’t even cross the street without risking getting run over. Nobody cares.”
“Wow, that sounds horrible!” Amy gasped.
“Pfft,” Sonic huffed sarcastically. “If I were there I’d just run into the cars.”
“What are you even talking about, that would kill you,” I said, confused.
“No, I can assure you: I would kill the car,” Sonic repeated.
“Here is your Meh Burger, thank you for stopping by,” Dave said, returning with a large tray with all our plates on it, and set each burger in front of us.
Looking down, the burger looked okay enough, and the fries smelled good. I watched as the others quickly started eating theirs, giving me the confidence to pick mine up and take a bite. Taking notes of the flavor, it tasted similar but not quite like a hamburger.
“So... what is this stuff made of?” I asked Dave, who had continued to stare at us tiredly.
“It depends on the day,” Dave said.
Pausing for a second, I tried to control my facial expression after hearing what he said. On top of it, it was kinda dawning on me that these were animals after all. Like, was it even ethical to eat cows? And what did he mean by depends?
“Can you elaborate?” I emphasized.
“Well, today it’s pigeon, which is what's typical.”
I looked back down at my burger. Not the worst thing I’ve eaten before, but for whatever reason the idea of eating pigeon threw me off. I could have asked further what other things he served, but I decided to leave it be. Thank goodness he started walking off after that.
“Okay, so I think it’s our turn now!” Amy chimed in. “First off, we have a library, a market—which you can get anything you need there—and the mayor’s office. We don’t have a whole lot of activities going on around here, at least I am assuming that you might be used to, but there is a lot of fun things to explore!”
“We’re always busy trying to fend off Egghead, though,” Sonic slipped, though he caught himself and turned his head to look up and around him. “Oh, would you look at that cloud!”
Again, with this Egghead guy. I was starting to get more curious than anything. I didn’t even get to really talk to him when I randomly ran up to him for help, but whatever, I guess. I suppose everything would come to light on its own timing.
“Yes, anyway,” Amy said, “but you have all the time in the world to get acquainted with everything. As a matter of fact, you can stay with me while we try and get your own place built. Maybe a spot somewhere on the beach like us, what do you think?”
“Like a beach house?” I asked.
“Yeah! And tomorrow with fresh eyes, we can go over your wish list. As much as I hope we can figure everything out for you and get you home, I also think you deserve a place for you to rest your head while you’re here.”
“That’s very kind of you,” I said, lowering my eyes. Her words were a reminder that I wasn’t home anymore, but she seemed to dull that fear I held and made it somewhat manageable with being so friendly. Really, this entire group was going out of their way to help me. “I guess if I was going to randomly drop out of a portal, I’m glad it was here.”
Pigeon burgers, talking animal-people, mysterious strangers with dashing mustaches… it was all a big pill to swallow. I just had to take this one day at a time and hope I didn’t lose my sanity.