LIMINALITY

Chapter 9.

"Ivory, it worked!" Sadie exclaimed and ran over to Ivory who was sitting on the grass, rubbing her head. "Ugh...wh- oh, hey; it did work..!" She smiled and looked up at Sadie. "Hehe, what can I say? I'm a genius." Sadie grinned and put her hands on her hips. She looked around, studying her surroundings. Everywhere she looked, it had a kind of 'grainy' effect. Kind of like the last level, and how everything had a turquoise tint. There were bright blue skies, and healthy grass. Cartoony looking houses lined the dirt roads and white fencing. Sadie also noticed a tall water tower in the distance. "This place looks interesting." Ivory muttered and looked over to Sadie who seemed intrigued by the scenery. "THERE'S SO MUCH TO EXPLORE!" She exclaimed excitedly. Ivory giggled, "You sure are thrilled, aren't you?" She asked. "Of course, this place is so cool!" Sadie replied and looked down. She was on a tall hill and could practically see everything, "let's go down there! It looks like a town." She said and grabbed Ivory's arm, pulling her down the hill. "Sadie, be careful-! You might fa-" She got cut off by Sadie letting go of her arm and tumbling down the hill. "Exactly my point." She chuckled and began walking down to her clumsy girlfriend. Sadie was screeching as she rolled down the hill. Finally, she got to the bottom and stood up, almost falling back down since she was so dizzy, "you okay?" Ivory called out as she slowly walked down the hill. "THAT WAS AWESOME!" Sadie shouted up at her. She was exhilarated, "this place is great..!" She thought and grinned. There was a big town with houses lining the streets and a large fountain flowing with water in the middle of everything. "Woah..!" Her eyes lit up, admiring the town. Ivory walked up to her, standing by her after she got down from the hill. "You gotta be more careful next time." She said and looked down at Sadie. "Yeah, yeah; I will." She said sarcastically and ran over to the fountain. "Do you think this is water?" She asked. "I dunno... it doesn't smell like water." Ivory noted. "Yeah, it kinda smells- oh! It's almond water..!" Sadie said and looked over to Ivory, "oooh, okay. That makes sense." She nodded. "Hmmm.." Sadie hummed, wondering where the exit was. "There's no time to think about that now," she thought and walked over to one of the houses. "You think anyone lives here?" She asked Ivory, who was still at the fountain, sitting on the ledge of it. "I'm not sure, I don't see anyone here but us, though." She replied, swaying her legs. She thought the place she was in was calm. She liked it a lot better than some of the other levels she'd been in. Though, the cartoony, childish music blaring on the siren poles were aggravating. Tall poles were found on every corner of the streets, playing very cheerful, cartoony music. Very loudly. "I guess it's better than complete silence...that was driving me mad.." She thought and sighed.

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Meanwhile, Sadie was trying to open the door of one of the houses. "Ugh, it's jammed shut." She muttered, trying to pull it open with the little strength she had. "Iv, come help me open this!" She said, Ivory huffed and stood up. She walked over to Sadie and put both of her hands on the doorknob and began pulling it. "The doorknob won't turn. It's locked." She looked down at Sadie, who sighed and kicked the door angrily. "What are we supposed to do if none of these houses open?!" She trudged over to the next house and tried to pull it open as well. The houses weren't too spaced apart, which is something Ivory thought was weird. In her neighborhood, they were at least 200 feet apart. Her neighborhood was strange, and she hated most of the kids that lived there. Her neighbor was an annoying little eleven year old named Ayden. He'd always knock on her door at seven in the morning on a Saturday. Ivory loved sleep, and would sleep all day if school didn't exist. So when Ayden would wake her up, she'd be mad. And it didn't help that her parents actually liked him. "Oh, he's just a little kid, go play with him!" They'd always say. Ivory just sat on the swingset he had in his backyard and listened to him talk about stuff he did that never even happened. He told her that his parents were spies and they worked for the government. She just nodded and smiled because if she disagreed with anything he said, he'd tell her parents. Even the slightest mistake that Ivory would make, her parents would immediately ground her. Since she's such a good child, she hardly ever gets in trouble, her parents are constantly finding little things to yell at her about. It bothered her, but she couldn't say anything to them about it. She heard Sadie shout something from across the town. "SADIE, WHAT'S WRONG?" Ivory called out. "I GOT THE DOOR OPEN, COME HERE!" Sadie yelled. Ivory ran over to where she was, passing by about eleven houses. "You got it open?" She asked, "yeah, see?" Sadie motioned to the door, and sure enough; it was open. "I wonder what's in here.." Ivory muttered and stepped in through the doorway, looking around.