Reality Check

Us Against The World

Somewhere Only We Know (by Keane)

"This could be the end of everything. So why don't we go, somewhere only we know . . ."

___

The plan of keeping the group all together hadn't worked out so well. And neither had the plan of keeping half the group together, or even less than half.

Despite Bethany's attempts to get the Girl Scouts moving as fast as possible, it was no use. By the time they reached the summer camp, the pure possibility only seemed to be pulling everyone in. That included the Girl Scouts, who, to Bethany's frustration, had just believed it was fog and hadn't even tried escaping it when they got too close.

It seemed that even when she tried protecting strangers, it didn't help. Nothing Bethany did seemed to make a difference. She couldn't stop the worlds from disappearing, or people from dying. Everything was out of her control at this point, just as it always had been.

Everywhere she looked, the pure possibility wiped out trees and cabins and campers. This was it. The worlds were all falling apart, and only a small piece of it would be left before Nobody was free to rewrite it all. She felt a strong wave of guilt wash over her. This all was her fault.

This had only happened when Nobody took over, after all. She'd jumped into too many books, only caring about one thing: her dad. She hadn't thought that an old enemy of her father's would try to stop her. She hadn't known that anyone else knew about her powers. But Nobody had. He always had, apparently.

Getting as far away from the pure possibility as she could, Bethany ducked inside a cabin, where she paced fitfully around. A huge thunderstorm had just rolled in, and the rain barreled on the wooden roof. It reminded her of being in Toby's cabin a few nights ago, where she'd fallen asleep to a rainstorm.

Only, falling asleep right now was laughable. Here, she was just trying to figure out how to fix everything.

Obviously, she had to find Nobody. And fast, because in a few hours the rest of the world would be gone. But Bethany didn't have any powers, and he could split her in half again since she'd never destroyed the stone. This might not end well.

Might? she thought with irritation. Might was an understatement. This would not end well. Period. Bethany had nothing to fight Nobody with. No powers. And it sucked, because at times like these she would've jumped out of a book just to get a break from all this. Even if only for a few minutes.

If she ever could jump out again, she wondered what she'd see on the other side. Was the fictional invasion still going on in the nonfictional world? Or had all the monsters eventually disappeared, just as the characters had in the fictional world?

If they had, would anyone have suspected they'd come out of books? If she jumped out, would the library be filled with police and the military? Or would it be quiet as ever, without a single person inside?

Despite wanting to jump out of books, going back to the nonfictional world wasn't something on Bethany's agenda. She'd made up her mind a few days ago: when she jumped out next, it'd be after she defeated Nobody. And after she had her dad and friends back.

She couldn't just jump out of here and give up, like she had so many times before. Searching for her dad had been different. Sometimes she'd feel hopeful and excited, not even feeling the need to jump out. Staying in the fictional world for hours had been her only way of escape from her mostly tragic life.

During times when things got too dangerous, or if she'd just had enough, she'd jump out. Sometimes she'd give up completely, just as she had many times before. Back then, she'd had the option. She'd been able to avoid all responsibilities and lock herself in her room, giving herself a break from everyone, Owen and Kiel included.