The Tower's Secret

4. The Other World

Asis sat at her desk, tracing her fingers along the wooden veining absentmindedly. 

She gazed ahead. The professor was standing at the podium up front and droning on endlessly, his bland voice echoing along the lecture room walls. She'd been listening at first, but with her thoughts disobediently dispersing and her ennui for the class increasing, she couldn't focus anymore.

Asis was not the only one distracted; many of students around her were also idly gazing around. The girl sitting next to her...what was her name again? Isabelle—she was doodling in her notebook. Two male students behind her were talking to each other about their weekend plans. They weren't even being very discreet about their noise. 

Asis glanced away. Was professor deaf? Or maybe he did not care.

Nevertheless, his monotonous voice lulled her to sleep every time. If she ever had insomnia or sleep issues, all she needed to do was record his voice and play it back. It would be quite effective in coaxing her to close her eyes.

Across from her, two seats down, she noticed a girl curling a strand of hair with a finger, studiously taking notes. Brooke, the transfer student who had arrived at her dorm a week ago. Shy, mysterious, yet very pretty. And the girl seemed to have approached Asis of all people, asking Asis to be her friend and to show her around the campus. 

A hidden background, a sweet personality, a decent face.

Funny. Had the girl ever been in a novel, she would have possessed the personality of the main heroine. And Asis would just be... an unassuming sidekick to support the main character and make her look better.

Asis sighed, glancing at her books splayed out in front of her. She arranged them, then rearranged them again. She gazed at the clock. It was quarter to eleven, near the end of her first class, so the professor was probably going to dismiss everyone soon. Resting her head on her hands, she closed her eyes for a bit.

Just a bit.

↜↝---⥈---↜↝

Asis woke up in the shed, groaning and rolling over as she gazed up. A few dozen holes had punctured the cloth ceiling over time, and some light was shining through, blinding her despite the general darkness. 

Dry...her eyes were dry. She blinked a couple times to allow the teary residues of slumber moisturize her eyes. A few moments later, she intertwined her hands and pulled them over her head, feeling the dull burn of her muscles as she stretched her arms.

Asis exhaled, running her fingers through her knotted hair, still trying to adjust to her surroundings.It was always difficult her for to transition from her dream to reality. Or was it reality to dream?

Oh, how she wished for a change. 

Every day when Asis slept, she woke up in her author's storyline, the Other World, playing her intended role as a character. Going to school, living an exceedingly normal life, reading, sleeping. Only...she never retained any memories of the Tower in her Author's story, solely living for her god to manipulate. Frustratingly so, those memories traveled on a one-way street; she recalled everything while in the Tower, but not the other way around.

Asis sat up, extending her legs and wiggling her toes, her bare feet exceptionally dry like cracked leather. She squinted at the few rays of light shining in the shed. From the dozen of small holes in it, the ceiling almost a starry night sky.

Stars...

Asis placed her hand on her forehead, biting her lip. Sometimes, she wished that she didn't dream of her storyline, but other times, she wished she that could stay there forever and forget about her life in the Tower.