Journey to Another World

Chapter One

Reina awoke slowly, groaning and touching her hands to her forehead. Migraine...and she had to work today too. She sighed in resignation, realizing that she would have to get up even if she didn't want to, sitting up and stretching. Her wake-up stretch was probably Reina's favorite part of the day; she strategically maneuvered her limbs to take up as much space as possible and yawned with a cry not unlike that of an angry sloth and somehow it always made her feel better about the whole having-to-wake-up thing. She ambled her way over to her bathroom mirror, really only about a five foot journey in her studio apartment, but perilous nonetheless as there were used notebooks and loose pens littered all across the floor and covering every flat surface in her home. Reina looked at them in disdain; approximately two hundred and ninety two notebooks and yet not a single one held what she was aiming for- the ideal novel.

Reina had been a novelist for years, but never managed to get anything published-and not for lack of trying. Combined, those two hundred and ninety two notebooks held a whopping total of thirty four novels. Two sets of trilogies, a line of several crossover stories that were ultimately brought together in the end after a total of ten books, a couple of children's books she had written when she first began her writing career and the rest simply standalone novels, and not a one of them had tickled the fancy of any of the publishers she had tried. As she brushed her teeth and attempted to chase away her morning breath, Reina's gaze shot over to her desk and settled on a book lying open faced in front of her laptop- her last hope. The last novel she would ever write, if this one didn't go well with any publishers.

Her parents had been so proud of her when she moved to the city. Rural life had just never been her cup of tea, and when she got the chance she had bolted, taking up a job at a used bookstore and moving into the tiny studio apartment she now called home. But her joy was short-lived. About a month after she moved, both of her parents were killed in a car accident. The perpetrator was never found and after a while the case went cold, so Reina never got the chance to have the finality of knowing what exactly happened and why, but she vowed to not let them down. They had given her everything, and she wanted to make it worth it in the end.

Snapping herself quickly back to reality, Reina checked the time on her phone, almost immediately choking on her toothbrush. She was late! How could that be; she was never late! And by almost a half an hour at that! Shimmying quickly into a pair of leather pants and her favorite turquoise tank top, Reina dashed into her living room. She threw her boots on in a state of panic and ran down the stairs of her apartment complex, skipping two steps on the way down. Once on the street, she started outright sprinting, her feet barely touching the sidewalk. In her head she could hear the words pounding like a heartbeat- can't miss work, can't miss work, can't miss work!

She had to slow down after a moment to make sure her lungs didn't ignite, but she still made it to work in only thirty minutes. An impressive time considering she was running and her work was three miles away from her house. She normally drove to work, but her stupid car was in the shop. She had recently gone through a breakup- her novels took up too much of her time and dedication for her to have a boyfriend, and the poor guy had not taken it well; two days ago her car had mysteriously gotten beat up with a baseball bat and had the side mirrors taken off entirely.

But who had time to deal with that nonsense?

Reina threw open the door to the bookstore, setting off the bells tied to the handle on the inside of the store like crazy. Two men jumped from behind the donations counter, one letting out a startled squeak and dropping the book he had been holding as they turned to face the door. "Reina! You can't just be coming in here like that! You almost made me orphan my cat!" One of the men exclaimed, a tall and lanky redhead who looked unfortunately similar to the main character from that one movie about the cooking rodents. Flyaway curls fell sloppily into his eyes and he aggravatedly pushed them away to no avail; his hazel eyes peeked out from under rather bushy carrot-colored eyebrows. "Sorry Ryan," Reina said untruthfully. She had always somewhat disliked Ryan. No, that was the wrong word choice. He had always made her nervous, more accurately. Always checking to see what she was doing, always asking her what she was doing after work... Reina didn't know how to politely say that she was not interested in any post-work activities besides writing her novel, so she just sort of brushed him off.