Across the Universe Read Free

direction whatsoever, and now I am lost.
                  I bite my lip and struggle to think of home, panicking when my body remains solid and I don’t find myself in the marble halls of The House. I try to think of only Nim and the chamber with the drawers and the wooden doors with splintered frames, but the back of my mind screams about the wonder around me, and I cannot silence it.
                  I sigh, look up through the sand, and see stars. A speck of light stands out from the rest. It is a pale blue color, shimmering far out in the distance and beckoning me closer. Before I can even command it I am smoke again, swirling toward the beacon of hope, through stars and around meteors and into the darkness.
                  When I break through the planet’s atmosphere I find myself in a wide world of light and color. Below me is a stretch of water so vast and large I wonder where it ends. As I circle overhead I see a landmass, large and looming, and I dive toward it. As I near the ground the sights become larger: structures erected along roads, pruned trees and foliage, and—the best part—wildlife streaming around. Animals of all shapes and sizes, people who look like me only slightly different: tinted hair and colored eyes, wearing more than just a white sheath and sandals like me.
                  It’s all too much as I go swirling by and for a moment I lose myself. The wind catches me up and draws me away until I regain my composure and coalesce on a sandy beach. A lake stretches out at the edge of the land, clear and deep, and boats travel across the water. I recognize the landmarks from the ancient texts in the archives of The House, but they’re so much bigger than the pictures contained within the pages of books.
    I look around and find the stretch of sand empty but for a boy sitting near the surf, his knees drawn into his chest as he jots down words in a pocket-sized notebook.
                  I blink back surprise. The first day inside my assigned universe, and I’ve found life. I can’t wait to tell Nim, to see the smile on her face when I explain to her the wondrous new world I’ve uncovered. Part of me wants to return to The House now just to tell her, but the curious side of me wishes to stay.
                  I shuffle through the sand, the warm earth mingling in between my toes as I walk. When I reach the boy he snaps his neck up to look at me in surprise.
                  He has a handsome face, hidden behind thick, black-rimmed spectacles. His brown hair falls onto his forehead in a mess of brown curls. A square jaw accentuates his thin lips and tan skin. Compared to my paleness, he looks as if he’s on fire.
                  “Where’d you come from?” he asks.
                  “The House,” I say.
    He scrunches up his nose and adjusts his glasses, waiting for me to say more, but when I don’t, he replies. “Where’s that at? Do you live off the beach? I’m sorry if you do. I didn’t mean to trespass. This is just a good place for writing, is all.”
    I lean my head to the side and hold my hand out for his notebook. He draws it away from me, sliding it into the pocket of his pants. His clothes are colorful—reds and blues and navies—and my eyes hurt from staring at them.
    “Is writing what you do?” I ask.
    The boy smirks. “Going to school is what I do. I’m seventeen. It’s what everyone my age does. Don’t you?”
    “What’s school?
    He blinks. “You know—the place you go to learn. So you can get a job, a life, a car.” I knit my brow, and when he sees my confusion, he stands and brushes the sand off the back of his pants. “You’re not from around here, are you?”
    “No, I’m not.”
    “Are you lost? Do you need help getting home?”
    I point up at the sky. “Home is far away, but I can get there once I focus right. What is it you’re