Chapter 18：Sherry's friend

Sherry and Dylan were in the living room reading a picture story book. Sherry read the book to Dylan in Divian first before re-reading it again whilst translating. The third time, Sherry read entirely in English. When she was going through it the fourth time in English, Sherry's phone suddenly vibrated.

Sherry looked at the screen and a faint trace of excitement appeared on her face. "Hey, what's up."

"Yo, wanna hang out tomorrow? The movie we wanted to watch is coming out." A clear female voice resounded from the speakers.

"It comes out tomorrow? Oh my god, I totally forgot." Sherry excitedly replied. Dylan watched her face brighten up with joy and could not help but to wonder what she was talking about.

"Yeah, I'm buying the tickets now. You up for it?" Sherry's friend asked.

"Totally! Ah, but is it okay if I bring someone else? There is a friend I want you to meet." Sherry peaked at Dylan's face and said.

"Hmm? You have friends other than me?" Her friend rudely exclaimed.

"How rude! I have other friends too you know? Anyways, drop by my house tomorrow and we can go to the movies after." Sherry said.

"Alright, I'll come in the afternoon. We can go shopping if we still have time." Sherry's friend agreed without a fuss.

"Mn, see you tomorrow, Janine. Love ya."

"Love you too. Bye." Janine hung up the phone and Sherry put down her phone.

"My friend Janine is coming over tomorrow. She's a very nice girl though she can come off as mean and rude sometimes." Sherry looked at Dylan who had been patiently waiting for her call to be over by the side. He had an casual smile on his face and didn't seem to mind the wait.

"You must be good friends. You seemed very excited to speak to her." Dylan commented cooly.

"Mn, we've together forever like you and Math---" Sherry abruptly paused. She cautiously peaked at Dylan. He showed the same smile but his eyes widened a little and his lips tightened up for a split second. Dylan soon relaxed, showing that he was not affected by her words. "The point is, that she is my bestest friend." Sherry said, attempting to shift the tense atmosphere that resulted from her careless words.

"Does she know about me?" Dylan asked as if he was unfazed earlier.

"Uh, sort of." Sherry thought back to when she first came back home. She had been very very afraid. Her memories were a tangled mess, she didn't know what was real and what was fake anymore. The fear and sensation of death overtaking her body though, was so vivid that she could not stop shaking. She could distinctly recall the feeling of the cold sword entering her body and cutting through her heart. As she fell to the ground and the world faded to black, she remembered feeling so alone, so cold and afraid.

But despite the vividness of her memories, it was also somewhat of a blur to her. She herself knew that she was on Earth, in her 20 year old body. The passage of time had not passed, perhaps it was all a dream. A terribly realistic dream that pained her heart so much that it hurt everytime she recalled it.

Fortunately for her, Janine was visiting that day. Upon witnessing Sherry devolve into a sobbing mess, she comforted her, reassured her that she was safe and talked her through her troubles. Sherry could still remember the words she spoke to her that day, word by word.

"Who did this to you?" She asked with a threatening tone of voice. It seemed that she thought someone else had broke her heart or something. If Sherry named someone, she might've went to kill them, Sherry laughed as she recalled, she was that serious.

Sherry at the time shook her head. "No one. I'm just really really confused." Sherry teary voice answered.

"Sherry, you better tell me what's going on right now." Janine held both of Sherry's shoulders and steadied her shaking body. Sherry looked into Janine's eyes, those black eyes were so clear and serene like a lake, it reflected the sight of her sorry figure and the obvious sorrow that had overtaken her.

"I don't know. I just, I don't know." Sherry repeated.

"Just tell me what it is that is so confusing." Janine softened the tone of her voice and continued.

"I, died. But then I woke up and I was home again." Sherry said after a pause. Her eyebrows furrowed from the strangeness of her own words. As expected, Janine was also confused.

"So you died in your dream or something?" Janine tried to clarify.

Sherry shook her head. "No, it's different. It wasn't a dream, Janine. It's too real to be a dream."

"So then what was it?"

"I don't know. But I have two years worth of memories. Two years!" Sherry emphasised.

"And what happened in those two years." Sherry could tell from Janine's voice that she still wasn't convinced.

"I woke up in this other world called Diva and learnt their language, their culture and history. I made friends, people I can entrust my back to and also learnt how to protect them. I learnt magic, I saved people and they saved me. But, at a crucial moment, I, I was suddenly killed by someone I trusted." Sherry recounted. Her voice trailed from excitement to dread and hurt.

"You say it's been two years but just yesterday, we went out to eat together. How do you explain that? And plus, you're still alive."

"I don't know either. I'm clearly died at 22 but I somehow became 20 again."

Janine looked Sherry in the eye. She seemed serious and concerned. "I think you just had a very weird dream. Dreams are supposed to be happy but if you're gonna be hurt by it, I suggest you move on and forget it."

Sherry began to tear up again. She didn't think about all the unpleasant memories like the betrayal or how she died or the first time she killed. Instead, she thought about the kindness the Divians showed her. The beauty of the land, the joy of soaring through the sky, the gentle smile Dylan displayed to her. These precious moments, could she really discard them and reduce them to mere dreams just because a few moments of pain? "If a treat it as just a dream, it will mean I will never meet those people ever again. I don't want that."

Janine's heart winced. She didn't like this one bit, seeing her dear friend cry because of this. "If you say it's not a dream, then it's not a dream. But I can't bear to see you cry over this so forget the bad memories and focus on the happy ones."

Sherry weakly nodded. "Good. Then how about we start now? Tell me about, let's say, when you first noticed you were in another world." Janine reassuringly guided Sherry.

"I woke up in a forest. It was very warm and bright and this animal was looking at me. It looked like a cat but it was big and blue and had little horns on its head. Then, this man came walking towards me. He had pretty blonde hair and heterochromatic blue and green eyes. The man wore strange but stylish clothes and hung a sword by his waist. He looked like he walked straight out of a fairy tale." Sherry's voice slowly became happier and she began to smile.

"Oh, and what's his name?" Janine asked.

"Dylan. Dylan von Kaiser." A faint blush appeared on Sherry's face. Coupled with her swollen eyes, she looked very cute.

"Hmm, Dylan huh. So what happened with this Dylan." Janine teasingly asked.

"He became my first friend and helped me adjust to Diva. He also taught me some self-defense and magic. And he gave me a job and a house and just everything. I don't know what I would have done without him." Sherry was excited now, now longer downcast and depressed.

As they spoke, Sherry slowly forgot about her pain and Janine's plan to cheer her up succeeded. Janine was not convinced by Sherry's story but she didn't treat her differently and also listened to her talk attentively.

"So, how did it feel to use magic?" Janine asked curiously.

There was a gentle smile on Sherry's relaxed face. She looked at her opened hand and narrated to Janine. "Magic is warm, it's spread throughout your body but is most concentrated around your heart. To use it, you move it from your heart to your hands and push it out. Then from there, you picture something, for example a burning ball of flames. Then you say the magic words, 'fireball' and the spell is cast."

"S-sherry! Wtf?!?!?!?!?!" Janine exclaimed with surprise. She pointed at Sherry's hands, "T-t-t-t-t-t-that, how'd you do it?"

For the first time in her life, Sherry saw Janine losing her cool. But she didn't have time to observe as she felt a familiar wave a warmth gush over her and gather at her hands. There, a stable ball of flames burnt above her hands. Shock overcame Sherry. "This, its magic." She absentmindedly said.

"No shit it is! How'd you do that?" Janine screamed.

"I just did." It took a moment for the fact to sink in. "I use magic! It wasn't a dream! It wasn't a dream, Janine! It was all real." Sherry excitedly reported. Her face flushed with excitement and all remaining gloom vanished like it didn't exist in the first place.

"Ahhhh! Be careful. It's gonna burn the house down!"

Sherry cut the supply of magic to the fireball and it extinguished itself. "It wasn't a dream." She was about to cry again.

"So everything you just told me was true?" Janine's flabbergasted voice sounded, her mouth widened slightly like those clowns at the fairs where you throw the balls in them.

Sherry didn't say anything and just hugged Janine. The two women sat on the couch embracing one another. One sobbing and the other gently patting her back.