A Long Way From Home

Now Chloe was panicking and deeply confused.

“I’m sorry, you… you tried already?” Chloe was still held up on that part. “And I died… fifteen times? How does that work?” Chloe was fairly certain that she would remember something like that. Unless she was having memory problems. Or, unless it didn’t actually happen. Chloe didn’t know how either of those options would make sense.

However Aurora would explain herself, Chloe had a much more pressing question to ask: “So, if I’m stuck here… what do I…” She cleared her throat. “I mean… food probably isn’t free. How do I support myself? Where can I live?"

Chloe had been wondering these things about her life after school for quite some time. She wasn't expecting to have to answer them quite so soon, or under conditions quite like this.

“Even though I might… die, or end up in the wrong universe, huh?” Chloe muttered. She was staring at the half-eaten fish on her plate, overwhelmed, paralyzed.

Chloe didn’t know how much she wanted Aurora’s help. She didn’t know if she believed any of this, but she didn’t know what else could explain what was happening, aside from what Aurora was saying. She didn’t know what she was going to do with herself, if she couldn’t go back home. Hell, she didn’t even know if she came from a real place, or if it was some kind of hell-hallucination Loch rescued her from. Or if she had fallen into a coma and this was her coma dream. Or maybe she actually was a succubus, and the summoning spell just messed her head up.

Chloe didn’t think she knew anything anymore. She snapped out of it long enough to make eye contact with Aurora.

“I guess we should… go ahead and get me set up, then? I’m not very hungry anymore.” She looked at the floor next to her, almost reflexively. Then, with more urgency, on the other side, then behind her. She turned to Aurora. “I think I left my backpack in the… room I got summoned in.” Wherever that was. “It came with me.”

The backpack was actually sitting right outside of Aurora’s office. Chloe just forgot that she had brought it this far.

“Alright.”

Chloe was quiet, for a while. She sat and stared at Aurora’s desk, unmoving, overwhelmed. She was still having trouble believing what was happening. She still didn’t understand how much she had lost, if she could never go home.

“Alright,” she said again. “One thing, then. If I’m going to…” she swallowed. “Stay here.”

She was quiet again. It seemed like a good idea to mention it now, if the academy was understanding of her situation, at least. If the academy wasn’t understanding… well.

“I am a girl.” Chloe began. She looked Aurora in the eyes. “But... when I was born, uh…” She cleared her throat. “Well, I’m biologically male. But I’m a girl. Even though there are parts of my body that aren’t, um… female.” She hoped Aurora would understand. “Do you think I can get a room to myself?”

Chloe sighed with relief. “Yes. Girls’ dorms would be great... Thank you.” She managed to return Aurora’s smile.

That smile didn’t last for very long.

None of this felt real. Chloe almost expected to wake up at any moment, to sit up in her bed and spend a few minutes thinking about what a weird dream this was. She hoped that it was a dream, and she was trying very hard to avoid the realization that it wasn’t.

Chloe looked at her fish. “I’m not hungry anymore,” she said. “…I, uh, might have already said that. Sorry.”