Kapitel 5: The way here
In that desperate moment, I realized I was falling behind. My camera slipped from my hands, and as I bent down to pick it up, a drop of acid rain hit the ground near me with a menacing hiss.
The sight of my camera being corroded by the acid almost made me cry.
"Oh no! No! My camera!"
"Phill! Hurry up!" Laura shouted, her voice filled with urgency.
I hesitated for a second, grabbed it, and ran. I didn't know if the camera's functionality was completely ruined, but the sight of the intensifying red drops made me forget any sentimentalism.
I headed toward Laura, but a series of drops fell right in front of me, forming a fiery line between us.
Laura wasted no time. She lunged forward, reaching out her hand to me.
"Move it, Phill! Unless you want to become acid rain barbecue!"
I grabbed her hand tightly, feeling the heat of the nearby drops. Laura pulled me with all her strength, and we both rolled under an awning just before getting hit.
We were breathing hard, our eyes wide with fear and relief. We slowly got to our feet.
"That was... intense," I said, trying to catch my breath and regain some humor. "I think I prefer our world's weather forecast."
"No doubt," Laura replied, still panting. "Next time, Phill, leave the camera behind, okay?"
I nodded, feeling immense gratitude for her saving me. With a mix of terror and nervous laughter, I fiddled with the camera and said,
"Yeah... but the camera's trashed. At least the memory card's still intact."
The red rain drenched the whole city forcefully for a few minutes. But during that time, I noticed something impossible to miss.
"Laura, why don't the structures melt in the rain?"
"Tsk. How should I know? This place is too strange for us to have answers to such... abnormal things."
We were sitting side by side under the awning, just watching the thousands of relentless red drops.
"How did you end up here?" I asked her calmly and quietly.
"Do you really want to know? You know you don't have to pay attention to a woman all the time, right?"
"What do you mean?"
"You don't need to get close to try to hit on me, Phill. Will already tried, and Tom... he tries with everyone but always strikes out."
I was completely stunned because nothing she said had crossed my mind.
"No. No. I'm not trying to flirt; I just want to know how you got here," I said with nervous, spontaneous smiles.
I asked again, genuinely curious.
"Come on, tell me. How did you end up here? I mean, in the New World?"
She took a deep breath, staring into the void ahead as if trying to relive the moments that brought her here.
"I was at the park with my dog, Bobby. It was a normal day, nothing special. Then suddenly, I felt a strange wave of heat. I thought it was just a hot summer day, but then everything around me started to distort."
I listened intently, curious.
"Distort? How so?"
"It's hard to explain," she continued, frowning. "The trees seemed to melt, the sky turned red, and the ground started to shake. Bobby began barking frantically, and before I could understand what was happening, everything around me disappeared. It was like I was sucked into a vortex."
"Calm down..."
How could things fit together so well? I remembered a similar incident from a few weeks ago, so I asked,
"When did this happen, and in what city?"
She looked at me and replied,
"Portland."
"Damn. That's exactly what I thought."
A few weeks ago, the national news reveled in content due to an unusual event in Portland. I remembered it perfectly.
I was sitting on the living room couch with my daily coffee and toast when the news about the New Orleans Pelicans' victory was interrupted to report breaking news in Portland.
On-site, the reporter said,
"Good afternoon, we are live from Portland's central park, where something truly extraordinary happened today. Residents and visitors to the park are in shock. So far, local authorities have provided a simple explanation, stating that this was the work of a rogue holder."
"Additional witnesses at the scene also reported feeling a sudden wave of heat, followed by visual distortions and a sense of trembling. However, no physical damage to the park or the environment was detected after the event."
"The Portland Police Department issued a statement asking the public to remain calm while investigations continue in collaboration with the Tower."
It could be a coincidence, but it was much more plausible that it was the same story.
"My God," I murmured, imagining the scene. "And you appeared here, out of nowhere?"
"Yes," she confirmed with a sigh. "When I regained consciousness, I was in this world. I found Will, Joseph, Tom, and Hana shortly after. We were all lost, not understanding what had happened. We only knew we needed to survive."
Wöchentlicher Energiestatus
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Rangliste 
-- Power-
Stein