Streaks of violet and fuchsia fill Kathy’s vision as she spirals out of control. She screams, but she can’t hear herself as wind clogs her ears. Her arms cling around her companion—a tall, standoffish fellow with choppy blond hair and forest green eyes, which were probably rolling at her expense. How is he so calm?! Kathy thinks.
Suddenly, everything is still. Gavin, Kathy’s escort, pries her off of him. They are floating, like astronauts in outer space. Kathy looks around in confusion.
“Hey, Gavin? Where are we?” Kathy asks, facing him upside-down. Her shoulder-length brown hair hangs around her, spread apart as if she is underwater.
“We’re between dimensions,” Gavin replies. He then grabs her arm and orients her upright. “Now, you know your FPD?” Kathy looks down at her right hand, palm facing up.
“Finger Processing Device, right?”
“Yes, that’s what it stands for,” he says slowly. “Anyways, there are countless applications that can be programmed into it. Since you just got yours installed the other day, you’ve only got the basic functions. Which is probably still more advanced than what you’re used to back on Earth.” Gavin says the last word bitterly.
“Hey, Earth isn’t that primitive,” Kathy argues. “We have something similar to the FPD called smart phones. The only difference from what I can tell is that the FPD is surgically inserted into a person’s hand, whereas smart phones are like little rectangular boxes. But, they perform a wide variety of functions just the same.”
“I know. And people end up losing them or breaking them. You can’t lose your hand,” Gavin says.
“Whatever, Gavin. Just tell me about my FPD already, and try to leave out the bias against my home, alright?” Seriously, Gavin. What’s your problem? Kathy thinks.
“I can’t help how stupid your home is,” Gavin responds, “but whatever. That’s not why we’re here.” Kathy is tempted to hit him upside the head, but in this unknown environment with her limited knowledge, she holds back. “Okay, look at your hand.”
“I’ve been doing that,” Kathy says.
“Tap the center of your palm with your middle finger,” he continues, ignoring her. She does so, and her hand glows pale yellow. “You’ve just activated the FPD. You can tell by the light.”
“Wow, I never would’ve guessed,” Kathy replies sarcastically.
“I can do without the attitude, Ms. Chance,” Gavin says, looking at her sternly.
“Ms. Chance? I’m only, like, three years younger than you! And your attitude is worse than mine!” Kathy responds.
“Look, if you don’t want to learn how to use your FPD, I can just take us back right—”
“I’d love to go back now! I’ll ask Zed to teach me instead,” Kathy says, folding her arms defiantly. Professor Zedler, or Zed, as his students address him, is Kathy’s instructor at Coelus Interdimensional University. “Really, I don’t understand why he thought you’d be a good tutor. It’s probably just because you’re his nephew.”
“I’ll have you know I’m an expert in dimensional travel and FPD use. You’re just a difficult student,” Gavin says gruffly, looking down at his FPD.
“What the heck?! I’m an amazing student!” Kathy replies. “What did I do that made you hate me?” Gavin doesn’t respond, but instead snaps his fingers. His eyebrow raises and he snaps again, but nothing happens.
“Hmm…well that’s not good.”
“What? What’s not good?” Gavin snaps several more times before meeting Kathy’s concerned eyes.
“We’re stuck. Oh, this is just perfect,” Gavin groans.
“We’re stuck?!” Kathy repeats, voice cracking slightly. She starts spinning. “No, no we can’t be stuck. There’s got to be a way out of here. We can’t be...not with him…”
“I can hear you,” Gavin says.
“Good! Because this is your fault!” Kathy shouts. “Thanks to you, we’re trapped in some sort of swirling void! I had so much I wanted to do…my whole career ahead of me.” Her gyrating increases in speed and she grips her knees. Gavin grabs her and holds her still.
“Stop freaking out! Panicking won’t solve anything.”
“Well, what else am I supposed to do? Look around us! We’ve got nothing, absolutely nothing,” Kathy says, gesturing to the nothingness surrounding them.
“Not necessarily. If someone comes by, we can hitchhike,” Gavin suggests.
“Oh yeah, like someone’s going to come flying by. What are the odds of that happening?” Kathy asks.
“…Admittedly not too high,” Gavin says, defeated.
“So, what are we supposed to do?”
“I…I don’t know. My FPD malfunctioned, and now I’m stuck with you,” Gavin says hopelessly.
“Why is that such a bad thing?!” Kathy asks. Gavin is silent for a moment, unable to meet her eyes. Finally he speaks up.
“Because you remind me of her,” he answers.
“Her?” The dots connect instantly in Kathy’s head. “She was from Earth too, wasn’t she?”
“Yeah.” Gavin looks up at Kathy. “You’re a lot like she was. Curious, smart, talented. When I see you I can’t help but think of her.”
“What happened?” Kathy asks softly.
“She used me. We went to the university together and she always had me ‘help’ her with her assignments. Being from Earth and all, and gorgeous, for that matter, of course I did. She had me wrapped around her little finger. When we graduated, she had no need for me anymore and dumped me.” Gavin pauses, a pained expression on his face. “Sorry, I’ve just had a hard time trusting girls lately. You haven’t done anything wrong though, and I shouldn’t have taken out my bitterness on you.”
“You’re right, you shouldn’t have. But, I get it. I’ve had my fair share of break-ups too. I forgive you,” Kathy says, “and I’m sorry you had to go through that.” She places her hand on his shoulder, hoping to comfort him. As she does this, a faint beep is heard. Kathy removes her hand to find it glowing.
“Huh, you must’ve activated your FPD by accident,” Gavin says. “Wait…gah! I’m an idiot!”
“What? What is it?” Kathy asks.
“My FPD may be on the fritz, but yours is new and functioning!” Gavin explains.
“But it only has the basic functions,” Kathy says, looking down at her hand.
“That’s all we need!” Gavin replies. “Okay, so earlier I was trying to snap us back to the portal. Only Portal Directors like me can have that application, so that’s not what we’re going to do here. Instead, we’re going to use Bring-Me-Home. It’s a basic function that teleports the user home, which in this case, is your home. To do this, hold your fingers like this.” Gavin holds out his hand and taps his index finger to his pinkie finger. “See how it kind of looks like a roof? That’s how you remember it. You hold it like that for five seconds and then poof! You’re back home.”
“Okay, like this?” Kathy clarifies, touching her fingers together.
“Perfect. Now just hold it.” Gavin links his right arm with Kathy’s left. She raises an eyebrow at him and suddenly they disappear. Kathy opens her eyes to find herself standing in her living room at home. Gavin is beside her.
“You can let go now. We’re back,” Kathy says, unhooking her arm.
“Right,” Gavin responds, smiling nervously and taking back his arm. He starts for the door when Kathy stops him.
“Hey, thanks for bringing us back. Maybe you can teach me more about the FPD later?” Kathy asks.
“Sure, I’d love to,” Gavin replies. He walks out, leaving Kathy to question everything.