Reminiscence

John was at a loss on how to proceed. He had known that based on the quest criteria, finding Meadow wasn’t a guarantee, but when he saw those words, it was like the path before him was eviscerated. ‘I can’t give up, this wasn’t a waste of my time. If I hadn’t checked the house, I would have never found this barrier. The police wouldn’t have been able to find Meadow’s gun that was clearly fired in this barrier, this is an important clue. I should take pictures of everything in the barrier, any information may help in finding her.’

He pulled out his phone to start the new task he had given himself. The background picture was a photo his mother had taken of Meadow and him earlier in the summer. Meadow was a dazzling ray of beauty to him on that day, not wearing her usual tomboyish clothes, instead sporting a gorgeous white sundress. The picture had been taken at the perfect moment when her blonde hair was flowing along with a summer breeze. Her smile extended all the way to her emerald eyes. John’s mind drifted back to that day as he began the process of chronicling everything in the house.

2 Months ago at Meadow’s

Brenda and Meadow had called John to let him know that they had finished their day out together; his assistance was requested to bring in their purchases. John walked out the front door. It was then that he was stopped in his tracks with a small blush on his cheeks. His friend stood before him with makeup on that accentuated her womanly charms making her seem more mature to him. The mature aura she was giving off wasn’t the only change. Usually, she kept her hair in a ponytail, but today she had it down and it flowed like solid strands of sunshine to just below her shoulders. He could barely tell the gorgeous woman before him was the same tomboy he grew up with.

His mother suddenly pointed her phone in the direction of the two youths and called out to them, “Smile and say cheese.”

“Cheese!” Meadow called out as she turned to look at the older woman and give her best smile for the photo.

John stood bewildered as his mother snapped a picture of them. “I caught you both at the perfect time; Meadow, you look spectacular, and John looks like a deer caught in the headlights.” Brenda laughed as she handed her phone over to Meadow.

“You’re right, Brenda, this picture came out great.” The blonde beauty approached him and draped her arm around his neck and shoved the phone in his face. “John, great picture, right? How do I look?”

The not-yet Gamer became more bewildered as the pleasant scent of Meadow’s perfume filled his nose. As his blush deepened into crimson, he responded in a whisper, “Meadow, you look pretty today.”

“Aw, did you hear that, Johnny thinks I’m very pretty.” She pulled him in closer for a hug. It sounded like she muttered something under her breath to him. She let the hug linger and giggled while saying, “Maybe I should wear dresses around you more often.” Meadow released him from her embrace and meekly asked with a nervous smile, “Would you like If I dressed like this more often?”

Meadow’s appearance and all the physical contact **** John to shift a bit to hide his growing erection. ‘I need to compose myself and get this situation under control before I embarrass myself. She is just messing with me.’

“Stop picking on him. Can’t you see that my boy can barely react.” Brenda playfully pulled the younger girl away from John as she noticed his movements. “Meadow, you know that my son has no experience with the opposite sex. If you keep this up, you’ll embarrass him to ****. Look at how deep his blush is.” She chuckled as she teased her son.

As a last gambit to shift the attention away from himself, John asked with a stutter and a hint of excitement in his voice, “H-how was your spa day, ladies?”

Meadow fell for his tactic and excitedly recounted the day. “We had so much fun. Your mom took me to this luxurious spa. We were pampered so much that I didn’t want to leave; by the end I felt like a queen. Then we went to the mall and shopped for a while. That’s where I bought this new sundress I’m wearing.” She did a twirl in the dress for emphasis. “It was perfect. I haven’t had a girls’ day out since before Mom...” Her voice trailed off toward the end, and it seemed like all of those happy recent memories were suddenly overshadowed.

Brenda jumped in at that point. “Don’t worry, we’ll go out again when I come back from visiting Ben,” the older woman interrupted as she gave Meadow a hug. “John, I bought food to stock up Meadow’s fridge, since we all know the two of you will probably not leave that room without me bugging you kids. You better not do any hanky panky while the adults are away.”

“Mom! We are just friends!”

“Don’t worry, Brenda, I’ll be on my best behavior,” came Meadow’s voice as she tried to hide her blush. “Like he said we are just friendsss.” She let the last word drag for a bit.

Present-day

John snapped out of his reverie as he finished taking the photos. The pictures were quickly sorted in order of relevance. Ruth’s bedroom, the hallway, living room, and kitchen were the areas of the house that were most affected by the intrusion to Meadow’s home in the barrier. ‘The kitchen was wrecked by those creatures, so I can’t be sure about any differences without looking at the room again outside of this place. Besides a knocked over console table that had Meadow’s purse on it, the hallway and living room are normal as any other day I visit. I wish I knew the rules that dictate this barrier. My first guess would be that a normal barrier should look the same as the real version at its time of creation.’

He took a seat at the barrier’s copy of the desk he always used in their gaming room and pulled a notebook out of his bag to write down his hypothesis. ‘If the barrier reflects reality, the hall and living room should be in a similar state as they are outside of the barrier, but there are huge differences. What really makes the differences out of place is the fact the real versions are chaotic. With the information I currently have, I would assume the barrier’s point of origin is Ruth’s room. Why then is most of the chaos from reality not present in the barrier?’

A light knocking sound broke the silence. John shifted his gaze away from his notes toward the room’s entrance. A beautiful woman with light brown skin was leaning against the door frame. Her long brown hair went below her waist, two hair ties restraining some of it to frame her face. She wore a casual outfit, a pair of snug navy blue jeans with a turquoise shirt that barely contained her ample bosom. Shocked at her sudden appearance, he stared into her hazel eyes.