Dare to Oppose

A gust of wind tugged on a yellow leaf as it struggled to keep its grip on the branch outside my classroom window. I watched the tug-of-war between the wind and the leaf and remembered the tug-of-war I’d been forced to participate in at Camp Willowmoss. When I remembered the feel of dozens of wispy spider legs clinging to my skin as the hairy creatures scrambled up my calves, a shudder ran through me.

Without thinking, I reached under my desk and brushed at my jean-covered legs, trying to dislodge the horrific memory. My eyes went back to the branch outside the window. The leaf had lost the battle. The yellow leaf floated by, then fell to the ground where it would later be crushed underfoot by the rush of students as they left campus to head home.

Home. 

The word resonated in my mind.

Still finding it difficult to believe that I’d made it back to my world, I stared out the window at the cool November morning. No bars on these windows, just a sheet of glass to separate me from the cold winter air. 

But I did remember bars—cold, metal, black. They’d stretched from top to bottom in the window of my room at Camp Stonewater—the place where I’d given up hope of making it back to my world. Of making it home. Yet here I was, back in Fox Run with my family. With Billy.

Holding back a sigh, I glanced at the teacher at the front of the room, but found it difficult to focus on what she was saying. After what I’d lived through, it felt surreal to not have to worry about being hunted, captured, tortured, locked up for the rest of my life. 

When I replayed the events from the day I’d finally made it home, my heart raced with terror. Hansen standing at the entrance to the tunnel ready to kill me. Billy tied up and unconscious. Me swinging a large branch at Hansen, then him falling backward and hitting his head on a rock where deep red blood pooled under his head as his face turned white with death.

Shivering at the vivid memories—memories that I hoped I would somehow be able to forget—I still marveled that I’d been able to get home at all, that the tunnel had brought me back to my world. Especially after failing the first time I’d tried.

When I’d gone through the tunnel this time and had seen the lantern lying in my path, I’d known I’d made it back. My joy had been indescribable. But that joy had been tempered by my sadness in knowing I would never—never ever—see my best friend again. When Billy had appeared on my front porch hours after I’d arrived, I’d been stunned, unbelieving, thrilled. Now, he was in my world. A world where it wasn’t illegal to be overweight. Where families weren’t torn apart by a government who wanted to control what we ate, how much we exercised, how much we weighed.

A tentative smile lifted my lips as I allowed myself to enjoy the feeling of peace and relief that I was safe now. 

My thoughts went to Billy and I wondered how things were going for him as he started at my school. Everything would be so new and different for him. I hoped he was doing okay and I could hardly wait until I saw him at lunch.

“Am I boring you, Ms. Campbell?” the teacher said as she stood next to my desk.

My head whipped in her direction and for a moment I expected to be whacked in the head with a thick textbook. 

I’m not there, I reminded myself. I’m home now. Teachers don’t do things like that in this world.

My hand trembled as I tucked my hair behind my ear, then I met her gaze. “I’m sorry, Mrs. Peterson.”

One of her eyebrows arched in obvious annoyance. “Pay attention, Morgan.”

I nodded, then made sure to listen to the rest of the lecture, although it was difficult. Especially when an image of Hansen lying dead on the forest floor kept filling my mind.

I’d killed somebody. I squeezed my eyes closed. Not on purpose exactly, but he was dead nonetheless. All because of me. But did it really count? I mean, since he was in a different world? What would have happened if I’d died?

The other Morgan. I opened my eyes to stare at the front of the classroom. She would have taken over my life and no one would have even realized I was gone. The thought made my stomach churn in a peculiar that whole experience was like a nightmare, but it wasn’t kind of way.

The idea of me disappearing forever and my family never even knowing brought on a feeling of unreality, and my heart thumped painfully as I thought how close that had come to happening.

What if I hadn’t been able to escape Holly and Camp Stonewater? What if Hansen had succeeded in killing me? What if Billy hadn’t been there to help me get back to my world?

The many ways that I could have failed to make it home rattled me, and I had to work extra hard to turn my thoughts to the here and now. 

The teacher finished her lecture and gave us our assignment and I found myself actually smiling. It was good to be home, even if that meant doing homework again. That was nothing compared to being dragged away to a Federally Assisted Thinning Center where I’d been tortured and interrogated, made to eat government-approved drug-laced power bars, and had my life threatened by Enforcer Hansen.

Sliding my hand to the back of my neck, I ran my fingers across the small bandage that covered the place where Nick and his people had taken out the torture device. It was healing nicely and I didn’t really need the bandage, but I didn’t want anyone to see any evidence that something might have happened to me.

When I thought about the torture Holly had put me through so that she and the people she worked for could get information about the resistance groups, my stomach churned. The pain I’d felt when she’d activated the torture device had been excruciating. I was amazed I’d survived it.

Still in awe that I’d made it home at all, I put my things in my backpack as I considered all that I had experienced. If it hadn’t been for Billy, I never would have made it. My heart warmed as I thought of my absolute best friend in the world—this world as well as the one he was from.

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