I wake up to a surrounding filled with blue light. I'm still exhausted yet thankful that I can move my limbs again. I remember flashes of events that can never be real. I had had the most bizarre, intense and vivid dream any human can experience. It wouldn't be the first time though. My dreams were always crazy and had absolutely no explanation. But that fact still doesn't explain my surroundings though. Maybe I'm still dreaming. I sit up straight with little to no difficulty. I'm in some kind of a control room. Computer monitor lit up the room. Controlling those monitors were 5 youngsters, somewhere around late teens or early twenties. Among those, 4 were unfamiliar, but one, I recognize him. The savior from my dream; a face I thought was a lie; a face that I could recognize even in my deepest darkest nightmare- Shyam. Yes, that was my best friend right there. A little older, yet all the same. None of them has turned their attention to me yet, but my attention was completely on him.

"Shyam?" I whisper before I could stop myself. Everyone turns towards me swiftly. My eyes are still glued on his face, his brown eyes, and his on mine.

"How are you feeling?" I turn towards a female voice filled with concern. "I'm good?" I say, sounding doubtful even to myself. My eyes darted back to his face.

"Did I time travel?" I ask in a daze, taking him in with my eyes. "Cause, if I did, that would be so cool!"

A hint of a smile tugs on his face and I just realize that he isn't his usual self. He looks so dull and gloomy. "No, you didn't time travel," he says and his voice is an unfamiliar sound of a man and yet, so familiar to my entire existence. "You just traveled through a portal to a different universe," he says and my mouth falls agape. "That is so much cooler," I say, sounding like a stupid fangirl.

"Uh huh?" another guy standing nearby scratched his chin. "So, you just came to know that there exists something called multiple universes and you are... okay with it?"

"Oh yeah, totally," I say. "I know this is a dream. I'll wake up and it'll all be nothing, and besides, I've had worse dreams than this."

Everyone looked at me with concern lacing their eyes and I couldn't quite get why. It was getting more awkward by the minute that I started to sink into myself. "Janani," a girl calls. "This is real. Not a dream."

"What?" I ask. A million thoughts blast into my mind at the same time. I try to speak but I can't find the right words or the grammar. "This is not a dream?"

Everyone nods a yes and my eyes catch their expression one by one in slow motion.

"Come on!" I whine. "There is no way Shyam is... um..."

"Nineteen," Shyam finishes. "And I'm not the Shyam you know."

I just sit in silence and process every bit of information. What's worse than staying in an unknown place is being in the company of unknown people. From the start, I always believed this Shyam to be the one I know, and now, he is telling me that he is not. This is all so weird and a complete miracle that I haven't gotten a heart attack yet.

"My name is Gauri," one of the girls says, and for the first time, I pay attention to her features. Curly black hair that reaches just above her hip, her eyes as like a doe's, her face a beautiful triangle. A beautiful circlet adored her forehead, and I wonder whether the jewelry is making her beautiful or the vice versa. In my perspective, she looked like a goddess ascended from heaven. Her flowing dress only added to her elegance. My jaws stayed dropped to the floor for an entire minute and the only reply she gave for my reaction was a giggle.

"I'm Maya," the other girl said. The first word that popped in my mind when I saw her was lethal. Her eyes were as sharp as a blade and her hair stopped at her chin, revealing her face's bone structure perfectly. But the strange thing is, she is beautiful, like seductive beauty. Even her voice was like a honey on a starved man's throat. A smile was dancing along her lips, the only thing that made her look approachable to me. I wouldn't lie if I said I was intimidated by her.

"YO BRO! AARAV HERE!" one of the guys screamed, making me jump out of my skin. "Aarav! You scared her," Shyam says, looking disappointed and bottom line scary.

"Aw man! Sorry dude! My bad!" Aarav said, looking at me. "That's alright, I guess," I say and he smiles. The first thing I noticed about him was the metal jewelry hanging around his neck with a pendant shaped like a sword. His dark complexion and cropped hair made him look so powerful. If I hadn't just listened to his friendly voice, I would've been completely intimidated by him. He looked so sleek and slender, as if a man crafted for mischief.

"And I'm Veer," the other guy with heavy ripped muscles and tanned skin said, casually swinging his arms around Aarav's shoulder. "Let me know if he's troubling you; I'll make sure I'll beat the crap out of him." And I laughed. I try to control it, but it just seems impossible. I cover my mouth with my hands to stifle it, but fail miserably. "Yo dude! Not funny!" Aarav shrieked and that was my end point for bursting into laughter. Everyone joined in. Well, everyone except Shyam. All he did was smile. That is definitely not like the Shyam I used to know. Before I realise, I'm staring at him again. Same black messed up hair. Same almond eyes, but it has now lost all its warmth. Same tanned skin but somehow, he looked pale. I can't help but feel like he is the one I know and the deep sense of wanting to jump into his soul and fix him from the bottom-up.

"Oh, and that's Shyam," Veer said. "We hope you knew."

"Of course I knew," I hear myself say. "But how come I didn't know any of you guys?"

"That is probably because you haven't met our Reflections in your world yet. I'm sure you'll meet them soon," Gauri says and I nod while I comprehend her statement.

"Reflections, as in doppelgangers?" I ask.

"The comic book term, yes. We use the term Reflections because, well...," she says and looks sideways and continues in a fake whisper, "some of us can't pronounce it."

"Hey!" Veer protests. "Not my fault that the word has so many syllables."

"Uh huh...," Maya says sarcastically and Veer rolls his eyes. Everyone laughs again but my face puts on a sad smile as my eyes find the guy I'm sure I knew.

"You guys already knew me," I said from a daze. "I'm guessing that means you already know my Reflection. Where is she?"

Gauri looks at Maya, who in turn looks at Aarav, who looks at Veer, and him at Shyam, who has just turned his back to walk himself away from the group, his hand running through his black hair like he usually does when he is hurting. The panicked look went back and forth and back and forth until I had enough.

"What's wrong?" I ask sternly, feeling left out all of a sudden. "Where is my Reflection?"

"Angel," Gauri starts hesitantly. "She's no longer with us."

My head spirals and I'm pretty sure I'm hyperventilating. My world seems to spin out of control and words don't make sense to me. "What do you mean no longer with us?" I ask in a hurry. "Like, has she gone on a tour, vacation..., mission?"

"No dear," Maya says. "Gone as in, to heaven."

I just think I developed a case of panic attack 'cause I'm panicking like crazy right now. The girl who they are talking about; my Reflection; my copy; am I going to have the same fate? After all, she is just a different version of the same old me.

"Woah! Woah! Woah kid! Calm down! You're scaring us," Aarav says. I don't calm down.

"Okay Janani. Calm down. Deep breaths," Veer says, holding me by the shoulders. I take deep breaths as he said and manage to see straight. "Did I just have a panic attack?" I breathe the words out.

"What?!" Veer asks, confused. "No! Panic attacks are way more severe than this. Right?" he looks at Gauri for an answer. "Yes," she replies. "You could have had an anxiety attack, but even that is a big maybe. It was just your normal fear response. But if you have a continuous series of such incidents, then maybe you should get it checked out."

I think about it and shrug my shoulders. "I'm just twelve, so, I'm gonna let it slide," I say.

"You're twelve?" Maya asks with a raised eyebrow.

"I'm turning thirteen next month," I say, suddenly feeling undermined.

"Oh right," Aarav says. "Speaking of time, it runs differently in different universes. Some theory about the distance from the Core and stuff, I don't know the exact thing, but you should probably head back to your universe. Already half a day has passed. God knows how long it has been in your universe."

I didn't understand a single word from what he said except the fact that time is running out.

"Well then, send me back to my universe," I say in a matter of fact.

"We'll need Shyam for that. I'll go get him," Maya says and heads in the direction Shyam just left.

"Why Shyam?" I ask. It's not that I'm not happy to meet him. No matter what universe, his face will always be my favorite. I'm glad that I get to meet the older Shyam before I leave, but the fact that we need him, specifically him to send me back sounded dubious.

"He is the one who has the power to travel between the universes. That's why," Veer murmurs. A million thoughts burst in my brain but fail to come out as I am interrupted by Shyam's arrival.

"We'll give you space," Gauri says as she heads out. "Call us if you need anything, buddy!" Aarav shouts as he follows Gauri. Others follow their suite and we are left alone in the room with awkward silence.

"Let's find out where you are from," Shyam says and I'm staring at him again. He smiles at me and starts taking out equipment that I have never seen before, immediately avoiding my eye contact. He placed button-like things on my temple and I followed his movements with my eyes. "Don't worry, it won't hurt," he murmurs. "OK," I say.

Silence prevails between us, him concentrating on his work and me concentrating on his action. My mind wandered to the memory of the incident on the terrace. It still feels like a dream to me. "Can I ask you something?" I voice out to Shyam. He looks at me with confusion but eventually nods. "Don't I deserve you, I mean, Shyam... from my universe?"

Shyam continues his work. I give up on my hope to hear a reply, when suddenly, "what made you ask that question?"

"That dark guy who... pulled me down? Is that what he did? I don't know. Anyway, he said that Shyam deserved better than me. I felt sad, then guilty thinking that I'm keeping him back. That's why," I confess.

He nods his head vehemently while tapping at his computer. He remains quiet again. Definitely not the Shyam I know. "If that guy is anything like me," he said. My eyes darted to him. "Then you would be the best thing that ever happened in his life."

My heart jumps in joy, hearing those words from him. Suddenly, I feel like I can tell him anything. My mind accepted my proposal and now, I am being shoved with all kinds of things I could tell him. "You know, I actually have a crush on him." And my stupid heart chose this.

He smiles at my sentence. "Good luck," he tells me. "You look handsome." Another stupid sentence. Why am I like this? "If my Shyam looks anything like you when he grows up, I certainly won't be disappointed."

He chuckles in reply and attaches wires to the already stuck button-like things. "Think of something that comes to your mind when you hear the word home," he says, ignoring my sentence.

"Okay," I tell him and close my eyes, concentrating on the word. Images of my mom, my dad, my best friend Shyam, my house, my school and Shyam again, floated in my mind. I can feel their smiles, their care and love for me and my comfort around them. "Okay, you can stop now," he says as he removes all the equipment attached to me. "Ready to go home?" He asks.

"Once I say goodbye to the rest of the team," I say.

He nods his head as he goes through the corridor on the side and emerges back with the rest of the team.

We say our goodbyes until satisfactory, then I finally get down from my bed. Only now do I realize how small I am compared to all of them. My head barely reaches their torsos.

"Ready?" Shyam asks. I nod. He folds his hand and fists his palms. Blue light shoots from his knuckles. A portal opens a little further from us. Memories flood my mind again.

"Will he come to attack again?" I ask, shivering slightly. "The Destroyer won't bother you for a while. He needs time to recharge to return to the same universe," Gauri said.

"What happens after a while?"

"You find your own team and grow enough to fight him," Shyam tells me. I nod my head, a little fine but not completely satisfied.

"Walk through," he says. "I'll guide the portal to your home."

I step in with shivering hands. I am once again greeted with the light and dark woven tunnel, but this time I was walking on it instead of falling through. I walk through the only path visible to me, and within minutes, I find the end. I walk out to see the familiar sight.

I'm home again.