"There's nothing out there, guys. We're all alone." - Luke

PART ONE
↳ alternate realities

WHAT MAKES OUR REALITY OUR OWN? How do we distinguish our world between a parallel universe that might appear exactly the same to anyone who wasn't expecting otherwise?

Is it possible for a person to travel between two worlds? These are questions one would not often find themselves considering, but Penelope Marks had little choice in the matter.

She found herself reflecting on the day before she had opened her eyes to Grizz, on a bus to the place that would soon be known as 'New Ham.'

Her eighteen birthday, it was just another crappy day at the time.

She had been woken by her energetic German Shepherd, 'Doug' as he jumped onto her bed and attempted to cover her entire face in his doggy slobber.

It was cute the first few times he did it, but when it was every single morning, it got old pretty fast. Penelope had smiled sleepily and gently pushed the lively dog off of her body.

It was a Saturday so she quickly dressed in some comfy clothes and made her way into the kitchen.

Her father was already at work no doubt, so with a sigh, she came to terms with the fact that she would probably be spending another birthday alone.

After making herself some coffee, she made her way over to the single couch in the living room that has seen many, many years.

Though it was once beautiful, the leather had been worn past the point of distress and now there were small tears and holes.

The once bright tan colour had been bleached by the sun that streams in the windows, the hue was now a friendly soft beige.

She had settled into the soft cushions and flicked on the television, mindlessly scrolling through Netflix for a new show to spend her birthday bingeing.

The first show in the featured section immediately caught her eye, 'The Society.' Everything about the description pulled her in.

Penelope had wrapped her favourite blanket around herself and craddled her steaming mug of coffee between her hands as Doug settled himself down beside her, and she began watching.

It took her just under ten hours to finish the entire series, it was sometime past eight when the last episode was finally over.

Her head was spinning by the end. So many likeable characters, such a gripping storyline and such amazing acting. She could hardly wait for season two.

She had just switched the television off when her father arrived home, he didn't say a word as he stormed past her into his bedroom.

She chalked his behaviour down to the fact that he must have had a pretty tough day at work and swallowed down the ache in her chest.

He had taken her mothers death even harder than Penelope. Sometimes it had felt like she was living in this house all alone, with nothing but ghosts in the hallways to keep her company.

A bark from somewhere in the backyard startled her. And she had Doug, of course.

With a resigned sigh, she had heated herself up some leftovers from the fridge and left a plate on the bench for her father.

She ate the food quickly and then stalked back to her room. She climbed into bed, closed her eyes and longed for sleep to help her escape from the harsh realities of the real world.

Her mind had drifted to the world of 'The Society' and she silently wished to join the teenagers in the strange new world they had made for themselves.

She had fallen asleep with a smile on her face, imagining what it might be like to live among them, finally free...

⋇⋆✦⋆⋇

Penelope cringed unconsciously as the bus came to a complete standstill and bright lights suddenly flickered on, illuminating the inside of the bus.

She heard the bus driver yell something about rockslides and a closed road, a feeling of anxiety crept up her spine at the situation.

This was it. They'd made it to the soon to be, 'New Ham'.

Penelope wordlessly followed the others as they groggily dragged their feet off of the bus, less than eager to be returning home so soon.

The redhead girl made sure to stick close to her newfound best friend, Grizz, and he didn't seem to find it strange when she kept a hold of his hand as they squished past everyone towards the door.

The cool night air prickled against her cheeks as she jumped down from the yellow bus and she was suddenly aware that she was dressed only in black tracksuit pants and a matching black singlet.

She wrapped her arms around herself, shivering profusely. The girl hadn't even noticed that Grizz had disappeared from her side before he returned with both his and her bag from beneath the bus.

He rolled his eyes when he caught sight of her shivering form and immediately shrugged off his letterman jacket, offering it to her, "I told you, you'd be cold if you wore nothing but that stupid singlet."

"Yeah well... you were right." She grumbled, begrudgingly accepting his jacket.

Penelope found it incredibly strange to think that wearing only a singlet was such a typical thing for her to do, yet she had not been the one who had dressed herself in these clothes.

It certainly seemed like Grizz knew the real her. Perhaps she had switched bodies with an exact copy of herself who just happened to exist in the realm of 'The Society'.

If she was being honest with herself, the more she thought about it the more her head began to hurt.

Penelope silently followed behind Grizz as he joined a couple of his football friends. Penelope recognised Luke and Helena huddled together, with Clark and Gwen close beside them.

She stared at each of them in turn, wondering what her relationship was like with each of them.

Curiously, she had a strong sense that she got along well with Luke, Clark and Helena, yet often struggled to act civil towards Gwen.

Somehow, this was unsurprising. It was almost as if the characters she liked the most in her world, were the people she got along the best with in this world.

This logic certainly explained why Grizz was her so called best friend here. He had quickly stolen her heart as she watched the show and had quickly become her favourite character. He really was the only one she could depend on to never let her down.

Helena had offered Penelope a strained smile as the redhaired girl and Grizz had joined the small group.

She noticed that the group of teenagers around her were starting to catch on the the fact that nobody's parents had been here to welcome them home.

It was a strange feelings to stand among these familiar faces and feel like an outsider but equally like someone who belonged here.

She couldn't explain it if she tried, but she did feel a certain sense of comfort around them. As if she had known them for many years, grown up with them even.

Penelope found herself wandering off as everyone started to use their phones to call their loved ones.

Penelope didn't think to bother, who would she call? Did her father even exist in this world? Did Doug?

She found herself shamelessly scanning the crowd for one face in particular as she continued to wander.

Harry Bingham. Her guilty pleasure. Poor, troubled, kind of an asshole, Harry.

As she had watched the show, she knew that she shouldn't like him, but she did. He was such a complex character to watch, constantly drifting in the gray area between good and bad.

He'd been easy to hate in the first few episodes, he had made plenty of questionable choices, bad judgement calls and run his mouth a few too many times, but she still slowly found herself drawn to him.

She had felt for him during his dark days and had secretly wished she could be there to help him pick up the pieces when nobody else had been in the show. Maybe this was her chance.

Penelope was so lost in her own thoughts that she wasn't looking where she was going and managed to slam into a solid body.

She looked up hastily, ready to apologise but when she saw his face she sucked in a sharp breath and was left speechless.

"Excuse you," Campbell muttered, obviously annoyed. However he didn't linger for long and pushed past her without a second thought.

Penelope watched him go with wide eyes, suddenly finding it hard to breathe.

"Yeah, okay. Maybe wishing to be a part of this world wasn't my brightest idea," she mumbled softly to herself.

Grizz's gentle touch on her arm is what finally broke her from her 'Campbell is actually kinda scary in real life' trance. "Hey, come on. Everyone is heading home."

Penelope nodded, falling into step beside him. The walk was pleasant for the most part, Grizz didn't speak but Penelope had the feeling that the two of them often walked home together in a similar companionable silence.

A scary thought suddenly came to the girls mind. Where exactly was her home?

"Grizz?" she asked all of a sudden.

"Hm?" He hummed in response.

"Can I stay at yours tonight? I don't wanna be alone," she explained meekly.

"Oh yeah, I forgot your Dad was out of town this weekend. Sure, no problem," he replied, throwing her a small smile.

Penelope nodded along as if she knew exactly what he was talking about, but was grateful that her fake Dad was out of town.

As the pair approached what Penelope predicted to be Grizz's house and somehow looked strangely familiar, she considered the fact that tonight was far from over.

She certainly couldn't wait to drown her sorrows in cheap beer, surrounded by drunk, parentless teenagers inside the local church later.

-ˋˏ✄┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈┈