During the night, May was determined that she would not fall asleep. She still did, anyway. Becoming fully lucid during a dream, she felt herself float across a place she had never seen before, not even in photos. The water below was a shade of blue that she wasn't sure existed on Earth. In the distance, lush, green forestation that had been uncontaminated by human beings grew wild. There were no other living beings in the air, nor the forest, nor in the water below. She glided along, her feet several inches higher than the water.

"This is. . . kinda. . ."

Over the skyline, the sun rose bright but comfortably warm—the presence of a climate that did not grow too hot.

"Okay. Let's see what I can do."

Leaning into it, May titled forward and began gliding at an unprecedented speed. With her blue hair blowing back, she let out a scream. Then, she sort of leaned too far forward, tumbling over her feet. May did not fall. She caught her balance, noticing that even if her feet touched the water? She was walking on it.

Peering at the vast, open horizon before her, she noticed the reflection she was casting in the gentle waves below. A large grin formed from cheek to cheek.

Freedom in each step, she ran across the water, galloping her way along the world. Concentrating on speed, she focused on the position of her feet. Amid her run, she took a tiny leap forward. Then another one slightly bigger. Then, May launched herself into flight. Hollering joyously, she saw her feet leaving the world below as the air took away. The exhilirating rush captured her. She never, ever wanted to slow down.

Then, a voice said, "May? Are you listening?"

It caught her off guard. May took a nose dive forward, plunging into the depths of the water below. Freely sinking, she opened her eyes in the crystal blue water to see her mother floating directly in front of her. That was a woman she had only seen in photographs, only heard in videos.

Her mom softly spoke a message to her: "Be careful."

May woke gasping and drenched. At first, she looked to the sky to see if there had been rain. However, upon checking, she realized she had just been sweating the night away.

The morning sky hung high to welcome her into the day. Only once she was awake did she remember her predicament. Yawning, May heard an unfamiliar whimper. Lifting her head, she saw Phoebe almost out of sight. May approached on wobbly legs to see Phoebe sitting on a tree stump, leaning forward.

"You okay?" May asked.

"Go away."

"Are you crying?"

"No. Maybe." Phoebe turned to show that her eyes were, in fact, full of tears.

"Why are you crying?" May asked.

"Why do you even care?"

"I've uh. . . I don't know if I've ever seen you cry before. Caught me off-guard."

Phoebe went silent.

May leaned against a tree to wait. While watching a flock of birds overhead—thinking about the freedom to fly—she closed her eyes until the other young woman broke her silence.

"You don't really care about me," Phoebe said. "We're not friends. You didn't even have any interest in the stuff I like until you were in trouble."

Sure, May opened her mouth in an attempt to deny it. She couldn't. Feeling red and hot as that fire from the night before, she just stood there like a total jackass.

"You're using me?" Phoebe asked. "Right?"

"I'm. . . I'm sorry."

"Yeah." Phoebe began humming a low tune. Her eyes wandered off into the distance.

Slowly, May crouched to sit next to her. "I said some awful things to you, didn't I?"

"Did you?" Phoebe bit her lip, tears still dripping from her eyes. "They're true, though. I am weird. I don't live in the real world."

"I should have—"

"Nobody else wanted to share a room with me. And yeah. How can I ask you if you're using me when I didn't tell you about the portal?" Phoebe wiped her face with her hand yet it didn't stop the flow of tears.

"I did. . . sort of say that."

"You're right about me being annoying and gross and pathetic and too absorbed into the internet for my own good."

"I did. . . not say any of that."

"No, but my mom did recently and I saw it in your eyes." Phoebe rolled her shoulders forward, leaning. "You know my parents kicked me out and stuff. They call me lazy. Outside of school? I've got nowhere to go."

May did a double-take.

"Yeah. And I'm failing school, too, so soon?" Phoebe pursed her eyes shut tight and then sniffled loud. "I can't focus to save my life unless it's something I like. Not good with the social stuff. Ritalin didn't help. Neither did the Vyvanse. I'm too scared to go to student accessibility services and ask for the accomodations. So it's this or nothing for me, you know?"

"This or nothing?" May asked, her voice soft. "What's this?"

"Finding the portal to a better world. Somewhere else. Maybe there? I'll find somewhere to belong. Cause I sure as hell don't anywhere here. And I'm sorry for everything. Really." Phoebe laughed through the tears. "I see myself screwing things up sometimes right in front of my eyes and I can't stop myself. Like a stupid car wreck is coming and I can't be bothered to hit the brakes. Now? I'm gonna be homeless."

Phoebe brought her arm up, pressing her eyes into it.

Staring into the void for a while, May felt her own lower lip quiver. Then, she wrapped an arm around Phoebe and hugged her tight. So tight that she knew Phoebe wouldn't be able to mistake the non-verbal message for anything else.