"Lay your head between the yellow lines..." A mysterious voice said. 

And there stood Bela Wellborne, one arm limp at her side and another holding a phone to her ear as she stared down the golden streaks lining the middle of the road. 

"But what if a car comes?" Bela asked. Pupils shivered, hands tensed, legs went stiff, and a growing cloud lurked from the corner of her eye until all she could see was the road. 

"That's how the portal opens." It continued. Its voice was calm and feathery. It was like listening to the waves of an ocean, gentle, soothing, like the mother Bela only saw in white hospital robes and tucked into cold sheets. Like someone she could trust. 

However, most people would say something along the lines of 'No! You could hurt yourself, BADLY!'. But something was drawing Bela closer to it like it was holding a prize over her head. 

She took slow, hesitant steps as the air weighed on her and her feelings. Why was she doing this in the first place? Her dad would get worried sick and might endanger her own life for something that wouldn’t even work. Doing this won’t change the world, maybe not this one. 

The second she laid herself down on the hard asphalt, the cold surface bit her awake as if she was plunging into the icy dark waters of the arctic. Maybe she was, because as soon as she heard the engine of something rolling towards her, everything went black.