Neither I nor Me

by Stephanie Gonzales

Day 1: I stared at the cream sky above me then back to my surroundings. There's no one here, only cream boxes. But someone got out of it. Wait, these cream boxes were houses? There wasn't even a single window. Just a single door.

Strolling around the place, all that I ever saw was cream houses. Not even a school, church, or malls. Then it was a dead end. Darkness gathered below this cliff. I squinted my eyes because I saw a bridge from afar. They didn't do anything to connect it with this cliff?

I got bored so I just sat there while staring at the darkness below.

Day 2:Was it already the second day? I was just sitting there for an hour. Wait, did I sit there for an hour? But the color of the sky changed - it's now purple. It was cream yesterday. The colors changed?

People here had the same faces. I suppressed my laughter. I was curious if they shared the same genes. I had a different face from them. Will they notice me? Someone did. It seems like she's talking but she's not opening her mouth. She got startled when I opened my mouth to talk to her.

That's when she brought me to her house. It was still full of violets. I want to puke with all these violets.

She could open her mouth! She got into this parallel dimension too! Her real name was Fridda and she told me everything that she knew.

Day 3 Day 1: Am I having a memory gap? I knew that it was my third day here already but it seems like it's only three hours ago. Fridda gave me a red notebook. Everything changed again - it's now all red. I got scared for a bit. It was just violet yesterday, right?

Fridda toured me around the city. Everyone had the same color of clothes - all red. The cars, buses, tall buildings, trees, plants, and even the animals - they're all red. Numbers were everywhere and letters were nowhere to be

found. She told me that they're using numbers as their writing system, no such thing as alphabets or letters. Telepathy is for communication. She told me that she will teach me how.

Day 2 Day 1 Day 2: I asked Fridda if this was my second day here but she didn't remember anything. I'm starting to get scared of these strange happenings. I took my blue notebook. Got confused when I saw what I wrote yesterday. It was all red yesterday but now it's all blue. Afraid to forget all of this, I wrote everything I could still remember.

Fridda gave me a tasteless bread. She let me into her driverless car and we traveled around the city. We went inside the huge library - all books were written in numbers so I didn't get to read them. Fridda taught me about numbers. The color changes here every day or should I say every hour? Fridda's my friend and she's like me. No numbers, only letters. Telepathy for communication. Got into this parallel dimension two days ago. 30 years old. Stephanie Gonzales.

Day 2 Day 3 3rd Hour: I took my orange notebook and read what I've written yesterday. I'm having doubts whether all these are true or not.

I've now witnessed a live execution. Dismembering all of his limbs before finally cutting his head off for the highest crime committed - trying to be different. They didn't have any leaders because of equality. I stayed at Fridda's home and didn't go out anymore, scared that they might notice me.

One hour is equivalent to one day? But it felt like a day has passed. Was it my third day here or what?

Day 1 3rd Hour 4th hour: I shouldn't have used that cursed cubicle. I'm getting scared of all of these. I want to go home now. I miss my family.

Fridda's acting differently, it looked like she forgot everything. I took my green notebook and read what I wrote yesterday. I'm now getting confused if all that I wrote here were true.

Was it orange yesterday? Were colors changing every day? Did I write this?

It seems like Fridda's playing a prank on me.

4th Hour 5th hour Day 2: I don't know if I could still trust this yellow notebook. I reviewed what was written yesterday.

Who's Fridda by the way? Two days ago? Was it two days ago? I thought it was five hours ago.

Luckily, I could still remember my name. I hoped that I couldn't forget it. I still don't know how I can return to my world.

6th Hour Day 2: My face started to change. 14-48131311 treated me like a sister. I braced myself as I took my white notebook. I read all that's written yesterday but everything started to get blurry.

Did the colors change? But everything's white here. What's equality? Is that a name or what? I don't know anyone named Fridda. They're using numbers as their names. And telepathy is a must - we can't communicate without it. What parallel dimension? This is Guarana, our home. What's 30 years old? No one had a name like that. And who's Stephanie - what?

Day 1: Ate bread with 9-7000. I took my notebook and got my brows furrowed when I read it. I couldn't recognize these characters. Did someone write this? I asked 14-48131311 but she also didn't know anything.

Wait, why am I also writing these characters?

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