Julia closed her eyes and continued to screech as she fell at a sharp angle. At any rate, even if she continued to breathe, all her bones and spinal cord would be shattered. She opened her eyes and saw that she descended beyond the bottom of the cliff, and the horizon changed from light to darkness. The sun was no longer present, and a sliver of the moon hid behind the clouds.

  What a wonderful sight to behold. Well, it is my last…

  Her body slammed onto the rock-hard concrete with a thud. She felt nauseous and threw up in her mouth, as her head was sore, and couldn’t get up.

  Her vision was pitch dark. She didn’t open her eyes until a sharp shatter made the windows break into shards that lay on the ground, and the greenish light shone through the cracks in the windows.

  “Julia!” said a screeching, high-pitched, inhuman voice.

  Julia panted and her heartbeat accelerated in an uncomfortable fashion until she shook while she tried not to. She turned and ran, but as she was running in the dark, Julia wondered why she was able to move despite the aches on the sides of her head and limbs. Was this life after death? This, however, felt more like a nightmare than an issue of heaven or hell.

  The trees and vines swayed in the breeze, and bats soared across the brightening sky.

  Her legs felt sore and couldn’t carry her as swiftly as before. Julia was parched and searched for a water body. She walked with brisk steps and there stood a cottage with pink walls adorned with painted hearts.

  This place looks safe…

  “Julia! Come back,” screamed a robotic voice.

  After knocking on the door about three times, Julia twisted the door knob since she found it to be open. She slammed the door shut. Behind Julia, there was a dim red light, with nothing but a white-framed mirror in the center. Julia looked around. There was no water, food, or furniture other than a full-length mirror. She saw that person in the mirror, the one who pushed Julia after the convoluted argument, when she was in the dream. She hated to see Patricia again, and Patricia had her eyebrows scrunched and was staring at Julia with dull and emotionless eyes, and a frown. Patricia even dyed her hair a shade of hot pink and had short bangs. Upon coming closer, pointing with her index finger, and mumbling, Julia realized it was a murky reflection of herself.

  “No! This can’t be. She is a pretty girl, but I don’t want to look like my murderer,” mumbled Julia.

  Julia sighed and turned around. She opened the door to leave, and an invisible force of wind dragged her into the light. There was a coat hanger next to the door, which Julia gripped onto while she clenched her teeth. Still, the wind dragged her out of the house, and the coat hanger toppled over. All that Julia had was an umbrella in her hand, and the unknown wind dragged her by the foot and tossed her further downward.

  Julia opened the umbrella and watched as the pink cottage rested on a cloud in the distance.

  She landed on a pile of fallen brown leaves. The whirling and whistling wind almost blew the umbrella away, but it stopped pushing and heaving, so she closed and fastened it. Julia got up and brushed the dirt off of her white blouse and lavender plaid trousers. In front of her was a sign with a greenish glow.

  “Welcome to the University of Magical and Creative Arts.”

  The glistening building was massive, with white walls and a purplish-blue roof with loads of blue tinted windows. There were flags on each tower, one with a pentagram, another with sparkle symbols, and one had a sword. The flags fluttered in the breeze. There were people of her age on the lawn, talking to each other, and reading books.

  “It must be heaven… but if that’s the case, why does my arm hurt so much?” she wondered.

  “Hey, wait!” said a man.

  He had blonde hair and rectangular glasses. He was wearing a white shirt with blue trousers.

  “You dropped your ID when you fell,” he said.

  “Really?” said Julia.

  He handed her a painted wooden card that had intricate details and her photo.

  Name: Julia Blossom

  ID: SW-LT-W

  Dept.: Witchcraft

  “Thank you very much,” said Julia.

  The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

  He nodded. She saw that people were joining ahead of her in a queue. So, she joined them. The guy from before was behind her.

  “Ugh, what a horrible line,” he said.

  Julia turned and saw the man from before and said nothing else but “Yes.”

  “My name’s Cole. I’m assuming you’re Julia,” said Cole.

  “Julia, that’s me,” she said.

  She twisted a strand of hair and tucked it behind her ear.

  Julia turned and viewed Cole from the edge of her sight. After he noticed, she swallowed her spit and turned back to count the queue.

  She blinked and looked at her ID once more to confirm that it was indeed hers. Well, it had her photograph and the same name as hers. Had the fall distorted her memory?

  Julia was finally in front, but after walking ahead, she tripped and almost fell.

  “Whoa, be careful,” said Cole.

  “ID please,” said an old woman in a black witch hat and a white dress.

  Julia handed it to her with stiff hands. She narrowed her eyes and stared at the ID for thirty seconds before swiping it across her star-shaped magic wand.

  The witch told her, “Relax. You haven’t seen anything yet.”

  Julia stretched her lips horizontally, pressed them together, and nodded.

  She entered the hall and followed the arrows that glowed green in the dark hallway. The students talked amongst themselves as they pointed at the arrows.

  The auditorium was lit with chandeliers and people sat down. Six people sat at the front of the platform. One was an elderly woman with an emerald green dress and a black witch hat adorned with crystals. The other was a middle-aged man with blue fairy wings and wearing a black satin hat with blue clothes. The others were elderly men with grey hair, black suits and white shirts.

  A voice announced, “Please take your seats. Fairy Core is in aisle two, Witchcraft in aisle three... Fine Arts in aisle one… Health is in aisle five…”

  Julia took a random seat in aisle three. She kept her umbrella next to her on the seat, and her ID in her pocket. She then checked her left pocket. There was a wallet inside.

  As the speeches began, she peeked inside her wallet. She found a bunch of copper coins with the symbol of two birds. And then there was a single note with the value of ten. She assumed it wasn’t much. The wallet went back into the pocket and Julia sighed. In front of her, Cole was sitting with his head bent and chin resting in his hand.

  “Hello my students, I know all of you are very bored,” said the witch.

  Everyone laughed.

  “So I’ll keep it concise. I’m Heather Ice, the Dean of the school of Magic. I’m sure that all of you have already guessed that I specialize in witchcraft. Well, before all of you go off to your dorms, remember to study well and put your studies first. That is the only way that you can gather enough energy for the system to work and to keep yourself alive,” said Professor Ice.

  There was dead silence. Julia swallowed her spit. The students then began to face each other and speak.

  “Anyway, I’ve already been pleasantly surprised by one of our promising students. This just might be a fun semester. Or at least try to have fun. Thank you,” said Professor Ice.

  “And now it’s time to release the room randomizer for the School of Magic…”

  “Okay, great,” said the fairy chairperson.

  He took off his hat and a cascade of paper planes flew out. One of them hit the fairy’s face and the students laughed.

  Students reached out and grabbed paper planes left and right.

  “No, that’s mine!” said a fairy.

  Julia didn’t stir from her chair. Instead, a single paper plane blew across and landed on her lap.

  She opened it.

  SINGLE ACCOMMODATION: Magic: A30

  “Well, be off now. The dorms are on the left of the building. Make sure to keep the paper,” said the Dean.

  By the time Julia got up, everyone had already left, including Cole.

  Julia saw that building A was furthest away. It was a brick building with a small gate, surrounded by small bushes.

  She walked past the reception and reached the room but where was the key?

  I should have asked the reception first…

  The piece of paper glowed and shaped into cold metal. She used it to unlock the door.

  It was an empty room with a bed, a desk, and a bathroom. There was a note on the bed.

  “We expect you to use magic to create all your necessities.”

  Seriously?

  For sure, there was no way to summon a tube of toothpaste and a toothbrush. Julia opened the drawer to search for a proper solution to the problem that no shopping had been done. There was a heavy black leather-bound book. It had golden corners, tied with twine, and the title was “The Complete Guide to Witchcraft.”

  But before Julia could summon a toothbrush, she fell asleep on the cozy bed.

  She woke up parched and dehydrated an hour later.

  She somehow rose, found and recited a spell for a drink. She drank the whole glass of orange juice in one gulp and went back to sleep.

  By the time she awoke, she began seeing the room in shades of orange. The bedsheets, the wall, and even her hair was all orange. The spell in the guidebook, which had orange-tinted pages, read as “Juice for an Orange World.”

  She slammed her palm onto her face.

  I should learn to notice what I read…