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Excerpt from
Worlds Apart
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Excerpt from
Worlds Apart
LEGO®, the LEGO® logo, the Brick and Knob configurations, the Minifigure and NINJAGO® are trademarks of the LEGO® Group. I am not associated with the LEGO® Group. All views are my own.
He tumbled into the bottomless pit. Stepping into a portal was always a wild ride through time and space. His body felt light, as if he had tricked gravity in a free fall. As if all the ballast he had wanted to leave behind had actually left him. It felt liberating. For a brief moment, he wondered how long this fall into nothingness might take. Did it really matter? He might as well fall forever. During his adventures, he had travelled between different worlds before, but this time, the transition seemed unusually long. Time was an illusion. At least, a very old and very wise man had once said those words to him. Suddenly, he felt a strong pull, like he was drawn to the ground with force. He could feel his full body weight again. The empty space around him began to vibrate, light and colours rushing by, and he landed hard on the ground, in a crouch. Feeling dizzy for a moment, he struggled to orient himself. He blinked a few times, trying to focus on the ground before him. His hands had touched down on concrete. A street, perhaps? Something rushed by, very closely, to his left. By the looks of it, he would bet it was a car. Slowly, he began to hear sounds, like someone had turned up the volume on a stereo from the mute position. He heard city sounds, mostly car engines. Someone was sounding their horn. His head snapped up, just in time to see another car approach. It was coming right at him. He wanted to jump out of the way, but his legs were still wobbly from the trip through the portal. The car was driving fast. Too fast. He stood in the middle of the lane, frozen to the spot, and prepared for impact. He cringed and lifted his arms out of a useless defence reflex. The car rushed right through him. He hadn’t felt anything. While he was still trying to process what had just happened, another car approached. He did not want to stay and find out if that trick, whatever it was, would work a second time, so he ran for the sidewalk and looked around, taking in his surroundings for the first time. What was this place? Everything seemed so different. Anyway, it wasn’t so bad. This was a town, not a desert or swamp or icy mountain top. He stood on the pavement, facing a busy street. The cars were driving on the wrong side of the street. People were passing him by, without taking notice. They did not even seem to see him, making no effort to avoid bumping into him. Suddenly, a man in a brown coat appeared directly before him, walking in the direction he was facing. The man had walked right through him from behind. How was that possible? Was he a ghost? Had he died? An old woman in a thick, green parka walked towards him. He deliberately stepped into her way. Although she looked right at him, she did not slow down, but walked on, as if he wasn’t even there. She, too, passed through him and marched on, none the wiser. How peculiar. He looked at the people around him a little more closely. They seemed… odd somehow. Their faces were strangely pale, a sick colour between light pink and eggshell, and they appeared elongated. Their noses were protruding from their faces at an odd angle, like a fleshy pointer. Their bodies looked rather roundish, with cylindrical arms and legs. Almost all of them were wearing thick coats, woolly hats, gloves and sturdy boots. It must be cold outside, he mused. He could not feel anything at all, no wind, no temperature, no touch. No pain, hunger or thirst, either. Maybe he was a ghost, after all. A city bus passed him by, then stopped a few metres down the street, to let a few passengers exit at the bus stop. Something caught his eye. He squinted. A green ninja suit. No, the picture of a green ninja suit. He hurried towards the image he had seen. It was printed on a backpack, worn by a boy who had just got off the bus. He was accompanied by a girl who was a little taller than him. He stared in disbelief. Lloyd’s face stared back at him. Something was written below his grainy image, but he could not decipher the script. He hurried past the boy to take a look at his face. To his utter surprise, the two children stopped abruptly, jerking back as they faced him. They actually saw him, he realised. He began to shiver. It really was cold outside. “Oh, my gosh, it’s Kai!” the boy exclaimed, gaping at the tall Red Ninja before him. The girl giggled. “Have you escaped from Legoland, mister?” The boy nudged her with his elbow. “Or maybe he’s giving away coupons for the toy store.” He turned to face Kai again. “Hey, I’ll take a coupon, sir! I am saving my pocket money for a new Lego set, anyway. What about it, eh?” The boy looked at him with his huge, blue eyes. Kai frowned. “What’s ‘Lego’?” He did not understand what the two children were talking about. The boy blinked. The girl, probably his big sister, narrowed her eyes at him. “He’s probably just some nut in a costume who escaped from the looney bin. Come on, George, let’s get out of here.” She grabbed the boy by the arm and started dragging him away with her. “No, no, no, no, wait!” Kai was desperate to keep talking to them. The girl glared at him. “Leave us alone! We don’t talk to strangers. Come on, George. Now!” They hurried off. Kai was determined not to let them get away before he would have his answers. He would stay on them and follow them, wherever they might be going. It was not easy to be stealth about it, however. His skin was bright yellow and his red suit was visible from afar. This world did not seem to favour any bright colours whatsoever. The children had noticed him following them, so they broke into a run. Turning around the next corner, he could see them enter an apartment building. He followed them up to the second floor and watched them hurry along the corridor. Kai pressed himself into a door recess and waited. The girl pushed the bell button at apartment number 201 and looked back anxiously over her shoulder. As soon as the door opened, the children slipped inside. Kai sprinted towards the door, catching it just in time before it fell into the lock. He waited for a few seconds, then pushed it back in and silently entered the apartment. Standing in the brightly lit corridor, he tried to decide what to do next. A female voice announced, “You can stay in your room for a bit, lunch will be ready in about ten minutes.” The voice increased in volume with every word. Someone was coming towards him.
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Panicked, he frantically looked for a way out. The door closest to him stood slightly ajar and, without thinking twice, he slipped inside. It was a bathroom. Kai remained standing behind the door and listened. It had not been the smartest idea to hide in the bathroom, he realised, when suddenly the door was opened from the other side and a young woman stormed inside. She did not even flinch, but kept looking straight ahead, while walking right through him. Apparently, he was a ghost again. Kai turned around to look at the woman. She was wearing a sports outfit of some sort. Her skin had the same, sickly pale colour as the children’s and the people he had seen in the street. She was tall and slender, had an oval shaped face and long, brown hair. Her arms and legs appeared elongated. She had the same funny nose as the others. But what fascinated him most were her hands. They looked like short, fleshy tentacles, each moving individually, it seemed. He counted five tentacles on each hand. This was, indeed, and odd species. The woman looked at herself in the mirror above the sink and frowned. Her dark eyes were lovely, though, Kai thought. They painfully reminded him of another pair of hazel eyes. The woman crossed her arms in front of her and Kai suddenly realised that she had come in here to change. Remembering his manners, he quickly turned around to look at the wall. Thank the Spirit that she did not see him. He ventured a few steps forward, trying to stick his hand through the wall. It was solid. Not a chance. He tried the closed door, with the same result. Obviously, his spectre-like state did not allow him to pass through walls, floors or doors. It did not make any sense to him, but hardly anything had, since he had arrived in this strange world. He had seen some of the sixteen worlds of Ninjago, but none of them had looked like this. This was someplace else entirely. Something must have gone wrong with the Traveller’s Tea. He feared that he was farther away from home than he had intended to go. Be careful what you wish for. His thoughts were interrupted by the woman passing through him again. She had changed into dark blue jeans and a red shirt with long sleeves. She opened the door and he stepped out behind her. Kai followed her into a large, functional kitchen. All surfaces were shiny and the room looked impeccably clean, despite the fact that she had cooked lunch for the children. Kai watched her set the kitchen table, which was made of glass and steel. The entire kitchen had a very modern, but also rather cold atmosphere about it. It was the complete opposite of what he was used to at home. Would he ever be able to return there, Kai wondered. He pushed that thought aside for a moment. He needed to concentrate on finding out where he was and what was going on, by talking to the boy and the girl as soon as possible. The woman was on the move again. She had finished her lunch preparations and was probably on her way to fetch the children. Kai hurried after her. She knocked on the second door to the left, then opened it without waiting for an answer first and went inside. “Lunch is ready. Go, wash your hands. I’ll be waiting for you in the kitchen,” she said. Despite the grammar, it sounded like an invitation, rather than an order. George and his sister gasped as soon as they spotted him and stared at him in disbelief. The woman must have wondered what they were looking at because she turned around, searching the, from her point of view, empty space behind her. Turning back around, she lifted a quizzical eyebrow at the children. “What is it, Melinda? George? You look like you have seen a ghost. Are you quite alright?” “Aunt Laura, look! The guy in the Kai costume is here! He’s standing right behind you,” the girl shrieked, pointing at him. Aunt Laura. Interesting. Laura whipped around, but was obviously still unable to see him. She turned back to face the children. “Very funny, guys. Now stop trying to spook me and let’s have lunch before it gets cold.” She marched past Kai and headed back for the kitchen. Kai took a step to the side and was now blocking the exit. He grinned and crossed his arms over his chest. “Hi. I’m Kai. Nice to meet you, George and Melinda,” he said, an amused tone in his voice. “I need to talk to you,” he added. George and Melinda kept staring at him. “I need your help,” Kai tried. “Apparently, your aunt Laura can’t see me, but you can, so you need to help me figure out what is going on, okay? But first, you should go and have lunch, I think your aunt is already waiting for you and by the smell of it, I’m pretty sure it’s delicious.” George found his voice first. “Wow, are you the real Kai? The Red Ninja?” Kai lifted his scarred eyebrow. “Last time I checked.” “George, don’t talk to the guy,” his sister scolded. “This is weird. Let us go, mister!” Laura came back from the kitchen. “What are you waiting for, guys?” “This weirdo is blocking the door,” Melinda accused Kai, pointing in his direction. The children had the same strange, tentacle-hands as their aunt. They must have been wearing mittens when they had been outside earlier. Laura followed Melinda’s extended hand with her eyes. “Enough with the games, Melinda. Let’s eat already.” She stood in the door, her outstretched arm a clear message to proceed into the kitchen this instant. “We’ll talk later,” Kai said, winking at George. The boy was his only ally in this strange world for the time being. Laura did not stir. She could neither see nor hear him, it seemed. Kai stepped aside to let the children pass, then followed them back to the kitchen.
. . .
While Laura busied herself with the pots on the stove, the children sat down at the kitchen table and poured themselves some orange juice. “Are you just going to stand there and watch us eat?” Melinda said, accusingly. “Is that your way of inviting me to sit with you?” Kai countered. Melinda rolled her eyes. “Whatever.” “Oh, yeah, come, sit with us,” George said, still excited to have met the Red Ninja in person. Kai smiled and sat down opposite Melinda. “Yes, I’m coming George, just give me ten seconds to fill your plate,” Laura said, obviously thinking that George had adressed his aunt. Laura went over to the table and put a portion of spaghetti and tomato sauce on the black placemat in front of George, then went back to the stove to fetch another one for Melinda. “I wasn’t talking to you, aunt Laura,” George said, when she put down the plate for his sister. “I was talking to Kai here,” George said proudly. His sister nudged him in the ribs for his blunt comment. Kai had to smile. Those two reminded him of himself and his own sister when they were children. How was Nya, he wondered. Laura looked at George for a moment, then smiled and said, “Ah, I see. That’s nice, honey.” There was something about her tone of voice that Kai did not like. “I, too, had an invisible friend when I was your age,” Laura added. Ah, now he knew what had bothered him. Laura did not believe her nephew. She was convinced that the boy was imagining things. Well, he could not really blame her. Laura came back to the table, carrying her own plate. She moved to sit down. “No, aunt Laura!” George lifted his hand to stop her. She flinched. “What is it, George?” “You can’t sit there,” George said. Laura frowned. “Why not? I always sit here.” “But today, Kai is already sitting in that chair,” George explained. Laura stared at Kai for a moment, without actually seeing him. Her lips curved up into a smile. “Well, in that case, I will just sit here.” She moved around the table and took a seat in the free chair, next to Kai. George grinned. “Thanks, aunt Laura.” “Don’t mention it.” She ate a forkful of spaghetti, then asked, “So, your friend Kai, isn’t he one of those ninja figures you like so much?” George grinned. “Yes, that’s right.” “The green one, right?” Laura guessed. George groaned. “No, aunt Laura, that’s Lloyd.” “But I thought that was your favourite,” Laura said, putting another portion of spaghetti in her mouth. George swallowed and looked nervously at Kai. The ninja arched an eyebrow and smirked at him. “Err, well, no… not exactly… I mean, they’re all pretty awesome, you know,” George tried to cushion the offense. Kai chuckled. “It’s okay, George. Lloyd is everyone’s favourite. In fact, he’s my best friend.” That seemed to calm the boy down a bit. “The blue one, then?” Laura tried. George rolled his eyes. “No, aunt Laura, that’s Jay.” Laura shrugged. “Well, aside from the candy colour theme, they all look alike to me.” George was devastated. “Aunt Laura! How can you say that? They are all totally different.” “How could you tell them apart, if they were all painted in black and white?” Laura challenged him. “Easy”, George said, “they all have different eyebrows, scars, insignia and weapons and Jay has freckles.” He crossed his arms. Kai was surprised at how well George seemed to know his family. “Don’t forget to eat your lunch, George,” Laura reminded him. Kai looked at the food on Laura’s plate. His stomach growled. George had heard it and shot Kai a pitiful glance. “Are you hungry, too, Kai?” he asked his new friend. “Well, it looks really good,” Kai said, scratching his neck. “Aunt Laura is a great cook,” George lauded. Laura grinned. “Well, thank you, George. What a nice thing to say.” She contemplated this for a moment. “Okay, I’ll play. Would your friend Kai like to take a bite, too?” “Yes, please,” George and Kai said at the same time. They grinned at each other. Laura smiled, then got up to fetch a small portion for Kai and put it on the table in front of the allegedly empty seat. Kai tried to pick up the fork, but his hand went right through it. He sighed. “What’s wrong, Kai?” George asked. “I’m afraid, I can’t eat while your aunt is in the room,” Kai said. Laura looked at Kai. “What’s the problem, Kai? You don’t like spaghetti?” Kai gaped at her for a moment, then stammered, “No, I love spaghetti, it’s just…” Melinda rolled her eyes. “She can’t hear you,” the girl said, slightly annoyed. Laura smiled at Melinda. “What did he say?” That moment, Kai realised that she was just playing along for the kids’ sake. Melinda sighed. “He says he can’t eat while you’re in the room.” Laura frowned. “No offense,” Kai said quickly. When Melinda just continued eating, Kai urged her, “Tell her. Please,” he added. Melinda glared at Kai, then turned towards her aunt. “No offense.” Laura laughed. “None taken. I’ll tell you what, why don’t you take the food back into your room once you’re finished? Then Kai can eat there and won’t be disturbed.” George beamed at her. “That’s an excellent idea, aunt Laura. Thank you.” “You’re welcome,” Laura said. The three of them finished their lunch, then the children were sent to their room to do their homework. George picked up Kai’s plate. “Aunt Laura, the food’s cold. Kai can’t eat cold spaghetti, can he?” “I’ll put it in the microwave for him, okay?” Laura took the plate off his hands. She believed that the boy was still hungry and would eat it himself. “Thanks, aunt Laura. You’re the best,” George said.
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