Pacific Rambles: Mina and Saxena's Adventures

The day was breaking. The sun poked through the curtains of Mina's bedroom, casting a golden glow on the two children lying in bed. Mina's eyes fluttered open, then slowly closed again as her brain registered what had woken her up.

"Eeep!" she yelped, throwing the covers off and jumping to her feet.

She turned around and watched in horror as Saxena slowly sat up, clutching his pillow to his chest. His hair stuck at all angles out of his head, and his eyes looked like they were going to pop out of their sockets.

"What is it?" he asked hoarsely, blinking rapidly. "What happened?"

Mina stared at him for a moment, then burst out laughing. She staggered over to the window and threw it open.

"Wake up!" she gasped between giggles. "The sun is up! You're going to be late for school! I told you that you'd oversleep if you stayed up so late last night reading your book."

"I did not oversleep," Saxena grumbled. He swung his legs over the side of the bed and began to sit up straight, but winced and flopped back down onto the mattress with a groan. "Owies."

Mina laughed even harder at this, and pressed her face against the window pane as she peered outside. Pacific was waking up; people were strolling along the streets, carrying bags with their lunch for work or school tucked inside them. Cars sped by on their way to someplace important; pigeons took flight from a roof on the other side of the street; dogs ran across lawns chasing after balls or sticks thrown by their owners. It was all so familiar - everyday life in Pacific - that it almost made Mina want to cry with joy just because it was nice to know that everything was exactly how it should be. After all, yesterday had been a very bad day...

Saxena groaned again, turning over onto his stomach and burying his head into his pillow. He rolled onto one side and curled his arms around himself, wishing that he could fall asleep again and wake up in another time: when they were little kids - no older than three or four years old - playing pretend games together in someone's backyard, pretending that they lived in a castle with royal parents who spoiled them rotten and always gave them whatever they wanted...

He sighed softly as he remembered those days; every kid had at least one friend like Mina back then - someone who would go along with your crazy ideas without question or hesitation- someone who would willingly spend hours pretending to be part of your fantasy world while you acted out different parts...someone who understood you better than anyone else ever could...

Then suddenly Saxena frowned: something felt strange about the air around him - something that hadn't changed since yesterday afternoon...

Her name is Ana Rosemary Anderson-Thompson, A-N-A Rosemary Anderson-Thompson! God! What kind of parents named their daughter Ana? That's not a real name! It's ridiculous! How can we be friends with her when we're supposed to call her Ana? We're going to make fun of her behind her back! Or worse--she'll hear us making fun of her! And she won't understand why we're laughing at her! We have to do something...

(But there was nothing they could do except accept it. They couldn't change who they were or where they lived--they couldn't run away from home without money or food or clothes or anything else useful.)

[I don't care what Mom says--I'm leaving today after school!] I'm going away--far away--where nobody will laugh at me because I can never figure out what I'm doing wrong...or right...

[Where am I?] Who am I? When am I? Who are they...? What are they doing here? Why are they staring at me? Why does my name sound so strange when they speak it? Where is home??? [Am I home?] This can't be home!!! [Is anybody here who knows me?] Could this be real? Am I dreaming??? [No...] No matter how hard he tried to shake off those thoughts, though, his mind kept spiralling down deeper into darkness...into despair...into self-loathing....into madness....

[Who am I?] Saxena wondered angrily as he forced himself out of bed for the thousandth time that day and walked barefoot across his room towards the bathroom door--who am I when everyone keeps calling me by this awful name...? Who am I if my own mother doesn't know where my name came from...? Who am I if people tease me because my sister has blonde hair like our mother...? Who am I if nobody laughs with me when I tell jokes...? Who am I if people don't listen when I ask questions...? Who am I if everybody ignores me when people talk about history...? Who am I if teachers give me too much homework so that there's no time left over for my imaginary friend...? Who am I if my best friend forgets about me as soon as our teacher turns around...? Who am I if everyone stares at me in the cafeteria when my face turns red...? Who am I if no one understands why magic is more interesting than sports...? Who am I if everyone wants to talk about boring things like the weather instead of telling stories about pirates...? Who am [is] *am* *am* *am* *am* *am* *am* *ami????? [My name is Ambrose John Steinberg Saxena.] My name is Ambrose John Steinberg Saxena!!! My name is Ambrose John Steinberg Saxena!!! My name is Ambrose John Steinberg Saxena!!! My AMBEROSE John STEINBERG name IS AMBROSE John STEINBERG AMBEROSE JOHN STEINBERG name IS AMBROSE JOHN STEINBERG AMBEROSE JOHN STEINBERG AMBEROSE JOHN STEINBERG name IS GAYLENE JOHN STEINBERG GAYLENE john STEEENBENJAMINE Benjamin STEEENBENJAMINE Benjamin JOHN STEEENBENJAMINE BenjameeeenBenjamiiiiiin STEEENBENJAMINE Benjamin BENJAMEeeenBenjamiiiiiin NAME IS BENJAMEeeenBenjamiiiiiin BENJAeeeeenBenjamiiiiiin BENjaaammmeeennn BENJAaaammmeeennn BENJAaaammmeeennn BENJaamnmmmeeeeeeennnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnneeeeeeenn naaaaaaaamaoowweellllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllleeeeeeeeeennngggggggggeeeennnggghhhhhhhhhhhhhaaauuuuuaauuuuuaauuuuuaauuuuuaauuuuuaauuuuuaauuuuuaauuuuuaaaaaaaaaaaaauuuuuuuuuuuuuuueeeeeeeeeeennngggggggggeeeennnggghhhhhhhhhhhhhaaauuuuuaauuuuuaauuuuuaauuuuuaauuuuuaauuuuuaauuuuuaauuuuuaauuuuuaaaaaaaaaaaaauuuuuuuuummmmmmmmmmommomoomoommmommommommommommomoommmommommmoommmoeemmommyyyyynhssspppppppppppppppppppppppoopooopooopooopooopooopooopoppoppoppoppoppoppoppoppoppoppopppoooooooooooiooooooooowweeewweeweweweweewweewehwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwqeqqeqqeqqeqqeqqeqqeqqeqqeqqeqqeqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqqquququququququququququququququqvqvqvqvqvqvqvqvqvqvqvghghghghghghghghghghhbgvbvvbbbbbcccchhhkkkjjjjjjjkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkknknknknknknknknknlmlmlmlmlmlmlmlmsmsmsmsmsmsmsmsmsnsnsnsnsnsnsnsnsnsogogogogogogogogogoyoyoyoyoyoyoyoygvgvgvgvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvwweeeeeeeessssssssseeeeeessssssssseeesssssttttttttttteessstteessstteessstsstteessstteessstsstteessstsstsstsstsstsstsstsstsstsststeeststeeststeeststeeststeeststeeststeeststeeststeeststeestsgtsttsctcsctccsccsccsccsccsccsccsccsssssssssssssssssccsccsccsccsce