As soon as he walked into his room, Aiden collapsed in bed, groaning.

Track was rough. His legs felt like jelly, and he could feel what felt like buckets of sweat running down his face.

But his efforts weren’t for nothing– he could now say, with confidence, that the Greenville High track team was guaranteed to win their meet with Abernathy Prep on Sunday. 

When we win this, it’ll be our fifth win in a row…

Aiden smiled to himself as he began to drift off to sleep.

That’d be great…

Suddenly, Aiden felt a bit disturbed, but he couldn’t put his finger on why.

“Great…” Aiden muttered to himself.

Then, realization struck him like lightning.

“The Great Gatsby!” Aiden yelped, shooting up from where he lay. 

Jumping out of bed, Aiden ran to his desk, opened his copy of the book, and frantically flipped through it.

“I forgot about that book report…” Aiden groaned.

Hours later, just past midnight, a messy, but completed book report rested on Aiden’s desk.

It took an unhealthy amount of Red Bull, and at least twenty broken pencils, but he did it. 

Aiden smiled to himself. Quivering from exhaustion, he got up from his chair and fell into bed once more.

“... Are you Aiden Anderson?”

Aiden stirred, blinking his eyes open. Sitting up, he groggily turned his head toward the voice.

He immediately stilled when he saw who had spoken.

Standing over his bed, towering above him, was a monster. 

A plump, red-furred beast that had to be twice his height, clad in a burgundy suit, with tusks protruding from his mouth that almost reached his huge, yellowed eyes.

Before he could even register the sight in his head, Aiden felt a scream tear from his lungs, and he recoiled hard enough that his back hit the bedpost with an audible crack. Aiden instinctively drew his knees to his chest, shaking.

“...Perhaps I shouldn’t have entered like that. My apologies. But I bear you no ill will, Aiden–”

“What are you?! How… how’d you get in here? How’d you know my name– why–”

“Aiden.” The beast cut him off, smiling at him reassuringly. “I see that you have a lot of questions, and I will answer them… but I’m going to need you to listen to me first, alright?”

Aiden, still stunned, could only numbly nod. 

“Good. Now, this is likely going to be a lengthy discussion, so let’s get ourselves situated, shall we? Maybe have a seat somewhere comfortable?”

Soon, Aiden found himself at his kitchen table, directly across from the beast.

He stared dumbly at the creature, who was simply sitting there with his hands folded on the table.

“In short, I am from another world. A realm, we call it. Many ogres, like myself, reside there. However, creatures like elves, dwarves, pixies, goblins, and hundreds more which I can’t even name– they all call Tryalsium home.”

Aiden stared blankly at the monster– no, the ogre, he called himself. 

“Another… world? But… how? And why would you come here?

The ogre bowed his head.

“I was just getting to that. You see, fairfolk- what we call the sentient creatures that reside in our world- aren't too different from humans, in the societal sense. We have our own government, vocational system– and an educational institution.”

The ogre smiled, looking down at himself.

“I, myself, am in charge of said institution– the headmaster. The reason I have come here is to invite you to partake in a social experiment.”

“An… experiment?” Aiden frowned.

“Yes. I would like you to leave this world, and spend a year at Tryalsium’s Academy- taking classes and living alongside the native fairfolk.”

Aiden could vaguely feel his mouth fall open.

“Yes. It’s a concept similar to what you know as a foreign exchange program. Only, instead of across countries, it’ll be across worlds…”

“H-hang on!” Aiden choked out. “I can’t just leave like that! I… I go to school here! All of my teachers, my classmates won’t know where I went…” 

He was cut off by the ogres' booming laugh. 

“Not to worry, it’ll all be taken care of! As far as your peers will be aware, you’ll be studying abroad in the human country you know as France.” 

“But…” Aiden grimaced. “I live here! This is… this is my home!”

“It’ll only be for a year. But…” The ogre sighed, looking wistful. “If you truly don’t want to go, then I understand. I’ll simply find someone else to partake in the program.”

“I’m sorry, I… I don't…"

After leaving his mouth open for a moment, not knowing how to finish his sentence, Aiden closed it.

“…Aiden?” The ogre asked hesitantly, after a long silence.

“Can I think about it?” Aiden stammered out.

What was he doing?

“Of course,” The ogre nodded. “I will come back tomorrow night, and you can give me your final answer then.”

The ogre stood up from the chair, bowing his head slightly at Aiden.

“It was a pleasure meeting you, Aiden Anderson.”

“Wait, I still–”

Suddenly, a blindingly bright light flashed throughout Aiden’s vision.

It was gone as soon as it had come, but when Aiden looked to where the ogre had stood, the ogre was no longer there.

Numbly, Aiden stared at the space in the air made empty by the ogre, before stumbling back into his room and sitting on the foot of his bed.

Aiden closed his eyes, trying to think clearly about everything that had just transpired.

What did he do next? 

He knew that he should probably report this to the government, but also realized that the government would not listen to a sixteen-year-old claiming that he’d spoken to an ogre.

Why hadn’t he rejected the ogre’s offer? 

Curiosity, Aiden chalked it up to. Of course, he’d be curious about another world, especially considering that Aiden had been agnostic at best his entire life.

Should he partake in the ogre’s program?

Of course not. No, absolutely no.

Maybe he should try to get a scientist or a witch or someone to listen to him and try to figure out this realm the ogre had claimed to come from. Or maybe he should just convince himself that the meeting with the ogre was just a strange dream– it wouldn’t be too hard to do so.

But no. He shouldn’t go. He knew nothing about this world. How would he have any way of knowing if he’d be safe? Or that he’d ever get back, even if the ogre said that the program was finite? Aiden’s life was objectively a good one– how could he just risk it?

But as a series of vivid fantasies of what that bizarre, unfamiliar world could be like played out in his head, they didn’t scare him as much as they excited him.

What is wrong with me?

Groaning, Aiden closed his eyes and fell back into bed.

“Now, what was Goldpin trying to say in this passage?”

Resting his head on his desk, arms folded in front of him, Aiden stared blankly out the window at his side.

The weather today was awful. Rain was pouring down persistently, and it showed no signs of stopping. The wind was screeching loud enough that Aiden could hear its rumblings and crackles even from inside the school.

“…den? Aiden!”

Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.

“Huh?” Aiden snapped his head up to face a visibly agitated Ms. Hawthorn. 

“That’s the third time I’ve called your name!”

“Oh. Uh… sorry.” Aiden could feel his face warm as he heard giggling from the rest of the class.

“Anyway…” Ms. Hawthorn pointed at the chalkboard, lined with notes that Aiden didn’t understand. “Now, when he wrote this poem, what do you think Goldpin was trying to convey?”

Aiden stared at Ms. Hawthorn blankly, before she sighed and looked away.

“Anyone else? Trucy?” Ms. Hawthorn turned to the girl in question, sitting a couple of rows to Aiden’s right.

“What he was trying to say was that sometimes, you have to step outside your comfort zone to be… fulfilled in life, I guess.”

Ms. Hawthorn nodded. “Very good. Yes, Goldpin was trying to say that even if you’re…”

Whatever the teacher was saying quickly became little more than white noise to Aiden.

The memory of last night still rang strong in his head. Aiden screwed his eyes shut, rubbing his temples as he tried to clear his head.

“Here.” 

Aiden opened his eyes, to turn to Ms. Hawthorn standing next to him, lips drawn tight. She put a small stack of papers on the table in front of Aiden.

“Your book report.”

Aiden briefly scrutinized the report. But when he saw the ‘D+’ in red, scrawled on the front page, his heart sank.

“See me after school,” Ms. Hawthorn turned, walking back to her place in the front of the classroom.

Aiden stared blankly at the papers. The papers that he spent hours writing. The papers that he had tried, really tried, to word just right. The papers that he had read and reread what felt like a hundred times, trying to see the slightest mistake. 

Aiden numbly flipped through the report, which Ms. Hawthorn had scrawled over, in red pen, with what seemed like a hundred different criticisms of flaws that he wouldn’t have noticed on his own for the world.

Aiden wanted to crawl under his desk. 

The cafeteria was noisy today. Hundreds of different people were sitting around their tables, engaged in lively conversation.

And Aiden stood at the center of it all, tightly clutching his lunch bag.

“Yo, Aiden!” 

Aiden turned around to Henry, sitting at the track team’s usual table, grinning and waving at him.

Aiden smiled and walked over. “‘Sup, guys?” He asked, sitting in his usual seat and pulling out his lunch.

Henry shrugged. “Nothing much. How about you?” 

Aiden sighed. “H–honestly, it’s been kinda rough. I–”

Nate snorted. “Tell me about it. You know Ms. Cooper?” He asked with a smirk.

Aiden unconsciously recoiled. That look on Nate’s face was never a good thing.

“…The geometry teacher?”

Nate nodded, before rolling his eyes. “She’s such a bitch. I turned in an assignment, like, a week late, and she still gave me a zero.”

George snorted. “She’s always picking favorites. Like Aiden,” He lightly punched Aiden on the shoulder. “How come she’s always nice to you?” George grinned at Aiden, but he quickly looked away, staring down at his food.

Ms. Cooper was one of the nicest teachers Aiden ever had. She always had a smile on her face, and always understood when Aiden showed up late or forgot to hand something in. She had even gone out of her way to tutor Aiden during a particularly difficult unit, and he actually passed that quarter by the skin of his teeth.

Aiden shrugged but didn’t say anything. The subject was quickly changed to a new episode of some show Aiden had never heard of, but Aiden just kept staring down at his food.

He never cleared his plate that day.

Aiden hesitantly knocked on the door to room 302.

The door was quickly opened by Ms. Hawthorn, looking down at Aiden expressionlessly.

“Come in. Have a seat.”

Walking into the classroom, Aiden sat in a chair that had been placed in front of the teacher’s desk. Ms. Hawthorn took a seat across from him.

“I’ll be blunt here– you’re not doing good in this class, Aiden.”

Aiden winced, turning his head down. “I know. I’m sorry.”

Ms. Hawthorn grasped a steaming cup of tea from the desk, taking a sip. After setting the glass back down, she took a long breath, loud enough that Aiden could hear.

“Are you aware that you’re at risk of getting held back?”

Aiden snapped his head up, to meet Ms. Hawthorn’s unmoving expression.

“I– I am?” Aiden stammered.

“Yes. You’re at the bottom of this class, you have countless failing grades…” 

“No! I can’t repeat the year!” 

Ms. Hawthorn shook her head.

“You may have to. However,” Ms. Hawthorn gestured at a calendar hanging behind her. “You still have a few months before the end of the year. There is still time for you to improve your grade. I just wanted you to be aware of your current situation, here and now.”

Aiden stared at Ms. Hawthorn for a few moments. 

Then, he bowed his head.

“Okay. Thank you, Ms. Hawthorn.”

Standing up, Aiden walked back to the classroom door. He reached his hand out to twist the door handle, but then he heard Ms. Hawthorn continue to speak.

“I know you’re capable of more, Aiden. I’m disappointed in you.”

Aiden froze. 

If he was capable of more, then why hadn’t he achieved it yet?

Aiden opened the door with a shaky hand and left without a word.

After finishing his lap around the track, Aiden doubled over where he stood.

“What the hell, man?”

Panting, Aiden looked up at an unamused Nate. 

“What the hell was that?” He repeated, glowering at a stopwatch in his hand. “We have a match this Sunday!”

Aiden shook his head.

“Sorry, guys,” he turned to the rest of his teammates, who were all looking at him unimpressed. “I’ll be better tomorrow. I just… have stuff on my mind.” 

George snorted. “Whatever. Just run faster.”

Ryan glanced at his watch. “Well, it’s 5, now. You guys wanna head to that diner on Baker?”

Soon, Aiden and his teammates were seated around a large table, with milkshakes and pastries placed in front of all of them. 

Except for Aiden. He had left his wallet at home. He doubted he could’ve afforded anything even if he didn’t. He absently drummed his fingers on the empty space in front of him.

“Soo,” Henry said, “What was up with you today, man?”

“Huh? W-what do you mean?” Aiden unconsciously scratched the back of his neck.

“C’mon, man,” Ryan rolled his eyes. “You’ve been spacing out all day.”

“It’s nothing,” Aiden shook his head. 

“Sure, it isn’t,” Nate smirked. “That’s why you were running like shit today.”

Aiden winced, while the rest of the group guffawed.

“I wasn’t even running that slow…”

“Yeah, you were.”

I still had better time than half you guys usually do. A spiteful part of Aiden thought before he hastily shoved that side of him back down.

“We’re your friends, aren’t we?” Henry pouted. “You can tell us!”

Aiden stared down at the table and sighed.

“Okay. I’ll tell you guys everything.”

Aiden recounted everything that had happened to him the previous night. The ogre’s appearance, the strange world he alluded to, the offer that he had made him…

While he was talking, Aiden had unconsciously screwed his eyes shut. When he had finally finished with his account of events, Aiden hesitantly opened his eyes, to find all of his teammates staring at him with grins on their faces.

“I gotta buy a bag from you sometime, man.” Henry snickered.

Everyone laughed, their cackling sending shivers down Aiden’s spine as he felt his heart drop. 

“I know it all sounds insane, but you guys have to believe me! I swear, I’m telling the truth!”

“Dude. Ogres?” Ryan snorted. “We knew you were a weirdo, but Jesus.” 

“I– I know what I saw!” Aiden frantically looked at his teammates, none of whom seemed impressed.

“I know it’s crazy, but guys, for once, just listen to me!” His pleas were almost completely drowned out by his teammate’s laughter. Aiden felt queasy.

Nate rolled his eyes. “Whatever you’re doing isn’t funny anymore-“

Aiden slammed his hands against the table, hard enough that everyone sitting at the table stopped laughing, and hard enough that people from neighboring tables began to stare.

“It’s not supposed to be funny!” Aiden shouted. “Yeah. It might be crazy. But what happened, happened! What, do you think I made this up for attention? Or am I just a weirdo?” Aiden sneered at Ryan, who frowned.

“Well, yeah. You just told us some B.S. about an ogre-“

“You know, I’d be fine with you guys not taking me seriously if it was just this once. I mean, who would– it’s insane! But you guys never listen to what I have to say! You’re always going on about some stupid bullshit, about how much that teacher sucks, o–or about how dumb that kid is, and you never ask me how I feel about it! Hell, every time I actually try to say something, you guys just make fun of me and make me feel like an idiot! I didn’t even want to tell you about any of this! You’re the ones that kept pushing– and– and…”

Aiden trailed off. He looked at his teammates, who were staring at him like he’d grown a second head.

“I… I gotta go.” Aiden choked out. He grabbed his bag from under his chair and practically sprinted out of the diner. Even after he got outside, he kept running for another few blocks before finally slowing to a stop.

“Why’d I do that…” Aiden whispered.

I’ll say sorry tomorrow… who am I kidding? They probably think I’m some kind of psycho now.

Aiden groaned- he couldn’t blame them if they did.

That night, as Aiden came home, he closed the door behind him and slumped, against it, sliding to the floor, burying his face in his hands.

Then, the offer the ogre had made him came dancing back into his head.

Aiden froze before he felt an almost manic grin creep onto his face.

It was just before midnight.

Aiden calmly sat in the same chair at the table where he had discussed the experiment with the ogre, reading a sports magazine.

Then, a blinding light filled the room, and once again, the ogre was seated across from him.

As soon as he saw the ogre, Aiden smiled, putting the magazine aside.

“Hi again! Do you want some tea?” Aiden gestured at a pot of the drink he had prepared about an hour ago.

The ogre stared at him for a few moments. 

Then he shook his head. “Er, yes! To the tea.”

Aiden nodded, pouring the contents of the teapot into a glass and pushing the cup towards the ogre.

The ogre, somewhat hesitantly, took a sip.

“Hm. Human tea…” The ogre mused. “It’s delicious. Thank you, Aiden.”

Aiden grinned. “Thanks!”

After a few moments of silence, Aiden sighed.

He was really doing this.

“So, about the deal… I thought about it for a while, and… I wanna take it.” 

“You… you do?” The ogre seemed taken aback.

“Yeah. Is… there a problem?” Aiden asked, hesitantly.

“Ah, no! It’s just…” The ogre looked apprehensive. “You seemed… reluctant. To take my offer, last night. I don’t blame you- exposure to other realms, in any form, can be, for a lack of better words, mind-boggling. When I came here, I was actually going to apologize for the previous night, springing so much on you all of a sudden. But now…” The ogre looked down at the teacup Aiden had prepared for him.

“…If you don’t mind me asking, why the shift in attitude?”

Aiden looked down. What the ogre had said wasn’t wrong.

He fiddled with his bangs, rolling a few strands of his hair between his fingers.

“I… I…” Aiden closed his eyes. “I needed a new start.” He looked up at the ogre, who was listening intently.

“I had a rough day today. And… and it made me rethink some stuff about… what I’m doing with my life. So… maybe coming to the academy– to a whole new place– it’d… it’d be good for me.”

Aiden let out a long sigh, looking down at the ground. “I’m sorry if that doesn't really make sense–”

“No, no!” The ogre immediately shook his head. “It’s… I think I know the feeling, Aiden. I don’t know exactly what’s going through your head, but… I think I understand a little.” The ogre smiled softly at Aiden. “And I’m glad that you think that coming to Tryalsium would be beneficial. It… truly is a wonderful place.”

Aiden let out a shaky laugh, and the two sat in silence for a few moments.

“A-anyway, am I still… going?” Aiden asked, hesitantly.

“Huh? Oh, yes!” The ogre shook his head. “You… still want to, correct?”

“Yeah! I… I really wanna go.” Aiden said, nervously playing with the ends of his sleeves.

The ogre nodded. “Alright. Momentarily, I will use my magic to transport us to Tryalsium. It’ll likely be disorienting, however. Are you sure you’re up for it?”

Aiden grinned. He was scared, but simultaneously… giddy.

“Yeah.”

Then, the room was filled with a blinding light.