Chapter 6 - Freedom

I know I haven't spoken much about my parents, but that was for a reason. I just didn't know them that well. My dad was an average person, who worked an ordinary job. So was my mom. Though there was nothing special about them, I knew they were good people. Unfortunately, they were stuck on me doing something academic and I didn't mind that much. Until now. I had a new world, that I was sure I had an insane advantage in. Any time I spend with my head in a book, I think I would spend just wanting to be in Domus. In terms of their personalities I didn't know them that well, almost every conversation we had was about studies or something at a professional level. But, my mom was very family oriented, spending most of her time with family and she had only a few friends. My dad was somewhat the same but he was much more shut off with his emotions. That's about all I can tell you, for now at least.

I got up off the bed, cleaned up my room and headed down. I was getting ready to hear a lecture about focusing on studies and other stuff that I didn't wanna hear. But then I remembered that I had one last saving grace, the decision that the governments were coming to about the new world. When I reached the ground floor, I saw that my parents were watching the announcement show eagerly. I realized that my mom thought I had woken up already, and was just calling me to come watch the announcement show. 

I thanked the UN once again for saving the day before joining my parents. The event was massive. The announcement hadn't even started yet and it was already breaking records according to several websites. The event was actually taking place just outside UN headquarters. Several military and media helicopters flew above, news channels from all over the world were reporting on the situation and there were a grand number of people actually at the event waiting to see what would happen. 

A couple minutes later, the UN head walked onto the stage and just got the formalities out of the way. First, he went over the situation again talking about all the things that had been discovered by the people sent over into the world. It seemed that most people at this point had an idea about schools, arts and attributes. The rest of the speech went like this. 

"Our human race has made some significant developments in the last few years. All over the world, strides have been made in technologies, policies and in medicine. However, none reach the level of the stride we made on Friday. For an unknown reason, we acquired access to another world which has been found to be named Domus. Out of all the people on the planet, an estimated 60% have been able to enter the world."

This all made sense to me. Mostly because it was pretty public information that could be found online. What would come next was quite a surprise though. 

"Over the weekend, a world meeting was convened. Leaders from all countries came together to make a decision regarding the new world. Several discussions took place, which ended with the final voting taking place just a few hours ago. This had to be done with haste for a reason. Being humans, our world has been invited into the Universal Species Alliance. This means that we now have great access to discoveries made by other species. The problem is, we only get access to the modern technologies if we help the alliance adequately. This means taking part in wars, making advancements in science and so on. The access to the human world of Domus, is part of this invitation."

Woah. That's a lot. Until now, this was only important to me. Now it was important to the whole world. Not only was it important, the entire way we looked at life had been changed. There were several possibilities before. Maybe this was just an illusionary world that had no real effect on the world. Maybe it was the past that we had just gotten access to. This now clearly wasn't true. But I was still hoping for my way out. The leader went on after the noise the crowd was making had quieted down again. 

"As such, the world governments have decided to provide support for those who want to work on advancing our position in the Alliance. Each country has now made a website where you can register for taking the role of representing our world universally. Though some specifics are decided on by country, all countries will provide housing, food and a consultant for anyone who wants to apply. Other countries can and will accept applications from outside their own country. This depends on your capabilities and how much you are willing to commit to the role. The applications will be open 1 hour from now. Please make sure to apply if you have capability. " 

THANK GOD. I had the way out right in front my face. I needed to be one of the first to apply. And based on what the people on Domus were saying I had a good chance of being accepted into the program. I had one big obstacle though. I had to convince my parents that this was a good idea. 

"I'm going to apply for the role.", I said as confidently as I could. My parents must have initially thought that I must have been joking, but then they saw my serious expression before realizing that I was completely serious. My mother's eyes filled with anger and my dad looked disappointed. My mother screamed "DO YOU EVEN KNOW WHAT THAT MEANS?" I flinched cause I have always been afraid of my mother a little bit. She then continued, "ALL THE TIME AND EFFORT ME AND MY DAD PUT ON YOUR EDUCATION AND YOU WANT TO THROW IT ALL AWAY! YOU'RE NOT GOING TO DO ANYTHING OTHER THAN STUDY FOR THE REST OF THE TIME YOU SPEND BEING MY SON. You need to stop dreaming about THIS useless time waster and work on your life instead." I hated how much she wanted me to study even when I finally had something that I could do which I loved truly. I screamed back "THIS IS THE FIRST TIME I HAVE WANTED TO DO SOMETHING IN MY LIFE. THE FIRST OPPORTUNITY WHERE I CAN REALLY EXPRESS MYSELF AND YOU WANT TO TAKE IT AWAY? I have told YOU SO MANY TIMES how much I didn't want to study and YOU NEVER LISTENED BUT I have had enough." My mother seemed to have backed down, but my dad then walked up to me and said "You are disappointing me and your mother, you have no right to disrespect us like that. You can't go into the other world anymore, focus on your studies." I then reminded him "But even you wanted to explore this opportunity why are you just throwing it away?" He then turned around and looked me straight in the eye before slapping me. "YOU NEVER LISTEN TO EITHER OF US. WE KNOW BETTER THAN YOU. WE WILL HANDLE THIS, CAN'T YOU JUST FOCUS ON YOUR STUDIES FOR ONCE." I was shocked. My dad used to hit me rarely when I was a kid and had stopped for a decade, but now had hit me the hardest I had been. I stumbled towards my mother, and fell to the floor from the shock. "I'M STILL GOING TO APPLY" I said, as bravely as I could. My mom then raised her left leg before stomping on my back twice. I covered up before my mother started another barrage kicks and screams. 

It went on for 5 minutes or so. My entire body ached from the pain and I just wanted to get up and leave this house. Just sheer pain was all I felt. Not only physical though, the only two people I had ever trusted in my life were now beating me senseless. I didn't know what to think, what to do, what to say or even if I could move my mouth anymore. I just wanted out. I just wanted to leave. 

The barrage stopped after a while and the house went silent. I hadn't screamed in worry of making them feel like they got me, but I couldn't get up for a minute after so I guess that was pretty obvious. My body still ached from the constant hits, and tears started to well up in my eyes. I had no idea where to go, but I wanted to go away from whatever hell this home was. I slowly got up, noticing that both my parents were silently talking in the kitchen. I tried to not make a noise as I headed up again, before my mom noticed me and said "I BETTER NOT SEE YOU SLEEPING, GO STUDY." My parents weren't abusive. But after this, I wasn't so sure. Maybe all these years I just couldn't tell what was abuse and what wasn't. But more likely was that they had just been burdened with many emotions in the past few days and were taking it out on me. That was still no excuse to do what they did. In that moment of pure fear and rage and pain and shock suddenly I felt, clarity. Except this time there was no rhythm to back up the familiar feeling. I then realized what was most important in this moment. So I pretended to study for an hour or so before the time for the applications to open came. 

A couple minutes later, as I constantly refreshed the page. The applications page had opened up. I went through it as quick as possible and quickly copied over all the details for other country applications. It asked for information like name, age and other basic stuffs. As for the other aspect of things, they asked for my school, arts and attributes. While I was filling in this part, I felt a strong inclination to hide the "Blessed by Shiva" attribute. And so I did. I thought even without it I was strong enough to be let in. 

Other than this, the most important part was the section for refugees and others. I filled in that I was in an abusive household, and had nowhere else to go. This was probably enough to seal the deal. I submitted all the forms, with most of them saying that I would get the results in a day. 

And then I heard the divine voice again. "That must have been tough." the unforgettable voice from earlier said. I couldn't do a thing to reply so the voice continued "Don't worry, you're my disciple. I couldn't just let that happen to you. Do me a favour and take the key to the moped and leave to go far away. Turn off any GPS and the sort. And try to be as quiet as possible. Take the money you have and use it for petrol. Pack a bag with some clothes and make sure to take your phone and laptop. You're gonna run away. " 

The clarity in mind allowed me to not have any hesitation. I did as he said, and prepared a bag in 10 or so minutes. I grabbed my phone, a couple pairs of clothes, a phone, a laptop, a power bank and about 200 dollars in cash. That was going to have to suffice. I turned off all the gps services that my parents could use to track me. Then, I waited till the next morning. This time choosing to sleep normally, so that I could wake up at a normal time and not raise suspicion from my parents. I just had to wait for them to get distracted. While I did, I thought. I had no friends here, no real connection with family anymore, and no reason to stay. Leaving was the only choice I had, the only way I could be free. I put in my earphones and played "Running in the 90s" which was the song I used when I needed to pull something off. They still had work to do today, seeing that it was Dusshera for me and not for them. After about 15 or so minutes, they both had joined a work call and had put on headphones. I went down the stairs as quiet as I came, and took the keys from the bowl in front of the entrance. As soon as I stepped out, I sprinted for it and started the moped. Maybe they heard the noise, maybe they didn't. They were bound to find out later. The moped roared as I sped down the lane into the road and went further and further away form the place I stayed at for most of my life. The song played and I didn't feel much, only that I was free. At this point I had travelled for about 40 minutes and was quite a distance away from home. I didn't even know where I was. I just kept in mind the direction my home was in and headed away from there. I sat down at a nearby stall and asked the vendor for some water. He quickly game me some and I handed him the bill amount. I drank the water bottle, and calmed my nerves. The only reason I had stopped after all, was that the applications results were about to be released. I patiently waited for the emails to come in. And at around the same time, they all came through. I quickly looked for the USA one and went through it.

There was a lot of fluff at the beginning thanking me for participating and how they appreciate every applicant. That just made me feel like I was going to be rejected. I scrolled down looking for some sign that I had been accepted and ... THERE IT WAS. In big red letters it said "Accepted with additional clauses." I was glad I had been accepted but was worried about the additional clauses part so I frantically looked for that part of the email and it said "Due to your situation, you will be provided with a flight to the USA, among other accepted applicants from your area. You will need to make your way to the closest airport, though the flight is paid for. The missing persons report will be dealt with and you shall be allowed to move. This move has only been made because of your exceptional skills and attributes, do not exploit this opportunity" I had the fool proof plan to get out of the country. Under the email, the flight details were shown. It was later today.