Chapter 2 - The New World (1/2)

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Hao Xuan's legs went limp and he fell on his back and started sweating like a pig, finally realizing that everything had changed.

As he was laying on the ground, he was both exhilarated and scared out of his mind. The reality of the situation set in and he understood that nothing would ever be the same. The security of his broken home, his old laptop, his friends, he will not get to see any of that ever again.

As Hao Xuan was sitting there thinking to himself, a young man walked up to him with hurried steps. A bulky guy with short brown hair, white complexion, quite tall for someone of his age, he ran up to Hao Xuan, ”Hey man, are you okay? Can you hear me? Just try to breathe dude, you're fine” he said worriedly.

Hao Xuan took his advice and started taking a few deep breaths, finally calming down. He looked at him with a slightly confused expression, ”Do I know you?”

”Oh you're okay now, hahaha you had me worried there man, thought you were gonna have a heart attack or something, but now that I look at you, that's pretty unlikely eh?” he said with a big smile plastered all over his face.

”Hmm.” was the best response Hao Xuan could think off. Barely having talked to anyone in real life in the last few years, his social etiquette was ”lacking” to say the least.

”My name is Maaz, Maaz Khan, what's your name? You're Chinese right?” he said as he extended his hand to help him get up.

Hao Xuan stared at his hand for a few seconds and then looked at his face thinking, ”Quite a wide face this guy has” and then grabbed his hand.

”Yes, I'm Chinese, are you American? I see you speak English pretty well” Hao Xuan said looking at him.

”Haha, I should be the one saying that, haven't seen a lot of Asians speaking such fluent English,” he said laughing.

”Um, thanks, I guess” Hao Xuan said trying to wrap up the conversation. He started moving towards the edge once more and looked down, but it was all white again. A sea of clouds, like it was never touched.

”Are you afraid of heights? I am. I get dizzy every time I look down” Maaz said as he walked next to Hao Xuan. He inhaled deeply through his nose and asked, ”Do you smell it?”

Hao Xuan frowned and then sniffed but couldn't smell anything strange, so he shook his head, ”Smell what?”

”The air, it's so clean. It's like breathing in pure oxygen, I get a little buzz every time I take in a deep breath. God, I hope I don't get addicted to this, it's not gonna be easy when you're addicted to the damn atmosphere itself,” he said giggling like a kid.

”You're right,” Hao Xuan said as he also breathed deeply. They stood there for a few mins, just looking around and noticed that they there are a lot of similar platforms all around them, but quite far away.

Suddenly there was a noise behind them and they turned around to see a group of people coming towards them. An old couple, two little kids of about 7-8 years of age, a teenage boy and a girl of about the same age as Hao Xuan. The little kids were two very cute twin girls. One of them who was holding a teddy bear, ran up to Maaz and hid behind his leg, looking towards Hao Xuan with big brown eyes.

”Don't just wander off like that without even telling anyone,” the lady said to Maaz in mock anger.

”Come on Ma, I'm right here, nothings gonna happen,” Maaz said while fondling the little girls head who was basically attached to his knee.

”Oh, btw these are my parents, my younger brother Sam, my sister Kay and the youngest of us, Olivia and Emilie” Maaz introduced his family to Hao Xuan.

”Hello, nice to meet you, I am Hao Xuan,” he said while slightly bowing.

”Oh what a nice young man, and where your parents? You shouldn't go too far from them right now. We are in a strange new place and have no idea what's going on, they must be worried sick about you,” said Mr. Khan with a gentle smile.

Hao Xuan thought for a few seconds about his family members, his mother and uncles, and their children, and he didn't feel any emotions towards them at all. So he just replied with ”I don't have any”.

His wife hit him with her elbow and gave him an angry look while turning around towards Hao Xuan, ”I'm sorry child, excuse this old man. He is getting crass in his old age, how about you stay with us for a little while? Just until we figure out what's going on?”

Hao Xuan was startled by the sudden invitation. He had just met these people and without even knowing anything about him they invite him to stay with them?

This act of kindness was his first such experience and left him quite confused. But he thought to himself ”It's not like I have anything to lose, why not give it a try? Better than being alone all the time.” So he looked towards her husband and other members of the family to make sure they were okay with, only to be met with smiles all around.