They say the sound of a horn signals the presence of a portal.
Portals open the doors to multiple dimensions.
These dimensions have never crossed paths.
Until now…
"Wake up!"
Danny moaned and ignored his mother's call, staying in his slumber.
"Yo, Danny! It's seven-thirty!"
He moaned even more frustratingly. He thought, What could be the problem that ma has to suddenly wake me up?
"Time for school!"
Danny sprung up immediately. He had totally forgotten about that. All of a sudden, he was wide awake, as if huge amounts of energy pushed him to life.
"Coming!" he finally replied to his mother, and eagerly at that.
Today was his first day of school. Ever. He was to start elementary school and he was immensely excited about it. He couldn't wait to meet his classmates and teachers and start reading textbooks and everything a normal child could do. He was already an adopted son, he didn't want proper education taken away from him as well.
Within minutes, he had showered and got dressed. In his school uniform, he made his way energetically to the kitchen, where he was greeted with a plate of burnt eggs and under-cooked sausages.
"Er... Thanks, ma," Danny acknowledged his meal warily, seating himself on the wobbly dining table and carefully eating his breakfast. He watched his mother hastily placing the washed dishes back into their proper slots. Today was a sunny morning and the toll of the heat was evident by his mother's pool of sweat slithering down her face.
Suddenly, a baby's cry erupted from the living room.
"Ted's thirsty already?" Danny's mother gritted out. She frantically prepared a bottle of milk and fed Ted, cradling the baby in her arms and gently rocking him in an attempt to send him back to sleep.
Danny emptied his plate and swung his schoolbag over his back.
"I'm ready, ma!" he exclaimed.
"So fast?" She glanced at the clock hung lamely and unevenly on the unclean wall. Danny noticed her narrow her eyes, as if trying to clarify what she saw. Impulsively, Danny turned to look at the clock. The hands spelled out '7:30'.
"Seven-thirty? That can't be. I woke up at seven-thirty, didn't I?"
Danny's mother shrugged. A skeptical Danny examined the clock more closely. The hands didn't seem to move. The second hand remained at rest for far longer than a second.
Danny widened his eyes as he realized that the clock was actually broken.
"Ma, it's not seven-thirty now, and I don't think it was seven-thirty when you woke me up."
Danny stared worriedly at his mother as they wondered what time it really was.
"Turn on the TV," she suggested. "Go to the morning news channel, they should have the time right there."
Danny did as suggested. He felt anxiety in the form of trembling hands. School was supposed to start at eight-thirty, and it would require thirty minutes for him to walk from their apartment to school.
He tensely waited for the TV screen to display the morning news channel. If the time showed later than eight-thirty, he would feel like a shattered dream.
The screen brightened. Danny and his mom could see the newscasters. Their eyes quickly focused on the bottom right corner, where the time had always been featured.
8:15 a.m.
"We're gonna be late!" Danny cried out. He and his baby-bearing mother bolted for the door.
They exited their apartment building and ran towards the school.
"Danny, pick up the pace, will ya?"
Danny hurried after his mom, who was power walking and still carrying little Ted. It was Danny's first day at Brooklyn Elementary School, and they were running late.
The five-year-old boy had longed for this moment all his life. Or, more accurately, what he remembered in his lifetime. He had always wanted to be like the other city kids that are older than him; in school, with friends, and maybe with crushes. Ever since he saw a classroom, he had decided that he was going to study in one no matter how much money it cost. Despite his single mom giving him the cold shoulder due to financial issues, with the money he had saved from his weekly allowances he had sufficed himself with the annual fee.
He had worked so hard to earn the opportunity, and he was going to be tardy on his first day.
"I can't be late, ma!"
"Well I'm in front of ya, so what're ya yelling at me for?"
Danny could feel his leg muscles straining and wearing out. He dared not to stop. He could feel that his throat was dry, as if the hot urban air had evaporated every ounce of saliva.
"Steady, Danny boy," his mother warned. She watched him overtake her and run as if his life depended on him being punctual. "All the sprinting will be useless if ya faint."
As long as he reached the school on time, he didn't care. He unintentionally pushed people along the way, forcing his mother to fervently apologize to the maddened passersby.
"Be careful, Danny!"
Danny didn't stop. He never slowed down, not until he reached the school entrance.
The school is just a few meters away, he thought. By now, his mother had lost sight of him. When the school bell had rung, and Danny was just a few seconds away, he knew he was late, but at least he wouldn't be overly late. His heart only sank a bit.
Once he reached the steps leading to the school entrance, he halted, panting heavily and drowning himself in a massive amount of sweat for a first grader.
"I," he breathed out weakly. "I did it."
Exhausted and dizzy, his vision of the school gate blurred and as his mother finally caught up to him he succumbed to unconsciousness. The last thing he heard was a faint scream from her mother and the soft cry of his disturbed baby brother.
When Danny regained consciousness, he moaned. He cringed when his mind reinvigorated followed by a feeling of piercing pain in his head. He also felt slightly dehydrated. Slowly, he opened his eyes, and was momentarily blinded by the bright fluorescent lighting. Judging by the lights and the spotless white ceiling, he figured he had been sent to the hospital.
He knew he had fainted, he was smart enough to know the symptoms, even though he wasn't as smart to avoid such a thing from happening. Unfortunately now, as ignorant as it sounded in his saddened mind, he couldn't go to school.
"Danny boy, you're awake!" he heard his mother exclaim and, sure enough, her face sprung up enthusiastically above his. "Son, are you alright now?"
Danny's response was a weak but reassuring nod. "How long was I out?"
"It's three o'clock now."
Three o'clock? Danny mentally repeated in disbelief. He let out an exasperated sigh.
"Hey, hey, it's okay," his mother assured him, gently rubbing his forehead with a warm towel. "I called the school. They know about what happened. Don't worry about it."
"That's not the most of my frustration." Danny was more saddened about missing a day's worth of school life. Even though he would probably return to school on the second day, he would still probably be perceived as the new student who would struggle befriending someone. He hoped that was not the case.
"What now, ma?"
His mother was about to reply, but was interrupted by the sound of an opening door.
"Oh, doctor!" his mother instantly stood up. "Danny's fine now."
"That's nice," he spoke that part out nonchalantly before continuing in a more serious tone. "But no one's perfectly fine, am I right?"
The still face-up Danny raised an eyebrow at the doctor's remark. He sat up and delivered that look to the doctor. He noticed that his mother had been cradling his soundly sleeping brother the whole time.
"What are ya implying, doc?" Danny's mother asked timidly. She, too, did not find the doctor's remark comforting.
"Well," the doctor began. "I would start with the cliche scientific talk, but since you seem to be under tight time, I will, say, cut straight to the chase."
The doctor handed Danny his black writing board, and Danny slowly scanned the contents written on the three pages.
"Your son, madam -"
"I'm not married," Danny's mother corrected curtly.
"My apologies," the doctor continued. "As I was saying, your son seems to have... let's say difference... about his throat. From the initial check-up, I noticed that his gular structure is rather... special."
"I-I don't understand," Danny's confused mother yelled. The doctor cleared his throat before continuing.
"That was why I had to leave the ward; to examine the structure. I X-rayed his throat and did some inspections. I have to say, the image left me with nothing more than dumbstruck bewilderment. Honestly, it fascinates me how Danny is able to adapt to such a throat structure these past years."
Danny finished reading and looked back up, his facial expression remained incredulous and confused.
"Um... Maybe because I've lived with it all my life?"
"Highly likely." The doctor looked intuitively at his patient. "For a first-grade student, you're pretty sharp."
"Hold on, so I have some problems with my throat?"
The doctor gave an affirmed nod. "Treatment may be vital, in this case. As it's something I have never encountered before, maybe the clinical facility in San Francisco, California will be able to provide you with the proper care and resources."
"Okay," Danny comprehended. He wondered, What could possibly be so troublesome about this throat problem that needs me to go all the way to California?
"When?" his mother asked skeptically.
"Tomorrow."
"Tomorrow?" Danny spat out. If he were to leave Brooklyn, New York tomorrow, that meant he had to skip the second day of school on top of the first. "Can't it be on a weekend?"
To Danny's dismal, the doctor firmly shook his head.
"I'm afraid we can't risk it, Danny," he explained. "For your own safety, it's better earlier than too late. It may be so that this issue's been with you since you were born. That will need to be investigated. Plus, the hospital I've planned to book you in is usually off-peak on Tuesdays, so that will minimize time delays. It's your life possibly on the line, Danny."
"He's right, Danny boy," his mother agreed.
Irritatingly enough, Danny had to agree with the two adults. His own life is far more important than school life, especially at that moment.
Reluctantly, he conceded to the plan.
"Good," the doctor said, taking back his writing board and jotting down a reminder. "In the meantime, the three of you can rest here until tomorrow. I will get the flights ready."
"Will the tickets go to our medical expenses?" Danny's mother inquired prudently.
The doctor wrote down another reminder for the price, and replied, "I'll try to give you a discount."
Danny and his mother thanked the doctor as he left the ward, leaving them to rest. Danny took the time to vent out his self-disappointment.
"If only I hadn't ran so much and fainted," he scolded at himself.
"Can't say I didn't warn ya," his mother said, continually rocking baby Ted.
Danny aggressively covered his eyes with his hands. He wanted to scream in frustration. This was his way of shutting himself up before he could do so.
"I can't believe I won't be going to school for awhile," he muttered. "I was so pumped! I was so ready! And all because of a broken clock? It makes me so mad!"
"Think about it, Danny boy," his mother said, positioning herself as the voice of reason. "This may be a blessing in disguise. Whatever thing there is in your throat, the doctors can save you. If you hadn't outdone yourself, you would be at school unknowing that something wrong is going on down there. This is for your good, my dear."
She makes sense, Danny thought. He couldn't really argue with his mother. They were weighing down the pros and cons between skipping a couple of days in school and risking his whole life due to a flaw in his throat structure.
"You're so right, ma," he agreed. Their chat was cut short when Ted burst out crying.
"Oops! I gotta leave the ward, Danny. I wouldn't wanna disrupt the peace of the other patients. I will just take some time for baby Ted and will return when he's back asleep."
His mother tiptoed out the room, determination to remain silent foiled by Ted's intensifying whining. Danny watched them, amused at his mother's hassled expression and failing desperation to shush baby Ted.
Once the door closed and his mother and baby brother could not be seen through the window, Danny plopped himself to the white linen sheet of the hospital bed. He had the greatest desire to ponder over his classmates' first day of school, but right now he had to focus more on his throat. Once that was all cleared out, he could officially begin his life of childhood normality.
With nothing else to keep him away from boredom, he fell back asleep.
He woke up the next morning, mentally readying himself for the flight to California.
"Here is your breakfast, Danny."
The nurse positioned Danny so that he was sitting up straight, after which she placed a hospital food tray upon his lazed lap.
"Enjoy," the nurse's sweet voice chirruped, giving the patient a warm smile before moving on to the next patient.
Fish, rice, carrots and brocolli, Danny's mind pointed out as he examined the contents of the tray. For once, he was eating breakfast that had not been badly prepared by his mother.
Today, he was to leave Brooklyn and fly to San Francisco for a more extensive check-up.
More like an experiment, he corrected his thoughts. Although he would rather none of the running and fainting had happened and he had gone to school, fortune was not with him, much like in the past, and he had to settle for the next best thing.
He was about to chow down on his meal when he heard faint shouting from outside the ward. He could tell his fellow patients were irritated by the noise, and he felt disrespected too. That is, until the voice became more distinctive and he realized it was the angrily desperate voice of his mother.
"How am I supposed to know how much it is, I've never flown out of the city?!" Danny's mother's voice rang. "No, doc, I am absolutely not paying this hefty price, the current medical expenses are burden enough! The discounts don't matter, I still can't afford them tickets! What's the use of treating Danny if we won't have money to fly back home?! You're making no sense to me, doc!"
Danny's mother and the doctor opened the door, and quickly fell silent, bringing relief to the patients' ears.
"Good morning, Danny boy," his mother greeted, caressing his hair as he ate.
"I heard you shout, ma."
The two adults stood awkwardly at the revelation.
"You were pretty loud, ma," Danny added, making his mother flush. "I can tell it's about the flight."
"About that, hun," his mother explained. "Our finances won't be able to cover up the tickets.
For a moment, Danny was elated to hear the bad news. If they couldn't go through with the trip, maybe he would be released from the hospital and he could finally go to school.
The doctor then snapped his fingers, and he wore a proud and confident smile.
"I got it!" he exclaimed. "You can send only Danny to San Francisco, and we'll have a caretaker there to take care of Danny during his stay there! I'm sure my contacts will be able to bring in a volunteer!"
Danny inwardly scowled. I hate doctors for being so smart, he complained in his head.
"Doc!" Danny's mother was about to protest, and for another brief moment Danny was feeling hopeful. "Well, that actually sounds like a decent idea. It halves the total expenses. You two talk about it while I go check up on baby Ted in the baby care center."
Danny let out an inaudible groan.
Wait a minute, he thought, I'm staying in San Fran?
"How long am I staying there, Doctor?"
The doctor scribbled a note on his writing board before answering.
"Unknown. But it will take awhile."
"WHAT?!"
The other patients in the ward glared grumpily at Danny. He almost tossed his food tray aside.
"Awhile?" he repeated. "B-but I'm gonna miss school."
"I'm sorry, Danny, but this is for your own good, and for humankind too. This throat structure of yours needs to be thoroughly examined for our records. It's vital to the R&D of medical technology!"
For a young boy, Danny understood the doctor for the most part, but that didn't mean he agreed with him.
But, as he had come to admit that morning, it truly was important that he was to get that problem resolved.
"Okay."
"Wonderful," the doctor said, continuing to jot down things on his notepad. "Your flight will leave this afternoon. Let's get you to the airport."
After breakfast, Danny got dressed and packed, ready to leave the hospital. He gave his goodbyes to his mother and baby brother before hopping into a van, with his adult accompaniment, to the airport.
The flight took several hours, but Danny was doing fine, other than sulking over missing out on school. Throughout the journey, he spent the majority of the time imagining what life would have been like if he had reached school on time.
"Follow me, Danny."
Danny kept up with his accompaniment as they made their way to the arrivals hall to look for Danny's caretaker.
"Look for someone in a blue hood," the accompaniment's authoritative voice instructed Danny. Danny peeled his eyes, attentively scanning the row of people at the other side of the gates.
"There!"
Danny saw a blue-hooded woman. She was skinny with her cheekbones' features visible, and her lips were lipstick red. Her hood was more of a cloak that reached until her shoulders, where below was a dress much like the ones Danny would imagined Swiss mountain women would wear.
The woman subtly waved at the two.
"You must be Danny," she said as Danny and his accompaniment exited the gate. Her voice was distinctly strong, but with debilitation as well.
"My work here is done," the accompaniment said callously, leaving Danny and the woman behind.
The woman knelt down to get a better look at Danny. She seemed interested in his face.
"Lady?" Danny spoke, thinking it would make her stop staring weirdly at him.
The woman tittered as she stood up straight and offered her hand to hold.
"Call me Arella."
There seemed to be something about Arella that Danny found mesmerizing. Her eyes were innocent dark blue and her face looked tired but yet had some sort of light to it, as if she had been fighting for a desire most of her life.
Arella tugged Danny, waking him up from his state of awe. Gently, she pulled him to the airport exit and to the parking lot.
Arella's car matched Danny's first impression of her; humble and simple but with a worn-out appearance.
"Make yourself comfortable," Arella told Danny as he hopped into the light green car, "and I will take you to the hospital and the doctors will take it from there."
With the ignition of the engine, the car revived and was up and running. Arella took the time at the highway to start a conversation.
"They say you have an issue with your throat?"
"The doctors have an issue with my throat," Danny replied in a suppressing, upset tone. "I just wanted to go to school. Though I am thankful that my doctor spotted this, staying in another city for an undetermined number of days is more than I expected."
Arella let out a soft giggle at Danny's curtness.
"For a five-year-old child, you have a grown-up's oratory."
"Yeah, I get that a lot," Danny muttered, his words coming straight from the heart. It was true. Everyone would know that Danny was a different kind of kid whenever he would open his mouth. No one knew how. He didn't know why. It was just that he had the uncanny ability to apply complex vocabularies so quickly and accurately.
"So," Arella continued. "What do you think is wrong with your throat?"
Danny harrumphed.
"He didn't mention anything specific," he gruffly complained. "I checked his notes, though, and there does seem to be a difference in the way my throat looks compared to a normal human's. Mine looks wider and has, like, spiky edges."
Arella raised an eyebrow. Danny talking casually during the whole explanation seemed to have rubbed her the wrong way.
"That doesn't sound humanly," she pointed out. She made a left at a junction and for the next ten minutes silence dominated between them.
Danny was curious as to what the doctors at the San Francisco hospital would do to him. He dreaded at the thought of surgeries.
He looked out the window, at the calm scenery. Currently at the highway, there were no cars near them. He could see the Golden Gate Bridge situated in the middle of the bay. On the roadside at their side of the bay, he noticed that they were approaching an overhead sign. The sign read 'You are now leaving San Francisco - Come again soon!'.
What? Danny wondered. Isn't the hospital in San Fran? Where on Earth is she driving to?
"Er…" he softly poked the back of Arella. "Why are we leaving the city? Nothing was said about going to a second city."
"You'll know why, Danny," Arella responded reassuringly.
"I'll know why?" Danny repeated, taken aback. "Lady, what is going on? Are we going to the hospital or not?"
He didn't want to think about anything extremely bad, but if he had known better, he let a stranger - one that he met at the airport of a city that he had never been to - bring him into her car, and they were driving out of the destination city, where he was clueless on where he was being taken to.
His heartbeat quickened. It could be the case that he was being kidnapped in the most conniving and subtlest way possible.
"Tell me the truth!" Danny demanded, looking straight into Arella's eyes through the rearview mirror.
Arella sensed the urgency in Danny's demand. She didn't want Danny to feel insecure even though she wasn't driving him to any hospital.
"I'm taking you to Jump City," she replied. "Danny, I don't know if you believe me, but I know why your throat's special, and if you will go to Jump City with me, I swear to Azar I can show you why rather than tell you why."
Danny had no idea what Arella was saying. Arella peeked at his eyes through the mirror, and knew he was still in disbelief.
"What kind of lies are you making?" he demanded accusingly. "Jump City? Really? Do you think I would believe that there is a place in California called Jump City?"
The face Arella showed Danny was that of plea, as in plea for Danny to take her word for it, but he wasn't having any of it.
"Tell me what you are really trying to pull, woman!" Danny demanded, this time more forcibly. Arella was surprised by the boy's sense of protection, even for one not so humanly.
"That is the truth, Danny!" Arella insisted. "I swear to Azar!"
"Who on Earth is Azar?!"
"Azar isn't from here. He is our beloved leader from another…"
Arella abruptly paused, stopping herself from revealing anymore information that might be detrimental to Danny's comprehension.
"HA! You're lying!" Danny accused. "You are not taking me to a real hospital, you're not actually taking me to a new city called Jump, and there is no such person named Azar! You're a liar and you're kidnapping me!"
What occurred next was a devastation. Out of the compulsiveness channelled to Danny as a result of the overwhelming sense of defending himself, Danny violently pulled Arella's shoulder-length hood, making her gasp.
The sudden choking made Arella lose focus of her driving. She turned the steering wheel to the right more than she should have. Her car destroyed a part of the long rail that was there to prevent anyone from falling into the river. The car was momentarily sent flying before it plummeted down to the water, taking Arella and Danny down with it.
You're gonna drown and die, Danny's mind managed to convince him. And as the car crashed into the brimming blue bay water that Danny had thought was pleasing, for the second day in a row, he had been sent to an unconscious state.
After awhile, Arella and Danny's alive but immobile bodies found their way out of the wrecked car and afloat the river surface. Their bodies lay there, tricking their unconscious selves that it was a cloudy bed in heaven, spread out enough to had caught some people's attention by nightfall.
"Leave 'em unfortunate souls!" a deep and gruff voice could be heard bellowing coldheartedly. "We have business to attend to. If the quantity of our catch tonight remains a deficit, our business will be in jeopardy."
"I won't let them sink to death, Captain! It's the right thing to do and it shouldn't even be a question!" someone else retorted. "Let's real them in!"
A couple of sailors cast a large net, which landed accurately above Arella and Danny, then they pulled the net, bringing them to the fish-smelling planked floor of the ship.
"We will take them to Arthur before resuming with our fishing!" the same silvery voice commanded. "Captain, please take us back to dry ground at Jump City."