The Gate: Chapter 1

By morpher

A/N: I am reposting it because I am going to write a sequel, and I don't want people to go through hell looking for it. Yes, I changed my name to morpher.  It is set back in the old days when they had houses. (Pre-49ish.)  Also, any formatting errors are the fault of the computers used.  I really did try my best….

Third person

Tobias flew through the already open window. Rachel and him were going to fly. They did this all the time. Mostly on sunny days, where there is a lot of thermals. Sometimes they flew in cold weather just to be flying. This was one of those days.

Nothing was planned. You know just to get out of the house (or tree, and away from too many questions from an annoying alien.) It was really cloudy today, which meant power flying. So what? They needed the fresh air. They took off, heading south. There were a few things out there, a convenience store, a few churches, but that was about it.

Rachel was sort of leading the way. She had a rough day yesterday, to many people. She was so popular. Every girl envied her and every boy wanted to date her (or her body). Well, maybe she envied someone to. Angela. She was not popular. In fact, everybody hated her. She was big on ragged clothes, big mouths, and threats. Everybody just left her alone. She wished they would leave her alone. She wanted to tell somebody this. Then her pride would get in the way. She couldn't even tell Tobias this!

However, all he knew was that some day a big bird would swoop down and have him for lunch, or a snack. He did not want to say anything. She would give him the whole be a human routine. Today, they were flying for the sake of flying. They were warned against morphing for pleasure, but they didn't care if they were caught. It just might end all their problems.

They turned a little east, and Tobias saw his uncle's house. There was an ambulance there. He turned around. He could remember many times he had wished his uncle was dead, but his wishes never came true. He would pass out in unexpected places. He would get him in trouble. Especially, the time he took some bread and pop from the store because he did not have any money. He blamed Tobias on it. He was four at the time, that's when he started to see his uncle for who he really was. Tobias never forgave his uncle for that. He spent three days in the "boy's home" for that.

He circled around and landed on a tree in the yard.

Tobias, what are you doing? She asked

My uncle lives here.

He probably had too much to drink.

Yeah.

Come on. Let's go.

He was getting ready to take off when they rolled out a body bag. His wish had come true.

"Does this guy have any family? They're going to want to know," a policeman said

"A rather scattered family. He has a sister on the other coast, another sister that was in an accident about fifteen years ago and a nephew that disappeared a year ago. Strange thing though his nephew was in his custody."

"Really." The paramedic sounded more interested. "You think he did something with the kid?"

"It is an intriguing thought."

"Suicide note's a mystery to. It was to his nephew. 'I'm sorry; I didn't know what you were.' Man, he must have been out of it at the time, too. His report said he was an alcoholic"

"And he recovered after the kid disappeared. Almost like the snap of a finger."

"This will make an interesting report."

Wow. Not in a million years would I ha-

Tobias?

Yeah?

I do not want to hear this.

Okay.

Tobias was shocked. His uncle had killed himself. He must have found something out about him. It was my fault, he thought. He never felt so guilty. This whole war had killed too many people. They decided to go back home. It was too cloudy to get any fun out of flying. It was always that way when you find out someone's problems are bigger than yours. He gazed upward and saw a strange lightning bolt. His first thought was that it was raining. However, the clouds were slacking off, and the sun was shining. Then he thought it could not have been a lightning bolt. It was staying there. It had a sort of inviting light to it. It was pale yellow with a slight touch of pink. He flapped his wings to gain altitude, but the higher he went the higher it would go. Maybe it was a mirage, or in space. It quickly turned into a race. He was flying with ease and was chasing it.

Rachel did not see it this way. It was something dangerous. She wanted to shake off the feeling of playfulness.

Tobias, what are you doing? She yelled at him.

Don't you see it? He whispered back.

Tobias, you're going to get hurt. Come back. She screamed. Rachel flew as fast as she could to get to him. She did not know what had gotten into her boyfriend. He was going to get killed. She desperately flew up to him. When she reached that altitude something had happened. She felt like she was flying, but she wasn't. It was like she was being carried. She did not know what she was so concerned about two seconds ago. The lightning bolt was so beautiful. She saw something familiar in there, a whole new life.

Don't you see it? He said with wonder in his voice

Yes. Let's check it out. She said with a two-year-cold's imagination

Come on! He said. They felt almost like dolphins, really giddy, and happy. It was a race to get to that lightning bolt first.

I beat you! He yelled.

Oh, that wasn't fair! She groaned. You had a head start. It wasn't a lightning bolt anymore. It was a huge toy to them. There was a little heat coming from it, a welcoming heat, like a furnace in the wintertime.

I wonder what's inside it? Tobias said. Then Rachel zoomed right into it.

Oh! I'm going to get you! He yelled and headed straight for the "lightning bolt"

Tobias

"Toby! You're going to be late for school! Hurry up!" Loren yelled. That was my mother.

"Stop calling me that!" I yelled. I wanted everybody to call me Tobias. I never liked Toby. It was always Tobias, but nobody listened. I stumbled out of bed and looked for my uniform. I hoped Lana had washed it. I sighed with relief to find my uniform laid out for me. My parents were big on the philosophy that the money would not always be there. So they had chores and stuff for me to do around the house, including washing my own clothes. I looked at my uniform. Something was wrong with it. I didn't know what I was looking at. I saw a tie, a shirt, a jacket and pants. They were all cleaned and pressed with perfect creases. I took a second look, about to yell for Lana, and decided that it was perfect. I sighed and went to the bathroom to take a shower and change.

I walked back to look at the room I had woken up in. It. Was. Huge! In one corner was a queen size bed. I had a closet for a wall. I had a computer and the latest equipment dad had mixed up for me at work. I looked at all this, touched it, and smelled it. What was this? It was a strange feeling. I had lived this life for fifteen years, yet I had never lived a day of it.

I put on my clothes, with the exception of the tie; I didn't know how to tie it: and went downstairs feeling strangely happy. I went about my normal routine. It was a nightmare I had. I breathed a little easier.

"How did you sleep, Toby."
"My name is Tobias, Mom." I looked around at the dining room. I still had that feeling that I had never lived here before.

She took a look at me and said, "Are you still having trouble with that tie?"

She came over and tied it for me. It seemed like this never happened but my mother had tied my ties for ten years now. (I still couldn't figure them out.) The dining room was not really big. It had a single, round table. Lana came in and served the food. It was bacon and eggs. How extravagant.  As I ate I forgot all about that nightmare. It was good to, because it felt like I had dreamed about a year's worth of events. One good thing about it though, there was a girl, a very beautiful girl.

Mr. Gates was coming over. I didn't like that guy. He would try and have fun with me like I'm some two-year old. But I knew he was only trying to get some sort of secret out of me. He would ask about some of the stuff on my computer and I would say a stapler. Dad did the same thing. Bill was a very peculiar guy. He wanted power. He wanted to take the company away from Dad.

The name David came to mind when I thought of Bill. Wait a minute, who was David? Oh yeah, the nightmare. The memories of a brutal battle with a rat that wanted way too much power. Where was I coming up with this? A rat? Once again, I shook the feeling off that I was a stranger in this land. I felt someone screaming at the back of my head, "Where am I!"

I quickly ate my breakfast, gathered my books, and headed for the car. The whole family piled in the back. Dad was going to work, and Mom was going to the doctor for a checkup on the new kid. We hoped to find out what it was today. Beside her growing stomach, Mom looked like Gwyneth Paltrow.

I thought it was cool that she was going to have another kid, because then she would have some one to hang around with when Dad and I are out. It would be about ten years before the kid would be involved in anything, so Mom would have a wonderful time. Mom was perfect; she could do everything like cook, clean, make things. I still have the blanket she made me when I was a kid.

Today was Wednesday. I went to school. It was a private school called "The Oldman Institute", or as some of the students call it, "The Dead Old Man's Institute." Which was almost true, all of the teachers were eighty-plus-years-old. It wasn't a rare thing for a teacher to have an oxygen machine. The car stopped in front of the school, and I stepped out. Looking through the door I had an urge to hug both my parents and say, "Have a nice day." Then I kissed my mom on the cheek.

"Well, I hope you do too and don't forget that you're leaving early tonight, okay." Mom reminded me

I smiled at my Dad. My dad was a great guy. He reminded me of Mulder on the X-files. He was smart, and funny. Then there were times when he would want to be left alone. He had a telescope, and he would spend hours up there. I learned, the hard way, that he did not want to be disturbed up there. Like Mulder, Dad had his secrets. You didn't ask him about high school. Mom was most secretive on that too. I always thought that maybe in high school Dad had gotten into trouble and it involved Mom somehow.

I walked up the steps into a multitude of people. These people thought they were my friends. They were the trophy spawn of famous politicians and dignitaries. They were made to make their parents look good. They had to be perfect. These kids had to walk right or they would be punished. Grades had to be above 97% or else their parents would take away half of their 1,000 dollar allowance.

It was funny when one kid literally had a heart attack because he had a 90% percent in trigonometry.

I looked up at the front of the lobby and saw this familiar sign:

The Oldman Institute

Serving the families of the gifted and talented for over 100 years.

After a few minutes of filing, and searching through the crowd, I found my best friend, Brian.
Brian is a tall kid with red hair. He is three years older than me, and our dads both own big companies. His dad owns Escape Dish Cleaner. It's the biggest of its kind. We have a lot in common. We don't care what grade we get as long as we pass. It seemed to work.

"Hey, Tobias." He said carefully

"Hallelujah! Somebody knows my name!" We laughed and walked off towards our Biology class

"You ready for 'The Biology of the Hang man.'" We laughed again and headed off towards our Biology class. We walked up three flights of stairs, and got there as soon as the bell rang. We rushed to the back of the class, and sat in the old, rickety desks. I always thought that I could rip one off and sell it. It would be an easy thousand.

"POP QUIZ!!!" Mrs. Langman yelled in her old, guttural voice. The class groaned. I didn't say a word. She was a pretty strict teacher. She was the only teacher in this school that took off for spelling. I sailed through her classes though. I always had this knack for Science. By the time I was three dad had taught me tons of complex equations in all subjects. In fact, I went through five years of Science, and Math classes in six months. I was still in freshman English, and History though, because that wasn't Dad's thing.

"The topic is Metamorphosis, Multiple choice." Then I nearly jerked out of my seat. That voice in my head was saying, "Rachel! Where was she?"

"Hey, what's wrong man? You suddenly regress back two years."

"Nothing. It was nothing." I struggled to remember what happened before I woke up this morning, but it was like I did not want to remember. I caught glimpses of the sky, a beautiful girl. Something about her, God she was beautiful! Eat your heart out Cindy Crawford! She was changing into something, feathers. Then the memory went away. This was my life I told myself. I went to school, had parents, friends, a normal life. But I felt that it was a fake life, a carbon copy life, that there was a whole other one out there. I saw a dangerous life, with fear, and battles to be fought, but not with hands but wings.

"Tobias! Are you paying attention?!" Ugh! That voice I thought. Where was it coming from?

"Yes, Mrs. Langman."

She passed out the quizzes. It was a simple ten-question quiz. I sighed. This was so boring. I could have gone to Harvard with my science skills but Dad wouldn't let me. He said it would give the wrong idea to ordinary people. Sometimes Dad's totally crazy. He talks about a war a lot. I think maybe he was in the army or something. Like I said he never talks about his life much. He says it was an ordinary life and nothing unusual happened. Mom says the same thing. I was the first one to hand in my quiz.

"What a surprise, Tobias." Mrs. Langman muttered. I don't think she likes the idea that I'm better at this than she is. I sat back down and waited the rest of the period out. I was feverishly going over my notes for the big American History Test. I never could get that right, but somehow I always seemed to pass. I think the teacher favored me.

Rachel

I woke up dazed. Immediately, I ran for the bathroom. I had the nastiest nausea. I felt like I had been hit with two-dozen dracon beams. I puked my guts out. Something I ate probably. Nothing I eat is fresh anymore. I went back to my room. I stood in a room where the wallpaper was falling off, and cobwebs ruled. There was a buzzing in my ears. That nasty alarm I thought. It was 6:30.

I stepped into a pile of clothes that needed to be washed. Oh. No. I forgot to do the laundry again. I would have to go to school in another smelly shirt. I frantically searched the few drawers and the closet. Nothing. I groaned, another day at school when the kids would ridicule me. I went to the shower and thought why take a shower? My clothes would cover that up. I don't think anybody would care whether I was clean or dirty. I slipped on my gym shirt, for some reason it never smelled as bad as my other shirts. Then I put on the jeans I had on yesterday. I decided it didn't matter. Nobody would ask me out, nobody would be my friend, so why should I keep up appearances.

I walked down the hallway to see if there was something in the fridge. It seemed like there never was, and there wasn't. I groaned again. I would ask for food and mom would say that there wasn't any money. Right next to it was the washing machine. It was never used. Nobody could ever remember to do the wash.

Something caught my eye. I looked in between the two appliances and found a pack of cigarettes. Then I awoke from the nightmare. What is going on? I didn't smoke but yet I did. I remembered that day; my 18-year- old "boyfriend" got me hooked. Then I remembered what I did with him last night. That's why I forgot to do the wash. I cried. I wasn't a virgin anymore. I had tried to keep him off of me for some time but last night he slipped something in my soda. I awoke in the middle of it. I was powerless to stop him.

Where was Tobias? If I were in this shape, what would he be like? I looked at the house. It was a trailer. I had never lived here but I had for nearly fourteen years. I had always been popular but now I was the biggest joke of the school. The only thing I was good at was Math and Science. I was in a gifted class, but that didn't mean I scored any popularity points.

I couldn't go to school, not like this. Not in this state. I would have to sneak out. Just then I heard a car pull up. It was Jason, my "boyfriend". Jason reminded me of David. He had to be better than everyone else. Who was David?, I thought.  I got more upset. Jason was messing up my mind. I felt paranoid for some reason. I felt that I should be fighting a war. I could see a bear chewing up monstrous creatures with blades. That bear was me somehow. The name Hork came to mind. That was crazy. I didn't know anything like that. Jason had messed me up. I knew there were Orcs in the Lord of the Rings; maybe that's where I got it.

Jason was going to take me to school this morning. Yeah, sure, the last time he took me we were an hour late. I didn't know what to do. Jason was blocking the door. I didn't want him to touch me.

I went to the couch and sulked. My skill was gone. I was trembling, scared. I didn't belong here. My fearlessness was gone. Oh right. I was never fearless. I was always cowering from people. I wanted to punch him for what he did to me but I couldn't. I couldn't find the strength to do it.

I looked around for a something, a weapon of some sort. On the coffee table was a newspaper. On the front was a picture of a family. It was the owner of Microsoft was with his family, Alan Fangor, Loren, and Tobias. I jumped when I saw him.

The headline read.

"Local man, Alan Fangor to run for president."

She read through the article. It said that they lived in Seattle. She lived in a small city in New York. How would she get to him? He couldn't possibly know where she was. Then Jason came bounding in. Who was Tobias? I couldn't remember what I was so worried about. I looked at the newspaper and thought he has to be a major geek.

"You coming?" He asked nonchalantly.

"No, I don't feel so well."

"Oh come on, you don't have play sick in front of me. If you want to come over to my – "

He scooted closer to me and I backed away. Right then I threw up on him.

"Ugh! My new jacket! You b___ch!" He slapped me. He had never done that before. I started to cry. "Don't you ever do that again!" He spat at me.

"I'm sorry." I heard a slam in the back. Uh oh, mom was home. She worked the night shift in a nursing home. It must be 7:00 already. She walked in and screamed.

"Who are you?!" I don't care who you are! Get out! Get out! Get out!" He jumped up and ran off. Soon, I heard his screeching tires taking off. I was uncontrollable, frantic. Why was this happening to me? Then I thought of the boy in the newspaper. He wasn't a geek. What was I thinking? He was the most important thing in my life. I had to get to Seattle.

"Mom, I don't feel so good. Can I stay home?" I got up and went to the bathroom again.

Mom let me stay home. At about 2:00 I went to the clinic while my mother went to a meeting at work. She didn't know I had gone. I knew what my symptoms were leading up too. I had seen it before, morning sickness, and mood swings. I was crying all day long for no reason. I still had the feeling to go to Seattle. The thought scared me. I could be pregnant. I went up to the desk and filled out a few forms. Luckily, they do the youngest patients first and their weren't many kids there.

About an hour later they called my name. They showed me to a room and told me to wait. The doctor came shortly, the first time in fifteen years. What he basically did was to give me a pregnancy test and told me to follow the instructions. I went to the bathroom and opened the box. I was nervous.

I followed the directions on the box. The results were conclusive. I was pregnant with a kid whose father I hated. The doctor was going through the few options I had. Abortion, Adoption, or spend the next eighteen years with a kid I had no way of providing for. I just ran out of the doctor's office. I went home and gathered some clothes and put them in the wash. I was going to Seattle. I gathered up a few other things as well. I got my math and science book and put them in my backpack. My mom was asleep so I went to her purse and stole a few bucks, about forty dollars. I knew she had money. She was just too lazy to spend it on her starving daughter.

I waited for the clothes to wash and dry and I stuffed as many as I could into my backpack. Then I took off. I got in the car with my restricted license that only allows me to go to school and work and took off. I stopped at the train station. I hoped I could get a cheap train ticket. The cheapest one was thirty dollars and left in thirteen hours. I slept in the station. I couldn't go back home, I didn't have any friends except for Cassie. There I go again, Cassie wasn't my friend. She talked to me a lot though. She was always asking if I was okay. She was a nice person.

I drifted off to sleep. I had a dream where I was flying. I was an eagle soaring high above the trees and I saw the lightning bolt that played with my mind. I had another dream where I was in a room. It was my room but in a bigger house. My mom was a successful lawyer. I was waiting for someone. Pretty soon he came and knocked on my window. No, he didn't knock. He didn't have hands to do it with. He had wings. I awoke at about 2:30. I went to the bathroom and started vomiting again. Ugh.

I walked out of the bathroom feeling very sick. I wanted to kill myself for letting him do that to me. I sat there and waited for my train to arrive. It was coming at 4:00, which is good.  My mother wouldn't notice me missing until I was well out of here.  I boarded the train. I found my seat and breathed for the first time in ages. I was doing something right. I was doing something that felt right. I smiled; I would finally meet Tobias. I had a picture of him in my head. I pictured he would greet me like I was a long lost friend, that he would kiss me and say that he would love me forever and ever whether I was pregnant or not. It was stupid. I didn't know him at all. It just felt like we should be together. I remembered the dream. We were going to fly like we always did back before. I fell back asleep. The dream came back again. . .