Hey, I'm back! I know that I should be working on my other story, but I had to write construct a scene for the book Night of the Howling Dogs for an English assignment. I decided to publish this story on my favorite website for the fun of it.

Disclaimer: Anything concerning the copyright of Night of the Howling Dogs goes to Graham Salisbury©.

Onward!

Five Years

The sounds of glass breaking and screams shatter the air. I can see smoke billow from Lab Table 4, which is unfortunately close by. I hear the lab instructor shout orders to evacuate. I dismount my chair, only be hit with something sharp on the arm. It's a piece of pointed glass from the exploding beaker. I feel another hit me in the chest and I can still remember the feeling of falling down a dark hole. Like a camping trip from several years ago…

I woke up to the buzzing noise of machines. The room I was in was completely covered in white, even the doctor in front of- Wait. Hold up. A doctor is in the room?

I sat up and immediately, a searing pain entered my chest. I groaned, causing the doctor looked up from the clipboard he was scribbling in. "Ah, so you're awake now," he said in a scratchy voice that made me wince. The voice was even more horrible than Dana's singing voice. I leaned back into the pure white bed and tried to endure the "Well, Dylan, you've been stuck in a coma for three weeks, you have a punctured artery from the lab explosion, and there will be some make-ups for you to do when you get back to the H.U.G. In the meantime, I'm afraid that you'll have to stay in the Intensive Care for a couple more days. When you return to the university, you'll have to take some painkillers."

H.U.G stands for Hawaiian University of Geology. I'm earning my bachelor's degree this year. I've been studying tectonic plates ever since that incident from nearly five years ago. I wanted to find out why the earthquake magnitude was that high and why it struck on that specific date, so for the rest of my life until now was spent digging around for information and learning about earthquakes. The lab explosion had happened during a college-mandated Chemistry class. The person that had triggered the explosion was probably joking around, thinking that the chemical-induced liquids we were experimenting were actually colored water.

I spaced out into the past while the doctor yammered on about something I wasn't even paying attention to. Over the years, my appearance had changed. My hair had grown less curly, for one thing. When I was in ninth grade, Dana pointed out that my eyes had changed to a lighter hue of brown. In order to make me look less geeky, she had purchased a pack of disposable contact lenses. I had also hit a huge growth spurt, so I was now 6' 4". I had also tanned my skin a bit from all those mandatory hikes in the summer terms.

I still did Boy Scouts and now I'm an official Eagle Scout, along with Mike and Casey. Tad and Billy dropped out a couple years after the incident so then they could play some sports. Zach stuck around before he moved to Washington last year. Mr. Bellows had survived the trip to the hospital, but now he needs Casey's older brother to help him around in his wheelchair. Louie never came back to Boy Scouts. Heck, he seemed to disappear right after dad had dropped him off at his house. He probably went somewhere. He said that nobody was going to force him to do something he didn't want to do, so I guess that when he left Boy Scouts, the leash had released him.

I snapped back into the present when the doctor said, "You were lucky that Mr. Domingo happened to be taking a jog when the explosion happened. He had been the only one who was brave to go back into the building and drag you and the others out there. He didn't stick around to see whether or not you made it to the hospital alive, though he did leave you a number to call if you were still kicking."

I stared at the doctor for a moment and finally registered the gold colored nametag hanging from his left breast pocket: Dr. Skew. No joke there. Although it made my throat hurt from lack of water, I asked in a shaky voice, "Was his first name Louie?"

Dr. Skew was all too happy to reply, "As a matter of fact, it is! He's quite the queer character."

I fell back into the bed and stared at the ceiling while the newly-heard facts and questions that have been whirling around in my head for many years made my brain hurt like crazy. The very same Louie that disappeared into thin air had just decided to reappear into my life and save me and the other people in the lab. Who knows why? He probably didn't even recognize me. But if he didn't, then he wouldn't have left behind his number. Speaking of numbers, why did he leave me his number? What's going on? Is there a reunion happening? Does he still live with his parents, just in a different location? What happened after dad had dropped him off? Is Luke still in jail?

I shook my head free of the thoughts and asked the doctor, "Do you have a phone somewhere and Louie's number?"

…..

Ten days later…

I opened my dorm room with a backpack full of makeup work and found a certain black haired, tanned, muscular, copper-eyed twenty-year-old guy sitting on my chair and grinned. "Hiya there, Louie!" I said. "How's Tad and Billy?"

After Tad and Billy had started doing sports, the three of us had lost contact due to the continuously piling stacks of high school homework. Louie, however, had talked to Tad and Billy after seeing one of their games. Yesterday, he showed me a picture of them waving with a baseball stadium in the background. Apparently, they've been doing various sports. Nothing's really changed about their looks, apart from the fact that they've gotten more muscular and that their faces have responsibility etched on them.

Louie smiled a coy smile. "They doin' great. They thinkin' about having summer reunion. How life treating Zach?"

Zach and I have been emailing and video-chatting after his move to Olympia. He doesn't carry his blue blanket around anymore. Yesterday after Louie had left, he had proudly declared to be president of the student council and wondrous boyfriend of the prom queen in his school. He looks very happy. He joined Boy Scouts again and became Senior Patrol Leader for his patrol.

"Oh, life's been treating him wonderfully. He's now president of the student council, SPL for Boy Scouts, and the boyfriend of the sweetest, most beautiful, kindest girl in his school. Heck, he's living a dream right now. Maybe we could hold the reunion at Casey's house. All we need to do now is to tell the boys, figure out refreshments, and get a plane ticket for Zach and his girlfriend."

Louie nodded, liking the idea. "Not bad idea, for a former four-eyed dork. Speaking of which, how Mike and Casey?"

Mike, not wanting to be teased by kids at the high school, worked off his baby fat and joined the swim team, which had a different schedule then the football team and was able squeeze in Boy Scouts. He got accepted to the University of Hilo and is earning a degree in safety. Casey had used his camping experience and published a book about it after high school under the name Graham Salisbury. He had also written books about his father's experience of the World War II. He never went to college because his works had already created his current day job: a writer. When I last talked to him on the phone, he was at a writers-only party.

"Oh, the usual. Mike's enjoying the waters with his friends and Casey's writings are going sky-high on the bestselling books list. Who knew he had it in him?"

Louie's phone rang. He glanced at it and asked, "Do you mind if I stand outside for a moment?"

I nodded. He brushed past me with a black cell phone pressed against his ear. I sat down at the desk and dove right into the make-ups. So far, life is good.

So, whaddaya think? I completely apologize if I had, in any way, made Louie totally OOC. Feel free to leave a review. Flames will be used for burning up his huge pile of Algebra staring back at me.

~Annabelle4.0