A World Apart
Chapter One
In Circles
Drake woke suddenly.
He turned his head, slowly, groggily, searching for whatever had jarred him from sleep. The alarm clock's red glow informed him that it was three-thirty-six in the morning. He groaned, exhausted. But what woke him up?
A feeling of unease crept into the pit of his stomach. He rolled onto his side, trying to ignore the rush of irrational fear that suddenly filled his mind. His eyes adjusted to the extra darkness of the rest of the room. He could make out the outline of Josh, sleeping soundly in his bed not ten feet away. He hesitated a moment, knowing his stepbrother would be mad. He shrugged it off easily, though, and picked up the portable mouse that went to Josh's laptop, laying upside down on the platform. He tossed it expertly; it arched slowly through the air and landed with the barest of thumps on Josh's stomach.
The effect was immediate. Josh sat up in bed with a jolt, throwing the blankets off, tripping and proceeding to fall directly on his face.
"Immupimmup wasss goooin on?" Was the string of babble that erupted from him. Drake laughed. Josh sat up on the floor and looked around, confused. "It's dark."
"No kidding, Einstein," Drake replied. The owlish look cast at him only made him laugh more.
"What time is it?"
"Ummm," Drake leaned back to check his clock again. "Three-fortyish."
Josh's eyes narrowed into a glare. "And what, pray tell, impressed upon you the need to wake me up at three-forty in the morning when we have an English test tomorrow?"
Drake shook his head. Only Josh would remember an English test after being woken up at three in the morning. "Don't talk like that, dude. You sound like an ass." Josh sputtered, insulted, but was interrupted before any coherent words were formed. "I woke up."
"So you had to wake me up?"
"Yeah."
Josh sighed and relocated to the bed from the floor. "Why'd you wake up?"
"I dunno."
"Go back to sleep then."
"I can't," Drake exclaimed quietly, pulling his knees to his chest. "I have a bad feeling." Josh's glare intensified.
"You woke me up because you have a feeling?"
"A bad one, man." He tossed in a pout with the remark, certain that it would work. Like a charm; Josh's face softened to the consistency of vanilla pudding.
"What kind of feeling? Like, about Mom or Dad? Or Megan?"
Drake just shook his head. He couldn't explain it.
Josh thought for a moment. "Well… you wanna watch Blues Brothers?"
They shared a grin and hurried to the couch.
xxx
"But that's two hours away!" Josh complained, thrusting his backpack onto the counter with unnecessary force. The salt shaker toppled to the floor.
"I'm sorry, Josh," Walter looked apologetic, but his voice was stern. "Drake is already out, your mother has to work, and I have an important meeting with the station supervisor. Your great-grandfather needs this medication. You're the only one I can ask."
Josh didn't mention that Walter shouldn't use the term 'ask' so loosely. "I have homework to do!"
"If you leave now, you can get to Papa Nichols' and back before dinner. You'll have plenty of time to do your homework." Walter glanced at his watch and winced. "I have to go, but I expect you to get that medication to Papa Nichols. Do you understand me?"
"Yes, dad," Josh mumbled unhappily. He watched his father exit the house, trying to keep the hostile expression off his face. Resigned to his fate, he grabbed the white medication bag, a banana, a bottle of water and his keys and headed out the door.
The drive was long and largely uneventful. Josh was still tired from watching The Blues Brothers with Drake until said boy fell asleep, and his eyes grew heavier with each passing mile. The sun was creeping behind the hills and trees, which didn't help the situation. He thought back to his driver's manual. He vaguely remembered something about pulling over if you were tired. Like hell, he thought vehemently. He had an hour's worth of math homework alone, and he wasn't going to waste one extra second on this stupid trip.
He turned off the highway, ticking off directions in his mind that he'd long since memorized. He was finishing off the last of his water when he turned down the familiar narrow road that led to Papa Nichols' house.
The way was drearily overgrown, blocking out the last of the faded sunlight. Josh felt his eyelids droop and shook himself sharply. It was only five at night and he was already exhausted. How was he going to possibly finish that report for Mrs. Hayfer? Not to mention his history assignment, or his chemistry work. He groaned silently.
"Either tonight or tomorrow is a'goina be hell," he sang with the whiny acoustic solo seeping from the radio, sweeping one hand dramatically to the side. His arm hit the empty water bottle in the cup holder, knocking it to the floor where it rolled to rest against the gas petal. "Dammit," he sighed, "Why me?" He leaned down, trying to keep an eye on the road and reach the water bottle at the same time. An impossible feat. "Dammit, dammit, dammit!" He took a short breath, like he was diving under water, and ducked his head down as quickly as possible, fingers closing around the plastic. "Gotcha, you fiend."
He lifted his head, grinning victoriously, and came face to face with a pair of headlights coming at him fast.
xxx
Drake leaned back from his intensive make out session with Laurie Tillman.
"What's wrong, Drake?" She asked concernedly.
"I dunno. My stomach hurts for some reason." His hand balled into a fist at his midsection. It felt like his heart had just dropped two stories and was now squirming in his intestines.
She made a face. "You're not, gunna, like, throw up or something, are you?"
Wordlessly, he grabbed his cell phone and dialed, his fingers knowing the keys faster than his brain did. It rang. Once, twice, three times. It rang three more times and then the voice mail kicked on. He waited patiently and pressed one when the automated system instructed him to. "Hey, Josh, it's Drake, call me back as soon as you can, okay?" He hung up and began kneading his disturbed stomach.
"Sorry, Laurie, I'm heading home." She didn't look amused. Drake didn't really care, he had a dozen other girls just like her at his beck and call.
What he cared about was the voice screaming in his head that something was very, very wrong.
xxx
Josh opened his eyes.
He squinted at the unfamiliar white ceiling. Where…? He felt… different. But that thought was pushed away in favor of finding out his current location. He sat up and sudden recognition struck him. The white curtains over the double-pane window, the mahogany dresser, the sliding door to the closet, the full-length mirror. He was in his room.
Not the room he shared with Drake, but the room he'd had before Audrey and Walter had gotten married and the Parker residence had become the Parker-Nichols residence. The room in the apartment on Valley Avenue.
But why am I here?
He got to his feet, looking around in wonder at the room he'd never thought he'd see again. Their were minor changes; the walls were no longer covered in posters of his favorite magicians. In fact, they looked rather blank. There were a few photographs missing from his dresser. Other than that, though, it looked exactly the same.
He moved to open the top drawer of the dresser. Underwear, neatly folded. He went to open the second drawer, but caught his reflection in the mirror across the room and froze. He turned slowly, afraid to acknowledge the fear that took him.
As he greeted the image reflected at him, he knew with no uncertainty that something was very, very wrong.
TBC
A/N: Hello Please let me know if there are any errors… I looked over it, but I've been known to miss some fairly obvious things. Some of the songs I listened to while writing this chapter were "Steal My Sunshine" by Len, "Groove Is In The Heart" by Deee-Lite, and "Boom Boom Ba" by Metisse. Thanks so much for reading!
