Re-Tuned

Prologue

He watched the microwave impatiently as it spun his pizza around and around. A minute felt like forever on an empty stomach. He regretted not paying more attention to his mom cooking, he might have learned some quick recipes. He glanced over at the colorfully marked calendar hanging on the fridge. In bright red, his mother had written "Anniversary Dinner," followed by a 19 that was trapped inside a heart. He smiled. He hoped they were having a good time. He wondered what his mom would want to do for their 20th anniversary. Something creative probably, a weekend off in a cabin somewhere. His dad would like that, especially if he got to go fishing.

The microwave finally started to beep. He made a beeline towards the white box and threw open the door, exposing his now sizzling pizza to the open air once more. He eyed it hungrily. It was perfect. He reached for the plate, but jolted back when the plate burned him. He immediately began running his fingers under some cold water, feeling the icy relief from the red and slightly irritated burn. He turned to dry his hands off when the phone started to ring. Looking longingly at his pizza, he quickly ran his hands over a towel before picking up the receiver.

"Hello?"

"Yes, we need you to come to the hospital right away."

He felt his world shut down, an icy shiver crept down his spine as the world seemed to simultaneously spin and close in on him. The room began to contort and change, the cabinet shrinking down, stretching out, and splitting to turn into two hospital gurneys, the microwave twisting and squishing as it turned into a heart rate monitor, and his pizza melting and bubbling and turning red until it turned into-

He had to look away. He prayed that someone would take it away. He counted to ten before slowly turning back. He was in a hospital room now. Two beds lay in front of him, with two bodies laying on top, covered with two white sheets. He couldn't see the faces, but he knew who they were.

"Can you please identify them?"

He slowly shook his head. "Please don't make me do this."

"We just need you to look, very quickly."

He shook his head again. He couldn't look. Not again.

"Please. We just need a positive ID."

He did his best to swallow past the lump that had formed in his throat as he slowly made his way to the first gurney. His hand trembled as he reached toward the sheet covering the body. He began to sweat profusely. He didn't want to look. He couldn't bear to see it.

He gripped the top of the white fabric. He tried his best to calm his nerves. Just one quick look. Slowly, he began to peel the fabric back. He saw the hair… there was no doubt.

"It's him." He said.

"Please just look at the face."

He turned back to the corpse. He felt tears gather in his eyes. He didn't want to see this. He decided he needed to get it over with quick.

He ripped the sheet back, as if he were ripping off a bandage.

Josh's eyes shot open, and he gasped for air. His blue eyes darted around the room, taking in their surroundings.

He was back in his room.

The teen started to take deep breaths, trying to calm himself.

"It was just a dream." He intoned under his breath. "Just a dream."

He turned in his bed onto his side and snatched his digital alarm clock up from his night stand. He pressed a small button on top, causing the display to glow a soft blue.

2:30 am.

Josh rubbed his eyes as he set the clock back on the night stand. He quickly wiped the sweat that had formed on his brow, and ran a hand through his damp, blonde hair.

"Just a dream." He returned to his previous mantra, trying to convince himself that what he had seen hadn't actually happened.

"But they did…" He thought bitterly. Tears began to sting at his eyes. He knew what was coming.

"Josh?" A tired voice croaked from the other side of the room. In the darkness Josh could see another figure sitting up in bed, groggily rubbing the sleep from his eyes as well.

"Sorry Jake, did I wake you?" Josh whispered to his younger brother. Jacob rubbed a hand over his face and through his brown, buzz-cut hair.

"Kinda…" The boy whispered back. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah," Josh did his best to put some enthusiasm into his voice. "Just had a bad dream, that's all."

"Was it about mom and dad again?"

The question almost made Josh crack right then and there. But he kept his composure. Jacob didn't need to worry.

"Josh, you've been having that nightmare ever since it happened." Jacob seemed a bit more alert now. He paused, letting a silence fill the room as he waited for some kind of explanation from Josh. Josh sat quietly, forcing himself to breath evenly.

"It's just a dream." Josh repeated. "Nothing you need to worry about." He forced a smile, even though he knew Jacob couldn't see it. "Just go back to bed, I'll see you in the morning. "

Jacob reluctantly nodded. However, rather than falling back onto his pillow, he swung his legs over the side of the bed and padded barefoot to the door.

"Where are you going?" Josh whispered a little more fiercely. "It's too early to be getting up!"

"I just need to go to the bathroom!" Jacob hissed back.

"Hurry then, and don't wake anyone else up with your trumpet practice!" Josh warned. He could imagine his brother rolling his eyes as he walked out the door and quietly slid it shut. Josh let the smile quickly droop from his face. He slowly lowered himself back down to his pillow. Sleep wasn't going to come easily tonight… not again. He curled up as tightly as he could, bringing the covers to his face.

"Just a dream… just a dream…"

"We are ready to launch into Egg Drive Dr. Eggman." A tinny voice called to him from one of the stations below him. The Doctor sneered even wider.

"Excellent." He replied, his gravely voice betraying his not-at-all-hidden excitement. "Initiate on my mark." The red-clad Doctor looked back down at his personal monitor to double check that he had the correct coordinates. He allowed his goggle-covered eyes to wander over to the radar, where a small green blip was flashing somewhere ahead of them. In a matter of mere moments, he would finally have what he needed. The one of the last pieces to his master plan. Then he would finally, FINALLY, defeat his nemesis and create his utopia.

"Waiting on you sir." A robot from the control panel squeaked. Normally, a comment like that might have set the Doctor off… but today was a good day. Today, one of his plans would work. Today, he would make history!

"Engage Egg Drive in T min-"

The Doctor flew back into his chair as the ship launched across the galaxy at incredible speed. He angrily screamed something about not finishing his countdown to one of the robots, all the while trying to remind himself that yes, this was going to be a good day.

Hey everyone, I hope you enjoyed this little snippet of my new project: My Brother's Keeper Re-Tuned! I am very excited to be working on My Brother's Keeper again! So, the reason for this new title is that I really want to take the story and give it a face lift, work on the pacing, get a better back story for our main characters, and try to make things a little more coherent and enjoyable and less angsty writings from a lonely teenager, so you might see some chapters (like the first seven) get a total makeover, while others may get just a touch up! I'm in college, so I can't guarantee a steady stream of content, but I will do my best to work on this as I find time! You guys are my motivation, so the more you guys review, favorite, and share this story with your friends, the more likely it is that I will get another chapter out rather quickly!

Get ready to dive deep into the world of My Brother's Keeper Re-Tuned, a familiar story with a few new twists and turns! As I work on this, feel free to contact me with any questions you have, and I'll try and put up something chapter for you guys to respond to, like a suggestion or a question. If I like your answer, I'll give you some credit in the post script (this bold part down here) and I might even include it in the story! I will try to take any and all suggestions you have for the story, but just be aware that I have a pretty good idea of where this is all going and how it will end, so don't be offended if your idea doesn't show up here! Who knows… you might see it show up somewhere else… :)

Cheers!

-JJ