"…no way," Ross said in complete disbelief as he saw everything around him.

Mike couldn't really see what it was that Ross was so amazed about. Around both of them was nothing except one giant, open field. The air was really hot, and the grass was so dry it was turning to a shade of yellow. The sky was practically cloudless, and there were barely any houses around.

"Ross, what is it?" Mike asked.

"This can't be…is this?...is this my home? In Kansas?" Ross said breathlessly. It was obvious the memories were starting to come back to him.

"Kansas?" Mike asked. "Since when have you lived in Kansas?"

"I only told you the first week we met," Ross snidely replied as he put his hands on his hips and took in everything around him. "You don't remember?"

"Ross, I was, what, eleven?" Mike asked. "And I'm fifteen now. Of course I don't remember."

"Whatever," Ross said, not really caring. "This is just so awesome! I'm finally getting to see my childhood again. Mike, I think we really are back in time!"

A huge grin started spreading across Ross's face as he started running around, looking for whatever he could find. He was anxious about finally stepping into his past and reliving things that were long forgotten. Then when he ran past a certain point, Ross gasped. He was staring at what was in front of him in complete awe, and it suddenly looked like he had turned into a statue because of how still he was standing.

"Ross, what is it?" Mike asked as he kept running after Ross, who was sprinting through the wide open fields after his friend.

"Mike, look!" Ross yelled excitedly. He pointed to a group of kids playing in front of them.

There were three kids there: one was a girl with red hair, another was a boy with blonde hair, and the third was also a boy with black hair. All of them were running around (probably playing tag) and laughing and having fun. Ross was staring in complete disbelief.

"Hey Ross, the kid with the black hair looks like you, except a lot younger," Mike input when he finally saw what Ross was staring at.

"Mike, I think that is me!" Ross said with excitement and emotion.

But it was short lived. The scene that was playing in front of Ross and Mike faded away, but was instantly replaced with another one. Ross soon found himself inside his old home in Kansas, and it appeared to be early in the morning.

"Wow," Ross said breathlessly. He took in everything around him in his old house: the wooden floors, the lack of anything electronic, the old-style appliances and the lack of just about anything spacious or luxurious. The memories were flooding back.

"Wow, Ross," Mike said. "I guess you were like a peasant out here."

Ross gave a slight, yet forced laugh. "Yeah, life was never easy."

After saying this, Ross saw what appeared to be his eight-year old self running towards the house. Mike saw Ross's eight-year old counterpart, and he was very surprised (to put it lightly) at the speed at which Ross was running. For an eight-year old, Ross was going incredibly fast.

"Ross, you were like a speed-demon when you were eight years old!" Mike exclaimed.

Ross lightly chuckled. "I suppose you forgot that as well? The first time I was over your house, I told you I had to run home from my bus stop if I wanted to make it home before it got too late."

The image in front of them faded once again, and it showed Ross and all of his friends swimming in a stream a distance away from the house. Ross explained to Mike that was what he and his friends had to do in the summer to stay cool from the hot sun.

Then, a part of Ross's past popped up that made Ross suddenly look like a stake was stuck right through him. He was soon staring at a part of his past where he was talking to a girl who looked rather pretty for her age (roughly five or six years old). Mike noticed Ross was tightening up and asked what was wrong.

"Mike, that's Beth," Ross explained, barely able to watch what was happening in front of him.

"Beth?" Mike asked. "Who's that?"

"She and I were really close," Ross explained. "But then, one day…"

Ross trailed off when he saw the events of the past playing out in front of him. Ross and Mike saw Ross's six-year old self standing right in front of a large truck.

Inside the truck was Beth, and she was looking out the window and giving six-year old Ross a very sad look. Six-year old Ross was giving her an equally sad look, and they never once took their eyes off each other. Even though both kids had barely started elementary school, it was easy to see the sad feelings and distress growing within them.

"Ross, what happened?" Mike asked.

"Beth moved away when we were both really young," Ross explained. "I haven't seen or even talked to her since."

"Wow," Mike said. "Well, at least you got Alicia now, right?"

"Yeah, I'm moving on," Ross confidently said.

Mike had no idea that Ross had strong feelings at such a young age. Despite everything the two friends had talked about, that was something Ross neglected to tell him. It almost gave Mike an entirely new outlook on his friend.

Suddenly, everything around them got very hazy. The wide open fields of Ross's old home in Kansas started to disappear.

"What's going on?" Ross asked.

"I don't know," Mike said. "You think Maverick's kept us here long enough?"

When the haze suddenly cleared, it was obvious that they were no longer in Ross's old home and were now somewhere completely different.

"Whoa," Mike said breathlessly when he saw what was going on.

Ross and Mike saw an image of a boy who looked like he was about nine years old and had long, thick dirty-blonde hair that almost went down past his face. He was sitting in a living room and watching a television from the mid-sixties. The show he was watching had been cancelled for years.

"Whoa!" Mike yelled. "That's me, and I'm watching my favorite television show ever!"

"What show is it?" Ross asked.

"It's The Adventures of Carl the Cat!" Mike said excitedly.

"Carl the Cat?" Ross asked to himself as he put his forefinger on his chin and started talking. "I heard about that show. Didn't it get taken off the air a while ago?"

"Yeah," Mike said. "But Ross, don't you see? This is my past! Wow, I remember coming home and watching this show every single day."

"What else did you do other than watch this?" Ross asked.

"Uh…actually, not much else," Mike admitted.

"Heh. So you pretty much spent your entire early days of childhood watching this TV show and just hanging out?" Ross asked.

"Ummmm…yeah, that's about right," Mike said in a carefree way.

"Gee, sounds like you had a tough life growing up," Ross said sarcastically as he crossed his arms.

The scene suddenly shifted from Mike's living room to seeing him playing outside. Right now, Mike looked like he was about ten years old. He was outside and looked like he was just relaxing and enjoying the outdoors world.

Mike looked a little nervous, and he suddenly acted like he knew something bad was going to happen.

"Mike, what is it?" Ross asked.

Mike just watched as the past kept playing out in front of them. At one point, Mike's ten-year old self smashed the side of his arm all of a sudden. It was done quickly enough that it almost made Ross jump.

"Mike, why'd you hit your arm?"

"I got bit by a mosquito," Mike answered, still looking at himself from five years before.

"So…what's the big deal?" Ross asked.

"Well, as it turns out, that was a disease carrying mosquito. And when it bit me, I got really sick," Mike said in almost too casual voice.

Ross gasped and was surprised to hear that Mike had a near death experience. When he looked back at the past as it was passing by in front of them, he saw that they were no longer standing outside, but now in an emergency room.

In the emergency room, Mike was lying on a bed practically unconscious, and he looked completely anorexic. His skin was pale and he was only making low moaning sounds. Meanwhile, his friends and family were standing right beside him. Some were struggling to fight back tears while others were just letting them go. Either way, there were several people that were worried about Mike.

"Good thing I wasn't awake to see all this," Mike remarked. "Being fatally ill was bad enough, but having a bunch of relatives leaning over me and doing all that stuff…ugh."

"Mike, how come you never told me that you got bitten by mosquito and contracted a disease that almost killed you?" Ross asked loudly.

"What's the big deal?" Mike asked. "The important thing is that I lived. Since then I've been trying to appreciate life more and more and not get so worked up about everything."

"Is that why you're so carefree about everything today?"

"Yup."

Ross would have never guessed that the entire reason Mike was basically a slacker was because he had a near death encounter over a year before they had even met.

"Heh," Ross snickered after seeing the most dramatic experience in Mike's life. "Well, you learn something new every day, I guess."