Chapter 4

Fork in the Road

It was last block on a Thursday. First semester had ended a couple of weeks prier, so I was in Info Tech instead of Math. I was sitting at my computer listening to music and working on my stories; even though I was supposed to be going through the basics of HTML. I couldn't help it; I just wanted the day to end so I could go home and confirm my plans with Tyler.

After what felt like forever, the bell finally rang. I logged off my computer and grabbed my bag before leaving. The 'End of the Day' traffic jam was in session so I took an alternate route past the Automotive building. I found my friends Joe and Cali waiting out in the parking lot close to where the school bus usually stopped.

"So, when is Tyler coming by tomorrow?" Joe asked as I approached. He was wearing his Gears of War baseball cap and a brown and yellow hoody.

"I don't know yet, I still need to clarify things with him." I answered, "Though, it would be best if you came by my house around noon."

"Tyler's coming by?" Cali was standing next to Joe. He had an afro and always wore navy pants. "How come no one told me?"

Guilty as charged.

"Sorry about that, I've been meaning to tell you."

"Well go figure," Cali said indifferently, "the one day he comes by and I have to watch my little sister."

"Can't your mom watch her?" I questioned.

"She works tomorrow," he oddly sounded tired.

"That sucks," I muttered. Digging my hands into the pockets of my jeans, I looked up at the overcast sky. With my hands in my pockets, I could feel a folded five dollar bill, my keys, and…

Wait; something's missing; something important.

I fished around some more, thinking that it was hiding in my pocket somewhere, but found nothing. Looking down, I pulled my keys out and shoved my hand back into my pocket, but what I was digging for was gone. I was horrified, no, that's too strong of a word. What I was feeling was more along the lines of shock and disbelief. By this point, my friends were looking at me as if to say, 'What are you doing?' and they probably would have voiced this if I hadn't shouted.

"Shit!" I stuffed my keys back into my pocket.

"What's wrong?" Joe asked.

"I forgot my USB in the computer lab!" I slipped off my backpack," Joe, watch my bag for me!" Plopping my bag at his feet, I took off running.

How could I have done something so stupid! My stories are on it! I could kick myself right now! Those are some of the thoughts that were going through my head as I made a b-line for the computer lab. Now that I think about it, if I had remembered to unplug my USB from the computer, the events from here on out wouldn't have happened; A fork in the road of fate as they say.

I slammed through the doors of the Tech Wing just as my teacher was locking up the computer lab.

"Hold the door!" I shouted.

"What's the matter?" He asked as I ran past him and through the computer room door.

"I forgot something!"

I raced to the computer I used in class everyday and found my USB still plugged into the computer. With a sigh of relief, I pulled the flash drive out of the USB port and put it in my pocket.

"I'm not gonna do that again."

"Did you get what you need?" I turned and looked toward the door. My teacher was holding the door open with his foot since his hands were busy carrying a boxed projector.

"Yeah." I started jogging for the door.

"You probably shouldn't-"

My teacher didn't get a chance to finish, because, as I passed one of the desks, I tripped. What I tripped on exactly I'm still not sure of, since I wasn't close enough to a desk or pushed in chair, but it sent me sprawling. I managed to regain my balance, but only to slip on the wet floor. I fell back, and felt something hit the back of my head before I collided with the ground, hard. Sitting up, I rubbed the back of my head. The blinding sunlight forced me to shield my eyes with my hand.

Wait, Sunlight?

I looked to my right. There was a big, green framed window extending from wall to wall; beyond which I could see the bright sun in a cloudless sky.

The computer lab had windows high above the floor that almost touched the ceiling and smaller windows closer to the floor that had bars on the outside and were spaced further apart than the ones above them. But this wasn't the computer lab; the room I was currently in was much smaller, at least a third in size. The wall to wall window started at about table height and stopped near the ceiling. A computer sat on a desk in front of the window, with the monitor facing said window. The desk itself was about the size of any student desk in any classroom of my school, but it had a cubby under it which made it look like the desks I used in Elementary school. The floor was made of wood, hardwood maybe, but the design consisted of small squares like a black and white tile floor. Each square contained four strips of hardwood that either went 'top to bottom' or 'left to right'. In front of me was a table, it was situated in the centre of the room and had nothing on it. Beyond the table was a bookshelf, and though it contained twice as many books than I owned at the time, it managed to look somewhat empty. A door was at the far end of the room, opposite the window. I had never been here before, but the room was strikingly familiar.

It struck me in less time than it takes to say 'Plumbers Don't Wear Ties is the worst videogame ever'. I knew where I was, but it just didn't seem possible. There was no way.

The sound of a book being closed echoed in the room. I knew what it meant before I even turned to look. In the corner of the room, to the right of the window, a girl was sitting on a folding chair. Her short hair was silver and her eyes of liquid mercury stared at me from behind her glasses. It was impossible, but here I was, here she was. Her stare was blank and her face emotionless. I couldn't believe what I was seeing.

I stumbled to my feet and made a run for the door, but before I could reach it, it swung open. Another familiar character was revealed; one with orange hair and a confused expression on her face. She didn't know who I was, but I knew who she was. I ran past her and down the hall toward the stairs.

This is messed up.

I skipped steps as I careened down the stairs and out the doors on the main floor, stopping for a brief second to catch my breath and gather my thoughts. The main gate was on the other side of a courtyard to my right, separating the main buildings, and seemed to be the most direct route, but if my memory was correct, there was a shorter and less open route on my left that went along the building I had just exited.

"-if that's really the case, then show me your power." The words struck me like a brick, "If you can do that, then I'll believe everything you've said to me." There was a row of wooden tables to my left, and sitting at one of those tables were two guys about my age. I also knew who they were.

"For starters, how about you try heating up this cup of coffee here."

This wasn't happening. It had to be a dream.

Yeah, a dream.

I was dreaming; it was the only thing that would make sense.

As they continued talking, I tried to nonchalantly walk toward the main gate, 'tried' being the key word. Sooner than I wanted to, I was bolting for the gate. I didn't know if they had noticed me, but I was sure someone else had.

Once I was out the gate, I ran down the large hill the characters climbed every day and didn't stop until I reached the bottom. The combination of running and the blazing hot sunlight left me soaked in sweat and tired beyond belief. My hands were on my knees as I stared at the ground, gasping for air. Of course, I now had absolutely no I idea where I was other than being somewhere in Kyoto Japan, and even that I wasn't sure of. There was also the fact that I didn't know how I'd ended up in Japan. The weather didn't seem right either. Last I had checked, it was early February, and in the lower mainland, weather like this didn't come along until late March at the very least. Then again, this was Japan...

"Hey, are you alright?" The voice sounded familiar, and looking up, I realized why. It was my computer teacher, the one who had been holding the computer lab door open with his foot. At first, I was wondering what he was doing in Japan, and then I remembered him saying something about that during class; about how he used to live in Japan.

I thought about saying, 'Hey Mr. Flemmet, how's it going?' but chose not to. The show was set in 2003, so saying that would only serve to confuse him. It would be nine years before he would even meet me, let alone be my teacher.

"I'm fine, thanks." I attempted to walk past him, fully aware of just how screwed I was, when I heard something crack. I looked around; all I could see was a lively, Japanese city street and Mr. Flemmet with a concerned look on his face.

"Are you sure? You don't look too good." Mr. Flemmet was still talking to me.

As I continued walking, more cracking was heard. Stopping and lifting my foot to examine the ground solved nothing. Then suddenly, the sound of glass shattering echoed off the nearby buildings, and the city street simply fell into a million pieces.

I woke up with a start, sitting straight up on the floor.

"Hey," the voice drew my attention to the door, "are you alright?" Mr. Flemmet left his spot at the door and placed the box he was holding on his desk before rushing over.

"Uh… Yeah." I was right, it had been a dream; I tried to wrap my mind around that.

"That was a nasty fall you had there." Mr. Flemmet pointed out as he walked up. "Here," he held out his hand. Grabbing his hand in the form of a handshake, he pulled me to my feet.

"Thanks," I rubbed the back of my head.

I must have hit my head really hard to have a dream like that.

"I should have warned you about the floor, the janitor came to clean it earlier than usual."

"It wasn't the floor, I tripped on a desk or something."

"Yeah…" he glanced at the desk behind me, "Are you sure you're-" He stopped mid-sentence, a quizzical look on his face.

An awkward silence followed.

"Uh, sorry about that. I just remembered something from awhile back."

"Really?"

"Yeah, almost like déjà vu."

More silence.

"Anyway, are you sure you're okay? I can take you down to the office and get you an ice pack."

My reeling mind didn't allow me to fully comprehend the last few things he had said; all I wanted to do was run out the door to the computer lab and keep going until I got home.

"Thanks, but I'm fine. I'll see you on Monday."

I struggled to keep my cool as I walked towards the door, but once I was out in the hall and out of sight, I bolted for the exit. When I reached the double doors of the Tech Wing, I opened the right one so forcefully that anyone standing next to it would have been body slammed; or at least end up with a nasty bruise.

As fate would have it though, I felt the door collide with something, followed by: "Fuck, my nose!" It was a girl's voice, and it sounded a bit familiar. I would have stopped to check if she was okay, however, I wanted to get the hell away from the building that is my school and not come back until I had to. So a quick glance back at the door and a loud "Sorry!" had to do. I kept running for a few more seconds before stopping and spinning back around.

When I had glanced back to yell that I was sorry, I could have sworn that I saw black hair and a hoody that matched. But now, I watched as the door to the Tech Wing slowly closed. There was no one there. No one at all.

"The hell?" I took a step back.

I stared at the door to the Tech Wing, and then down the outdoor space in-between the Science and Tech Wings. Something weird was definitely going on, and was I going to stick around and find out what it was and maybe do something interesting and abnormal for once?

Hell no. I'm getting the fuck out of here.

I turned and ran. I ran back through the Recreational Wing. I ran passed the Weight Lifters garage. And I ran up to my friends.

"Did you get your USB?" Joe asked.

"Yeah, thanks for watching my bag." I grabbed my backpack by one of the straps and slung it over my right shoulder before I continued running.

"Hey, what's the rush?"

"And why is you back wet?" I heard Cali say.

I turned while running and yelled back, "I'll call you guys tomorrow!"