Hey guys, it's your author again. I just want to thank you for reading the story, and implore you to answer the poll from Chapter 9. See you on the other slide!
Chapter 10:
The three sliders fell out of the portal in an alleyway. They stood up and brushed themselves off. Michael looked at the timer and sighed a sigh of relief.
"How much time?" Rebecca asked.
"For the first time in a while, only twelve hours. I for one are very happy about that." Michael replied.
"That's great!" Sam said. "Let's go check this world out though."
"Good idea." Rebecca said and they walked out onto a busy street. The people on the street pushed past them.
"These are some rude people! What is this? New York?" Sam asked.
"You know what... Let me check something." Michael said running up to a corner and looking at the sign. The sign said, 5th Avenue/Central Park. Michael smiled and ran back to the group. "We're in New York!"
"But how? I thought we only traveled in a 2 mile radius." Sam said.
"I don't know! But this means that... I can see my house again! I haven't seen it since I moved to San Francisco!"
"Where is it?" Rebecca asked.
"It's a half hour to an hour subway trip!" Michael said. "I'll call Sam's phone when I get there, and before I leave. Let's meet up in Central Park."
"Fine..." Rebecca said.
"Great! See you then!" Michael ran off toward a subway station.
"Let's do some research into this world. I'm sure we can find a library or something around here." Sam said.
"Good idea." Rebecca said and they turned to walk down the block.
Meanwhile, Michael was on the subway, and riding it, passing all the familiar stops he remembered from his teenage years. He got off and sprinted home, stopping only when he saw the familiar street that he lived on for most his life, and then his house. He walked to the door and smiled as he knocked. A woman came to the door and smiled at him.
"Michael! You're home! You didn't tell us you were visiting from all the way out in California." she said.
"I know Mom, I wanted to surprise you." Michael said. He knew it wasn't his world, but he had been feeling homesick for a while.
"Dave! Michael's home!" his mom said.
"Doesn't he have school?" his dad asked.
"Yeah! But I got a week off!" Michael said.
"Whatever." his dad said.
"I missed you guys!" Michael said smiling.
Sam and Rebecca were sitting in a library, searching a computer for information on the world. Sam was reading a page out loud.
"In 1624, instead of colonizing the East Coast, the Dutch colonized the West Coast, and California is New York, and vice versa." Sam said. "That's why this seems like New York."
"Interesting concept. I always did wonder what would happen if New Amsterdam was in another part of the country." Rebecca said. "How long have we been here?"
"It's been a few hours, and Michael hasn't called yet." Sam said.
"Yeah, let's check a phone book. There can't be too many people with the last name Josephson." Rebecca said and picked up a phone book.
They searched the phone book and narrowed the names down to a few off of a page. Rebecca sighed and turned to Sam.
"Apparently, that's a super common last name." Rebecca said.
"Yeah..." Sam said. "Anyway, let's try the numbers."
Michael was sitting in his room and reveling in the nostalgia he felt for being in his bedroom after months away from it. The phone began to ring and Michael walked over to it, seeing a number he didn't recognize.
"Eh, why not?" he said picking it up. "Hello?"
"Michael! Thank god!" Rebecca said.
"Oh hey, Rebecca! What's going on?" Michael asked.
"I don't know, you said you were going to call us when you got home!" Rebecca said.
"Oh damn it! Sorry, I got so engrossed in being home." Michael said. "I'll meet you guys at Central Park in an hour."
"You better." Rebecca said as she hung up the phone.
"This world is amazing, this history is so cool! Alcatraz isn't over here anymore, it's on where Long Island is on our world. Or at least mine." Sam said.
"Yeah, our worlds are pretty similar. I've noticed that all the worlds seem to be the same as mine. At least in basic design." Rebecca said.
"Anyway, we should head over to the park now." Sam said. "We can do some sightseeing before Michael gets there."
"Good idea." Rebecca said and they left the library and started to walk to the park. They passed the alleyway where they arrived and a man pushed them into the alleyway.
"What's the big idea?" Sam asked.
"Shut up!" the man shouted, revealing that he had a knife.
"Woah man, we don't want any trouble." Sam said.
"Give me all your money!" the man shouted.
"Like hell we will!" Rebecca said swinging her leg into the man's crotch.
"Ouch!" the man screamed as he fell to the ground.
"I'll be taking this." Rebecca said picking the knife up and dropped it into a sewer grate.
"That was awesome!" Sam exclaimed as he and Rebecca ran to Central Park.
"I try." she said smiling.
"Where'd you learn how to do that?" he asked.
"I took some self-defense classes when I was in my universe." Rebecca said.
"Why have you never done that before?" Sam asked.
"You never needed me too." Rebecca said.
"We should need you to crotch kick a dude more often." Sam said laughing.
Michael arrived soon after, and ran up to the duo. They were still laughing about the situation that they had gotten into before.
"Mike! You missed it! We were almost mugged, but Rebecca kicked the dude in the balls!" Sam shouted.
"That's great!" Michael said. "We have about two minutes left."
"Can't get into any more trouble, right?" Sam asked.
"Think again, kid!" the man from before said as he ran up and grabbed Rebecca from behind and held a gun to her head.
"Don't make any sudden movements." Michael said. "Let her go."
"Give me that fancy phone of yours, and we'll call it even." the man said.
"We can't." Michael said. "It's very important."
"Too bad, my knife was important, but your girlfriend decided to throw that away." the man said.
"Listen. I'll make you a deal. You can have the phone in a minute, but you have to give Rebecca back." Michael said.
"Fine!" the man shouted and pushed Rebecca into Michael, who caught her as she steadied herself.
"Okay, a just a few more seconds..." Michael said as the timer ticked to zero. He aimed the timer at the ground and the vortex appeared.
"What the hell?" the man shouted as he turned to run away.
"Let's go, before he comes back." Rebecca said and jumped into the portal. Michael and Sam hopped in after her, as the vortex closed and the man returned to check the place where the portal was.
"Woah..." the man said. As he said that, he was cuffed by two cops from behind.
"Who would've thought we'd catch this guy in the middle of a park?" one of the cops asked.
"Yeah, although that lady said that she saw a vortex." the other cop said. "Must've been seeing things..."
To Be Continued...