The following chapter(s) is inspired by the "Slide Effects" which was a story idea created by Tracy Torme.
Chapter 18:
Michael stood in front of the portal, about to leap into it when the portal began to fluctuate. Sam and Rebecca stood next to him.
"What's going on?" Rebecca asked.
"I don't know!" Michael shouted, as the portal began to rip apart reality.
"How do we stop this, woah!" Sam shouted as he was pulled into the portal.
"Help!" Rebecca shouted as she was pulled in.
"No! Sam! Rebecca! NOOOOOOO!" Michael shouted as the portal expanded and exploded.
Michael awoke with a start. He sat up and felt his heart racing. He tried to get his bearings as he stood up and leaned against the wall.
"Sam! Rebecca! Wake up!" he shouted. "Guys!"
He ran to the light switch and flipped it, revealing his dorm room, with an empty bed next to his.
"The hell? I don't remember falling asleep here. Come to think of it, I can't remember falling asleep." Michael said. Suddenly, the phone rang. He picked it up. "Hello?"
"Hey, Michael! Where are you? I'm at the dining hall, after you get ready come down so I can give you the grand tour of San Francisco's greatest mysteries." Sam said.
"What? What day is it?" Michael asked.
"Uh, it's May 15th 2013." Sam said.
"The day I found the notes!" Michael whispered.
"Notes?" Sam asked.
"Nothing. I'll meet you there." Michael said and ran to put on clean clothes.
Michael ran into the Quantum Physics class and saw a familiar face sitting in the front row.
"Rebecca! Thank god I found you!" Michael said.
"And you are?" she asked.
"It's me, Michael. We're friends!" Michael said.
"I'm sorry, but we've never met before." Rebecca said.
"Yeah we have, you know, I was in your dorm room, I saw your paper on the theory of parallel universes, we traveled to alternate dimensions!" Michael said.
"You must have me confused with someone else." Rebecca said.
"You're probably right. I'm sorry for bothering you, miss." Michael said, and ran out of the room and towards the dining hall.
Michael ran into the dining hall and sat next to Sam.
"Sam, how long have we known each other?" Michael asked.
"Since we became roommates, my friend." Sam said.
"Have we ever traveled anywhere?" Michael asked.
"I wanted to go for Spring Break this year, but you wanted to study." Sam responded.
"What would you say if I said that I traveled with you, to a parallel earth, a ton of them?"
"I'd say you're nuts."
"I'm not. Today, we go to the Mallory House, you dare me to go in, I take notes from it, and build a device to transfer through dimensions, and we go to a world where Kurt Cobain is alive, we meet Quinn, we meet Rebecca."
"Who's Rebecca? And you mean Quinn Mallory? That guy disappeared years ago."
"What's something that I could only know if we'd traveled to another world? I got it! We went to the world where you and your friend Carter were playing by a river and he fell in, but you saved him."
"I've never told anyone that. How do you know?"
"Because we went to that world!"
"This is too weird. I need to go."
"No, me, you, Mallory House, right now."
"Fine..."
They stood in front of the Mallory House and Michael walked to the gate and pushed it open. It squeaked and Michael smiled.
"If those notes are there, I can remake the timer, and we can meet Rebecca again... and strand her away from her world. And us too. I can't do this. It's a win/lose. On one hand, I want to slide, but on the other hand, I can't subject you guys to the same fate again. I don't know what to do." Michael said, sitting on the stoop.
"Dude, if what you're saying is true, and you are from the future, then you can't change it." Sam said. "I believe you, because you know about Carter. And I've never told anyone about Carter and the day he fell into the river." Sam said.
"Okay. I'm going in." Michael said. He ran to the window and crawled in.
Michael walked around and reached for a flashlight. He turned it on and pointed it around the room. He saw equipment and blackboards and papers. He walked to the table where he found the sliding equation for the first time. He rifled through the papers, but couldn't find it.
"It's not here! I'm not home! This isn't home!" Michael shouted. He ran back to the window, and climbed out the window.
"So, the stuff isn't there?" Sam asked.
"Nope! I'm not home! I probably just suffered memory loss after the last slide and was brought to the dorm room because I matched the Michael of this world." Michael said.
"Then where is he?" Sam asked.
"Oh... He must be with my Sam and Rebecca!" Michael replied.
"You sure?" Sam asked.
"No, but where else would he be?" Michael asked. "And if my Sam and Rebecca are here, then they'd be at the Dominion Hotel! Let's go!"
They walked into the lobby of the hotel and Michael walked up to the front desk and rang the bell.
"Yes?" the man behind the desk asked.
"Is there anyone staying here with the names Sam Evans or Rebecca Collins?" Michael asked.
"Give me a moment." he said, turning to the computer. He looked up. "No, sorry. There isn't anyone here by that name."
"Thanks anyway." Michael said turning away from the desk and walking out the door.
"So, tell me, if they aren't here, where are they?" Sam asked.
"Must've slid without me, or with your Michael." Michael replied. "But if I'm stuck here, I have to take care of a few things."
Michael sheepishly walked up to a dorm room and knocked on the door. The door opened, revealing Rebecca.
"Oh, it's you. You said your name was, Michael, right?" she asked.
"Yeah, I wanted to apologize for my behavior this morning. I had a really vivid dream last night, and must've known your name and face from seeing you on campus." Michael said. "I'm sorry I freaked you out."
"It's fine. You seem really nice, and seemed concerned for me, despite the fact we've never met before."
"Listen, I want to make it up to you, can I take you out for dinner, or you know, just have a meal together in the dining hall, whatever you want."
"I'm not really looking to date right now..."
"Oh, no. Not as a date, I want to get to know you better. You seem like a really cool person."
"Okay then. Meet me at the dining hall at six tonight."
"I'll be there."
Michael and Rebecca sat at a table in the dining hall, eating their meals. Rebecca turned to Michael.
"What was that about alternate dimensions you mentioned this morning?"
"Oh, that... Well, in the dream, we were dimensional travelers and slid between universes. We found one where Kurt Cobain was President..."
"Please tell me you're kidding. Kurt Cobain as President? Why couldn't it have have been Freddie Mercury?"
"That's almost exactly what you said when we were there!"
"Look like your dream was really vivid."
"It was."
Suddenly Rebecca clutched her head and started to fall over. Michael jumped out of his seat and caught her.
"Are you okay?" Michael asked.
"Yeah. I just got a really bad migrane. Can you take me back to my room?" she replied.
"Sure." Michael said.
They walked into Rebecca's room and Michael sat her on the bed. She put her head on his shoulder.
"Do you want me to stay with you?" Michael asked.
"Yes. Please don't go." Rebecca replied.
"Got it."
"We're running out of time." she mumbled.
"Time for what?" Michael asked.
"We're going to miss the slide." she muttered. Michael's eyes widened.
"The slide? Where's the timer?" Michael asked.
"I don't know." she muttered. "We lost it..."
"Oh my god." Michael said, laying Rebecca down on the bed. "You remember sliding. So we've been brainwashed. But it didn't hold on me."
Michael ran to the phone in the room and called his dorm room. Sam answered the phone.
"Sam, get to Rebecca Collins' dorm room right now." Michael said.
"Got it." Sam said.
Sam walked in and saw Rebecca sleeping on the bed. He looked at Michael disapprovingly.
"That's not why I called you here, you pervert." Michael said. "She mentioned sliding, and the timer."
"That stuff you told me about, so she's your Rebecca?" Sam asked.
"And you're my Sam. I just know it. I have to jog your memory with something. Remember the world where you got the crap beat out of you?" Michael asked.
"What are you talking about? That didn't happen..." Sam, suddenly falling over. "They took the timer."
"Who took the timer?" Michael asked.
"They wanted it for themselves, but they couldn't build one." Sam said.
"Who wanted it?" Michael asked. But Sam was unconscious. "God damn it!"
Michael paced around the room and held his head in his hands. He ran up to a the wall and punched it.
"Oww... Wait. That didn't hurt." Michael said.
"Find the timer." Sam muttered.
"And then we'll be free." Rebecca mumbled.
"Free from what? I need more info than that!" Michael shouted.
Suddenly a portal opened in the far end of the room, and a figure clad in black walked out. He smiled, and looked up, revealing that he was a double of Michael, a version that Michael has met before.
"It's you." Michael said.
"It always is, isn't it?" he asked, grinning.
To Be Continued...