So here it is! Chapter 2! It didn't take me long to re-edit this and get it posted. Let me know what you think!
Ch. 2- 'Ten Years Later.'
"Wake up, sleepyhead!" said a female voice near Ulrich's ear.
"Mm? Is it over, are we done?" he asked, half-dazed.
"What- what's done?" asked the voice.
"Mm-? The work on the supercalculator, is it done?" Ulrich asked, turning over in bed. His mind felt dull and clouded. Not everything was being fully comprehended yet. It was like his brain was coming out of a thick haze, and it was slowly turning back on.
"Supercalculator? Ulrich, what are you talking about," asked the voice, "I'm pretty sure whatever it is, the work isn't done yet."
"Then why did you wake me?" he asked, trying to keep warm under his covers and go back to bed.
"Wait, that wasn't right," thought Ulrich, "I was in the factory wasn't I?"
"I woke you because you will be late for work if you don't GET UP! Work starts in an hour and a half!" shouted Ulrich's mother loudly in his ear.
There was a whooshing noise and then a bright light suddenly streamed into Ulrich's eyes. He clenched them closed before realizing whose voice that was and what it meant. Something wasn't adding up. There was a bright light, and a voice that he knew didn't belong in this environment. Which could only mean one thing, their secret was blown, by one of the last people he wished to find out about the factory and the supercomputer. Ulrich's heart raced, and his eyes flew open.
"Gah! Mom!" he shouted, launching up in his bed, "Mom! What are you doing here?" Ulrich's bed covers went flying as he launched up into a sitting position.
His heartbeat seemed to almost triple in the space of just a few seconds, as did his amount of confusion. Ulrich took a second to glance around, and then his eyes stopped on the figure of his mom who stood at his bedside with a concerned look. She had pulled open the blinds of a nearby window open to let the light stream in. Ulrich blinked back tears as he stared at the light and the figure that was his mother silhouetted in the daylight. She looked down on Ulrich with her brow furrowed in worry. Finally, she spoke up,
"Honey, you live here!" said Ulrich's mom consolingly.
"What- I, I live here?" said Ulrich hoarsely, looking around the room once more. She was right, he was back home, sleeping in his bed, and his mother was there in place of his friends. Something wasn't right with this picture in Ulrich's mind. Where was the factory? How did he get here?!
"Of course, you live here! But you won't much longer if you don't get up and get to work to pay your part of the rent on your room. This house doesn't pay for itself!" chided Ulrich's mom, as she started to stride around Ulrich's room and pick up the mess.
His mom's nose crinkled as she picked up his dirty laundry and sniffed it to make sure that it needed to be washed. Once she was certain, she tossed the dirty laundry into a hamper and then proceeded to clean up more of his room. Ulrich didn't know what was going on, but he was aware that he didn't want his mom doing that.
Ulrich sighed and pointed at his mom, "Mom, you don't have to do that…" something sounded weird about that sentence, and it wasn't just the words. Something about his voice sounded different.
"Ulrich, you're twenty-three now, you think you would pick up your room more often than once a month!" said Ulrich's mom, ignoring her son. Something didn't seem right with that statement. There was so much going through Ulrich's mind that he had no idea what to make of it. But the first thing was the fact that his mom had just called him twenty-three.
"Twenty-three?" thought Ulrich. It didn't add up, so Ulrich said, "But I just turned thirteen!" There was that thing with his voice again. What was going on with that? Was it deeper? Ulrich's mom spun around to face him with a look of concern and of slight surprise.
"Thirteen? Oh goodness me, I wish! That way I wouldn't have to worry about you so much as I used to when you were in grade school! As if you showing up to work on time was the only thing that I was worried about you nowadays."
Ulrich's mom went on talking as she turned back around to continue cleaning, "If it's not the job, it's girl trouble! Who was the last one Ulrich- Claire I think was her name? And what did she say, that she didn't want anything to do with you because of those friends of yours? Honestly Ulrich, I never even got to meet her properly before she dumped you like the other ones!" ranted Ulrich's mom.
Something was not right; Ulrich wanted to take a moment, or several, just to think about a fraction of everything his mom had just said. Work? Girls? His friends? Twenty-three?! The confusion and questions piled up in his mind. The haze he still felt wasn't helping either. But his mom seemed so confident about what she was saying. Ulrich was so confused. He hadn't ever had a girlfriend, nor had he worked a day in his life. At least not for a paycheck like his mom seemed to be implying. And what was she going on about him being twenty-three? And what was with his voice? His throat felt fine, but he still felt like something had changed there. This had to be a sick joke. Ulrich was sure that any minute now there would be a camera crew that would burst out from behind the door and tell him that he was in some prank show on TV. He was so sure that when it didn't happen, his mom looked back at him with another worried look.
"Are you alright honey?" she asked.
"Um-" stammered Ulrich, "Yes…? Why do you ask?" he said in a strained voice, almost like he was letting on that he knew about the prank.
The whole set-up on this joke had to be very elaborate. They even went as far as to find some way to lower his voice for this. And they even figured out a way to take him all the way home and put him in his bed without waking him up. These people were good; Ulrich had to give them that. And to top it all off, they managed to get his mom in on it. Ulrich had to admit that his mom was probably the last person who would ever get involved in a prank like this, or even at all.
"You weren't planning on spending the whole day in bed were you? I wasn't joking about the whole 'need to get to work on time' thing, sweetie," said Ulrich's mom.
She was selling this. Ulrich was sure that if she was in on the prank, she was doing it unknowingly. Ulrich was going to hold his ground. He wasn't going to let those involved get to him and rile him up or surprise him when they burst in to reveal the joke. Ulrich started to rack his brain to think of someone who would be able to pull something like this off. But then Ulrich paused. When he went to think about his friends, his mind started to draw a blank. The more he thought, the less he was able to recall. Ulrich felt like someone had wiped his memory and replaced them with memories that Ulrich didn't remember. When Ulrich envisioned his friends, images of Herb and Nicholas from school popped into his head. But they looked much older than they did when he was at Kadic. Ulrich shook his head to try and clear them, but then when Ulrich thought about his friends again, he got two conflicting images in his skull. There was the thought of Nicholas and Herb again, but then another picture popped into Ulrich's head. The picture was of a group of people he knew should be familiar, but he couldn't remember any of their names. The fact that he had such conflicting thoughts drove him crazy and made his head hurt.
Ulrich's mom, oblivious of the mental anguish that Ulrich was suffering under, marched over to his bed and started to motion for him to stand up, "Up, up! I need to take your sheets. I'm going to wash all this while you're out today."
"Okay, okay!" said Ulrich rising to his feet.
Ulrich almost didn't notice but after he was on his feet he saw that he stood well over the height of his mother. The last he remembered, he was just started to gain height over his mom, but now he stood well over a head taller than his mother. Ulrich took a second to take in this info, and he looked down at his feet to make sure someone hadn't strapped on a set of stilts just to make him look taller. But, no, when Ulrich looked down, he saw his own feet, but at a much greater distance than he was used to. Ulrich gasped, and his mom looked at her son to make sure nothing was wrong. Ulrich stumbled a little, and his mom reached out to try and catch her son. The brunette caught himself and waved off his mom. He didn't want to worry his mom, and he wanted to take just a second to think. This was so confusing. Ulrich could guess on how someone could set up a joke like this, and even go as far as to be able to make him sound older. But, physically, making him older was a little farfetched, even for Ulrich's brain.
Ulrich needed answers, and he knew the first way to confirm his suspicions was just to look at himself in the mirror. So being as soundless as he could, and while his mom was still ranting to herself, Ulrich slipped over to his closet that had a mirror bolted to one of the doors and looked at himself. Ulrich almost passed out from what he saw; he was older! The brunette stifled a scream by holding his hand in front of his face. Ulrich fought to hold onto consciousness and reality. Once he was over the shock, he started to take it all in. Instead of the scrawny thirteen-year-old that he remembered, he was greeted by a different sight.
"So it wasn't a prank after all…" thought Ulrich, "What in the world happened?!"
Ulrich struggled to remember, but nothing seemed to click in his brain. He knew something was wrong, and that these things shouldn't be happening. Not at least for another few years. There seemed to be significant gaps in his memory. He had a vague feeling of what his life should be like right now, and then another set of memories of the way things happened, but nothing specific. The more he thought, the less he could recall of the way he thought things should be. Ulrich thought he should still be in grade school, just barely having turned thirteen, and not worrying about a job and girls, but school and soccer! And hanging out with his friends!
"And that's another thing! If it's not girl trouble, it's all the time you spend out with those good for nothing friends from work you hang around." Ulrich's ears perked up at that.
His friends! The only group of friends he could think of in his mind was Nicholas and Herb, but he couldn't shake the thought of a much larger group of friends from his past. A girl with pink hair, a blonde nerd, another blonde, but not as smart as the first. There was also some twins and some other girls, and…an Asian? All of it sounded like a joke with a bad punchline. And he couldn't remember any names based on this other group. And Ulrich wasn't entirely convinced that the group was real or fake yet and that he had just had a bad dream, and was remembering way too much of it.
"I still think that Herb is a bit too much of a goof for you to spend time with, and his friend Nicholas is nothing but a pervert!" said Ulrich's mom, raising her voice. Ulrich's heart sunk.
"Nicholas and Herb? Does she mean Nicholas and Herb from school?" Ulrich thought that part of that sentence made sense, but he hoped in the bottom of his heart that it wasn't. Or at least, she could be talking about a different Nicholas and Herb. But the chances were slim.
Ulrich shook his head to try and clear it, but no matter what he did, he couldn't stop thinking about what he thought should be going on. There seemed to be two sets of memories rattling around his head. He couldn't explain it, but one seemed younger than the other. It almost felt like these memories belong to two different people. But the more he thought, the more he realized that these two sets belonged to the same person...him! One set seemed the most familiar to him, and that was the younger set of memories. But every time he tried accessing those memories, his brain would start to hurt and those memories were quickly replaced with the other 'older' set. This "other Ulrich", which the brunette dubbed "Older Ulrich" seemed to be a fully functioning adult, but who still seemed to live at home with his parents. And then there was "Younger Ulrich" the one that matched up most with where he felt he should be at the moment. And it seemed like whoever "Older Ulrich" was, they were missing a few pieces. That set of memories had nothing before Ulrich was thirteen, but seemed to fill in the gaps for the missing ten years in the other set of memories. But then they dropped off again about what felt like six months ago, everything past that point was either blank or a blur. Older Ulrich remembered getting a new job, but not where or for what position.
Ulrich struggled to make sense of the two sets of memories. Every time he thought he had it down, something else would come up, and make his brain hurt. At that moment, Ulrich thought that he could just try and settle the differences between both, letting one fill in the gaps of the other. But every time he tried to reconcile the two, his brain would cry out for him to pick one side over the other since they didn't mesh so easily. He had no idea of which path to pursue. Why couldn't he be both? Why couldn't he be Older Ulrich, but with the brain of Younger Ulrich? But then even he had to admit that sounded stupid. And even if he wanted to, he knew his brain and body wouldn't allow it. He had a feeling they would battle it out until he picked a side and stuck to it. Ulrich started to weigh the pros and cons of the choice he had. Did he want to be "Older Ulrich", the adult with a job? Or did he want to be "Younger Ulrich", the teenager who was still in grade school, and star of the soccer team? Each path seemed to have their own issues, like how he was going to be able to get back into his body if he decided to go after the "Younger Ulrich" path. That path seemed to be the most in conflict with what was going on around him but felt the most comfortable to his brain. The "Older Ulrich" path meshed seamlessly in with the physical world around him but clashed violently with the person he thought he should be at that current moment. The brunette wrestled with those thoughts, and the only conclusion he could come to was that something was out of order.
Physically, everything pointed to something else. He wasn't Ulrich Stern the thirteen-year-old, but apparently Ulrich Stern a twenty-three-year-old, who had a job…and dating problems… Ulrich's brain hurt just trying to think about it, but he needed something to make sense. Where did the ten years go? And why couldn't he remember them? Ulrich identified the point where the two sets of memories diverged. The two sets overlapped only slightly, but there was a large memory that tied it all together. That memory was tied to a vivid thought of the color white that engulfed him every time he recalled of it. He also felt a slight tinge of fear associated with that memory that would swallow him up and cloud his brain so he couldn't think of anything else until the color passed. Ulrich didn't know what to make of it. Ulrich wished he had time just to sit and think. But he didn't have the luxury. Mrs. Stern strode over to the closet that Ulrich was standing in front of, and she pushed the door with the mirror to the side so that it opened along the track it was fixed on. Ulrich was snapped out of his thoughts, and he sidestepped to keep himself framed in the mirror. He wanted to get a good look at himself.
"Your clothes are in here, just in case you got lost in the middle of the night," said the Stern matriarch. But Ulrich wasn't listening; he was too busy looking himself up in the mirror.
"But what do I know?" said Ulrich's mom, "Maybe you are looking to get fired, and I'm just saying all of this to someone who doesn't care about those who helped him get the job in the first place."
Ulrich like the way he looked. He was taller for one, and a lot older, at least physically. He looked good- really trim, but not too buff. Ulrich couldn't resist flexing a bit in the mirror. It made him smile a bit to see how much things had changed in the ten years that he could vaguely remember. And that wasn't the only thing; apparently he had grown a bit of a goatee recently. Ulrich had to fight the urge to stand there and stroke his facial hair. Ulrich didn't mind the way it looked; he thought the facial hair made him look older than twenty-three in his opinion.
Ulrich was having second thoughts on whether he wanted to go back to "Younger Ulrich" if "Older Ulrich" had all these things going for him. A job, plenty of 'dating opportunities', and a rocking body like this. Ulrich felt like he was on top of the world. His mom was still ranting as Ulrich ogled himself in the mirror. But, suddenly these sudden changes weren't as cool as he thought. Another thing stuck out to Ulrich about what his mom said.
"Where do I even work?" thought Ulrich.
Ulrich didn't even know if he wanted to go to work with all these questions that he had about "Younger Ulrich" and the missing six months from "Older Ulrich's" memories as well. He thought the best thing to do would to take the day off and take the time to think things through, or better, track down people with answers. But Ulrich had no idea who some of these individuals with those mythical answers would be. But something in the back of Ulrich's mind whispered to him and said that he needed to go to work. The voice assured him that all the answers would be there and that it would be better to keep up appearances rather than make everyone think he was crazy. Ulrich felt crazy, after hearing the voice in his head. But the voice wasn't telling him to do anything out of the ordinary, in fact, it was telling him to do the one thing that probably made the most sense so far, and that was to be a normal human being, at least for now. So he figured that feeling crazy was better than someone thinking he had gone mad. So Ulrich made the ultimate decision, and he decided to follow the voices' advice to go to work.
Ulrich recalled what his mom said about getting dressed for work. And he knew that he had about an hour and a half until he had to be to work. But that still didn't explain where he worked, or what he did. But he recalled his mom pointing out his wardrobe, and he figured a clue would be in his closet. From there he could make a guess based off of the clothes that were in there. Ulrich was hoping there wasn't some costumed mascot or a fast food uniform hanging in his closet. He clenched his eyes close in fear and took a deep breath and side-stepped back to the open door of the closet. He hesitantly opened his eyes to see mostly short and long-sleeved white dress shirts, slacks, and a small rack of neckties all pushed off to one side. All of these seemed to point to the fact that he worked in a professional setting, probably in an office somewhere. Ulrich breathed a sigh of relief; he was so glad there wasn't some goofy looking costume. But he was a little disappointed not to see something like sports equipment hanging up there. He has hoped that he was able to make a career out of his passion for sports. But that didn't mean there wasn't a chance still. Maybe the office job was just temporary. However, looking in his closet didn't answer anything, in fact, it made Ulrich even more confused. But hearing his mom's voice in the background made something click. There had to be at least one person in the room who could get him started on his quest for answers.
"Um, Mom...this may be a stupid question, but-" said Ulrich, over his shoulder.
"Ulrich dear, can't you see I'm talking to you?" scolded Ulrich's mom.
"Mom, I'm sorry, but I have a question." said Ulrich.
Ulrich's mom stopped cleaning and looked up at Ulrich, "What, Ulrich?" she said wearily.
"Where do I work?" he tried smiling at his mom to make it seem okay he couldn't remember.
Ulrich's mom sighed again, and put her head into her hand, "You ought to know, it's the only place you could get a job! The Cardiff Entertainment Media building!" said his mom, pointing out the window to a large glass building Ulrich swore he had never seen before.
"And it's not even a high up position! Just a mail clerk!" sighed Ulrich's mom, she put her head into her hand and shook her head back in forth in a sign of disappointment. But this didn't stop her from going off on Ulrich again.
"Sheesh, I don't like this, what happened? What is going on?!" Ulrich shouted in his mind.
Ulrich knew he didn't have many options, he could follow the voice in his head, or he could try to get answers another way, but the voice insisted that he go to work. Ulrich heaved and sighed and found himself at a mental crossroads. In a matter of moment, the brunette was found arguing with a voice in his head. To Ulrich, it seemed like he would have a better chance to go at it on his own and skip work to find answers. But the voice argued that at work there would be people he would know at least professionally would be able to help him piece together what happened within the last few months, and maybe a bit further if he was lucky and ran into the right people. But Ulrich knew if he didn't make a choice and do something soon, his mother would bite his head off. He could hear her continue to rant in the background as she finished tidying up his room.
So he decided to do the only thing that made sense, and he started getting ready for work. He was sure that he could find more answers there than just standing around in his room all day or fruitlessly traveling around town hoping that the answers would just fall into his lap. So, Ulrich pulled off his pajamas and pulled on a white shirt, a pair of the slacks, and tied one of the neckties. It took several minutes of fumbling, but Ulrich finally got a sloppy knot to hold that still looked, at least, half decent, although the back half was just slightly longer than the front half. He grabbed some socks and slid them on his feet. Ulrich looked at the shoes that he had in his closet, most of them were black dress shoes, but then he spotted a pair of checkered converses somewhere near the back of his closet. Ulrich tossed up the decision between the shoe styles and then made his choice on the converses. Ulrich figured if his mom said he was just a mail room clerk, no one would mind what he wore on his feet. Ulrich grabbed them and untied the laces, but not wanting to hear any more of his mom's rant he decided to put on his shoes in the hall, so Ulrich left.
"Okay mom, I get it!" whined Ulrich.
"Do you get it, Ulrich? I don't think you do, or you wouldn't disappoint us like you do!" screeched Mrs. Stern as Ulrich left his room.
Ulrich stepped out of his room and looked around the house. The house was nice! It was still the same house that both "Ulrich's" remembered growing up, but "Younger Ulrich" thought that the house looked so much different from the way he remembered it. There were several large improvements, noticeably the addition of several rooms that he didn't remember, and the renovation of several other rooms. There was also nice furniture and other such luxury items that Ulrich had only ever dreamed about. Ulrich always knew that his dad was doing well in business, but he never expected to have half the things they did in the house. Ulrich stood at the head of the stairs with his mouth slightly agape. Ulrich certainly couldn't wait to see how good the picture looked on the large flat-screen TV that was hanging in the living room. Ulrich continued to marvel as he slowly descended the stairs, and almost ran into his father coming up them.
"Dad!" gasped Ulrich, breaking out of his stupor.
"Ulrich, son!" said Ulrich's dad cheerfully with a large smile on his face. Something was up with that smile. Ulrich remembered only seeing it on rare occasions, and mostly when he was about to receive a "helpful" lecture. Ulrich braced for it, but it never came. His dad paused slightly in front of his son, but then nothing else happened. Ulrich opened his clenched eyes and saw his dad standing there with that smile.
"Hey son?" said Mr. Stern
"Yeah, dad?"
"You're kinda in the way of me getting to my room," said Mr. Stern, "I need to get my socks…" he said, wiggling his toes for Ulrich to see.
"Oh…" said Ulrich, and he moved out of the way.
"Dad! Why are you so happy? You're usually the one on my case about things I do wrong, is everything okay?" said Ulrich as his dad marched past Ulrich and then up the stairs in his cheerful mood. Ulrich continued down the stairs and then paused to look up at his dad.
"Why wouldn't things be, son?" said the Stern patriarch with a puzzled look on his face, "You didn't do anything wrong!" he said, leaning over the banister to talk to his son.
"Is anything wrong?" said Mr. Stern. This was a shock to Ulrich; usually, it was his dad that was upset at him, and his mom being nice to him.
Which raised the question on Ulrich's mind, "What happened?!"
Ulrich figured he'd be asking that question a lot today, but to keep up appearances, he needed to act like nothing was wrong. But Ulrich couldn't resist, he had to know what had changed to get his parents acting the way they were.
"I'm going to be late for...work," stammered Ulrich, trying to piece together a sentence that sounded appropriate, "And mom's yelling at me like it's going to be the end of the world!" said Ulrich to his dad.
"Surely you're mad about that!"
"Mad? When I was your age, I was a mail room clerk too! And I showed up late for work, at least, a dozen times! Now, it's not something I want you to make a habit of!" chided Ulrich's father,
"You just need to wait for your big break, like I did!" said Mr. Stern, lighting up with pride.
"But you're still not upset about my grades?" asked Ulrich, still thinking about his thirteen-year-old self. His grades were a source of constant contention between Ulrich and his father growing up. That much he could remember, and it was even with both sets of memories so he knew it must be important.
"Grades? Son! You're out of college now!"
Why couldn't Ulrich remember something like that? And if he was out of college, what did he graduate in that only was able to net him a position as a mail room clerk? Ulrich felt gipped that "Older Ulrich" seemed to be a bit of a failure in life already, and that he wasn't even able to land a job doing whatever it was that he went to school for. Ulrich added college and what he graduated with into the growing list of questions he had. But that all got filed right under other questions that took greater priority, like what happened, and how he got here in the first place. But Ulrich got distracted.
Ulrich's father continued, "While I would have liked it if you had paid a bit better attention in class since it did cost me a lot to put you through college! But that doesn't matter now since you're off working, and following in your old man's footsteps, I couldn't be happier!" said Ulrich's dad, flashing a smile at his son.
"Wow...dad happy, and mom yelling at me to do better? Now I have to know what happened!" thought Ulrich.
Ulrich's dad cast one more smile at his son and then continued the rest of the way up the stairs and disappeared into one of the rooms upstairs. Ulrich continued downstairs, his mind buzzing from everything that happened in literally the space of twenty minutes. He walked through the house and managed to find himself in the kitchen. Ulrich's stomach growled, and he felt like he hadn't eaten in days. In no time at all, Ulrich found himself sat down at the table with a bowl of cereal mulling over his thoughts. He couldn't explain where the cereal came from, or how he ended up sat down at the kitchen table. But there he was; with so many questions on his mind that he didn't have answers to.
What happened to the factory? The last thing Ulrich remembered was…was what? Ulrich could feel those memories slipping away from him as he tried to recall them. There was…a factory? And- and what?! Ulrich couldn't place two coherent thoughts together for more than a couple seconds. He was certain there was a factory and something about it that caused him to get to where he was now. But that was about it. And he still hadn't decided whether or not the other image of what he thought to be his friends was real, or something he was imagining. But whenever he thought he was getting close to discovering something new, that memory of the color white would overtake it, and Ulrich would lose whatever he was thinking of. It was like trying to build a wall out of mushy oats; nothing stayed together for more than a couple minutes. But whatever the case, there seemed to be a definite block there, and Ulrich wanted to chase after it, but his cereal was turning soggy as he pondered.
Ulrich returned to his cereal, chewing large mouthfuls to try and beat it from becoming totally mushy. The voice in his head suggested he do something to take his mind off his confusion, so he clicked on the TV they had in the kitchen and flipped channels. Ulrich's first nature was to find the cartoons, but the voice insisted on something a little more intelligent, so he changed the channels until he found the first news station he could find. The reporter on screen was going on about some new movie that had just opened at the box office, based on a book someone had written. The picture on the screen changed, and Ulrich was looking at a bunch of apparently famous celebrities as another reporter gave her story from the red carpet of the premiere that had happened last night. The reporter was dressed up in fancy dress, and seemed super excited, probably because of too much coffee. It was kind of interesting that something like this made the news and not some pop culture show. Ulrich didn't find the story fascinating anymore and was about to switch channels when he heard the reporter shout something.
"And here he comes! The author of this best-selling book, turned movie, Sean Cardiff!" Ulrich almost did a spit-take of his cereal out onto his lap. Sean Cardiff…?
Why did that name seem familiar?
"Mr. Cardiff! Mr. Cardiff! A word for the CEM news?" clamored the reporter, trying to get Sean's attention. Sean strode over to the reporter and smiled for the flashing cameras.
"Certainly, and call me Sean, please!" gushed Sean, a little full of himself.
Sean looked good, for an author, Ulrich figured. He wore a black tuxedo and a white bow tie that almost disappeared into his white shirt. His long, dirty blonde hair was combed to one side, and the top was gelled to hold at least that part of it in place. The rest of the blonde's hair flowed freely around his head and down his neck. He was tall, much taller than most of the people on screen, but still stood below six feet. The man looked very handsome, even in Ulrich's opinion, which is why he wasn't surprised the way the reporter reacted. She seemed slightly taken aback to be talking to the author, and she was even faintly blushing. Sean shot the journalist a brilliant smile and winked one of his liquid blue eyes. The reported blushed some more, but she regained her composure enough to continue with her interview.
"Mr. Cardiff! I mean Sean." said the reporter, and she blushed once again, "What can you tell me about the new movie? Is it anything like the book that you wrote?" asked the reporter.
"Honey, let me tell you something, with a director like my brother, if the movie is anything like the book, it will put my book to shame!" said Sean, laughing with the reporter.
The reporter stopped and looked over the shoulder of the blonde. Her reaction changed as she witnessed something off-screen. Following her gaze, Sean turned to look behind. A smile suddenly graced the blonde's face, and he said, "And here he is now, Seth! Get over here and say hello to your adoring fans!"
Seth strode over and smiled largely for the flashing cameras. Seth was the spitting image of Sean. He had no idea how anyone was supposed to tell them apart besides their obvious choice in clothing. Instead of a black tuxedo, Seth wore a bright red one, and it almost blended into the red carpet. His bow tie was black, and so was the shirt he wore under it. His hair was gelled as well but combed the other way than his brother's. Seth looked sharp, although Ulrich thought he was a little too flamboyant. His clothes were almost the exact polar opposite than those his twin brother wore, and he had a white rose tucked into his lapel, and Sean had a red rose tucked into his.
"Hi, adoring fans!" said Seth staring straight into the reporter's camera. Ulrich rolled his eyes.
"Seth Cardiff, everybody!" said Sean, gesturing around for the audience that wasn't there. Seth gave a couple of waves just like he was the Queen, and Sean hummed a regal little tune to match. They weren't able to keep it up long, though, and soon the two burst into laughter, and their laughs matched perfectly. It was like hearing it in stereo, and it almost unnerved Ulrich a little bit. He knew they were twins, but this was ridiculous.
"Mr. Cardiff," started the reporter, trying to get a word in edgewise.
"Well hello there, beautiful!" said Seth, taking the reporter's free hand and planting a kiss on it.
The reporter almost lost it. But she found herself again and started again, "Mr. Cardiff…"
"Please, doll, call me Seth…" said the other twin, equally full of himself.
Ulrich had to admit; there was something just slightly different from the two brothers. While on the surface, they looked the same, there was something about their personalities that made up the major part of the differences between them. Seth seemed a little bit more confident in the way he flirted with the reporter. Sean was a bit more low-key, whereas Seth was totally in your face about it. But regardless, Ulrich kept listening.
"Right, Seth!" stammered the reporter, obviously having a hard time keeping her interview professional.
"When your brother wrote his book, why did you want to be the one to be the one who directed the movie adaptation? And how were you able to beat out all the other directors who wanted to be the one to direct this best-selling book?" asked the reporter.
"I knew it from the very start, Es-ee's book was going to be gold," said Seth, grinning at his brother. Ulrich raised an eyebrow, 'Es-ee'? As far as pet nicknames went, that had to have been one of the worst he had ever heard.
"After it hit over 50 million sales, I knew I had to be the one to direct the movie that it was going to be based on. Of course, I knew I was the only one who could bring a certain…a creative element that the movie would need to be the best book to movie adaptation you've ever seen!" said Seth, flashing another smile for the cameras and audience. The crowd roared and whistled, and more camera bulbs went off.
Seth got serious now, "Of course, being the author's brother didn't hurt. But I said to him, 'Es-ee, you make dead sure you want me to be the director of this movie. I may not be the best, but with a track record like mine, how can you refuse?'" Sean and Seth laughed again. Ulrich frowned, he could clearly see that nepotism ran in the family.
"And I told him, 'With a track record like yours, how can I fail?'" Sean looked at Seth, and they both hugged and slapped each other on the back. The audience and the reporters all awed, and there were more flashes and shouting.
"And with a track record like the both of yours, I expect this movie to be the best one I've seen yet! What will you two come up with next?" asked the reporter.
"Well, you see, we're going to take a break for a little while now." said Sean, putting an arm around Seth's shoulder, "And come up with more ideas before we come back with more ideas that I'm sure are going to wow you!" he said.
Sean leaned in close to the reporter and whispered something that was barely picked up by her microphone, but included 'several things that will wow you too.' The reporter blushed so deeply that her face almost matched the color of the carpet underneath her feet. Ulrich rolled his eyes so hard that the girl would fall for something that seemed so obviously like a ploy for the cameras. But everyone ate it up. Ulrich figured that was the way that the world of showbiz worked. And if that was how it worked, he never wanted to be a part of it. It all seemed so fake. The reporter turned back around to face the camera and tried to finish her reports. Ulrich was surprised she was even able to get words out based on the way she was gasping and trying to cool down. Ulrich went to turn off the TV, but he caught something out of the corner of his eye. There was a girl not far behind the twins that Ulrich thought he recognized. Ulrich looked closer, and all he caught was a glimpse of an Asian looking girl. An Asian?! Ulrich quickly tried to recall the image in his head. All he really could see of the girl who fit that description was the hair and a set of dark clothing. He couldn't recall any facial features. But still, none of it matched the girl on screen. But yet, there was something about her that Ulrich couldn't tear away from.
"Older Ulrich" remembered her vaguely like someone who looked a girl he had met in school before. But what was her name? Ulrich couldn't think of anything that sounded right. Ulrich was too caught up in his thoughts to catch her name in time. But according to the reporter, she was the lead actress for the Cardiff twins' big movie. She was wearing a trim, floor-length silver dress and her hair was done up in a neat bun, held together by a set of ornate chopsticks. Her makeup was all done up, and she looked breathtaking. The Asian lady stopped to do a quick interview and then moved on, off-camera. Ulrich was glued to screen the entire time, not sure whether he knew this girl or not. Ulrich's dad walked into the kitchen right at the end of the interview. He glanced quickly at the TV and then said,
"Ah, I see you've noticed Yumi Ishiyama!"
"Huh?" said Ulrich, snapping away from the TV to look at his dad.
"I thought that she wasn't the type of girl you were into…" said Ulrich's dad with a bit of a playful chuckle.
"What?" said Ulrich, half-dazed.
"Never mind…" chuckled Mr. Stern, "Yumi Ishiyama! She's one of CEM's biggest actresses," he said, pointing to the bottom corner of the screen where the news logo was displayed. The news station was apparently called CEM. Ulrich didn't recognize the name, but he felt like he had heard it somewhere. Where had he heard that before?
"You ought to know, you work there!" said Ulrich's dad, noticing the look on his son's face.
"I- I do?" then it hit him, his mom had said that he worked at Cardiff Entertainment Media. It was then that he realized that it could be abbreviated to 'CEM'
"Yep, as the all-important mail clerk!" said Ulrich's dad with a big smile.
"All-important huh?" said Ulrich incredulously.
"Exactly! All positions are important, or that's at least what Mrs. Cardiff says…" said Ulrich's dad trailing off. Why did that name sound so familiar? Cardiff…Cardiff…where had Ulrich heard that name before?
"Well even though I wish we could get paid to stand around and talk here, that just doesn't pay the bills! We need to get to work!" said Ulrich's dad. He walked past Ulrich and clapped a hand on his son's shoulder, smiled, and walked out of the kitchen.
Ulrich turned off the TV long after that girl had left and after that, he just sat there. Things were confusing, but Ulrich was determined to get to the bottom of this mystery. Ulrich heaved a sigh and stood up from the table. He bid farewell to his mother and then walked out of the house and into the driveway.
Ulrich stopped briefly to snag the only set of keys on the board hanging on the wall on a hook. "Older Ulrich" recognized them as his, but besides that, that was one of the first solid memories that he was able to pull out of his brain. Ulrich was a little unsure about what was inevitably going to happen next. Ulrich pulled open the front door and walked down the path in front of the house to the garage. Ulrich's jaw almost dropped when he saw a long sports car sitting in the driveway. Ulrich desperately hoped the keys in his hand were to that car. Ulrich walked towards it and was about to get into it when his dad hollered at him.
"Whoa, there sport! You just can't be taking off with the old man's ride when you feel like it," Mr. Stern walked towards Ulrich, a set of car keys in hand, Ulrich now knew that his keys probably wouldn't have worked.
"How am I going to get to work?" Mr. Stern asked, ruffling Ulrich's hair.
"Sorry- Dad. But how am I supposed to get to- work?" said Ulrich, he couldn't believe that he was saying those words.
Mr. Stern hopped into the sports car and backed down the driveway. On the way, Mr. Stern pointed to a beat-up green coupe that was hidden behind his car. Ulrich walked up to it and peered through the small, grimy window. Ulrich almost lost it in laughter. The small coupe made clown cars seem roomy, and the car was probably as old as he was. Ulrich looked at the keys he had in his hand and was hoping his dad was joking. But unfortunately, when Ulrich put the keys in the slot and turned them, the door popped open. Once the lock was disengaged, the door popped slightly out, as if the lock was the only thing holding it in. Ulrich grasped the handle, and the door creaked as he opened it. Ulrich crammed himself into the front seat and looked around. The car was old and needed work. The front seat came loose from one set of the adjustable seat rails it sat on when he leaned back, the radio only got AM radio stations, and most of them were in a language he didn't understand. The passenger seat was torn in places and stained with something that Ulrich was pretty sure that didn't want to know about. The back seat was tiny, if not microscopic. And his knees hit the steering wheel, even with the seat fully extended.
Ulrich laughed, if his dad thought he was going to drive this thing, it was a joke. But he didn't have much of a choice. "Younger Ulrich" knew just a little bit about cars, like where the key went, and how to start it, but after that, he was hoping "Older Ulrich" knew what to do. So he put the key in the ignition and turned it over. The old car chugged and coughed as Ulrich tried to start it. He remembered seeing in the movies that people would pump the gas pedal to get things going when they wouldn't work. So he goosed the throttle and tried to get it going. The car started, and Ulrich cheered. Then it stalled and died, Ulrich groaned and pounded his head against the steering wheel. He looked up as his mom stood in a large window on the second floor and tapped her wrist to remind him what time it was. Ulrich looked at his watch and realized she was right; he had 20 minutes to get to the office before his shift started, and his mom had said before he left that they lived 30 minutes away. Ulrich struggled with the car and finally got it working with 15 minutes left to get to work.
It was then that Ulrich had the urge again just to skip work. He thought to himself that didn't know for sure if he was going to get his answers by going to work. He felt like he would have a better chance hunting down this mysterious factory he had in his head and going from there. But the voice in his head almost shouted to him that he needed to go to work. Ulrich wasn't sure about it, but he knew the voice wouldn't be quiet until he, at least, made an attempt to get to work. So Ulrich made up his mind to head that way and hope for the best. He hoped at the bottom of his heart that "Older Ulrich" would kick in, and he'd be able to act at least natural while he was at work. But something told him that this would be like starting the job all over again. Ulrich placed his hands on the steering wheel and then froze.
Then Ulrich realized another thing, and this was the thing he was dreading. Did he know how to drive? Physically he was twenty-three, but mentally he still felt thirteen. He had seen his dad drive often enough to know what all the pedals and other things did, but that didn't mean that he knew how to drive. Ulrich pulled out his wallet from his back pocket and looked at the front plastic screen in the wallet. Apparently at some point, "Older Ulrich" had gotten his license, he could see it sitting there with his picture and everything. But Ulrich didn't feel older, which made for a terrible conundrum. At least, the car was an automatic, and he wouldn't have to try and learn how to drive a stick shift on top of wondering if he could drive. Finally, it came to down to whether Ulrich dared to drive or not, trusting that he would just 'know what to do'. Ulrich was tired of the always confused feeling, and trusted the voice in his head that there would most likely be answers at work, so he pulled the gearshift into reverse and backed down the driveway. On the way down he almost hit the trash cans that were sitting at the end, but he swerved just in time to miss them. From there, he turned, put the car in drive and slowly accelerated away from the house.
The drive to work was uneventful. At some point during the drive, Ulrich lost all anxiety of driving, and just sat back and enjoyed the ride. He figured he would have enjoyed it more if he could have felt his knees, but he was more preoccupied with the thought that he knew how to drive. The next big problem was finding the right roads. Ulrich remembered most of the roads leading in and out of their neighborhood, but from there, he had to figure out how to get downtown. Thankfully, the large CEM building was visible for most of the ride, so Ulrich tried his best to find roads that went that direction. As he got closer, signs started to appear, pointing Ulrich the last little bit of the vast glass structure.
"I'm going to be so late!" thought Ulrich as he finally pulled into the massive staff parking garage at Cardiff Entertainment Media.
He didn't find a parking spot until another five minutes had passed. Ulrich figured he was, at least, twenty minutes late, and he still didn't know where to go from there. Ulrich hopped out of his car, pushed the door closed so he could lock it, and then ran through the rest of the parking structure to find an elevator. Ulrich was panicking; just because he made it to the building, didn't mean he knew where to go from there. His job could be anywhere in the massive structure. Ulrich was already forming a plan in his mind of what to do once he entered the building. He would go to the front desk in the lobby and see if anyone there knew him and could direct him to where he worked. Ulrich nervously fiddled with the button on the elevator panel and desperately hoped there was going to be someone who could help him once he got to the lobby. The elevator display read that it was finally on his floor, and there was the typical 'ding', and the doors slid open. Ulrich was slightly surprised to find there was already someone standing in there. Ulrich went to get in and ask the man for help, but he didn't look happy. Ulrich paused at the door.
"Is there something wrong?"
The man tapped his foot and scowled, "Ulrich Stern! You're late, again!" roared the man.
"I'm sorry," said Ulrich, but then he realized something, "Who are you?"
"You're late, and you have the nerve to ask me who I am?" the man seemed to stew in his anger, "You honestly can say you don't know who I am?! What is this, a joke, Stern?" Ulrich felt nervous to do anything without further frustrating the man, when Ulrich didn't answer, the man growled.
"William Dunbar! Your boss?!"
Then "Older Ulrich" remembered, both Ulrichs knew of William from school, he had just moved to their school after being kicked out of his old one. He was usually a quiet kid, but there were a lot of rumors that flew around about him. Ulrich didn't know him all that well, but the fact that he was saying that he was Ulrich's boss seemed to mean something that made "Older Ulrich's" stomach sink a little bit. William continued to tap his foot with his arms folded across his chest and a sour look on his face, Ulrich didn't know what to say.
"Sorry, Will." William flinched at Ulrich's use of a nickname. Ulrich could tell he hit a nerve there, so Ulrich thought quick and said, "Sorry Mr. Dunbar, I promise this will be the last time." he recanted.
"You're lucky I don't fire you on the spot, but if I did that, there would be some awkward questions in the Marketing department when your dad finds out I fired you. You're lucky you have friends in high places, Ulrich Stern!" said William, holding a finger under Ulrich's chin.
Ulrich drew back slightly in fear, but also slightly in disgust. If memory had served him correctly, William was taller than he was in grade school, but it was apparent that puberty wasn't very kind to William, because it looked like he hadn't grown much since then, whereas Ulrich was now half a head or taller than his boss. So having his boss pointing at him, Ulrich didn't know whether to laugh or take him seriously. The whole sight was funny, so Ulrich couldn't help but let out a little snicker.
"What was that Stern?" demanded William
"N-nothing! I'm sorry, just um- remembered a joke I heard on the way to work today!" bluffed Ulrich
"Well keep that and your excuses to yourself! Now am I going to have to report this to the higher ups, like your father?" threatened William. Ulrich shook his head and then hung it in defeat. It was very apparent that older Ulrich was whipped when it came to his boss. It seemed like he held a tight grip on Ulrich's professional life.
"My dad works here too? Just how big is this company?" thought Ulrich.
"What is with those shoes?" asked Mr. Dunbar, looking down at Ulrich's converse shoes.
"M-my- shoes? What's wrong with them?" stuttered Ulrich, looking at them.
"They're not to uniform, you need to have regular dress shoes, not those flashy- things," said William with another look of anger and disgust. Ulrich apologized and looked down again at the ground.
"Stop standing there with that look on your face and get in here!" said William, holding the door to the elevator open. Ulrich gasped and apologized again. He stepped into the elevator and pushed a button labeled 'SB2' which Ulrich could only assume meant the second level- in the basement.
"Great, not a whole lot of sunlight in that area to be sure..." thought Ulrich, already dreading working where he did.
The elevator's atmosphere felt tense as Ulrich spent the ride down to with William. William was tapping his foot and giving Ulrich dirty looks every so often. Ulrich tried talking to his boss, but every time he opened his mouth, William would hold up his hand and stop Ulrich before he even said anything. Ulrich decided to stay silent for the rest of the ride in the elevator. The elevator finally stopped, and the doors opened with a "ding!" William marched out as soon as the doors opened, and Ulrich followed. William marched to a large door with his name printed on it. Ulrich went to follow him, but William turned on him when he tried.
"What are you doing?" asked William with his eyebrow raised. Ulrich tried to form words, but Ulrich couldn't get anything out. Instead, William cut him off by pointing to the name plaque on the door, "Whose name is on this door?"
"Mr. Dunbar?" replied Ulrich.
"That's right- it says Mr. Dunbar, not Ulrich Stern, so DO NOT ENTER!" shouted Mr. Dunbar.
He slammed the door in Ulrich's face, and Ulrich felt a little anger rising in his chest. He already wanted to pummel his boss, but he knew that could have some nasty repercussions. Although no one said it, Ulrich could already feel like today was going to be a long day.
"Ten years too late, and ten steps behind…" thought Ulrich.