This choice: Reader's Choice Character • Go Back...Chapter #2Reader's Choice Character by: pillas   Jack fell back on his bed with a sigh. At 17 He had just moved to this new town and it was such a boring place, nothing like the city he grew up in. People stared at him, they talked funny, and to top it off he was expected to do manual labor in his free time. His mother and father bought the place as way to break into organic farming and farm to table cooking or something. He didnt really care, his older sister was just as bored and fed up as him, while his younger sister loved the fact that she could ride all the "horsies"and pet the doggies, and look at the cute piggies.
The new school was just as boring, the students actually participated in school events and dances and had curfews to observe on school night, it was like he went back in time. At least he had the internet and video games to rely on. At least he thought he did, finding out that his father wanted him to help till the fields with him, and clean out the barn was too much. All his free time was gone now, and he was expected to go to bed early and wake up at the crack of dawn to help feed the animals and help them graze all before going to school. Was he even supposed to get any free time?
Another thing that annoyed him was this dumb farm house they live in, it was weird and creepy sometimes. Everything creaked, the pipes leaked, and they made funny noises whenever you turned the hot water on. You needed a key for every lock, and the keys were weird looking ones too. His dad had given him a large ring of keys that looked like they belonged to some old fashioned policemans key ring, asked him to go clean out the basement since he didnt have time. Jack grabbed a flashlight from his closet and headed downstairs.
"Hey Jack, Here try this...it's freshly ground ginger with a bit of spicy turmeric and coconut frosting cupcake" His mother accosted him at the kitchen, blocking his way to the basement entrance. Jack sighed, he didnt like the fact he had to move out here, but he did have to admit his mothers "concoctions" were always some of the tastiest and most delicious he had ever eaten. Taking a bite of the cupcake led him down a subtle ride of sweet, and spicy and a bit of a kick in the back of your throat that felt tingly yet pleasant.
"That was great mom...and you know I love ginger in anything" Jack answered honestly. Scarfing down the rest of his cupcake. His mom beamed at him and tended to the rest of her pastries. He passed by a freshly made batch of snicker-doodles and snuck one off the tray before heading to the basement. He twirled the keys around in his hand as headed down the stairs. While some might be creeped out to venture down into the basement of an old house, Jack wasnt because for a barn basement it wasnt even that scary. Jack asked his parents if instead of a room on the second floor could he have the basement instead. Since while the rest of the house was your standard old craftsman style barn house. The basement was actually renovated, but it was done so in an odd way. It looked like you walking into old fashioned 1950s study. A library of books lined the walls from astro-physics to quantum theories, time travel, science fiction, history books, engineering and anatomy books for all sorts of things, there was books about myths, legends, cryptozoology, even comic books from the 1920s, 30s, 40s and 50s. In the middle of it all was what seemed like a lounge area with an desk and a leather chair and ottoman. The far corner of the wall had a bathroom, a fold out bed and a locked closet.
He leafed through a book on Native American myths on the sidetable near the lounge area and headed to the closet. The door was plain carved oak and seemed fairly new considering the rest of the surrounding furniture. However it was sealed tight and only had a single keyhole and no door knob. It was an odd door to say the least but maybe he could figure out something with this set of keys.
Jack mumbled to himself, each key brought him more frustration, these old keys sometimes took some finagling to work right in the locks and he couldn't tell if they were the right ones or not since the door didn't even have a door knob to pull on. when he got the last key he grunted in annoyance.
"fucking old fashioned piece of crap!" Jack yelled, throwing the set of keys to the floor in frustration. He heard a loud clang of something metal breaking off as the keys struck the floor. Jack reeled, fearing he might have broken one of the keys and saw to his dismay that one of the keys was in fact in two parts now. He picked up the other half of the broken key and was surprised to see that the key was hollow on one end. The other part of the key had different ridges than all the rest. Jack stared at the keys wondering why someone would go through the trouble of making a key hidden like this. Having nothing to lose Jack turned around and tried the new hidden key into the mysterious door. As soon as he inserted it into the lock, A hiss was heard from the door and the key became stuck. Jack stumbled back as a loud series of metal clanging noises emanated from the other side and the door slid into a compartment on the side of the wall.
There was a strange hidden room beyond the now open doorway, it looked like something you would find in one of those old 1950s mad scientists movies. There was a multitude of strange contraptions scattered about, test tubes, beakers, metal coils and wires. There was a chalkboard with equations, and in the far corner in the wall was a pedestal with a rather pristine looking device perched upon it. What made it odd was that it was in direct contrast to the rest of the equipment in the room since it looked like a typical standard touch phone but about five times as thick and it was the screen was lit. Jack stared dumbfounded, everything around the room looked like it hadnt been touched in decades, but the device before him looked like it just came fresh from the factory. When Jack approached the device it startled him as a prompt came on the screen. It looked almost like a typical smart phone layout. There was a message icon however indicating that it was waiting to be read. Jack picked up the device carefully and tapped the icon for the messaging app.
"New user aqquired, Upload data? Y - N" The message said simply, Jack wondered what that meant since he doubt the device even had wifi, but decided to click Y anyway. A bright flash came from the device and blinded him as soon as he tapped the Y button.
Jack rubbed his eyes and brought the Alpha remote into view, wait the what now?
How did he know what it was called, and....Jackes brain suddenly kicked into overdrive and he was left reeling with a minor headache as he came down. He had full operating knowledge of the device in his hand, like if the manual was suddenly downloaded into his brain. However there was bits and pieces missing like he been given a full copy of a book but with some pages torn out. The aspects of the device were...odd to say the least, and even stranger was that there was nothing about who created the device or where it came from.
"This thing can do what...thats....thats not possible" Jack wondered aloud, staring at the device in his hands. From the knowledge he gained, he knew that he could alter and interchange the aspects of any human or animal as he pleased. And with the ability to alter reality itself. None of it seemed possible but the information forced into his brain said otherwise. Jack had many questions...however his curiosity over the devices origin was now presided by his overwhelming curiosity of trying out the device.
"I just...have to make sure....that this is real" Jack said to himself, reassuring himself that what he does now is out of scientific curiosity.
"hehe...maybe with this things will be less boring." Jack laughed to himself, locking the door behind him and securing it with the secret key and heading back up the stairs.
His mother was busy looking through a recipe book, and decided to head outside to meet his dad instead. His father was busy feeding the horses, cows, sheep and pigs. His little sister was playing with the sheepdog and the two Australian shepherds. His older sister was on her phone texting on the porch. As much as Jack loved his family, he knew that no matter what he did with the device reality would alter to fit the changes he made...that is if it actually worked.
Jack looked around on who to test it on first, his father or his sisters....or maybe just mess around with some animals instead.  indicates the next chapter needs to be written. |
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