Enter Blue Earth

Chapter one

PROLOGUE


A BIZZARE ROAD ACCIDENT

Thirteen year old Joshua William Luke and his twin brother, William Thomas Luke were sitting on the back seats of their dad’s car, coming back to Christchurch, after a long trip to Kaikoura . Their dad was in the driver’s seat, loosely holding the steering wheel. The car was zooming along the smooth, grayish black road cruising near a beach, in the middle of a moonless night and with Josh looking into the night sky from the window Beautiful, Josh thought with thousands of star glittering the night sky. As he looked further into the night sky, he noticed that the stars formed a band, like a glowing cloud in outer space, stretching from horizon to horizon. He looked back into the road and saw a signpost on the left side of the road and stared at it for a while. Suddenly, something caught his attention. He saw what looked like a shadowy figure standing behind the signpost. It was tall and was standing still. It was the only thing that would only appear in horror movies, Josh thought, and now, it seems to have jumped into reality. A chill ran through his spine. He had a strange feeling that someone outside the car was watching him. He looked to the right window of the car, he could see the moon, hovering just above the horizon, with its light being reflected from the sea and its colours were as red as a Chinese lantern and was a perfectly round, full moon, or a full moon as it appears to be “Hey Josh. Look at the moon.” His dad said. Josh replied “Yeah, what about it?”. His dad replied “The moon isn’t supposed to come that fast. Just a few seconds ago it wasn’t there.” Josh asked “Really? Mummy, did you see the moon?” his dad replied “Mum is asleep. I’m sure she doesn’t want to be disturbed.” Josh said “I‘m sorry.” His dad replied “That’s fine Josh. No need to say sorry.” The strange feeling was still in him. He looked back and tried to spot the signpost but it was no longer visible. He looked back at the moon and saw that it was now dark yellow in colour and was brighter than before and was higher up in the sky. Josh was confused, his dad was right. The moon should not have risen that fast. The moon began to glow brighter still, to the extent that Josh noticed the change of brightness in the moon. The moon began climbing higher and higher into the sky, so fast that he was able to see it moving higher up into the sky. “Dad, look at the moon!” Josh exclaimed. His dad glanced at the moon before turning back to the road ahead. Suddenly, a pair of bright lights suddenly appeared in front. Josh watched in horror as a large oversized truck came racing towards the car...

Josh lay in a bed, somewhere in a hospital warden. He slowly opened his eyes and stared at the neon lights on the ceiling. He felt intense pain on his left arm. When he looked at he realised that it was held by a thick cloth wrapped around his neck “Where am I?” he asked “You’re in a hospital. What’s your name, by the way?” he heard a female voice. He looked in front of him and saw a young woman, dressed in dark clothes, with a name tag attached to her clothing. “My name is Josh.” He answered. She asked him again “What’s your full name?” he replied “Joshua William Luke.” She asked him again “How old are you?” he replied “I’m thirteen.” The woman introduced herself “By the way, I’m the nurse looking after you right now. You can call me Michelle.” The nurse said “Anything I can do for you?” Josh replied “Yes. Do you know, where are my parents and my twin brother? Are they alright?”. The nurse showed him a face of uneasiness and replied “ I don’t know. The cops told me they could not find your parents or your twin brother from the crash site.” Josh looked confused “What crash?”. The nurse replied “You were involved in a car accident, Josh.” She showed him a picture of the wreckage of his dad’s car which resembled a distorted sculpture of tin. His jaw dropped. The nurse continued “You were very lucky that you survived this accident, with only a broken arm. Were you wearing a seatbelt?” Josh replied “I was.”. He then heard footsteps coming from the corridor. Josh looked to the door and saw two police officers. They turned to the nurse and asked her “Is this the room for Joshua William Luke?”. The young boy looked scared. The nurse said “Yes, that’s right.”. One of the policeman said “Josh.” Josh replied “Yes.”. The policeman continued “We’re sorry about what happened. Neither your parents nor your twin brother were found. There was also no traces of blood found in the car. It was as if your parents or your brother were not even in the car. We’ve been searching the surrounding areas but we still can’t find them. But our search efforts will continue.” The policeman paused, before he continued “You were very lucky to have survived the crash , and a crash that only left you with a broken arm. Based from the wreckage, we’ve predicted that the car that you were in smacked head on into a cliff at one hundred and forty kilometres an hour. Normally, a speed like that would probably have caused heavy injuries ,maybe even killing you altogether , even when you have been wearing a seatbelt.” Josh interjected “My parents weren’t over speeding. When I saw the big truck the car was only travelling at ninety kilometres an hour.” The policeman that asked looked rather confused “A big truck? We did not see any trucks on the crash site nor did we see any trucks driving near the vicinity of the crash site, with some signs being involved in a crash.” Josh could not help but ask the policeman “Where are my parents and my twin brother?” the policeman repeated himself “As I said earlier, we could not yet find them. But rescue efforts will resume. In the meantime, I have to go now.” And the policemen exited the room. It was not long that the nurse said “Unfortunately, I have to go as well. But there will be other hospital staff around overnight just in case you need anything. If you do, just give them a shout.” Josh replied “I’ll be fine.”And the nurse left the room. Josh stood up, switched off the lights and lay down in the hospital bed, but found it hard to sleep, thinking about what might have happened to his parents and twin brother. Josh first thought that it was impossible for a crash site to have no traces of blood or flesh, but after the strange sightings he saw just minutes before the crash, the possibility of such freaky accident seemed very likely.


The next morning, the bright sun shone through the window. Josh, however, was already awake sitting in his bed and watching the sun as it slowly rose from the horizon, illuminating the nearby clouds. Below the window of the hospital ward, he could he could clearly see the busy road intersections as it was the rush hour time. Cars, buses and occasionally motorcycles surged in and out of the intersection. Josh could see people walking, running and skateboarding along the footpaths besides those roads as they go about their daily lives. A small passenger jet plane flew across the sky and Josh stared at it for a while before it disappeared behind one of the hospital buildings. Josh finally turned his attention to the small car park that surrounds the hospital entrance, where he could see a small blue van crawling into the car park before stopping near the exit. Josh immediately recognised the car and the licence number, which belonged to Uncle Jack, who was his mum’s older brother. Josh watched as the doors of the car opened and a short man, wearing a blue jacket and a pair of black track pants, as well as a pair of glasses. He had dark brown hair and a pair of moustache and it. Josh recognised him, It definitely was uncle Jack. Josh continued to stare at the window for a while before he opened the door slightly and lay back down in bed. A few minutes later, he heard a knocking sound coming from the door “Come in, Uncle. The door is open.” Josh said. His uncle asked him “How did you know it was me?” Josh smiled a little and said “I saw you from up here.” His uncle said to him “I hear you had a broken arm, and a terrible crash. I’m sorry to hear that. Man, I heard the crash that you had was a freaky one.” Josh answered back “I’ve heard that. Is mum and dad okay?” uncle Jack replied “They’re still looking for them and your twin brother. But the doctors said that you’re good enough to go home. Your bizarre car crash made it all the way to the newspaper. I red that the police couldn’t find any traces of blood and that there were no physical evidence that neither your parents nor your twin brother were even inside the car. They were really mystified on how you got away from the crash with only a broken arm. Josh looked at him intently before he said “You seem to be confused about the crash.” Uncle Jack was a little surprised “That’s right, how do you know?” Josh, not knowing what to say , replied “ I just did.” He paused for a while, before saying “Uncle, something weird happened last night. It’s so weird that you won’t believe anything that I will say.” His uncle asked “What is it?” uncle Jack asked. Josh replied “I saw the moon rising up so fast that I could see it moving through the sky. Along the way, we went past a signpost and I saw this man standing behind it...and then there was this big truck coming right towards us... that’s pretty much all I can remember.” Josh said. Uncle Jack was silent for a few seconds before he said “OK, that’s weird. Anyway, I’m going to bring you over to my place. That’s where you will be staying until they’ve found your twin and your parents.” His uncle said. Josh climbed down from his bed and went with his uncle, who led him out of the ward. He passed through a series of corridors and hallways before stepping into the elevator and later coming out into the entrance hall. As they walked across the hall, he saw the nurse who was in his ward last night. She looked at him and smiled “See you later, Josh.” Josh replied “See you later.” His uncle, however, ended up having a brief chat with the nurse and Josh and the nurse repeated the same phrase that they recited shortly after Josh came out from the lift . He finally walked out of the hospital and jumped into the van, where he saw his two cousins, 15 year old Tim and 11 year old Tom. Tom said “Hi Josh, I’m sorry about the crash.” “That’s alright.” Josh replied. Tom asked him again “Have you had breakfast yet?” Josh replied “No. I did not have any breakfast nor any dinner at the hospital.” Tom replied “You must be really hungry, then.” “I am actually.” Josh replied. Uncle Jack said “We got lots of food at home. You can eat breakfast over there.” Josh replied “Thank you.” Uncle Jack said “No problem.” He pulled the van from the car park and into the road. As Uncle Jack pulled the car into the road and they passed an empty bus stop. Josh looked at the bus stop and saw a man standing near it, who caught Josh’s attention . The man was tall and had black hair. He was wearing a long, black, flowing overcoat and was wearing a beanie and a pair of sunglasses. The man then pulled a cell phone and began pressing buttons. A bus droned past Josh in the opposite direction on the right side of the road , blocking the man and the bus stop from view. However, as the bus stop came into view again, the man was no longer there...