Time Escape

Time Escape

Michael John

Chapter I

MITE REBDEN

         Joey slammed down his bed, then turned off the lights, and turned off the fan & his iPod. It has been a very long day for him. All the works & stuff he had to do before he become relieved of his worries about his coming exams in school.
         It was almost midnight yet his eyes doesn't seem to obey him and keep open. The incoming wind from his windows gently chilled him under his blankets. Many things have been coming out and popping in his mind. Maybe he was just really tired. The very least he can do that night to relieve the uneasiness bothering him was to enjoy the soft music playing in his iPod - which batteries were dying. The wind blew again, this time a lil' colder and stronger, swaying the curtains almost violently, amplifying the coldness he's feeling that time. He can't just endure the cold, he has a lot in mind for the coming day, he needs some rest, he needs to sleep.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

"Honey, the breakfast's ready! Get up now!"Joey was awakened by the seemed-to-be-scream of his mother and with the indistinct cry of his baby sister.
"Yes, mom, coming!" he yelled back.
         Joey absentmindedly get up his bed and walked towards the door. Downstairs, he saw his mother and his little sister waiting for him in the dining area, then he dashed back to his room, he remembered that wasn't wearing the right attire - not the pajamas - which his mother have always told him to wear when it's about to eat. He stumbled to his closet and saw a rather large gray jacket hanging. He stopped. The thought of his father came to him again. He has been missing him.
         Joey had had no father for two years. He was kidnapped. In the deepest time of the night. The kidnappers leaving no clue as to where to find him beyond the fact that his parents' bedroom was a pandemonium when the kidnappers left, and his mother didn't have the slightest sensation that the room she was sleeping in was beginning to be chaos.
         The memories of the day that he heard her mother's scream - not the usual one that he hears every time his mother wakes him up - of fear and despair was still very fresh in his memories.
         It was a supposed-to-be a good, ordinary morning when Joey heard his mother's loud scream.
"Aaah!" the voice of his mother boomed and echoed throughout the house. When Joey heard this, he ran to his mother's room, nervous of what could have happened.
"What happened mom?!" he screamed back as he headed towards the room. His mother did not reply. And when he opened the door, there he saw his mother's room, things and stuff thrown everywhere that you would ask yourself if a tornado happened in the room.
"What happened mom?!?" he repeated, only sounding more urgent. His mother didn't reply, instead, she handed him a paper, a note apparently, left by the kidnappers. He nervously opened the note, and saw the large writings which read...
"WHATEVER YOU DO, WHOEVER YOU SEEK HELP TO...
YOU'LL NEVER FIND HIM ANYWHERE! - MITE REBDEN"
         He was paralyzed, the message was somewhat simple, yet he was shocked by its content. And only then, he noticed, what a very peculiar name - MITE REBDEN - for a kidnapper? For now he doesn't care much about who sent it. What was in his mind that time was, what could be the reason of his father's abduction? His father didn't have any enemies, but there are those who thinks he is a insane to say that he is capable of making a very high-technology machine that would enable them to do their work with so much ease. He doesn't know what to do, what lies ahead.

Chapter II

The Game

         He really doesn't have the idea of what to think that day. All that was coming into his mind was the thought of his father. Is he okay? Alive? Dead?! He doesn't know, and it seems that he won't know, for long.
"Honey, the breakfast's ready! Get up now!" Joey heard his mother's voice. He was brought back to the real time. He thought he'd been in his room for almost an hour! He quickly get up and seized a T-shirt in his closet. He dashed back quickly to the stairs and saw in disbelief, himself going downstairs in that pajamas. No, he thought, he might be imagining things. He blinked and felt a chill run down his spine and saw her mother patiently waiting and sitting near the table, not him going down the stairs. And for another moment, amazed, he saw that the food in the table was untouched, and still steaming after an hour.
"Sorry mom, I've been upstairs for too long." he said his mom.
"Too long? Upstairs? What are you talking about? I've just called you and now you've just come." her mother replied, a bit mystified.
"But-" he was cut by his mother. "Don't focus on nonsense things, come here now and let's eat. I'm starving."
         Joey finally had a seat beside the table. The three sausages with some helpings of cold breakfast cereals and a glass of orange juice satisfied Joey's hunger that morning. Feeling full and a little burping, he told his mom that he's going outside for a walk. He left.

         Still thinking about what had happened oddly before that breakfast, he wandered mindlessly at their lawn and found himself already on the road. He continued walking and walking until he bumped into this strange man with weird large sunglasses and watches hanging all over from his clothes. He blinked. When he opened his eyes, the man he saw was clearly wearing the right attire, no clocks, no sunglasses. He thought that his mind was just playing tricks on him. As soon as the man disappeared, the thought of it in his head subsided at once. He was starting to think that there really is something weird going on that day. Many guesses come into his mind but he has not stumbled upon one that explains everything that has oddly happened.

         Joey continued to walk down to a what-seemed-to-be endless road. Kicking a stone in his way, he was making a muffled thud among the silent neighborhood.
“Pssst…” Joey heard someone calling him.
“Hey, Joey…!” and there he saw his friend waving at him from a distance, near the basketball court in their place.
“Let’s have some fun! Why don’t you drop by?” Joey knew that it would not cost him anything but his solitude when he joins his friends who were having fun.
“Ok, I'm coming!” he bellowed back. Somehow he knew that he would have fun now. It was always his friends, if not his family, who comforted him whenever he remembers the tragic disappearance of his father. They would often leave the town for some enjoyment that would sure make them wet.

         “How you doin’ dude? Seems you’re lost in thought huh…? Ed started the conversation. He always did. And it seemed that if Ed is not around, nobody could make the crowd converse in camaraderie.
Joey only looked at Ed’s smiling face. This thin boy, Ed, was Joey’s best friend since first grade. He was slightly shorter than Joey but when you compare the two, you would be fooled into thinking that Ed is bigger than Joey, for Ed was slightly more muscular than Joe.
“So what’s happening to you, wondering mindlessly around?” Ed spoke again.
“Nothing, just refreshing my mind.” Joey replied.
“So mind if I ask you to join our game?”
“Of course not, I’d be delighted.”

         They walked toward the house of Ed. Joey saw his other friends; there were 5 of them, Jessica, Hannah, Max, Richard and Mark. Each has some features that set them apart. Jessica was a tall young woman, with beautifully red lips and long eyebrows which had always helped her take a spot whenever their school held some sort of beauty pageant. Hannah was a bit chubby but nevertheless had the charm to easily attract boys along her way, but this was not the thing that sets her apart from others, she had hazel green eyes. None of Joe’s other friends has eyes like Hannah’s. Max was the genius of the group. He was always wearing his glasses for his eyesight wasn't so good. His friends call him Bert, short for Albert Einstein, which he never really approved of but learned to accept. The next guy, Edward was the heart throb of the group. Girls in their village would often be caught following him with their glance whenever he passes by to exercise riding his bike. Then, Richard, he's rather skinny with unruly hair. He is tagged as the bookworm of the group. He likes to read books a lot, which had also been handy when they had exams. Moreover, he was Joey's neighbor. The last is Mark. He had blond hair, which they said could not any more be blond. He is a bit shy around other people, but not with them. Joey found out they were playing basketball.
“So here's the rule,” Ed said to Joey “the team who will lose will treat a counterpart member of the opponent team with pizza.”
“Ok, haha, I'm sure I'll be eating pizza soon.” Joey jokingly said.
They started their game a little later when all of the other boys have taken their rest and Joey has changed his clothes.

         The game started well, each and everyone’s energy was at the highest level. Joey managed to score a three-point after having been blocked by Edward who was now busy guarding against Mark. It cannot be denied that even after the downfall of his enthusiasm, Joey still plays well in basketball. Joey was unconsciously the best player of basketball among his friends at 5ft9 he undoubtedly owns an excellent capacity for basketball.

         The game continued uninterrupted for 6 more minutes, Joey's team was on the lead by 8 points, until all of a sudden Joey collapsed like a lifeless log. Everything happened so fast that everyone did not have any time to gasp. The girls who were watching and cheering over them turned their energetic cheers to a synchronized scream of horror. Everybody immediately rushed at Joey's side. Joey on the other hand was seeing more like a blind man, blurred. Only seconds after the sudden event, he lost his consciousness.

         Mark and Edward lifted Joey off the court and in to the shade of the trees. While they were eagerly busy making Joey comfortable while unconscious, Max and Richard have gone rushing to Joe's house to alert his mother about what had happened. Joe's mother was halfway trimming her roses when suddenly she heard the gate opened and saw two familiar faces.
“What!?” Joe's mother's face turned pale and sweaty as she screamed loudly after hearing the bad news.
“What happened? Where is he?! I want to see him right away!” she continued frantically as she was taking off her garden apron and gloves.
The three of them run hurriedly to the vacant lot. Joe's mother who was so worried outruns both Richard and Max, reaching the scene first.
“Oh my god...! What happened to him?” Joe's mother asked all of them almost in verge of tears.
“He just suddenly collapsed in the middle of our game... we don't know, it's all so sudden.” Jessica replied while vigorously fanning Joe.
“We need to bring him to the hospital right now. Come on all of you; help me carry him to the car.” Joe's mother declared. At that moment everybody started moving. Within 10 minutes they reached the nearest hospital. Immediately the nurses in the emergency room assisted them. Joe's mother, not knowing what to do and out of the onset of panic, dialed the number of Joe's uncle.
“Hi! I'm out of reach now, if you have a message please speak after the tone.” the answering machine announced to her, “Hey Jason, something's happened to Joe. I'm kinda panicking here. I want you to go here at the Mary and Joseph Hospital now. We're here. Please hurry if you receive this. I'm worried.” She hit the end button on her phone. She was going back to check on what's happened already when she saw Ed running towards her.
“He's no heartbeat, Joe has no heartbeat...!” Ed repeated, panting. Upon hearing this she was stricken with horror.

Chapter II

Boredom

Author's Note: I'm currently working on this offline. That's why I seldomly update this work here. And I just want to remind everybody that the contents here that have already been posted could be deleted or modified depending on my preferences. I'm working on Chapter VI now. Thanks to all those who are interested in reading this. (07/24/2009)