“Is it safe?” I looked down in the hole. A metal cylinder about the size of my torso pulsated with blue lights like a slow heart beat.
“I could run some simulations.” She said looking down at her tablet.
“No, no let’s just get this over with.” I was torn between not wanting to wait and not wanting to know the truth of the danger.
“Ok then, let’s get started.” She cleared her tools off of the chair and motioned for me to sit.
I sat down and tried to think about anything but the fact that this device might fry my brain. Alice reached up and flipped a switch above my head. A small ring lowered over my head and began to rotate.
Bolts of energy began arching from the ring to my head but there wasn’t any pain. “The ring will support your head once you have lost consciousness.” Alice walked around the machine and checking things off on a digital check list.
“Noted.” I took a deep breath.
She retrieved a syringe and a small vial from a nearby table. She filled the needle and slid up my sleeve. “This will take just a few minutes to kick in. You need to keep your mind on finding what you are looking for; it may be difficult to determine if you have fallen asleep or not.” She found a vein, stuck the needle in, and emptied the concoction into my blood stream.
I gave her a thumbs up when she pulled out the needle and stepped back, “I hope this works.”
“There is a very good chance it will work.” She pressed a button on her tablet. The large metal ring around the chair began to spin around me slowly at first, but faster, and then faster.
I watched the ring as long as I could but I started to feel sick to my stomach so I closed my eyes.
Moments passed and I wondered when things would start to happen or when I could just open my eyes without having to see the spinning.
I decided that it wasn’t going to work and the drug that Alice had given had not been strong enough.
When I opened my eyes I was in another world. Everything around me was completely destroyed. Fires burned around me in all directions. The large ring was still spinning but a section was missing. It had begun to slow and then finally it stopped.
I pulled the small ring from my head and climbed out of the chair. I took a look around the ruins and walked slowly through the halls. I obviously wasn’t remembering something because last I had checked I had not experienced the apocalypse.
I sat down on a crumbling wall and picked up a handful of ash.
“This isn’t going to help me.” I said to no one in particular. My voice echoed around me in all directions.
A girl peeked at me from behind a wall. I didn’t know the girl off the top of my head but she seemed somehow familiar.
“Hey, little girl!” I yelled jumping up and running after her.
I chased her through the maze of the building that didn’t resemble the house at all. I tried to keep up with her, but she was so fast that I started to lose her even as I called out for her.
I stumbled and tripped on the charred bricks on the ground. I fell throwing my arms out in front of me, but I didn’t hit that ground. I went through it and flipped over onto my back, making contact with a wooden floor.
“Son of a bitch.” I said standing and rubbing the back of my head.
“You shouldn’t say things like that.” A man said behind me.
“I’m sorry…” I said turning but I realized that the man wasn’t talking to me. He was knelt down beside a young girl.
The man was my father.
“But daddy I don’t want a sister!” the girl said stomping her foot.
“Baby doll I know we all wanted a little brother, but we should be happy that we are getting a little sister.” He said tussling her hair.
The little girl was me.
My father stood. We all walked into the room. My mother, who was very pregnant, was sitting next to a fireplace. She had been crying.
“Now go and apologize to your mother.” My father said patting the little me on the shoulder.
I walked around and sat on the floor to watch the scene. The younger me hung her head and walked up to our mother. She stood next to our mother trying not to look her in the eyes.
“I’m sorry for what I said, mommy. I hope I have fun with my new sister.”
“Thank you dear.” Our mom said leaning down and giving the younger me a hug, she sniffled, and wiped her eyes.
I couldn’t help but wonder why I was remembering all of this and not something that could be useful.
Chapter 29: Isabella
The dream seemed to have frozen around me. My mother, father, and the young me remained completely still. I stood from the floor and walked out of the room. Down the hall I came to a staircase that led into the main sitting room. As I took the steps one at a time, the walls aged and faded before my eyes.
Outside of a nearby window I could see snow falling in sheets and I could hear a fire roaring nearby. I followed the noise into the living room. My mother and father sat on a couch across from a young man that seemed somewhat familiar.
“Joseph, I think that you are making a bad decision. Your father and my father have been doing business for forty years and their fathers forty years before that. Why are you ending the partnership between our companies?” The young man said with an angry smile on his face that was obviously forced.
“The Scott family has gone downhill from the time that your father took over Aurora. Your projects are getting closer and closer to the lines that I will not cross and you wonder why I want to end our partnership James?” My father said standing. He began to pace around the room.
“Despite your obvious slant on my family name that can be forgiven, I have no idea what projects you are worried about.” James leaned back in his chair.
My mother kept out of the conversation but I could see she was disgusted just being in the same room with James.
“Don’t play games with me James. I have taps on your data network, the same as you have on mine, and I have been monitoring all of your progress. I am terrified to think what you plan to accomplish with these things that you are creating.” My father said.
James stood, and sighed deeply, “I’m sorry that you feel this way. You know that this is bigger than both of us, and those above us… They want things done a certain way.”
“I think you should leave.” My mother said finally speaking up.
James took a few steps towards my father, and stopped close to his face challenging him. The two men were exactly the same height.
“Sooner rather than later I will control your company. I will do anything that it takes.” James almost growled.
“Over my dead body.” My father growled back.
A noise near the stair caught everyone’s attention. We all turned the see the younger me at the bottom of the stairs watching what was happening.