CH. 6 - A Bad Dream and a Day Out
We’re at the next day of school. The 4th period bell rings and the students walk into class.
‘Finally, time for my favorite class of the day! Science! Mr. Kriez is so cool!’
Michael and Kevin walk in, Michael looking quite happy while Kevin is slouched with his head pressed against Michael’s back. He obviously doesn’t enjoy science class. As they sit, Kevin immediately yawns and puts his head down to nap happily.
“I’d get up Kevin. You know how he is.”
Michael warns. Suddenly, a ruler is smacked down in front of Kevin’s face harshly and he looks up fast.
“Mr. Darkrose. I hope you don’t plan on sleeping in my class, as usual.”
The teacher says while poking his forehead. This teacher is Yami Kreiz, the same person as old man Yami from the alternate worlds Michael remembers. Kevin sweats as Yami straightens up, turning his attention to the rest of the class.
“Alright class, I know the bell hasn’t rung yet but I don’t care. We are going to start. Open your books to where we left off yesterday and if you don’t remember where that is then figure it out.”
Michael raises his hand. Without turning to even look, Yami sighs and answers.
“Yes Mr. Jameson?”
“May I stay in your class during lunch?” Michael asks excitedly.
“Do you even need to ask at this point?”
He asks with a sigh while rubbing his eyebrow. Michael smiles widely.
“Dude, why do you like to stay in his class so much?” Kevin asks, obviously not sharing the same sentiment.
“Isn’t it obvious? He’s awesome! Mr. Kriez has legitimate superpowers! I’ve seen them! He could totally help us out. I just gotta convince him to do it.”
“You’ve been trying since midterms last school year. He’s never gonna help us.”
“Yes he will. I’m sure of it!” Michael says confidently.
At lunch. Yami is sitting at his desk on his computer typing when Michael approaches him. Without looking at him, Yami speaks.
“Mr. Jameson, if you have come to ask me the same questions you ask every time, I will be forced to throw something at your head.”
“Haha…” He laughs nervously. “No, I actually had a concern about something you might have answers for.”
Michael rubs the back of his head. Yami looks at Michael with a bit of interest.
“I tried asking my friends about it but they don’t seem to understand what I mean. For a while now, I’ve been seeing things. But not like hallucinations, more like actually living different worlds. You were there too. And the principal, even Francis was there but no one seems to remember. Maybe it was really some bad dream that was too real but I figured I’d at least ask once... ”
Michael holds his arm tightly and looks down kind of unsure and upset about the situation, doubting himself. Yami pauses for a moment, rubbing his chin, thinking about it then answers.
“I honestly shouldn’t tell you this but, I do remember.”
Michael looks at him surprised and relieved.
“It’s all a little fuzzy but, I saw those different lives. There was the bowling alley, the offices, and many others. Then the explosion. After that, it was black until a big flash of light came over us and now we’re here. The real world again. Where we should be.”
Yami says, trying to assure him. Michael smiles softly as his eyes shine with relief.
“Yeah… That feels good to hear from someone like you.”
“I’m glad I can make you feel better but listen to me when I say this. I do not want you getting involved. I understand your concern. None of this is a coincidence. Something is obviously at play here but everything is okay now so I want you and your friends to continue living normal teenager lives. And stop with this superhero nonsense. Nothing good comes from them. I’m sure Jazmine has made that clear to you. It won’t lead to any good. Understand?”
Yami warns. His tone is firm yet caring as Michael looks obviously distraught.
“But I… I just want to help…”
“I know you mean well Michael but this is the real world we live in. You can get really hurt or worse, hurt someone else. Just leave it alone.”
Yami says gently. Michael is upset but nods.
After school we head back to Michael’s house. As he steps in he takes his shoes off.
“Dad! I’m home!”
He calls out but no one responds. He gets surprised for a moment.
‘No one’s home…’
He walks into his room and throws his bag onto his desk. He then falls onto his bed face first holding his pillow. He thinks about what Yami told him and gets upset about it so he closes his eyes and tries to take a nap. Some time passes and he is now asleep. He slowly opens his eyes to see a shadow figure standing in the middle of his room. He freaks out and quickly sits up against the wall.
“Who are you?! What’re you doing here?!”
He asks in a panic. It just stares at him for a moment as he sweats, staring back. Suddenly. it charges at him and he closes his eyes, covering his face before looking around, realizing he is somewhere else now. He is on a metal tower by the edge of an ocean cliff. He looks intensely confused. The shadow figure is standing in front of him again.
“This is all your doing… Isn’t it?”
It does not move.
“Why are you doing this? Were my friends actually involved or were they fake too?”
“You don’t understand.” The voice echoes out.
“I know, that’s why I’m asking you!” Michael shouts back, frustrated and scared.
“I’m only trying to help.”
“How could any of this help anything at all? What are you trying to do?”
The shadow figure, seemingly made of a shifting smoke, constantly shifting around, calms a bit, its form settling as it looks away.
“You’re going to die. You’ll kill them all.”
“Who..?”
Michael asks, still on the ground. It looks back at him. The world starts to shift. The cliffside warps away quickly as beams of light and darkness surround him. Michael stands up cautiously looking around. He then gets a terrified look on his face. Everything stops and he sees fire and destruction in front of him. Jade, Jazmine, and Kevin are dead on the ground in front of him. Brutalized in different ways.
“This is your future. This path only leads to death.”
Michael walks to them slowly. He looks at them terrified and starts crying. He falls down.
“H-how..?”
The shadow lifts its arm and points. When he looks over, he sees himself, arms covered in metal and blood dripping down his face. Behaving like a beast with a symbol engraved in his forehead. Fire all around him.
“No… No, I can’t…”
“Death of those you love. This is your future.”
“You’re right…”
He begins to wipe the tears from his eyes. Then he looks up at the shadow.
“But I will change this future! I will become the best superhero ever! I will change this!”
The shadow figure doesn’t react for a moment before it vibrates then it all goes black. Michael is in his room on his bed, laying on his back looking at the roof. He sits up quickly and looks around confused but calms down. His phone rings. He gets a text from Jazmine reading:
“Come on man! We’re waiting for you outside”
He smiles a bit then gets up. He leaves his house through the front door a bit later after changing and locks it then turns to the front gate where the others are standing.
“Took you long enough! Didn’t you remember we had plans today?”
Kevin asks as he grabs Michael by the shoulder and bumps his arm.
“Plans?..” Michael seems a little confused.
“Yeah, we said Wednesday that we were hanging out this weekend remember?” Jade says with a smile. Michael seems to remember, getting a complex emotion deep in his chest.
‘It felt like so long I almost forgot…’ “Oh yeah haha. It just slipped my mind.”
“Well come on! If we don’t hurry we’ll miss the train!”
Kevin says excitedly as he puts his fist in the air and they all start walking. It’s Saturday morning as they get on the train to head to The Outlets. A strip mall type place. As they walk, Jade gets a big smile on her face as she suddenly cheers.
“I’m so excited!”
“For what?” Michael asks, trying to smile despite everything that’s happening in his life.
“I don’t know. Everything I guess. We’re in highschool now. And I’m still with all my friends. Our school is nice and big and the teachers seem nice so far.” She says happily.
“I guess being so smart means you don’t have to worry about work huh? I on the other hand…”
Jazmine speaks up, getting sore about the topic implying she isn’t the best academically.
“Hey don’t worry about it! With guys like Michael and Jade around, we won’t have to worry about school work at all! They’re the smartest people I know!”
Kevin says supportively, wrapping his arm around her. She blushes a little. Michael smiles seeing them.
'Maybe I shouldn’t worry them about any of this. If they don’t remember, that’s for the best.’
The club ends up going into a couple stores, playing on a play set and eventually, Kevin and Jade buying some food. They settle on sitting on an upper balcony where Jade and Kevin sit on a table with their food as Michael looks over the balcony edge. Jazmine walks up next to him and leans against the rails.
“Did you enjoy yourself today?” She asks.
“Of course! What kind of question is that? You guys are my bestest friends, my only friends really… I can’t think of one moment where I didn’t like being with you.”
Jazmine smiles at him. They stand in silence for a moment. Michael looks down.
“You know you can talk to me about anything. No matter how crazy it may seem. I’m here for you.”
Jazmine offers with a soft look. Michael stops and thinks for a moment before replying.
“You know I see things.”
Jazmine looks at him questioningly.
“I feel like I’ve lived the past 6 months through the eyes of someone else but it was us, together. And when I woke up, it had only been one night. Almost like it was all a bad dream. The next thing I knew we were back to our normal lives. But the things I saw… Horrible things.” He admits in nothing more than a whisper.
“Michael…”
“I talked to Yami about it. He said he understands but I’m not so sure.” Michael turns to face Jazmine. “Someone showed me something terrifying last night, claiming it was the future. That if I keep trying to become a hero I would eventually kill everyone I care about.”
Jazmine looks down.
“But even if that’s what they said, I refuse to believe it. I would never hurt anyone like that. I won’t let it happen. I will protect you, because that’s what it means to be a hero!”
He says, smiling and determined, expecting her to be happy and supportive. She just stands there motionless looking unphased. She smiles emptily.
“I know you will.”
He smiles back softly but slightly concerned.