SWNOVELS Chapter 1 A New Path
“When one chapter closes; another will open.” Remembering my Philosophy Professor’s wise words each time we got started on a new unit. I guess he was right in some way. My little adventure as Gary Walter may be over and his future is now changed, hopefully for the better, thanks to me. But I can’t help but feel like a small part of me is gone and is quite sad to see him go. It sucks, I’m not denying it, but I gotta remind myself of the promise I made to the mysterious green fog — for as long as it needs me, there are countless other people like Gary who have existed throughout time and need help in finding their own happy ending. I’m not thrilled about it in the slightest. There is a good chance I could be stuck in the MIDDLE AGES, or heaven forbid, be in another gender bender situation.
That’s the last thing I want. News like this must sound exciting to you because you get to hear more of my crazy adventures. But be warned, there’s more danger and uncertainty as my journey continues. It’s starting to make me petrified, as if it was my life that was on the line here. Seriously, in my last adventure, I almost felt like I actually got stabbed. I don’t wish to relive that experience. It’s honestly something you don’t want ingrained in your head. Then again, Gary was my whole motivation for crawling back into the mysterious green fog in the first place. I guess, in a way, I somewhat deserved it.
So what happened to me now? You must be wondering. Well, what can I say other than I am sitting in my 2014 red Chevy Impala trying to shake that spooky feeling that is all over me like shrink wrap — knowing that I will never see Cathy, Mary or my grandfather Henry ever again. If I learned anything from my history classes through the years, it is that the further in time you go back, the more danger, death and diseases will follow... and isn’t that the truth!
Speaking of death, I feel like I could have died from PURE BOREDOM as I was driving through the fog. It was so excruciatingly boring, especially when I have no cell phone to keep me occupied. You would think I would be used to it by now — nope! It still won’t work in this fog! Anyway, let’s start this new adventure with the fact that I’ve been driving in this fog slowly for what seemed like an eternity. But it was really only about an hour as I recall. It was so tiring, just staring endlessly at nothingness. But what the heck was my hurry. I decided to go at a nice slow speed and try to enjoy the scenery as if I was riding a bike before the chaos begins. I was still frustrated and furious that I did not have a proper sendoff to the important people who helped me on Gary’s journey — especially Cathy. Just ugh! I hope that this time… this one time, I will finally get the chance to leave on MY terms. Not on someone else’s. I am entitled to that. Are you listening to me, fog?! This ain’t gonna slide anymore. I am not some dumb kid anymore!
Guess I had spoken too soon, as I heard the same thunderous bang sound grow louder and scarier than ever before. I think the fog heard me. I don’t know if you remember, but after the thunder comes, it’s usually a blinding white light that comes next. You know what that means. I closed my eyes tight like Fort Knox and hoped for the best.
Was it over yet? I slowly opened up my eyes as if they were a creaky door in an old house. Well, this wasn’t so bad! I was standing outside in a hilly suburban neighborhood. I could tell the fog transported me somewhere safe, but where? To my right, I saw houses that kinda looked like my own neighborhood. But there were Halloween decorations all around. Actually, people were in the process of taking them down. So is this a day after Halloween? Could it be that I am finally back home? That would be amazing. But if so, how long have I been gone? Just as I had all these thoughts swirling in my head, I suddenly felt a cold breeze rush through my hair and my…. LEGS?!
I don’t remember opening my car window. Now that I took a second look, the houses do seem a bit closer to me. Closer, like sidewalk distance. Whoa! This is getting weird. So I quickly looked to my left and OMG I saw….
the road was…. right... next…. to me.
I let out a blood-curdling scream as I tried to swerve my car back onto the road. But as I went to turn the steering wheel, I realized that it wasn’t turning. In fact, there wasn’t a steering wheel at all. Instead, my hands were holding onto… Handlebars?! What was I doing on a bike? I squeezed the brakes so hard, the tires screeched to a stop onto the asphalt. I immediately jumped off and leaned the bike against an old oak tree. I started to look around and wonder where in the world I was. Even more importantly…
Who Am I Now?
Now this was getting serious. I needed to play detective and decided to gaze at my surroundings before an existential panic kicked in. From what I could tell, my assumptions of it being the day after Halloween were correct. I noticed a blue two-story house that I had stopped in front of, there was a huge old oak tree. It still had yellow leaves hanging from its branches that were super bright and colorful. The front yard had tombstone decorations including a couple of hands and forearms sticking out from the ground with red and gray plaid color sleeves.
This neighborhood did seem safe, but there was just one slight... problem. There were no indicators of signs I could see, not even a single street sign around me. So I could be anywhere in time. I began to look around me for other clues. The bike! It’s an older mountain bike but not that old. So I knew for a fact it’s not the 1950s. It must be later — much later. But there was something else that felt different too. It’s not just because it’s colder outside. This neighborhood appeared to be… I don’t know, modern looking too. The reason I even say that is that there were satellite dishes on many of the homes including the blue house. At first glance, there were not as many vintage cars in the driveways either. In fact, there were cars that I actually recognized. They were all from the 80s and 90s, parked all around.
I decided that now would be a great time to try to find out more about myself. I did what I’ve always done, go for the wallet that is in my pocket so I can see the address before I take a look at my new face on some window reflection. So I stuck my hand right in there trying to feel for my wallet, but to my horror… it was not there, as what came out was a stick of some unknown brand of pink bubble gum.
That ain’t my wallet, I thought to myself.
In a panic, I proceeded to tap and take out things from my front pockets first as I felt that it had to be there, but sadly I came up empty-handed as there were pieces of paper and loose change, but I could still feel that it was there and… oh my god, I forgot to look down at what I was wearing. Duh! Should’ve been like the first thing I did instead of. Anywho, I looked down and saw that I was wearing tan baggy cargo shorts. Knew I could feel the wind through my legs. Looking down, my once high-top black Nikes were now high-top black vans converse, it was a pretty cool change and there appeared to be some writing on this red shirt I was currently wearing, but I couldn’t make out the name. Now that I knew I was wearing these baggy cargo shorts that looked straight out of the 90s, I checked the bottom right pocket with a button securing it and sure enough my wallet was there. Typical.
When I opened up the wallet to try and find my driver’s license, I noticed that it was not there. The only thing that was in there was around $50 in cash and my College School ID. So I could safely assume that whoever I was now was still in school, but why wasn’t there a driver’s license? Maybe he got his taken away and is just some punk kid. I thought. Reassuring myself. I then silently said, “Okay kid, who are you really?” I then patted my head as there had to be some kind of clue or at least address on the helmet that I was wearing, but as I petted my helmet, I realized that I wasn’t wearing one and the only thing I was petting was my hair. Wow, he is a rebel. Riding a bike without a helmet. This is fantastic. I sarcastically thought to myself as here
I AM STUCK in the 1990s with no name, no address and no idea how old I really am with no idea how to get home... wherever that is. But on the bright side though, by looking at the dirty mountain bike, which I could tell needed a good wash, was a guy’s as if it was a girl’s bike it would have been spotless. So I am a guy, that’s a good sign and judging by more late 90s cars I am starting to see driving past me, I guess I must be in the year 1998. Okay, that narrows it down to what technology is available to me… that was until a 2001 Brown Honda Civic drove right past me and parked in their driveway at a house nearby with a mother and her three little kids got out and one of them even waved at me. That waving made me rethink everything I thought I knew.
The only reason why I recognized that car right away was that it was the first car I was ever in when it was just me and my folks way before my little brother Alex was even born. But wait, that must mean... I am in a time when I was born… woah… just woah, this is like a dream come true. But it’s too bad I’m someone else though because I would’ve loved being a kid again if that means I get to see my friends and family one more time. Looking back at this kid’s bike reminds me of all the fun I used to have. Like I remember back in 2011 me and my buddies used to take out our mountain bikes and do all sorts of fun tricks in a little forested area in my neighborhood where after our riding fun we would relax and play Call of Duty Black Ops on my PS3. Man, those were the days. As I was looking back on memory lane snickering to myself, I heard a pip squeak voice with a slight Hispanic accent call out,
“Hey… you made it.”
Here we go again, I thought. I slowly turned around in agony as any minute now I would either be embraced to death by some teenager let alone some little girl. But surprisingly it wasn’t either as I saw a tanned boy with short black messy hair who appeared to be no older than 14 years old, having his hands in his jean pockets casually walking towards me. Judging by the direction he was walking, I assumed he came out of the big blue two-story house I was staring at earlier. As he got closer to my direction, I noticed that he was wearing these baggy shorts like mine but in jeans, a New York Mets shirt and a pair of dirty white chucks converse. When he got face to face with me, this kid just slapped my back like he was seeing a good friend or family member and said,
“Almost had me worried for a second, amigo.” Amigo? Who’s he… oh, I must be his amigo. I thought. Anyway, this kid then paused as if to say something else but for whatever reason stopped himself then added,
“Before you come in, Ben… please take your bike and lay it on the side of my house this time and not the lawn. These are my momma Josh’s words to you, not mine.” Josh. That must be this kid’s name. Gotta remember that and oh yeah, my new name Ben too for future reference.
“Oh yeah… of course… dude.” I replied, not knowing what else to say to him. As I walked with him, dragging my bike to the side of his house, this kid couldn’t keep his mouth shut. He started to run his mouth by first telling me,
“Hey, I’m only the messenger, so don’t blame me.” Then he proceeded to tell me all sorts of annoying crap I couldn’t care less about as my main concern is finding a mirror and fast. Like I could seriously care less at how he thinks his science teacher has it out for him, girls aren’t interested in him because of his “comments” while they like mine apparently and how “That’s totally unfair” and etc. Josh is saying all these things as if I know and can totally relate to, which makes me wonder if I’m not a teenager this time but a kid… an immature one at best… like him. Ugh, I really hope that is not true. Or else, the fog has some explaining to do.
It’s so stupid and doesn’t make any sense, I thought. There’s no way I could be Josh’s age. My past two reflections have always been teenagers that were usually around the same age as me. So why would this be any different? What I needed now was to find a mirror to solve all of this and fast. But I was curious though, if I really was a kid like Josh, what kind of problems would an eighth grader or freshman in High school have to face anyway? Like did he need help to study for a test or who’s the knucklehead I need to rough up on the playground this time?
Anyway, as I was walking to the side of this kid Josh’s house, I could feel the movement of so many other things that I haven’t explored yet in Ben’s several pockets that really started to tick. All my thoughts were stopped dead in their tracks when Josh told me that he would be by the door waiting for me. I couldn’t be any happier with that comment.
Putting my “Bike” on the side of the house, I saw an old dirty gray sheet cover of what appeared to be partially covering a mirror laying on the side. I knew this could be my only chance at least for a while so I cautiously looked around to see if anyone was watching me and when they weren’t, I pulled the drape cover down on the ground. That’s when I saw this kid Ben for the first time looking back at me. I jumped.
“Guess I spoke too soon about being a kid.” quietly joking to myself. As I put my hand over my head, I let out a heavy sigh and said, “Welp… could’ve been worse. At least I’m not some little girl.” I shivered in fear thinking of that future possibility. Beginning to analyze Ben’s face with his short brown hair more, I honestly forgot what it’s like seeing zero facial hair yet. That and Ben’s reflection was shorter than my own. It’s so weird looking down at him in the mirror and him doing the same. So I guess that kid who called me Ben really was my friend, as we obviously looked the same age. But I don’t know what my new friend’s last name even is. What will I say to his folks? I wondered.
Nervously walking back to meet him, I was saved as I saw something written on the top of the garage door and it said “MARTINEZ 232”. So this uhh friend of mine has a last name by the name of MARTINEZ. Good. At least that buys me some time for now until I go back “home”. So I sluggishly walked back to my friend before he started getting worried and when I came back, Josh asked,
“Hey Ben, can I ask you something?”
“Umm yeah, sure thing, buddy.”
He looked at me weird and said,
“Ooookaayyy, why do you insist on riding your bike here every time when your totally hot sister Megan is more than willing to drop you off?”
I cringed when hearing that because I couldn’t believe I had an older sister… again! Why am I not blessed with a brother? So as I cringed, I responded,
“Why do you gotta go there, Josh?”
“What, she totally is. I mean is she not one of the prettiest Junior girls there?”
“Can we please go inside now? I really don’t want to talk about this.” I pleaded, really annoyed. I huffed but as I started to dart off, Josh caught up with me and said,
“Look, I get it… I do… touchy subject, I know, but still… tell me I’m right.”
I stopped and pondered for a good second or two and asked,
“If I do, could you please stop talking about her good looks for one day?”
He then had an “aha” moment and said,
“So you do find her hot. You got it… “buddy”.” as he mocked me and hit my shoulder. I grunted and gave him an eye roll where he then added,
“Well, enough about her for now. I got a surprise for you.”
“Surprise? For me? Where?” I curiously asked.
“Upstairs in my room. You’re gonna love it.” he answered.
As he opened the front door for me and I walked in, I asked,
“What’s so important in your room anyway? Got some kind of present for me?” With a slight chuckle. He wasn’t chuckling and instead gave me a serious look and said,
“Hey, I know your birthday is coming up next week but stop it with the birthday puns, amigo, it’s getting quite old. Well come on, vamos, my N64 awaits.” We then headed inside his house.
I wonder what else I´ll discover while inside.