Parallel Universe: Ch3
#3 of Parallel Universe
Excitement
When I opened my eyes, I noticed I was in a living room of a small house. I was standing there in the middle wondering where I am. Suddenly, it snapped to me. It's my grandparents' house. I wondered how I managed to get there till I saw a young boy of around 5 standing next to me. Across us is a hooded figure carrying a scythe. The blade shimmered as he began to swing it. I tried to yell at the kid to run away, but nothing came out from my throat. With a clean sweep, the figure beheaded the small child. Blood spattered everywhere. I was stunned as the figure faced my direction and raised his bloody scythe. I tried to move, but my body couldn't respond. He threw the scythe towards me and it stabbed me through my chest. It was extremely painful. I cried out in pain and opened my eyes once again. I was back in my room, covered in sweat. My shirt, bed, and blanket were completly soaked. I panted and held my scar. It stung a little even though it has fully healed. My door opened and Mei's head appeared from behind. Her eyes were wide awake and stared at me.
"Are you okay?" she asked me with a concerned voice as she slowly entered the room.
"Yeah..." I responded. "Just a nightmare."
"Do you want to talk about it?"
"N-no... It's okay. Sorry to wake you..."
"It's alright," she smiled softly. "I'm gonna go back to sleep. Good night." Mei left my room and went back to hers. But after that, I couldn't sleep afterwards. This nightmare haunted me for the last 13 years, after that incident. I shook my head and walked to the bathroom. I decided to take a shower, trying to forget those horrible memories. The stream of hot water cleansed my mind and I was able to relax for a little while. I changed my clothes and start to clean up my apartment, sweeping, wiping, that sort of stuff. When I finish, the time read 5:21 AM, just enough time to fix breakfast. I started to take out some ingredients, not knowing what to cook.
'Hmmm...' I thought to my self, 'Mei likes bacons, so...' I paused for a moment.
"Wait a minute!" I spoke as softly as I can. "How did I know this info?" I thought for a while and took it out of my head. Relying on the info that popped out of nowhere, I decided to cook some bacon with sunny-side-ups. I placed some bread in the toaster and set it on light brown, just the way she likes it. I dunno where that one came from too... As I poured some OJ, a door opened and Mei walked out with her pink pajama on. Her hair was completely messed up, and her eyes are very sleepy.
"Good morning," I smiled at her. "Sleep well?"
"Yeah," she smiled and sat down on the dining table. "That is, until your scream woke me up and made me restless."
"Oh, sorry..." I felt really bad about what I did.
"It's okay. So what's for breakfast?"
I placed her breakfast in front of her and she began to act like a 10 year old.
"My favorite dish! Thank you!" Mei smiled happily as she began to eat the meal happily. She even left a small burp of satisfaction in the end of her meal. The both of us laughed for quite a while.
"Come on, dress up and be ready for school," I told her as I began to clean the dishes. She walked back to her room and took her clothing with her. As I place the dishes in the sink, I heard the shower in her room turned on. I took inventory of the amount of ingredients I had left. Turns out, I only had enough to last for one day.
'Shopping time...' I told myself. I closed the fridge and took my wallet from my room. At the same time, Mei has exited her room and closed it.
"Oh..." Mei stared at me, "are you leaving too?"
"Yeah, gotta go buy some ingredients or else we'll starve."
We both stepped out and I locked my apartment door. I placed the key in my wallet and walked to the elevator.
"If you left anything, there's a spare key under the fire hydrant, okay?" I told her. She just nodded and we parted our ways.
Lightwood city
A peaceful little city near the Northern Pacific. According to the locals, the survivors of the war 200 years ago came together and founded this city. It's currently one of the most environmental-friendly cities in the country. I went to Mighty Mart, the closest food store around my neighborhood. It felt a lot like a mall rather than a market. As I toured around the isles, I accidentally bumped into another customer, dropping all his basket to the floor.
"Oh! I'm sorry!" I apologized and picked up his stuff. "I wasn't paying attention!"
"It's okay," the man responded. I looked up to his face and observed his features. His eyes are silver like his long hair and his black shirt is covered by a tan overcoat. The black pants and jeans covered the lower parts of his body.
"Sorry about the crash," I apologized once again as I returned his groceries.
"No prob," he replied to me. He picked up his basket and faced me once again. "You know, you should've paid attention to where you're going, Alex."
"My name isn't Alex. It's Michael."
"Oh," the man paused, realizing his mistakes. "Sorry Mike." We both paused for a moment, eyes wide opened, realizing something important.
"Hey!" we both yelled and pointed at each other at the same time.
"Are you referring to Alexander Stone?" I asked him.
"Are you Alex's twin brother, Michael?" He asked back. The two information fits together perfectly. He is acquainted with my brother.
"You know my brother?!" I smiled happily.
"Yeah, he's my apprentice. I'm Louis. Nice to meet you again, Michael," he raised his hand towards me.
"Again?" I questioned him when I shook his hand.
"Oh yeah, you were dea- I mean unconscious when I saved you."
I was puzzled by what he meant. I let it slip off my head and continued to chat with him.
"So where does he live? Does he live nearby? I started.
"Well, he lives with me at Oakwood Street. I'll show you the place if you want to."
"Yes! Of course!" I replied without any hesitations. I wouldn't want to miss my chance on meeting my brother whom I've searched for in years. We paid our groceries separately and stepped out the market. We chatted on a few topics on the way.
"So you're a police officer, huh," I stared at him.
"More like chief of the Lightwood Police Department," he smiled back. "You'd be surprised how old I was when I became the Chief." He stopped for a moment and stared at the alley near us. When I looked, some shadowy figure ran further in.
"Can you watch this for me?" Louis handed me his grocery bags. Before I had the chance to respond, he ran towards the alley and disappeared into the shadows. I sighed and stared to the ground. I noticed a piece of paper was slipped in his grocery bag. Since I had nothing else to do, I took a peek and read it.
Walk forward 3 more blocks until you see a green house.
Louis
'Well, that's simple and direct,' I thought to myself. 'I wonder when did he wrote this...'
I followed the note and ended up in front of a two stories building with a floral garden. I didn't expect a police chief to live in such an, uh..., elaborate house. I thought I was in front of a wrong house, but I didn't see any other houses nearby that are green. I stepped up to the porch and pressed the doorbell. The door was opened by another man with a beautiful golden hair. His eyes were light blue and his black athletic outfit buldge on his toned mucles.
His height of 7"6' looked down on me like Bryan. His face was as surprised as mine.
"Alex?" his eyes stared at me, "I thought you were upstairs a moment ago."
"Um... hi," I answered shyly. "I'm Michael, Alex's twin brother." I handed him Louis' groceries. "Louis asked me to drop this off for him."
"Oh, so you're his brother, huh. Nice to meet you kiddo!" The man smiled at me. "I'm Lionel, Louis' cousin. Come on in!"
I entered the house and took a look around. The two storied house looked smaller inside. There are 3 doors in the hallway in front of the enterance, possibly a bathroom with two rooms. The short wall on the right side separates it from the dining room and kitchen. I dunno why the dining table design looks more of a restoraunt seat. Anyways, close to me in the dining room, a spiral staircase leading either the second floor, or the basement. I placed the grocery bag on the table and waited on the seat. Lionel already went up and voices could be heard from there.
"Alex," Lionel's soft voice could be heard, "you have a special guest here!"
"Who is it?" A teen's voice could be heard, "I'm in the middle of studying here."
"Someone special for you."
"Lionel, I don't have time for your riddles. I still have to study you know."
"Oh, so you don't want to spend some time with your brother?"
"Come on! Michael doesn't even live in the city! How am I supposed to fall for that?"
After that, Lionel came down the stairs and shook his head.
"No good," he sighed. "He didn't believe me. Wanna go up there and meet him yourself?"
"Nah, it's fine," I turned down the offer. "It's kinda disappointing, but he seemed busy. I'll just leave now."
"Alright. Want me to drive you back?"
"No thanks, I'll walk." I said goodbye to Lionel and walked back home. I took one last look at the house and smiled. Now I know for sure that my brother's alright. I turned my head and stroll down the street with a grocery bag on my left arm. I remembered that I had some frozen food and dashed quickly to my apartment.
As I placed the groceries in the refrigirator, Mei entered the door and placed her bags.
"I'm home!" she smiled at me.
"Welcome back!" I replied and closed the door. She stopped for a while and observed me for a moment.
"What?" I tilted my head a little to my left.
"You seem different from this morning. Did you find some kind of trace af your brother while we're apart?"
'Whoa! Right on the money!' My excitement couldn't be held back anymore. I grinned widely and was responded by a smile.
"Really!?" Mei jumped in glee. "Where is he!?"
"I dunno the street name, but I can take you there tommorow."
"After school, okay?"
"Deal!"
We both had dinner and went to bed early. As I said goodnight, I noticed my computer screen's still on. A new message was in my inbox. Like yesterday night, the sender remained anonymous. Not wanting to disturb Mei, I opened the mail and read the content.
3
"3?" I said to my self. "Is it like a time bomb?" Even though it's a prank, it's still very freaky. I decided to let it slide and went to bed.