(Finished) The Summer of Light -- (Author) Tripped

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Author: Tripped
Timestamp: Feb 14, 2015 at 1:36 PM
Content: The following is a complete work of fiction. Resemblances between any characters, and actual persons - alive or dead - is purely coincidental.

As always, constructive criticism is welcome.

The Summer of Light

Caleb. Time to wake up.

The words and a gentle nudging were more than enough to make my mind stir from the darkness of sleep. At first I didn't remember where I was, but after a long stretch I remembered I was sitting in a very uncomfortable seat with a buckled belt across my lap. With a yawn I somehow managed to make the pressure in my ears equalize until I heard general chatter around me and a barely noticeable high pitched whine from further behind. After wiping the sleep from my eyes, I looked to my left to find my mother sitting next to me, and on my right, I could see yellows and golds in beams of light coming in through an oblong window.

“How long was I out?” I asked with another yawn while checking a small black and green watch on my left wrist.

“About six hours.” My mother smiled, and as she did, she gently swept a tuft of hair from her face to behind her ear. She then leaned in closer and lowered her voice. “Did you remember to wear your....”

“Yes!” I grunted and rolled my eyes. “Its not like we didn't plan ahead.”

Before either of us could say anything else, an overhead chime rang out causing all of the chatter around us to slowly halt. “Good morning ladies and gentlemen.” An older mans voice echoed. “In approximately one hour we'll be landing at Boston International Airport. Its a bright sunny morning with high visibility, so sit back, relax, enjoy the end of the flight. And thank you, for flying with us today.” Following this announcement, activity around the planes cabin began to increase. Other passengers started to put away their belongings while the flight attendants roamed up and down the aisles of the 747 making sure everything was set up for the landing.

Within the hour I found myself watching out the window as the clouds grew closer and closer to the underside of the plane, then they slowly began to cover the windows, eventually the clouds dissipated until I could see clear skies once again. After what seemed like an eternity the plane descended at a steep yet controlled glide, this didn't stop until I felt a hard thump from below us followed by the planes engines powering up then down then up again.

“Ladies and gentlemen.” The same voice from before crackled over the speakers once again. “Welcome to Boston International. The local time is seven-thirty AM and the temperature is a brisk seventy degrees. We hope you enjoyed your flight and we look forwards to seeing you all again.”

“Fifteen hours.” I grunted as the plane slowed down the runway then turned towards a huge complex. “After fifteen hours in this same spot I think my rear end's gone to sleep. I didn't know it could do that!”

“At least you have some extra cushion in your seat...” Mom playfully poked my arm with a grin.

“At least you got to get up and move around.” I cornered as I crossed my arms and pouted slightly.

Once mom had her purse and I had my black backpack, we followed the other passengers off the plane, through an elevated walkway and down several halls until we entered into a bustling terminal full of organized chaos. People were on the move, some were on their phones or laptops while waiting in rows upon rows of seats, even everyone that worked there were constantly doing something. Even as we picked our extra luggage from a rotating conveyer belt the activity kept up.

As I adjusted the backpack over my right shoulder, mom tapped my left shoulder and leaned in close enough for only me to hear. “I'm going to get us something to eat over in that little pub while we wait for your father to show up. Go ahead and find a restroom then come get some food.” A simple nod from me was all it took; she leaned in even closer still. “We've got a long car ride ahead of us, so you might want to...”

“Mom...!” I blushed and grunted in hushed tones. “I'm not a kid, you don't have to keep repeating everything.”

“Caleb, you're only twelve. I know you think you're all grown up but you're still just a kid. Now, are you going to do what you need to do, or am I going to have to come in and help you...”

“I'm going I'm going.” By now I could feel my face turning a bright red. “Just make sure you get something with real meat in it; not that fake-meat stuff!” I turned and headed towards a quiet corner where the restrooms were placed. Much to my surprise the mens room was completely empty; just the way I liked it. Seeing my options, I chose the stall furthest from the door, stepped in and closed the door behind me making sure to latch it. In due time I had my backpack unzipped revealing some pens and a notebook, a change of clothes, and under that, a few plain white diapers with a couple of plastic bags from the store.

As I emerged from the restroom I let out a long sigh of relief feeling a fair bit better being out of a soggy diaper and into a dry new one. Luckily there was so much noise around me that I didn't have to worry about anyone hearing the rustling coming from the diaper under my black jeans. Soon enough I was sitting at the table across from mom in a moderate sized cafeteria. She was busy eating a rather impressive salad with all the trimmings while I devoured a large cheeseburger topped with mayo and pickles.

“You feel a little better now that you've had a change and something to eat?” Mom asked as I watched the kitchen staff busy with their work and a dwindling line of customers they served.

“I've been feeling better since I've had a chance to stand up and move around.” I grinned. “I mean, you know, if we wanted to we could be at the new home just like that.” I snapped my fingers gently only to have mom reach over the table and gently wrap her hand around my watch and wrist. She then looked at me with eyes that were cold yet compassionate.

“Caleb.” She spoke gently and with that defined mom tone. “I know this could be a whole lot easier on all of us; but we can't let anyone know. If even one person sees what we can do...”

“If you've made anything clear, its what'll happen to us.” I sighed. “How can we be a normal family if we're never a normal family.”

“Trust me.” She smiled while unwrapping her hand from my arm only to give it a few pats. “When everything's said and done, we'll be as close to a normal family as possible.”

--- --- ---

The night was dark and quiet. Instead of the usual commotion of traffic and bustle of people walking by that I was used to, there was the silent stillness that could only be described as a void of nothingness. I guess that's why I found it so hard to sleep. After the fifth sigh and shift of weight in a row, I sat up on the edge of the mattress letting my bare feet gently graze the light gray carpeting in the room. I stood and walked across the cavern like space, the rustling of my diaper echoed out like crackles of thunder from under my black shorts as I made my way from the bed to an in-wall shelving unit where I paused and picked up a plastic bead key chain made to resemble the German flag. After a few short moments I gently placed it back in its spot then turned right and headed for one of two doors in the room. As smooth as I could, I twisted the knob and pulled the door open revealing a carpeted hallway and a flight of steps leading downwards towards the left. On the right side of the hall were two more rooms, a bathroom and a large closet.

Without thinking of it, I stepped out into the hallway and paused at the start of the second floor railing between the wall and the steps when I heard my parents talking. I glanced over just far enough to see most of the living room – a good sized tv along the far wall, a small table in front of that and a large couch where I found my parents sitting. Around them were some decorative plants and fancy table lamps adding a bit of variety to the room. Luckily, the couch was set up in a way that mom and dad had to sit with their backs to the stairs.

“...actually he was pretty quiet for most of the trip.” I heard mom say while slowly sipping a glass of water. “Didn't get fussy until we landed at the airport. That's Caleb for ya; looks like a normal twelve year old, but just like a baby he gets cranky when he needs food and a diaper change.” She giggled softly. Hearing this, I could feel my face turning a bright red. It amazed me that even though she didn't know I was there she still managed to embarrass me. “I tell you, Everett, it was pretty funny making his face look as red as a tomato.”

“You're evil, Tamera.” Dad chuckled. “I wish I could have been there to see it.” Then an unusual silence fell between them; that was until dad called out. “What do you think buddy, is your mom evil?”

Everything came to an abrupt halt; my heart rate sped up as a cold chill went down my spine. As though they had it planned out, both mom and dad turned far enough while looking up to see me leaning on the railing. The one thing that caught my attention, though, was how dads glasses seemed to glow and reflect the light, hiding his dark blue eyes. After he swept his hand through his dark brown hair, dad patted the top of the couch in an empty space between him and mom. I made my way down the carpeted steps then along a hard wood floor until I turned and flopped down on the couch between them.

“Can't sleep?” Mom asked as she put her arm over my shoulders. I nodded and fiddled with the bottom of my shirt.

“After a day like today I wouldn't be surprised.” Dad reached over and rustled up my black hair. “You've moved into a new house and did a lot of unpacking. I think what's really messing you up, though, is that fifteen hour flight halfway around the world. It'll probably take a couple of days for your internal clock to reset.”

“We could try a warm bottle of milk and a lullaby.” Mom snickered. “Always worked when you were a baby.”

“Mom...” I groaned as I could feel my face turning a deeper shade of red than usual. “...I'm not a baby!”

Dad suddenly reached out and pulled me close to him. “I think some of his old baby things are up the attic, we do have milk and a microwave, and I remember the one lullaby that always worked best.”

“Oh gawd not you too!” I groaned even louder.

“Hey you're right...” Dad continued. “...it is a lot of fun making 'em turn bright red.” He then paused and looked down at me eye to eye, he gently patted my head while smiling. “Actually, I think a nice warm cup of tea just might do the trick; may I recommend the soothing honey flavor.”

“Tea would work.” I smiled back at him. After he gave a simple nod, I stood and made my way into the kitchen where I went about making a small mug of tea.

“Caleb.” Mom called out from the living room. “You're not a baby; you're a maturing twelve year old young man. And if anyone says otherwise, tell 'em to come talk to me about it.”

“That's after I get done setting them straight.” Dads voice echoed into the kitchen. I had to give them that one; even though they loved their playful teasing, I knew they had my back if anything happened. I could always talk to them about anything.

I guess, in a way, my unusual family was...normal.

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Author: Tripped
Timestamp: Feb 14, 2015 at 2:52 PM
Content: I ran as fast as my legs could carry me through the fog latent forest. I didn't dare stop, I couldn't look back, I could only keep running forwards; running from the shadowy beast that gave chase. After making several sharp turns and unexpected twists I slowed then stopped, I leaned against one of the countless large trees long enough to catch my breath before I took off again. Everything around me was eerily silent as I caught a quick glimpse of the full moon hanging low in the night sky. A sudden snap of a fallen tree branch was all it took for me to start running again. It was only then that I realized I was lost in the woods; even the moon that I tried using as a guide was no help because even though I was always turning and doubling back in wide loops, it stayed in the exact same place, almost taunting me with the fact I had no way out.

That's when it happened; I was so preoccupied with looking at the moon to figure out which way to go, I hadn't noticed a rather large tree root sticking up out of the ground. Before I knew it, I found myself face down in the dirt, out of breath with searing pain coming from my ankle and shin.

THUMP! I could feel the tremors through the ground.

THUMP! Not only could I feel it, I could now hear it.

THUMP! The entire planet seemed to shake.

I mustered every ounce of willpower and energy I had just to get myself upright and moving again. Ten agonizing limping steps was all I managed to make before collapsing to the ground again. This time, though, I landed on the ground in a way that I was able to roll onto my back to at least see what was after me. But something just wasn't right; I could still feel a presence there, but the lumbering steps were gone. A rustle of leaves drew my attention to the left, and glancing over, I found three human shaped shadowy figures standing between two large trees. The three figures took one step towards me causing me to take one push backwards; they moved again and I scuttled further back. In the time it took me to blink they were looming over me. I tried to get a good look at them, but the only thing I saw for sure were three black hooded robes and nothing more.

“Get away! Get away! GET AWAY!” I shouted as loud as possible while thrashing about as the figures drew closer and closer.

“I said get away!” I screamed and landed with a thud on soft gray carpeting. I sprang into a sitting position to find morning sunlight piercing through the window partially covered with curtains, my bed and pillows looking pretty roughed up, and my blanket half on the bed and half wrapped around me. I pulled myself free of the blanket and looked over my right ankle, going as far as to gently pat it to make sure I couldn't feel any pain. “A dream...” I chuckled while looking around and finding reassurance that I was in my room. “...it was just a dream.”

After a long and steaming hot shower and getting dressed for the day, I clamored down the steps, through the living room and into the kitchen where I took my usual place at the table. As I normally did, I poured myself a bowl of cereal while dad sat and read the news paper. While we did this, mom came into the kitchen from a smaller room where the washer and dryer were; when she saw me, she strolled over and gently ruffled up my hair before sitting at her normal spot at the table.

“Finally get some sleep last night Caleb?” Dad asked, lowering the top of the paper just far enough for us to make eye contact.

“Yeah.” I nodded. “Must have dozed off about one in the morning.”

“You know, Everett, you two have a lot of stuff to do today. I was thinking, that, it's been a while since you and Caleb have had any father son time. So why don't you two spend the day together?”

“Well it has been a while.” Dad paused in thought. “What do you think, sport, wanna have a guys day out?” He asked while glaring over the paper at me.

“Sure I'm game.” I grinned with several nods.

“Well you two go out and enjoy your time together.” Mom smiled. “I'll stay here and keep myself occupied with unpacking the last of our stuff and getting it all organized.”

--- --- ---

I watched from the front passenger seat of the SUV as dad slowed and made a right hand turn into a parking lot of a moderate sized brick building. After he found a space to park and shut off the vehicles engine, he picked up a stack of papers in a bright green folder then opened his door to climb out. Not saying anything, I opened my door and hopped out of the SUV. “Are you sure we have to do this?” I asked, finally breaking the silence as I followed his lead staying at his side as we made our way along a concrete walkway. As he always did, he held a small remote up and clicked it causing the car horn to chirp twice.

“Your mother and I double checked, and in order to attend school here in the states, you have to get a physical and be up to date on your immunizations.” Dad nodded as my eyes fell upon a large sign hanging over a pair of glass doors. Your Care Clinic. The sign read in bright red lettering.

“But doctors and nurses always ask too many questions. And they stick you with huge needles!” I groaned as we came closer and closer to the doors.

“We'll get some ice cream after we're done here.” He patted my shoulder with one hand while opening the door with other. Once inside, he guided me to a check in desk where a man and a woman – both dressed in bright blue uniforms organized stacks of papers. Seeing us stepping up the counter, the man smiled and picked up a pen.

“Hi. What can we do for you today?” The man asked while preparing to write something on a clipboard.

“My son Caleb needs a physical to start school here.” Dad slid his hand on my shoulder again after placing his own stack of paperwork on the counter. “Full and complete copies of his medical records.” He then slid the green folder over.

“All right then.” The man flipped through a few pages of the file. “Take a seat anywhere you want, we'll be with you shortly.”

The room was cold and bright. It reeked of cleanliness. The only furniture in the room were a couple of chairs – one of which my dad sat on, and the padded exam table I found myself on. Along the far wall were a few cabinets and a counter top, next to those was a large metal scale and a rack of various medical exam devices. Standing in front of me was an older man with thinning gray hair and a bright white lab coat over a blue shirt and black slacks. Even though the whole process wasn't taking long, I still wanted to get out of there and be done with it all.

“So, Caleb.” The doctor gave me a quick glance while jotting some notes on a couple of sheets of paper. “How do you like it in the states so far?” He asked just before unclasping a plastic box with an orange light from my index finger.

“Its weird, but in a good way.” I gave a slight smile.

“That make sense.” He nodded in agreement. “Your chart says you've been diagnosed with nocturnal enuresis. Is that correct?”

“Unfortunately.” I sighed, knowing exactly where this was headed. “Had it all my life, diagnosed when I was six. Cutting back on the fluids before bed, pills, alarms, hypnosis, reward charts, nothing worked. The only thing that helps are plastic sheets and my...um...” I trailed off, the doctor must have seen the heat cresting my cheeks because he gently spoke out.

“Night wear?”

“Exactly.” I hyper-nodded while pointing both index fingers at him. “Yes! Night wear. Yes.”

After a few short seconds, he slid the paperwork into a separate file then pulled a pair of white gloves off his hands. “Well, Caleb, other than being one degree warmer than usual, you're as fit as a fiddle. Once I give you some boosters, you'll be good to go.”

“Great...” I mumbled as he turned and left the room.

“Should I ask them to get backup in here to keep you down?” Dad chuckled as he stood up and reached out to ruffle up my hair.

“That's like asking an escape artist if he needs help.” I grinned and raised my hand. With little thought to doing it, I pointed my fingers to a small trash can sitting in the far corner. Both of us watched as a blue glow began to form around my hand and fingers, in the corner, the trashcan slowly started to levitate off the tiled floor. After a few seconds of keeping the metal container in the air, I barely moved my hand allowing the can to gently land on the floor back in its original spot.

“I know you need to practice, but this isn't the best place to do it.” Dad shook his head while mumbling in low tones.

“You're always saying I need to hone my control, I can't do that at home where I can do it to my full potential because it's only the three of us. Sometimes I feel like I need that risk...the element of someone coming along and finding out.”

“Caleb.” Dad suddenly put his hands on the sides of my face and stared me eye to eye. “Okay yes its too safe at home. I'll give you that. But you have to be more careful. What if someone walked in just as you were doing that? How would you explain it?” He pulled his hands away just as the door knob rattled before the door swung open revealing the doctor. In his hand was a small tray with a few oblong items on it.

“Just a couple more minutes and you'll be all done here.” He smiled as he placed the tray on the exam table to my right. I looked down to find two syringes with long needles glistening in the light.

“I...think I'm going to lay down while you do that.” I grumbled suddenly feeling light headed. I rolled up the sleeve of my green shirt contrasting black jeans then moved around in a way that I was laying on the exam table giving the doctor easy access to the meat of my shoulder. As he picked up the first syringe, I drew a deep breath and looked away so the experience wouldn't be as bad. Much to my surprise, the doctor had a rather gentle approach to the injection, so much so, that on the second one, I was actually watching him do it to make sure he wasn't playing mind games.

“Take five minutes and come out when your ready.” The doctor patted my arm while nodding towards dad. As he picked up the tray and turned towards the door, I called out.

“Hey, doc?” Hearing me, he paused and glanced back with a questioning expression. “Thanks for being gentle like that.”

“Any time.” He smiled an even wider smile then opened the door and stepped out into the hall leaving me and dad alone once again.

--- --- ---

“TamTam we're home.” Dad called out after opening the front door to the house. Both of us entered into the spacious living room while carrying handfuls of plastic bags. Once inside, I nudged the door shut with my elbow then followed dad into the white tiled kitchen where mom closed a rich tan cabinet door that had a sheet of glass inside of it.

“Hey guys, have a fun day?” Mom asked as we put all the bags on the counter.

“Sure did.” Dad chuckled as all three of us began to empty out the bags full of groceries to get them put away. “Got food for the week, got Caleb's school physical taken care of, I met my new boss and saw where I was gonna be working. Had our fill of ice cream...” Even though he didn't say a word about the ice cream, just hearing his voice in my head was all it took for me and him to share a glance and a grin.

“What are you two grinning about?” Mom asked as she crossed her arms and stared at both of us.

“We were just thinking about how well Caleb handled the doctor.” Dad retorted with a chuckle. “He didn't even throw a fit over the shots. I tell you, that doctor had a really great bedside manner.

“Ohh.” Mom smiled. “That's great. I was expecting to get a call from the police to come bail you two out of jail.”

“Also, a lot of our neighbors work at the plant, they seem like a nice bunch. They even invited us over for their annual mid-summer barbeque.” Dad spoke while setting boxed goods in a wide cabinet. “I guess that's their big thing to do every year.”

As mom set a few things in the fridge and freezer, she nodded. “Well, that would be a good chance for all of us to meet each other.”

“That would also give Caleb a chance to make some new friends.” Dad paused and glanced over to me. “Who knows; maybe you might even have some fun.”

“Lets not ask for miracles.” Mom grinned as she tossed me a pack of dry pasta to put away.

“Ha. Ha.” I stared at her with low eyebrows and a scowl. “Besides, you remember Triskov? He wanted to be my friend until the end, but when he found out about my bed wetting, we all saw his true colors. I'm not letting that happen again!”

“Okay.” Dad sighed and pulled me over to the table where he had me sit down so he could sit facing me. “What he did was terrible. He didn't have a right to do any of that. But you can't put walls between yourself and people you haven't even met, because when you do that, you won't ever see how good they can be. Son, not everyone is like Triskov. Believe it or not, there are decent caring people in this world; but you won't know it if you don't give them a chance.”

“But I just don't want a repeat of...” I shook my head.

“Your father and I don't want that either.” Mom put her hands on our shoulders. “Right now, we just want you to meet some of the local kids, maybe you might have something in common.”

“She's right, son. If they really wanna be friends, they'll accept you for who you are; quarks and all.”

“Or they'll betray us by selling us to the highest bidding - top secret science lab never to be heard from again.” I raised an eyebrow hopefully giving them something to think about.

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Author: Tripped
Timestamp: Feb 15, 2015 at 1:15 PM
Content:

wilddog said:

Tripped makes a new story and it is great as usual.

Magic, adjusting to a new environment and a crinkly bottom, I’m hooked.

I just hope you... like... finish it? pwitty pweese?

[End of quote]

I'm planning on finishing this one, as its one of those stories that's kind of writing itself - if that makes sense. Already have parts three and for done up and ready to post, and begining the fifth part started.

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Author: Tripped
Timestamp: Feb 15, 2015 at 2:30 PM
Content: The afternoon was warm and bright. The occasional gentle gust of wind blew over stretches of bright green grassy lawns. Even though the front yards looked identical, each house the yard came with was as unique as the people living in them. At a T intersection at the end of the road, I could hear loud music as mom, dad and myself crossed the street and kept going for another few houses. As we approached our destination, classic rock music came louder and clearer until I could make out the lyrics and guitar riffs.

“Hey Henderson!” A mans voice rang out from the side of a red stone two story house with arched windows. 11378 gold numbers affixed next to the door matched what was on the side of a bright blue mailbox sitting within a foot of the street. “Don't be strangers, come'on back.” The man in blue jeans, white shirt and a flannel over-shirt called out again while waving us back. With nothing more than a chuckle from dad, all three of us started towards the back yard. Even as we strolled along the side of the house, I could clearly hear the chatter of what seemed like hundreds of people, and, as we rounded the corner into the back yard, my eyes fell upon only twenty five or so people standing around and talking. Some were huddled in small groups of three or four, some in larger groups, there were even a few that were just standing around drinking from clear plastic cups.

“Hey glad you guys could make it.” The same guy reached over and shook dads hand.

“Thanks for having us over.” Dad nodded while shaking the guys hand.

“Its not every day we get new neighbors. Make yourselves at home.” The guy held his hand outwards to his side.

Just as they usually did, mom and dad wasted no time in getting chatty with everyone around them. The further they got into their conversations, the more I withdrew from the entire thing until I found myself sitting on an old tree stump watching everything around me. That was until I heard someone shouting 'heads up' from behind me, and, acting on instinct I stood and spun in place to see a brown football flying my way. I took a bouncing leap into the air catching the ball and within seconds I found myself on the ground with the wind knocked out of me and a dull throbbing coming from my chest.

“Way to go Tweeb!” I heard a cackling laugh coming from over me. I opened my eyes to find another boy with brown hair, a blue shirt and black jeans standing up from his tackling move. Two his left were two more boys – one wearing a bright red shirt and black jeans, the other with blond hair, a light gray shirt and blue jeans. Based on the identical appearance of the two wearing the black jeans, I knew they were twins.

“You okay man?” The blond haired boy asked while helping me up to my feet.

“Yeah...peachy...” I grunted and rubbed my chest to massage away the dull throbbing.

“Hey I recognize you.” The one in the blue shirt that tackled me grinned while looking me head to shoes. “You moved into the vacant house around the corner just the other day.”

“Even for a Tweeb he's pretty bad at comprehending things. Heads up means heads down. I could really have some fun with you.” The boy in the red shirt smirked revealing two pointy fangs. Then his smirk turned into toothy grin. “The names Fang. This right here is my twin bro Pinball.” He reached over getting his twin into a loose headlock then pointed with his thumb to the blond haired boy. “That there's Sparks. He's a real techno whiz kid.”

Hearing this, the blond haired boy turned a few shades of pink. “Can it!” He grunted while giving Fang a low and rather dirty glare. He then turned and gave me a gentle, questioning glare. “So what's your name, new guy?”

“Caleb.” I sat down on the old tree stump once again.

“That's a silly name.” Pinball laughed causing Fang to do the same.

“At least I was born with it, whats your excuse.” I cornered with a little grin of my own.

It was then that a taller woman in a long yellow dress came up to us. Her hair seemed to bounce with every step she took until she towered over all of us. She gave me a polite smile then she turned to the twins. “Douglas, Francis, come help me set the tables.”

“Mom...” Fang whined as he shook his head while keeping it low. “...we're going by Fang and Pinball!”

“Last month you two were named Turbo and Diesel. And the month before that it was Axle and Shock.” The woman sighed and rolled her eyes. “Look, y'all can call yourselves Pink-princess-twinkle-toes for all I care! Come help me, set, the tables!” None of us dared to say anything as she crossed her arms and stared down the twins. Almost immediately the twins huffed and shuffled off towards a couple of wood picnic tables in line with a massive gas grill that looked sleek and streamlined.

When the twins and the woman were far enough away, I turned to the blond haired boy introduced as Sparks and chuckled. “Francis, and Douglas...” I raised an eyebrow. “...and they say I have a silly name.”

“You'll get used to those knuckleheads.” Sparks smiled “My real names Simon, by the way.”

I nodded in thought while watching the twins helping the woman put a lot of stuff onto the picnic tables. “Simons actually a pretty decent name. So you're some kind of genius?” I asked as Sparks sat down on the old stump next to me.

“Yeah.” He grinned with a sparkle in his eyes. “I can make and fix anything electrical or mechanical. That watch you're wearing, you'd be surprised at what I can do with it.”

“I'll take your word for it.” I chuckled.

“I can also tell you're from Europe.” Sparks suddenly stared me eye to eye. “Most likely Germany.”

“How did you know that!?!” I stammered while blinking several times in complete disbelief.

Hearing this, Sparks laughed and playfully bopped my shoulder. “Its in the way you talk; you roll certain R's and you pronounce your W's like V's. You said 'vord' when you meant 'word'.”

“Ooohh you're good.” I smirked, then slowly let it fade. “I guess I have to work on that.”

“Actually I like it.” Sparks smiled. “See, Fang and Pinball moved up here from the deep-deep parts of Texas so they have that southern thing going on when they talk. And I...well..I just don't have an accent of any kind. So you keep that way of talking.” he paused for a few moments while staring off into the distance towards everyone gathering around the grill. He then stood up and waved just enough to catch my attention. “Looks like its feeding time; c'mone.”

The setting sun cast interesting hues of reds, yellows, golds and oranges against tufts of clouds moving in from the west. Even though the barbecue party was starting to wind down, mom and dad were still busy chatting it up with three guys. One of them wore the flannel over shirt and the woman with the yellow dress whom I've come to learn were the parents of the twins. The other two men – both wearing blue jeans, one in a light orange shirt and the other in a lavender shirt seemed out of place, but strangely they also seemed to fit in at the same time. I couldn't quite figure it out, but every so often, I noticed Sparks giving them a quick glance as though he knew them.

As the sun continued its trek to the horizon, and the skies grew darker and darker; the twins, Sparks and I kept chatting it up as we shared different stories and life events. When I first met the twins, I thought they were just a couple of hotshots, but, after the hours spent around them, I found they were cooler than what they presented. What really surprised me, though, was learning that the twins dad also had to move the whole family here to work at the plant.

It wasn't until the sun disappeared and the sky reached its full darkness that things really quieted down in the back yard. Eventually the two men that Sparks kept glancing to stood up from the picnic table they were seated at then came over to us. At first I wasn't sure what was going on, but after the taller of the two put his hand on Sparks shoulder I prepared myself for anything. “Come on, son. You have an early dentist appointment tomorrow.” He spoke softly.

“And if you don't get enough sleep you get rather irritable.” The shorter of the two also spoke in gentle tones.

Sparks stood and nodded towards me and the twins. “All right, I'll see all of you tomorrow.”

“Later.” The twins chirped in unison as I gave a subtle wave. After Sparks and the two men left, the twins glanced at each other then turned their attention to me.

“I suppose we ought to tell 'em.” Pinball sighed as he sat on the grass and stretched his legs out. “He'll find out soon'nough.”

“Tell me what?” I asked, unsure if I really wanted to know.

“About our boy Sparks.” Fang picked up where Pinball left off. “Sparks, well, see, he's an adopted kid. When we first met 'em, he was really quiet and shy, but after a while, we kind of warmed up to each other. Then one day he told us. When he was a baby, he was left on the doorstep of Mark and Gregs. When they found 'em, they called the police, and after a long while, through some strange series of events, Mark and Greg adopted Sparks and raised 'em as their own. See, Sparks doesn't really talk about it; heck, he's got a hard enough time with two dads.”

Pinball suddenly jumped in. “Before you ask, yes he did say dads. Plural. Yes they are gay, but they're really nice and kind and they treat Sparks with the same respect and familial love as any regular mother and father would.”

“I got nothing against it.” I shook my head while giving a little shrug.

“Good.” Fang turned a low tone and a piercing glare. “Because if you do have a problem with it, you have a problem with us!”

“Seriously I'm cool with it. He's obviously in a good home with parents that care about him.” I held my hands outwards showing them that I was sincere.

“Good.” Pinball grinned and popped his knuckles one by one. “Then I guess you're cool enough to hang out with us.”

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Author: Tripped
Timestamp: Feb 19, 2015 at 1:53 AM
Content:

BBQ said:

the story so far is great, I can't wait to read more.

So keep it coming.

[End of quote]

I'm glad you like it so far. Going to post part four tomorrow after I get home from work.

Soccerbaby said:

Can't wait for more

[End of quote]

Planning to post part four after work tomorrow.

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Author: Tripped
Timestamp: Feb 19, 2015 at 1:01 PM
Content: The morning was bright and cool. Everything around me was silently still as I shifted into a higher gear on my bike allowing me to go a bit faster. It wasn't until I rolled onto a driveway of a single story cream colored home with dark green trim that I slowed to a gentle if not squeaky stop along side two silver bikes. The row of bikes were set next to a large four door pickup truck that was parked with its front end pointed towards the road and the rear end pointed towards an open garage.

“Hey looks like the Tweeb made it.” I heard a voice coming from within the open garage.

“Now its a party.” An eerily identical voice rang out from the same place.

After I climbed off my bike and undid the plastic buckle of my helmet, I made my way up the driveway to the garage where I found Fang and Pinball sitting on an old brown couch while Sparks rummaged around one of four workbenches set up around the space. Each workbench was a clutter of what looked like spare parts and wires and electronic equipments.

“What's going on Caleb.” Sparks spoke out, giving a quick glance my way while holding up a few sheets of paper to eye level. “Aha! I was right! It is a phase modulation of point zero five hertz for every one one-thousandth ampere!”

“Today on Wild Animals...we see the techno-dork in its native habitat.” Fang chuckled causing Pinball to do the same.

“What is all this?” I asked while stepping up next to Sparks and looking around.

“This is my lair.” Sparks grinned. “This is where my ideas come to life.”

With a nod, I looked around to find racks full of spools of wire in various sizes and colors. There were several shelves stuffed with plastic organizers full of miscellaneous bits-n-pieces, massive pegboards mounted to the walls held enough tools for a hardware store, countless bundles of folders and binders were stacked five and six deep. It was then that something caught my attention. Something was moving on the workbench in front of us. No sooner had I focused on the movement than I took a huge step back with a surprised and shocked glare. “Huge spider!” I pointed to the black eight legged creature moving silently over assorted parts and tools.

“Relax bro; that's just Charlotte.” Sparks seemed to beam with joy as he put the papers aside and reached over to pick up the massive spider. “I promise you, she's perfectly harmless.” As he said that, he held it towards me causing me to take another step back and put both hands up in a 'stop' motion.

“Y-you have a p-pet t-tarantula...” I stammered while shaking my head side to side. “A-uh-dog or a-uh-cat I can-uh-understand...but not something like THAT!”

“Well...” Sparks sighed. “...dad's allergic to pet dander. Birds and fish are too high maintenance so I figured why not build myself a pet. Thus Charlotte was born...well...created. This way, I have a pet that I can take care of, and dad won't be in misery with his allergies.” He shrugged with a appeased smile.

“Wait.” I shook my head again. “That's a fake spider?”

“Yeah. Under that black insulation cover is nothing more than wires, servos, and a metal frame.” It was then that his smile turned into an evil grin. “I'm hoping that one day I can get into the military with all the knowledge floating around my brain.” He tapped the side of his head.

“Hey. Guys.” Fang called out and pointed towards our bikes. “Daylights burnin' how'bout y'all get a move on!”

--- --- ---

Peaceful.

That was the only word to describe the large forest the four of us rode through. As I did during most of our trek through town, I followed in line behind Sparks wearing a tan backpack whom rode behind the twins riding side by side. As the other three chattered about different movies coming to the theaters and which video games they were excited about, I stayed in my silent state letting the grandeur of nature hold my attention. From the haphazard biking trail I could hear birds chirping from overhead, almost in time with a gentle squeaking coming from Sparks rear wheel. The trees we avoided offered ample shade from the blinding mid afternoon sunlight, and the compacted ground created the perfect surface for our tires to bite into giving us great traction.

It was the kind of place I could picture myself building a house and spending the rest of my life in.

“Over there!” Pinball suddenly shouted out breaking my trance from the tranquil scenery. I glanced forwards and saw him holding one arm stretched out with a pointed finger. No sooner had he said that than we rolled into a clearing covered in grass. Fang and Pinball slowed to a stop with Sparks doing the same, and as I pulled up next to them, I found a deep ravine and a fast flowing river raging through it. Just across the long and deep expanse was another stretch of land; connecting both lands was an old, rickety wood plank and rope bridge that looked like it was about to collapse under its own weight.

“There she is; our own hideout.” Fang grinned with a head tilt towards the other side of the ravine. I had to focus, but within seconds I noticed a small wood structure sitting a bit of a ways back from the edge on the far side. “Nobody knows its even there, which means its all ours.”

“And when I get there first, it's going to be MINE to control for the day!” Pinball bellowed out in laughter then spun his bike around and pedaled hard lining up his bikes approach to the old bridge. Before Fang or Sparks could react, Pinball was already charging clear across the makeshift path towards the other side the ravine. “Suckers!” He again shouted out while picking up more speed.

That's when the unexpected happened. As Pinball reached the bridges half way point, everything came to a sudden halt. All three of us watched in horror at wood planks falling silently into the raging waters below. The very next thing my mind was able to comprehend was that I saw a bike falling through to the river. Then the unthinkable. Everything went silent when I saw Pinball going into a free-fall.

“Pinball!” Sparks cried out while drawing his hands to his face.

“Bro!” Fang screamed as he jumped off his own bike then ran to the edge of the ravine and stopped just short of falling in himself.

I didn't have time to think; I only reacted. I lunged my arm forwards with all my fingers spread with a blue glow twirling around my fingertips. My arm shook as I raised it higher and higher until both Pinball and his bike were high enough in the air for all of us to see. I slowly and carefully moved my arm to the left then downwards ever so slightly until he and the bike were on the ground. Once he was safely on the grass, I blinked and relaxed as the blue glow dissipated; Fang and Sparks turned astonished glares from where Pinball sat on the grass towards me.

“The hell....” Sparks muttered as Fang ran over to his twin. Instantly a cold chill ran down my spine. I had just done the one thing mom and dad always warned me about not doing. Not wanting to hang around to see what was going to happen, I shifted my weight and took off pedaling my bike as hard and as fast as I could back towards the forest. My mind raced as fast as the tires digging into the dirt and rocks; my eyes started to mist as I thought of the worst possible things that could happen to mom, dad and myself. Images of top secret military bases, armed guards, vicious barking dogs, endless medical tests and needle pokes ran through my mind until they were the only things I could focus on.

I have to call them; I have to WARN them! I thought as I went to reach for a small cellphone in my pocket.

“Caleb!” I could hear Sparks voice close by.

“Tweeb get back here!” That I knew for sure was Fang.

Mom and dad have to know I screwed... Before I could think the rest of it I felt a jarring thud vibrate through my body immediately followed by the sensation of getting thrown over the handlebars then the hard thump of slamming back first against the ground finally rolling to my right side several times. I didn't dare move; even though the only real pain I felt came from my left arm, I didn't want to risk getting up just in case something happened with my neck or back. From my half-twisted position on the dirt, I shifted my focus around until I saw trickles of red creeping down my left arm and collecting where my watch was wrapped around my wrist.

“Caleb...” I heard one of the twins calling out; I wasn't sure which one it was, as Fang never called me by my first name, and Pinball was probably still dazed. The only thing I knew for sure was that their tone of voice was softer, more caring. Footsteps slowly and carefully approached from behind followed by two more.

“Oh man he looks pretty torn up.” Sparks uttered as he moved around until he entered my field of vision followed by Fang then Pinball still looking pretty shaken. I could only watch as Fang knelt down in front of me and reached his hand out, spreading his fingers with an odd yellow glow seeming to come from the skin of his hand. As this happened, Sparks stepped out of my line of sight far enough for me to hear him behind me.

“Slight bump to the head but nothing a good nights sleep can't fix.” Fang muttered as he swept his hand from my forehead to my chest. “No spinal injuries. Ribs aren't broken. No internal injuries. No broken bones, dislocated joints or sprains anywhere.” He then smiled and gently patted my cheek. “How'bout we get that gash in your arm fixed up.”

Not sure what to expect, I managed to get myself untwisted and into something of an upright sitting position. Fang kept the yellow glow around his hand as he focused his attention on my left arm. The pain faded and the trickles of blood ceased; the pain was replaced with tingling then a numbness the likes I'd never felt before. To my surprise, as Fang swept his hand over my arm, the gash seemed to heal and disappear almost as if had never been there. “I knew you had it...” Fang briefly glanced at me in a way our eyes made contact before returning his attention to my arm. “...the very first day we met I could clearly see you had the Krinnel aura. Not just you, your parents too. Its invisible to you, but I can see it like a neon orange glow. You're not alone, Caleb, we all have it; so do our parents, and a lot of the people our parents work with at the plant.”

“Bikes fixed.” Sparks muttered out; all three of us glanced over to a huge fallen tree and Sparks lifting my bike over it; he grinned and rolled it over for me to inspect. Astonishingly, it was like brand new. Once Fang was satisfied with his work, he stood up and grabbed my hand pulling me to my feet. I could only stare blankly at Fang and Sparks not entirely understanding what was going on.

“I saw my life flashing before my eyes.” Pinball spoke barely loud enough to be heard as he stepped close to me. There was something in his eyes, something that was aware yet strangely vacant at the same time. “I was this close...” He raised up his hand with his thumb and index finger close together. “...there's nothing I can say that would even come close to the thanks you deserve. So from this day forwards, I'm going to be your guard. I'm going to do my damnedest to make sure nothing happens to you.” He then pulled me into the tightest hug I've ever been in.

“Makes two of us. You saved my brother so now I got your back, Caleb.” Fang wrapped his arms around both of us.

“Makes three of us.” Sparks chuckled and joined in the group hug before we all separated from each other. “If the twins make a pact like this, there's no way I'm not going to be part of it. If we were a team before Caleb came along, and since he's now part of it, how about we name the team?”

“I'm cool with that.” Fang nodded as Pinball gave a thumbs up.

“Stille Nacht.” Sparks chuckled and slapped my bike helmet just hard enough to get the point across.

“Silent Night.” I smirked. “But how did you....”

“I Googled it.” Sparks gave a bit of an evil glare.

“Stille Nacht it is then!” Fang put his right hand between us.

“Stille Nacht.” Pinball put his right hand over Fangs.

“Stille Nacht.” Sparks put his right hand over the twins hands.

“Stille Nacht.” I chuckled and put my own right hand over Sparks hand.

One blink. In that split second my perception of everything changed. I saw orange glows coming from all four of us, but it wasn't how I normally saw things; it was as though I had stepped out of my body and was watching everything from the side. As I looked around, I saw misty green and yellow fumes coming off the plants and trees around us, I could feel the electronic pulsations coming from our cellphones and watches, I was able to hear everyone's heartbeats as clearly as a bass drum in a silent room. I had the strangest sensation of being everywhere and nowhere at the same time, seeing things in ways I never thought imaginable, experiencing every emotion and feeling at once.

Suddenly everything went blank.

As I came to, I realized that things were back to normal. While sitting up on the forest floor and shivering from the cold that gripped my body, I glanced around to Fang and Pinball holding each other while shaking and wiping streams of tears from their eyes. As they did that, Sparks took several deep shuddering breaths staying curled up in a tight ball on his side just to my right. From what I saw, all three of them had come out of whatever happened just before I did. “W-what was t-t-that!?!” I stammered still fighting off the chills coursing down my back.

“O-our grandpa...” Fang sniffled. “...told us about something like this. It was some kind of physical, metaphysical, mental and emotional connection.”

“He said it was a rare thing. 'The meld' he called it.” Pinball chimed in while staring me eye to eye. “Like it's a sign that something big is coming, and whomever experiences the meld is the warrior for whatever's coming.”

“B...but we all went through it, right?” I asked.

Sparks slowly sat up and drew his knees to his chest and wrapped his arms around his knees. “It was like...I can't even begin to describe it. Best I can offer, is that it was like I - that is - we were all one with everything; from a simple blade of grass all the way to the mysteries of the universe.”

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Author: Tripped
Timestamp: Mar 17, 2015 at 11:52 PM
Content: The mall was surprisingly quiet; even more so at the food court where I sat next to Sparks. Both of us sat across from the twins as we all devoured our lunches. While the twins ate their plates of Chinese food, Sparks worked on a few corn dogs with spicy fries as I downed the second of three chili-cheese burritos. The past hour had been pretty eventful; we spent time in the arcade then stopped by the electronics store where Sparks picked up a few packs of parts that had to be specially delivered. We had also gone to a hobby store where Fang and Pinball bought several model train cars, a few packs of track to expand their layout, a few buildings and a few packs of lights. What I found really strange though, was that no matter where Sparks went, he always had his tan backpack with him at all times. If we went out on a simple bike ride, he'd bring it along; if we went to any store, it was usually hanging over his right shoulder. And now, even at the malls food court, it was sitting on his lap under the table.

“Ya know, its almost the end of summer.” Pinball was the first to break the silence between us.

“Hey yeah, our annual sleepover. I'd almost forgotten about it.” Sparks grinned. ”Besides the last day of school, and the neighborhood barbecue, its something I look forwards to every summer. And now that Caleb's here, it won't be just a sleepover, it'll be a guys party night!” Instantly I froze in mid bite of the burrito having a fair idea of how this was going to go.

“Yeah now we can play true team video games, pig out on junk food while watching horror movies until dawn and sleeping wherever we drop from exhaustion.” Fang gave an evil chuckling laugh with a matching smirk.

Pinball glanced across the table to me. “What'cha think? You ready for it?”

“I-uh...” I stammered trying to come up with something, anything to say. “...that is-uh, I've never-um-been to one of those before.” I gave them the most innocent look, yet, on the inside, I was proud of myself for skillfully dodging the question on the go.

“Dude! You're kidding!” Sparks whipped his head around until he was staring me eye to eye. “Quit joking around; I bet you've been to dozens, if not tens of dozens!”

At this, I merely shrugged while looking down to my tray of food in a somewhat shameful expression. “I've never been good enough friends with anyone to get invited to one.” It wasn't a lie. That was the simple truth. There was no way that I was going to say a word about my bed wetting or having to wear diapers because of it, though.

“Dude; total sob story.” Fang reached across the table and put his hand on my shoulder. “Don't ya worry'bout that now, you've got three good friends and you're gonna have your first sleepover come hell or high water.”

The hell part I could believe. I thought to myself. It's gonna be absolute hell when they find out. Being a bed wetter isn't something they're just going to forget about the next day. And, knowing how the twins can be, they're gonna be busting my chops about it for a long time to come. Sparks, though, he might give me a hard time about it but nothing too brutal.

“It's gonna be a rockin' one too!” Sparks chimed in. “I think it might even be the best one we've ever had!”

--- --- ---

I sighed as I sat alone on a wooden porch swing. Gentle chirping of crickets and an occasional owl hoot were the only sounds that keep it from being absolutely silent. I slowly rocked the porch swing forwards and backwards as I stared at the night sky filled with countless stars.

What am I going to do!?! I thought to myself as I tilted my head back ever so slightly and shifted my glare upwards just enough to notice. If I don't go, I'm a jerk. And if I do go, I'll be the laughing stock of the state. Damned if I do, damned if I don't.

At that very moment the porch swing shuddered with uneven rocking until it evened back into its rhythmic motions. Jolted back to reality, I glanced over to find dad sitting next to me, holding out one of two drinks. Just seeing the white frothy tops on the drinks I knew he made his special blend cocoa. “Must be something big.” He smiled while I carefully took the drink from him and slowly sipped it; much as I expected, warm mint flavored cocoa caressed my tongue.

“What makes you say that?” I asked giving him a quick glance eye to eye.

“Even without my powers I can tell that whenever you're sitting by yourself, staring at the night sky, there's something weighing on your mind. Usually something big.” At this he took a few sips of his own drink. “Feel like sharing?”

“It's just that...” I sighed and slouched down on the swing. “...the guys have their yearly end of summer sleepover coming up, and they want me to be there too. I want to go, I really do, but...”

“But you don't want them finding out about your condition.” Dad jumped in.

“Yeah!” I nodded. “I mean, you know, I don't want to let them down, but I also don't want a repeat of...you know.”

“I see.” Dad nodded. “Quite the pickle you're in. Personally, if it were me, I'd just tell them whats going on. I've seen how all of you get along, if you all have the kind of friendship you're showing everyone else, they'll most likely leave it be. Or, you could stay home, not have any fun, and wake up one day when you're my age and wonder why you're alone and miserable.” As dad spoke, I took a few more swigs of the warm mint flavored cocoa letting his words sink in. “On the other hand, your mother and I could go ahead and tell them for you.”

“I guess I should just tell them.” I drew a deep breath. “There's something else on my mind.” Hearing this, dad leaned over while putting his arm behind my head, letting his hand rest on my shoulder. “The other day, when I was out exploring the town with Sparks and the twins. Something happened; I had to use my powers to save Pinball from falling into the river. I know it was a dangerous thing to do but I had to. Turns out that all three of them and their parents also have Krinnel powers.”

“Caleb, I know you had to do what you did, but you have to be very careful about using your powers like that. Just be glad everything worked out, and don't ever expect every situation to turn out just like that one. We have to keep our powers under wraps because the world – generally speaking – just isn't ready for something like this.”

“I know.” I sighed. “There's one more thing I think I need to bring up.” I paused and stared him eye to eye to see if he was ready for this one. “What do you know about this weird existential connection?”

“The Meld.” Dad suddenly sat upright, his thoughtful glare suddenly turning serious. Our eyes met, and even though it was for a few seconds, it felt like a lifetime of his stare piercing my soul. “Did you experience it? Did you feel like you were outside of your body, essentially being one with everything?”

“Not just me; all four of us.” I managed to squeak out now afraid of where this was going.

At this, dad blew a deep huffing sigh through his nose. “Son, I just want you to know this isn't your fault. This isn't because of something you did or didn't do. Most people with Krinnel powers only know the folklore and the myths about the Meld. The truth is, that the Meld is an omen...a warning that storm is coming. And when say a storm, I'm not talking about some clouds and lightning and rain, I'm talking about something that could change the world forever.”

“Like a sign of the apocalypse?” I asked, wondering what was coming next.

“Kind of.” He nodded. “Whatever is coming could end either very bad, or very good. From now on I want you to keep your eyes open for anything out of the ordinary. Make sure your friends know that too. I'm going to tell your mom, and your friends parents and hopefully between all of us, we might get a better understanding of what to expect.

--- --- ---

Days passed by silently. Before I knew it, the weekend was upon us. For me, it wasn't just another day closer to the start of the new school year, it was judgment day. The notion weighed heavily on my mind; for most of the day I could barely focus on anything right in front of me because of the anxiety and anticipation of telling Sparks and the twins my deepest darkest secret. Even as the guys and I spend all morning at the twins house playing video games in their basement, I kept telling myself that the first chance I had I'd just bring up the topic of the sleepover and simply say what the problem was. Except...I kept avoiding that first chance.

Unfortunately for me, fate seemed to have stepped in to make it happen. Just as we finished our team game-play, Pinball stretched out while setting his controller aside and looked around to each of us. “Well, tomorrow nights the big night. Our annual sleepover.”

“Yeah.” Sparks nodded with a slick grin creeping across his lips.

“You ready for it Caleb?” Fang asked innocently enough.

“I-uh.” I swallowed hard and licked my lips trying to find the right way to go about saying it. “There's something about this whole thing I think you all should know. I-um...” By now I could feel everyone's piercing stares. “That is, see, I kind of have this condition that you three need to know about.”

“Dude, relax. A lot of people snore when they sleep.” Sparks chuckled before Fang had a chance to.

“I don't snore.” I shook my head side to side.

“I bet its night terrors or nightmares or something like that.” Pinball grinned thinking he had it. Again I shook my head 'no'.

“I bet he's a bed wetter!” Fang suddenly belted out in hysterical laughter, and within seconds both Pinball and Sparks were howling in amused fits of laughter.

Damn... I thought to myself while hanging my head low until I was staring down at my shoes.

“And...and he doesn't want us to find out that he has to wear diapers to bed!” Fang continued laughing hysterically while Sparks and Pinball grew quiet. “Plastic sheets on his mattress too.” His giggles faded until he was speaking somewhat normally. Hearing all this, I felt my face burning with a wave of tears coming to my eyes.

“Dude.” Fang instantly turned serious as he reached out and gently gripped my chin in his hand and lifted upwards until we were face to face. Even though he tried to make eye contact, I did everything I could to avoid it because I didn't want to show them that I was on the verge of falling apart emotionally. “That's it isn't it; you wet the bed don't you...”

One second. That's all it took for me to spin around in place and take off running. In a flash I darted up the steps to the first floor of the twins house, through the living room and out the front door. Even as I felt the warm afternoon sunlight on my face I still ran; I had nowhere in particular to go to, I was just moving on instinct.

I knew I should have never said anything! My voice echoed in my head even though I didn't say anything. At the end of the road, instead of turning left to head towards town, I kept going straight, into a vast field of grass towards a thick line of trees past that. Now they're never gonna want to talk to me ever again! They're never going to let me live it down, they're gonna tell everyone about it! Just as I made the line of trees marking the start of the forest, I finally gave up trying to keep control, and within seconds waves upon waves of tears flooded my eyes making everything hard to see. When I felt I was far enough in the woods that nobody would see me, I leaned back-first against a tree and dropped to my knees while I lowered my head into my hands.

For the longest time I didn't move. I just stayed in the same position, crying what seemed to be an endless supply of tears while drawing shuddering breaths. Why did they have to laugh at me like that!?! I tried to be honest with them about something deeply personal but they just laughed! The sound of rustling leafs on the forest floor drew my attention, and glancing up, I found a small brown rabbit no more than five feet away from me. The small animal seemed strangely curious as it took one hopping step closer to me, its left ear twitched about as it watched me with its black eyes. Suddenly, both me and the rabbit glanced to the side at the sound of a snapping twig.

“Caleb?” I heard one of the twins softly asking aloud, I shifted my focus about until I noticed Pinball taking careful steps towards me and the animal. Pinball approached until he sat down on the forest floor next to me, as he did, the rabbit turned around and scampered back the way it came only pausing long enough to nibble on a red flowered plant. “I'm just going to come out and ask it. Is it true?” Hearing this, I turned away from him. “I'll take that as a yes.”

“Go ahead and say it – I'm a freak, I'm a loser, I'm a baby, that you guys are gonna tell the entire country about it!”

“I would. But that would make me a liar.” He paused and drew a deep breath, I looked over to see him peeling the bark off a stick. “Truth is, Fang and myself, we're both bed wetters. So, if you're a freak, a loser or a baby because of it, then that means we are too.”

“You expect me to believe that?” I stared him eye to eye while raising an eyebrow, looking for any signs that he may have been stretching the truth.

“Whether you believe it or not, its the truth.” Sparks commented, breaking the silence as he approached with Fang at his side. As soon as he was within arms reach, he slid off his backpack then set it on the ground in front of us while unzipping it. “By now I'm sure you've noticed I'm always carrying this around with me everywhere I go. Its not just because I might need some spare parts or tools.” At this, he opened the main part of his backpack revealing several light blue diapers, a bottle of baby powder and a small packet of wipes. “I'm medically diagnosed as being incontinent; basically I can't feel the need to go – or that I've already gone until its happened. In a nutshell, I have to wear diapers all the time.”

“So why all the laughter when I tried to tell you guys what was going on!?!” I stared at all three of them seeing who would man up first.

“Bro.” Pinball was the first to speak up. “We weren't laughing at you. Okay well Fang was laughing at you...”

“Hey!” Fang belted out in a deep tone.

“...me and Sparks, we were laughing at the irony of the situation.” Pinball continued. “I mean, ya know, you were so worried about what we'd do when we found out about your bed wetting, when the three of us were just as worried about telling you the same thing. Heck, at one point, we were really thinking about not inviting you to the sleepover – or just outright canceling it.”

“What made you change your minds?” I asked while Sparks zipped up his backpack.

“Because were Stille Nacht. We're close friends, we've got each others backs. We didn't want to throw it all away over something as silly as a weekend sleepover.” Fang was the first to answer. “So we decided to keep the sleepover going and just tell you about our diapers later today when the time was right. If only we knew you were also a bed wetter.” He chuckled, and after a few seconds I was also chuckling. Almost immediately Pinball and Sparks joined in with giggles and snickers.

“So we all have to wear diapers for one reason or another.” I laughed a little louder, a little harder, a smile creeping across my face. This caused all three of them to laugh that much more. “Is there anything we don't have in common!?!”

“I bet you don't sleep with a stuffed animal.” Sparks chuckled.

I snapped my head to his direction. “Actually I do...”

“Okay then its official; there's nothing we don't have in common.”

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Author: Tripped
Timestamp: Apr 29, 2015 at 2:50 PM
Content:

Dan09 said:

Ack! This is such an awesome, well written story..it's bananas! I about fell off the side of my bed when I realized I had gotten to the end of the latest chapter..

[End of quote]

Good thing you didn't completely fall off your bed. Hopefully this part is gonna be worth the wait.

wetatnight said:

more please

[End of quote]

Next part coming right up.

BBQ said:

i can't wait for more, I hope there will be a update coming soon.

[End of quote]

Update is here.

BabyBilly said:

This so far has been a grand story. I too wear diapers because of illness. I have had kids as well as adults make fun of me because of this and because of having a limp from Polio. But at sixty five I do not let this bother me anymore. Only if I knew when I was a child and a younger adult that what others think of me does not matter. What matters is what I think of my self and that those thoughts are good worthy thoughts.

[End of quote]

These are truly insightful and deep words. You are a fine example of the adage "with age comes wisdom". Thank you for sharing

The sleepover: pt1

Ding-ding-ding-dong.

I listened to the subtle chimes of the doorbell while adjusting the black backpack slung over my right shoulder and a large pillow under my left arm. After a few short seconds I glanced around to a newly planted row of flowers lining the front walkway of the twins home; as I studied the flowers, I noticed out of the corner of my eye a black SUV with dark tinted windows creeping along. When a loud clack and a gentle squeak brought my attention back to the door I stood at, the SUV sped up a little bit as it headed for the turn towards town. “Hey Mrs. Q.” I smiled a wide smile at the twins mom, and in return, she smiled back.

“How'ya doing Caleb?” She asked while sweeping a tuft of hair behind her ear.

“Can not complain.” I chuckled. “Even if I could, who would listen.”

“True that.” She grinned. “Francis and Douglas are downstairs working on their train set. If you want to, go ahead and kick off your shoes and make yourself at home. You're our guest for the weekend.” She stepped back and held her hand towards the inside of the house.

“Thanks.” I nodded and slowly entered into through the door. As she went back to organizing a few bookshelves, I untied my shoes, slid them off and set them next to two pairs of shoes the twins wore. After a few short moments, I made my way down a flight of steps leading to the basement where I found Fang and Pinball at the far wall with their backs to me - their attention locked on a model train layout that stretched almost the entire width of the room. As silently as I could, I slid off my backpack and set it next to a large couch across the room from an entertainment center that held a few gaming systems and a good sized TV. Still being very sneaky, I put the pillow on top of the backpack and ever so quietly stepped closer to the twins.

“We really should increase the size of the switch yard.” Pinball muttered as he held his hand towards a spot on the left side of the work area.

“Yes.” Fang held up a lone finger towards his brother. “However, we should also consider zoning for future real estate development.”

“I thought we were going to do that when dad builds the new table extension.” Pinball cornered shifting his glare to Fang. “We both know its been a few years since we even thought about the switch yard. Look at it! There are mixed cargo consists sitting on the mainline – we can't even run the trains without plowin' into 'em!

“I guess you're right.” Fang sighed and turned towards a control panel full of small switches and a few dials. One by one, he flicked the switches on until the entire layout was lit up – homes, businesses, streetlights, even what they called their switch yard had tiny red and green lights dotted along the tracks.

“Dumb question.” I stepped towards them, glancing between them and the model trains. “But, you seem to have some extra empty space along the end of the table here; is there a way to bring this part of the track to the tables edge...” I pointed along the line of tracks that I was referring to. “...so you can extend the lines in the switch yard?” Again I pointed.

Pinball brought his hand up and rubbed his chin in a thoughtful pose. “Ya know, I never thought about doing that.”

“We do have a lot of spare track that we can measure and cut to size for the mainline, and we can use old track sections for the switch yard – they don't have to be powered, they just have to hold the rolling stock.” Fang continued.

“Actually, what if we flared out the mainline here and here.” Now Pinball was pointing around the layout. “And expanded to all three table edges. There's plenty of space for it. Then, we can extend the switch yard to the left, and add in like, what, two switches for two new sidings?”

“Actually, four switches and four sidings, if we flared the mainline of course.” As Fang spoke, I could see him doing some calculations in his head. “If we can squeeze in all four sidings, that'll get the consists off the mainline...at least temporarily.”

“Then, we can add switches here, here, and there.” Pinball muttered in a fast tone while hyper-pointing to more spots around the layout. “And use all that empty space for rip-track. Like for abandoned freight cars.”

“Or cars that need repairs.” Fang chuckled meeting his twin eye to eye. He then turned and gripped my shoulders in a gentle hold. “Dude, you are one serious genius!”

“Thanks...I have no idea what you two were just talking about.”

“Hey! I thought I was the genius around here!” Sparks groaned causing all three of us to turn and look towards the steps leading to the first floor.

Fang slipped a toothy grin. “Don't worry bro; you're still the only diapered genius around these parts. No one can ever fill that role so your title is safe.”

“Gee. Thanks.” Sparks rolled his eyes with a faint laugh while coming down the steps, and when he reached the carpeted floor, he slid his backpack off and set it on his own pillow which he placed on a small stool next to the train set. After opening up the backpack, he pulled out three scale model locomotives. “I got everything wired up like you wanted. You now have working cab lights, number-lights, and ditch lights in all of your locomotives.” He glanced between Fang and Pinball.

“All right!” Fang gave a few solid pats to Sparks shoulder. “So, whats first on the agenda of our first ever Stille Nacht sleepover?”

“You mean how are we gonna pass the time until after dinner when the real fun begins.” Pinball smirked.

Most of the afternoon passed by innocently enough. The twins worked on the top side expanding the main track until it reached three out of the four edges of the expansive table setup, revamping the switch yard, moving train cars around and setting up a little area to park their locomotives when not in use. Sparks worked with the electronics under the layout while I tried to help out where I could. Eventually they had their entire 'to do' list completed, and for the first time since I first saw it, the layout was organized and efficient. What really surprised me, though, was just how detailed the twins were about the whole thing. Not just about where they put different items, but about how realistic everything was. So much so, that for a while, even I started to believe that their model town was real.

--- --- ---

“Okay boys, I know y'all are gonna be up for a while, so just try to keep the noise to a dull riot if y'all could.” Mr. Q. chuckled from halfway up the steps to the first floor. Hearing this, all four of us nodded from our perches on air mattresses laid out where the coffee table used to be. “G'night guys.” He smiled and started back up the steps.

“Night dad.” The twins chirped.

“Night Mr. Q.” Sparks and I spoke out. Once a quietness filled the basement again, all four of us glanced to each other with grinning stares.

“Right.” Sparks was the first to break the silence. “Movie marathon. Before we get started, how about getting ready for bed so that way if we fall asleep we'll be good to go.”

“Works for me.” I shrugged with a slight nod.

“We'll get ready first, so that way we can get the movies set up while you two are getting ready.” Pinball chimed in while standing up and heading towards a small bathroom in the far corner of the basement to the left of their model trains. After about twenty minutes, all four of us were dressed for bed. As usual, I wore my black shirt and black shorts while sitting on the air mattress next to Sparks whom wore a mint green colored shirt that draped to his knees. Fang flopped on the other air mattress next to Pinball while holding a remote control towards the tv – both wearing only dark blue shorts. Even though we were all dressed in different sleeping clothes, the one thing we had in common was that we all sounded like rustling plastic when we moved around.

“Oh can't forget...” Sparks trialed off and bounced off the air mattress long enough to get into his backpack. It wasn't until he returned to his previous spot next to me and held up a stuffed panda for all of us to see that he spoke again, though, he aimed his comments more towards me. “My dads got 'em for me when I was in the hospital to have my appendix removed about six years ago.”

After nodding, I got up and went to my own backpack while the twins went for something behind a couple of couch cushions. When all four of us were back on the air mattresses and looking around, Fang held up a stuffed dolphin and Pinball held onto a stuffed penguin. “I just can't sleep right without Claw.” I chuckled slightly while showing off my stuffed koala.

“Everyone ready?” Fang asked as he snatched the remote from Pinball and pressed a couple of buttons to skip straight to the disks menu list.

We watched movie after movie until the early hours of the morning. Surprisingly, Fang was the first to fall asleep, followed by Sparks leaving me and Pinball. Soon enough even I couldn't keep my eyes open and I too feel into a deep sleep. That was until a mysterious force brought me from my sleep causing me to sit up and glance around. The lights were off but the TV was still on with the dvd replaying its menu options screen, Pinball and Sparks were sound asleep, and that's when I noticed the space where Fang should have been next to his brother was vacant. While looking around more, I noticed a shadowy figure sitting halfway up the steps to the first floor of the house. As carefully as possible, I rolled off the air mattress making sure not to wake up Sparks and tiptoed my way to the steps; I silently climbed the steps and set down next to Fang whom rocked back and forth while keeping his arms wrapped around his knees. And that's when I spotted his plush dolphin between his knees and his chest.

“You okay?” I asked in hushed whispering tones.

“Just a nightmare.” He quickly shot back in the same volume.

“You wanna talk about it?”

“It involved clowns. I'll leave it at that.”

“You know, nightmares are pretty scary stuff, but they can't really hurt you.”

“Yeah, but...” He paused as if in thought. “...when you're having a nightmare, there's no way to know for sure thats what it is. Its like, ya know, there aren't any flashing neon signs making it obvious.”

“That's true.” I had to nod in agreement.

“Even when we're awake there's times when something feels like a dream, but its real life. Like that day when we were showing you around the town and Pinball fell through that rope bridge. I honestly believed that he was gone for good; but then you did your thing and brought him and his bike safely back onto land – that was one of those times that I didn't know if I was awake and seeing reality, or sleeping and having a wild dream.”

“If it'll help, my grandfather taught me a little secret.” I glanced Fang eye to eye, and seeing genuine interest in his eyes, I continued. “He told me that if I found a symbol in my dreams, that'll be my way of knowing whether I'm dreaming or not. Like if I see a rose bush for example. Does not always work, but usually it does. And when I'm sure I'm dreaming, I tell myself I'm dreaming and from then on I can control it. Bad things go away, good things stay.”

“That's crazy.” Fang chuckled almost too silently to be heard. “But it makes sense.”

“Feel like giving it a try?” I asked while thumbing towards the air mattresses where Pinball and Sparks still slept. Ever so quietly, both of us stood and made our way back down the steps.

“Maybe I could use Splash here as my dream symbol.” He again whispered in gentle tones while shifting his stuffed dolphin from one hand to the other.

“If it works for you.” I grinned and kept going only to be pulled back by his hand on my shoulder. I glanced back to see him with an honest smile.

“I don't care what anyone says...” He reached up and ruffled my hair. “...you're golden in my book.”

It was then and only then that I realized I was looking at the real Fang – not the 'over the top' kid or the boy with the pack leader mentality, but the guy that wasn't afraid of opening up on a personal level. Seeing this side of him made me feel special, as though I was involved with something that nobody outside of the team ever saw.

That's when I truly knew he had accepted me in the friendship. I kept rolling those thoughts over in my mind as we both laid back down on the air mattresses, and before I knew it, both of us were fast asleep once again.

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Author: Tripped
Timestamp: Jun 12, 2015 at 2:34 PM
Content: The sleepover pt 2

The day so far couldn't have been better. After a hot and filling breakfast the twins parents made, the four of us spent time riding our bikes through the woods, then we caught an early afternoon movie. And now, as we sat around a small patio table at a corner restaurant letting our late lunches settle in our stomachs, we sat in a common silence letting the charm of the town overtake us.

“I tell ya. This is the life.” Sparks smiled while leaning back slightly in his chair, sitting half in the sunlight and half in the shade of an umbrella that was attached to the center of the round table. “No school, no parents telling us what to do, no worries.”

“Just four close friends enjoying each others company in the dog days of summer.” Pinball continued while finishing the last bit of lemonade in the bottom of the glass before him.

“I can see us doing this for a long time to come.” Fang munched on the remaining chili-cheese fries on a plate in front of him.

“I'm having the time of my life.” I smiled widely while glancing between all three of them. “If anyone had told me two months ago that I'd be sitting right here right now with three of the only friends I've really had, I'd tell you that you were insane. But here we are, having a blast.” As I paused to let the words settle in, I glanced over to the road to find six black SUVs cruising along followed by four black semi trucks – all with tinted windows.

“Hey the auto clubs here.” Fang chuckled as we all watched the convoy slowing and turning left onto Rosemary Avenue.

“They're probably heading to that construction project down at the old power plant.” Sparks raised an eyebrow with a shrug.

Suddenly Pinball grinned a devious smirk. “Lets just see 'bout that.” I watched as Pinball's left eye turned a bright and shimmery silver color; within seconds a large bird dove from the sky towards us, but before it got to us, the bird flapped its wings gaining height in the sky.

“This is so effen cool!” Fang reached over and grabbed my arm. “Sometimes I wish I had his powers and he had mine!”

“They just made it to Cherry Tree Road.” Pinball muttered out. “Yup; going straight through the intersection.” For another moment he twitched his left eye about. “Coming to the fork in the road, going left. No doubt 'bout it; they're headed towards the old power plant. That's the only way to get there.” He finished with his left eye returning to normal.

“You just do some kind of psychic link with that bird?” I asked staring blankly at Pinball. In response grinned.

“In a nutshell yeah.” He chuckled while glancing around. “I can split my awareness between me and whatever animal is around. I just did it with the bird, and before that, I mentally linked with that rabbit when you disappeared into the woods when you tried to tell us about your bed wetting.”

“Can you do it with other people?” I asked, leaning over the table, as curious about him as ever.

“No.” He sighed and shook his head. “The human brain is just too complex. I tried to do it when I was younger...just ended up with massive headaches.”

After another round of common silence, the four of us reached into our pockets and pulled up enough money to cover the tip and left it all under the plate covered in chili-cheese sauce. Sure that we had everything we needed, the four of us walked over to our bikes and began walking with them in our grips. Soon enough we were pedaling our bikes along concrete sidewalks on our way home; though, the moment we passed a store with display TVs in the front window, I locked up the brakes on my bike and skidded to a halt. If I didn't glance over at the rows of various sized TVs on sale, I wouldn't have noticed the red banner of breaking news, and even though I couldn't hear what was going on, I could easily see through the darkness of night a reporter in front of an area that had been sectioned off with bright orange tape. Behind the female reporter and the orange tape were what appeared to be dozens upon dozens of emergency vehicles bearing the one language I knew all too well.

“Whats with the tire grinder?” Sparks asked after slowing and doubling back until he was glancing between me and the row of TVs on the other side of the window.

“Must be something big.” Fang muttered out as he and Pinball turned their attention to the news.

“That's Reichplast Germany...” I forced myself to point a shaky finger towards the TVs. “...what the heck happened over there!?!.” Again I paused, studying the silent images while reaching into my pocket and pulling out my cellphone. Giving the screen a few taps in different places I held the phone to my right ear and waited.

Beerrrr. One ring.

Beerrrr. Two rings. Come on pick up already! I thought to myself as I had to listen to the sounds.

Beerr-”Hello?” My moms voice was the only thing I needed to hear.

“Hey its me.” I grunted in a short burst of words. “Turn on the news. There's something big going on in Reichplast.” For a few seconds there was a quietness followed by chatter of a TV.

“What the...” I heard mom mutter in shock, the sounds of the TV at home slightly delayed from the video of the TVs in front of the four of us. “...it can't be...” She spoke out again, this time more in a shocked horror. We must have seen the same thing because I found myself staring at a very identifiable logo. It was a large triangle with an “I” in it; two wavy lines with “L” above them were on both sides of the triangle.

“Last Look Industries!” Both of us gasped.

--- --- ---

“I don't know whats going on, but I don't like it.” I frowned with a sigh. I kept my focus on Sparks laptop while double clicking a wireless USB mouse. In the silence of the twins kitchen, Sparks, Fang and Pinball all watched as I managed to stumble my way through the internet search to find what I was after. “All I know for sure, is, that when they came to Reichplast, dad wanted to get us away from there. He said that company was pure evil and he didn't want any of us to get caught up in it.”

“So, what is Last Look Industries?” Sparks asked leaning a little closer until he was reading over my shoulder.

I just gave him a quick glance. “Its an international company that takes old mines, and fixes them up to make new places to live. Its not like just slapping some walls up and adding a tile floor; it takes a lot of time and money...and power to make liveable space out of dangerous mines. Housing of the future they call it. A load of cow-fodder is what I call it.”

“I don't get it.” Pinball shook his head while leaning over my left arm to read the screen. “If they can do something like that, why would your dad not want any of y'all mixed up in it?”

“This is why.” I double clicked again until all four of us were staring at a web-page listing important information. “Glaring safety issues, an infinite number of accidents, and an alarming number of incidents leading to mass fatalities each year. No matter who tries to shut down Last Look, the company always comes out on top. Usually because they have the money to have the best lawyers on call, and the foresight to have legally binding contracts that covers their own butts.”

“Dude...” Fang muttered as he rested his hand on my shoulder. “...your dad was right, that company is nothing but pure evil.”

“I just hope there's people still alive over there.” I sighed while resting my forehead in my hand. “They're good, down to earth, hard working folks. Yeah there were some jerks, but, for the most part...they were good folks.” By now I could feel Fangs hand on my left shoulder, Pinballs hand on my left arm and Sparks hand on my right shoulder. “And if we'd stayed there instead of moving here we'd probably be...”

“Dude don't even think that.” Fang tightened his grip on my collar bone that much more. “It sucks; yes. I don't know how or why things happened the way they did, but they did. I don't know; maybe this was supposed to happen. Maybe for some reason you and a few others got out before all this happened...”

“Hey, you guys gotta see this.” Mrs. Q called out suddenly, causing all of us to glance up and over to a TV in the living room. All four of us moved from the quiet kitchen to the living room where Mr. and Mrs. Q. were focused on the news coverage coming from Reichplast Germany. “They're saying that the entire mine system collapsed during phase three of construction. Apparently someone hit a water reserve which both flooded it and weakened its network of supports.”

“What are the current numbers?” I asked, not sure if I even wanted to study the TV screen for more than a few seconds.

“All of phase three labor division. Only three have been confirmed deceased, the rest are still unaccounted for.” Mr. Q. was the first to answer.

“Just under half the city.” I suddenly felt sick to my stomach. At the very moment I started to move towards the couch, a loud but somewhat gentle knocking came from the open door blocked by a screen door. “Dad.” I gasped not sure what was going to happen next.

“Come on in Everett.” Mr. Q. waved for dad to enter. After a few short seconds dad was stepping across the carpeted floor until he stopped and draped his arms over my shoulders pulling me close.

“I've been keeping up with the news.” Dad whispered softly, as though he needed this as much as I did; and judging from his hold, he needed it a lot more. “I knew something like this was going to happen. I just knew it.”

“Has anyone been able to get in contact with your parents...moms parents?” I pulled back just far enough to see him eye to eye. At this, he simply let his head hang just a little more.

“Your mom and I have been trying to call them since you called earlier. We haven't heard from any of your grandparents. Every time its the same thing; the line just keeps ringing and nobody answers.”

“Oh god I'm going to be sick!” I clinched my eyes shut and buried my face into dads chest.

“Caleb...” Fang reached out and gently put his hand on the crease between my neck and shoulder. “...you've got a lot to deal with right now with everything happening in Reichplast, so if you wanna skip the rest of the sleepover, I'll completely understand.”

“Yeah.” Sparks spoke in agreement. “You take all the time you need to deal with this disaster.”

“Totally.” Pinball continued where Sparks left off. “There will always be other sleepovers. Right now the important thing is to handle this whole cluster-fudge-bomb; if you need anything...anything at all, we'll be right here.

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Author: Tripped
Timestamp: Jul 9, 2015 at 1:51 PM
Content:

BBQ said:

yes!! a update, keep them coming.

[End of quote]

I know its been a month or so now, but here it is.

BabyBilly said:

This story idea is working well. The boys work well together.

[End of quote]

Thank you, I'm surprised how well they're working out together.

hiyou345 said:

Keep up the good work!!!!

[End of quote]

Working on it.

PullupAndy said:

Loving it!

[End of quote]

More to hopefully enjoy.

secretlynappied89 said:

more please!

[End of quote]

Here ya go.

Azie said:

Browalla must satisfy poofhoof's hunger for more of this story or you get tkspanking:!

[End of quote]

Next part is here :biggrin:

Keleros9 said:

This is a good story. I really like how you combine true to life storytelling with supernatural elements and diapers.

[End of quote]

Thank you, I'm glad you're liking it. I'll be honest, I'm really surprised how this is all coming together.

I awoke with a startled jump to the blaring repeating buzzing sound of an alarm clock sitting on a small stand next to my bed. After slapping the clock into silence, I sat on the edge of the bed letting my bare feet graze the soft carpeting. With nothing more than a grunt and a few groans I stood up and stretched while rubbing the sleep from my eyes. As I did every morning I grabbed a change of clothes and walked into the bathroom with something of a waddle where I took my morning shower and got ready for the day. Just like usual, I clamored down the steps to the first floor and shuffled into the kitchen where I poured myself a bowl of cereal then sat down and began eating it.

“How are you holding up?” Dad asked. I glanced up from my breakfast to see him walking around the table until he was able to wrap his arms around me in a comforting hold.

“I dunno.” I mumbled with the faintest of sighs. “I just don't know how to feel about all of this. I mean, you know, it hurts, I want to find the guy that owns Last Look Industries and rip his head off, I also want to just scream for no reason.”

“The grieving process is complicated, Caleb. There are times when even I can't really believe what happened. When your mother gets back from Reichplast, we might be able to have some closure and start the healing process. Just so you remember, I'm going to be putting in a lot of extra hours at work today so I probably won't be home until about dinner time. I'll leave enough money so you can order pizzas for dinner.”

“What do you really do at the plant?” I asked him while he stood up and sat down across the table from me. “You moved us out here, and you say its the best career choice you've ever made, but I can't shake the feeling you don't make car parts there.”

“Caleb...” He stared at me with his piercing glare. “...maybe some day I can tell you what I really do at the plant. For right now, though, imagine that I work on one of the production lines.”

“Why!?! What's up with all this secrecy!?!” I narrowed my focus on him. “You're giving me a big pile of cow fodder about your pretend job. I don't know anything about what you really do, or what the company you work for does, or why I had to have one of the plants security guards standing over me while I had to wait in the lobby while you met the boss and took a tour of the place 'cause the last I checked, car parts aren't really all that top secret!”

“Son, I'm going to level with you.” He finally sighed while leaning across the table and lacing his hands together. “Obviously we don't make car parts at the plant. What we do, could be considered one step away from U.S. Military contracts, so there's a lot of hush-hush stuff happening there. When I come home every day and not say anything about work, its not because I don't want to share the highlights of the day – trust me I want to tell both of you all the good things that happen - its just because I'm protecting both of you.”

“Protecting?” I shook my head. “Why would we need protecting?”

“Because there are people out there that would be willing to hurt you and your mom for information. Just imagine what they'd do with me! I don't like keeping either of you in the dark like this, but the less the two of you know, the safer you are. Caleb, I know its hard, but you're just going to have to trust me on this one.” Dad then leaned even further over the table until he put his left hand over my right arm just like mom does. “If it makes it any easier, starting tonight, when I come home from work, I'll tell you all the good things that happened at work.”

“It will still be a lie.” I cornered and looked away slightly.

“True.” He nodded. “But, car parts aren't really all that top secret either. And I do work on a production line, so, it wouldn't be lying, just bending the truth a little bit.”

“I guess.” I sighed.

--- --- ---

“It was the phrase of the day. 'No comment.' As spoken by Last Look Industries founder and CEO Russell Derj as he pushed his way past a swarm of reporters....” I listened to the early afternoon news while I stared blankly at the laptop screen in front of me. No matter what search phrases I used, the only things I could find online about the company dad worked for were snippets about being the leader in custom vehicle parts manufacturing. What really made me curious, though, was that they didn't even have a website or any contact information.

It wasn't until the doorbell chime echoed out softly that I set the laptop aside and stood up until I was shuffling my socked feet across the wood floors to the front door. After peeking through a large window next to the door, I reached over to the cold metal knob giving a firm twist until the door squeaked open. “Come on in guys.” I stood aside letting Sparks and the twins in. No sooner had I swung the door closed than I turned to find Fang holding out what looked like a notebook customized with a black covering adorned with neon a series of green pinstripes.

“Our mom wanted you to have this.” Fang smiled and nodded down towards the notebook.

“What is it?” I asked while I opened the front cover to find a picture of the four of us on the very first day we met. Dozens of other pages had countless more photos of us during the entire time we'd known each other.

“Mom has this thing she does. The day after our annual sleepover, she'd start taking pictures and save them until the next sleepover. And all those pictures she has during that span of a year, she'll take and make copies of them and make us these yearly photo albums. She thought it would be a nice gesture to make you one for this year, even though you've been here for only a few months.”

“There've been times when we've cracked open some older albums and laughed over some of the zany things we've done.” Sparks ruffled my hair while I kept glancing between them and the pages in the notebook.

Instantly Pinball grinned while giving Sparks a devious stare. “Yeah like the time brainiac there tried building a remote controlled lawn mower...”

“Oh gawd not the lawnmower again!” Sparks groaned while hanging his head low and giving it a few good shakes side to side.

“...I'm still trying to figure out how you managed to cross the wireless frequencies bad enough that you tripped every security system on a whole two block radius.” Pinball continued while laughing. “There were cops and firetrucks and ambulances everywhere. I swear, there must'a been every single emergency vehicle from the town in this one small neighborhood.”

Listening to all this even I couldn't help but chuckle, that was until I flipped to the last few pages of the notebook. Most of the photos were of us during the weekend sleepover. But the very last page was the one that caught me off guard. On the very last page was only one picture; its background was darkn, and standing in front were Simon and the twins – all three holding lit white candles in their hands – their heads were tilted downwards enough that they looked like they were standing in sorrow. Under the picture was a hand written message that read 'true friends can make each other happy, and mourn together over tragedy.'

“Caleb?” Fang asked in gentle tones as I stared at the picture and the message, my eyes starting to water up until a streak of tears rolled down my cheeks. I quickly glanced up at him then back down to the page; he reached out and planted his hands on the fronts of my shoulders making sure to softly grip 'em. “Some how, some way, Last Look is going down for good. That company is just too big and too powerful to not fail. In fact, Sparks has been flooding every blogging website he's on, we've made a few Youtube videos about the disaster in Reichplast and he's even made a special website just for the cause; the numbers are growing every day. People are getting behind this movement...they're rallying together over this cause....”

“Hey guys you gotta see this!” Pinball suddenly interrupted his twin brother and pointed to the TV. All four of us gathered around, and as we did, I picked up the remote and turned up the volume. On the screen were two men sitting behind what looked like a news desk debating something. On the bottom of the screen was a blue banner with “The call to justice” in white lettering.

“And what about this online rally that's sprung up not even a week ago?” The man on the left asked while motioning with his hands. “They're calling for action to be taken against Last Look Industries.”

“Well its interesting you brought that up.” The man on the right nodded. “This was all started by three of four friends whom call themselves StilleNacht. Now, as I understand it, these three friends did this as a means of doing something for their other friend, whom moved from Reichplast and had lost family when that mine system flooded and collapsed.”

“Damn we're getting mentioned on TV!” Sparks gasped with a surprised grin.

The man on the left side of the TV screen held out his hand in a simple 'stop' gesture. “Correct me if I'm wrong, but these boys range in age between twelve and thirteen, right? So they can't really do anything more than online rallies and the like. They can't pursue legal action.”

“That's correct.” The man on the right agreed. “We've been tracking this particular case, and now we're starting to some big names starting to support this movement – all the way from musicians to leaders of countries. Who knows, maybe StilleNacht will succeed in their quest and have their day when Last Look Industries has to stand trial.” He then paused and held his right hand to his ear. “Ladies and gentlemen, our producers have asked me that tell you that we at KROT News fully support StilleNachts 'call to justice'.”

“Holy hell!” Fangs jaw dropped almost to the floor as Pinballs eyes grew large and Sparks stared blankly at the screen. Fang then turned to me with a massive grin. “This pot of water is really starting to heat up now...”

--- --- ---

I listened to the front door squeaking open then clacking shut. Footsteps clomped along the floor towards the kitchen where I sat at the table slowly eating the first slice of one of the two pizzas that had been delivered not ten minutes ago. The steps paused behind me and a familiar hand ruffled up my hair. I glanced up long enough to see dad walking along the table and taking a seat at his usual place. He then reached over and pulled the unopened pizza box over and lifted the lid. “Oohh bacon cheeseburger. Good call.” He smiled then picked up a slice taking a huge bite of it. “Ya know, we were watching channel seven during lunch break at work. By the time it was over, I think everyone that worked there was so moved by what your friends did that they all went to that website and signed the support page. I really do hope Last Look gets dismantled for good.”

“You guys make the daily quota?” I asked after taking another bite myself.

Dad nodded with a smirk. “Sure did.” He then chuckled. “One of the guys I work with on the line tripped and fell over onto an entire storage rack of lug nuts.”

“Lug...nuts?”

“Yeah they're a type of nut that keeps the wheels on a car. You wanna talk about a mess to have to clean up.” Hearing this, I began to chuckle then laugh myself. “Overall it was a good day. We finished the quota on time, nobody got seriously injured. But the best part of the day was coming home and chatting with my son. Starting Monday, I also want to hear about your day at school.”

“Man don't remind me that school starts in only two days.” I groaned and rolled my eyes.

“Yeah it sucks.” Dad smirked. “But at least you're not facing a new school by yourself; you already know Francis, Douglas and Simon. And it looks like you're all going to be in the same classes so that's a plus.”

“True.” I nodded.

“Speaking of, you got all your paperwork and school ID card yet?”

“Yeah came about 2 weeks ago; still tucked away in the new backpack.”

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Author: Tripped
Timestamp: Jul 13, 2015 at 2:56 PM
Content:

relax said:

An other nice part. I like the mix between the diaper friendship and the mysterious community with super powers. I'm looking forward to read the next part.

[End of quote]

I'm glad you're liking it. I know there's more questions than answers right now, and this next parts gonna make it even more mysterious. But rest assured, all will make sense later.

The morning was early, and the house was deathly silent. Sitting on the edge of my bed under the warming glow of a lone lamp I rubbed my eyes until I was awake enough to stand up and look over the bed to find a moderate sized wet spot on the sheet.

Great... I thought to myself as I took note of how the front creases of my black shorts were also damp. With nothing more than a sigh, I yanked the sheet off the bed then rolled it up until it was under my right arm, after that was done I went into a small closet and found a pair of clothes to wear for the day. As I tiptoed from my room to the bathroom I couldn't help but notice just how quiet the house was in the early morning hour. I would go as far as to say that the rustling of my diaper was literally the only sound I could hear. After my usual routine of taking a steaming hot shower, changing for the day, and having two full bowls of cereal, I quietly made my way out the door with more than enough time to make it to the bus stop just up the road.

“Hey bro.” Sparks grumbled with a massive yawn as we met each other at the bus stop. Coming from the other direction, the twins shuffled along obviously not as awake as Sparks or myself. The four of us stood alone in calm stillness; as we did, the morning sun broke its confinement of the horizon. Even though we'd been standing there for only ten minutes, all four of us glanced up to see a older short yellow school bus rumbling along the the pavement with a pair of yellow lights on the front end of the roof flashing side to side. It then slowed to a stop in front of us with the yellow lights flicking off and a pair of red lights next to them flicking on in the same flashing pattern. The door on the side of the bus squawked open with an ear splitting screech.

“Morning Neil....” Fang called out while starting up a small set of steps then suddenly stopped. “...wait you're not Neil, where's Neil?”

“Family emergency.” I could only hear a gruff voice respond. Withing nothing else said, Fang started moving again, followed by Pinball, followed by Sparks then myself. As I climbed up I couldn't help but notice the tall and muscular bus driver wearing a black uniform with a green patch on his right sleeve; on the patch was an upside down triangle with two dots on each side. After a few seconds all four of us were seated at the back of the bus with our backpacks in our laps.

“Guys.” I motioned for Sparks and the twins to lean in close before I spoke again in low tones. “I sure hope I'm being paranoid, but keep your eyes open.”

“Why?” Pinball asked.

I glanced up to the driver to make sure he wasn't paying attention to us. “Ever have one of those moments when you notice something that doesn't fit? You three saw the uniform, right?”

“Yeah.” Sparks nodded. “Bus drivers don't wear official uniforms. But its the patch on the guys sleeve that caught my attention.”

“So what'cha saying?” Fang asked leaning in even closer next to Pinball while using the seat back in front of him to block the lower half of his face.

“I'm not sure, somethings just not right about this. Keep your eyes open.” I glanced around again before settling back into the seat.

Mile by mile passed silently as the four of us rode for what felt like forever. It wasn't until the bus stopped at the side of a three story brick building that the driver put the transmission in park and manhandled a leaver causing the doors to squeak open. The four of us gathered our things and made our way down the bus' steps only to be met by another tall and even more muscular man wearing the same uniform as the driver. This one though, was also wearing a weapons belt across his waist with two more lashed around his thighs; he was also more intimidating than the driver – as though he would twist us into pretzels for breathing the wrong way. As the bus shut its doors behind us and slowly pulled away, the guy towering over us held one hand out in a 'halt' position; in his other hand was what looked like something out of a strange sci-fi movie.

“Have your school Ids ready.” He spoke out in deep, almost barking tones. One by one, he held the device over our school ID cards until it beeped and flashed a green light. “Proceed to your home room.” He turned his attention from us to another small bus rumbling up the same path ours had taken.

“Has school security always been this tight?” I asked making sure to leave my card hanging freely around my neck as the four of us entered into the red brick building.

“No.” Sparks shook his head. “I mean, yeah, we've always had the ID cards, but normally school security would be Iggy roaming the halls.”

“Iggy?” I asked.

“Deputy Iggy.” Fang commented. “He's like everyone's best friend; if you had any problems, you could always talk to 'em about it.”

“Yeah.” Pinball continued. “Iggy's like a boss skateboarder. And last year, on the last day of school, we all got to watch as he had his lights and sirens going while doing donuts in the parking lot.”

“I think those skid marks are still there!” Sparks chuckled. “School without Iggy is like, ya know, the third circle of hell.” He and the twins fell into a common silence as we shuffled along until we collectively stopped at room thirty eight. When Pinball opened the door, we found that we were in for yet another surprise.

“What is going on here!?!” Fang muttered almost too quiet to be heard. Standing behind the teachers desk on our left was a blond haired woman wearing the exact same uniform as the bus driver and the guy waiting for us outside the building. When she saw us, she gave a firm nod then started shuffling through a stack of paperwork on the desk. She stayed quiet while picking up a pencil and writing something down on a gridded sheet of paper. Not sure what to expect next, the four of us shuffled to the right side of the room to an empty set of desks furthest away from her as possible. We weren't the only ones that had the same idea, as there were already three other kids sitting and quietly talking amongst themselves, and a fourth one sitting by himself in a corner desk. He caught my attention right away because there was just something out of place about him. He wore black jeans and a black shirt, black boots and a black jacket that looked about two sizes too big for him; its hood was pulled over his head letting only bits of his face show in the light.

By the time the first bell of the day rang, another four students shuffled into the classroom bringing the total number up to twelve. Once everything settled down, the teacher called us up one by one to her desk where she assigned lockers to us.

--- --- ---

“Home sweet home.” Sparks grumbled while waiting for his garage door to lift upwards. When there was enough room to pass under it, Fang dropped his backpack onto the old couch. Following this, Pinball flopped down on the couch with a grunt while Sparks took his usual place at the workbenches.

“I sure hope the rest of the school year isn't going to be like this!” Fang groaned as he sat on the couch's armrest. “I don't know whats worse; how they expect you to remember everything after being told only once, or, how every adult there is a total jerkwater, or, how bad the food is now.”

“All right.” Sparks sighed. “We need to figure out whats going on around here.” He paused while picking up Charlotte and letting the fake spider crawl over his arm. “I mean, their excuse for the beefed up security seems plausible, and I could even buy into the idea that they're taking a no nonsense approach to education. But what I can't accept, is how all of them wore the same uniforms with the same patches on the sleeves.”

Listening to all of this, I reached for a blank sheet of paper and a spare pen then drew the same upside down triangle with two dots on both sides. When I was done with the basic image, I held it up for them to see. “Where have you see this before?” I asked making sure all three of them got a good look at the picture. Following a long moment of silence and shrugs, I put the paper down on the workbench next to Sparks then turned it upside down until the triangle was right side up. They gathered around as I drew two wavy lines from the dots, then put an “L” above them on each side. Then I finished it off with an “I” in the middle of the triangle. “Now does it look familiar?”

“I can see how you'd make that connection, but that's still a long shot.” Pinball shook his head. “Why would Last Look be here in this quiet town with no mines around?”

“I don't know. Maybe they're trying to find StilleNacht. Maybe they've changed their approach a bit and found a new way to do business. Maybe I am being paranoid. But the coincidences are just a little too convenient.” I moved Fangs backpack over until I was able to sit on the couch.

“The old power plant.” Sparks suddenly spoke up while glancing to the rest of us. “They started that project over the summer. Those black SUVs that were leading the big trucks that day when we heard about Reichplast...I saw those same SUVs with the same license plates at school.”

“Stop stop stop...” Fang rubbed the side of his head. “I think we're getting ahead of ourselves here. What are they gonna do with an old coal burning power plant? Ya know, that things so old that a bird landing the wrong way on it could bring it down into a pile of rubble. I'm surprised it actually hasn't come down already.”

“From now on we've got to be on guard all the time.” I leaned forwards. “I don't know whats going on, how all this is connected, or even who's involved. Don't trust anyone except us, or our parents 'cause this is getting pretty deep pretty fast.”

“Ya know, if I had to bet on who's in on all of this, I'd bet that goth kid.” Pinball crossed his arms. “He never said anything all day; he might be some adult posing as a kid to fool us into thinking he's just a quiet kid trying to hide from the world. And since he's in all of our classes, he could keep a tab on us the entire time and report back to his boss.”

“That's screwed up!” Sparks barked then paused in thought. “But strangely that makes sense.”

“Maybe but I doubt it.” Fang shook his head. “He's got Krinnel powers too.”

“He could still be working for who ever is involved in all of this.” Pinball raised an eyebrow.

--- --- ---

Run! My mind screamed while I darted along long empty halls as fast as my legs could go. In the maze of corridors behind me, several men and women in white lab coats gave chase doing everything the could to catch me. When I rounded another corner I made another ten feet then came to a sudden halt – my socked feet skidding along the polished tile floor until I stood face to face with the goth kid from school. But instead of his black clothes and hooded jacket, he wore a neon green shirt and shorts and the jacket. In the dimmed lighting, the hood over his head created nothing but shadows where his face should have been; he stood silently and slowly raised his left hand revealing arcs of bright bluish white electricity dancing along his fingers and around his hand.

“Get down...” A raspy voice echoed out of nowhere. Hearing the shouting and commotion coming from around the corner further behind me, I turned around to see the swarm of lab coats turning the corner. “Get...down...!” The voice again called out; I turned again and watched as the crackling electricity dancing around the goth kids hand became brighter, louder and more alive. The kid pointed his first two fingers towards the adults; that was all it took for me to drop to the ground. One second there was the commotion of everyone chasing me, the very next moment, there was absolute silence following a deafening thunderous electrical explosion. Even though every inch of my body was screaming for me to get up and run for my life, I found I stayed on the cold floor looking up to the inside of the boys left knee and a splotch of red skin in the shape of a deformed butterfly.

“Some of us will be there to help you, Caleb.” The voice whispered in softer tones. I couldn't help but make it to my knees while looking the goth kid over hoping to see his face clearly; to my dismay I still saw nothing but shadows. “Its coming; be ready.”

“W-who are you?” I asked staring at the shadowy nothingness under the hood.

“You will have the answers when the times right.”

############################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################
Author: Tripped
Timestamp: Jul 22, 2015 at 7:15 PM
Content: The days passed by without much variety. I'd wake up, shower and change clothes, have my usual two bowls of cereal for breakfast, make it to the bus stop with a little time to spare, climb aboard the aging bus and ride it to school. School, however, turned into more of a military operation with every minute of the play preplanned down to the second; they even had a time table of how fast we should make it through the lunch line. After school, all four of us would go over to Sparks house and hang out there until about four in the afternoon where we'd all head to our own houses. For me, this meant watching a little tv while dad made dinner because mom was still in Reichplast. Then we'd sit down, have dinner and talk about our days. And, when the day was almost over, I'd make my way up to my room where I'd put on a diaper and my usual sleepwear then climb into bed and fall asleep.

Eventually the first few days turned into a week. On the first day of the second week everything changed. Fang, Pinball, Sparks and myself sat and talked amongst ourselves about a group project for science class. As we did, I occasionally checked the clock at the front of the class room to find that the minute hand barely seemed to budge past eleven fifteen in the morning. The last fifteen minutes before lunch always seemed to drag on the slowest because our class room was just up the hall from the cafeteria, and every day around this time we could smell the food being prepared. Today, though, instead of the normal lunch bell, a deep and gruff voice rattled through the schools intercom system.

“Attention staff; attention. Initiate lock-down procedure Omega. I repeat, initiate lock-down procedure Omega and await further instruction.” Every single one of us looked around in confusion and worry. Yet the teacher simply walked to the door and locked it from the inside then directed us back to our usual seats. While we went back to our seats, the teacher walked over to a row of windows and slowly closed sets of blinds hanging over them. All twelve of us sat in a worried silence; the only sound that could be heard was a gentle hum of the air conditioning system.

“Whats lock-down mean?” I heard a girl from further ahead of me asking while glancing at the teacher. “Is someone shooting up the school? Is there a bomb or something? What's going on!?!” As she asked all this, I could hear her voice changing from curious to concerned then panicked – perhaps even terrified.

That's when the teacher did something I least expected him to do; he made soft steps towards the girl then knelt down beside her desk. “Please try to stay calm. I know how scary this can be, but if we all stay calm and quiet, I'm sure we'll all get through this.” What struck me was just how soothing and sincere his tone of voice was – so much so that for a few brief seconds, I didn't see him as authority, but a caring fatherly guy.

Time passed by silently as we all sat in the same room; eventually lunch time passed, then our usual dismissal time. And, at the time where we'd normally be hanging out at Sparks place, the door to the classroom opened revealing several armed guards standing in the hallway just outside of the classroom – all of them were dressed in the same uniform with the upside down triangle patch. With all of us glancing towards them, the leader of the small group stood within the doorway while holding a touch screen computer in his hands.

“Smith; Adam.” The guy called out glancing between the screen and us while motioning for one of the guys towards the front of the class to get up and go over towards him. As the kid named Adam did, the guy holding the tablet continued. “Quinton – Douglas and Francis. Renolds; Heather. Opalof; Simon. Tristan; Jeremy.” One by one, everyone that he called by name stood and joined him at the doorway. “Henderson; Caleb.” Hearing this I stood, gathered my things then joined the small group of kids at the door. Strangely enough my name was the last name called out before the guy ushered us out of the room making sure to close the door behind him.

“What's going on?” Sparks asked as he glanced to the team of armed guards.

“Stay quiet and move along.” The guy holding the tablet grunted in short bursts as he directed us down the hall and around a few corners until all of us emerged at the bus ramp where a small school bus sat with its engine rumbling and body shaking rhythmically.

“Where are you taking us!?!” Fang barked while turning around and using his arms to block anyone from getting on the bus.

“On the bus!” The tablet guy pointed, a certain way his eye twitched told me his patience was wearing thin.

“Not until you tell us whats going on and where you're planning to take us!” Pinball joined his brothers side. I could only watch as the guards around tablet guy put their hands on yellow plastic handgun shaped devices in their hip holsters. My attention was broken though by Fang yelping out while being pulled into the bus from behind causing Pinball to jump into the bus.

“On the bus now!” Tablet guy shouted and started charging until the rest of us scampered into the bus and up its steps. One by one we all found a seat and decided not to try our luck.

--- --- ---

“This ain't good...” Sparks whispered into my right ear, I glanced over just enough to see him pointing to a ten story building towards the end of a long and wide road. “...not to mention confusing. Why would they be taking us to the hospital?”

“Any luck on the text?” I whispered back in even lower tones making sure neither the guards nor the driver could hear.

“There should be a swarm of cops around the bus by now, but the only cop car I saw just passed right on by. I know for sure Iggy wouldn't ignore a text message from me – especially in a situation like this...” Before Sparks could finish his thought, the bus slowed and turned into the massive parking lot of the hospital, then made a few twisting turns until it was headed towards the back of the building where a three story wing jutted out from the main structure.

“Mental Health.” I read a black sign with white lettering standing in a median between two lanes of traffic direction.

Slowly the bus made a small u-turn and stopped at the main doors of the wing. As it did, the guard at the front of the bus stood up and turned to face all of us. “When the doors open, leave the bus and go inside the building. Leave your personal belongings; they will be tagged and secured on hospital premises.

Squeeeeeeeeaak! The doors swung open and the standing guard waved his arm motioning for us to get off the bus. In under a minute, all seven of us made our way from the bus to a wide desk with “admitting” written in bold letters on it. There, we were met with a younger and somewhat shorter guy wearing a white lab coat and several nurses – both male and female – wearing flat gray scrubs standing as though they were waiting for us. “Form a single file line; you will need to sign your name on this sheet then you'll be handed a basket to place your personal items in, which will be locked in lockers that only you'll have keys for.” The doctor spoke aloud while motioning with his hands.

“We understand how confused you all must be.” One of the woman nurses spoke out sounding almost too calmly. “But with your full cooperation we'll get y'all sorted and settled in no time at all.

Slowly I stepped forwards. “You tell us what the hells going on, and we'll cooperate.” I stared the doctor eye to eye. “Because something smells fishy around here and its not the tuna they're serving in the cafeteria!”

The doctor held his hand out towards me in a 'halt' position. “Please, Caleb...”

“No!” I crossed my arms as everyone else gathered behind me. “School went on lock down, all seven of us were selected, and, in essence abducted and dropped off here. I've seen enough movies to know we're going to be stuck here for who knows how long!”

“You go bro!” Fang crossed his arms while standing on my right while Pinball did the same and took his place at my left, the whole time this went on, the doctor and nurses simply stood there as though they had anticipated all this.

“This whole thing reeks of illegal!” I snapped. “We never agreed to be here, and I'm sure our parents wouldn't sign anything forcing us to be here. So what gives!?!”

“This is why you're here.” The doctor sighed. “In the wake of such a tragedy your mind is spinning completely unconnected events to fit something explainable.”

“What!?!” I shouted while giving him my most confused face possible.

“Look around, Caleb.” The doctor continued. “You may see yourself and six of your classmates; but you're the only one here. And the bus, that could be your minds way of making sense of the ambulance ride here.”

“The hell they're not here!” I shouted yet again while whipping my head around to find Sparks, the twins, plus three more students from my class. I then reached out and tugged on the twins shirts. “If they were not here, then how can I feel the sleeves of their shirts!?!”

“Forced tactile response; common in adolescent emotional trauma. I'm sure you can also smell their deodorant, hear their shoes scuffling across the floor. They may be as real to you now as they were two months ago, but they're not here.”

“But she said words like 'you all' and 'everyone' and she referred to a group being here.” I thrust a demanding finger at the nurse.

“Again, this is your minds way of trying to make sense of everything. What I suspect happened there was that you were having a moment of surrealism where you imagined Nurse Kayla saying what she did. Perhaps it was a repressed memory of your teacher saying those things and your mind superimposed an image of Nurse Kayla in her place.”

“Oh you have an answer for just about everything don't you!” I grinned. “Whats stopping me from just charging out the door? Hunh? What if I start tearing this place apart? Huh? What are you gonna do when I reach into my pocket and get my phone to call the cops and get this whole operation shutdown!?!”

“Electromagnetic locks that can only be unlocked with the right key cards. This whole wing has built in wireless communications dampening technology so your cellphones pretty much useless. As for you acting out...lets just say there's a quiet room combined with Halmeprizon - its a nice little medicine that takes the fight out of you.”

“You can't go injecting me with all kinds of crazy psych drugs without knowing anything about my medical history.” I grinned even more. “The wrong medicine could potentially kill me; can you say 'you had better have some dang good lawyers on hand'?”

“Henderson; Caleb; born October seventh, two thousand three in Reichplast Germany. You have a very mild tomato allergy usually resulting in itching that lasts for about an hour; easily remedied with over the counter antihistamines. Surgery at the age of seven for appendicitis. Also diagnosed with nocturnal en....”

“Okay I get it; somehow you got my records!” I grunted and shook my head in disbelief.

The doctor then grinned himself and leaned in close enough for us to be face to face. “So which will it be? Are you going to play nice and cooperate? Or, are you going to act out and make us put you down for a nap where everyone will find out about what happens when you sleep – especially your fellow residents that you'll have to see every day for the rest of your stay.”

I can't clearly explain what happened next or why it happened. Maybe it was my frustration from being lead around in circles, perhaps I just wanted to test him. Whatever it was, caused me to suddenly growl and pounce at the doctor. In a flash he laid on the ground with me kneeling over him – his lab coat crumpled in my tightfisted hands. “Lets see just how crazy I really am...”

Before I could do anything else I found myself being pulled off the doctor by two of the male nurses and held in their grips long enough for the doctor to make it to his feet and reach over to the counter to retrieve a moderately sized syringe. Just seeing the metal enemy at the end of the plastic tube made me struggle even more to try and break free only to find their grips were unrelenting. “Take 'em to the quiet room.” The doc pointed down the hall, and less than a second later I was being ushered still in their holds by the two male nurses in the direction the doc pointed. We went past a series of doors until they stopped at one labeled “quiet room” where one of the nurses opened the door then the other carefully but forcefully shoved me in far enough for the first to slam the door closed behind me. I lunged at where the door was only to find that it was the same material as the rest of the walls, ceiling and floor – a thick foam padding material. In the very top corners across from me and far far out of my reach were two things; the first was an air vent, the second was a dome shaped camera cover.

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Author: Tripped
Timestamp: Jul 28, 2015 at 6:16 PM
Content:

giantguy99 said:

Nice cliffhanger there. I have a thing for sci-fi as well though I usually don't read about it. This however is really good I hope to see another chapter. :smile1:

[End of quote]

Glad you're liking it. Next parts here.

wetatnight said:

very Orwellian
more please

[End of quote]

I actually had to look that one up. Still not sure if that's a good or bad thing to be Orwellian. Next parts up.

I must have dozed off in the padded room because I awoke with a startled jump at the presence looming over me. Even though I tried to scuttle backwards just to get some space between us, I found my right arm was held in a firm but gentle grip. After blinking a few times to clear the haze from my vision, I found the female nurse the doctor addressed as Kayla kneeling over me, keeping my right wrist in her hand.

“Easy easy, I'm not going to hurt you.” She spoke in soft, caring, gentle tones. “You've got a nice strong pulse.” She let go of my wrist, and free to move about once again, I crept backwards another couple of feet until I was able to look around at the foam padded room with an air vent and dome shaped camera.

“Just level with me; what's going on?” I asked as she sat down on the well padded floor between me and the door. “I mean, I'm not the only one here, right? I'm not crazy, right? We did get taken by a school bus and dropped off here, right?”

“Doctor Bart really got into your head and messed you up something bad.” She sighed, her face softening, her eyes shifting downwards ever so subtly. “Everything happened as you know it; the school lock down, the bus, even six of your classmates being brought here too. It all happened.”

“He...he didn't get me with that needle, did he?”

“No, he picked up the syringe and when you saw it, you started freaking out so he gave the order to put you in here. In a way, he also managed to stop any of your classmates from rebelling too – by using you as an example.”

“How long was I out?”

“About an hour. The other nurses and I have been coming in and checking on you every fifteen minutes; standard protocol – breathing, pulse, making sure you were okay.”

“Where is everyone else?”

“Getting settled in. We've already checked your pockets and put your personal belongings in one of the patient lockers...”

“I want to see it.” I stood up. In response, Nurse Kayla did too and held her hand towards the door. I followed her out of the foam padded room, down the long corridor and to the admissions desk where she took a small blue key sitting on the desk and reached up to a locker with my school ID card hanging from it. After a quiet clack of the lock, she opened the small locker door and brought out a basket containing my phone, an ink pen from school and my wallet. She placed the basket on the desk for me to see and I reached over to pick up my wallet and open it to find a few scraps of paper, a five-dollar bill and three one-dollar bills. “Its all there.” I nodded. She picked up the basket, placed it back in the locker then banged the door shut after which she handed me the key to it.

“Now you'll know it'll all stay there.” She smiled politely.

“Wait...” I raised my pointing finger in thought. “This is a psych unit, right?”

“Yeah.” He answered right away.

“And psych units house crazy people, right?”

“We don't call people crazy; we help those with mental health issues...but yeah.”

“So, doesn't it seem strange to give out locker keys to people that probably shouldn't have things like them in the first place?”

“Its a calculated risk. Third floor patients don't get to have anything like keys or pens or even shoe laces. Second floor patients can have items like this if they can prove they're responsible enough to have them. First floor patients have a lot of leeway when it comes to what they can or can't have. Come on, we need to get you settled into your room and give you a quick rundown of what to expect here.”

I followed as she lead me back down the same hall, but when we came to a four way junction, she flanked left causing me to do the same. “The day room is straight ahead.” She pointed as we came to a large space that looked longer and wider than the gym we have at school. “This is where meals are served, its also where everyone can gather and socialize, and group time is held here. Every so often you'll have private time with Doctor Bart in his office which we just passed. On the right, that small hallway...” Again she pointed out. “...leads to another quiet room.”

“The padded cell.” I sighed with a smirk.

“No, it's a quiet room. Sound proof; nobody can hear anything from the outside, and nobody can hear anything from the inside.” She chuckled just as quickly. “That one you were put in is an involuntary quiet room. This one here you can either walk into it and stay there as long as you want, or get thrown into it for as long as you need.”

“Or as long as the doc wants you in there.” I gave her a deadpan glare.

“You'll be staying in the special attention hall.”

“The what?” I had to do a double take when I heard her say that.

“You, and four of your classmates have been assigned rooms in the special attention hall.”

“So you're saying either we're slow like we can't even bathe without drowning or we need to be constantly watched.”

“I'm not saying that.” Kayla sighed and looked me eye to eye. “Okay I know it sounds like that's what I'm saying, but its not. Truth is, when someone comes in, and they need special accommodations, we'll assign 'em to the corridor. In your case, issues with bed wetting.”

Hearing this I felt an instant flash of heat flooding my face. “Announce it to the world why don't ya!”

“Its nothing to be ashamed of. Heck, my brother is a life long bed wetter. And he's like three years younger than I am. Anyway; you have eight changes of clothes; one for every day of the week plus an extra pair, laundry day on Sundays. Breakfast is at seven am, lunch is at one, dinner is at seven pm; medicines to be taken after breakfast and dinner. Group time is from nine to eleven am.”

Just as she finished running down the entire list of items, we stopped at door five where she opened it revealing a cozy little room complete with a single person bed, a window with blinds along the far wall, a few wood cabinets to the right and an in room bathroom complete with a shower. “Clothes are in the left hand cabinet. Diapers, wipes and baby powders are in the right hand cabinets.”

“Jeeze will you keep it down!?!” I hissed while drawing my shoulders and arms up towards my neck. In that very instant I could feel the biggest blush ever cresting my cheeks.

“Well I'll leave you with this final word.” She smiled and gently placed her hand on my shoulder then leaned in close after making sure nobody was around. “You've got some pretty good friends; do what you can to keep each other safe. I recognized them from Youtube, and hearing that you were born in Reichplast, I just wanna let you know I signed my name for your call to justice.” With that, she stood up and turned towards the door, pausing long enough to look back and give a quick thumbs up and a wink.

Just like that she went back into the hall and walked away.

--- --- ---

“This just doesn't make any sense!” Fang groaned and leaned back over the circular table big enough to seat five people. I watched as his neon green scrubs top wrinkled with every movement he made.

“All right. Let's go over this once again; from the top.” Sparks sighed and scratched his left arm under the same neon green fabric that we all had to wear. “Last Look Industries starts their mine conversion project in Reichplast. Caleb and his family move here to the states most likely because of his dad taking a job at the plant.”

“I'm with ya so far.” Pinball nodded.

“Good.” Sparks continued. “We notice trucks headed to the old coal power plant at the outskirts of town. Which, I saw the same SUV's with the same license plates at school.”

“Don't forget how the schools being run like a military base.” Fang scoffed.

Sparks tapped the tabletop. “Exactly. Then, today, the school goes on lock down and they hand pick a few students from every class and bring them here to the psych unit.”

Fang held up a lone finger. “Not to mention everyone they brought here has Krinnel powers.”

“So we're in agreement on the chain of events?” I asked, letting my gaze wander around the cavernous day room and other kids sitting in small groups around identical tables.

“But why!?!” Pinball shook his head. “How is all of this connected. Or is it all connected!?!”

“I don't know.” Sparks muttered sounding almost defeated. “And that's what scares the crap out of me.”

“We're forgetting something.” I whispered and nodded towards a group of kids towards the center of the space. “That black hooded jacket look familiar? How does goth kid play into all of this?”

“All I know for sure is that he's also assigned to the special attention hall.” Pinball whispered back.

“I still say he's two-facing. He could be a part of this whole thing and we'd never know.” Fang grumbled.

I rested my chin on my hand and glanced around the table. “I think we might have someone in our corner, though. Nurse Kayla. She knows about us and the call to justice. We'd have to keep an eye on her, but I think we can trust her.”

“I know we have to be careful with the good doctor, though. Dude is bad news.” Pinball folded his arms over the table and laid his head on them while staring me eye to eye with his unrelenting glare. “He had you all kinds of messed up in the head. Its like he found your berserk button and hammered it.”

“I don't think I've ever seen you get that riled up before...” Sparks chuckled. “....stuff got real when you pounced him like that.”

I sighed and looked around once again. “All right, we need a plan. We have to find out who we really can trust, we have to find a way out, and most importantly, how...why we all ended up here.”

“If I can get to one of those door locks, I can do my thing and see if there's a way we can bypass them.” Sparks nodded with a renewed sense of hope.

“If we can get out of this place and make a run for it, I can give us some aerial cover and surveillance.” Pinball leaned over the table ever so slightly while lacing his fingers together.

“I can easily create a distraction if need be.” Fang cracked his knuckles.

############################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################
Author: Tripped
Timestamp: Aug 3, 2015 at 1:49 PM
Content:

giantguy99 said:

Wow I like the mystery about this. I think I know what's going on but I don't want to ruin it for everyone else so I will not talk about that anymore. This is exactly how they try to break you down in a psych ward actually depending on the location. I can see plot twists in unexpected ways happening. I hope there's more! :smile1:

[End of quote]

Don't worry, there's plenty more to come. I'm glad to see I'm getting some things right, because even though I try to do research on stuff like the psych unit, I'm still not sure if what I put out is plausible.

ANewSpirit said:

Great story and very well written I will say, you're an amazing writer. My only "critique" so to speak would be the addition of a brief synopsis as to give an idea of at least the genre of the piece. Because it is certainly enjoyable, but I am not really a fan of the sci-fi/fantasy type novels or stories and so it came as a great disappointment to me when I felt the need to stop a-reading when the trash can got a-lifting.

[End of quote]

Yes, I will admit, that I usually try to include a brief summary at the start of any story. Unfortunately this is one of those stories that's writing itself so the end product is guaranteed to not be what I originally planned to be. If that makes any sense. And, yes, I completely understand and respect your position in regards to finding what looks to be a promising story, only to feel put off by something that was completely unexpected. I've had that happen plenty of times when I've found some new reading material. From this day forwards, any new story I work on *will* have a summary or short snippit about what the story might contain.

secretlynappied89 said:

more please!

[End of quote]

You got it.

Absolute silence.

Those were the best words I could think of to describe the early hours in my small room of the psych unit. As I lay in bed, staring at the ceiling of the darkened space illuminated only by a faint orange glow of the lights in the parking lot, I checked my watch to find that it was only three in the morning. For most of the night, I had been doing nothing more than tossing and turning trying to find some possible way to get comfortable in the unfamiliar surroundings and catching probably an hour of sleep here and there. Everything was completely wrong; the bed wasn't stiff enough, the pillows were too firm, the blanket was irritatingly itchy, even the diaper I had to wear to bed felt like it wasn't sized right. But the worst of it was that I didn't have Claw – my stuffed koala – with me.

Instantly something caught my attention, and as I glanced to the door and a small window inside of it, I noticed a shadow passing by. Wondering what was going on, I rolled out of bed and gasped at how the cold tile floor felt against the bottoms of my socked feet but the feeling quickly wore off as I shuffled over to the door and every so carefully opened it until I was peeking out into the hallway. “What the...” I whispered as I saw a pair of neon green scrub pants and a black hooded jacket walking slowly up the hall away from me towards the nurses station separating our hall from the day room. If seeing the goth kid doing this wasn't strange enough, watching two of the unfamiliar night shift nurses following him around was. It was as if they were trailing him to make sure he wasn't going to try anything funny, while trying to make sense of what he was doing.

“It's a privilege to be here to accept this cheese award.” Goth kid suddenly spoke out taking all three of us by surprise. Following his words, he motioned with his hands as though he were receiving a trophy or award that nobody could see. “I'll be signing autographs in the dairy cow barn at purple in the afternoon.”

“I think he's sleepwalking.” I heard the older female nurse in gray scrubs whispering to the younger male nurse also wearing the same colors.

“Okay mister cheese.” The other nurse tried to keep himself from chuckling as he approached goth kid. “You're looking pretty tired, I think its time you laid down for a nice little nap. You've had a big day of awards and ceremonies and meet an' greets.” Ever so carefully, the male nurse stepped towards the kid and very gently placed his hands on the kids shoulders to guide him back down the hall towards my direction and slowly pulled the jackets hood from the kids head.

“I am kinda tired.” Goth kid murmured with a yawn as they drew closer. “Mister chicken beak you've always been my best and most favorite mentor.”

No...it can't be... My mind suddenly became very much alive as goth kid and guy nurse shuffled past me. I swear he looks just like...like...

“Go on back to bed young one.” The older of the two nurses paused in front of me, giving me a soft and sweet smile. “You can see your friends in a few hours.”

“All right.” I sighed and stepped back into the room then quietly shut the door. Even though I was once again alone, in the near silent space, I was anything but calm. My mind was in overdrive, my thoughts raced with everything that I had just seen, my body paced back and forth in the small area – my diaper crackling with every step I took. Even though I wanted to barge out of the room and wake up Sparks and the twins to tell them what I saw, I knew they'd still be sleeping and would be grouchy because I woke them up.

It can't be. I have to be losing it. I thought to myself as I glanced out the blinds covering the window. But I saw it with my own two eyes; I can't have imagined it. The goth kid looks just like Sparks would if he put on a hooded black jacket. They both have the same eye color, they're both blond, both of them also have the same natural hair pattern. All right; I have to stop and think this through. I sat on the edge of the bed and drew a deep sighing breath. I tried thinking of all the different possibilities from Sparks and goth kid actually being brothers, to them not being brothers but just looking like each other. Yet no matter how hard I tried to think of anything else, my mind kept coming back to the possibility that they were indeed related.

Hours passed. We had a warm breakfast of blueberry waffles with peach slices on the side, then we formed into a line at the nurses station for our morning meds, then before I knew it, it was nine in the morning and our first group time. With all of us gathered on the floor in a large circle, Doctor Bart sat down completing the formation and looked around. “I hope everyone had a good nights sleep.” He smiled while still glancing around. “Now, during group time, we all take turns speaking, and I will not have any rudeness, disrespect or backtalk. What I will allow is, openness and honesty, trust and respect. Now, does anyone want to start today's group time?”

“Yeah.” Fang raised his hand, almost grinning. Just seeing that look on his face I knew he was up to something. “When do we get to see our parents?”

Doctor Bart frowned. “After traumatic events like this have happened, it's best for you guys to stay isolated for just a little while, and when we're sure you're getting better, we'll allow you to see your parents.”

“Okay then, I want to see the paperwork our folks signed to have us thrown in here.”

“Yeah me too!” Pinball glared at Doctor Bart.

“Makes three of us.” Sparks joined in.

“Four of us.” I crossed my arms giving the doctor an evil glare.

“Five.” Goth kid belted out taking the rest of us by surprise. Everyone suddenly turned their heads and stared at him. What really surprised me with him, was that he was still wearing his hooded jacket, with the hood over his head blocking most of his face.

Doctor Bart sighed. “Why do you guys wanna see that stuff? It's just a bunch of boring old paperwork.”

“Why not?” Fang grinned even more. “Got something you're trying to hide? Maybe this supposed paperwork doesn't exist?”

“Oh it exists.” Bart stood and turned towards his office. We all watched as he walked away then came back a few minutes later with a huge stack of files in his hands. One by one he passed around the files making sure to get everyone correctly. “It'll be on the inside cover.” He knelt down. All of us opened our files and pulled out a sheet from the inside pocket. And as I examined the sheet of paper in my own folder, I knew something wasn't right.

“The hell!?!” Fang growled before I could even glance up from the paperwork. Following this was a wave of general disbelief from all of the other kids from school that wound up here too.

“Wait a minute here...” Goth kids voice trailed off as he stood up. “...this ain't Ryan's signature!”

“Sure it is. I watched him sign that sheet with my own two eyes.” Doctor Bart smirked.

“Its his name, but its not his style. If I didn't know any better I'd say this is a forged signature.” The kid suddenly whipped the hood off his head until he was staring Doctor Bart eye to eye. “Stop the bull crap already. This ain't right, none of us should be here, you're constantly lying to us, and for what? Hunh? What could be so goddamn important that someone would forge our parents signatures just to put us in here!?!” Hearing all this, several of the nurses began to gather around ready to take action if necessary.

“Now Jeremy, I'm not happy with your tone of voice or your choice of words. Now, you can either sit down and cool off, or you can spend some time in the quiet room. Which one is it gonna be?”

“You can either come clean or we can raid your office to find what you're hiding!” The jacketed kid named Jeremy almost shouted back at the doctor.

“You need a time out.” Doctor Bart was nearly shouting himself. “Two hours in the quiet room!”

“Screw you!” Jeremy shouted out a split second before charging the doctor. Yet, before he could clear even three feet, the nurses were on top of him until they were able to control him and drag him kicking and screaming towards the quiet room.

Everything was silent. All of us glanced around to each other not entirely sure what to make of the situation. I looked between Sparks and the twins, and the way the looked back told me that Jeremy was right about everything. Even if I didn't have them, I had the sheet of paper in my file with the signatures of both mom and dad. And that alone gave Jeremy's accusations of forgery some merit because there was no way they could have gotten mom to sign the paperwork if she was still halfway across the world.

--- --- ---

I released a long held breath as I prepared myself for anything. With Sparks and the twins behind me, I made my way over to an empty table where the goth kid Jeremy sat alone with a sandwich and a side of chips on a plate before him. Not sure what to expect, I carefully approached and placed my own lunch on the table then sat down, Sparks and the twins doing the same thing gave me the courage to keep going.

“Jeremy, right?” I asked shyly while studying the blond haired boys face.

“That's right.” Jeremy grunted back in mid bite of his sandwich.

“Caleb.” I introduced myself. “Sparks, and the twins Fang and Pinball.”

“Not to be cold; but what'cha want?”

“Us to be a team.” Pinball spoke gently. “Obviously you know somethings going on, we know it too. Something big. Something very illegal. But we need information.”

“What kind of information.” Jeremy stared at Pinball.

Suddenly I jumped in. “Whatever kind of information you can find in the doctors office. I saw you sleepwalking so you've got a chance we don't have. If we can find you something to shimmy the door lock with, could you get us the information we're after?”

Hearing this, Jeremy paused chewing and thought about it. “Possible. Question is, whats in it for me?”

“Freedom.” Sparks spoke in low tones. “I guess by now you're missing your family. We all are. So if we can get any information, we can find a way to bust out of here and get back home.”

“You're sure you can get us out of here?” Jeremy asked.

“I just need a few minutes alone with the electronic door locks and I can get us out.” Sparks nodded. “If I can borrow your jacket for like fifteen minutes, I can pull this off.”

“You're on!” Jeremy chuckled with a grin. “Oh, and don't worry about finding me something to use to bust the lock on the doctors office door. I've got that covered.”

############################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################
Author: Tripped
Timestamp: Aug 6, 2015 at 2:05 PM
Content:

relax said:

Keep your imagination in this way!

[End of quote]

Plannin' on it.

Days passed by uneventfully. Sparks, the twins, myself and even Jeremy were itching to have the ultimate plan for escaping the psych unit, we all came to a mutual agreement that our best option was to wait just a little bit even though we all wanted out immediately. Over the course of the next five days, we all pretended that we had accepted our fates, yet, nobody knew what he were really doing. In those five days, we studied the staffs habits, how they handled certain situations, who we could ally with and whom to avoid at all costs. We also learned a lot about Jeremy the goth kid, and he learned a lot about us and everything that we knew about the events leading up to us getting forced into the psych unit. The more we hung around each other, the more he trusted us and soon enough he became part of the team...part of Stille Nacht.

On the sixth day, we found ourselves sitting around the same table, munching on grilled cheese sandwiches with sides of fries where things got a little more interesting. The conversation stated off innocently enough about families; that was until I couldn't help but stare between Sparks and Jeremy. Jeremy must have noticed it because he whistled quietly enough to break me from my track of thought.

“Sparks.” I spoke gently, trying to find the right words. “Fang and Pinball told me about your past.”

“Yeah?” Sparks suddenly sat upright while shifting his glare between me and the twins. His tone was a little off, as though he asked but in a confronting manner.

“Yeah.” I nodded. “Most likely to test me to see if I was gonna be okay with everything or not. Anyhow, I was wondering if you might by chance have a brother – even if you don't know about him.”

“Possible.” Sparks shrugged. “I mean, Mark and Greg told me about how they found me on their doorstep and the whole series of events leading them to adopting me. But they've never said anything about whether I was the only one or not.”

“The only reason why I'm bringing this up, is because you and Jeremy look a lot alike. Almost like you could be brothers, twin brothers but not identical twin brothers.” I responded hoping to make some sense of everything.

“Fraternal twins.” Pinball added in.

Jeremy placed the last of his sandwich on the plate and leaned over the table, then, much to my surprise, he slid the hood off his head. “I was also left on a doorstep; my uncle Ryan. He told me how everything happened. That one night, he awoke to crying outside, he opened the door and found me in a basket wrapped in blue blankets with a little note. He also said the cops took my footprints and compared them to local hospital records....”

“Mark and Greg told me the same thing. There were no files of me being born locally.”

“Me too!” Jeremy began talking a little faster as though their stories were coming together. ”According to what uncle Ryan told me, I was a healthy baby that was just left on a doorstep.”

“Same here.” Sparks nodded.

“But how do we know if you're actually related somehow?” Pinball questioned while shaking his head side to side. “I mean, ya know, your personal histories could just be coincidence.”

“The birthmark!” Suddenly I sat upright with a flash of inspiration. “Sparks, you've got that mark on the side of your knee in the shape of a deformed butterfly, right?”

“Yeah?” Sparks nodded unsure of where this was headed.

“That's what it is?” Jeremy asked while standing up and lifting his scrubs leg far enough to reveal his left knee. Seeing this, Sparks also stood then moved next to Jeremy to do the same thing. We all stared in disbelief; both Jeremy and Sparks had the exact same mark in the shape of a deformed butterfly on the same spot on their left knee.

“I'd say that's more than coincidence.” Fang stammered.

We all watched as Sparks lifted the bottom hem of his scrubs top just far enough to reveal the upper band of his diaper. Following this, Jeremy repeated the motions revealing that he too wore. “Incon?” Sparks asked dropping the bottom of his shirt back into place.

“Yup.” Jeremy nodded and dropped the bottom of his own shirt.

“Life long?”

“Yup.”

“Front, back or both?”

“Front.”

“Ditto.”

“Okay...” Fang sighed while leaning back into his seat. “...I need a minute or fifteen to process all this.”

--- --- ---

The hour grew late. Everything was silently still as I stood at the closed door separating me in the dark room from the lighted hall. I stayed silent and watched through the window as Sparks – wearing Jeremy's hooded jacket, walked by and gave me a subtle thumbs up indicating the plan was in motion. With nothing else to do but stand around and wait, I glanced down at my watch to note the time. Minutes trudged along as slowly as hours. After ten minutes I began to worry, Fifteen minutes passed by and still no sign of Sparks making his way back up the hall; I started thinking of all the things that could have gone wrong.

Maybe they found out whats going on and threw him in the quiet room. My mind raced as worst case scenarios danced through my mind. What if they know all about our plans to escape and are gonna put us in like thirty point bed restraints to keep us from getting out. What if they're interrogating him for anything he knows... Suddenly my mind went into overdrive. That was until I saw a hooded figure walking back up the hallway towards our rooms. I opened the door and poked my head out as Sparks slowly made his way over to me.

“You said ten minutes tops!” I hissed in nearly silent tones making sure to stare Sparks eye to eye. “It took twenty minutes!”

“Sorry bro.” Sparks whispered just as quietly. “I had to act like Jeremy to throw off some unwanted attention. I had to wait until the coast was clear before I could get to the door locks.”

“How do we look.” I nodded understanding why it took him so long to do a simple task.

“Its complicated.” He sighed. “Whomever designed those locks were some sneaky people...I can't even use my powers to bypass the protocols. We need a key card to unlock the doors like normal but I can't improvise one. Popping the safety system would unlock the doors but its like a huge crime to pull a fire alarm without an actual emergency...especially in a place like this.”

“All right.” I muttered. “Get some sleep; we'll group later and go over our options.”

As Sparks went back to his room, I closed the door to mine and shuffled over to the bed where I flopped down onto the mattress with a huge yawn. The very second I closed my eyes, I was fast asleep.

“Go. Away.” I grunted in low tones as I rolled over in bed and pulled the blanket over my head to block out the bright light.

“Wake up Caleb!” Sparks continued shaking my shoulders until I finally sat up and threw the blanket off with an evil growl. As I blinked several times to clear the haze from my eyes, Sparks climbed on the bed until we sat eye to eye. For the first time in a while, I saw exuberance and joy, I saw the spark in Sparks eyes that I had only seen one time before, and that was when he was talking about his fake tarantula. “They have a joke of a security system. I can work those no problem I really don't even have to worry about setting off extra alarms....”

“Wait slow down you lost me.” I grumbled. “Start over, from the top, nice and slow.”

“I'll tell you, the knuckleheads and Jeremy at breakfast.” Sparks grinned and climbed off the bed. “Come on, get your squishy butt in gear, today's biscuits-n-gravy day!” He grabbed my arms and pulled me out of bed until I was standing up.

“Listen here perma-crinkle...” I scoffed and went to the cabinet for a change of clothes then glanced at my watch. “...breakfast is like two hours away, and you're the only one I know of that would get excited over biscuits and gravy.”

Just as we'd done for the past week, all five of us sat around the same table while eating breakfast. Over the past seven days, we'd become quite good at discussing important things while making it look like we were merely talking about the weather. After taking a few bits, Sparks glanced around to all of us and grinned.

“Okay crinkles. Spill it.” I glanced at Sparks with a deep stare while stabbing a plastic fork at the gravy covered biscuits. “What were you rambling on about earlier?”

“So get this.” Sparks chuckled. “This morning I had a pretty wild dream. And in this dream I saw large metal doors that lead to me getting from one place to another. And before the dream was over, I woke up and had a stroke of genius. We're overly complicating this whole thing.”

“No, you're overly complicating your explanation.” Pinball shook his head.

“Jeeze you guys aren't morning people are ya.” Sparks sighed with a smirk. “We've got the right attack, just the wrong angle. Forget trying to mess with the key card locks; there's no way I can do it. But, there is a way out – there's a service door that joins the psych unit to the rest of the hospital. That's how they get things like laundry and food and medical supplies from one area to another. That's our way out. The lock on the door is just a standard electronic lock with a number pad. I can crack that in my sleep.”

“All right.” I looked everyone eye to eye. “We have our way out. Now we still need to find out what's going on. Jeremy, not to pressure you, but we need anything you can find. Tonight.” I gently tapped the tabletop twice to emphasize 'tonight'.

“Consider it done.” Jeremy smiled slyly.

--- --- ---

Early the next morning I shuffled out of the in room bathroom cloaked in nothing but a pale orange towel wrapped between my chest and knees. Water dripped softly from the shower head as I went for the cabinet to get a change of clothes. Once I was properly dressed, I looked around and spotted something ever so barely out of place. I tilted my head slightly as I walked over to a file folder laying on the floor just inside of the closed door; I lowered my eyebrows in curiosity as I knelt down and picked up the file to look at it.

“This will blow your mind. Jer.” I read a hand scribbled note on the folders cover. When I opened the folder I instantly went from curiosity to horror. At the very top left of the first page was a logo of an upside down triangle with two dots on each side. On the top right hand side of the page was another logo, this one was that of a right side up triangle with 'I' in it and two wavy lines with 'L' above them on each side.

Pratt Corporation – United States division of Last Look Industries.
FAO: Kyle Bart; Doctor of psychology, Light Valley Mental Health Facility.
RE: Operations guide and event timing.

I had to re-read the header of the paper several times to make sure I wasn't imagining things. Even before I could finish half of the first page I had to sit on the bed and shake my head in utter disbelief. My hands shook; my arms, legs and feet tingled, it felt like my head was floating thirty thousand feet in the air.

############################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################################
Author: Tripped
Timestamp: Aug 13, 2015 at 12:41 PM
Content:

BBQ said:

yes, another great update. keep them coming.

[End of quote]

Next one's here.

giantguy99 said:

You know when Jeremy said "consider it done" I honestly think he was not speaking in anything but literal facts ironically rather then something he had yet to do for all about 2 seconds! :smile1:

That being said I like how those kids where not thinking defensively when it came to getting out. That is how escapes are made in real life actually I think. Also those files are going to get last look industries into a lot of trouble if it goes public. Yes they just violated the law at least 10 times if they where being held against their will. Kidnapping and unlawful detainment (2 counts per individual) as well as most likely a lot of other felonies.

[End of quote]

*taps spread-fingers together* Yes... I think it works out better not mentioning just how Jeremy got the file, I know how/when he did, but I'm gonna leave it to your imaginations. I'm also glad to see how your train of thought is starting to merge onto the one I'm taking; or maybe it's just blatantly obvious whats going to happen with the company *grins evily* Hopefully I can throw one or two more twists into the whole thing.....

flyinbaby said:

More please :smile1:

[End of quote]

Next ones comin' up.

giantguy99 said:

Yes can we have more please? :smile1:

[End of quote]

Heh it's ironic you two should post these mere hours before I was going to put up an update.

I sat and waited. The small room was crowded with me sitting on the beds corner, Jeremy standing in the doorway to the in room bathroom, and the twins hiding behind the open door leading to the hallway. I hope this works. I thought to myself as I watched the doorway and listened for anything sounding like footsteps coming up the hall. After a few short moments another two figures appeared in the doorway. Sparks came into the room followed by Nurse Kayla whom appeared slightly concerned. Once both of them were far enough into the space, the twins let the door close by itself while they took positions between us and the door.

CLACK The door latched shut causing Nurse Kayla to look behind her from the surprise. “What's going on here!” She lowered her tone seeing the twins blocking the door and Jeremy taking positing next to Sparks.

“Were you being serious when you said we could trust you if we ever needed someone to talk to.” I asked as I stood up while staring her eye to eye. When she started to reach for an electronic gizmo on a necklace, I held my hand up in a 'halt' sign. I took a couple of steps back and motioned for the guys to do the same before speaking in softer tones. “Look. We're not going to hurt you; we're not even trying to scare you. If we can't confide in you, just say so and you'll be free to go like this never happened. But if we really can trust you, then we need your help.”

“Okay. You got my attention.” Kayla glanced around. “What do you need help with?”

“That's why we need to know if you're on our side or not.”

“Of course I'm on your side. The Call to Justice. Remember? If you guys need something, I'm here for ya.”

I glanced to Sparks then Jeremy the the twins; I drew a long deep breath then went under the pillows on the bed until I pulled out the file containing everything we needed to know. Kayla watched as I stepped towards her and held the file outwards. “This is what we need your help with.” After she took the file and opened it, I stepped back far enough to sit on the bed once again.

“What is...all this...?” She asked while studying the front page - the very same page that I had to reread several times. “Pratt Corporation. Last Look Industries. What!?!” She stammered, her eyes shifted side to side while reading through the paper. Then she flipped to the next page, and the page after, then the next. “Operation nap time? Project phantom? Processing facilities!?! How...where did you get...” She paused and glanced around then clinched her eyes shut and held her free up while shaking her head side to side. “...no wait don't tell me. I don't even wanna know where or how you got this.”

“If we can get in contact with someone.” Sparks spoke up while sitting on the bed at my side. “The cops, the news reporters, someone...anyone then we can bring down Last Look!”

“Ya know, I always suspected there was something going on that Bart wasn't telling me or the rest of the nurses that work under me.” Kayla sighed and sat on the bed too. “All right. Caleb, Jeremy, come with me. The rest of you just hang out until we get back.”

With that, Jeremy and myself were following Kayla out of the room, down the hall, around several open areas then at the four way hall leading to the admitting desk, she pulled a set of keys out of her pocket. Both of us watched as she paused at a lone door then slid the key into the knobs lock and opened the door revealing a small office. “Get in.” She whispered as she guided us into the space looking like it would be about three patient rooms side by side then closed the door. In the center of the room was a huge office desk, on top of that were two computer monitors, a keyboard and mouse, a phone and a fax machine. Next to the desk was a large trash can, and along the left wall was a row of cabinets and a dark blue counter top holding a coffee maker, a mini fridge and a microwave. “Thank god nobody ever uses the staff office.” She grinned while looking around. “Here's the deal. I'm going to help you. In return, I just want one thing.”

“Name it.” I nodded with a smile.

“You five get your butts to safety. Leave town if you have to, but get to safety.”

“You got it.” Jeremy spoke up while nodding vigorously.

“I mean it.” She lowered her tone. “You read the paperwork; you can't trust anyone except for the rest of your little team. Avoid the cops, the paramedics, firefighters, your neighbors, your teachers. Anyone you come across has the chance of sounding the alarm and getting you five captured again.”

“What about you? What if we bump into each other again?” Jeremy asked, scratching his nose.

Kayla grinned. “If you don't hear me say the word 'car' then you need to run.” As she finished saying that, she pulled out a rolling office chair and sat down on it then she placed the file on the desk. As she sat, she seemed to stare at the phone, as though she were unsure about what to do. “Its funny...” She chuckled. “...my brother – the one I told you about – is the state attorney. For a while he's been looking for 'the big one' and here it is.” She reached over and picked up the phones headset and started dialing some numbers, when we could hear it ringing, she pressed the 'speaker' button and placed the headset back in its place.

'State attorney Yeilding.' All three of us listened to a mans voice rattling through the phones speaker.

“Hey Petey.” Kayla smiled.

'Hey sis.' I could hear an excitement in his voice rising.

“Pete. You busy right now?”

'Not really, just got back from lunch. Why? What's up?'

“Nothing much, just a little thing of having your career highlight here in front of me. This is the big one, bro, this is the one you've been dreaming of.”

'Well paint me curious I want to know more.'

“Stand by while I fax you some paperwork. You'd better be sitting down when you read it.” Following this, Kayla reached over to the fax machine, pressed some numbers and began feeding all of the sheets from the file into the unit. All three of us listened as it sounded like the guy on the other end of the line rustled around some papers then utter silence.

'Where did you get this!?! This...this isn't just a career highlight, this is the game changer!' He nearly shrieked with excitement.

“It seems we have some little ferrets around here.” Kayla grinned and winked at me and Jeremy. “They're sneaky and mischievous for sure.”

'Oh. My. God.' The guy bellowed out in what sounded like utter disbelief. 'Its like the gates of heaven have opened up right in front of me! This is what we need to bring down Last Look Industries! What else you got that we can charge them with? Hunh?'

“Forgery for sure.” Kayla sighed again. “I'd have to double check to see what the state qualifies as child endangerment but I think we might have that to go on too. Abduction and unlawful detainment.”

'Okay give me a minute for my head to stop spinning here.' The guy muttered before going silent for a few moments. 'All right. You keep those kids safe. I'm going to get in contact with the Feds and Interpol...all the big dogs are gonna need all this information. Sis...I owe you for the rest of my life on this one.'

“Hey.” Kayla grinned at the phone. “If Last Look Industries and its divisions come crashing down for good, and these kids never have to worry about any of it again, I'll call it even.” After Kayla ended the call, she stared between Jeremy and myself.

--- --- ---

Ten seconds. I thought while glancing to my watch. Nine more seconds and we're all free. The last eight seconds felt like they dragged on forever as I thought back to what Nurse Kayla said to me and Jeremy while we were still in the staff office. Even though we had been there for well over fifteen minutes and nobody had noticed us there, we hammered out a solid plan...the very same plan that I was waiting the last five seconds to start.

Four. Three. Two. It's go time! I watched the last second fade away until my watch beeped three in the afternoon.

“Lets go! Evacuate evacuate evacuate!” I heard one of the male nurses call out in a commanding voice. That was all it took for all five of us on the special attention hall to hop out of our rooms and take off running through the day room where a couple of nurses also guided the fifteen or so other kids running into the same space. They funneled us into the same hallway leading to the admissions desk. Somehow all of us kids managed to scramble over ourselves to open the lockers containing our belongings, grab our stuff and dart over to the front doors.

“What is going on here!?!” Doctor Bart demanded while running up to see the commotion of us gathering around the last door separating us from freedom.

“There's a huge fire in the staff office; we're bugging out.” Nurse Kayla spoke in affirming tones as she slid her key card through a slot on the doors lock; I watched as a red light turned off and a green light flickered on. At that second, she yanked the door open.

“You know that's not the evacuation route!” Doctor Bart stammered as the other kids started running out the door.

“We also know what you've been up to, doc.” The same male nurse that was shouting out the evacuation order spoke out while stepping up to Bart. “We're going to see that you're nailed to the wall for everything you've done.”

Suddenly, Bart reached out and grabbed Fang by the shoulder keeping him from leaving. Even though Fang struggled to break free of Barts grip, the doctor held steadfast. “I can't let you do this. They need to be here.”

That's all it took. All of us still in the admissions area watched as Nurse Kayla thundered over to Bart with her left arm reared back, her hand curled into a tightly balled fist. She swung. Hard. Before our eyes, Bart flew back a few feet while spinning until he landed on the floor in a twisted pile of himself. “You come near these kids again and I'll lock you in the quiet room myself!” She growled while waving her uncurled hand side to side as though to shake off the pain. She then turned towards us. “You guys waiting for the bus!?! Get out of here!”

Sure that everyone else had gotten through the doors and were on their separate ways, Jeremy, Sparks, the twins and myself gave the nurses one last approving and thankful glare then darted out the doors. Even though I knew I had to run, I couldn't help but pause just long enough to fill my lungs with the fresh air, to feel the sunlight on my face once again. Even though it had been only two weeks in the psych unit, the one thing I missed the most were just the simple things; being able to run around outside, the scent of fresh cut grass, even just hearing chirping birds.

In less than a minute, all five of us were running on the long winding road towards town. Towards everything we knew...our homes

Towards the unknown.

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Author: Tripped
Timestamp: Sep 2, 2015 at 8:49 AM
Content:

giantguy99 said:

Well it's on now that's for sure. I'm not going to speculate what happens next even though I can see where this is going and yes whatever twists you throw in Tripped I'm definitely not seeing it coming because there's just to many variables and options you can exercise. I like this story! :smile1:

[End of quote]

Always like to keep 'em guessing. TBH sometimes even I'm not sure where these types of stories are gonna end up....

Shaunikins321 said:

Oh my god this is excellent. Keep it up, Tripped! One helluva cliffhanger there!

[End of quote]

Glad you're liking it, more coming up.

Angelbaby said:

This story is amazing Tripped!! Great job!

[End of quote]

Hey there ain't seen you in a while :3 Glad you're liking it.

We ran as fast as our legs could carry us. All five of us huffed and puffed; even though I couldn't be for sure, I suspected the other guys felt as worn out as I did. The entire time we'd been running from the psych unit, we'd been charging through thick woods that seemed to have been carved out to make the town possible.

“We have to get to our homes and into a change of clothes. We stick out wearing these neon green things.” I called out between panting breaths. It was then I slowed to a stop and leaned against a smaller tree. My lungs felt like they were on fire, my heart raced, my legs wobbled just trying to keep me upright. “But first I need a break.” I sat down on the cool leaf covered ground. One by one, the guys followed suit. For what seemed like the longest time we just sat, catching our breaths and constantly looking around hoping nobody was near us. That was the first time I really felt the weight of the backpack hanging over my shoulders, it had only a couple of thin notebooks and papers, and a spray can of deodorant, it felt like the heaviest thing I had ever carried.

Sparks reached into his pocket and retrieved his cellphone which he flipped open and dialed some numbers before holding it to his ear. 'Come on pick up.' I could see him mouthing as he waited. He then shook his head, pressed a few more buttons then held the phone to the side of his head again. 'Where are you two.' He whispered while puling the phone away and glancing at the screen. “Somethings wrong. The only time Mark and Greg don't answer their phones is if they're at the movies. But Mark's at work right now.”

Slowly, Pinball reached into his own pocket and brought out a touch screen phone and dialed a new set of numbers, only to end up looking at the screen in a mix of curiosity and disbelief. “Our folks aren't answering either.” He sighed and looked around.

“All right. So we go home, change clothes, gather essential supplies and hightail it to the hideout.” I spoke out making sure I had everyone's attention. “Use your backpacks to carry some clothes, diapers, powders, and some food that won't go bad. Then get your bikes; we can move around faster, easier and further on them.”

“And when we get to our hideout, we can...what...relax a little bit and plan our next move?”

“Precisely.” I nodded. “Just remember, we have to stay low, stay quiet, stay alert.” Following this, I stood up.

“Wait, whats 'the hideout'?” Jeremy asked.

“Just meet us at the corner of Cherry Pitt Road and Magnolia Lane. Four PM sharp.” Pinball too stood. “We'll show you the rest of the way.”

--- --- ---

I don't believe this! I had to blink several times and shake my head from the disbelief of it all. The kitchen looked nothing like it should have; food boxes were thrown about over the counters and floor, all the cabinet doors hung open and all the drawers were laying on the tiled floor. Even all the plates, bowls, cups and silverware were strewn about as though someone was looking for something.

I carefully made my way into the living room where it looked even worse; in fact, I'd go as far as to say that a tornado had gone through there. Everything was either laying on its side, broken, littered all over the wood floor, or in some combination of the three. The couch and the chairs were ripped open with stuffing telling of the carnage. All of our family pictures and moms framed cross stitch projects were on the floor shattered and broken.

After tip-toeing my way to the stairs, I climbed them up to the second floor where the devastation continued. I made my way to my room and slowly poked my head in and nearly dropped to my knees. Just about everything was destroyed. As I made my way to the center of the room, I felt a sudden and strange sense peace washing over me accompanied by whispering 'stay on task'.

“Things can be replaced.” I muttered as I pulled my backpack off and opened it up then dumped out everything onto the already messy floor. I kept my mind on what I was doing as I went about changing clothes. In a flash I was stuffing a couple of shirts and a pair of jeans into my backpack, followed by a thick handful of diapers and a tube of powder. Finally I managed to stuff my stuffed koala Claw into a small compartment in the bags side. As I turned to leave the room, I paused and looked down at the carpeted floor to find the beaded chain shaped like the German flag; I grinned seeing it was still in one piece then swooped down and picked it up then stuffed it in my pocket.

Sure that I had everything I needed, I went back down stairs then into the kitchen to find anything useable. After a few short moments of looking around, I picked up a half empty box of cereal and pulled the bag out making sure to roll the bag into itself. Then I found a couple of cans of mini sausages and a few packets of peanut butter crackers – all of which I somehow managed to get into the last bit of empty space in my backpack.

Soon enough I was pedaling my bike along silent streets. I didn't slow down until I reached the corner of Cherry Pitt Road and Magnolia lane where Jeremy and the twins were already waiting – their bikes were hidden in the woods just out of sight while they kept a low profile behind a couple of large shrubs. Getting one good look around, I rolled my bike off the blacktop and onto the grass leading to the start of the woods.

“I can't believe someone went through and trashed my place!” I hissed as I climbed off the bike.

“You're not the only one, dude.” Fang muttered out while scanning the roads leading to the intersection. “Looks like someone ripped our stuff to shreds.”

“Makes three of us.” Jeremy retorted as he stayed kneeling down. It was then that movement on the road caught my attention, and upon looking over, I found Sparks rolling towards us pretty fast on his bike.

“Get a move on!” He ordered the very second he came within a foot of us. Thinking he was being followed, Jeremy and the twins scrambled out of their hiding place and into the woods to get their bikes, as they did, I powered my own bike over the grass following them.

It wasn't long until the five of us reached the clearing leading to the ravine. Sparks locked the brakes on his bike and skidded to a halt just shy of the steep drop to the waters below.

“Man Caleb...” Fang chuckled. “...you make good plans, but this time you forgot one tiny little detail.” He pointed to the old strands of ropes connecting the two lands. “It's impossible to get over that thing!”

“Do your thing.” Sparks grumbled, still facing away from all of us.

Knowing exactly what he was referring to, I raised my arm and hand and focused on a blue glow twirling around my fingers. “Don't. Move.” I spoke in no uncertain terms. Ever so slowly, the rest of the guys and their bikes began to levitate off the ground. Just as I'd told them to, they remained still as I carefully used my powers to guide them over the ravine. My arm began to shake as they reached the other side, I lowered my hand ever so slightly until they made a safe and gentle touch down on the grass. Suddenly the whole left side of my head throbbed and ached yet I forced myself to work through the pain until I – still on my bike – began to float in the air and over the ravine. The pain in my head grew worse as I floated towards the rest of the guys. When I was close enough to them, I lowered myself until I could let the bike drop to the grass and not damage it. Just then everything went wrong; my powers faded and I fell the last four feet to the ground with a hard thud.

“Caleb!” Pinball shouted and raced towards me until he was kneeling down at my side. Out of physical instinct I curled up into a tight ball while holding the left side of my head where it hurt the most. Everything I saw with my left eye flashed between darkness with white splotches bouncing around, and whiteness with dark splotches darting about.

“Hang in there bro...” I could barely hear Fang over the ringing in my ears. The second he placed his hand to the side of my head I shrieked out in pain.

“Oh man that sounded bad!” Jeremy whimpered from under his jacket – the hood still covering his head. That's the last thing I remember hearing – the panic in his voice as he stood back, next to Sparks, watching the whole thing.

--- --- ---

My body jerked; I slowly opened my eyes and looked around, the throbbing was still in my head but it wasn't as bad as it was before. The ringing in my ears was almost gone and the vision in my left eye was a little blurry but otherwise good. I also noticed that it was dimly light, and, if it wasn't for some quiet chatter, it would be silent. I carefully sat up just far enough to prop myself on my elbows then looked around again to see walls made of wood planks and an opening leading to another room where the chatter continued.

“How'ya feeling?” Fang asked while kneeling down at my side.

“Like I got hit by a plane.” I grumbled and rubbed the side of my head.

“I wouldn't be surprised.” He nodded then leaned in close while holding up a battery operated lantern to my face. He pulled it away and after a few seconds waved it back in my face.

“What are you doing!?!” I sighed.

“Making sure you didn't go doing something stupid like seriously hurting yourself!” He raised his voice – his words sounding harsher than usual. “You're lucky you didn't end up snapping your leg into pieces or bashing your skull open!”

“Yeah like I really wanted my powers to suddenly cut out like that.” I huffed and sat up all the way making sure to cross my arms.

He sighed and placed the lantern back on the ground between us. “Look. I'm not mad. I just wish you knew your limits. You tried using way too much of your power at once; that's why it cut out like it did. That searing pain in your head, the ringing in your ears, those were warning signs that you were pushing yourself too hard. You should have given yourself a chance to recharge...even for just a couple of minutes before you powered up again. Just be glad you didn't burn out half your brain with that little stunt.”

“I get it!” I growled.

“Take time to rest up; we're staying put for two or three days. That'll give us time to plan out our next move. Luckily Jeremy had one of those huge camping packs that he was able to get a lot of stuff in. We've got food, lights and batteries. I don't know how or why, but he's even got one of those two way radios that looks like the ones the military use. We've been using it to keep tabs on what they're up to out there.”

I slowly stood up while looking around. “Overhear anything about their master plans?” I asked and stretched.

“Not really.” Fang shrugged. “Its mostly been general radio chatter; sector sweeps, aerial surveillance and what not. Although, at this rate, I'm ready to take my chances out there 'cause Sparks has been in a real craptastic mood ever since we hunkered down here.”

“Him? In a bad mood?” I had to blink a few times while staring at him. “That can't be right.”

“No its legit.” He nodded. “Its like someone poured superglue down the back of his undies and gave him an ato...” Before Fang could say anything else, Sparks yelled out 'can it!' causing both of us to stop and glance towards the doorway leading to another room. Without thinking of doing so, both of us darted towards it then into the other room until we we came across Jeremy standing close to the wall. That's when I saw the one thing I thought I'd never see; Sparks stood hunched over, his arm wrapped around Pinball's neck in a tight sleeper hold, Pinball's hands feebly trying to pull Sparks arm off.

“Get off 'em!” I shouted and ran for Sparks to try and break it up with Fang right by my side.

“Whatever...you're not worth it.” Sparks grumbled and let go of Pinball; as Fang tended to his twin, I reached out and shoved Sparks away towards the only other door which lead to the ravine outside. “What the hells wrong with you!?!” I growled and raised my arms until they were at level with my shoulders.

“Like you even care!” Sparks hissed back then spun in place and stomped towards the only door leading out of the wooden shack. Not entirely sure what he was up to, I followed him out until it was just the two of us standing in golden tints and hues of the setting sun. High above us, thick clouds glowed with reds and oranges, yellows and golds, blues and purples, grays and blacks. A gentle gust of wind blew across the landscape as the faintest crackles of thunder rumbled from overhead. I watched as he stormed over to his bike then knelt down and fiddled with something on the gear-set on the back wheel.

“Talk to me bro. What's going on.” I knelt down from behind and at the side and watched him working.

“There's nothing to talk about.” He grumbled while giving the chain a hard yank until he could loop it over one of the larger sprockets. “My bike was giving me trouble earlier; it wouldn't shift properly. So now I have to fix it. Simple as that.” He spoke in duller, almost robotic tones as he reached into the back pocket of his blue jeans and pulled out a small screwdriver that folded into itself.

“I don't think that's the reason why you're acting all mad.” I crossed my arms. “I know you better than that, Simon. Since we've first met, I've never seen you behaving this way. It's just the two of us, so level with me; what's going on?”

It was then that he stayed perfectly still. Ever so slowly he raised his arm up and brought it across his eyes in a sweeping motion. His free hand loosening just enough to let the folding screwdriver fall to the grass. “They...killed...her...” He huffed in near whining tones then spun around and stared at me with red puffy eyes and tear slicked cheeks. “They killed Charlotte!”

“Sh.....it....” I whispered almost too silent to be heard.

“I...I found her...in p-p-pie-ces...!” He cried out and used both of his hands to cover his face. Not knowing what else to do I reached out and pulled him into a tight but still manly hug. That one simple act of mine was all it took for him to completely let loose of everything he held bottled up deep within him. After just a few short seconds he was nothing more than a quivering mass of deep huffing sobbing breaths and yelping cries of agony. Time held no meaning as I held him close.

Sparks grinned. “This is where my ideas come to life.”

With a nod, I looked around to find racks full of spools of wire in various sizes and colors. There were several shelves stuffed with plastic organizers full of miscellaneous bits-n-pieces, massive pegboards mounted to the walls held enough tools for a hardware store, countless bundles of folders and binders were stacked five and six deep. It was then that something caught my attention. Something was moving on the workbench in front of us. No sooner had I focused on the movement than I took a huge step back with a surprised and shocked glare. “Huge spider!” I pointed to the black eight legged creature moving silently over assorted parts and tools.

“Relax bro; that's just Charlotte.” Sparks seemed to beam with joy as he put the papers aside and reached over to pick up the massive spider. “I promise you, she's perfectly harmless.” As he said that, he held it towards me causing me to take another step back and put both hands up in a 'stop' motion.

“Y-you have a p-pet t-tarantula...” I stammered while shaking my head side to side. “A-uh-dog or a-uh-cat I can-uh-understand...but not something like THAT!”

“Well...” Sparks sighed. “...dad's allergic to pet dander. Birds and fish are too high maintenance so I figured why not build myself a pet. Thus Charlotte was born...well...created. This way, I have a pet that I can take care of, and dad won't be in misery with his allergies.” He shrugged with a appeased smile.

“Wait.” I shook my head again. “That's a fake spider?”

“Yeah. Under that black insulation cover is nothing more than wires, servos, and a metal frame.” It was then that his smile turned into an evil grin. “I'm hoping that one day I can get into the military with all the knowledge floating around my brain.” He tapped the side of his head.

The memory of the first time I'd ever seen Charlotte was as clear as the day it happened. It was also the biggest contrast that I'd ever seen from Sparks. When he was talking about the fake tarantula, there was a shimmering light in his eyes, as if it were the best thing he had ever done, as though it was the one thing he was most proud of. And now, as he sat in my comforting hold, there was almost nothing in his reddened and puffy eyes, the sparkling glimmer of ambition was gone, replaced with the void of nothingness. It was the same thing I saw every time I looked in the mirror after I lost all four of my grandparents. Darkness.

“We're going to get 'em, bro. We're gonna make 'em pay for everything they've done to us...” I whispered softly as he quieted his sobbing and stilled his shaking. “...if we find that jerkweed Russel Derj, I'll make sure you can break his face.”

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Author: Tripped
Timestamp: Sep 10, 2015 at 3:43 PM
Content:

secretlynappied89 said:

more please I can't wait for the next chapter

[End of quote]

Next part coming up.

giantguy99 said:

wrath knows not the anger of kids with superpowers scorned like the one's in this story. :smile1:

[End of quote]

Ooohh yeah stuffs gonna get real in part seventeen. Until then, here's part sixteen...

All five of us rode our bikes in a common silence. We knew where to go, what to do when we got there, how much time everything should take and what to do if all of our plans and backup plans fell apart. Eventually we slowed to a stop near the edge of the woods leading towards the old power plant on the outskirts of town.

Just as we'd planned out, Pinball drew a deep breath, letting his left eye turn to a shimmering sparkly silver color. “Got it.” He muttered as he blinked a few times while tilting his head to the side slightly. “Wow there's a lot of security running the grounds. Doesn't look like there's any real easy way in. Unless...” He trailed off, his shimmering left eye darted about in its socket while his right eye stayed perfectly still. “Over there!” He suddenly shouted while thrusting his arm towards our left. All five of us climbed off our bikes and began walking. About fifty feet or so, we came across a set of steps leading down through the ground to a rusted door surrounded by weathered concrete and stone blocks.

“What is that?” I just couldn't help but blurt out as I stared at the door wondering where it lead to, and if would even open or not.

“They used to call it hells escape.” Jeremy was the first to answer causing the rest of us to stare at him with curious and questioning glares. “When the old coal power plant was up and running, if you were working down in the boiler room and something went wrong, this was your only way out.”

“And just how do you know that?” Fang rubbed the side of his head.

“I study local history; the more obscure, the more I like it.” Jeremy grinned with the faintest of winks. “If I remember my schematics right, we'll have to go down this tunnel for about two hundred feet or so. That should put us smack dab in the boiler room; then we'll have to follow a bunch of pipes until we reach the steam turbines and not the water pumps. Hopefully, after that, we'll need to climb a flight or two of stairs until we're back on ground level in the old offices where they're most likely keeping our parents.”

I watched as Sparks carefully made his way down the steps until the rest of us were looking down on him as he stepped up to the door and studied it. Not saying anything, he placed both hands on the rusted metal and closed his eyes then slowly let out a long held breath. We all watched as the door turned from a muddy brown rust color to a shiny pure metal state with what looked like a new handle on the left side. He turned back and glanced up at us with a grin while sliding his left hand to the grab handle giving it a firm twist. Slowly the door swung open revealing nothing but pure blackness beyond the glow of the early morning sunlight. One by one we all made our way down the steps and into the silence of the tunnel; Jeremy, Fang and Pinball brought out flashlights and clicked them on illuminating the space that much more.

“What is that smell!?!” I grimaced and pinched my nose shut to block out the stench of things I couldn't even begin to describe.

“I don't know but it's making my eyes burn!” Sparks raised his arm up and shoved his face into the crease of his elbow as he stayed at my side while we followed the twins - Jeremy bringing up the rear.

“Use your shirts to cover your mouths and noses. And don't touch anything!” Fang grunted out while doing what he said. “You're smelling some nasty mold, last thing you need is to get it in you.” We all nodded and followed his lead until the bottom halves of our faces were covered. Slowly but surely we made our way along the darkness until we came to the opening of a massive space.

“This must be the old boiler room.” Jeremy called out and pointed around until his stretched arm was held towards rows of huge metal tanks that reached from floor to ceiling. “Those are the steam tanks; they'd burn coal to boil water to a lethal temperature then they'd funnel the pressurized steam through pipes to drive gigantic turbines which produced the power itself.” As he talked, Jeremy's voice echoed endlessly in the space large enough to hold four of the gyms at school.

“Where did the water come from?” Pinball asked.

Jeremy chuckled. “There used to be a pretty big lake not too far from here; they siphoned the water from that to use here. As smart as they engineered this place, they forgot the fact that they needed a renewable water source. When the lake went dry, the plant went down.

“Then why is it resonating?” Sparks stared Jeremy eye to eye. Not sure what he meant, Jeremy raised an eyebrow and tilted his head slightly. “I don't get it. We all can see this is a dead plant. But its resonating like its still producing power. I'm definitely feeling active energy signatures. Coming from...” He trailed off and glanced around, then tilted his head back until he was staring straight up. “...from above us.”

“The turbine room.” Jeremy confirmed while glancing up himself.

Tink tink rattle rattle tink. Even though those were the tiniest sounds ever, in the silence of the massive space, they were undeniably loud. Two more unfamiliar sounds echoed out. We all looked around to find the source of the noises and that's when we saw it. On the ground, in the center of our group, was a black plastic tube shape with both ends sealed up. Three flashlight beams settled on it.

“Flash-ba...” Jeremy tried shouting out but he was cut off when the device blew open with a deafening pop and a bright flash of light that lit up the entire area around us. Then two more pops and two more flashes. Within seconds we found ourselves in a thickening cloud of smoke. I couldn't hear anything over the ringing in my ears; my eyes, nose and mouth stung from the cloud that enveloped us.

Bam! My body ached and throbbed from the sudden impact and the fall to the ground; I had only felt that kind of pain once and that was the time when I first met Sparks and the twins. I tried struggling to break free of the unseen grip that kept me planted face down to the cold damp ground yet the weight was unmoving. I tried swinging my arms around only to find that there was something keeping my wrists bound together at the small of my back. The next thing I knew I was pulled to my feet and forcefully shoved from the back. I tried to stay upright but between the tears streaming out of my eyes because of the unforgiving insanity pepper tasting smoke and the force of the shove I tripped over myself and fell to the floor again, this time I let out a yelp of pain; even though I couldn't hear it, I knew I made the noises. Once again I found myself being pulled to my feet, but this time I wasn't being shoved, instead, it felt like I was being guided by a pair of hands on my shoulders.

“Who...where...” I had to force myself to say between hacking coughs and the pain in throat.

“Relax! Take long, deep breaths!” A mans voice ordered as I struggled to break free of the grip that kept me hunched over what felt like a big sink. I guessed there had to be at least two men, while the weight kept me in place, there was another hand that ran through my hair and over my face several times. As this happened, an unending shower of water sprayed all over my face and head. I tried moving my hands again and found they were still bound by the now warm wraps. “Relax!” He shouted again as I struggled even more to try and slip free. But I wouldn't relax.

I couldn't relax.

If I had that one thing that frightened me the most, it was having my face under water. Even when I took my morning showers, I tried everything possible to keep the water spray off my face because I would freak out every time. And now, in this awkward angle, not able to do anything more than whip my head side to side and keep my eyes clinched shut I couldn't breathe because I was terrified that the water was gonna get into my lungs and drown me.

“Stop it you're hurting 'em!” I heard Pinball shouting as everything started spinning. Almost immediately the showering streams of water ceased to mere mists then they stopped all together. Slowly I was pulled upright and turned a halfway to the left. Finally sure the assaulting shower was done with, I opened my mouth and drew the biggest breath I've ever made. I opened my eyes to find Sparks, the twins, and Jeremy sitting in a row of chairs being tended to by an equal number of women in black uniforms with green patches on their right sleeves. On the patches, were upside triangles with two dots on each side. I glanced to my left as I was guided towards them to find two men. The first was a younger man, pretty tall but kind of scrawny dressed in the same uniform. The other, a about my height and nothing but muscle, standing back while adjusting a high powered weapon dangling from a thick strap over his right shoulder.

“How do they check out so far?” He asked the women. In response, they all gave a thumbs up. Ever so gently, he guided me to an empty chair and nudged me to sit down. Once I was off my feet, he knelt down then reached over to pick up a plain white towel which he used to dry off my face, then my neck and shoulders, finally my hair. “Sorry about all that.” He frowned, there was something in his eyes that told me, somewhere deep within him, he really was sorry about it. “But that's the best way we have to get the teargas chemicals off of ya.” Once he placed the towel back in place, he reached over and retrieved a pair of scissors. My eyes went wide seeing it. “Lean forwards.” He smiled politely. I shut my eyes tightly as he slid the scissors behind me. I sat perfectly still as I felt the cold metal against the skin of my arm, then my wrist.

Snip!

I didn't dare move as the metal moved to my other arm and wrist

Snip! I opened my eyes in utter surprise. There was no pain. He stepped back holding the scissors in one hand, and a pair of plastic rings cut in half in the other. Free to move my arms again, I raised them in front of me until I could see two red stripes where the plastic cuffs had been.

“Report!” A deep, gruff and booming voice ordered. From the surprise of it, all of us glanced to a door on the opposite wall where another man in the same uniform stood. Everything about him screamed dictator.

“Other than having their sinuses cleaned out for a few months, they check out.” The man rolled his eyes, not bothering to look back towards the other guy at the doorway. “And what the hell were you thinking authorizing the use of flash-bangs on kids!?!” He shouted out while spinning in place finally facing the guy at the door.

“That's not your concern.” Dictator grunted and shuffled a few more feet into the space.

“Yeah well you made it my concern when I had to treat them for chemical exposure!” Tall guy lowered his eyebrows, staring dictator down. “These are kids for gods sake!” He shouted out and lunged his arm outwards towards us.

“Secure your shit.” Dictator grumbled. “They're not kids; they're enemy combatants that should be locked away and tortured for any information...”

“You come near these kids...” Tall guy growled, his stance changing, his muscles tensing while cutting off dictator. “...I'll find the dullest spoon around and perform a live autopsy...on you...!”

--- --- ---

Time slipped by. After a while, me and the gang sat around eating simple but tasty sandwiches and drank from individual orange juice bottles. Even though we kept a vigilant watch over the tall lanky guy and the four women that worked with him, the more we studied them, the more it became evident that they were just as deep into this whole mess as we were. It wasn't really in what they said, it was more in how they did things. They'd sit down and talk with us to see how we were doing and if we needed anything but they didn't do it like a bunch of jerks, if anything, they seemed...sympathetic to our being there. The guy even went as far as personally moving a big trash can from the corner of the room into an in room bathroom when Sparks and Jeremy had to “go”.

When my watch beeped four in the afternoon, I drew a deep breath and held it while standing up. The guys didn't know what I was up to, but I had to know for sure. I slowly released the breath, and, with a sense of purpose, walked briskly but not menacingly towards the tall guy. He glanced up from a few sheets of paper in his hands when he sensed me standing in front of him but with plenty of space between us.

“You need anything?” He asked with a smile. I simply shrugged and slid my hands into my pockets.

“I was just wondering something.” I glanced at him eye to eye. He placed the papers on the desk to his right and sat down on the corner of it giving me his full attention. “The five of you seem like nice enough people. Don't take this the wrong way, but, how did you all get wrapped up in this mess?”

He drew a deep breath, letting his gaze fall to the floor before bringing his eyes back up to meet mine once again. “I've asked myself that same question many times a day, every day, for the last two years.” He paused and shook his head side to side. “I just gotten out of med school, I had no job, no money, nothing. Then one day I saw an email about a job offer with some new start up company. Said they were looking for bright, motivated and ready-to-work workers to fill the many openings they had. I should have known the whole thing was fishy when I emailed them back asking about the job, and they responded saying that that information would only be revealed if I successfully joined their company. I should have walked away from the offer but I was too curious to see what it was all about.”

“We signed the contracts; but we were really signing our souls to the devil.” One of the women spoke out as she, the other three women, and the gang gathered around.

“Biggest mistake of our lives.” Another of the women nodded in agreement.

“H-how much do you know about...Reichplast?” I had to force myself to ask. “Was it an accident or not.” In the following silence, the guy gently placed his hands on my shoulders and stared at me eye to eye, his glare filled with sorrow. That's all it took. “I'm going to kill 'em myself!” I shouted and lunged, except I didn't attack anyone, instead, the desk took the full impact and wound up several feet from where it was, several dents told of the attack. “H-he's...go-gonna pay....!” My breathing turned erratic as everything I'd had pent up suddenly came out in ravenous and vicious strikes against the sheet metal that made up the desk. My words came out in aggressive babbling until I finally dropped to my knees physically exhausted, mentally drained, emotionally wiped out. Before I knew it, I was in a tight and comforting hold, long red hair draped over my own hair and down into my face as I cried my eyes out, my breaths nothing more than short and forced yelps of agony and pain.

I stared blankly at the wall as I lay on my side in a small one person bed no bigger than the one I had at home. I let my hands curl naturally as I kept them close to my face on the pillow; several layers of gauze wrapping were spooled from the second knuckles of my fingers to where my wrists met my arms. Red splotches dotted the big knuckles of my left hand, and both hands throbbed and ached. Not surprisingly, one of my diapers was wrapped snug around my mid section in case I blacked out.

“...its not your fault Victor.” I heard Sparks quietly talking to the tall guy that bandaged up my bloodied hands after the assault on the desk. “If it's anyone's fault, it's mine.”

“Don't say that dude.” Fang muttered as quietly.

“No I'm serious.” Sparks continued. “I honestly don't think Caleb took the time to grieve properly. Yeah he bounced back to his old self pretty quickly, but there were those times when he was having like flashbacks to the day it happened. You remember those days? When he would say or do something that made no sense? Maybe if I just stopped and asked him if something was wrong, or I could have tried to spend a little one on one time with him; if I had done something different...”

“Nah bro, Sparks' right.” Pinball chimed in. “Yeah he did go back to looking like his usual self, but sometimes...sometimes I'd look at him and I could see in his eyes that he was holding something back. Like he was trying to keep some kind of monster caged up. Hopefully, after everything's said and done, he can find some form of peace again. Maybe he'll finally be able to conquer that beast once and for all...”

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Author: Tripped
Timestamp: Oct 6, 2015 at 3:05 PM
Content:

secretlynappied89 said:

1: aww I can't wait for more that hardly told me anything
2: I hope you really get time to write more of this story and get a chance to post it soon

[End of quote]

Last part was kind of a setup section for this part...which I've lost track of how may revisions and rewrites it took...

BabySamantha said:

Tripped,

Really digging the story. Keep up the good work!

[End of quote]

Glad you're liking it, hopefully this one will be good too.

Shaunikins321 said:

Still eagerly awaiting the next chapter!

[End of quote]

I know it took a while, but this part of the story took several rewrites / revisions to make it just right.

Sparks, Jeremy, Fang, Pinball and myself marched; all five of us moved forwards in a silent state with our hands on the tops of our heads. Around us, several guards stood ready in case we tried to make a break for it. Turn by turn, walkway by walkway we slowly made our way through the old power plant that had been upgraded and even completely rebuilt in some areas. We were guided onto a metal platform overlooking several high tech and futuristic machines and to a man in black pants and a black long sleeved shirt overlooking the machinery. As we approached, I studied the man in the black suit with long equally black hair pulled into a loose ponytail. Even though I could only see the back of him, there was something about the guy that struck me as familiar.

“Guards. Leave us alone.” The man said, turning just enough to reveal a hint of his face, and in short order, the guards escorting us turned and left. “You four are really annoying, you know that right. You think that some little online petitions and some poorly made videos are gonna bring this company down?” We all watched as he turned around with a sneer plastered on his face.

In that exact moment everything stood still. “You!” I growled, my body filling with an odd mix of anger, grief and resentment. Out of instinct Fang and Pinball stood between me and the one person I wanted to come face to face with. Sparks and Jeremy must have also sense what was about to happen because they too took positions around me to keep the two of us separated.

“Wait a minute now.” The guy raised a lone finger while scratching his head through the long black hair. “Stille Nacht only has four members. But there are five of you in front of me. You.” He pointed to Jeremy. “You're an anomalous component, which both intrigues and worries me.”

Jeremy leaned in close and whispered loud enough to be heard. “Caleb? Who is this guy?”

“Russel Derj. Founder and president of Last Look Industries. Pleased to make your acquaintance, but I'm not pleased, not in the least.” Russel gave all of us a scouring glare of disgust.

“I wouldn't be pleased either, especially if I were a mass murdering, soulless sack of sh-”

“Oh come now boy.” Russel grinned while cutting me off. “I'm not a monster or the boogeyman. I am a visionary.”

“Bullshit!” I suddenly shouted out, my hands clenching into tight fists as every muscle in my body tensed up ready for action.

Russell sighed. “You really do need to watch that potty mouth of yours. You offend my ears with that vile language. See, your problem is you're too closed minded to understand the brilliance of what I'm doing. None of you understand it. Everything that happens, happens in the process of progress. What if I told you, that at this very second, we're on the eve of introducing the world to Anovilliam...the next big breakthrough. What do you say, when I tell you that in this very structure, we're producing free, inexhaustible and completely safe power? That this one plant, can sustain half of the countries power needs for decades without relying on the limited supply of toxic fossil fuels? That there is no risk of nuclear disaster? That our footprint in nature is kept to the very minimum? Hmm?”

“I'd say it would take the kidnapping and imprisoning of countless people with Krinnel powers to do that.” Fang tensed his jaw.

“To get revenge!” Russel shouted, drawing his arms back while lowering his stance towards us. “To make all of you Krinnels pay for what happened to my sister! I will never rest until every single one of you suffer just like she did in the last few fleeting seconds of her life!”

“Dude...” Fang chimed in. “...whatever happened, we had nothing to do with it.”

“No you didn't.” Russel lowered his tone slightly while sighing. He looked down towards the metal grating we all stood on, something about his disposition changed; for a few seconds, he wasn't mad or even upset, he looked...sad. He then raised his head sharply – a fiery passion burned bright in his eyes. “But you all have Krinnel powers, so you all must feel my wrath!”

Sparks took two steps back. “Man you're like, totally screwed up in the head. How can you justify any of what you're doing!?!”

“How can I justify it? How can I justify it!?!” Russel shouted even louder, his voice now echoing over the low humming of the machines on the floor below us. “It was justified when I was a kid and had to cradle my dying little sister in my arms and watch helplessly as she took one last shuddering breath! It was justified when I had to watch as her coffin was lowered into the ground – proof that Krinnels were dangerous when they couldn't control their powers!” For a few moments, nobody dared to move; to make a lone noise. That was until Russel lowered his stance causing all five of us backed up that much more. “Maybe I am bat-shit insane; maybe I am messed up in the head. But I'm educated. One day I discovered that Krinnel energy can be very useable as an electrical energy source, so I figured why not create Anovilliam and make some side money off all of you filthy disgusting animals. Its taken me thirty five years but I'm finally having my revenge and NOBODY can touch me!”

Instantly Russel lunged forwards, we all watched unsure of what to expect only to find him putting the palm of his hand against Pinball's forehead. Within a second, Russel shook his head and muttered 'no good' then pushed Pinball off to the side. Almost instantly after that, he did the same with Fang. “Leave them alone!” I shouted, my body moved on instinct as I charged for him. Yet, before I could reach him, Russel grabbed Jeremy's arm and held it up high; a series of electrical arcs jumped and danced around Jeremy's fingers while he tried to free himself from Russel's grip.

“Ah. Perfect.” Russel grinned, his eyes turned a bright red as the arcs of electrical energy grew stronger, brighter.

“Somebody. Stop. Him!” Jeremy looked around at us, fear covering his face. Before I knew it, I found myself in Russel's grip too, my arm held as high as Jeremy's with a blue glow twirling around my own fingers. Sparks came running up to Russel with his right arm reared back in a punching stance, but Russel was quicker; he yanked my arm around and focused both his and my own energies until Sparks was knocked to the ground and slid backwards towards the wall on his back.

“Hey jerkwater!” Fang shouted. I looked over just in time to see Pinball charging towards us. Before Russel could control our powers, Pinball kept his momentum going until he made a jumping leap – landing his left foot on Russel's chest and bringing his right foot upwards in a swift and powerful kicking motion. Everything played in slow motion as Russel let go of me and Jeremy, his body falling straight back while Pinball shifted his weight and momentum into a back flip to land on his feet.

“Dudes back up!” Pinball pulled us backwards as Russel slowly made it to his feet with a long drawn out groaning grunt.

“Die! Krinnels!” Russel grumbled in near bellowing tones – his glare was intense as he stared every single one of us.

I glanced around hearing the faintest crackles of electricity. I raised an eyebrow when my sight fell upon Jeremy with hand extended towards Russel, arcs of bright white energy danced around his fingers and halfway up his arm. The longer he stayed in the same position, the larger the electrical arcs grew and jumped around. I watched in disbelief as a massive bolt of energy flared straight out from Jeremy's hand directly towards Russel looking identical to a lightning bolt. Before the energy blast could reach him, Russel ducked into a rolling dive to the side. I had to split my attention between Russel getting back to his feet and Jeremy recharging and re-aiming for another shock pulse, and the energy bolt shooting way past Russel making contact on several large pipes. Almost instantly a near deafening crack of thunder boomed while several plumes of steam shot out of the spots where the bolt hit.

“Christ dude!” Sparks yelled out while pulling his hands from his ears. “Put that away before you fry us all!”

I raised my own hand with fingers spread, a pale blue glow twirled around my fingers and up to my wrist. “W-what the...?” Russell called out as he slowly lifted off the ground; I moved my hand to the left causing him to float in the same direction. Everything around me went blank as I focused only on Russel, and how he looked as he levitated over metal railing set on the edge of the platform.

“Caleb!” Sparks shouted, though it sounded like it was miles away.

I squinted a little more, my absolute focus locked on Russel now hovering over the high tech machines one floor below. “By using my Krinnel powers, I can manipulate the gravitational field under any object. If I decrease gravities pull, something floats. Like you are now.” I grunted in low, methodical tones. “And if I increase gravities pull, things hit the ground very hard...”

“No dude!” Fang bellowed out and wrapped both his hands around my arm then pulled with all his might. “We need him alive!” At that very second a sharp wave of pain came from my left knee making me break my trance on Russel. Before I knew it, I was laying on my side nursing my knee. As I looked to where Russel was, I found him hanging from the railing with a white knuckle grip. A grin crept across his face; I could only watch as he let go of the railing and fell to the floor below.

BAM

The sound of something heavy hitting a stationary object rang out; the guys scrambled for the railing, I speed-limped over too. On the floor below us, Russell rolled off the top of one of the machines, hit the concrete hard, slowly stood up and hobbled out of sight. Before any of us could move to a flight of steps leading downwards, the machine Russell landed on blew out a mighty display of sparks and thick black smoke. All around us, alarms blared and emergency lights flickered; within seconds another explosion thundered from under us – this one though was louder, violent enough that I could feel it through the metal grating, through my shoes up into the bottoms of my feet. Further past the machinery, rows of large pipes started blowing bright white steamy smoke from connection joints; several control panels around the space erupted into pyrotechnics showering what looked like trillions of marble sized suns.

I watched as Sparks lunged for a computer console to our far left. With no haste, he slammed his hands on the electronics station and focused his attention on it. His eyes scrunched, his head tilted, his hands shimmering a bright green. “Come one...work with me here...” He muttered as countless images danced across the flat panel display. We all watched as one image came to the screen and stayed. It looked like a digital blueprint of the building, a red X flashed repeatedly over a spot a good distance from us. “That's the Anovilliam core!” He shouted out, his tone a mix of intrigue and horror. “And in about eight minutes its going to blow!”

“How bad?” Fang asked wiping his hand down his face.

“Chernobyl. Fukushima. Hiroshima.” Sparks shut his eyes tight and shook his head side to side. “Take your pick. The only hope is if we can surround the core with a shell. Something that'll keep everything contained to the one area of the plant and not let it wipe out half the state...”

“I'll do it.” I grunted, tensed my jaw and drew a long deep breath.

“Hell no!” Pinball lunged and grabbed my by the shoulders. “That's a suicide mission; I'm NOT letting you do this!”

“If you know a better way, I'm all ears.” I growled and waited several seconds for a response, but getting none, I continued. “You four need to find all the adults being held here and get them out. You've only got seven minutes.”

“Bro.” Sparks grabbed my arm. “I...I think I know what you're planning. And if its right, turn the explosion into an implosion.”

“We're on the same page then.” I grinned while glancing at Sparks. Slowly, the grin faded. “When the dust settles, find my parents and tell them 'I finally found peace.' They'll know what it means. Now go!”

I ran as fast as my legs could carry me through open spaces then confined corridors; turn by turn, foot by foot, I made my way across the plant not even stopping while I kept glancing at my watch. When I realized two minutes had already passed, I shifted my weight and skidded to a halt only to have my feet slip out from under me until I found myself laying flat on my back. I stood up and brushed myself off, and as I glanced up, my eyes fell upon a large metal tube shape that must have been ten feet across, twenty feet high, sitting on at least seven metal braces. The top of the unit was rounded with three massive pipes running straight up to the ceiling high above. As I stood there, looking over the entire thing, the only thing I could think of was that it looked like gigantic water heater.

Anovilliam core; authorized personnel only! Big bold letters on the side of the core read. I slowly stepped up to a view port in the side of the unit, and glancing inside the brightly lit core, found a lone florescent purple geode stone that looked it had been turned inside out, its size was roughly the size of my own head. As it hovered at eye level, it spun and twisted faster and faster. As if it knew I was watching, a thick haze began filling the core, barely noticeable at first, but less than a moment later the white smoke blocked my view of the violet crystal.

Suddenly, one of the pipes overhead blew out a massive blast of silvery steam, as it did, everything around me began to shake. I raised my hand, slowly at first still not entirely sure how I was going to pull this one off. Yet I brushed aside all doubts as I settled on the way I thought would work best.

This is it...one minute left. I thought, giving my watch one final glance. I cleared my mind and watched as a blue glow twirled around my fingertips once again. I focused on the core as the blue glow covered my arm up to the elbow. Then up to the shoulder. Even though my body screamed to run like hell and get out while I still could, a calmness swept over my mind keeping me in place, keeping me concentrated on what had to be done. Even more blasts of silver smoke blew from the overhead pipes; the entire building shook violently, even secured items came crashing to the floor around me. I had to duck as small parts of the core blasted past me faster than bullets. Suddenly my left arm flew backwards followed by an immediate wave of searing pain and agony; my mouth opened to let a loud and long scream of misery bellow out but no sounds escaped my throat.

Everything around me started sliding towards the core. I had to lean back further and further, feeling the invisible forces trying to pull me along too, then after about five seconds of that, I had to flop down on my rear end and dig the bottoms of my shoes as best as I could into the floor – all the while the gravitational forces became strong and stronger. The small parts of the machinery that shot past me mere seconds ago suddenly flew back like bullets traveling in reverse. The metal body of the core began to crack at different spots, the view port suddenly shattered - its shrapnel and parts of the cores body broke loose and were sucked in. My clothes fluttered, my hair pointed directly at the machine, my arm felt like it was about to be ripped out of its socket but even then I focused on keeping the gravitational pull in the core, while keeping a second gravitational field anchoring me to the floor.

One final thundering explosion rang out, its vibrations feeling like it shook the entire planet. Everything suddenly turned a blindingly bright white forcing me to clamp my eyes shut. Even though it all happened in less than a split second, it seemed as though it lasted forever while it felt like I was flying towards the core, I kept my eyes shut because I didn't dare look; I didn't want to see. It was then that I felt the strangest thing. It felt...like a pair of hands grabbing my shoulders and pulling me back.

That was the last thing I remember before everything went black. Silent. Perfectly still.

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Author: Tripped
Timestamp: Oct 9, 2015 at 6:08 AM
Content: “Where am I?”
Am I? I asked as I found myself floating in a pitch black void of nothingness. Except, my voice didn't come from my mouth like it normally would have; instead, it came from inside my own head, it came from echoes I heard in the void.

“What is this place?
This place?

“Am I...dead...?”
Dead?

In a flash I was being held by a loving pair of arms, in a warm room. Sunlight poured through open windows and the scent of fresh cut grass lingered in the air. A face came into view, a woman's face, old enough to be a young grandmother, her hair showing the faintest signs of turning gray. Then there was another face. This one a man, bald headed and taller than the woman, with a smile that went from cheek to cheek. Two more faces, much like the first two, but the second man had snow white hair.

“Ooohh look at little baby Caleb, he's just so adorable.” The woman with the bald headed man cooed while pulling me close but far enough out for the other man and woman to see. Right then something struck me as curious; she didn't say it in English, instead, she spoke it in German.

“He's got his fathers nose for sure.” The man with snow white hair also talking in German chuckled and reached down to ever so gently touch my nose. It was only then that I realized that, I was a baby wrapped snug and warm in a blanket. “Hi little guy.” He continued, still smiling. “We're your grandparents.”

Everything went black again. I looked over my body to make sure I was still the scraggly twelve year old that I knew myself to be. Slowly, a new memory wrapped itself around me. I found myself sitting on a large blanket under a massive tree in a small park, my parents on each side of me. A gentle gust of wind caressed the landscape; I glanced up to the lowest branch of the tree when I heard chirping. My parents must have seen it too, because mom pointed up and said “vogel.” To which my dad promptly nodded while saying “bird.”

“Bird; vogel.” I repeated both words, my very young mind making the connection that both words meant the same thing. “Baum; tree.” I giggled and pointed to the tree.

“Yes.” Dad smiled a wide toothy smile and ruffled my hair.

“Ja.” Mom nodded and patted my back. She then leaned in behind me and whispered to dad. “At such a young age. He's going to do great things with his life.”

Soon enough, that memory faded from view leaving me in the void once again. As I floated in the blackness, I tried conjuring up more of the happy imagery I'd forgotten so long ago, except, the only one to come was a recent memory. I looked around to find a small kitchen with white cabinets and plain appliances. I sat at a small table with dad across from me and mom on my left; all three of us were eating roasted chicken with a side of corn and potatoes.

“But why? Why do we have to move!?!” I clanked my fork and knife against the plate.

“Because my boss offered me a much better job in America. She said that since it's the same company, all they'd have to do is transfer the paperwork. She actually encouraged me to do it because she wants one of her best employees to fill the spot. It'll come with a pay raise, and the company is paying for every cent of the move so it'll be that much less stressful on us.”

“But...” I shook my head. “...this house, I'm growing up here...”

By now mom verbally stepped in. “Sweetie, this house is just a little too small for us. You're a growing boy, as it is, we have to go outside just to change our minds.”

“Your moms right, son.” Dad continued. “I've seen some possible houses we can move into, they're much bigger so we'll have plenty of room to grow into.” He then leaned over the table, smiling and giving me his defined dad look. “Trust me, son, things will be different, but they'll also be better. In fact, I have one hundred dollars that says you'll make at least one friend within the first three months of being there. Think about it. You can start over with a clean slate; nobody will know you, or what Triskov did that day...”

Everything went dark once again. Then I saw another memory; this one was at the summer barbecue when I met the guys for the first time. I remember smiling and laughing; two of the things I hadn't done in a long while. Then I remembered the day when we all came clean about having to wear diapers for one reason or another; how they accepted me as part of the team...as their friend. The infinity of black all around me grew even darker. The nothingness became even more empty.

Beep I immediately looked around hearing the tiniest of sounds. It was then that I started to feel a new sense of weight to my presence.

Beep It didn't feel like I was floating, now it felt like I was laying down, on something soft.

Beep I felt a sudden wave of cool air around my mid section followed by an even colder wetness being wiped all around. I closed my eyes for a few seconds, then reopened them just enough to find that I was in a dimly lit room, the overhead lights were turned off but a small light over me remained illuminated. Looming over me was a blurry figure, pulling something up between my legs, then tugging on something at the sides of my hips and securing it all together very snug. Then I felt warmth again as something was strewn over my body, the figure leaned in close to my face and tilted its head slightly. All the while, the slow, steady beeping continued. “Caleb?” The figure whispered just loud enough to be heard over the monotonous beeps. And with that, my eyes shut once again.

Seconds. Hours. Days. Years. I didn't know how much time had passed since I last closed my eyes. I only knew, that when I opened them again, I found I could see a lot more clearly. I was again the same room, but this time, the overhead lights were turned on, and sunlight poured in from a window on the right side of the room. Under the window was a wide bench that looked like a fat armchair; between the bed I lay in, and the wide chair was a wooden night stand that had several cards perched open. On the wall across from me and the bed was a huge black banner with neon green ink scribbles over it. Under that was a table on wheels; on the table were countless more cards and shimmery silver balloons swaying ever so gently in the breeze of a small vent on the wall to my left. I lazily looked down to find that I was covered with a soft fluffy peach colored blanket, a thick black cast covered my left arm from the main knuckles of my hand all the way up to my bicep. From the back of my right hand, two small needles stuck in, clear plastic tubes were attached between the needles and something just out of my field of vision.

I tried to move to sit up, but the second I did, waves of dull throbbing pain flooded my body causing me to stop and groan. Everything hurt, yet the more I stayed perfectly still, the more the pain went away. A shadow crept across the wall across from me, I shifted my focus over and found the figure of a man with brown hair and glasses slowly approaching. “Caleb? Son?” He asked, his eyes growing wide, his mouth nearly dropping to the floor. He then leaned over to what I presumed had to be a door and called out. “Tamera! Honey! He's awake!” Within seconds, both mom and dad were at my sides.

“Oh my sweet baby Caleb...” Mom spoke softly while ever so gently running her hand through my hair. “...how are you feeling sweetie?”

“Like I imploded.” I grunted, my words coming out in horse, dry tones.

Dad reached down and tenderly slid his hand under the fingers of my left hand, causing a short lasting wave of pain coming from my arm within the cast. “Boy son, you gave us quite the scare. For a few days there we didn't know if you were even going to pull through. But yesterday morning, when I was changing you, you opened your eyes for a few seconds; I mean, I didn't want to get my hopes up, but somehow I knew you were going to be okay.”

“How?” I asked, trying everything I could to wet my dry mouth. “The core...the bright light...I should be...”

“We'll...explain later.” Moms cheerful smile faltered briefly before returning. “Right now, you just take time to rest up.”

“Wait!” I raised up despite the dull throbbing. “Sparks, the twins, Jeremy!”

“Easy there son.” Dad gently guided me back down against the mattress then he smiled and patted the tips of his fingers against my chest. “They're safe at home with their parents. Tomorrow, if you're feeling up to it, they can come by for a visit.”

“Anyone know what happened to Russel!?! That maniac needs to be stopped at all costs...”

At this, dad frowned slightly. “He disappeared.” Then the smile returned. “But with an international manhunt underway and a massive bounty on his head, someone somewhere is going to find him pretty quickly. And when they do, he's going to stand trial before the United Nations 'cause he's got to answer for his long list of crimes.”

We all sat in a common silence for the next five minutes. It wasn't until I drew a deep breath and looked dad eye to eye that I felt enough courage to ask about something that was on my mind. “You, uh, you said you changed me yesterday morning.”

“Yeah?” Dad asked, leaning in closer.

“Are nurses supposed to do stuff like that?” I questioned, raising an eyebrow slightly.

“Well, they are.” He nodded. “But the ones working this area have other more 'needy' patients to deal with – like the 'I need you now!' in room two-seventeen just up the hall. So, I offered to do it to help out the already overstretched nurses. I figure we're both guys, and it would would keep your mom from the embarrassment of it all.”

“Oh please.” Mom chuckled with a smirk. “Its not like its something I haven't seen or done before. Remember, both of us used to change your diapers when you were a baby.”

“Remember when we used to tuck him in like this?” Dad grinned, glancing at mom, then leaned over me until he was able to nudge the blanket under my body just enough that it was comfortable but not confining. “Then we'd take his stuffed animal and put it under his arm just like this.” He continued, pulling Claw from the drawer of the night stand and placed the stuffed koala at the crease of my right elbow.

“Then we'd sing him his favorite lullaby.” She grinned even more than he was. She began singing softly. “Close your eyes now little one, the day is over and the night has come...” Listening to it, feeling strangely comfortable, I yawned, my eyelids grew heavy. “...tomorrow is a brand new day, but there's no need to see it right away; rest your sleepy little head, safe and secure in your comfy bed; so close your eyes and go to sleep...”

“My safety will be yours to keep.” I whispered on the verge of falling asleep. I didn't know why I remembered the last line, I just did. Within seconds I was fast asleep, my body and mind finally at peace.

--- --- ---

I listened to the sounds of a flushing toilet behind me as I shuffled my way back to the bed. The paper-thin hospital gown offered little covering as I sped my bare feet across the cold floor. Within seconds I carefully climbed back onto the hospital bed and pulled the peach covered blanket over myself. Today I woke up with a new found energy, my body didn't ache like it had the previous days since I awoke from the void, and my left arm in the cast didn't hurt with the slightest movement. Even though the nurses said I was supposed to lay in bed as much as possible, still had the freedom to get up and use the restroom if I needed to, and if I was especially good, then they would spend a few extra minutes with me so I could get up and look out the window to the world outside. I think that's why the nurses liked me better than the guy in room two-seventeen; I never bothered them unless I desperately needed something – even then I would try to tough it out as long as possible.

Feeling a presence to my left, I turned my head to find mom and dad entering into the room. Smiles adorned their faces, they seemed to have a bit more of a bounce in their step. “Great news son.” Dad came over and ruffled up my hair. “Doc says everything's looking good, and you can come home in a couple of days.”

“Where's the guys?” I asked, sitting up with ease. “How come they haven't come to see me yet?”

Mom sat on the chair just under the window. “Well, see, Simon and Jeremy, they've been in and out of the court system with Mark and Greg because Jeremy's uncle was...” She swallowed hard. “...Jeremy's uncle was killed when he put up one hell of a fight to keep from being taken. So now, Mark and Greg are going through legal means to adopt Jeremy, to give him a home. Francis and Douglas, they said they're up to their shoulders in something big and important. Everyone really wishes they could be here, and they wanted us to give you their best wishes.”

“I can't get my mind around this.” I sighed, laying back slightly. “How is it, I'm not subatomic soup? How can it even be possible that I wasn't ripped apart molecule by molecule? Why didn't I...

“You almost were.” Mom spoke up, though her voice was soft and gentle. “When I was in the rift, on the way home from Reichplast, I felt this foreboding sense of dread. Then I saw flashing images of you and your friends going up against that monster. Then I saw you standing at the core doing everything you could to keep it from wiping out the state. I wanted to jump into this dimension sooner, but I had to wait until the very last second before I pulled you out so I wouldn't mess up everything you were doing. I mean, it was a one in a trillion shot, really.”

“Its strange.” I fiddled with the blanket. “For years I didn't really make an honest attempt at making friends 'cause I thought they'd just turn on me...on us. But here, with the guys, I was willing to give up everything to keep them safe.”

“Life is strange like that.” Dad chuckled. “The more you try to make friends, the more impossible it becomes; but if you just sit back and let it happen naturally, well, my son, those are the ones that stay around for a long time to come.”

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Author: Tripped
Timestamp: Oct 25, 2015 at 2:20 PM
Content: “Ooophh hey take it easy!” I grunted, my field of view blocked by the neon green shirt I chose to wear for the day.

“Maybe if you'd quit squirming around.” Mom sighed and gave the bottom of the shirt one final firm tug forcing it to slide over my head until the fabric rested on my shoulders like it normally would. Luckily I was able to take a quick shower and get dressed by myself for the most part.

“How long am I supposed to wear this thing?” I asked, giving the thick cast around my arm a quick glance.

“Six to eight weeks.” She chuckled.

I glanced around to the room now void of any personal possessions except for a small pack that stored the shirt I just changed out of. A gentle knocking drew our attention, and glancing to the door, both of us saw an older male nurse pushing an empty wheelchair into the room. “Looks good, but I think you're in the wrong room.” I smirked with a faint laugh. “Its my arm that's broken in four places; not my leg.”

“Hospital policy.” The man smiled himself, though it looked a little more demented. He knelt down in front of the chair on wheels and flipped down a pair of footrests. “Discharged patients are to be escorted out in a wheelchair even if they're fully capable of walking freely.”

“So it'd only be out to the parking lot?” I asked, he nodded in response. “Well it would be the first time I did, so eh why not.” I shrugged and shuffled over to the wheelchair where I managed to sit down while the guy kept it still. Before long, all three of us were making our way along a maze of halls, riding an elevator to the first floor, through even more halls and out into a massive lobby marked with a gigantic revolving glass door. Once outside of the hospital, we flanked right to where dad stood waiting next to the SUV with its hazard flashers blinking, parked in a specially zoned area for passenger pickup. Seeing us, he opened up the rear door; as he did, the guy pushing the wheelchair along slowed to a gentle stop. Dad held his hand out, I took it with my good hand and stood up. When I went to get into the back seat of the vehicle, I paused mid-way and glanced back to the hospital, my mind busy with dozens of thoughts at once; once situated on the seat, I clicked the seat belt in place and settled in for the ride home. As mom and dad also climbed into the SUV – dad taking the drivers seat like usual – one word stayed in my mind.

Home. Part of me wanted to get home and never leave there again. Yet, another part of me didn't want to see the destruction that I saw the last time I was there. Then I started thinking about the gang. I understood that they had other more pressing matters to deal with, but, the could have squeezed in a quick visit at least once while I was in the hospital. But they didn't.

It wasn't until I heard sirens that I snapped away from my thoughts and glanced around. Just briefly I saw passing white and blue blurs on both sides of the SUV; I watched as two motorcycle police officers pulled in front of our vehicle and sped up leaving enough room for a squad car to pass on our left and slide into the space. “What the heck!?!” I sat up and leaned forwards just enough to see the action. Then I caught a glimpse of something in the SUVs side mirror; two more squad cars were following us – their lights were flashing but their sirens were off. Every time the police units in front of us turned, we turned; every stop sign and traffic light we came across, the cops would slow enough to pass safely with us behind them. “Okay what's going on!?!” I glanced around, still not entire sure of what to make of the situation.

“Relax son, enjoy it.” Mom chuckled from the front passenger seat. When I looked out the windshield again, I found we were coming up on one of the two fire stations in the entire town, as we passed by, I saw all of the firefighters standing on the parking lots edge just off the street, two of their biggest guys held up a sign that looked more like a banner with 'Welcome Home Caleb' in big bold letters. The others faced our vehicle, most of them waved, a few clapped, one even had tightfisted hands held high in the air as if proclaiming victory.

“What the...” I stammered, turning my upper body around to see – to make sure I saw what I thought I saw. Sure enough they were there, still waving. When we came to the only school in town, things got a little more interesting. It looked like all the teachers and staff - the ones that would normally be there instead of the soldiers in uniforms - had parked all their vehicles on the parking lot closest to the road; each person stood beside their car with their right arm through the open drivers window and their left arm held in a high waving motion. One by one they started honking, then the individual horn toots became one continuous tone. At the end of the chain of cars was a huge sign that read 'we honk for heroes'.

“Hero?” I blurted out still trying to find an explanation to what was going on. “Who are they talking about? Whats going on!?!”

“You're too high strung, Caleb. This is all for you bud. Enjoy it.” I could see dads grin in the reflection of the windshield mounted mirror. Everywhere we went, the same sentiment continued. People waving and clapping, signs and banners of appreciation. The more I saw, the more I couldn't help but smile; it seemed the entire town had come out just to see us passing by.

Eventually, the one thing I wanted to see the most came into sight. Home. And it never looked any better. Even from halfway up the street, I could clearly see movement in our front yard; the closer we got, the easier it was to watch flags dancing in the breeze. The cops in front of us slowed to a stop as we turned off the pavement and into the driveway; the left side of the concrete was lined with American flags, German flags lined the right side of the concrete. I had to wipe away a trickle of tears from my eyes as dad turned off the SUVs engine; all of us climbed out of the vehicle and made our way up the walkway leading to the front door. Time ticked by agonizingly slow as mom slid her key into the deadbolt and turned it, then twisted the knob to gently judge the door open. Everything was...perfect. Nothing was damaged, the furniture was new but everything else had been fixed like it once was.

“How...!?!” I blurted out, taking several steps into the living room and spun around in place.

“Everyone rallied together.” Dad smirked. “We all came together as a community to pick up the pieces. Got it done pretty fast too.”

“Wait till you see what we did with the back yard.” Mom grinned and nudged my right shoulder towards the kitchen. As I strolled into the kitchen, it was nearly spotless; there wasn't as much as a stray crumb. I went for the back door where I paused, my hand resting on the warm metal knob. I had to mentally brace myself for what I would or wouldn't find; I drew a deep, long breath then twisted the knob and swung open the door.

“Welcome home!” A sudden roar of many voices pierced the near silence of the kitchen. This was promptly followed by cheers and claps; I had to take a step back from the surprise of it all, but as I looked around, I saw Sparks and Jeremy, Mark and Greg, Fang and Pinball, Mr. and Mrs. Q, and several of our neighbors that we'd gotten to know since we moved in. There were even people I remembered from the neighborhood barbecue during the summer – people that worked with dad at the plant. I stepped out the back door and down a couple of concrete steps until I was standing before the gang. At that very second a new wave of tears streamed from my eyes. Seeing this, Pinball came up to then wrapped his arms around me in a loose but meaningful hug. “I know we should have visited you in the hospital, but we didn't want to spoil the surprise.”

“All this was your idea?” I asked, trying to stare him through watery eyes.

“Well it was a team idea.” Sparks came up behind me and rested his arm on my right shoulder. “Originally it was just going to be us waiting in the living room, but Fang took our plan and amplified it like a quadrillion times.”

“You know what they say; go big or go home.” Fang ruffled up my hair in a playful way. “Only hard part was coordinating with Deputy Iggy to get everything in place and timed just right.

“Hey who's ready for some grub.” Mr. Q called out.

“Yeah lets get this party started!” Sparks shouted out just as loud. Wondering what was going on, I wiped my eyes and glanced around again, this time I saw things I had missed moments ago when I opened the door. Picnic tables dotted the yard surrounding a sleek grill. Mom and dad came into the back yard from the side of the house – both carried boxes full of bagged chips and drinks, paper plates and plastic utensils and plastic cups. Following them was a man I'd never seen before; he was as tall as dad and even more muscular. Dangling from around his neck was a black wallet looking thing with a bright gold star shaped badge affixed to it; in his hands was a large box of assorted meats and hotdogs.

--- --- ---

“You sure are one lucky sumbitch...” Pinball stared at me with a smirk. “...nobody really does what you did and live to tell about it.” Hearing this, I had to swallow hard the last bit of cheese burger covered in mayo and pickles.

“Russel's a complete nut-job.” Sparks sighed while staring off into space. “But he's also a complete genius; even I'm having trouble getting my head around some of the stuff he had set up in the power plant. I mean, I have the entire computer database up here.” He tapped the side of his head. “But I just can't figure out how he had everything tied together. He had machinery and equipment that has yet to be conceived.

“Maybe we can figure it out.” I smiled and nudged his arm. “I know its not easy to explain stuff like this to us, but, how did he get electrical energy from people with Krinnel powers?”

He gave me a quick glance then nodded. “The cells where we found our parents and the rest of the adults were made of a specialized bio-material that acted like huge collecting tanks for Krinnel energy. The collected energy was transferred to a few machines that purified and compressed the energy. That raw Krinnel energy was then transferred to the core which amplified it to like one-hundred-trillion to the fourth power.”

“Eugh big numbers.” Fang groaned and rubbed the sides of his head.

With nothing more than a roll of his eyes, Sparks continued. “Now, that amplified energy gets funneled into a bank of twenty or so transformers which amplifies it even more until it reaches some astronomical number I can't begin to describe. From there, all that energy goes into converter nodes and distribution blocks where it feeds into the power grid. Hence you get electrical power from Krinnel energy.”

“Maybe there's a way to follow his work.” I grinned as Sparks raised an eyebrow and tilted his head slightly. “What if somebody went back to the old power plant, put in a whole field of solar panels, re-work some of the equipment and make everything useful again.”

“Good idea.” Sparks smiled, then he sighed and shook his head. “It would actually work too, if there wasn't a humongous hole where the old plant used to be. You might find some pieces of pipe, or wires, or a chunk of concrete, but everything was pretty much sucked into the black hole you created then destabilized. All that sweet tech; gone.”

“Ya know, in a way, I almost feel kinda sorry for him.” I lowered my glare to the now empty plate before me.

Suddenly Fang leaned across the table until I could feel his breath on my face. “You what!?!”

I reared back to put some distance between us. “I was just thinking how different things would have been if he didn't lose his little sister all those years back. If his plans weren't driven by revenge, he just might have been the visionary he claimed to be.”

“When he said he knew we had nothing to do with his sister...” Pinball spoke unusually quiet. “...he had that look in his eyes, he was ashamed of what he was doing because he knew we were completely innocent. He may have been a monster, but even monsters have feelings.”

I sighed. “Tell me something I don't know. Ever since Reichplast, all I wanted was to rip his head off; and if you guys didn't stop me, I would have gone down the same path as he did. 'Cause all I really wanted was revenge.”

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Author: Tripped
Timestamp: Nov 5, 2015 at 5:32 AM
Content: I dropped the heavy backpack on the floor then slid the front door shut and shuffled over to the couch where I flopped face down onto its cold and soft cushions. I rolled onto my back and brought my legs up while making sure that my still casted arm had plenty of swinging room. Somehow I managed to kick the shoes off my feet while I slid my right arm under the back of my head and closed my eyes.

Everything became routine in the past month. School resumed under normal conditions with normal teachers and normal lessons. After school, all five of us would go over to Sparks' place and hang out in his garage while we did our homework, after which I'd come home and grab a quick power nap until I could smell the nights dinner being cooked. What really surprised me though, was at school, I wasn't treated as the foreign kid from some wonky country; I was just another one of the guys. And so far, me and the guys are on pretty good terms with all the social cliques; its as though we all have a common truce. Within seconds I drew a deep breath and fell into a light sleep.

I carefully darted through the forest filled with a thick fog blocking out a bright white full moon hanging low in the sky over me. I could feel the presence behind me, growing closer and closer. I leapt over an old fallen tree then made an abrupt turn to the left hoping to throw off the entity behind me. I kept going until my shoe, ankle and shin slammed into something round and hard causing me to fall face first to the cold moist ground with a long howl of pain. I twisted onto my back and looked around for any signs of the thing following me.

That's when I saw it. Four shadow figures stood ten feet away on all sides of me, barely noticeable through the fog but with every blink they drew closer and closer. Before I knew it the four figures were almost on top of me; all I could see were four black hooded cloaks and nothing else – two at my knees, two at my chest. The two at my knees reached out, their sleeves pulling back revealed hands that were about the size of mine. Although I wasn't sure what they had planned, I sensed no hostility coming from them. Ever so slowly I reached my own hands upwards towards them until we made contact. As the two figures at my knees pulled me upwards, the two standing at the sides of my chest reached down and slid their own hands under my arms and back helping me up even more. Once upright, I glanced around with a questioning glare.

I watched as they formed a circle around me, and still as silent as ever, they reached their hands to the hoods and ever so slowly slid the material off their heads. Two tufts of blond hair and two patches of brown hair greeted me. Fang, Pinball, Sparks and Jeremy raised and held their hands forming a ring around me. “Stille Nacht.” They chanted repeatedly, almost by magic the fog cleared and the night sky turned bright. Everything around us went from dark and dreary to bright and lively; countless flowers blossomed, and a bunny family bounce-stepped about. The air was warm and smelled refreshingly fresh.

“Drop dat bass bomb...” A morphed voice echoed out followed by dubstep.

I snapped awake feeling the vibrations against my leg. I slid the phone from my pocket while clearing my eyes enough to see. “Yo.” I blurted out and checked the time on my watch to find it was just shy past six in the evening.

“Dude turn on the news now!” I had to pull the phone from my ear hearing Jeremy shouting into it. I glanced around for the remote then picked it up and flipped on the evening news. On the TV screen before me, a picture of Russel Derj was grayed out with 'captured' in bold red letters across it.

“...Swiss officials have announced they're holding Russel Derj – founder and president of Last Look Industries until he can be extradited to the United States...” The rest of the news flash faded into oblivion as I held the phone back to my ear. It sounded like there was a shuffling struggle before Fangs voice echoed out.

“They got 'em!” He was nearly shouting himself. “Mass murder, reckless endangerment, abduction and kidnapping, unlawful detainment, child endangerment, and that doesn't include everything that groups like OSHA and the IRS are going after!”

There was another commotion then Sparks voice breaking into the phones speaker. “I don't know how they did it, but they raided all the companies corporate offices, their homes, and all the little things they have ties to like airports and cargo shipping companies. Every country that has that companies office, is going after them with their own local laws...its like feeding time in the shark tank...”

“Dude I know what we should call this!” Pinball's voice rattled through the speaker. “The Summer of Light! Because this all started over the summer when you moved in, and it happened in Light Valley!” Hearing this I couldn't help but chuckle. “Someone should make a story about us. Or even a TV mini-series...”

“Get real bro!” I laughed. “Nobody's going to make a story about us. But yeah, all five of us are going to remember this for the rest of our lives.”

“They finally got him.” I spun around hearing dads voice behind me; I noticed he wasn't talking to me directly, it was as if he was muttering to himself while staring at the evening news. “Dear sweet god they finally got him.”

“Hey I gotta go.” I spoke into the phone then ended the call. “Its finally over.” I said as dad draped his arm over my shoulder and turned towards the dining room where mom was finishing placing a few things on the table. Both of us strolled over and took our usual seats; dad began dishing out the main course while mom started passing around warm buttery rolls.

“How was school today?” Mom glanced at me while holding the plate of rolls over. I took two off the serving plate and placed them on the plate before me.

“It was pretty usual.” I shrugged. “The language arts teacher wanted to see me after school.”

“You're not in trouble are you?” Dad asked, stopping his motions of sliding roasted chicken from the pan to moms plate.

“Actually, no.” I grinned. “I thought I was at first, but she actually wanted to talk with me teacher-to-student about the writing assignment from two days ago. She said that what I handed in was a little rough around the edges, but showed potential. As she described it, reading my short story was like finding diamonds among coal...whatever that means. She thinks that with some refinements and encouragement I could become an author. Funny part is, she was almost begging to be my mentor and tutor.”

“That's impressive.” Mom nodded with a smile. “You just might be the first Henderson in generations to have an artistic career. I'd say go with it.”

“Indeed.” Dad smiled and held the pan over the table so I could pluck a few pieces of chicken. “Because when you do something you love for a living, its not a job; its a career.”

“Speaking of work, how was it at the plant today?” I asked with a simple nod indicating I had finished selecting the food from the pan. Dad rested the pan on a hot plate on the middle of the table.

“It was great. We started producing the first T-789 series...” He paused in thought then a grin swept across his lips. “...in dash entertainment systems. Bluetooth, wifi, gps, touch screen control, optional voice input; the works. I mean this thing is deluxe.” As he said 'deluxe' he extended the word until it sounded like 'deeeeeeluxe'. “Oh I got a promotion today too. Now my job title is line manager; basically I watch over all the production lines for the...” Again he paused in thought. “...in car entertainment systems.”

“That's awesome!” I couldn't help but grin myself.

“Whats the news from the queen of the castle?” Dad asked with a chuckle as he glanced over to mom.

“I took a volunteer position at the crafts store today.” Mom beamed with joy. “Monday, Wednesday and Friday I'm going to be there from eight in the morning to noon helping Greg with his crafts classes. He's even wanting me to teach cross stitch for a week or two because he's not really good with it himself. I was at one of his classes today, I learned so much about sewing that I'm thinking of taking it up as a second hobby.”

“Very encouraging.” Dad reached over and slid his hand under moms hand to show his support.

“Way to go mom!” I had to smile too while giving double thumbs-up.

Suddenly a thought popped in my mind. In that instant, sitting around the table, talking about our day, I realized that my family that was far from a normal family, was a normal family.

The end.