C h a p t e r I
B e e n T h e r e, D o n e T h a t
A dark, unforgiving morning lay before him.
It was cold, the grounds were covered in frozen snow, and the sky was bathed in blackness. Only the artificial lights of the city illuminated his environment, and yet they did it so well. His shoes crunched in the hard snow as he stepped off the sidewalk and headed down the small gulch. The church was only about fifty feet away now, and he could see the single door lit up. Last year it would've looked strange for the north eastern door to be lit up. He knew that Richard had used it before, but it had always been locked and dark. Now it was open to all, and quite a welcoming sight from the cold around him.
Jon Tree Top grasped the handle, and pulled himself into the warmth. Even though it seemed to take away the depressing feeling of nature, it in no way removed the dark emotions hidden deep in his soul. Must be one of those days, he told himself. Jon was almost sixteen, and had long black hair. He wore glasses, but they were so inconspicuous that no one ever noticed them. He had only to walk a few feet in the building before entering the new seminary room.
The reason for unlocking this side of the building had been due to a recent movement of their classes. As winter came on it was decided to replace all the heaters on the southern side of the building, so naturally it was probably only fifty degrees in their old seminary room right now. Luckily the heaters on the north side were very new, and thus early morning seminary was still warm. The room was a bit smaller, and the tables much more compactly spaced apart. Everything was new; new classroom, new teacher, and new people... No, not new; different.
Jon had to admit to himself he was no longer the same person he had been over a year ago. His experiences had nearly broken him and tested his very sanity. He even still bore the scars of battle, back when he had been captured and drafted into an ancient tribal army. They always said that what didn't kill you would make you stronger... I guess it could be worse. While Jon had both the physical and mental scars of things he'd done, the others had changed too. As he stepped into the room he took in the different crowd before him.
Kaitlin was hunched over in her corner of the room, apparently reading out of her scriptures. She was one of the few the journey had taken less of a toll on. Sure she was more closed off to the world, and sure she was much quieter, but she still had her sanity.
Brian sat smack dab in the middle of the room, a rubber band tangled around his fingers, looking for some unsuspecting target to hit. Brian had always been obnoxious and antagonistic, but now it had increased ten-fold—if that was even possible for someone like him. He cared only for himself, showed absolutely no respect for anyone else's property, and made an effort to frustrate any kind of plans. Jon suspected it still had to due with his experience as a ghost, but they never brought up the subject. However, beneath all that layer of trouble there was still the simple guy that was Brian.
Richard had grown very little over the year, but a small stubble was beginning to form around his chin. He had taken the issues of their experience more seriously than the rest, and had invested all power into keeping time from being screwed up again. There was really only one thing that could be done, and that was to protect the one time-remote they still had. It had puzzled them all greatly when Jon first discovered it in his pocket. They had never tested it, and Richard made sure they never got the chance. Even though they had all come together to lock it away, it was Richard who watched to make sure no one tried to steal it. The power was just too tempting. Perhaps that was what started this turn of events.
And of course, sitting at his own table was the newest edition to the class, Robert; Richard's younger brother. He was the youngest of the group at just barely under fifteen, and actually one of the taller ones—barely surpassing Richard. His hair was dirty blonde, and very untidy as if he had just gotten out of bed. His apparel was very simple; a blue T-shirt, jeans, and a coat much to thin for South Dakota winters. He was very quiet, and had a kind of reserved personality.
As Jon took his seat, he noticed that Kenzi was late once again. Ah Kenzi dear, still haven't changed, have we? Perhaps of them all she had been affected the most. They had all recounted their individual adventures after being separated, but Kenzi's was the darkest. She had apparently gone where none of them had yet gone; to the future. And not just any future, but a post-apocalypt
ic future. She knew not what force had brought her there, but her sanity had been challenged by the dangers and life that existed there. Aero had been lost from her companionship, and she had had to defend herself on several occasions—both with the ring, and a gun she had come to acquire. And then there was always the mysterious events that occurred during Jon's futile attempts to chase Brian down through the time-tunnel. According to her, she had been so mentally traumatized at that point, that most of her actions didn't make sense. It wasn't until after she had been thrust to the time-lab did she regain her sanity. But Jon still had doubts about her tales. Almost as if she had left something out. What really happened, Kenzi? What was so terrible that it caused you to snap?
After arriving at the time-lab, she came to learn the same details the others had eventually learned through the scientists out in the field helping them. Of course she got a much more detailed version of how time-travel was accomplished—much to the chagrin of Richard—even if it was all a little too complicated to understand. But it was all true; their descendants were going to discover time-travel. What effect did that have on their present? What did this mean of their futures? Such had been how the destructive questions began. Suddenly everything became so much more complicated. Not to mention the fact that they had been tried physically, mentally, and emotionally on their little plight through time. Even after a better perspective, everything had become so complicated. The Seminary Gang collapsed just one month before summer break started. While some of them remained friends, the unity had dissolved, and each had gone their separate ways.
Of course when seminary started back up with the new school year there had been hope that the Seminary Gang would come back together, but things were just too awkward. And Kenzi had changed. With her seclusion she had been doing some strange things; showing up late for meetings, always seeming to be too tired for the amount of work she did, and lately her parents had been seen less frequently. Of course her mom no longer taught seminary, but they rarely saw them in church or at Wednesday night activities. It was like they had simply disappeared. And Kenzi seemed more violent. She was always in a bad mood, muttering to herself, and randomly threatening to kill people she knew. At first it sounded like she was just being funny, but soon realization sunk in.
But it wasn't just her. Jon had seen such behavior in others around school too. Of course they weren't always as tired, and maybe not as moody, but they were just as violent. Any by-standard might chalk it up to random teenage behavior or emotional trauma, but there was something different. Even in his best friend, Thomas, Jon noticed that instead of the regular depression, there was something fueling a fire. So while Richard grew fearful of what was happening among their small group, Jon grew fearful of what was happening among their high school. But after recent events, his uneasiness about Kenzi's new attitude had been increased. Now we know something is going on...
Jon threw his backpack to the side of his chair, and plopped down in his seat sluggishly. It was too early. Mormons just don't get any sleep.
Richard glanced over nervously, but quickly returned his gaze back at his scriptures. “What's wrong?” Jon whispered.
“Anything new?” He replied.
Jon shrugged. “Same old, same old.”
“No; I mean, anything new with Kenzi.” Richard pressed.
“Oh...” Jon yawned again, and slapped his face in an effort to wake himself up. “Nothing happened yesterday.”
Richard shifted in his chair. “Are you sure? Maybe she said something that possibly alluding to...”
Jon shook his head. “Just Kenzi being her usual self.”
Richard sighed. A couple of weeks ago Jon had overheard her muttering in her sleep. They were in school, and she was slouched over her desk rambling silently. At first Jon thought she was just talking to herself, but from the content of her speech (and the pauses in between) it was clear she was dreaming. He listened a little, kind of amused by the random stuff she was saying, but then she said muttered something very brief about the time-remote. This got Jon's full attention, so he focused hard to get more...and did. “You idiot, they have a remote...how can this work if they have a remote?”
Jon called Richard right after school and told him what he overheard. It was obvious that she was probably just spouting off something related to her dream, but the first seeds of suspicion had been sewn. Pretty soon inconspicuous details and seemingly random patterns began alluding to hidden activities. And although it seemed unorganized, most of it came back to the subject of time-travel. So the two of them had decided right there that something was going on, and that something involved Kenzi and time-travel.
So now Richard was constantly questioning Jon about Kenzi's activities; always checking to see if they knew where she was, what she was doing, and a variety of other factors. But Kenzi distanced herself from everyone so well that it was almost impossible to predict what she would do next. At times Kenzi would miss entire days of schooling, leading both Jon and Richard to wonder if she had finally just run off somewhere in time. Too little was known, and she was too unpredictable to get any stable answers from.
Sis. Strang, Kaitlin's mom and their new teacher, finally stood up and started the lesson. Everyone settled back into their seats, and listened as she drew on about their current subject in seminary this year; church history. The rest of the class had since filed in and taken their usual seats. About twenty minutes into the lesson Kenzi walked in, and slumped over putting her head on the table. Although her personality had changed drastically over the last year, her physical features were only slightly different. She had cut her hair to just below her jaw, and wore more and more of what Jon thought was a bit strange, clothing wise, it was something that just appeared to say “I’m trying to not be noticed.”. It was as if she were making a special effort to just fit in.
The instant the closing prayer was finished she bolted upright, and promptly headed for the exit. Richard looked over at Jon, an eye brow raised. Jon just shrugged. “Just be glad she actually came to seminary for a change.”
The door swung open and Thomas Butler peeped open an eye. He was sitting in his normal meditive state in the parking lot. He had come early, glad to get out of his house, and had happened to speak briefly with Kenzi, now just waiting for Jon.
Thomas was one of Jon's greatest friends. He was a skinny, tall kid, and had overly curly hair. It was mostly brown, with a few gray streaks that accented him. The two had seen a lot of crap, surviving through some of the hardest parts of life. In many ways life had been harder on Thomas than Jon. Naturally, he always seemed to be in a depressed state of mind. But Jon didn't condemn him for this, and in some ways felt empathetic towards him. However, lately Thomas had been acting different. Not the kind of different Jon observed in Kenzi, but acting slightly more active. Instead of feelings of depression, they had changed to feelings of violence.
Usually when he spent his mornings out on the cold pavement, sitting next to the still warm cars belonging to the Twins and Kenzi, he was alone. But this morning he was joined by the very upbeat Mark Leuders, who was busy devouring yet another shonen manga with his eyes. It happened to be one from the Bleach series, and if Thomas had been in the mood, he would have probably asked to read some. Jon’s footsteps were heavy, laden with the cares of what had happened to him the previous year, and whatever else happened to be weighing on his mind that day. He slowly got up, and Mark offered a cheerful hello to Treetop.
“Hey Mark, what are you doing here this early?” Jon asked
Mark shrugged, offering no explanation, and went back to his Manga. Jon looked over at Thomas and caught a glimmer of negativity in his eyes. “What with you this morning Tom?”
“Oh you know…” Thomas said slowly. He didn’t finish with one of his dead baby in my basement jokes though, just let it go. Jon made a motion to start walking when suddenly Richard came out the doors. He had been talking to the teacher about something or another, and Jon had gotten bored with waiting.
“So Richard, are you coming to the Rave tonight?” Surprisingly, Mark had pulled himself out of the story and was looking deadly serious, something that none in the group had seen before. Normally Mark was such a nice and loving guy, his way of speaking always seemed to carry the lilt of a joke or a smile in it. But all the warmth had gone out, his mouth set straight and eyes dully shining. TT and Richard felt themselves try to take a step back, but after all that they’d been through, backing off in the face of something strange was not an option available anymore. “What?” He asked, the seriousness giving way to something that looked very much like annoyance “Can’t a guy ask? Jeez…” He hunched his shoulders and began walking to the school, leaving the others dumbfounded. Thomas seemed unaffected and piped in where he left off.
“So, are you guys?” TT smiled, feigning a normalcy he was defiantly not feeling. “Yeah, this’ll be Richards first.”
Thomas laughed softly. “That’ll be fun trying to see him glow stick. Well, ready?” He made a motion towards the school and Jon nodded. “See you tonight, Richard”
“Hey, you’ll be sure to try some of my mom’s fudge before the Rave right? I think you should give me some practice with the glow sticks, although, I don’t see what could be so hard, neh?”
Jon blinked, Richards sudden topic of speech so strange, but then it clicked. It was coding that they’d developed to talk about things with. Richards mom didn’t make fudge, Kenzi’s did. In fact she owned her own small business selling the stuff. And Richard would never have asked for glow stick practice outside of the Rave, no, that would have been an odd behavior for him. Neh, was another reference to Kenzi, it was from her favorite book, Ender’s Game. The book had been something she’d talked about a lot the year before. Don’t see what’s so hard…that sounded like Richard alright. And of course Jon was coming over before the Rave, in fact he would probably would go there right after school… So perhaps Richard wanted to get in touch even before that.
All that while walking the short half block or so to the school doors, Thomas chatting about something he’d done to his little sister, not really caring that Jon wasn’t listening. Thomas seemed calm enough today, which almost seemed strange, but maybe he was getting over his depression. Jon could doubt it, but kept trying to figure out what Richard was saying.
Did he want to talk about Kenzi’s parents? Or just about Kenzi’s odd behavior? They talked about that almost every time they saw each other, so why again? He thought about the reference to Ender’s game again, wondering what relevance exactly that had with her. He knew that she had loved the book, so what? That was before, this was now. What was Richard getting at? Thomas had finished talking and asked a question. Before Jon got a chance to answer though, Thomas repeated himself.
“Why are you limping, did you get into another fight or something man?” Jon hadn’t even realized.
“Uh, no. I’ve stopped doing that, remember?”
Thomas smiled “for her, right? She’s not who I would have thought…”
“Yeah, yeah. I know.”
“I always kinda thought that you and…”
“It didn’t happen alright?” Jon said exasperatedly not wanting to hear of the past him. Only the one that he was now. The “She” that Thomas referred to was Jon’s girlfriend, who’s upbeat nature had buoyed him up through out all his recent lows. He had quit fighting for and because of her.
The first week after getting back from their adventure, Jon had gotten himself in a fight, releasing some of the pent up emotional trauma. Even though he went up against multiple targets, his skill as a Lamanite warrior enabled him to down all of them in less than twenty seconds. She had walked in just as he was finishing up the fight, and one of his attackers ripped off Jon's shirt. Jon tried to cover himself up, but too late; she had seen the scars. The physical scars of war. Right there she demanded to know the truth, assuming at the time that Jon was deliberately getting himself into more and more fights. But Jon told her the truth.
Of course she thought he was crazy, but soon after talking to Kenzi—back before Kenzi and truly becoming emotionally traumatize herself—she began to have some ounce of belief to his story. While she believed it was entirely possible for him to have been kidnapped, she couldn't quite bring herself to believe that the five of them had traveled through time. But she humored him, anyway. He told their stories, she listened intently, and she played along like it really happened. Sometimes she told him that she almost wished she could believe it was true, but that the story about time travel and everything else just sounded too crazy.
Jon stared off into the distance, Thomas having to snap him out of it. She was the reason, really that Jon and Richard had become extremely wary of whatever Kenzi was planning. About three months ago, She had come to TT asking if something had happened in seminary that morning. He had put his arm around her shoulders, and thought, unable to really think of anything. Sure she’d looked tired, but that was normal for her. She had shrugged it off, but had kept coming to him, telling him about the weird stuff she’d been doing. Finally last week, She’d gone to confront Kenzi about what was going on. On the way there though, she’d gotten into a car wreck and was currently in a coma.
“Hey, Tom?” Jon sighed, pausing before the last turn. “You don’t feel like going to first period now, do you?”
Tom shook his head, and they kept walking straight, arriving at the hospital just as first period began.
Jon stood looking down at his girlfriend, replacing a stray strand of her dark hair back to the lay amongst the others. A monitors steady beat told him that she was healthy, strong, but refusing to wake up. He stood there alone, pondering all that was wrong in his life, glad at least, to have had a few good months with her. Glad that she was still alive. He’d seen the car, not long ago, mangled beyond recognition. The doctors were surprised at her still being alive.
“How have you been, Love? Sweet dreams? God, I hope their good. I wish I could talk to you about Kenzi again.” He took her hand and watched her face as she lay comatose. “It’s just hard, you know, working so hard to keep things right in the universe when you can’t talk to me. I wish you were around to tell me that you thought that maybe she was getting better. I know that you don’t believe us. But really babe, its not just our imaginations. Did we ever tell you that I killed her?”
Jon sat down at the edge of the bed rubbing his thumb against the side of her soft hands “Neither of us was thinking clearly. But that’s not something you would like to listen to is it.” He sat there quietly, thinking about what Richard had said again. He found that as he sat by Her side, that he thought more clearly, and he slowly reviewed what he could remember of Ender’s Game. Running through out the plot, Ender had been such a good person. He’d never stopped being one, but he was blessed in ways that everyone but him would have wanted. He was a genius, a natural born leader, but he also had had literally killer instincts whenever provoked. Was Richard trying to place Kenzi as an Ender? No, Ender had been a puppet for his superiors wishes, and had eventually committed utter Xenocide on an entire alien species without even consciously knowing he had. Kenzi was not one to be willingly controlled. She had a hard time linking herself to closely to other people just because she couldn’t take the feeling of being relied upon. And her personality was not innocent it seemed anymore. Though, there was a growing number of people who were suddenly frighteningly loyal to her.
Could he want to discuss this? The people surrounding Kenzi having sudden swings in personality and mood? Perhaps. If that was the case, then Jon wanted to get to a computer soon, squeezing her hand one last time, Jon stood back up and walked out to a reception area where Thomas had been waiting. Without a word, the two of them left.
As the sun began its descent towards the west, teens began pouring out of the school doors, heading for their cars or walking towards their homes. Up the hill and in the parking lot of the LDS church, a certain group of youth usually met after school before heading home or to work.
Jon had usually spent the time here standing with her, the earphone of her I-pod in his right ear, while she kept one in her left. This week had been difficult without her, but he‘d manage to steal her I-pod for now. He was kept company, while he was enjoying the current song . Thomas was sat in the driver's side of Kenzi’s car, and a girl named Jen stood outside against the car also, occasionally poking Jon.
Jen was a friend of Kenzi‘s since middle school. She was about as tall as Jon, had brown wavy hair, pale white skin, and wore horn-rimmed glasses. She was only a freshmen, and thus in the younger class of the four of them. Jen was a lively spirit, and always liked to goof around with Jon. It was no secret that she was attracted to him, but Jon's heart had already been taken. So while she flirted and played around with Jon all the time, deep down it meant nothing. Another thing about Jen was that she liked to behave strangely, so they could never tell if she was just being her usual self or really having a problem with life. Right now Jon was trying to sing along to the song playing, but he kept jumping every time she poked him in the side.
“Oi!” Jon finally turned around and jumped onto her. “Dead weight!”
Jen screamed playfully as they fell down. A shadow loomed overhead, and Jon looked up to see Kenzi staring down at them sarcastically. She had her backpack slung about her back, and was kind of arched over.
“Hey Kenzi.” Jen said straightening her glasses.
“So this is how you're gonna to act?” Kenzi said, lifting an eyebrow, still almost sounding menacing.
Jen immediately got up and said she was sorry. She then grabbed her backpack, and hurriedly got in the back of Kenzi's car. She looked over at Thomas, her face completely serious. Thomas nodded, grabbed his own backpack, and got in on the other side of Kenzi's car. Jon watched them close their doors, and looked up at Kenzi suspiciously. It was almost like she had some kind of invisible leash over them.
Kenzi saw the suspicious look on Jon's face and smiled back reassuringly. “Sorry TT, but we have things to do.” She got in her car, and playfully saluted as they peeled out of the parking lot.
“That was weird” TT muttered to himself as he began to walk hurriedly towards the Daw’s new home, much farther away that it had once been. Jon had ended up skipping the entire day of school, and so had never gotten to a computer. He was curious now, and the Idea of the friends being involved quite a bit, was seeming like an even better theory now that he had just seen the incident in the parking lot.
Daniel Pouliot was getting off the bus when he felt it the first time. At first he thought it was a sound, because it seemed to be reverberating through his ears. It was if something had rocketed across the sky, creating a distant, yet massive sonic boom. He remained fixed on the edge of his driveway, long after the bus had turned around and headed back down the road. As the sound of the engine died away into the forest he felt the sensation again, and this time realized it was no sound. It seemed to vibrate through his very mind, but also felt distant.
He pulled his backpack up around his shoulder tighter, and jogged up the long driveway to his house. It was a large, modern style home, with cream vinyl siding. It was surrounded on all sides by the beautiful Connecticut forests, covered in a white blanket of snow. Dan was sixteen, a little under six feet tall, and had thin, buzz-cut black hair. His skin color was a dark, olive tan, and he was clad in a thick, dark brown jacket.
Dan had moved to Connecticut back at the start of the school year to live with his grandparents, and attend school up there. After the school year ended he'd return to live with his parents in Missouri. They owned a small fixer-upper ranch house on about four acres of land, about thirty miles north west of Kansas City. Originally it had been his mom's idea to send them up to a richer environment, feeling that his friends in the area were a bad impression. So while the social environment was much different, the bad impressions still existed, and he still didn't care.
“How was school?” He heard his grandmother asked, as he passed through the kitchen.
“The teacher smelled funny, so I shot him.” he said jokingly.
“My goodness, that's the third teacher you've killed this week.” she said back jokingly.
He ran upstairs, threw his backpack on the floor, and logged onto his computer. A second later his MSN icon came to life, and he saw one person active. Richard. He began typing.
/ Delta Team, this is Bravo Team, do you copy over? /
A moment later the response came. / Bravo Team, this is Delta Team, we copy, over. /
Dan smiled. / Heyyyyyyyyyyyyy! Waz up?! /
/ Not much. Just crazy South Dakota. /
A few years ago Richard and Dan had lived on the same street in rural Missouri. Richard had moved to South Dakota about three years ago, long before Dan's parents had decided to ship him out to Connecticut. They both kept in contact through Instant Messaging mostly, but Dan had been out to Pierre once, and was familiar with some of the people up there.
/ Anymore crazy time-travel stuff? /
/ No, not yet. But things are still...weird... / Richard replied.
/ Kenzi still gonna kill you all? /
/ Yeah...right. /
/ When do I get to go time-traveling? /
/ lol. Already told you that one's not going to happen. /
/ Then how do I know if it's real? /
/ That's for you to believe or not. /
Dan rolled his eyes. About a year ago Richard had IM'd him one day with this insanely crazy story about being thrown back in time, living amongst natives in Mesoamerica, and time-traveling with a strange remote-like object. Of course Dan thought it all to be a great story, but what bothered him was that Richard seemed so serious about it. While Richard tended to be serious about a lot of things, it was never about such far-out crap like that. So as time passed, Dan got comfortable with the idea, but it really never sank in that such a reality could exist.
/ Well maybe one day I'll get pulled through time. /
/ Maybe... /
Lights flashed, music blared, and glow sticks flew through the air. The rave, as people called it, had techno music with no real end to it. The teens that weren't dancing out in the middle of the room were wrapped up with each other, their arms so intertwined that it was impossible to tell who was who. Jon was on the dance floor, twirling a couple of glow sticks with some difficultly. A wrong move later and he smacked himself.
“OW!” he yelled at Matt, who was there with him at the moment.
“You'll get better!” Matt yelled back.
“I'm going to go get some water.” Jon said. Matt turned his attention to Richard who was struggling even more that Jon had been. Richard had almost not come after TT had told him about the incident at the parking lot, but Jon had dragged him along under the pretense of “You’ll get a chance to observe Kenzi being all weird and what not.”
He got out to the table, and grabbed up a giant jug. He took a long swig, replacing all the water lost sweating down the side of his face. He panted after setting it down, and looked over at the door as Kenzi came in.
“Whoa....Kenzi!” He yelled looking her over. She looked at him and stepped closer, giving him a better view. She was wearing a white tank top with an extremely short miniskirt of the same color. Black fishnets, and knee high leather boots completed the outfit. Certainly not something her parents normally let her out in, and it was very unlike her current fashion statement of just blending in. But it fit the Rave environment, the white glowing in the black lights. “Looking good! So who did you have your eyes on tonight?”
“Oh C‘mon. She didn‘t already tell you?!” He laughter was light, carefree, and for a moment, TT thought he had his old friend back. Her eyes wandered to a guy among the crowd and Jon rolled his eyes. “You know, for a while we wondered if you actually liked guys…” She laughed again and retorted with a nice little “Up yours” before walking off on her way. Jon smiled, hoping, wishing that he could believe that everything had just gone back to normal.
Richard and Matt came up to him just then, both staring wide eyed at Kenzi as she pulled a certain guy from the crowd and had him dance with her. He seemed unsure of what to do with the suddenly very forward girl, but smiled a little when she wasn’t looking.
“What’s up with Kenzi?” Matt asked nervously, obviously not liking her flaunt like this.
“What if I told you I have no clue.”
“Yeah but…wow. I didn’t know that she…”
“But she is speaking like her normal self again. We can at least be grateful for that. C’mon, lets do some more glow sticking!” Jon said, hoping to at least have one normal night for once.
“Well that was amazing.” Jon said panting as all the teens started to file out. Three hours later him and Matt were both sweating, tired but happy. Richard had already gone home, but the other two had stayed for the bitter end. “Well that was amazing.” Jon said panting as all the teens started to file out. Some kids headed to finish what they had started on the dance floor, while others went into the dark recesses of the room on the other side of the divider to make-out. “Where did Kenzi run off to?” Jon asked.
“I don't know.” Matt said looking around “Let's find out.” he whipped out her cell phone and a dialed a number. Soon there was ringing.
“Stop it...oh hello?” Kenzi's voice was relaxed and very playful. She giggled.
“Who's with you?” Matt asked, his voice stern.
“Oh, Ben-kun is. Yeah, we're headed to his place to...study.”
“Okay, then I'm gonna leave you two to your business then.” Matt said, before hanging up.
“So what's going on?”
Matt frowned. “She went home with ‘Ben-kun‘ who the hell is that?.”
“Oh...that guy that was dancing with her earlier” Jon said awkwardly.
“Dude...what is wrong with her? This just isn't like Kenzi.”
Jon stumbled to say something to assure her, but suddenly an idea came to mind. “Let's go to her house.”
“What? Sorry man, but I can’t. I have to go to work in fifteen minutes. And besides, she’s at “Benny’s” We can just talk to her tomorrow.”
“But…” Jon began, but Thomas came out of nowhere saying. “Hey Jon, I’ll go. What would we be going for?”
Jon raised his eyebrows at him“To get some answers.”
Five minutes later the two were sitting in somebody's car, ‘borrowed‘ for the night, parked on the steep driveway outside Kenzi's house. All the windows were dark, and the only light came from a street lamp nearby. No one was home. Steam billowed from the tail-pipe into the icy cold night. Thomas sat next to Jon.
“Explain again what you're going to do?” She asked curiously.
“Look for clues. Find something like...a diary entry that explains why Kenzi is acting so weird.”
Thomas looked as if he very much wanted to come but resisted, instead slid into the drivers seat as Jon got out
“No one will see me.” He said, more to himself than anyone. Thomas replied simply “I’ll keep the engine warm...”
He closed the car door, and quickly jogged up the wooden staircase to the front door. He tried to peak in through the window, but all he could see was the dark outline of the living room. He swallowed hard, and slowly twisted the door knob open. The door itself made barely any sound as it opened.
Past the living room lay two staircases; one that went upstairs and one that went downstairs. In the upper recesses of the house he could see a faint glow coming from some kind of monitor. He quietly made his way up into the kitchen, and spotted the source of the light. Bingo.
Sitting on the back counter was the silver outline of her laptop. The top was slightly open, and a faint glow radiated out. Alright, Kenzi; what's been eating at you...? He slowly pulled up the screen, and immediately spotted several programs active. The first one was a black and white blue-print of some kind of device. It looked like a remote-control, but none Jon had ever seen before. Not even similar to the time-remote. He opened another application, which turned out to be an image of the Earth. Several areas were highlighted in a variety of colors. While most of the cities highlighted were either red or green, only one was uniquely colored from the rest; Pierre. Another thing he noticed about each city were the numbers. The majority were two's, with the rest either three's or four's. Pierre was one.
He opened another application, this one being a spreadsheet listing names. He slowly started with the one at the top of the screen and slowly read down. Kimmi, Ross, Amanda, Breane, Paige, Jesse, Mark… Jon's mouth dropped as he continued to read. These were not only people he knew from Riggs, but some of the people that had been acting bizarre lately. What are you doing, Kenzi?! He froze at the sight of the next two names; Jen, Thomas.
“My dear...” Before he could finish his sentence, a hard object connected with his head somewhere from behind. He was flung onto the floor, sharp pain erupting through his skull. He raised a fist to fight back, but the object came down again, and everything went black.
Outside the car sat empty, the drivers side door open, and no sign of Thomas to be found.
fin
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