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A New Hope

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Date: June 1st, 1999

 

Place: Matt’s Place

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

+ Brian +

 

 

 

 

 

I felt something I haven’t felt for a very long time now, and that’s hope. It was a nice change from the total sense of desperation that I have been feeling since the plane landed in this place. When Charlie showed up I almost cried and once we got to Matt’s place the feeling only intensified.

 

 

 

It was odd, almost like Matt never got the memo that the rest of the world had gone to the crapper. His place seemed untouched by everything going on. He still had working electricity and a pantry full of food as if he lived right down the street from a fully stocked grocery store.

 

 

 

The first thing that struck me was the smell. It made me realize how horrible the rest of the world smelled once I got into his apartment. The scent of an air freshener wafted through the entire place. It’s funny how fixated AJ, Nick and I were on that.

 

 

 

“Is it strawberries, because it kind of smells like strawberries?”

 

 

 

“It’s actually called morning bouquet.” Matt extended his hand to us and an instant friendship was born.

 

 

 

He led us inside and sat us down on his clean furniture. No dust or mildew anywhere. Everything was clean and fresh. If I didn’t go over to the window and look out on the murky surroundings I would think we actually walked through a portal that led us home.

 

 

 

“How are you managing to keep things so…”

 

 

 

“Normal?” He finished for me as he handed me a glass of iced tea, nice and cold with ice cubes in it.

 

 

 

 I nodded and took a gulp. My manners were way past casual sipping. It was nice to drink something that didn’t taste like it had just gone bad.  The small notes of peach went down my throat and made me miss home.

 

 

 

“I was prepared for this.” Was his simple answer as he refilled my glass and smiled.

 

 

 

He then did the same for AJ. “I saw the warning signs and chose to do something about it, unlike other more stubborn people.” He winked at Charlie who was sitting at the kitchen table and staring at some kind of chart that looked like it could have been made by aliens.

 

 

 

“Well excuse me for not being as pessimistic as you were.”

 

 

 

“I decided to start storing things before the attacks and had a pretty nice stockpile when it happened, including lot’s of back up generators. The only thing I really miss is the taste of real good old fashioned beef but you know if you marinate rat meat a certain way, you can barely tell the difference.”

 

 

 

The old me would have thought he was kidding and that it was some kind of sick joke, but I knew better. Maybe it was best not to look in the fridge and just pretend I didn’t hear that.

 

 

 

“How have you gone undetected?”

 

 

 

I was wondering the same thing but was so consumed in my peach tea and now pretzels that I didn’t think to ask. I’m glad AJ’s curiosity did it for me.

 

 

 

“He’s Canadian.” Charlie answered, still not looking up from what he was studying.

 

 

 

“Born and bred in Ontario. I work for them; at least that’s what they think.”

 

 

 

“Doing what?”

 

 

 

“All kinds of things, mostly on their technology. I keep the power going for them.”

 

 

 

I suddenly wasn’t sure if we should trust this guy or not. “Will we be safe here? Do they pop in unannounced?”

 

 

 

“You’ll be fine. They pretty much leave me alone and I have three screens to monitor if anyone is coming. We’ll have plenty of time to hide you if need be.”

 

 

 

He walked over towards his bedroom door where Nick was lying asleep on a nice, warm bed. “We’ll try to get you home before your friend gets worse.”

 

 

 

I looked over at Nick’s sleeping form and smiled, again for the first time allowing myself the thought of a happy ending.

 

 

 

“Do you think your brother managed to get your dad out of there yet?”

 

 

 

Charlie shrugged; I could tell he didn’t want to think about it. Who could blame him? His entire family was not here at the moment. I found myself worrying about Kevin and Howie. What if something went wrong? How would we ever find out? It’s not like we could just call each other.

 

 

 

“Obviously they haven’t killed off the other Nick; otherwise your friend would be doing a lot better.”

 

 

 

“It would happen that quickly, you think?”

 

 

 

Matt closed the bedroom door and nodded at me, “I’m pretty sure it would, yes.”

 

 

 

“Maybe they were holding him somewhere else.” AJ added, taking a pretzel and putting it in his mouth.

 

 

 

I felt bad that we were sitting in luxury while our brothers were out there somewhere possibly fighting to survive. Although if they stuck to the original plan, it was Don who would do all the work, this is a place that wasn’t predictable enough to count on that though.

 

 

 

“So, tell us how this thing is going to work.” I blurted out, not wanting to worry about things I had no control over.

 

 

 

Charlie put the thing he had been staring at in the middle of the table for us all to see. It really did look like some kind of ancient hieroglyphic thing. I had no clue what anything meant. All I saw were a series of numbers and letters and odd looking symbols.

 

 

 

“Matt, you’re a genius, you really are!”

 

 

 

“I concur.” I almost forgot Larry was there too. He was sitting off to the side almost like he was in a time out chair. He moved forward and took a seat beside Charlie. “These equations are brilliant. I would have never though in a million years…you proved it man. You really did it.”

 

 

 

The look of awe on his face excited me. This was it, the moment of truth. Matt knew what he was doing and as a result we were actually going to get back home. An adrenaline rush shot through my body and I had all to do to try to not start doing summersaults and looking like a complete idiot.

 

 

 

“Thanks man, it’s too bad that no one really cares anymore one way or the other. I probably would have gotten the Nobel Prize for this.”

 

 

 

“We care.” I was quick to reply. “We care a lot!”

 

 

 

He smiled, “Thanks, because you guys will be my first real trial for this. You might not be saying that if it backfires.”

 

 

 

“What could go wrong?”

 

 

 

Matt and Charlie looked at each other, “No way to tell for sure.”

 

 

 

“Is it like some kind of machine we have to go into or something?”

 

 

 

They both laughed and I suddenly felt like a moron.

 

 

 

“It’s not like I have a time and space continuum machine in the basement. It’s more of a being in the right place at the right time type thing.”

 

 

 

“So, we have to find the right place to be?”

 

 

 

Charlie pointed to the large paper in front of us, “Think of this as a map. He pointed to an equation, “This is where you were when you first got here.” He then moved his fingers over to another equation, “And this is where you need to be to get home.”

 

 

 

“I don’t even understand…all I see are numbers.”

 

 

 

“They are calculations and they help determine where the tears in our universe are. I’ve been studying them for years along with Charlie and right at the place where you came through was one of the many places I predicted them to be.”

 

 

 

“Where is the closest opening?” AJ asked now standing over Matt’s shoulder.

 

 

 

Charlie looked at the map and pointed to another equation, “Here.” He said as if the numbers staring back at me were the only answers I needed.

 

 

 

“And that would be, where?”

 

 

 

All three of them laughed causing AJ and I to both feel like we were in Revenge of the Nerds for a second.

 

 

 

“Sorry…ironically enough it’s a big landmark at least it used to be for the people in Queens.”

 

 

 

I still was confused.

 

 

 

“It’s Shea stadium, home of the now defunct New York Mets! If we can get you guys there, we can get you home. We’d just need to figure out the exact location of the tear.”

 

 

 

“How the fuck can there be some kind of tear in a huge ass stadium where millions of people went for games? I mean wouldn’t people be constantly sucked in or something? Wouldn’t it be noticeable?”

 

 

 

AJ had a point.

 

 

 

“One of the reasons I started focusing in on this location was because of all the unexplained disappearances that happen around Shea. I’m not saying it’s somewhere the fans would even be. It might be in a closet, or maybe right outside the actual place. That’s what we have to figure out.”

 

 

 

“How are you going to do that?”

 

 

 

“More math, which means I better get back to the drawing board, Charlie, Larry are you guys willing to help?”

 

 

 

“Of course.”

 

 

 

Matt looked over at me, “Feel free to help yourself to whatever is in the fridge. We have to move down to the basement, that’s where I have most of my things.” He then pointed to one of the cameras. “If you see anyone on this screen, you need to call me on this phone.”

 

 

 

He pointed to a big red phone which I swear to God could have been a prop in the old Batman and Robin shows of the 60’s.

 

 

 

I nodded at him.

 

 

 

“Hey Matt, what about the Bermuda Triangle? Is that one of the tears too?”

 

 

 

Matt smiled at AJ, “Now they’re getting it!” He said as the three of them walked out the door.

 

 

 

“This is finally almost over.” AJ said as he plopped down on a chair in the living room, “We are actually going home.”

 

 

 

I wanted to try to be more realistic but I couldn’t help it, I did a cartwheel and the two of us started bouncing like a couple of kids. We weren’t paying attention to that screen and the people standing just right outside the apartment building trying to get in.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter End Notes:

Sorry for the short chapter, but sometimes there's not much to say lol so yay to filler chapters! :O) I'm not sure about an update next weekend. My sister is getting married on Friday so you might have to wait two weeks! Thanks for reading and reviewing! I love you all!