The boy moved his hands away from his eyes to see what new place he was going to be in.
He was standing inside of a small room, white tile floors and white walls. Both were quite dirty, like they hadn’t been cleaned in some time. There was a large table covered in computers and monitors, showing what looked to be the interior and exterior of a small gas station. The boy heard a faint noise and looked down at the floor.
A middle aged man was laying on the floor in a large puddle of blood. The boy felt his heart skip a beat and his chest start to contract. He raised one hand to touch his chest, but when he raised the other he saw a bloody and rusty baseball bat.
He felt the hand of the man gripping his pant leg and jumped.
“Please…don’t…kill me…” The man said with a weak voice.
The boy could feel himself starting to cry, but had a strange force inside of him take over. The emotion began to dissipate until he felt nothing. His face went stoic as the tears kept running down his cheeks. He lifted the bat up over his head as he looked down at the man. Omen could feel his arms quickly swinging downward.
Omen could hear the sound of a skull shattering, but fell backwards off the couch and hit the floor of his apartment hard. He rubbed the back of his head and looked around. He wasn’t sure what happened or where he had been, but he hated it. He hated how he felt in that moment. Whatever that moment was, whether it be a nightmare…or something else…he hated it.
He could hear the front door opening as he jumped up. He only just now realized the darkness of the room. The neon billboard wasn’t working, leaving the world the boy knew in darkness. He saw a small amount of light behind his Mother as she opened the door and stepped inside. She flicked on the kitchen light and saw her son sitting on the floor.
“Honey, are you okay?” She asked as she ran over to hold him.
“Yeah. I fell asleep and got scared when you opened the door.” He replied.
“I’m sorry sweetie. I didn’t mean to scare you.” She said, softly rubbing his head.
“How was school?” She asked him.
“It was…fine. I did a lot of science, but fell asleep during history.” He replied.
“Did you get any other subjects done?” She asked.
He didn’t respond at first.
“Well…”
She softly laughed.43Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8iUEiUlzUg
“Tomorrow just math and english okay?” She wiped his face as she spoke.
“Fine…” The boy replied with a disappointed tone.
“Did you eat?” She asked as she went back to the kitchen.
His stomach softly rumbled.
“I forgot. I had breakfast and then…”
She looked back at him from the kitchen.
“Have you been asleep all day?” She asked.
“Uhhhhhh.”
She sighed and grabbed the dinner for him, throwing it into the microwave.
“Get ready for bed. After you finish eating you go to sleep okay?” She rubbed her eyes before kissing him on his forehead. She went to the bedroom and got into bed, almost immediately following asleep. The microwave beeped and the boy ran over to open it, carefully taking the plastic container out to try and not burn himself. He sat it on the counter and climbed up to sit next to it. He grabbed a fork and began to eat the microwaveable chicken and rice. It wasn’t the tastiest thing in the world, but having food at all was a luxury for him. He kept eating the food and smiled. Once he finished eating the small meal, he threw the container away before washing his hands and heading to the bedroom. His laptop and books were still on the couch, sitting after hours of being untouched.
The boy climbed into the bed and could hear his Mother’s heavy breathing. He stared up at the ceiling, laying in the cold room on the cold mattress. He didn’t even try to grab the thin blanket. He let his Mother have the whole blanket. After her long day of work, she deserved it.
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The boy woke up the next day, once again alone on the mattress. He let out a loud sigh before sitting up slowly. He rubbed his eyes and went into the kitchen. He skipped breakfast, going straight for the ham and cheese sandwich. It was quite cold, but he ate it rather quickly. He sighed and groaned as he leaned against the counter. He grabbed his glass he used the day before and filled it with water before drinking it all at once. He then went over to the couch and pressed a button on the laptop, but nothing happened. He tried again, but nothing changed.
He sighed and leaned back against the couch cushions, a frustrated look on his face. He grabbed his math textbook and stared at the cover, but just above it he could see the science books stacked on top of each other. His eyes kept moving back and forth between the books. He sighed and grabbed the science books, but then immediately put them underneath the couch.
“Out of sight…out of mind.” He said before opening the math book.
“Let’s see…algebra.”
Compared to the other books, he was only a few chapters into the math book. He tried his best to read through the pages, but it was much more difficult than anything else he had ever done before.
All of the words and numbers blurred together into a blob. He tried his best to focus his vision, but nothing worked. He groaned and tossed the book down to the floor, making the science books jolt and peek out from under the couch. The boy stared at them and puckered his lips while in deep thought. He finally reached down and grabbed the books, opening them up and reading through.
“I wanna be a scientist.” He muttered to himself softly.
After a few hours of reading through the science books, he went over and looked for some food to eat. He looked over all of the options, but there wasn’t much fresh or good stuff. He went to grab another microwaveable meal, pulling from the large stack in the back. He was about to throw it into the microwave, but suddenly all of the lights flickered out. The fridge and the freezer stopped working, and the microwave flipped off.
“Uh oh…”
He groaned and kept trying to hit the microwave, hoping it would suddenly start working again.
“Well great…guess I have to go fix this.”
The boy made his way over to the closet. The sun was bright enough to illuminate the living room, with the light bouncing off the floor just enough for him to see enough and walk around. He opened the door and reached up to grab a large black hooded jacket. He unzipped it and pulled it down before reaching down into a small box on the floor. Black gloves, black shoes, and a black face mask all sat inside. He put on everything he could, finishing with the face mask. As long as he kept the hood up, the only skin that was visible was his eyes and bottom of his forehead. As long as he looked down, it would be okay. He wouldn’t have to worry about people seeing his unusual skin. Once he was ready to go, he opened his front door and shut it tightly and quite harshly. Any softer and the door wouldn't have stayed closed.
He carefully and quietly walked along the floor before making it to the concrete stairs. He very slowly reached out and grabbed hold of the railing, slowly wrapping his fingers about the poorly maintained wood as his foot moved down to the first step. He continued to walk down the steps slowly and carefully, finally stopping on the ground floor and looking towards the entrance of the building. He pushed the door open just enough to peek his head out, looking down the sidewalks and streets to make sure nobody else was around. He took a big and deep breath as he stepped out onto the sidewalk.
The air was cold and thin, almost like the atmosphere was thin. The only buildings around were massive concrete blocks like the one he lived in. He looked out to see more massive billboards. Only a few had the lights on them to grab more attention, but it was impossible to look around and not see product placement. The roads were so poorly maintained that broken curbs, potholes, and serious cracks were everywhere. There were even parts of the road completely missing for multiple feet, making driving on them a nightmare.
The boy walked down the sidewalk, staring down at the sidewalk with his hands in his jacket pockets. He made his way through a small alleyway, barely wide enough for him to walk through, to get to the backside of his building. He continued to walk through the confined space before being able to step out and stretch his arms.
He looked over at a large generator attached to the wall. The boy slowly walked over and reached out to touch the door. It was quiet but very hot to the touch. The boy pulled his hand back and shook it around before pressing it hard into his jacket and stomach. He sighed and looked around the box before finding the panel that would open. It had a small lock on it that needed a key. The boy grabbed the lock, which wasn’t as hot as the rest of the box, and pulled. At first nothing happened, but the second time he pulled as hard as he could, not only breaking the lock in two, but making the panel and latch that held it shut break off as well. The boy fell back hard and looked at his gloved hand, holding the broken metal. He looked at the pieces laying on the floor and then looked up at the exposed machine. He groaned as he pushed himself up to his feet. He walked over and looked inside at the wires, which were a flood of criss crossed colors that made his head spin. He looked as far inside as he could, able to smell something burning as he got closer. He coughed harshly and reached inside. He touched the wires, but they didn’t do anything. He kept moving his hand around inside, able to realize the wires weren’t working.
“Well…if only I knew how to fix this.”
He reached inside and tried to look for a switch or button that could magically fix it. He kept reaching around before he could feel his eyes starting to glow and burn.
“Wait now? Why is…”
The boy turned around and was suddenly in the same spot, but the buildings were all destroyed and run down. He looked up at the building he lived in, with all but the first two stories completely gone. Rubble was everywhere. He looked around more to see more buildings had been put up, but those too were reduced to rubble.
“What the…”
His voice was once again deep with that hint of raspiness. He jumped back and looked at the electrical box. It looked the exact same, even with the criss crossed wires. The boy could feel the strange feeling wash over him, like he was being pushed back to just be an observer. He closed his eyes and felt himself float to the back of his own head.
“You know…you’re lucky I remember this happening…”
His voice spoke on its own accord, like he was watching his future self speak and act normally.
“Watch carefully so you know how to do it yourself. You’ll have to do this a few more times.” His voice spoke.
The young boy inside his own head watched on as his adult body did the work. He watched as closely as he could, watching him move the wires around and untwist them. He made sure to remember which ones went where. After he finished, the body shut the door firmly and clapped his hands together, which were covered by black leather gloves that resembled the gloves the young boy was wearing.
“I know you can’t really speak, but next time you get the chance, hug your Mom. Tell her you love her. It’s something I wish I did more often.”
The boy was confused as he continued to watch through his adult body’s eyes.
“Also…make sure you keep learning and studying…it will come in handy.”
The body said before softly laughing.
“Omen!”
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The boy snapped back to his young body, looking at his hand still reaching deep into the electrical box.
Once again, he saw his adult body.
Once again, he heard that word get shouted out.
The boy quickly shook his head firmly before turning his full attention to the box. He began to grab the wires, rewiring and uncrossing exactly the way he saw. Once the final wire was moved, sparks flew out and sent him flying back. His gloves were ripped and exposed his orange fingers, which were burned from the fingertips down to the first knuckle. He sucked on them as he got back to his feet, making his way through the thin alleyway and back inside. His mind didn’t think about the broken metal laying on the ground, or what repercussions could possibly come from them.
He made it inside and shut the door, removing his clothes and putting them away exactly how he found them, hoping his Mom wouldn’t notice. He put the torn glove inside and was more focused on the burns on his fingers. He went to the sink and began to run cold water before putting his hand underneath them. He bit his lip and held back screaming as the cold water kept hitting his hot skin. It was the first time he had ever been burned, and it was more painful than he would’ve ever thought.
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