s2.e13

Disaster Report

            "And now we arrive at the gold rush,” Ms. Porter said and put up an illustration of prospectors sifting in a river on the class projector, which showed up on the back wall—as there was no screen available. “The promise of such economic opportunity helped bring in many more people to the west coast, and California became a vital area to the country. After it all started long ago with the pilgrims on the east coast, America had been crossed and reached all the way to the other ocean.” She let out a half-hearted sigh, hit the lights, and turned off the projector. “I’d love to tell you what happens next, but you’ll advance further in history when you reach sixth grade.

            “Oh, and of course, we have some ties to the gold, as well. Our city’s founder, Hadron McMare—his grandfather put down roots in this area, spending his nights in a small shack and his days looking for gold in our sometimes-dried up San Baro River. He found enough to give his grandson a small fortune, and after Hadron attended college in San Francisco to learn how to be a businessman, he returned to this area and started building a city. Word has it… that he was quite a looker in his youth.”

            “Ms. Porter…” Spice let out a groan in jest.

            “Ahem, right.” She looked up at the clock. “Well. We’re almost done. I know it’s been a whirlwind these last few weeks, but we managed to cram everything in and catch up. And, again… I’m sorry about our circumstances in here. And the heat.”

            She gazed out at her students—packed together tightly with barely room to walk, their desks mere inches apart. Her class had been one of those that needed to finish out the school year within a hauled-over portable with barely any air conditioning, as one side of the school had cracked from the earthquake and needed extensive repairs.

            The conditions, general disruption of everyday life, and ongoing sight of repair crews around the city, along with favorite places that been closed—including King Arcade, again—had really sapped the enthusiasm out of the kids.

            “N-now…” She poked her glasses and tried to not get too emotional. “You all graduate tomorrow. It won’t be the way you expected, or how your parents wanted to see you finish your time here, but make the best of it. You still have at least two more big graduations to go. I’m sure at least one will go right,” she said with the smallest of laughs.

            “Ms. Porter…” December spoke up. “Why did an earthquake have to happen?”

            “There’s no reason for it, December. It’s up to nature what she wants to do. Aw, look at all these dour faces… Almost as bad as our first day together. Everyone, please try to look on the bright side of everything. You’ve still got a full summer just ahead, and I’m sure life will go back to normal by the time you start middle school.”

            Millie, who like Park had her hoodie hanging off the back of her chair due to the heat, scribbled something on the very last page of a composition book, closed it, gave the front cover a pat, and slid it away into her backpack. Jace was pretty sure that the particular book was her personal diary, likely for all of fifth grade.

            “Stupid earthquake…” she audibly grumbled, leaned back in her chair, and murmured to Jace. “I thought Ninja Boy was supposed to fix all this.”

            “He never showed up again…” Jace whispered back. “We gave him plenty of time, too. But I think my uncle made plans, and we’re going to do… something soon.”

            The distant bell of the main school building rang, and being careful not to bump into each other, everyone got to their feet and gathered their things for the last time at Desert Tree Elementary. Many were still disappointed that they weren’t doing so in their real classroom, and that they had been denied even a chance to go inside and give it a proper goodbye. Ms. Porter tried her best, but the portable was not a great substitute.

            “Have a good time at graduation, everyone!” she gave her final remarks as her treasured students filed out. “And don’t forget! Make sure your parents know that it’s 7:30 tomorrow, at the community center. Don’t show up at the cafeteria. It’s still under repair, of course… Thank you for being patient these last two months. Take care…”

            Under better circumstances, the goodbyes for their teacher would’ve been jubilant and even heartfelt. But they weren’t, and she only got a few hand waves.

            No one seemed in a hurry to get home, and the twelve classes across various grades that got stuck in portables soon filled the expanse of the playground to share some final time at their recess realm. It was an unusual event to see kids from six to eleven all together on the grounds, but the fifth-graders who felt robbed of a good last two months of elementary weren’t really in the mood to reflect upon the sight.

            “Hey, guys,” Zach said as he came up to the others from his portable just nearby. “Did… you still want to look around at the place one more time before we head out?”

            “Looks like everyone else is doing it, too,” Ash replied. “Might as well.”

            “I’m guessing you don’t want me around…” Millie said, shuffling past them.

            “What makes you think that?” Jared asked, sarcastically.

            “You never gave me a chance to, you know… become…” she grimaced, “friends with any of you. The big quake just made everyone so angsty.”

            Sadie turned to the group, no one else except for Jace looking open about simply letting Millie follow them around. She sighed, stepped aside to let Millie in, and told her, “It’s okay, come on. We don’t have to be angsty today. Let’s just say goodbye together.”

            Millie timidly began tagging along, while kids from both of the fifth-grade classes stuck in portables settled on specific spots they wanted to immortalize into memory.

            “Zach, hey… Come on,” Jared said at his side. “Let’s have your birthday party this weekend. Colin, and Ash and Arty all managed to have theirs. Mine’s coming up, and it’s… probably going to be okay. We can still make it work.”

            Zach grumbled something to himself and shook his head. “Just forget it. I’m not doing it until the pool cracks are fixed. We were supposed to have a big, epic party in my new pool.” He glowered from behind his shades. “Right when my dad was about to start filling it up, a stupid disaster breaks my awesome new… thing.”

            “There are still so many other things that make you cool, Zach,” Arthur tried to reassure him. “We can still give you a cool party, even if it’s two months late.”

            “Please just drop it, guys. I’m still not ready to even think about it.”

            They arrived at The Dump first, which had been cordoned off by yellow caution tape. The dumpster itself was still in place, but cracks in the surrounding walls had made the area unsafe. Mr. Drake had found out about the club, too—not that it mattered by that point. He caught wind when he found a bunch of kids eulogizing it weeks ago.

            “This is a bunch of bull…” Zach muttered angrily as he surveyed the damage. “I didn’t even get a chance to choose a new owner. Barely got to do anything with it as the owner myself. I was going to make it the place to be… you know?”

            “Zach, you gotta ease up,” Colin said, worryingly. “You used to always be so easygoing. If you’re this upset, for this long, who’s supposed to keep things cool for us?”

            “Who cares about ‘cool’ anymore, Colin? Everything sucks now. And you’re not even going to be with us next year! I… I mean…” He wiped the sweat off his face. “I get why you did it, but it just makes everything even worse for us…”

            “Cookton also got damaged! But Everette wasn’t. That was kind of the decider, for my parents, at least. You know I’ll still hang out with you guys. As much as I can.”

            “Sherman Miller got hit pretty hard, too,” Sadie tried to change the subject a bit. “Celeste says some days were like anarchy over there… and she felt right at home.”

            Ash laughed and replied, “I bet,” but Zach still wasn’t letting himself feel any contentment about graduating. It was like he was holding a grudge against the universe.

            “Hey, you hear that?” Wessy asked them. “There’s someone in the trash.”

            “Who would be…” Zach muttered, and then watched as Wright climbed out of the dumpster, looking dirty, banged up, and desperate. “You’ve got to be kidding. Hey, Wright! You have to stop going in there. I keep telling you, there’s nothing to find!”

            “N-no, there’s gotta be something,” he argued back. “One Pog, one baseball card… I’ll even take some moldy old Garbage Pail Kids card from the 80s!”

            “Mr. Brody!” Mr. Drake suddenly shouted from behind them, into the remains of The Dump. “Even on the last day of school, you just can’t resist the urge to revive your precious little hideout. Get out of there at once!”

            “You can’t tell me what to do, man! I’m going to restart my collection. Doesn’t matter what it is—heheh, you’ll see, I’ll get my groove back. Just gotta start somewhere.”

            “Wright, just give it up,” Zach said with a long sigh. “You gambled away all your good stuff. That’s on you. Go home and call an addiction helpline.”

            “Mr. Pentino, I don’t need your assistance,” Mr. Drake chided him and ducked under the caution tape. “You never ‘owned’ this place. You didn’t run anything. And you aren’t as ‘cool’ as you think you are.” He grabbed Wright’s dirty hand, and he was soon trying to wriggle free. “I look forward to hearing about your delinquency next year.”

            “I keep telling you…” Zach growled once Mr. Drake had walked off with Wright in tow. “Mr. Pentino is my dad. You miserable old angry dude…”

            “I can’t believe The Dump is history,” Colin said. “I hope next year’s kids find some new place to hang out. But Drake’s probably always going to be on watch now.”

            “Who cares?” Zach replied and began leading the others towards the bus loop. “It’s not our problem anymore. Hey, Arty, Ash—when is King Arcade gonna reopen?”

            Arthur shrugged. “Sorry, man. Dad says they keep finding new damage. A lot of cracks in the ground, too. It might be a while. I know, it’s messed up.”

            Ash added, “Mall’s still closed, too. What’re you guys gonna do with no arcade?”

            “Ugh,” Zach groaned. “I wish the Main Street arcade was still around. Anyone remember that place? Closed when we were like, six, but, man, it was awesome. Neon lights everywhere, the music, even the carpet was cool. Feels like we have nothing now.”

            “Now you’re getting it,” Felicity interjected, startling them. “You have nothing but yourselves. What are you going to do about it? Now what could make you… ‘cool’?”

            Felicity and her new best friend were a curiosity worth stopping to acknowledge and gawk at. All of her progress had been lost, and more recently, her apathy had infected Willa, as well—her cat ears hadn’t been seen in months. The two enjoyed hanging out against the school walls whenever they had a chance, brooding uncaringly. Just to make their transformations laughable clichés, they also only wore dark clothes.

            “Did you have to drag Willa down with you, too?” Sadie asked, glaring at Felicity. “Way to nearly flunk out the both of you. Just what is going on in that head of yours?”

            Felicity coldly shrugged. “Deep, deep thoughts.”

            “Willa…” Ash lamented. “You used to be a good student. Why’d you do it?”

            “Pfft,” she scoffed. “What’s the point? Life’s a joke. Grandpa goes to jail and our house is the only one on the street that burns down, and I’ll never get a cat. So, whatever.”

            “Your house didn’t burn down,” Sadie aggressively corrected her. “Ms. Porter said a gas line under your place just still needs to be fixed and you’re stuck at the Days Inn.”

            “Whatever. Same difference. Pfft.”

            Felicity added, “Quake should’ve been bigger. Should’a swallowed the whole city.”

            “Mm-hm. Nice talking to you girls. Keep it real,” Zach said and got the squad moving again. Barely audibly, Jace heard him also remark, “They’re worse than Charlie…”

            “Psst, Jace,” Millie whispered at his side as they walked. “Isn’t that the same hotel that you and your uncle are still living at? Do you and Willa, like… ever see each other?”

            He sighed. “Yes… I saw her trying to steal from a vending machine last night.”

            “What, like… she was trying to get her arm through the slot?”

            “No, no… More like… she was bashing at the glass with a luggage rack. Yeah…”

            Millie fearfully winced. “Eeeh… And you have to share the building…”

            “We don’t have much of a choice. We had to move out after Warren disappeared, because he was keeping us safe and hidden from those Time Cop guys. It was stressful enough staying in that cottage for two weeks after the quake. Wes was freaking out.”

            They rounded the building and arrived at the bus loop, where about half of the students had already boarded. Nearby in the parent pickup area, Delilah was moping about while waiting for one of her parents. December looked equally as miserable.

            “You don’t think you could’ve helped Delilah or Willa, huh…?” Millie wondered.

            “I feel bad about it, but I stopped trying to help anyone. I didn’t know how. I mean, everyone’s pretty down, anyway, so it got hard to tell who really needed it. And… I kind of didn’t want to bother, to tell you the truth. I didn’t see much of a point.”

            “Because… you still think you can somehow undo all this.”

            “Y-yeah… We can’t let this timeline keep going. I know it must be weird for you to think about—not remembering the last two months, once or if we fix it, but…”

            “Nah, not really. I don’t really want to remember all this stuff. And I don’t need memories of all the lunches they made us have in the hot, smelly portable, either.”

            “Don’t forget, my uncle wants to have an ‘important meeting’ tonight. I think he has some big plan cooked up…” Jace stopped before he had to make his turn toward the old rickety bus in the back of the line that would take him near the Days Inn, which was on the very outer edge of the school district. “Can your dad still bring you over?”

            “Yeah, sure. It’s just down the highway. But… I haven’t visited you there yet. Kinda miss our old meetings… Did he become a shut-in or something?”

            “Well, sort of. We change rooms every two nights, so let’s meet in the lobby,” Jace said as Willa went by and boarded his bus. “There should be pizza. Probably.”

            “All right, see ya,” Millie replied with a wave. “Don’t sit too close to Willa.”

            “Thanks for the advice…” Jace muttered as he got in one last look at the school.

            Wes wasn’t looking so hot when Millie first saw him again for the first time in over two months, in the hotel lobby. He appeared sleep-deprived and rather slovenly, and his clothes—sweatpants and a long, old shirt—weren’t much more than PJs.

            Nevertheless, he did have two boxes worth of Pizza Hut in his hand, and greeted her with a feeble wave and smile, so she did the polite thing and returned the gesture, before signaling back to her dad to go ahead and drive off from the hotel pickup area.

            “Sorry, Millie… I’m a mess,” Wes apologized once they started down the hall. “This is kind of what happens when you hole up in a hotel to stay away from… cops. I’ll clean up for tomorrow… Can’t come to a graduation looking like this, right?”

            “At least we have HBO,” Jace told her. “And a pool.”

            Once they stepped into an elevator, where Wes tried to pick a floor button with his finger, Millie replied, “I’ve seen worse with The Flamingo’s residents.”

            “Wes,” Jace said with a nudge. “Third floor this time.”

            “Right…” He mumbled tiredly and hit the button. “Millie, I don’t know how to tell you this… I mean, I don’t know what else to do. You see… Well…”

            “Let’s wait and talk about it over pizza,” she interrupted. “Pizza makes it better.”

            The doors opened, and they stepped out into a scene of juvenile lawbreaking. Willa was scribbling on the wall, right near a framed picture of the city’s skyline. She was making a reproduction—only, in her version, the city was on fire and crumbling apart. Upon hearing the elevator doors open, she stopped and turned to her possible critics.

            “Millie…” she grumbled out a greeting of sorts.

            “Willa… You’re making, ah…” Millie clicked her tongue, “some art there, huh?”

            “Yup.”

            The two stared at each other a moment longer, and then Willa got back to work as her floormates moved on, with Wes grumbling, “Right by the elevator this time… That’s just flagrant. It’s like she’s trying to get her family kicked out.”

            “Pretty much all the kids aren’t taking it well, Unk,” Jace reminded him.

            “Yeah, so you keep telling me.” He shifted about the pizza boxes, got out his key card, and used it to open the door. “And I don’t think there’s a way to fix it here.”

            “Here?” Millie questioned and they headed inside. “Like… in 1996?”

            “Sit down anywhere, kid… There’s a two-liter in the fridge.”

            Wes didn’t say anything else until Millie, at the side of one of the beds, was on her second slice of pizza as Jace still munched on his first at the room’s small table. Wes didn’t seem to have an appetite, and looked reluctant to announce his plans at all.

            “So…” He took a deep breath. “I think me and Jace need to take a trip to ’98.”

            The kids postponed their next bites and stared at him, with Jace asking, “Wait, what? Why would we do that? This is when everything’s messed up.”

            “Yeah, and it’ll be even worse in two years, no doubt. But I’ve given this a lot of thought. The way I figure, enough time will pass to let me see the real damage the quake will cause, and by then—with the internet a bigger thing—other people will have done all the research, and it might help us find the actual cause.”

            Millie sighed. “That might be a quick trip for you two, but it’ll be a long time for me… Um, I’m just assuming that I’m somehow part of the plan, since I’m here.”

            “Oh, yeah. I’m sorry to abandon you like this and give you a strange two years you hopefully won’t remember, but you can keep track of everything that happens, both about the quake, and… your… our classmates. For research and sheer curiosity.”

            “Wes, we need to stay here and wait for Warren!” Jace argued.

            “He’s not coming back, bud. I don’t know what happened to him, but we have to do something ourselves to fix this. And I don’t want to wait around for news to trickle out about what hit the city. We have a way to get into the future, and I’m going to use it. So… Millie… Live your best life in this messed up reality, and meet us on July 18^th, 1998—exactly three years after our arrival, to make it easier to remember.”

            “I…” She tried to shake off her despondency and accept her new important task. “I’m not looking forward to being left alone… But… I’ll keep trying to become your friends’, uh, new friend while you’re gone. Where are we meeting?”

            “The new Royal Valley Central Library, replacing the old. It should still break ground this year and open in June ’98. Let’s aim for… 2:00 PM? It’s a Saturday.”

            “Hold on, Wes,” Jace said with concern in his voice. “When are we leaving? And how are we going to bring all our important stuff? It can’t just sit around for two years.”

            “Right after graduation—tell everyone we have to move right away. They don’t deserve that, but… again, they’ll be heading into a future that will never stick. And I’ve already thought about your second question, too. You know the San Baro standpipe?”

            Millie replied, “That old ugly concrete water tower thing at the edge of town?”

            “Yeah. It’s unused and crumbling, and there’s an equally old central storm drain out there, with the stream it once fed all dried up. Also sitting out there is an abandoned van that was still there and rotting by the time I hit high school. I know, because… teens would go to it to make out. Not that I ever went, but I heard couples talk about it. And I checked—the van’s already there, so that means the place should remain mostly undisturbed. Our car can just barely fit into the drain, too, and it goes way back.”

            “Sounds like a plan,” Millie affirmed. “Cheaper than official storage, too.”

            “We load up the car with our gear, hide in there, go forward in time, and… see just how bad things have gotten. Again, sorry you’ll have to experience all that, Millie—but try to remind yourself that this isn’t real. Think of it as… a dream.”

            “You keep saying that, Wes…” Jace sighed. “But what if this is the new reality?”

            “It can’t be, Jace. There’s one more thing I wanted to mention. My observation equipment picked up a signal from the door yesterday—so, I think it’s active again and we could head home. Could. I…  really don’t want to know what’s on the other side. It’ll probably be a place without you, though. And that’s something else that can’t happen.”

            Thinking about Ash again, Jace realized they really had no choice. But he was just too scared to admit that, no matter how much they tried… maybe a solution didn’t exist.

            But, first things first. Graduation, and goodbyes.

            “… And as we head into an unknown, uncertain future, I’m still certain that these young people will grow and adapt to any challenge,” Mr. Shumaker, the Desert Tree Elementary principal, said to begin wrapping up his speech. “They’re ready to face adversity, just like they did when an earthquake threatened our home.”

            He was a smart, funny, patient principal known for an outdated fashion sense that hadn’t left the 70s—at least, so Jace had heard. It wasn’t like he ever got sent to his office, and the principal had only made just a few school-wide announcements on the cafeteria stage through the year. He must have originally had a very different speech planned, but the somber one he was giving did still have a garnish of hope sprinkles.

            “As you head into middle school and new challenges present themselves, I know you’ll look back to this year and think: I overcame that, so I can overcome anything!”

            The graduates were too young for the standard gowns, but everyone was still dressed nicely with collared shirts and even a few clip-on ties. Sadie had possibly won an argument with her mom at some point, too; the one dress she owned wasn’t on display. Jared, also looking swank, had been fidgeting in his seat next to Jace and was overheard several times grumbling things like “hurry this up already.”

            “Now, unfortunately, due to current circumstances, you won’t be able to come up to the stage to collect your diplomas. Sorry, everyone, but the place is all booked up for other ceremonies. We were lucky to have even a half-hour together. Your diplomas are waiting for you on the table up front. You’ve all certainly earned them.”

            Everyone in attendance clapped as Mr. Shumaker rushed himself off the packed community center’s auditorium stage. The students filed out of the seating area to begin rejoining their parents in the central hall, where their rolls of paper were waiting.

            Staying close to his friends as long as he could, Jace also had a chance to hear a few final grievances from his nearby classmates as they walked by with their families and school chums. Everything he heard was just another affirmation that this was all wrong.

            “I d-don’t know about the art classes now…” Brian told his dad. “Super Mario 64 is looking really good… I b-bet everyone will love it and forget all about pixel games.”

            “Don’t worry about that right now, Brian,” nearby Robby replied over the crowd noises. “You should get your mind off that sorta stuff for a bit—check out the cool hiking trail I’ve been… O-oh, wait, you can’t… A landslide destroyed it.”

            “They couldn’t even print our yearbooks…” Gerald added to the comments.

            “I can’t believe Felicity and Willa got banned from graduation,” Spice remarked.

            “Jace, say goodbye to your friends,” Wes said over the commotion as he passed by—a directive that just barely registered for him. “I’ll bring the car up to the front.”

            He still felt that his uncle was so very impatient to leave town, instead of at least giving the group a nice dinner out or something and a better chance for farewells.

            “December?” Tamatha asked her. “Are you okay? You’re crying…”

            Jace and a few others turned to look, in time to see her wipe her eyes with her sleeve and murmur back, “I’m just sad… that this is how the year ended. I wanted my remaining time with you guys to be fun… I might not even see some of you again.”

            Trudy tried to assure her, “Aw, it’ll be okay. We’ll see each other around town.”

            The kids weren’t the only ones complaining. With another school’s fifth-graders filing in near them, Jared’s parents were having an argument again, further embarrassing their son. Now he was worried they’d ruin his next birthday party, at the bowling alley.

            “Guys, grab your diplomas and let’s wait for our parents outside,” Jared groaned. “I can’t be around them right now. They’re all freaked out about our home insurance.”

            “I think they have a lot more going on than just that, man…” Zach replied.

            They found their papers and headed out—Ash and Sadie spotting Celeste in her school’s line and exchanging some quick waves on the way. Once they emerged into the twilight of the city and could smell the community center’s big pool, they all searched the sky for their just-visiting new friend, the faint Hale-Bopp comet.

            As usual, Colin was the first to locate it and pointed. “There it is.”

            “So cool that there’s an ancient ball of ice up there right now,” Arthur said. “One of the only cool things that’s happened recently…”

            “Cool days will return, Arty,” Wessy tried to promise. “We still got summer!”

            “Y-yeah…” Jared added. “Bullet Water season is coming right up…”

            “And King Arcade will totally reopen soon,” Colin said assuredly.

            Jace heard Wes’ car’s distinctive engine noise and saw him up at the pickup area just thirty feet away. He had rolled down the window and was waving him over, after having given his nephew pretty much no time to think of a way to say goodbye.

            He wasn’t even sure if he could say goodbye. How could he possibly do such a thing, so quickly and half-heartedly, and only further make this evening disappointing?

            “H-hey, everyone… I gotta go,” he ended up saying, reluctantly.

            “Hm?” Wessy noticed Jace’s mysterious dad waiting in the distance. “Oh, okay. You want to hang out tomorrow, Jason? Nothing big. Maybe just afternoon gaming.”

         “I’ll… call you.” He noticed Millie, who gave him a tepid wave, lingering behind them. “You’ve all been great friends to me this year. Even though I was new.”

            “You were always kinda quiet,” Sadie replied. “But also… friendly. And smart.”

            “T-thanks, Sadie…” He began backing away, giving Ash a longer glance than the others—and returning her kind smile with one of his own. “Okay. See you later, guys.”

            After a round of goodbyes, peace signs, and waves, he turned and ran off, while trying to tell himself that he wasn’t abandoning them. No… he thought, I’ll be right back.

            Ten miles outside of the city limits, Wes pulled off onto a dirt road near a dry portion of the river. It was dark, with Royal Valley’s glow only barely making the eroding monster that was the 1930s standpipe visible in the night. Slowly and carefully, Wes drove down the embankment and up to the skeletal van he had mentioned. The seemingly endlessly long discharge pipe was just nearby.

            “Help me with this,” Wes asked after parking and getting out. “We have to hide the car as much as we can. I have some blackout curtains in the back.”

            “I feel like we’re going to get stabbed out here…”

            “We’re fine. There’s no one around for miles.” He opened up the wagon door and pulled out some rolled-up black fabric that had been packed in tightly with the computer, monitor, and suitcases full of clothes. “Just hold the other side…”

            Jace did so, and Wes used some clamps on the roof rack to keep the curtain in place, which would disguise the back of the car in the darkness of the tunnel. Also on top of the car were their two bikes, which Jace had been curious about.

            “Couldn’t we just leave those behind?” he wondered.

            “What, the bikes? Nah, they’re our back-up wheels. I just put in some fresh premium gas, so the car should start again after two years, but if it doesn’t, we’ll have to bike into town. Okay. That should hold… Let’s get back in the car. I’ll take it in slow.”

            Once they were seated again, Wes began crawling the car forward, straight into the outlet. Even with the side mirrors folded up, he had only about an inch on each side and no room for error. Hale-Bopp vanished as they went in, and not even the headlights could reveal the pipe’s other end before the beams disappeared into the void. This was not a place where Jace wanted to spend more than a few minutes. He hoped the jump really was instantaneous, so he wouldn’t experience time passage in the confined space.

            “Hey, Wes…” he spoke over the reverberating engine noise. “I have to ask. Why didn’t you just use the fail-safe time Warren set, and… I dunno, do something?”

            “Like what?” he asked, keeping his eyes ahead. “What could I do? Tell him, ‘hey, you’re going to disappear on us, don’t do that’? It took me time to realize it, Jace, but we have to take charge here and find a way to stop the quake ourselves. We do that, and the kid will never have a reason to up and vanish on us. Now…” He exhaled and parked.

            He carefully took the two quartzes out of the glove box, handing one to Jace.

            “So… you’re sure these things are set correctly?” he anxiously questioned.

            “They aren’t user-friendly, but, yeah, I think I got it. Just grip it tightly and I’ll activate them. Can’t tell you what it’ll feel like, but… Warren used his all the time.”

            Jace looked closely and could see some small digits in the quartz, projected along with tons of other text and information. The time “07-18-1998-12:00 PST” looked right, and it was under the words “Target Date”, so they did seem to be ready to go.

            “Do you know how to actually… use these things? Like, for real?” Jace asked.

            “He told me how. You just squeeze…” He gripped it, and Jace followed along with his own quartz. “And then a little tighter to activate—”

            They both suddenly felt something frigid flow through their veins, and after a burst of light that permeated through the gaps in their fingers, a high-pitched twert sound rang out, bringing with it a brief sense of weightlessness. Just a second later, they were sinking down into their car seats again, which were no longer warm.

            “Uh-um…” Wes stammered and released his grip. “I… I think it just happened.” He looked at his quartz, found the current date, and added, “I was totally going to count back from three… Maybe I was too nervous and squeezed a little too hard.”

            “But it worked, right? We’re in the future? Er… slightly closer to the present?”

            “One way to know for sure…”

            He took in another deep breath and carefully turned the key in the ignition. The engine choked on the first two attempts, but on the third, the car came back to life. The radio, which would provide an easy way to confirm the date, couldn’t pick up a signal in the pipe. But once the headlights came on, the layer of dust on the windshield became the next telltale sign of time passing by. Wes exhaled, and very cautiously and slowly, began backing the car out of its long storage shed. Eventually, sunlight crept into the windows, and they emerged under a partly cloudy sky on a warm summer day.

            “I… I think it worked…” Wes said after driving up the embankment and getting a quick look at the surrounding landscape. “Help me get the curtain off the back, and we’ll head into town. That is, if Royal Valley still exists.”

            “Don’t say things like that…” Jace replied and tuned the radio’s station dial.

            Fastball’s mega-hit The Way began blaring, and that was all the confirmation Wes needed—they had indeed just jumped ahead about twenty-five and a half months.

            Royal Valley’s skyline appeared once they reached the other side of a hill, still intact and seemingly free of any lingering damage. They kept quiet until they reached Main Street, as if trying not to jinx things. Big corporate skyscrapers staying upright was one thing, but what remained a constant indicator of a city’s health was the state of its central downtown road and what kinds of stores operated along it.

            “There are still… people, at least,” Wes observed as they waited at the last red light before turning onto Main. “Typical Saturday crowds, but…”

            He went left, and eyes widened as they both absorbed the sight of a drastically changed, once familiar thoroughfare. The immediate discovery: about half of the stores and restaurants were now vacant and for lease, and among the businesses that did still operate, only a few, like the toy store and Venetian, had survived the post-quake days. The chocolate store, the gas station, and even The Queen theater had all gone before their time, and in their places were a used bookstore, a small field of weeds, and a derelict theater with a rotting marquee and faded 1996 movie posters.

            “Oh…” Wes muttered. “Oh, this is bad… Worse than I expected.”

            “What the heck happened to Royal Valley?” Jace wondered. “One medium-sized earthquake couldn’t’ve caused all this… right? There’s gotta be something else going on.”

            “I agree with you, kid. The city should’ve been able to recover by now. It’s not as bad the alternate 1985 Hill Valley, but it’s…” He noticed something else after stopping at another intersection towards the end of the street. “Well, that’s not good.”

            He could see from a distance that his future apartment was gone, the spot where the building once stood now a grassy vacant lot like the old gas station. Nearby, even the billboard that once advertised Seinfeld was blank and waiting for a new buyer.

            “I thought they were going to repair and reopen your home?” Jace asked.

            “Maybe it all fell through somehow, or the damage was worse than they first estimated. Damn, this means my door could be at the bottom of a landfill somewhere.” He looked at Jace, noticing that he seemed lost in thought. “Hey, you okay?”

            “Hm? Y-yeah… I think we should check out the mall…”

            “Was thinking the same thing. All right, let’s see if it’s more depressing than this.”

            Wes turned and headed towards the interstate. On the way to their first real stop, they passed by the Toys ‘R’ Us—which, to his relief, had managed to stick around.

            The mall, however, was only barely hanging on. Although it hadn’t suffered any major damage back in ’96, a brief tour of its stores, coupled with the appearance of only about a third of its typical number of walkers or shoppers, told Wes all that he needed to know. Ever the mall aficionado, the state of the place made for a sad sight that visibly sank his spirits. He let those feelings be known when they had their lunch, or perhaps more accurately a dinner, at the food court—which had also lost several establishments.

            “I can’t believe it…” he muttered at their table, only taking a sip of his precious mall Pepsi once a minute or so. “Half of the food places, half of the stores… including some of my favorites, are just… gone, not even replaced. And the mall lost its Sears a lot earlier than it was supposed to. It’s never good when they lose an anchor store.”

            “Remember, it’s all just a dream; it’s temporary. Only a possibility, that we’ll stop from happening,” his wise nephew replied. “At least the arcade’s still running.”

            Wes took a bite of his cold slice of pizza and looked over. It did seem to be doing okay, despite the fact that it was a Saturday and might be busier than it was most days in this timeline. But he didn’t really ponder the reason for its modest crowds.

            “I guess. And I bet my middle school classmates are glad Hot Topic’s still open.”

            “Sounds like you know a bit about failing malls, too.”

            “Yeah… Yeah, I, um… Watched a lot of dead mall channels on YouTube before leaving 2020. I’m kind of in the know on why and how they fail. This one was doing all right then, but now? Definitely dead mall tour material. If it’s even open in twenty years.”

            “What do you think happened to the city? It’s not like it fell apart in the quake.”

            “No… From what I’ve seen, it looks more financial than anything. One of our big money-makers was tourism. I wonder if… Nah. I’m not going to bother trying to put the pieces together before our get-together with Millie. I probably should’ve driven past the new library while we were downtown. I’m not even positive it exists.”

            “We still got a few minutes. You wanna, I dunno… Tell me about some shows?”

            “Do you really want me to? I kind of went on a bit of a spree last time.”

            “You’re only covering two years this time,” Jace said with a smirk.

            “Well. Okay.” He wiped his fingers with a napkin and thought about where to begin. “Keep in mind… I’m heading into eighth grade, so it wasn’t cool to watch all the cartoons anymore. Just… the really good ones. Geez… 1998. So much is happening.”

            “Just try to keep it quick. We do have to meet Millie soon.”

            “All right. The bullet points version. Cartoon wise, the first thing I think of is Hey Arnold!. I’m sure you know a bit about it, since we watched the long-awaited Jungle Movie together a few years back when you were still a cute kid.” Wes waited for the head shake and eyeroll to finish before continuing, “It was about a group of kids growing up in the city, and of course Arnold is the all-around good guy who just wants to help everyone. Hm… Sounds familiar, huh? KaBlam! also had an exclamation point and is hitting its strides about now, as a wacky variety-toon show presented like a living comic book.

            “Also on Nick is The Wild Thornberrys, about the adventures of a globe-trotting family—the smashing patriarch Nigel being voiced by Tim Curry. CatDog is also on, about conjoined, uh, cat-dog brothers, but… I was never a huge fan. I stuck to Ren & Stimpy for my gross-out humor. Oh, and there’s Angry Beavers, also about brothers living together, who happen to be… beavers. Live action Nick is still decent, too, with Kenan and Kel still fresh. Remember that first guy, who I mentioned in my previous list?

            “I brought up Recess before, which, like Arnold, emulated the childhood lore and legends stuff you saw at your school. Pokémon and its show are coming up and will get huge, but you already know all about that. I think Animaniacs and Pinky and the Brain are finishing this year, bringing an end to the 90s’ WB animation era. But also this year, Cartoon Network’s crime-fighting Powerpuff Girls hits it big. Hell, a lot of big toons are starting, or will soon. South Park is playing on cable right now. That’s insane. Not that you should be watching it at your age. And SpongeBob’s crazy-long run starts next year.”

            Jace pointed at his watch, telling Wes to wrap it up. He breathed in and did so.

            “In Animorphs, teens turn into beasts—and it’s still kind of a meme in 2020. Just like Texas-dad Hank Hill, from King of the Hill. Who, like the wise-cracking teens in Daria, came right out of Beavis and Butt-Head. Adolescent guys get the sci-fi Stargate SG-1 series, while girls gossip about teen drama Dawson’s Creek, and… well, probably all of us watched Buffy slay those vampires. And, uh… uh…” He scoured his brain. “Oh, yeah. Teletubbies. ‘For’ preschoolers. I can’t explain it, but I’m sure there are a few recreational-inclined college kids out there that’ll get a kick out of it. Okay. How’d I do?”

            “You tell me. I’m just still amazed you have all this floating in your head.”

            Wes got to his feet. “Okay. Let’s not keep Millie waiting another two years.”

            By the time they returned to downtown Royal Valley, after seeing more vacant storefronts on the way, the skies had become overcast and a light, warm drizzle was falling over the city. The new library had indeed been built despite the earthquake, looking just as it would by 2020. It was a modern, angular building with a sharp second floor that almost looked like a shark fin, and the parking lot was nearly full.

            “Looks busy, for a library…” Jace remarked as Wes shifted into park.

            “Yeah, it was a hotspot for a while, but I kind of wonder if… a lot of these people might just not have anywhere else to go on a Saturday afternoon.”

            “What do you mean by that?”

            “Just… something I don’t really want to start thinking about, yet.”

            Paying homage to the city’s prideful conservation of water and its innovative techniques around those efforts, the library was also the closest thing Royal Valley had to an aquarium, as several curving fish tanks formed archways into the various wings of the building, with over two dozen colorful species on constant display. The computer lab was also especially impressive, and Wes pointed it out as they came in.

            “I spent a lot of time in there around now, on the higher-speed internet,” he explained as they looked for Millie. “Beat the heck out of our 56k home connection.”

            Jace peeked into the corner where the children’s books were, to reminisce about all the times he had visited the place with his mom when he was younger. It was full of kids that had no idea they were growing up in a temporary universe. That thought made Jace very self-aware and uncertain, but he didn’t have any time to get introspective before he was hit by a “Boo!” from behind. He flipped around, and there was no mistaking it.

            Millie now relied on a smaller pair of glasses, and had about half a foot on him, but she otherwise looked pretty much the same, wrapped in a gray security hoodie with her black hair kept at her shoulders. She had graduated from composition books to a binder full of files, and from sneakers to a pair of serious-looking black boots.

            “Jace!” she exclaimed, and unable to help herself, went in for a tight albeit brief friendship hug. “Um, sorry, that’s not normally my thing—but it’s freakin’ been two years! How are you? Where’s Wes? Oh, man, I have so much to share with you guys.”

            “H-hi, Millie…” Jace replied and waved to get Wes’ attention. “You got tall.”

            “You didn’t. You don’t look a day older than when I last saw you.”

            “Well… it’s only been a few hours, for us.”

            “Right, right. But so much has happened since graduation.”

            “Millie,” Wes greeted her once he was done gawking at the computer lab and walked over. “That binder looks packed. Guess you did your homework.”

            “Y-yeah, heh, not much else to do… There are some reading tables up on the second floor, usually pretty empty. I have spent many, many hours here…”

            They went to the nearest set of stairs as rain started coming down harder on the windows and skylight, which brought a smile to Millie’s face.

            “I love the library on a rainy day,” she mentioned while they went up the steps.

            “You seem pretty well-adjusted, considering… everything that’s happened,” Wes said. “In the timeline I knew, by this point, most kids had forgotten you existed.”

            “Hm, well, that still isn’t too far off, at least outside the gang. But I don’t mind. Let’s me sneak around. Yeah… your circle of friends kind of tolerates me. Mostly.”

            They arrived at a table by a rain-pattered window, where Millie sat opposite of the guys and kept the binder close, not willing to give them a peek without approval.

            “So… first of all, how are you doing?” Wes asked her.

            “Mm… I’m good… yeah,” she replied, though it was in a way that suggested she was trying to hide neurosis of some kind. “Yeah, let’s start with me. I’m… I’m all right.”

            “You don’t seem… Okay, what’s up, Millie?” he pressed when he noticed that she couldn’t keep eye contact and was biting her lower lip nervously. “You sure you’re fine?”

            “No, sure, I’m totally fine. Living a very normal middle school life. Yep. I just… wake up with an existential crisis every morning, realizing all over that none of this really matters, and this entire reality, everything I know, will be erased. Amazing I get through some days, knowing there’s really no point in enjoying the newest movie or whatever. Ya know, on second thought, maybe you shouldn’t have told me none of this was supposed to happen. If I only expected to see you again in two years, I still would’ve made these files, but I’d also be ignorant and happier. But, it’s fine… I totally don’t hate you or anything.”

            “Agh… I’m sorry for that, kid… I know how messed up this is. I mean, I could go back and not tell you that part, if you want, and meet you right back here.”

            “N-no… Let’s not mess with things even further. What’s done is done.”

            “You positive about that?” Jace asked.

            “Yeah… Yeah, I mean, it’s not like you know how to stop the quake yet. Maybe I’d be even more miserable if I felt like it was something you couldn’t fix. Things have really gone to hell around here, especially at school. At least… now I know I’ll wake up from all this. Swapping this reality out for a hopeless abyss like that? I dunno…”

            “Well,” Wes sighed, “that’s what we hope to do—wake up. I’m sure that all sorts of research has been done on the quake that’ll help us, but first…” He eyed the binder.

            “Right… You must want to know just how bad things can get. Let’s see…”

            She pulled back the corners of every little file folder to pick one to start with, and settled on two. She yanked out well-organized printed worksheets with paperclipped photos and put them on the table for the guys to see. On top of a crowded file of text that included random notes, birthdays, affiliations, estimated GPA, school infractions, hobbies, dislikes, friends, and food interests were pictures of two girls. Felicity, who had dyed her hair black and wore heavy eyeliner, was scowling at the camera. On the other file, Willa had traded in her cat ears for spiky pink hair.

            “Felicity and Willa are the bad girls of Cookton. Suspended more times than I can count. I think they kind of bounce off each other and just make everything worse.”

            “Great start…” Wes muttered. “But what about my buds?”

            “I think we should work our way up to them… Oh, I forgot.” She dug back in and pulled the file for Trudy, who had cut her hair short and now had a nose piercing. “Yeah, that’s Trudy. Amazing what two years can do. She’s part of their trio.”

            “I’m guessing Tamatha wasn’t invited.”

            “Nope,” Millie said and added her file to the stack. “After Trudy called her a corporate sellout in sixth, the duo broke up for good. Now she’s just a nervous wreck who dresses in eccentric, mismatching clothes, roaming the halls of the school and trying desperately to make new friends. Who she eventually ends up stalking.”

            Tamatha’s photo was a buddy-selfie, with her nearly choking the life out of her temporary friend Millie, who had made a great sacrifice just to get the shot.

            “You said we’re ‘working our way up?’” Wes asked. “It gets worse than this?”

            “Oh, yeah. Let’s see…” She got out Park’s file—who looked relatively okay, other than the fact that he seemed to be wearing the same clothes from fifth grade.

            “Does he still sell stuff?” Wes wondered.

            “Nah. He spent the year trying to relive the glory days, by making up clubs. They don’t last; longest one was in a utility closet that got busted after three days.” She added Carson and Gerald to the pile, also looking like maladjusted punks. “And here are the bad boys of the school. They listen to edgy, angry music, while calling everyone posers.”

            Millie continued with more files, one after the next. “Robby, traumatized by the earthquake. Barely ever goes outside anymore, and reverted to his old TV-watching ways. Brian…” His photo was scary—he had gotten both tall and buff, so it was like someone had Photoshopped his head onto an athlete’s body. “Gave up his art and got super into sports, won’t shut up about football. And Wright… Ah, poor Wright…”

            “What the heck happened?” Jace asked upon seeing him with an eyepatch.

            “He gambles his allowance away, making dumb bets or blowing it on junk, but then lets others pay him to do stupid dares. He lost several teeth—and his right eye in… the incident, and yet he just keeps doing the same thing over and over! He never learns. But… here’s one ‘success’ story?” She showed off the most unsettling photo yet—of Delilah and Spice, both dressed fancifully, in a best friend pose together. “They bonded over fashion in sixth and became inseparable BFFs. Chaos theory, am I right?”

            Wes shook his head. “Uh, good for them, I guess, but that isn’t natural. They weren’t meant to be friends in a normal world. Some people just aren’t compatible.”

            “Guess that just goes to show how screwed up things are. Oh, and I don’t keep a file on December because I barely ever see her around anymore, but I’ve heard Colin talking about how she’s stressed at Everette—and feels bad about how her old friends are doing. Yeah, it’s been rough on most of us… Colin’s always worried about how he’s going to ‘flunk out’ from the academy, too. I don’t think he really likes it there, and he hasn’t made any new friends, either. But he still likes hanging out with you guys.”

            “I can’t get over Wright. Ugh, I’m so done with this world. What about… Zach?”

            “I don’t keep a file on him, either—actually, I don’t write about any of your closest friends, since I see most of them every day.  Zach just… parties. I’m sure all sorts of interesting stuff happens at these parties, but I don’t go, so I wouldn’t know.”

            “Well, nothing different in that regard. And Sadie?”

            “She and Celeste are hanging in there. The three of us get together sometimes.”

            “That’s good… How about me? Did I… happen to win a toy-related contest?”

            Millie blinked. “Um, no. But you and Celeste are a couple. You’ve gone to three movies together, held hands, sometimes you even kiss—badly—in the school halls…”

            As Jace couldn’t help but snicker, Wes groaned, “What is it with her? She was my date in my version of prom, and now this? We must be too young to see it won’t work.”

            “You two actually spend a lot of time together. I think because Jared and the Teller twins moved away…” Millie watched Wes’ eyes widen and added, “Yeah, your group’s pretty fractured. Jared’s folks got divorced and he left with his mom, and…”

            “Did anyone else move away?” Wes grumbled. “Man, it just gets worse…”

            “Vanni and Gavin did not. I think you mentioned that they were supposed to? Oh, but… here’s the really bad thing.” She looked at Jace. “Lucy… is also gone. Her dad didn’t want to live in a ‘quake zone.’ So they all packed up and went to Ohio.”

            Jace stared off into space upon hearing the news, and Wes tried to comfort him just a little bit with an assuring pat on the shoulder and replied, “Just one more excuse to not like my dad. Selfishly taking my only sibling away from me… And the twins?”

            “Well, they couldn’t stay. Not after their dad needed to find a new job. They went to Santa Clarita so Mr. Teller could work at Six Flags… Magic Mountain, I think.”

            “Why would he do that?”

            “Why would… Wait, you’re kidding, right? Haven’t you seen King Arcade?”

            “We’ve only seen downtown and the mall so far.”

            “Oh… Oh, wow…” She packed up all her files and got up. “Follow me.”

            Over in the computer lab, Jace stood by Millie and Wes leaned in as she opened a web browser and went to Yahoo’s search engine—Google was still another couple of months away from launching. She typed in “1996 Royal Valley Quake King Arcade” and went to the first result that appeared: the city newspaper’s online headline article that came out about a month after the graduation, and three months after the tremblor.

            “W-wait…” Wes stuttered after the text loaded, which he couldn’t fully grasp as the low-resolution image took a few more seconds to appear. “What the hell?”

            Jace read out loud, “‘King Arcade… Collapses?”

            “Yeah,” Millie said after they had taken in the sight of a crumbling theme park. “First it collapsed, and then, a week later…” She hit the back button and clicked on a later article, which turned ‘collapsed’ into ‘buried.’ “It… sank into the earth.”

            The image they used didn’t present enough of the space, as it just showed a mess of tangled metal that was once the Red Demon, reaching out from a heap of debris.

            “But… how does an entire amusement park just… fall into a hole?” Wes asked.

            Millie went back again, scrolled far down on the results, and opened an Angelfire webpage. As was typical, it had a black background, messy navigation, and a big banner at the top—this one a non-animated GIF of a Royal Valley map, with an epicenter wave coming from the King Arcade area, and a bigger one coming from far up north.

            “This site has all the info on the quake and ongoing investigations, if you want to check it out,” she explained. “What people don’t talk about enough is that there was a smaller quake under King Arcade before the big one, which they say caused the sinkhole. But this area isn’t even known for those! I actually used this site to write an article in the Cookton newspaper this year. Buuut… most of our readers thought it was all made up.”

            After letting out a disbelieving sigh, Wes proclaimed, “Let’s go see this.”

            With Millie stuffed into the back seat of the car, next to several boxes straight out of 1996, Wes pulled into King Arcade’s abandoned, weedy parking lot. They grabbed the umbrellas they had “borrowed” from the library, and headed out into the rain.

            Only the top of the crooked drop tower was visible above the blue wooden wall that surrounded the park. But Millie knew a secret spot. Near some graffiti was a loose board that could be pulled back to let them in, and see the park from the sunken but steady remains of the Ghosts and Freaks castle roof, which had crushed a segment of the park’s original fence. The place was an unsightly twisted nightmare, with remains of every attraction merging together. Rainwater flowed down an AquaZone slide, forming a waterfall that disappeared into the depths of the video game-themed chasm below.

            “This… is the biggest, craziest mess I’ve ever seen…” Jace remarked.

            “I told you it was bad,” Millie replied. “But, also weirdly fascinating to look at. If it was an art installation, I’d call it… ‘Childhood Buried Under 200 Tons of Concrete’.”

            “Okay, then,” Wes said. “A brand-new amusement park falls into a massive pit. I can see how something like that might kill local tourism… and create this timeline.”

            As he gazed into the mangled and wet ruins, Jace murmured, “So… what now?”

            “Now we… Take a breather and see a movie. I think The Mask of Zorro is playing.”