Chapter 6-Pepe

I think.....

That watch might be more trouble than it was worth.

As I was talking to Bob, he suddenly froze up on me, barely breathing.

“Bob?!” I said, “What's wrong? Speak to me man.” I shook him, trying to bring him back to reality. He just sat there and stared into space. Then he collapsed, lying very still on the floor.

Kevin’s father stood up and walked over to Bob, checking his pulse. He picked him up.

“Dad, what are you doing? What’s wrong with him? Will he be okay.” Kevin said worried.

“Right now is not the time to tell you what's happened. We need to save your friend before he stops breathing.” He carried Bob to another door and opened it. “Kids, you stay here. I need to deal with your friend.” He went into the room and slammed the door. No! I can help! And I’m not a kid, I’m a teenager.

“Is Bob dying?” asked Skippy very quietly. He looked really scared, and Skippy scared makes me scared. Because usually Skippy is not scared. Well, technically, none of us have ever been this afraid before. ‘Cause usually we’re not dealing with magic watches.

Hey, where is the watch anyway?

“Hey, you guys, have you seen the watch?” I asked

“No” said Kevin, “I never saw it. Bob would never show me.”

“Thats not what I meant. I mean, I can't find the watch. Its gone.” I started to check my pockets, cause, you know, it might be there. But of course, it wasn't. Why, cruel world, why!!!!!!!!

“What?!” screamed Kevin, “What?! So we pretty much worked our butts off trying to protect this watch, and its not even here!” He did have a point though. We saved the watch from those guys. And it wasn't even there. Granted, though, they were looking for the pearls not the watch. But the pearls were in the watch and… oh whatever.

“Look, lets not dwell on the past, shall we?” I said, being very smarticle, “Right now we need to focus on protecting ourselves and making sure Bob doesn't die! Easy as pie.”

“Easy for you to say.” Kevin said under his breath. You know, sometimes I just want to...no, keep it in Pepe, keep it in. I started walking around the room. Pretty normal, table, some chairs. Nothing weird or out of the ordinary, you know, until I turned to look in the corner of the room that you pretty much can't see.

Is Kevin’s dad like a mad scientist or something!

Beakers, jars of eyes, tweezers, etc. He even had some science stuff that I didn't recognize! How is that even possible?! I know, like, every piece of science equipment in the universe.

“Hey, Kev.” I said, “Are you seeing this? Like, all this lab stuff, just chilling here in the corner.” Seriously, how did we not notice this stuff before! I’m slipping up.

“OOOhhhhhkkkkkk. Something weird is going on here!”

“You just noticed. I wish Bob had never picked up that watch, this would have never have happened!” I screamed with frustration.

“Pepe, shut up!” Skippy screamed, “I’m scared, and you’re not making it any better! Now, can we please settle down, none of this arguing is helping!” Woah. Thats never happened before, like, never. Skippy is the last person you would ever think to scream with frustration. Like, this so new, I don’t know what to do. This is weird for me. I always know what to do, I’m really intelligent. Like a 150 IQ. Thats high, right?

After that, everything got really quiet. I’m really nervous now. Does no noise mean that Bob is dead? I hope not, or I won't have anyone to laugh at my horrible math jokes! Kevin’s mother came down the stairs, bearing sandwiches. You know, I didn't realize up till now how hungry I was. MMMMM, sandwiches!

“Kevin, I have some sandwiches for you and your little friends. Oh, and Graphten and Ralph are here, do you want me to bring them down?” she said in an angelic voice. Kevin’s mother is pretty hot, but not my type. And she is like, what, 60?

“Yeah, mom, send them down.” She set the sandwiches down and left. Once she left, I ran to the plate and grabbed a sandwich, scarfing it down as I walked away. Kevin was just looking at me with disgust. Don't judge Kevin, don't judge.

Graphten and Ralph walked down the stairs, staring around in shock and awe. Did I look that stupid when we walked down here? I hope not, or my reputation is ruined.

“Yo Kev,” Graphen said, grabbing a sandwich, “Nice place you got here. Your dad like, a crazy guy that sits in his basement all day? Cause I want to meet him.” Typical Graphten. Be lucky he isn't shouting at your face that the sandwich is too dry. Ralph, on the other hand, is very nice, kinda like a puppy. But don't tell him I compared him to a puppy. Its kinda weird and creepy.

Suddenly there was coughing from the other room.

“OMG, what the hell was that?! I’ll go get my baseball bat while you guys cower in a corner.” Graphten said, rushing to the stairs.

“No, wait, that was Bob!” I said. There were more coughs and some screams. What the frick is going on in there?! I wish I grabbed my dad’s battery ram before I left home. If only we owned one….

“Don’t panic everyone.” Kevin said, “Let’s calm down and act responsibly.” Does he not realize that what he’s doing isn’t gonna help when everyone else is screaming and running in circles. Calm and concentrated, not gonna work. If you want them to listen, you have to get Bob to scream. But of course he is dying. Plan B, get Graphten to yell. It’s a huge risk to unleash the anger of Graphten, but I’m taking that risk.

“Hey Graphten”

“What, I’m in the middle of this mess trying to freaking break down this door to get Bob and you bother me.” Okay then…

“If you actually had some sense, you would be getting them to calm down.”

“Oh I don’t have any sense.I wouldn’t be talking nerd. You and your idiot friends called me here just to scream like little babies.” I can’t believe I’m actually doing this.

“And who has the higher grades here? Who has a higher IQ? Me. That’s right. You wanna prove you’re not some moron, get these people to calm down.”

“You son of  a b-----” He said.

“Yeah, and another thing? You’re mama’s so fat were inside her right now!” Now I’ve done it. I’ve provoked the bear, so now we get the claws.

His face turned beet red, and he looked very, very angry. “You know what Pepe?! I never liked you anyway! You are always the one who will go around, saying how smart you are, and make people like me feel bad! I know I gets B’s and C’s, but does that really matter?! Apparently to you it does! I just came here to help, and you go off on me?! Like, what the f**k?!” Well, this did not turn out right. He was supposed to be like ‘We need to get together, peeps.’ I, for once, did not think this through. I’m ruined! He turned to the others. “And you people! You all need to fricken calm down, NOW!!!!! I’m going to explode!” Then what do you call this? Storm warning? But at least he told the others to calm down.

Everyone stared at me like I was a disgusting bug that came from the sewers. And thats what I get for helping these people. Oh well, they’ll praise me later.

Kevin walked over to me. “Pepe, you’ve doomed us all!”

“But it worked, didn't it? We all calmed down, we’re all mellow. You know, besides Graphten.”

Kevin pondered that for a moment. “That is true. But still, there were other ways to calm us down.” Yeah, yeah, Kevin. List you're methods, I’m not listening. Mine was the best, and you know it. Take that Kevin Woo!

I turned to Graphten. “Hey,Graphten, you can calm down. I only said those things so you could get everyone to calm down. Sorry ‘bout that.”

“What?! You were....were....acting?! What the hell?!” he screamed in my face. This part I had not planned.

“Look, I’m sorry about that, but we really needed to calm down. We don't have time to run around screaming, we need to focus. Bob is dying, and we have no idea what to do! That watch will change our lives, and we need to figure out how to stop it! Don't you want our lives to be normal.”

“OUR LIVES WEREN’T F*****G NORMAL IN THE FIRST PLACE.” Oh thanks Graphten, make everyone even more depressed. Kevin’s mother came down the stairs, carrying a plate of pancakes.Bob’s favorite, so is that a coincidence, or is Bob still alive?!

“Hey, kids, I brought some pancakes. Make sure to leave some for Bob though, he’ll be hungry when he wakes up.”

“He’s awake?! Where is he?! We have to see him!” I screamed.

Kevin’s mom sat the platter of pancakes down. “He’s not awake yet, but we did stop him from dying. He might be a little weird when we wake him up, so it isn't wise to see him just yet.” What?! I am not waiting to see my best friend! That is unthinkable!

“I’m sorry Mrs.Woo, but I can't wait. He is my best friend.”

“Pepe, its not very wise to see him after....... Well I can't tell you. I’m sorry. But you still can't see him. He’ll be....different after, all the time. I’m not the one to tell you.” She said, walking into the room with Bob. Something weird is going on, again. I can't stand not knowing, its never happened to me before. Oh cruel world!

“We need to sneak in there.” I said, “I need to see Bob.”

Kevin walked over to me. “Are you crazy?! You heard my mom, no going in there!”

“Arent you just a little curious? I mean, don't you want to see Bob?” I said, using my persuasive tone of voice.

“Yeah, but I’m not defying my mothers orders.” Sometimes I want to hit you Kevin. I know I’ve said that before, but its true.

“Well, then we can go see Robert.” I said calmly

“That’s the same thing...” Kevin said

“Not really. Your mom said we couldn’t see Bob. She never said we couldn’t see Robert.” Haha! I beat the system! I’m a ninja, I’m a ninja, I’m a ninja! Speaking of which I wanted to get a ninja costume for halloween this year. Everyone will be hating, but I don't care. I’m a ninja!

“You have one flaw, dorks,” Graphten said, “You can't just walk in there and be like ‘Hey we are ninjas cause we came to see Bob’. So, how are we getting in there?”

“Umm….didn’t think that far. Any ideas Kevin? This is your house.” I said.

“I think theres a air duct above that room. But I want no part of this shenanigan.” Kevin said, sitting down on a chair and grabbing a pancake.

“Fine, but don't expect and info when we come back.” I said. I tried to move, but my legs wouldnt move! What the hell?!  

“Its not wise to disobey your elders.” I heard. Was that Mr.Woo?

Kevin started to look around. “Dad, where are you? We can hear you, but not see you.”

“That is none of your business, my son. But you will know soon, if you are worthy.”

What is Kevin’s dad talking about? Worthy, Kevin, please! If anyones worthy, its moi. I’ve got boatloads of worth.

Kevin turned to me and told me in his ‘I told you so’ voice “See, we can't go spy on him now. You heard my father. No disobeying your elders.”

“I know I’m all obedient and stuff,” Ralph said, “But, I was curious as to what happened with Bob. I mean, is he dead or alive?”

“Well, technically, he can be both.” I said.

“What?! Thats impossible. You're either dead or alive, not both. And you call yourself smart.” Graphten said, almost done with his rage.

“No. Have you ever heard of Schrodinger's cat?”

I heard one yes and two no’s. Kevin, being almost as smart as me, knew what it was. But Ralph and Graphten didn't.

“Well, Schrodinger was a physicist and he did an experiment with a cat and a box. It was for this problem about Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics applied to everyday objects. This cat may be dead or alive, depending on an earlier event. In that box is of course the cat, but there is also a very small amount of radioactive substance and if the internal monitor detects the substance, the bottle with poison in it breaks and the cat dies. If it doesn't, the cat lives.”

Graphten looked really confused. “But can't they just open the box and find out? Or are they just that lazy that they won't open it?”

“Well, thats the thing, they won't open it. Cause if they do they’ll see the cat alive or dead.  If they don't open it, it poses the question of when exactly quantum superposition ends and reality collapses into one possibility or the other.”

“I will never understand that, but okay.” Just then, Mr. Woo walked out of the room. He looked frazzled, and he was covered in blood. OMG!!!!

Kevin ran over to his father. “Dad, what happened?! Is Bob okay, I mean,is he alive?!”

“He’s....fine, son. It would be best if you're friends went home, though. I’ll call you when Bob is better.” That won’t work out well. Those crazy guys will try to kill us if we touch even one molecule out of Kevin’s front door!

“Umm, Mr.Woo, we can't exactly do that. You see, those crazy guys that stuffed us into a closet probably know by now that we tricked them, so if we leave we will die.”

Mr. Woo looked really surprised about this new information. “What?! Now you tell me?! What did these guys look like?”

I actually don't know. I mean, we never really saw them and they were dressed like doctors, so they looked quite ordinary.

“They had red eyes, and they had a very deep, almost guttural voice. And underneath their doctors uniforms, they wore a red and black suit kind of thing.” Kevin explained. How did he see all of this? I couldn't even tell if they were a boy or a girl.

Kevin’s father looked just as surprised as me. “They were wearing what?!”  He started mumbling to himself. “I thought maybe they were maybe the queen's servants from Dramlin or some curious Campells. But Mandligs, thats another story. Maybe if they were Zenyls I could deal with them, but Mandligs....”

“Umm, Mr. Woo, what's wrong?” Skippy said. I forgot he was here, he was so quiet. Poor guy, this must be so terrifying. I know it is for me.

“Something horrible is going on, Mr.Thompson, something horrible indeed. And I’m afraid you and your friends will be involved.” Wait, what?!

“Please, sit down. We have much to discuss.” Mr. Woo said, as if nothing had just happened. What is with this man?! “First, what do you know about this watch and the pearls?”

“Not much, some of us not at all. All we pretty much know is that its gone and it was shiny. I have a list of qualities it had though? Would you like to see it?” I said, already taking out the list.

“No, Pepe, I already know what it looks like. But please give me the list anyway. We don't want anyone laying their hands on it and finding because you gave them a vivid description.” Oh, woops. I never thought of it that way. Bad Pepe, bad!

“Oh, sorry.” I said, handing it to him. He ripped it up into little pieces and put it in his pocket. Now, why would he do that when there is a perfectly good garbage can?

“Now, do you know what the watch is? Like, its purpose and what it does?”

This guy has lost his marbles. “We know what a watch does. It tells you the time, although a digital watch is much more convenient.”

“This watch is different, though. It can do things, things you would never have seen. I know its hard to believe, but its true.” Yeah, and my underpants can do a tap dance. I’ll believe it when I see it.

“What kind of things,” asked Ralph, “Like, can it tell you the time in all of the countries?”

“No, no nothing like that. This watch cant tell time, its way older than the invention of the watch anyway.” How old is this thing?! Older than my grandmother?!

“Well, if it doesn't tell time, then what does it tell” I asked.

“Nothing, nothing at all. It is almost like a teleporter, but to much farther and more dangerous places. Like Mandlig and Zenyl.”

“You're saying this like its completely normal?” Skippy said, “Like you deal with this everyday. Who are you? Some creepy guy who belongs in a psych ward?” Are you talking about yourself Skippy? I mean not to be rude, but still. And what the hell are Mandlig and Zenyl? Is Kevin’s dad some spy and those are just code words. If this thing really teleported, where too? Does it teleport things to you or you to other places? Can I teleport a taco from Bell into my hand? How does teleporting work?

“Mr.Thompson, I’ll have you know that I do not belong in a psychiatric hospital, now Kevin, do you remember anymore about the guys.” I wasn’t even paying attention anymore. My mind was concentrated on the concept of teleportation. So is there a vortex where you travel through space and time and reach somewhere else in the world, or is it like you turn into small tiny molecular figures, are transported through the air and then are recreated. Can it transport only one thing at a time?Was is normal teleportation or quantum teleportation? Could it only teleport through long distance or could be short distance, like from here to my house. Oh crud… My dad is going to be so mad! Maybe I could use the watch to teleport home and… It’s no use. ugh. The second that this complication is over I will be grounded for life. I heard my name.

“Pepe! Yo are you listening!” Graphten yelled in my face. Kevin looked at me as if he was the most responsible kid in the world and  that it was a disgrace to see my face. He never gets it does he. He’s not the perfect kid… no one will be. That’s when I acted very rashly and didn’t think about anything and punched Kevin. He ducked, and screamed “What the frick?! That was unreasonable.”

I actually have no clue why I punched him. It was like, instinct or something. Kevin’s father was looking at me strangely, as if I just grew an extra body part or something. What is with that?

“Pepe, why did you punch my son? What has gotten into you?”

“I don't know” I said, “I just..”

“No, no. I mean, literally, what has gotten into to you? Something is not right.” He walked over to me, and stared into my eyes. I feel very awkward and violated. Who does this guy think he is, my mother?!

“Whats going on?” asked Ralph, “Is Pepe alright? Is this what happened to Bob?”

“No, Mr. Stevens, Pepe is not sick. He was, in fact, possessed by one of the people you were tricking. They know where we are!” he said urgently. “And now that you have overcome the spell, they will be here shortly. Gather everything you can from my library, and evacuate!”