Chapter Twenty-Eight: Arx

Earth 4 2017

Again, I obviously sit next to Mad again. Surrounding her are the friends I saw from across the hall. One girl, tall and blonde, sits at the very back, on her chromebook. When the teacher makes her put it away, she pulls out a drawing, and i can see a book as backup. She can’t seem to sit still. The other friend is the one that tried to steal the necklace. I notice Mad tirelessly sifts through her science notebook, looking for something in particular. I notice it’s more drawings than notes. Mad finally finds what she was looking for.

“Yes! I finally found it!” She holds up a paper triumphantly, but immediately sets it down and starts revising it.

“Whatcha working on?” I ask, obviously curious.

“A certain theory of mine,” Mad answers, and rests her head in her hand and keeps erasing, drawing, erasing, writing. I look over her shoulder and start. The drawing is so familiar, I can’t help but whisper excitedly: “You know about the other dimensions?” Mad strokes her chin and brightens.

“There are other dimensions?”

“Yeah, they figured that out in…” I pause, and realize what I was about to say.

“When?” It’s too late now, as Mad is already onto me. My face goes red.

“Ummm… 2060…” I stammer. Mad’s eyes go as wide as dishes, and her smile nearly touches her ears. “So that means… holy falcon mute, this is awesome.”

“What now?”

“2060!! Wow!!” the computer girl butts in.

Mad shrugs. “My excuse for swearing in school. What were you saying?” She writes the rest on the paper. So time travel has will happen? I stare her straight in the eye.

“Yes,” I answer. “It has.”

That night, I stay at Mad’s house. Her mom is really nice and lends me a sleeping bag and matress. “Jules and Kato are coming over too,” she says.

“Who?”

“Some other friends.” By this time, we are in Mad’s room. The walls are covered with photos and drawings of falcons. “My birthday’s in three days, so we’re having a sleepover.” The guests arrive and I easily realize that Kato is the computer girl, and that Jules is the other blonde. “By the way, what’s your real name?” Mad asks. “I have a feeling the Latin word for mountain isn’t what it actually is.”

“Arx,” I answer. I can already tell Mad can keep secrets. Even though she nearly hit the roof in science (which is kind of high), she stayed in control and didn’t burst out. Jules butts in.

“That’s kinda a weird name. By the way, what’s this about time travel? Wait a minute…” She turns to Mad. “Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”

“Black Hole Project 13,” they say in unison. Jules grabs her computer, flipping it open to a story that they’re apparently writing. “Look,” Jules says, pointing. “Any of those names look familiar to you?”

“All of them,” I reply in shock. There’s Lauren and Miles, Leo, names from the group I ran into, Roki, Leo’s assistant, all of them there, on one page. Even Jomo. “How do you know these names?”

“Well, Leo, Stella, Kallie, Marc, and Rose are my characters,” Jules explains, “Roki, Bunni, Lucki, Shock, and Misti are Kato’s characters…” she trails off, glancing at Mad, as if for permission.

Meanwhile, Mad is fiddling with a pencil from her desk. “I made the Sophos Gang and Jomo. You know what sophos means, right?”

“Yeah,” I say, but don’t bother explaining.

“What does sophos mean?” Jules asks, confused. “Mad never got around to telling me.”

“Ummm… it’s wise in Latin,” Mad says quickly. “Don’t ask.”

“What am I not asking? Whatever it is, consider me asking.” Jules grins.

Mad quickly changes the subject. “What else were you saying?”

“Arx… Did you just come from Leo’s lair?” Jules asks hesitantly.

“Yeah,” I say. Her eyes widen.

“Mad, what was it we were just writing?” Jules looks to Mad, then her computer screen. “Oh Flacon Mute. We can see the future. We were just writing about that. And before, the group on Neptune 43, when you met them they were on Pluto 4, you almost got cornered by Leo, oh FLACON MUTE WE CAN SEE THE FUTURE!!!” Jules is hysterical now, pacing back and forth across the room, holding her computer in front of her. “What does this mean??”

“We can make what happens in the future??”

Mad runs her finger through her hair. “What now, are you going to bring up that epically confusing discussion we had last month?”

Now I can tell that Mad and her friends are anything but ordinary.

“You mean the one we had about time travel while walking to lunch that one day?” She scrolls through their story. “The day we WROTE THIS HAPPENING??”

Mad looks annoyed. “Yeah.”

“OF COURSE I’M GOING TO BRING IT UP!!! Oh Flacon mute, remember my idea??” She lowers her voice. “The one about… ya know, who Arx actually is?” Mad nods, biting her finger.

“What?” I ask. Now I’m confused.

“If this is real…” Jules gasps again. “Then so is that.” She seems to realize something. “Should we tell her?”

“I guess, since we already brought everything else up. You do the honors.”

“Arx… Mad is you. In the past, now, anyway. According to my theory, Mad disappears sometime after… well… now, and then you wake up in the future with no memories. You’re the same person. You even look the same! You have the same freaking hat!!” Jules exclaims, waving her hands in the air. “You can’t deny the evidence.”

Mad takes her hat off and studies it. “I must’ve left it. wouldn’t that explain why you found it in 2051 at my grave?”

“You’re not buried there, though. It was put up when you disappeared…” Jules trails off, glancing at me to see how I’ll respond to all this information. For the moment, I’m just numb. “Well, how if this all supposed to work out?” I ask. “I came back to change something revolutionary so a few things will be tweaked in the future.”

“We wrote this happening, and just before that, we were discussing what if it were real… and now it is,” Jules says wistfully, not listening.

“Did you hear what Arx… umm, I mean, future me just said?!” Mad asks, more annoyment evident in her voice.

“Yes, was it important? Just call her Arx, by the way,” Jules replies.

“It was…” Mad now looks on the verge of destroying something.

“I didn’t really understand. What does it mean?” Jules asks.

“I wanted to change the past to change the future,” I reply impatiently. “So Leo willn’t be able to change anything.”

“No NO NO NO NO! Who knows what will happen?” Jules says, exasperated. “You can’t do it, you might make the whole group not born!”

“Mad, it’s too risky!!” Kato insists. “I like myself, thank you very much!!”

“Which one?” Mad and I ask in unison.

“Not our group, Kato, the group with Bunni and Stella and Kallie and Marc and all of them!” Jules rolls her eyes. “She can’t make us not born by doing something in the future. I don’t think Leo’s even born yet here.”

“You never know,” she retorts.

“I don’t think he is,” Mad says. “According to us, he’s 31.”

“What year is this taking place?” Kato asks.

“We never discussed it,” Mad replies, now calmer. Jules nods, scrolling through the story.

“I remember specifically not wanting to specify a year,” Jules adds, still scrolling.

“So... this could happen at anytime? Mad can disappear, like, NOW?” Kato says, a strain in her voice.

“Yeah,” Mad replies, her voice low.

“Sooooo, since we have that all worked out,” I say, “Can we discuss what I should do?”

Everyone sits in silence for a while, thinking. Suddenly Mad pops out of her chair. “I have an idea!” she shouts. Realizing what she is about to say, she sits back down and says it in a lower voice. “I should go with Arx to the future.” The room falls silent again, but this time, it is like the silence in a graveyard.

“Works for me,” Jules says, “If you come back.”

“But if you die, then I’ll die too,” I argue. “If you’re my past self.”

“Fair point,” Jules says. “Mad, you’re staying here until you disappear, okay?”

“Why? I’m not Arx yet.”

“Mad should go now,” Kato argues. “The sooner you get it over with the sooner you get back.”

“But she might DIE!!!” Jules explodes.

“No, we’ll just write that she lives,” Kato says with a smile.

Author's Note

Yikes...

Reviews

[Peregrinator7]

"You’re the same person. You even look the same! You have the same freaking hat!!"

im saving this. great quote.

[Locke Redwyne (night sys)]

you have the same hat! that must mean that you're the same person, right?! i love 7th grade-us logic

[Peregrinator7]

this was 8th grade if im not mistaken

[Locke Redwyne (night sys)]

uh
oh yeah that right i can memory XD

[Jay_Bluefire]

We'll just write that she lives YOU MEAN YOU'LL JUST WRITE THAT SHE LIVES IT'S YOUR POWER =D

[Jay_Bluefire]

Wait Kato said that sorry JULES' POWER

[Locke Redwyne (night sys)]

XD 10 characters