THE JOURNEY Parts 1-6

It laid, the cold steel eyes glaring up at them. Tears silently flowed down Julie's cheeks as she gazed upon the loved face. "What...what will we do?" she said, whispering to herself. "Ohhh....what will we do?" The door swung open as her brother Donovan came madly into the room. "Julie, what the..." he looked at the body on the floor, pale, grey, dead. "Did you do this, Julie!?" he yelled, his voice cracking, looking terrified at the white face of his beloved sister. He saw her swiftly crash to the ground, her head thumping against the cold tile floor. He knelt down to her, un-knotting her arms from beneath her and laying her on her back so she wouldn't suffocate. Donovan crept out of the door, to think of what to do next. When he was outside, he simply cried. The body was of his father, Doctor Elias Browne, who had previously been expirimenting the limits of time and space. He worked for a top-secret government agency, and his wife, Donovan and Julie's mom, had died right after Julie was born, in a mysterious experiment accident. That was all Donovan knew. He sunk to the ground on his wobbly knees, sobbing and running his fingers through his hair. He was only sixteen. He wasn't old enough to legally care for Julie on his own. He knew it wasn't Julie's fault for what happened; he strongly suspected that one of his father's latest experiments had gone terribly wrong. He crept, knee's still weak, to his father’s laboratory- he needed to find some answers. The light was still on, as well as the computer and electric tubes. He glanced at the computer and books, still open, to see if there was anything he could find. Nothing very interesting, just the usual time and space mathematical whats-its he didn't know anything about. He viewed, then, a piece of paper that was strangely stuck between the mat and the lab table. He gulped as he read: MY BODY IS DEAD, BUT I AM NOT. I AM IN ANOTHER DIMENSION IN ANOTHER UNIVERSE, PERHAPS. I HAVE FOUND A WAY TO TRAVEL IN THE LENGTHS OF TIME AND SPACE WITHOUT HAVING MY PHYSICAL BODY EVER LEAVE THE SPOT. X=ML2-- THE FORMULA FOR TRAVELING IN THIS WAY. YOU WILL SOON FIND ME, THOUGH NOT HOW YOU EXPECT. DAD.....

Donovan quickly stuffed the paper into his jeans pocket. He wiped away his lingering tears with his sleeve and started to walk towards the door, but paused. He had to tell Julie. She was only fourteen- would she understand? He bit his lip. She'd never talk to him again if she found out that he didn't tell her the reason of her beloved father's death. He walked into the room and was surprised to see that she was awake, huddled up against the wall, tear stains all over her face criss-crossing down her cheeks and nose. "Julie," he began, taking several deep breaths, "I know how father...'died'." She looked up and grimaced, rubbing her forehead. "How?" It was barely a question, just a secondary thing to her, seeing the body just lying on the tile, eyes still open but obviously unblinking. "He isn't." Julie's face lit up with puzzlement, and she stood up so quickly Donovan wouldn't have caught it if he blinked. "What is the MATTER with you, Donovan? What the heck are you trying to do to me? Dad is DEAD! Stop!" She ran hurriedly from the room. He thought, so maybe she wouldn't be the best person to deal with this with. He guessed he could call Cole, the smartest guy in his school, whose only reason for not skipping about 3 grades was that he purposefully did badly because he'd get picked on in higher grades. Cole would maybe understand x=ML2, or something else that his father said. Donovan gulped. Why was he so readily accepting that the note wasn't a suicide note? But he knew that his gut instinct was telling him to believe his father's word and not call 9-1-1. Instead he walked back into the laboratory and dialed Cole's number. Cole wasn't really a friend of his, but because of the peculiarity of his father and his work her didn't have "friends". Cole answered. "Uh, hi, Cole, this is Donovan Browne. I really need your help." Donovan was lucky that Cole was such an accepting person, anyone else would have told him to beat it. "See, there's this formula, x-ML2...."

Donovan was glad that Cole listened so intently and didn't think he was joking around. he finished his story and waited for Cole's reply. "Well," Cole sighed, "that seems quite extraordinary." Donovan's heart sunk. Cole continued. "But it is not impossible. I have always believed in alternate universes and dimensions, I have researched much. I have access to government files through my father, but I am not allowed to say what he does. So, quite frankly, I will help you." Donovan stifled a whoop of happiness and tried to redeem himself. "Thank you so-o-o much Cole, you're a really big help. Can you come over in a few minutes?" Cole laughed. "I can be there in a few seconds. Haven't you ever noticed that we are neighbors?" Donovan pulled up the blinds and saw that right across the street a guy with his shades up was waving at him. "Oh, that's YOUR house? I always thought that it was awfully high-tech. You know, steel doors, no windows, etcetera." Cole sighed in reply. "That's just how it is. I'll be over in a few minutes, I must gather up my supplies and papers and books. I'll talk to you soon, Donovan." Cole hung up. Donovan put down the phone and went to look for Julie. "Julie, Julie," he called, beckoning for his vanished sister. he found her in her room, a mass of sheets and quilting on a steel bed. "What do you WANT. Get the heck away from me." She tugged the sheets over her head. "If you don't let me explain, all will be lost, Julie. LET ME EXPLAIN." She sat up, still glaring at him. "Fine. make it quick." And so he explained the note and Cole and the experiment that he suspected dad performed. At the end of his explanation he looked dumbfounded. "i don't know why, Donovan, but I believe you." She got up and hugged her brother as the downstairs door swung open. "it's me-e-e-e, Cole-e-e-e...."

Donovan and Julie both lept up from her bed as they heard Cole calling them. "Coming, Cole, coming!" Donovan called, rushing downstairs in freak anticipation of the time to come. "Okay, guys, I've got all my stuff, but I must explain some things to you. Please sit down," said Cole as soon as they got to him, and Donovan, Cole, and Julie synchronously sat down on the couch. "Alright. Um... this may come as a bit of a shock but, well... I know how to get your parents back. It just may take a lot of work." Julie's mouth dropped open and she lept up from the couch. "But...but how? Cole, HOW???" Cole smiled sadly and said, "Then, I must tell you what my father does for a living. Donovan, Julie, he's a time traveler. The government has found ways to go through time... which may or may not be a good thing, at times. They haven't found the way to alter history, but the portal to other dimensions...well quite frankly, is in our basement." Donovan was stunned. A portal through time…that was his dad's life work in a sentence. "Are...are you KIDDING me? Do you know how to go to other dimensions, stuff like that?" Cole looked sheepish for a minute. "Um...yeah, I guess." Donovan whooped with joy and pounded Cole on the back. "Great, let's go!" Donovan and Julie rushed out the door before they could hear Cole answer, "Well, at least I THINK I know how to use it..."

They all barged into Cole's house, running down the stairs to his basement. "Guys, I really don't know about this..." Donovan shook his head. "We have to, you know, calm down about this. We have to get used to it somehow." Cole then led them to a place in the corner of the basement, and advanced toward a large, heavy door but paused. "Are you guys TOTALLY sure?" Donovan and Julie both rolled their eyes. "Oh, very well then.." He pushed open the door and what was behind it is nearly indescribable. It was filled with a liquid-y blue-ish substance that sometimes gave way a bit towards them and seemed to be beckoning them. "Shall we?" Cole said, and jumped into it. "Alright, now I'm not so sure about this…" Julie whimpered, chewing on her nails intently. "Alright then, get ready and-!" He pushed her thru the liquid. "Well, now she's taken care of... now I gotta go…" He took a deep breath, contained himself, and jumped through, having no idea of the dangers that lied ahead....

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