Okay, now I was worried.

The clock on the TV said it was 9 PM. There's been no sign of my parents all day long, and I didn't so much as receive a phone call-- "Wait. Didn't I have a cell phone?" My eyes went wide as the realization struck me. "Maybe they did and I just didn't know it!" I leapt to my feet and raced upstairs to my room with a few of the dogs trailing along behind me, eager to see what I was doing now.

I burst into my room and immediately turned it upside down in search of my cell phone. Finally, after almost ten minutes of searching, I found it on the floor beside my desk- tucked away in a corner so it was annoyingly difficult to find. "It must have fallen off the desk either when I was sucked in, or when I was released." I reasoned.

I pressed my thumb against the fingerprint scanner on the back of my phone and cursed when nothing happened. Of course the damn thing wasn't charged.

I dropped onto my bed and fished the charging cable out from my bedside drawer. At that point, it only took a few more seconds before I had the charging cable inserted into the phone and was waiting on it to boot up.

I was thoroughly annoyed at my younger self for not having the sense to charge it every day... Then again, it wasn't like I was expecting any phone calls. You kind of needed friends for that, and I was sorely lacking in that department- even moreso now.

The home screen appeared a minute later and I cursed at the fifteen missed notifications.

Most were junk, just app notifications for the twelve dozen games I had downloaded onto my phone. I had one email from a teacher at my school, a Mrs. Mathis; but I didn't recognize the name straightaway. Two text messages; one from my service provider alerting me to the fact that I had used up my monthly data supply and would have to wait for the next cycle to get more.

The other text message was from my dad.

["I left you a voicemail explaining the situation. Tried to call, but I guess you were already asleep. Call me back when you see this."]

Sure enough, the only remaining notification was for a voicemail from my dad's cell. I followed the notification to my voicemail inbox and stared at the minute and twelve second long message. With shaking hands, I pressed play.

("Hey, buddy. I tried to reach you but I guess you were already asleep, huh? Listen, your mom and I got a phone call from your uncle David. He wouldn't explain over the phone, but it sounded urgent, so we're flying down to florida to meet him.") There was a pause as someone, most likely my mother, yelled from the other room. ("I'm getting to that.") He chuckled at something mom said. ("Your mom and I have been thinking about going back to our old jobs; I know what you're probably going to say, there's no need for us to be worried. But that's the thing, kiddo- we're always going to be worried... We need to have a talk when get back. The three of us will order pizza and we'll sit down and have a family talk, okay? There are some things that you need to know, about your mom and me. You're old enough now to understand... I guess that's it. Sorry we couldn't come home to say goodbye in person, love you.") . The voice message cut off with an audible click.

I wiped at my cheek with my free hand and set the phone down on the table. "This was not how I wanted this to go, I was an adult, Damnit. Hearing dad's voice shouldn't make me cry." I fell backwards onto the bed and kicked my shoes off. "Well, that explains where my parents went."

Uncle David lived somewhere on the outskirts of Miami, Florida. I think I only saw him a few times growing up; family functions, funerals, stuff like that. He did come to Thanksgiving one year, but didn't stay very long before he packed his bags and left in the middle of the night. Which was basically how David always was.

He handled security for the rich and powerful; politicians, actors, I think he handled security for a Duke somewhere overseas too- but that could've been Bullshit. Point was, his job was always calling him away at strange hours. It was actually for that very reason that dad retired... Yeah, my dad and David were partners in the company. But because they were always on the move, and I was basically tied to a hospital, my dad decided to step down in order to take care of me.

I did think it was funny that David was actually my mom's brother, not my dad's. But from the way they acted when they were together, you could've sworn that it was my father and David who were siblings, not my mom, who was the complete opposite of the eccentric ' uncle David'.

I let out a sigh and closed my eyes. "The least you could've done was come home." I mentally chastised them... Then again, it wouldn't have helped. I wouldn't have been around for them to say goodbye to.

I checked the time once more and made the decision to give them a call, let them know I was doing okay. I still thought it was weird that they hadn't called, normally mom would have called at least a dozen times by now. But if they are busy helping David, then it would explain why they were radio silent.

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I found my mom's cell phone number in my contacts list, figuring she would probably be more available than dad, and hit the dial button.

["We're sorry, the person you are trying to reach is not available at this time. Please try again later."]

I pulled the phone away from my ear and frowned at the screen. It hadn't even rang once before the call disconnected. "Do they not get service at David's house?" I wondered.

It was possible, I supposed. Our carrier boasted nationwide calling, but we got zero service if we so much as walked around the block.

I shrugged it off and set the phone down. I would try again tomorrow, possibly before I headed off to school. Hopefully they were somewhere with service by then, and I could hear their voices for real...

I stood up and prepared to take a bath before bed. I had to get up early in the morning so I could bike to school... Oh, that's gonna suck.

----------------------------------------

Your vitality has increased by 1!

(Bike Riding) has reached the maximum number of experience points and is breaking through to level 2.

Bike Riding Passive Level 2 (0.00% / 100.00%)

Your ability to ride bicycles and other two wheeled vehicles has improved.

All two wheeled vehicles take 2% less energy to use.

"Oh... Shut up... Why don't you?" I panted. Cars honked as they drove past the half dead boy on the bicycle, pedaling like his life depended on it.

The only good thing about the morning was my vitality had gone up by three points since I left the house. That was a good thing, more vitality meant more health, more health meant I was harder to kill. Not that I thought anything would try to kill me, but you never know when I would get into an accident.

A squatted pickup truck blazed past me, while the driver held down their cruise ship siren of a horn. I almost crashed my bike into a parked car in an effort to get away from the ear piercing sound. I brought the bike to a complete stop, and glared at the truck driver. The teenage driver inside; tall, good-looking, and built like a brick wall, flipped me off while his buddy in the passenger seat laughed uproariously.

Despite spending five years in the other world, I knew who the owner of that truck was. I couldn't forget them even if I tried: Chad Baxter, son of the high school football coach, and world-renowned asshole. I heard that two years ago, while competing in the asshole Olympics over in Japan, Chad was awarded not only a gold medal, but a plaque certifying him as the world's greatest asshole. Truly a prestigious award, and one he was damn proud of.

Dealing with him and his buddies was one thing I didn't miss in the other world.

I checked the clock on my phone and cursed. It was already 6:45 AM, and I was still several miles from the school. I pushed off the ground and began pedaling as hard as I could. I really couldn't afford to be late today.

I grimaced as I remembered the email I received last night, and why I was so determined to make it on time today.

["Missed you today. We'll have to double up on your algebra session to recover the lost time."] The email was signed; Mrs. M

I only knew of one Mrs. M, and that was Mrs. Allison Mathis: Friend of my parents, my homeroom teacher, and mother of the girl I'd been crushing on since I first saw her at a birthday party when we were six; Sophia Mathis: Straight A student, track star extraordinaire, and completely oblivious to my existence.

I redoubled my efforts and pushed myself even harder.

A new skill has been created due to your actions!

Blind rush

Level MAX (0.00% / 0.00%) Cost | 20 SP per / Sec

When you're in a hurry, you're in a hurry.

By disregarding everything around you and focusing on nothing but moving forward, you can temporarily increase your movement speed by 100%

My speed suddenly doubled, and my bike shot forward fast enough to nearly dislodge me. I held on for dear life and pedaled as hard as I could. I could feel my stamina draining by the second, and I knew the skill wouldn't last long.

But I could see a few situations where this skill would be very handy indeed...