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Mandela On Fire
Bats in the belfry

Bats in the belfry

Josh and Kyle were on their way to Josh's parents' house for a party and were running late. The party had started at 7:30, and it was already 7:45. Josh's phone range, and it was his mom. Kyle could only hear Josh's side of the conversation:

"Yeah, mom. We're on our way."

"About 15 minutes."

"Ok. See you soon."

Josh sighed after he hung up the call. He looked briefly at Kyle who just shrugged. The sun had already set, and they were coming around a bend in the road. The road weaved around a small pond, and Josh could see the reflection of a full moon on the surface. Josh turned to say something about the moon to Kyle, when suddenly everything went black, like an extended eye blink.

The sounds of bells suddenly filled Josh's ears, and he opened his eyes. He was staring at Kyle, and Kyle was staring back at him. Both with confused, lost expressions. The bells continued. They both turned to look ahead to see a car was pulled over by a cop just ahead of them. More confused looks, followed by the sound of Angus Young's Gibson SG ringing out the familiar riff of AC/DC's "Hell's Bells". Just then, Josh's phone rang.

"Yeah, mom. I said we're on our way... we'll be in there in 15 minutes."

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"What? What do you mean?"

Josh had a strange and lifeless feeling, like he was having an out of body experience.

"No, mom. I just talked to you like, a minute or two ago."

"Are you on something, mom?"

At that moment, Josh looked at the clock in his car. It read 8:47. He thought maybe Kyle or Kyle and his mom were pulling a prank on him. He looked at Kyle, "Dude... what are you up to?"

Kyle's confused grimace met Josh's incrimination. "Huh?"

"Come on, are you pranking me?"

"What are you talking about, dude?"

Kyle put his hands to his temples and rubbed gently. "Man. My head is hurting all of the sudden."

"Mom, I'll call you back."

"Kyle... did you see that car or that cop before?"

"No. And my head is killing me. It's like I blacked out or something."

"Dude, check your phone. What time does it say?"

Kyle pulled his phone from his pocket and looked at it. He made a squinty, strange face and tried to decipher what time his phone said, and why it seemed weird. "It says 8:48?"

"Mine too. But didn't I just talk to my mom a few minutes ago when it was 7:45?"

"Yeah... " Kyle admitted, uncomfortably.

"Did you black out? I was driving, then everything just went black. But it seemed like only a second. And where did that cop come from?"

"I don't know. I feel strange, and this headache is killing me." Kyle put his face into his hands.

Josh rubbed his eyes. The cop had finished with the car ahead, which was pulling away. The cop’s emergency lights went out, and a minute later, the cop drove off. Josh's car was running, and in drive, with his foot on the brake, he realized. He lifted his foot off the brake and the car started to roll slowly, then he pressed the accelerator pedal. As they sped around the lake, they could no longer see the moon.