Chapter 3

David was mentally tired. Being around so many people was draining after so many years with only his family. But he knew that he needed to start getting his space squared away or he would continue to feel as though he was behind the 8 ball. He entered the house with Tom and took his shoes off and set them aside next to the door.

First order of business, get my room cleared up. I know that I used to hold on to junk all the time, and as I haven’t settled in yet here, most of it is probably still in boxes. That will be convenient to sort.

“Dave, Tom how was school boys?” their mom called from the kitchen where she was going through a pile of papers.

“It was fine, no issues,” David responded.

“I made some new friends, and we are going to meet at the park. They said there is a giant cave in the woods…” David tuned Tom out as he excitedly explained everything to their mom.

David headed to his room and began at the top of the pile. The clothes were sorted, boxes full of papers checked through making sure nothing important was hidden by the handouts, and his old toys were sorted and repacked to be sent away for other kids. David remembered that cleaning seemed like such an ordeal when he had been young, but with his new mindset and memories, he was able to get his room cleared up and in what he preferred as an ordered space in less than an hour. His first trip with a box caught his mom’s attention.

“What are you doing?” she asked as she looked up from the pile of papers.

“Just getting my room cleaned up. I also gathered up my old toys and wanted to send them off to Salvation Army or Goodwill. What are you working on, Ma?”

David’s mother had an incredulous look on her face as she stared at him.

“You cleaned? And you are getting rid of things? David, what happened today?”

David felt confused. He hadn’t changed that much, had he? Was it really so strange he had cleaned up?

“Nothing much mom, it was just cluttered and it was like an itch. I started cleaning and before I knew it, everything was cleared up.”

“Uh-huh… well just put the toys in the garage. There should still be some boxes in there.”

“And are the trash cans in there? I apparently moved a lot of junk when I packed before.” David’s mom was now squinting at him, her paperwork now completely ignored.

“Dave, you were being strange this morning. Then as soon as you get home, you start cleaning. And now you’re saying that you moved junk? Will you explain what you are up to?”

David set down the box of papers with a sigh. “Ma, have you ever had a very bad nightmare, like one that felt incredibly real? Like so real that it messes with you even after you wake up?”

“Yeah? Did you have a nightmare last night?” she asked with concern.

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“Yeah Ma. And it was a bad one. Like I need to make some big changes, it was like a revelation. Besides, we’re in a new place, so this is the perfect time to make the changes.”

“What kind of changes?”

“Well, I need to start working and working out. I think I know what I want to do when I grow up.”

“Really? Well, don’t lock yourself into anything. You are only 13.” She said with a frown.

“Ok Ma.” David responded with a slight edge of sarcasm lacing his voice.

David moved on clearing out his room, and when he was finished, his room was now spartan. Standing in the door he faced the half wall pitched windows, old fashioned as they were, lots of light streamed in and he still remembered sneaking out through those same windows a few years from now. Under those windows, was the old blonde finished dresser with 3 drawers. To the right of his dresser was a matching twin sized bed, the covers pulled back to show black and white tartan sheets. On the same wall as the door, at the foot of his old bed was a built-in, shallow desk with small shelves on the left side of it. To the left of the door was a closet with sliding doors. The hardwood floor had zebra striped rug tucked in under the dresser where his feet would land as he stood up out of bed. He had his old clock radio on his dresser, and he had kept a desk lap on his shelves. A ream of lined paper sat on the desktop under the upper half shelves. A few pens were up against the wall on the desktop. His closet now held 2 polo shirts, 3 short sleeve button down flannels and 2 hoodies. His dresser, though closed, had his under garments and socks neatly rolled in the top drawer, t-shirts in the middle, and pants in the bottom; two kakis, three jeans and one black pair of slacks.

Finally! Now I can focus. Dave thought to himself. I died as a senior citizen less than a day ago, and woke up as my 13 year old self.

This is the world before the twin towers fell. Back when “Conspiracy Theory” was just a Mel Gibson movie to me. God, knowing what I know is coming, I can’t not do anything. Y2K… what happened this year that I can use to give credibility so I can warn people before the collapse. Shit, who should I tell? I mean my family needs to know, but they’ll just blow me off unless I give them something irrefutable.

Wait. Saul. Saul is alive right now.

The realization that people, other than his family, that he had known and lost before were still here and hadn’t gone through the horrific events from before left him stunned. His best friend, the man who had been his daughter’s Godfather was still here. David jolted to his feet.

“MAAA! Can I call Saul?” he hollered as he thundered into the hall.

“Huh? Yeah, but don’t be charging around the house like an elephant!”

David looked around trying to find the phone, nearly frantic. He thought he remembered there was one in the kitchen, but he thought there was another one somewhere where his mom wasn’t. It would be strange if he didn’t remember Saul’s number and it would raise questions if he didn’t get it right. He remembered that this house had a den his dad had used for his home office after a minute. He hurried to the far end of the house and closed the doors to the den. His dad’s fax machine was on the desk. David picked up the receiver and stared blankly at the dial pad. It had been almost 50 years since he had to dial Saul’s family number. He remembered the area code, and was fairly sure he knew the first 3 digits but he had no idea what the rest was. After a solid 5 minutes of staring, David decided to just hope muscle memory still knew the number and began dialing.

*Ring*

*Ring*

*Click* “Hello? Fernici household.” A woman’s voice softly spoke.

David was shocked that he had gotten it right. “Hi Mrs. Fernici, is Saul there?”

“Oh, hi Davey, yes, he’s here. How did you like your first day?”

“It was ok.”

After a few seconds where David could hear Mrs. Fernici walking through their house, David finally hear a voice that he hadn’t heard in almost 25 years.

“Hello?”

“Hey Saul, you been ok?”

“Yeah, you alright? Mom said that you had your first day at the new school today. How was it?”

“It was new. Dude, something else happened though. Like something crazy. Do you think we can hang out soon, like really soon. I need to tell you some stuff but it will sound crazy if I just tell you.”

There was a pause. “Man, are you ok? You sound off, like scared almost.”

David thought about it. “No man, I am not ok. This is big and I don’t think you’ll even believe me.”