It was after 3:00 PM and I ran anxiously, but at the same time scared.
I kept thinking of all this madness. This strange weapon and my suspicious grandfather. There were so many things that made me forget about the main situation I should think and worry about.
"Desirée."
I grabbed my Tab P and wondered if I was going to the fast shuttle or the public transportation station. I opened the app and saw the bus schedules for the station. Almost all public transports today are connected and through applications it was possible to know the times, drivers’ records, fares, travel time, number of passengers using the transport, among other features. Everything was seen in real time, making life much easier and there was no waste of time.
I decided to go by public transportation, ‘cause through the GPS of the Transport App I saw the bus approaching. I got on it and distracted myself with the interactive bus windows. In a few minutes I was at 30th Street Station.
It was very busy. Departure was supposed to be at 6:00 PM. It was more than two hours away and I started to look for something to eat. I was starving! Without much walking, I stopped at a food court, bought a sandwich and soda. I ate and played online until the time of boarding.
The time was approaching and I got on the next bus. I settled in and soon fell asleep, but after a few seconds of sleep I was already in New York.
"How fast! I slept and didn’t even see the trip go by."
I got off and grabbed my Tab P to continue the journey. Grandpa had planned everything so efficiently that I could get to his house as quickly and comfortably as possible. He might’ve paid for a transport drone, but it was still very expensive and bureaucratic to travel by one of these.
It was all very weird, because grandpa didn’t like technology, and by now he was well acquainted with everything the modern digital age could offer. When I opened the (Scheduled Travel Route) app I saw that there were several messages from my messaging app. Many were from friends calling me to enjoy the night, but one of them was from grandpa. It said:
Look ahead!
[7:22 PM]
"What!"
I looked around for something I didn’t know what it was. After a few seconds I saw Grandpa Charles.
"How crazy!"
Grandpa was freaking me out more and more. I approached him.
"Welcome, grandson! How was the trip?"
"It was good, Grandpa. In fact, I didn’t even see it ‘cause I fell asleep. I thought I’d meet you at your doorstep."
"Glad the trip was smooth! I decided to come pick you up because I was very hungry and, as you know, I’m not very good at cooking."
Grandpa didn’t really like cooking. A retired military man, he always got his way, especially after grandma’s death.
"Yeah. So let’s have dinner out, Grandpa."
We called a fast shuttle to take us to a restaurant. Grandpa chose a nice one that offered sophisticated dishes. I stared at him enjoying the interactivity of the restaurant as I ordered.
"Hey, Grandpa! Since when you started to enjoy technology? As long as I can remember you’ve never been into such things."
"You know, Roger. When we learn to lose the fear of discovering new things, we explore and venture into the world more boldly."
I stared at grandpa suspiciously, but somewhat happy to see him having fun. I’d never seen him like this. Grandpa asked me what I wanted to eat. I made my choice at the interactive ordering table and the dishes soon arrived. As we ate, grandpa asked me how I did at school, how dad was, but I wanted to interrupt him all the time and ask him about the strange weapon that I had with me and everything he knew about it. I enjoyed a brief moment of silence while we were almost done eating.
"Grandpa, what do you know about this?" I asked him, showing the key chain.
He looked at me seriously and when he was going to say something, we were interrupted by a waiter who brought us several desserts. I put the key chain away and grandpa smiled happily when he saw so many different sweet foodstuffs. He loved them.
Grandpa was as delighted like a kid and I calmly savored my dessert staring at him expecting him to say something. After we finished the dessert, we spent nearly an hour playing chess at the interactive ordering table. After 6 losses to grandpa, we paid the bill right there on the virtual card and got up. We left the restaurant quietly and a fast shuttle was waiting for us at the door.
"Come on, Roger. Let’s go home."
I wondered what time Grandpa had called the fast shuttle, ‘cause I didn’t even see him picking up his Tab P inside the restaurant. We got into the vehicle and were driven to his house. It was not too far away. On the way, grandpa took his Tab P and it looked like he was texting someone. I tried to see who it was, but he shut it off. Soon we got home.
I could’ve walked, but it was late, and I thought grandpa wanted to spare me any effort. We entered the house and I was surprised by its interior full of state-of-the-art electronics. Only one of those cutting-edge AIs that controlled everything was missing. Really, Grandpa was hipped on modern technology. He’d been living here for a short time. Grandpa moved from Overland, Kansas, which was a quiet, peaceful place to return to the hectic New York. I didn’t think he wanted to enjoy retirement in monotony.
"Here’s your bedroom, Roger. Make yourself at home. I’m going to take a shower and go to sleep. Tomorrow we will have a great day. Good night!"
Grandpa didn’t give me any chance to ask about the strange weapon. I wanted to do it right away, but he was very tired and sleepy. It’d been a very tiring Tuesday and it’d be better to leave for tomorrow.
I took a shower and flung myself down on the bed. I grabbed my Tab P to see the posts. I had dozens and as I didn’t want to look through one by one, I activated my AI called Anne and searched.
"Anne. Search Messages. Desirée."
""Message not found.""
The message I wanted to see most was not there. I thought about Desirée for a moment and then I saw myself...
I heard bells ringing. They were ringing far away and the sound was gradually increasing. They were very small bells that were chiming very close to my ears. The sound grew louder and louder and a voice in the background said:
"Wake up, Roger! Wake up, Roger! Good Morning! We are late already."
I woke up scared and tried to look everywhere to know what was going on.
"What happened, Grandpa? I just slept!"
"You’ve had enough sleep, Roger. Get up. It’s already 5:40 AM and we’re late."
"Late for what, Grandpa?"
"For our morning run."
"What?"
"Get these sneakers. I think they will fit you. I’ll be waiting for you downstairs in 5 minutes."
Grandpa looked crazy. He thought he was still in the United States Marine Corps (USMC). I wanted to go back to sleep, but Grandpa wasn’t going to leave. A little drowsy I got dressed and went downstairs. Grandpa threw me a bottle of juice and a sandwich.
"Come on, Roger. Come eating on the way."
I looked frightened at Grandpa, but then I left with him. As I followed him, I glanced at his metal leg. He had lost part of his right leg in the Vietnam War.
It was about dawn when we headed toward Central Park. As we walked, I ate and listened to Grandpa saying things about what it was like in his days at USMC. I just listened quietly while chewing. We arrived at Central Park, Grandpa stopped, stretched, and asked if I was ready. I took a sip of juice to wash the last piece of sandwich down and answered:
"Yes."
"Ok. We’ll start slowly and then we hurry. Let’s go!"
Grandpa put on the headset and without waiting for me to stretch, he made a dash for it. I was like crazy behind him. After 2 minutes running, I could no longer keep up with grandpa’s pace. He bolted away and soon I no longer saw him in front of me. After a few minutes grandpa had already strolled around the pond and reached me. He slowed down.
"Are you tired yet, Roger? We haven’t even started!"
I looked at the grandpa like I was not enjoying and when I was about to say I wanted to leave, he ran off again and I soon no longer saw him. Again, after a while, grandpa caught up with me and laughed in my face as he passed me. This happened again and I was just finishing the first lap.
I stopped to breathe and grandpa stopped. He walked in circles in front of me and said it was time to go back. Tired, I looked at him and thanked him mentally. We walked slowly back home. Grandfather still breathless walked home without saying anything.
We arrived, I went to the bathroom to have a shower and grandpa went for some bodybuilding exercises. I relaxed under the shower and almost lost track of time. I got out of the shower, got dressed, got my Tab P to see the messages and when I went downstairs to the kitchen there was an awesome breakfast ready. I looked at grandpa sitting at the table and asked:
"Have you prepared all this? But you don’t like to cook!"
"Really, Roger. I don’t like to cook. I ordered express food through this app. They deliver everything in a few minutes, from small snacks to full breakfast, lunch and dinner. They are very diverse."
Grandpa and his technologies were surprising me every day. I sat down and enjoyed that nice breakfast. Grandpa grabbed his Tab Paper and started to read the news. I kept reading the messages one by one. There was a message from Romeo. I was surprised and opened it. I didn’t believe my eyes! A lot of angry-faced emoji. I looked angry, but then for a moment I felt sad as I had no message from Desirée. I wondered how she was doing. A moment later, the strange weapon came to my mind. This was the perfect opportunity to ask grandpa and get information from him. I swallowed the piece of apple I was chewing and asked:
"Grandpa, what did you..."
"Roger, I’ll show you what I wanted you to help me with. That’s why I called you here" he said.
Grandpa hadn’t let me ask. I kept glaring at him as I watched him finish reading the newspapers, and when I was about to try asking him again, he got up.
"Follow me, Roger."
I looked at him startled and followed him. Grandpa went to his bedroom and there was a tidy backpack.
"Come on, Roger. Pack your things and let’s go visit a friend."
"But what friend? And the help you needed?"
"I’ll tell you when we get there."
I wondered what grandpa was up to. Something was very weird. I went into the bedroom where he was, picked the strange weapon and talked to him.
"What do you know about this? I need to know!
"Put it in the backpack and I’ll tell you when we get there. Let’s go!
I was surprised by the answer. Grandpa then really knew about the weapon. I was troubled and curious at the same time. It was going to be an interesting adventure. I packed up, grabbed my Tab P, and tossed the ice cube key chain that turned into a very strange weapon into the backpack. I got downstairs and grandpa was already waiting for me. We left.
"Grandpa, won’t you turn things off and lock it up? We’ll be out all day."
"I’m locking it up already."
Grandpa grabbed his Tab P and touched something on the screen making the house shut down and lock the doors and windows. Awesome! Grandpa was really a modern technology geek and that was starting to worry me. Grandpa took his car and we drove off. Even his car was full of technology. The car AI was cool. It talked naturally and planned any route perfectly.
After hours traveling we stopped for lunch. We ate something fast and went on. I wasn’t even paying attention to where we were going, ‘cause I was almost all the time playing on my Tab P. It was almost late afternoon when grandpa’s Tab P sounded a very different message notification ringtone. He switched on the autopilot drive and took the Tab P to see what it was. He checked it up and looked distressed. I was going to ask what had happened, but he grinned and asked me to send a message to Romeo notifying him that everything was fine.
"What? What for?"
"Nothing much! Just to let him know. Especially because we are far from home."
"All right, then."
Grandpa even said something right, but I wasn’t in the mood to text my brother. Especially after the last fight and the angry faces he’d sent me. I hesitated for a second, but in the end I opened the messaging app and wrote:
It’s all right. Soon we will contact you.
[5:31 PM]
I sent it and told Grandpa. He thanked me.
"Here we are!"
I saw where we were and there was an automatic gate that opened to us. We headed toward what appeared to be a very simple house. The yard was very large with lots of trees and a fountain. Grandpa parked and, in front of the house, we were greeted by a very strange gentleman. He greeted us with great enthusiasm. Mr. Donovan Lewis, that was his name, invited us into his home.
The house was quite simple but, seeing it from the inside, it seemed to me to be much larger. Apparently it was quite comfortable and unlike Grandpa’s house it didn’t seem to have so many technological things. Mr. Lewis had several servants. It was weird, ‘cause it seemed that there was not much to do, except for the huge yard. He said we’d spend the night there, but I was finding everything very suspicious.
"What would grandpa want? What kind of help did he want from me?" I thought, confused.
The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.
All I wanted to know was about that weird weapon I had. Mr. Lewis showed us the rooms where we would stay and immediately accommodated us. He said that dinner would be ready in 10 minutes. It was already 6:10 PM and as I had not eaten anything in the afternoon, only lunch, I was starving.
I went into the dining room and there was a nice table set. Mr. Lewis’s servants were finishing setting it. He seemed to be an old-fashioned rich man, just like grandpa used to be, but then grandpa changed all of a sudden and decided to live modern life. Grandpa and I were invited to sit at the table. The whole meal took place in silence. It was a little awkward. I’d never been to anything so formal.
"Gentlemen, thank you for the company at this dinner. You can go back to your rooms again. Whatever you need, just let us know," said Mr. Lewis, with a huge smile of gratitude on his face.
What a weird situation! I didn’t understand anything.
"What were we doing here?" I thought, worried.
We went back to our bedrooms and, as I was going to talk to grandpa, he went into his bedroom and slammed the door in my face. I was nervous and felt like kicking the door very hard, but then he opened it, looked at me and said:
"Good night!"
I looked at him with a silly face and, as I was going to reply, he slammed it in my face again. How rude is that! I stood for almost a minute at his door waiting for him to open again, but I gave up and went to my bedroom. I grabbed my Tab P, checked the messages and didn’t get one from Desirée. I wanted to send her one, but I didn’t have the heart to send a simple emoji. I played a little online and soon fell asleep...
It was all dark. It was very cold. I was looking for something to bundle me up, but I couldn’t see. I felt something holding my left hand. I tried to see what it was. In the other hand I realized I was holding something. It looked like a cube and it was very cold. My body started to get very hot and I started to squeeze the cube tightly. It gave off a very bright light that began to illuminate everything. I realized that the cube had become that strange weapon. It emitted a steady light. I turned around to see what was holding my hand. My heart pounded when I saw that it was a horrible creature I’d never seen. I tried to break free, but the creature pulled me and attacked...
I woke up sweaty and breathless. It was a horrible nightmare. I spent a few minutes trying to calm down, then I got up and went to the kitchen to drink water. One of the servants was in the kitchen, preparing something. I excused myself and requested a glass of water. He answered with all the kindness that he was going to serve me. I found it weird to have a servant still awake, seeing that it was 3:18 AM.
"Here is your water, young apprentice."
"Thank you, Mr...?"
"You can call me Will."
"Sure. Thanks, Will. Can I ask you a question?"
"Yes, of course."
"Don’t you rest? It’s late and you’re here in the kitchen working."
"Don’t worry, young boy."
"Hmm. Got it. But aren’t you afraid of being alone around at night?"
"No, my dear Roger. Security is also working in a secret room. They monitor everything through microcameras."
"Microcameras? They must be tiny because I haven’t seen any so far."
Will laughed at my comment. I thanked him once more, said goodbye and went back to my bedroom. When I entered I felt so sleepy. I fell on my bed already dozing off. It seemed that Will had put a sleeping pill in the water...
"Wake up, Roger! Let’s go out. Wake up!"
"What? Grandpa? Morning run again? It’s too early!"
"No, Roger! It’s already 9:00 AM."
"What? But how’s it possible? I barely slept! I’m lost in time, Grandpa. What day is today?"
"Today is Thursday and we will leave. Get dressed."
"Where are we going?"
"We’ll do rock climbing."
"What?"
"Get dressed! We’re waiting for you!"
Grandpa left the room and I took a shower to feel refreshed. I was still very sleepy. After a nice shower I got dressed, grabbed my Tab P and went to the kitchen to eat something while reading the messages.
At the table a big breakfast was prepared. Everyone was standing looking at me. Mr. Lewis asked me to sit down and help myself. He apologized for not waiting for me for breakfast, since everyone had already eaten their morning meal and didn’t want to interrupt my sleep so early.
I was embarrassed, but as I was starving, I sat down and enjoyed the diversity of things I had at the table. I was a little embarrassed ‘cause everyone looked at me while I ate. I sped up and then I got up saying I was ready.
Grandpa, Mr. Lewis and I were out and there was a fancy car and a driver waiting for us. I was surprised and realized that Mr. Lewis was a very rich man, yet simple in some things, especially concerning technology. There were not many Tabs around the house and nothing so connected, except for this state-of-the-art car that was standing in front of me. I didn’t even see Mr. Lewis with a Tab P.
"How does he communicate?" I wondered.
We got in the car and remembered that I hadn’t taken my backpack.
"Wait! I need to go back and get my backpack."
"Don’t worry, Roger. It’s all here, including the climbing gear."
I turned to the side, saw Will, and with a surprised look I answered:
"Thank you!"
We left. The car AI was awesome. You could even leave it to it to drive the whole way, but even with all these features, the driver drove to the destination at the sound of classical music. I’d rather listen to rap... The trip lasted about an hour down the road and we took a trail. At the end of it we stopped and in front of another narrow trail that led to the top of a mountain we went alone.
We walked for about an hour and came across a path that was a bit of a steep climb. We prepared the equipment and proceeded. I was even enjoying the adventure. Grandpa was surprising me. After many hours and several stops, we reached the top. It had a very beautiful panoramic view. Grandpa and I stared at the scenery for minutes. We sat on the edge and drank water and continued to enjoy the beautiful view.
"You know, Grandpa. We should do this more often."
"Sure, Roger! This is wonderful!"
"Grandpa, now answer me! What help did you need from me? So far I haven’t helped you in any way."
"My dear grandson. In fact, you’ve been helping me since I picked you up at the station."
"What? But, how come?"
"You are helping me to live. Since the death of your grandmother and your m... I have not felt much desire to go on. I’ve been living in anguish and isolation, but something has made me put all my energy into what is left of my life. I don’t know how long I will live, but I decided I would make the most of every second and you are helping me and sharing it with me. I’ve been very lonely for the last few years, but now all will be different."
"Cool, Grandpa! I’m glad you’re sharing these moments with me, but one question: Who died besides Grandma you were going to say? Any close friend?"
"No. No. It was your grandmother’s dog that died a day after her" answered Grandpa Charles, embarrassed.
I stared at Grandpa who remained silent and seemed to want to cry. We were silent for a few seconds. I grabbed the ice cube key chain from my bag and watched it wordlessly.
"Roger, give it to me."
I handed Grandpa the key ring and he watched the cube in silence for a few seconds.
"You know, Roger, I don’t know if I’m the right person to talk about it, but I know someone who can clear up everything to you."
"But what do you know? Tell me, please!"
"What I can say is that this is a very old object and it carries an unknown power."
"But what power is this? Why do I have it?"
"You are the chosen one."
"Chosen for what? What are you talking about?"
"Come on, Roger. Soon it will get dark. I need to go."
I got up, grabbed my backpack and asked:
"Why are you hiding the truth from me?"
He stopped and looked at me with a surprised face.
"You are not ready. Take this and keep it with you."
He had returned the strange ice cube weapon to me.
"Not about everything can I enlighten you, but if you survive I will show you who can..."
Grandpa grabbed my T-shirt and held it tight. Alarmed, I looked at him and asked what he was doing. Grandpa pulled me and hurled me hard from the cliff. I shouted in a desperate free fall. I didn’t believe I was going to die like this, and especially at the hands of my own grandfather!
The key chain, which was in my hands, began to freeze and shone very brightly. I squeezed it hard and it became the strange weapon. A knife that looked very cold. I was about to hit the ground, and I aimed the weapon down, and it began to cast beams of ice that began to envelop me and freeze me into a huge ball of ice. I hit the ground leaving a huge crater. The huge ice sphere began to break as I got out intact. I got up scared and looked at the weapon in my hands. I wondered.
"Awesome!" I thought out loud, but I soon realized that I could’ve died.
What was grandpa thinking? I began to hate him with all my heart. I felt the weapon was guiding me somewhere, but soon after it became a small ice cube again.
"WHEN I LEAVE HERE, I’LL REPORT YOU FOR ATTEMPTED MURDER!" I shouted out loudly, full of anger and looking up.
There was only one problem. I had no idea how to get out of this place. It was a very dense forest. I stopped, looked up, and tried to remember the view from above and saw that to my left the forest was shrinking, and it would be a long walk. I grabbed my Tab P to try to contact someone, but to my misfortune it was discharged. Despite almost a week with no recharging, I believed it still had some juice left for a few more days.
"Weird!" I thought.
I threw it in my bag and moved on. Soon, night fell, and there were a lot of mosquitoes. I ran to get a move on, but I got tired fast and it was getting dark. I spotted a huge tree that had a small crack that could be used as a shelter.
I stopped to fumble in my bag, hoping there was something at least to make a fire. I took everything out and there was half a bottle of water, some climbing gear, a towel, some cookies, a cap, my uncharged Tab P and, luckily, a lighter.
"But how did I have a lighter?" I thought, confused.
I didn’t remember putting it in my backpack. There were also some other things that I didn’t remember putting there. A magnifying glass and a shiv... I thought it was weird, but never mind! Importantly, I was saved so far and had to survive until I left this place. Without much thought I gathered some branches and lit a fire. It helped to scatter the mosquitoes. I grabbed some cookies to eat and while eating I was imagining several horrible things about my grandfather, how Desirée was and how I wanted to be with her at that time. I even thought about my boring brother. All I wanted was to get out of this place and see my grandfather arrested. I lined the towel on the floor and lay down. I kept imagining several things for hours and then my eyes began to weigh...
"Desirée!"
Suddenly I was alone. Too dark. A far away light appeared. I ran nonstop trying to reach her. I managed to get closer. It was the ice-covered knife! It glowed brighter and brighter with each passing moment. I tried to catch it and when I held it, my body began to freeze. I despaired, but a strength was building within me. Everything started to go white and white...
"Hmm, what’s this? This light..."
It was the sunlight on my face. It was dawn and I gathered all things to get out of this place. I thought I’d rush out of this forest as soon as possible, but I was going to get tired soon and waste a lot more time catching my breath. I decided to walk and guide myself through the position of the sun, until I reached the point where I saw from the top of the mountain where the forest was decreasing.
Hours passed and I stopped to rest. I was very thirsty. The little water I had had run out the night before when I ate half the cookies. I remembered what the strange weapon had done. It produced a sphere of ice around me, freezing me, buffering the fall and leaving me intact. If I could make at least a little ice, it would quench my thirst.
I took the key chain and squeezed it tightly waiting for it to turn into the knife. I tried and tried, but nothing happened. For a long time I tried to activate it, but to no avail. I fell down and lay on the floor exhausted. I was almost fainting and giving up, when I remembered the moment my grandfather threw me off the cliff. I got nervous and the key chain in my hand started to freeze and give off a light. I squeezed it hard and it turned into the knife. I pointed at a tree and the strange weapon cast a bolt of ice freezing the trunk in a good area around it. The weapon turned back into a key chain.
I ran for it and began to lick the ice happily, but it felt like it was making me thirstier. Downcast, I sat on the ground, looking at the frozen tree and realized that after a few minutes the sun was slowly melting the ice. I remembered the magnifying glass in the backpack. I picked it up and aligned the sun toward the ice making it melt faster. I filled my water bottle and quenched my thirst. I drank about 3 full bottles and filled it one last time to continue the walk.
I looked at the sun’s position and it looked like it was past 12:00 PM. I walked for a long time and stopped to rest. I ate the leftover cookies and drank only half the water to try to save it, as I didn’t trust myself to turn the key chain on and make ice again.
I kept walking and heard a strange noise. I looked everywhere and the sound only increased. It sounded like footsteps. It was coming from my right side. I turned around and when I least expected I came across a huge bear!
I didn’t know whether to run or stand still with the hope of not being noticed, but I had to run ‘cause the bear came raging toward me. I climbed a tree and the bear almost caught me. I wouldn’t escape ‘cause the tree was not very strong and tall. The bear attacked the tree relentlessly and I almost lost my balance. I had to do something, otherwise the bear was going to kill me.
I grabbed the key chain and tried desperately to activate it; I couldn’t, and the bear, with a very hard blow to the tree, made me fall. The wild beast leapt at me and, with nothing much left to do, I closed my eyes, raised my arms toward it, pointing the key chain, which immediately became the magic knife throwing a strong gust of ice to freeze the animal completely. I opened my eyes in fear and saw the huge frozen bear. I touched the ice and watched it motionless. The weapon began to glow and was deactivated. There was a desperation of fear that the beast would break free and I began an unbroken run.
Tired and very thirsty, I kept running. I started to hear a passing vehicle straight ahead. Very tired, I gathered my last strength and ran towards the sound. After seconds of running, I saw that I had come out of the forest and just ahead saw a freeway. Cars were passing and without strength I walked to the road and tried to be seen. I reached the freeway and saw a car pulling over and a man got off. I realized it was my grandfather. I tried to go back and run away from him, and I couldn’t move anymore. I took a step and passed out...
I opened my eyes in despair, but due to the light I couldn’t see anything right away. I got up to sit and when my sight returned, I realized that I was in the bedroom where I was staying at Mr. Lewis’s house.
"How did I get here?" I wondered.
I tried to get to my feet, but I felt a very sharp pain like I’d broken a rib. With much effort I managed to get up and walked to the door. When I was near the door, it opened and Will entered.
"Young man, don’t push yourself. Lay down. I brought you something to eat."
He took me back to bed and I lay down. He set up a small banquet and I asked him:
"How did I get here? I don’t remember anything."
"It was your grandfather who brought you."
"What? Where’s he? He tried to ki..."
I was interrupted by Mr. Lewis entering the bedroom and right behind him was my grandfather.
"YOU MURDERER! YOU TRIED TO KILL ME!" I shouted in despair.
"Calm down, my dear Roger. It’s gonna be okay!" said Mr. Lewis, calmly.
"How can I stay calm? He tried to kill me! I wanna get out of here!"
"Stay calm. I’ll clarify everything for you."
I tried to get up, but I was calmed down by Will, and Mr. Lewis began to explain to me:
"My dear Roger, you carry a great responsibility. What your grandfather did was all by my order. You need to get stronger as soon as possible."
"What? You told him to do it? How could you? You all tried to kill me! I wanna go back home!"
"Calm down, Roger! I will make things clear about the powerful weapon that you carry."
I was speechless when he spoke of the weapon.
"How did he know about it too?" I mused.
I shut up and let him explain.
"Roger, that weapon has been left to you and you have shown yourself to be a compatible descendant, because from the first moment it responded to you. Now what you need to do is train to learn to master it completely and be prepared for future threats."
"What do you mean compatible? What do you mean by descendant? And what threats are these?"
"In ancient writings, it says that this weapon fell from the sky long ago, along with a being who manipulated it like magic. It controlled the cold and with that power it had been helping and protecting humanity. It had been leaving descendants, who were taking its place, but the direct descendants could not always master this power or activate the weapon. It often took many generations before a weapon-compatible descendant appeared and pursued the mission of protecting humanity from threats that, like the weapon itself, would come from the sky. You, Roger, are a descendant who has proven compatible. You can activate the weapon and must master its use. We are here to help you. All you’ve been through so far has been a test to see if you were strong enough to continue with the training."
"Hard to believe this story. You almost killed me. I think this is some technological weapon that you invented and are testing on me. You want to create some weapon to sell to the government and the military."
"Don’t jump to conclusions, my dear Roger. Take a rest. Let’s take a moment to reflect on all this."
They left the bedroom. I wanted my grandfather to say something, but he kept quiet the whole time. I saw that Will, as he brought the banquet, had left my Tab P charged beside the bed. I picked it up and was startled ‘cause it was already late at night. 11:45 PM. Friday. All I wanted most was to go home. I checked the messages and I had thousands... Many of these I ignored, ‘cause they were from friends calling me to parties. There was a message from Clara telling me that Dad had arrived from the trip.
"What a surprise to receive a message from Clara!" I thought.
To my greatest surprise I’d received the message of her who I wanted most, Desirée, which said:
Forgive me, love! I was very wrong with you and I pushed you hard without understanding what you thought. Don’t give up on me, ‘cause I’ll never give up on you. Miss you so much. When do you get back from your grandfather’s? Love you very much! See you! ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥
[10:22 PM]
My heart raced with happiness. I immediately replied the message saying that tomorrow I’d be back in her arms. I waited for a reply, but it struck me that it was a late hour and she might not see it at that moment. I also replied Clara’s message saying that I’d be back the next day.
I thought about everything they told me about this weapon, and after much thought I decided that I wouldn’t be risking my life with bullshit and experiments. The only thing I wanted was to be back in Desirée’s arms and fully devoted to her. I ate and drank some of the banquet Will had left, and soon after I fell asleep thinking about the things I was going to do as soon as I found my angel...
I saw a light shining through the darkness. I approached and it was the magic weapon. I tried to catch it, but couldn’t. It looked like I was trying to get a hologram. The light shone on and on until it blurred my sight...
"What? What clarity is that?"
It was Will opening the bedroom window, letting in the sunlight.
"Come on, young man! It’s time to go now. Your father is waiting for you at home."
"What? But how do you know about my father?"
"Your grandfather Charles told me. Come on, I brought you breakfast. Eat and get dressed to leave."
I was suspicious of this Will, but I was so hungry that I got up to eat.
"What? I don’t feel pain anymore!"
"Good, young man. They are waiting for you outside."
Will left and I immediately went for breakfast. While eating, I picked my Tab P and saw the messages. It was still early. 7:00 AM Saturday. I saw that Desirée had visualized my message and replied with several loving emoji. I finished my breakfast and went for a shower. I packed up and saw that the key chain was in the backpack. I left with it in my hands and when I arrived outside, they were all waiting for me. Mr. Lewis approached and said:
"My dear Roger, I provided a transport drone. It will take you much faster and safely to your home."
I reached out, wanted to return the key chain and said:
"I don’t want to be part of this. Leave me alone, please. I don’t wanna get into any more problems."
"No need to return it. Keep it with you. Don’t feel obligated to use it, but keep it."
I thought and almost threw the key chain away in anger because of all that this thing had caused me, but as I wanted to go home and not have any more problems, I threw the key chain back into my backpack, thanked for the drone, for the hospitality, said goodbye and boarded.
The drone took off and I saw everyone down there waving at me, except for my grandfather, who didn’t even come close to talk to me. From the top, I could see how huge the property was with a small house in the center. At that moment, realization dawned on me, ‘cause I was so excited to get answers about the weapon that I didn’t even realize that in the last few days I had no idea where I was. I didn’t even want to know, ‘cause at that moment I just wanted to get home.
After a while I was landing at the Philadelphia International Airport. There was already a fast shuttle waiting for me, which took me to my doorstep. I arrived home at 10:20 AM and when I entered, the first person I saw was my father. I dropped the bag on the floor and hugged him tight.