Chapter One

An Unpleasant Acquaintance

I walked down the pathway, sipping on a hot peppermint mocha. It was a cool late autumn morning, the sun hadn’t even peeked over the horizon. I was dressed lightly, wearing nothing more than a hoodie and sweatpants, as I was going to be on a plane to Orlando. I stopped at the James Robertson statue where a woman stood dormant, obviously waiting for someone. I asked if she was the person who texted me that suspicious-looking message. It turns out, she was. She had long purple hair and wore a black jacket, black jeans, and, in compliment to what she was wearing, a pair of black military boots.

“Who are you?” I asked, “And what in the world was with that text?”

“First things first, I’m Rachel Simmons. You need to get to Telaville now Lucas Knox, we need your hel–”

“Two things; one, I don’t help people, and second, don’t call me by my actual name, just call me Timestance.”

She pulled a nine-millimeter pistol out and put the barrel up to her temple. She pulled the trigger with an ear-piercing pop. The bullet bounced off her skin harmlessly.

“Do you see me walking around with a stupid nickname? No? I didn’t think so. Come on!” She walked swiftly away carrying a suitcase, my suitcase.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, how did you…?”

“How did I what?” She asked tauntingly, “Oh, this?” She pointedly held my suitcase up mere inches from my face, “It’s my suitcase, do you have a problem with that?”

Forced to follow her, I tried to ask her for my suitcase back, “Could I please have my suitcase back?” asked.

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“Nope, you need to just keep walking.” She pulled my suitcase around an SUV, lifted it into the trunk, and then directed me into the passenger seat. She got into the driver's seat and started the car. I heard no ignition to speak of and she took off. I was pressed against the seat, screaming all the while. The car lurched forward at speeds I wouldn’t have thought possible.

“Where the hell are you taking me?!”

“You’re going on your vacation, I thought that was what you were doing all along.”

“Wait, what? Why are you taking me and not my chauffeur?”

“Your chauffeur is an idiot, he hardly knows what he’s doing or where he’s going half the time. I’m taking you to where you need to go.”

“Yeah, unless it’s out of this car, you can’t take me anywhere.”

“Remember who you’re dealing with…” Rachel said, pulling that same nine-millimeter out; this time, however, it was leveled at me.

“Okay. Okay! I get it, you can’t die easily…” I reacted.

“I don’t die.” She corrected.

“What do you have against me?” I asked, to which she didn’t answer, and I took the indication that she wasn’t in a talking mood. I sighed, reclined the seat, and put in my headphones.

———————————————————————————

Thirty minutes later, we were at the airport. The airport was busy, airplanes soaring overhead, and cars and buses that weren't electric were creating fumes, hiding the remaining stars in the sky. Rachel pulled two plane tickets out of her jacket pocket, gave one to me, and stuffed the other one in her carry-on suitcase. I opened the trunk when I saw her looking at me like I was an idiot. I clicked a button on the liftgate and the hatch opened grandly to reveal one big, black suitcase with a sports backpack.

“Come on, we’ll be late for our flight…” She said in a flat monotone, “You do want to take a vacation, don’t you?”

“Uhh, yeah. But the flight to Orlando doesn’t leave until like four hours.”

“We’re not going to Orlando, we’re going to Tonshire.”

Tonshire, Wisconsin was the home of the largest car dealership in the country. Tonshire was located smack in the middle of Wisconsin, where all the cheese was found, and wasn’t even big enough to get itself on the map. A major car corporation set up a dealership in Tonshire, due to the massive amount of high-demand buyers, namely in places like Greenville and Milwaukee. When the company went bankrupt seven years later, people were put out of business and struggled now that their main source of income was gone. Multiple small businesses managed to restore the dealership and start selling cars under a new name; Tonshire Motors. Soon enough, it became the auto capital of the world. But just because I knew so much about Tonshire didn’t mean I was excited to see it in person.