Jack in the Box (6 page)

             
I looked up at my father. “I know, Dad.”

             
He couldn’t have had a wider smile. “College!” He ran his hand through his hair. “Jack, you just turned fifteen, and you’re going to be-”

             
“-a freshman at OCU, yeah Dad.” I grinned and went back to my homework. Opened up a book. “I still have a semester left, though.”

             
My mother walked in the room, huge grin on her face. “I still can’t believe it. I can’t believe it! You have a bright future ahead of you, Jack.”

             
My father put his hand on my shoulder. “Yes, yes he does.” He smiled warmly at me. “Have you thought about what you’ll do after college?”

             
I folded up a piece of paper and put it in my pocket. “Well, I’ve been thinking.”

             
My parents smiled even wider.

             
“And?” My mother asked.

             
I closed the book. “And so far, everything’s gone according to plan.”

→

"Good-"

"Morning. Yeah, got it."

Brian tilted his head. "Well, then, Jacky. Eat up."

I plopped into a chair.

Brian dug into his food, while I slouched and twirled my fork. He raised his eyebrow. "Not hungry?"

I leaned forward, staring at my food. "No, it's not that. I'm just thinking."

"What'd you dream about this time?"

I narrowed my eyes at him. "You tell me."

He just kept eating. Didn't look up at me. Just ate.

"How much do you know about me?"

Brian stared into my eyes. "College," he said, looking impressed. "Quite a big deal. Especially for someone so young."

My eyes opened wide.

He smiled.

"How did you know that?" I put my fist down on the table.

"You have amnesia, Jack," Brian said, pointing his finger at me. "Face it, I know you better than you do." He pointed to himself.
"
An
d
I have more of your memories tha
n
yo
u
do!"

That set me off. I dove across the table and tackled him onto the ground

"Wait. . . Jack!"

I held up my fist to give him one right in the jaw. Then I remembered one of the rules. No "testing" during meals. Pinning Brian definitely qualified as testing.

Before I could get off of him, I was lifted into the air and shoved against the wall.

Brian staggered to his feet.

"Brian!" I tried to move my hands. "Get me out of this!"

Then came the voice. That same voice I had heard before. Whispering into my ear. "Do. . . not. . . test. . . during. . . meals."

I fixed my eyes on Brian.

He shrugged. "Sorry, Jack," he said casually. "I didn't make the rules."

"Then wh
o
di
d
?" I yelled at him. "He needs to-"

"What? Rot in this place?" Brian grinned. "In hell?"

I jerked forward. "What?"

The invisible thing forced me back against the wall.

"I'm in hell?" I yelled. "Tell me you're serious!"

He lost his grin. He looked down at himself. Then at the room around him.

"Brian!" he wasn't answering me. "Am I in hell? Are we in hell?"

His eyes went back to me. "Does this plac
e
loo
k
like a saint's home to you?"

I struggled against the invisible thing. "I don't even know what I've done to deserve it."

If you need a good reason," he paused. "Dream. If yo
u
reall
y
need a good reason. Just keep dreaming. Maybe you'll find it eventually."

I tried to move my hands, my legs, any part of me to get free.

Brian walked toward me. Stopped about a foot in front of my face. "And so far, everything's gone according to plan."

And I fell asleep.

Again.

six

I sat reclined in class. A laptop in front of me. A professor in the front of the room. College. The teacher was saying something about physics, but what I noticed was the guy sitting in front of me. Large and muscular. Brown hair. Everyone else had notes displayed on their screens, but this guy was looking at some social networking site.

The professor asked some people different questions. I tried to pay attention, but the dude in front of me was pretty distracting. Finally the professor addressed him.

"Mr. Silas."

The guy exited the website.

"Mr. Si."

He sat up straight. "Yes. . ."

I gues
s
S
i
was his nickname.

"In light of history, Si, and in light of what Caroline said, what would you say was the factor that led scientists to the development of quantum mechanics?"

His hand twitched.

I watched from behind as he struggled to think of an answer.

The professor waited.

He leaned forward. "They discovered quantum mechanics because. . . normal mechanics are fat and ugly."

The class chuckled.

"Yeah," the man replied, unamused. "Do you know, Jack?"

Si turned around. Stared at me.

I looked down.

The professor waited for me to answer.

I kept my eyes on Si's feet.

He exhaled.

I answered but didn’t look up. "Classical physics could only answer questions about normal life; it couldn't deal with problems on a microscopic level."

"That's right."

Silas turned back to face the front.

I looked up. "But I agree with Si in his insight about car mechanics."

He gripped his seat. Turned back. His eyes furiously fixed on me.

I looked away from him. "In fact, by his definition, I think he'd fit the role very well."

The eyes of everyone around me popped wide open. A few giggles followed.

I smiled. Tried to ignore Si. But I felt his stare.

→

The dream changed. I was still asleep, but the environment around me just shifted into something else. The people, too.

"Well, looks like you've been pretty busy," my dad looked at the blueprints in front of him. We were in a restaurant. It looked like we had finished our food; now the table was just covered with the papers that I wanted to show him. The designs completely blew him away. Other papers were just saturated with equations. It reminded me of when I had first woken up in the test. When Brian had quizzed me on paper.

"Yeah, I have definitely been busy," I grinned and leaned forward. "So, whatcha’ think?"

He breathed in, eyes still on the papers. "Its. . . It's good. In fact, it'd be amazing if it worked."

"Oh, it'll work," I nodded, still grinning. "but the plans for the design are purposely small in scale. I'll do full sized blueprints when these are made and then proven successful."

"Proven successful?"

"Well," I leaned back. "If I actually want to make this more than an idea, I gotta show this to a company that can make it. A company that has the resources."

"I see," my dad looked into my eyes. Skeptically. "And you're doing all this on your free time? I mean, it's your freshman year of college, Jack. I don't want you missing school. "

"Don't worry Dad; I'm not missing any school. I'm going to all my classes, top student in each. And yes, I'm doing this on my free time," I said, stacking the papers. "It's what I love. It's what I've always wanted to do."

"To design? Engineer?" My dad asked.

"No," I shook my head slowly. Fixed my gaze at Dad. "I've always wanted to make mankind better." I put my hands on top of the stack.

He held his chin up with his hands, elbows on the table. "Make mankind better?"

"Yeah," I said. "Think about it. This could be the next curriculum people learn. Actually, no. It'd be what all their curriculum would lead up to. Everyone's always trying to get. . . better, you know?" I looked back down at the papers. "This is just the next step. It raises the bar."

My dad nodded. He was still looking right at me. Like he was staring into my mind. "That's a good vision," he said. But I felt weird when he said it. I don't know why, but something wasn't right.

I looked down at his hand, at his left wrist. I noticed something on it. "I've always thought that was cool," I said.

My dad looked at his wrist. "Oh yeah, my birthmark." He held it up and smiled.

I got a better look at the birthmark. It was like an arrow. Pointing outward, to his left. "I thought you said you were going to get it removed."

He examined it, "Yeah; maybe someday I will."

"Well
,I
like it."

He grinned. Looked down at the papers. "From what you've shown me, this could be a very good thing for the future. Not just for man, but for technology. I mean, this thing is crazy! The way it works is just. . . ridiculous."

My smile came back even wider. "I know. And that's not the only thing I've been working on, as far as technology's concerned."

My dad stared at the stack. "Wow," he said, shaking his head. And I don't think it was because of disbelief. No, I think it was just amazement. He returned his focus to me. "I'm really glad I got to come visit you, Jack," he said.

"Thanks, Dad, me too.

He pointed to the stack. "So, you said you'd have to show this to a company?"

"Yeah," I scratched my head. "Getting them to let me show it might be the hardest part." I smiled once again. Bigger than all the times before. My eyes were down on top of the stack of papers. "But once they see it, they just won't be able to help themselves. Once they see it, they'll want to make it as much as I do. Once they see it. . ." I paused. Raised my eyes to my father. ". . . I
t
wil
l
happen."

→

I was in a hallway. The clock showed three in the afternoon. I noticed my reflection in the window. My height. I was mid-teens, so I wasn't necessarily short for my age. But compared to the other students I must have been pretty small.

I walked over to a door and opened it. The restroom. I washed my hands of something, but seeing it in the dream, I couldn't tell what it was. As I looked in the mirror, I noticed the feet of someone in the stall behind me. I'd seen those shoes before.

He flushed and opened the stall door.

I skipped drying my hands. Walked as quickly as I could to the door.

Si grabbed the collar of my shirt from behind and pulled me towards himself.

I stumbled backward and tripped over my own legs.

He watched as I hit the floor.

I tried to push myself up.

He grabbed me again.

It was pretty easy to understand what was happening. I'd offended him in class. But I gues
s
how muc
h
it had offended him was the real question.

Si spoke in a deep, monotone voice. "So you like to tell jokes."

I looked back at him as he shoved me towards the toilet. "A swirly?" I exhaled. "That's your way of getting me back?"

He clenched a fist and grabbed me.

I tried to take a step back.

He punched me square in the face.

Tight jaw. No expression on his face. He just made a fist and hit me. Hard.

My upper half swung back with the blow, and my cheek hit the top of the toilet.

He backed away a bit while I tried to pick myself up.

I opened my mouth and let out a groan. Stood back up.

And he punched me again. In the same spot.

I bit my tongue. Staggered back, but stayed up. I held my hand out, "Okay, Si, it was-"

He clenched his teeth as he began to pull his fist back again.

I shook my head. Spoke quickly and loudly, "Si, I-"

He hit me as hard as he could.

I fell onto the seat. Squinted and held up my hands.

He continued to wail on me.

"Si!" I cried.

Another hit.

My head throbbed. I yelled, "Si! It-"

Another blow.

My head reeled to the side. I saw blood from my nose splatter onto the side of the stall.