“Yo, Jason!" Caleb called out and banged his fist on the wooden door with a tag on it that said: " Research in sesh, do not disturb,”
Caleb scoffed as he read it out loud.
"What research bro?” He called out again, giving the door a heavy push causing its hinges to rattle.
From the other side, he heard his best friend of nine years curse out loud before the shuffling of feet could be heard and soon the clicking of the lock on the door as Jason opened the door for him.
“What?" Jason thundered.
“What do you mean what?" Caleb replied in a mock posh British accent, something he happened to be very good at, "do you know how long I have been standing out here?” He demanded in his normal tone, his voice dead serious.
But Jason only shook his head, turned and walked back into his room.
"You are disturbing me,”
"What are you up to?” Caleb's eyes roamed the room strewn with papers and maps and books. Picking a book from under a rumpled map of the world, his eyebrows raised in surprise.
"Astrology? Huh.” He looked at Jason who only offered a shrug in response as he made to sit at his cluttered desk, flipping the page of the huge book he had been reading before Caleb's knock interrupted him. The book was so big that it could not be lifted with just one hand. Its pages were very thick and rough at the edges. The cover of the book was a dusty brown which only served to make the book look ancient.
"What are you reading?" Caleb picked his way through the debris of his friend's room as he walked towards him.
“It's a book about portals," Jason traced his finger along a sentence at the bottom of the page he was perusing.
“Portals?" Caleb echoed.
“Yes, portals," Jason affirmed.
Caleb stared down at his friend who raised his head to steal a glance at him before turning his focus back to the ancient book.
Oh, he's serious! Caleb thought.
“I don't understand," he scratched the back of his neck, “What are you driving at here, Jason?"
Taking a deep breath, Jason crossed his legs and twirled a black pencil around his fingers.
“There is a branch of science that one of my professors mentioned in class one time that believes that there are spaces in our universe, in our reality as we know it. These spaces are rumored to be portals. You can literally go anywhere within seconds during that specific timeline. It's more like a gap in time really, an error somewhat,” Jason smirked.
Caleb's mouth moved as his brain tried to comprehend and form words at the same time, but no words came out of his mouth.
Jason chuckled.
“Tonight, directly above our university, 10 stars will arrange themselves in a perfect straight line and at the end of that line, there would be a space in the universe, waiting to be explored,"
"I don't believe you,” Caleb shook his head.
"You will,” Jason replied, "By 10pm tonight, I am going on a hunt and you will come with me because your curiosity will get the best of you,” With that, he returned his focus back to his book leaving Caleb staring in wonder, entertaining the thought that his best friend had finally lost it.
He knew that Jason liked to learn about weird things but this….this was too far fetched.
He is going to be so disappointed when he finds out that portals do not exist.
THAT NIGHT, 10:05PM…
The cool night air blew softly, gently ruffling the leaves of trees as two silhouettes made their way across the school grounds. Loud music could be heard coming from a dorm building along with screams and shouts accustomed to those that party loud and party hard.
Jason carried the ancient book in his arms and was mumbling as he read through the pages.
“Are you sure you should have come with that book? It looks heavy," Caleb's eyes roamed the clear night sky as he jiggled the chain attached to the compass Jason gave him to hold.
No stars, of course, he thought with a sigh.
It's going to be a long night
“Yes, it is quite heavy, but it also has directions on how to locate the end point of the line so we don't wander aimlessly," Jason continued walking. They were getting to the bushy part of the school now.
“No stars yet," Caleb said through his teeth hoping to dissuade him.
“Yet," Jason walked into the bushes.
For thirty minutes, they walked. With Jason leading the way, his nose buried in the ancient book all Caleb could do was to follow behind and hope that it would be over soon.
“Hey!” Jason stopped abruptly and exclaimed, excitement evident in his voice.
"I nearly knocked you over,” Caleb grumbled.
"Yes! I knew it!” Jason cried out, his eyes cast upwards to the sky. Caleb's eyes darted to the sky too and to his awe and great disbelief, he watched as a star suddenly twinkled to life and immediately, another star did the same behind the first one and in quick succession too. Soon, ten bright stars twinkled, all in a perfect straight line above their heads.
Caleb could not believe his eyes.
"It can't be,” he said.
"But it is!” Jason confirmed almost jumping in excitement.
Suddenly rapid clicking sounds could be heard in the quiet of the night.
"Quick!” Jason said, "the compass is pointing the way,”
And sure enough, it was.
The hands of the compass swirled around for a moment before coming to a stop, pointing in one direction only.
“North!" Jason cried out and took off immediately.
“Wait up!" Caleb ran after him as they made their way deeper into the bushes.
Soon, they sighted a clearing ahead and still the compass pointed in the same direction that they were headed. Jason running gleefully held the big book over his head chanting the word science over and over again.
Caleb couldn't recognize his friend anymore.
“You need to slow down," Caleb called out.
“Whoo-hoo-" Jason's howl suddenly cut short as he vanished into thin air immediately he hit the clearing.
“Wha-" Caleb's mouth moved but the rest of the words got stuck in his throat as the environment around him changed suddenly.
It was all white. Everything was white. It was so white that it hurt the eyes.
Snow?
The sun shone brightly and only helped to increase how white the whole landscape was but the sun had minimal heat.
Turning around, Caleb sighted Jason jumping for joy in the thick snow.
“Jason!" He called and made his way towards his friend.
“We did it! I told you it was true!" Jason rushed to him and held him by his shoulders.
“Where are we?" Caleb asked, trying not to panic.
“Antarctica!" Jason replied gleefully.
Caleb's mouth fell open as he stared in shock.
We are lost! He thought fearfully, watching his friend rejoice in the snow.
It's been a long time since I last participated in the weekly invitational, it's good to participate once again.
All thanks to @kemmyb for the consistent mentions.
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