What 19 year-old Joan likes best about being a Teen Titan is the unpredictability. From impromptu trips to foreign countries to dropping everything to stop a bank robber, she enjoys the thrill of never knowing what’s around the bend. So it’s understandable that after three days of no crime, she’s bored. But, when Joan and her best friend Raven finally find something to do, life throws it’s most unpredictable challenge yet. The girls find themselves in Pleasantview - two days before the night when Bella Goth disappears. Now, Joan and Raven are faced with traveling through space and time as they witness Bella’s disappearance and discovery ten years later. As Bella reunites with her family, the girls must find a way to integrate themselves into a new world, all while trying to figuring out how to get home. But, when everything falls to pieces, it’s up to them to find out what really happened on that fateful night.
Please ignore the crummy formatting. I don't have time to fix it.
Chapters 1 - 5
Chapter 1
It’s been three days. Three days since we’ve been called out. At first it was nice to get a break, but now, I’m bored. I enjoy life a lot more if there’s excitement. It’s one of the things I love about being a Teen Titan - everything’s unpredictable. Sometimes we’re so busy it’s hard to find time to sleep. And other times, like the last three days, there seemed to be no crime, or at least no crime that the San Francisco Police Department couldn’t handle on their own. We had started to enjoy ourselves, playing Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Mario Kart Wii, but soon one thing led to another and I couldn’t turn on the Wii without a fight breaking out. Between that, and the fact that it was cold and raining, there was nothing to do.
I sat on the couch in the Ops room flipping through a copy of Nintendo Power that I had already read twice. Sitting next to me was my best friend Raven. She was reading a book, which was a good idea except that I didn’t feel like reading at the moment. Raven and I have a few things in common. Besides the fact that we’re both super heroes and enjoy fighting crime, we both love stories. Other than that we’re polar opposites. Raven likes to spend her time by doing serious things like reading or meditating, while I enjoy doing more fun things like video games or dancing to music. Most of the time we’ll compromise - we’ll read a book together, which most of the time is one we can’t put down, and then we’ll play a card game or watch T.V. or do something else that I want to do and we both end up enjoying ourselves. We’re always there for each other and in times of need we make each other feel better in a way no one else can.
“Raven, what time is it?” I asked.
“Around 1:30.”
“Can you pass me the remote?”
Raven looked at the remote that was on the other side of the huge room. Using her telekinetic powers she picked up the remote and brought it over to the couch. She’s not only telekinetic but telepathic as well, although she never entered anyone’s mind unless it was an emergency. My own powers are, well, nonexistent. I’m an expert at physical combat and can fight a guy twice my size.
I thanked Raven and turned on the T.V. One quick check through the guide and I knew that there was nothing on. The T.V. at Titans Tower is a 300 - some inch flat screen that when turned on comes out of the ceiling and covers part of the window that gives us a view of San Francisco Bay from 180 feet in the air. I left it on because I would rather watch a Phineas and Ferb episode that wasn’t my favorite than rain falling on the window.
An ad for a new game came on the T.V. which suddenly gave me an idea. The Sims 2. I had spent so much time with The Sims 3 and college stuff that I hadn’t played the old game recently. But now that it was semester break and the crime rate was virtually zero, I had plenty of time.
“I know what to do,” I told Raven as I shut off the T.V. and got off the couch.
“What?” she asked.
“The Sims 2,” I said, “Playing it this time and not taking pictures or videos. You want to come?”
Raven closed her book and we left the Ops room and headed to my room. I turned on the computer and started the game.
Raven sat next to me and opened her book while the game was loading. She didn’t like to play video games, but she did watch as I played and followed the storyline.
Once the game had reached the menu screen where I could chose a neighborhood, I accidentally clicked on the arrow and was shocked to see the pre-made neighborhoods of Pleasantview, Strangetown and Veronaville on the screen. And then I realized - I hadn’t deleted the files on this computer.
One story in The Sims 2 had become, and still is, my favorite. That was the story of Bella Goth. When the game begins, she had been abducted by aliens from Pleasantview and disappeared, making her, if she wasn’t already, the most famous Sims character. Everyone had their own version of what happened to Bella, including me. I had created a story about it in my mind and when I started having chronic nightmares a few years ago, that story became my life so I would have something to occupy my mind. I had even set dates for the events. Once the nightmares became less frequent, I realized that I was losing touch with reality and shoved everything about that part of the game out of my mind. I had even deleted the game files so I wouldn‘t run into them. Despite the fact that I now live 2,000 miles away from my hometown of Chicago where I had lived for a normal 14 years, I do go home regularly, and it turns out that I had deleted the files at home but not at Titans Tower. It didn’t matter anyway. It doesn’t bother me anymore. After all, it’s just a story.
I was about to click the mouse when the power went out. So much for the game. Then the room was illuminated by a flash of light coming from above, followed by a huge clap of thunder. It took everything in me to keep from screaming as I jumped from the startling noise. As my hand left the mouse, a spark flew and shocked me.
“What was that?” I asked Raven.
“I think lightning hit the lightning rod,” she said as she took my hand to look at it.
“I meant the shock,” I said. “I thought those electrons wanted to be grounded.”
Raven touched my palm and out of nowhere we were sent flying by another spark. I could feel myself land on my bed.
“You Okay?” Raven’s voice came from my right but I couldn’t answer. All I could do was feel my eyes close as I listened to the rain hit the roof.
Chapter 2
I opened my eyes and immediately squinted from the light of the sun. The sky was clear and blue, quite the opposite of what I’d last seen. I got up off the grass and looked around. I was on a suburban street lined with small houses. The grass was dry and the air was slightly warmer than I remembered. Raven was standing in front of me and she was looking at the tree behind my back.
“What in the world happened?” I asked her.
“I don‘t know,” she answered. “The lightning hit the lighting rod and we shocked each other, but other than that I‘m not sure.”
I began to run through my head all of the possible scenarios.
“Well, knock out gas is out,” I said, and Raven nodded in agreement. I hadn’t felt any of those symptoms, and once you had been knocked out by that stuff, you know when it’s happening again.
“This isn’t San Francisco. Do we even know where we are?” Raven asked in a sarcastic tone.
“Guess we‘d better find out,” I said as we started walking.
We reached the end of the calm street and turned the corner onto a busier one lined with stores selling everything from groceries to clothes. It was a place I had never set foot in, but it seemed so familiar - almost as if I had been there before. The weirdest thing was that no one seemed to notice us. It took us a few moments to realize this, for people in San Francisco were used to seeing the Teen Titans around town and therefore left us alone. But everywhere else we went, there were at least a few groups of people who pointed and pulled out their cameras. We weren’t in San Francisco, but these people ignored us as if we were two normal nineteen year-old girls who were just walking down the street.
We eventually came to a park that had a swing set and a swimming pool. The pool was covered up, but I could imagine what it looked like during the summer, when kids would come to escape the heat.
“I‘ve seen this place before, I just know it!” I said frustrated that I couldn’t remember when or where. Maybe if I walked around the place it would jog my memory. I took off toward the entrance and Raven followed without asking any questions. The place was pretty much deserted save for a squirrel running across the grass. At one point I viewed the place from a certain angle and then stopped. I recalled everything around me. When I had last seen this place it had been surrounded by a rectangular border, like the one framing the computer screen.
“That‘s it!” I exclaimed. “I know where I‘ve seen this before!” I turned to face my best friend. “I‘ve seen this exact same place on my computer while playing the Sims 2. We‘re in Pleasantview - one of the neighborhoods from the game!”
“Do you have any idea how we got to Pleasantview?” Raven asked as we rejoined the people on the streets.
“No clue,” I replied. “But hey, at least we know where we are. What time is it?” I pulled my cell phone out of my pocket and flipped it open. “Okay, that‘s weird,” I said. There was no information on the screen at all, just an out of service message. How could there be no service in the middle of the suburbs?
A little redhead girl in a black jumper - like the kind I wore when I was little - stopped next to me.
“What‘s that?” she asked.
“My cell phone,” I told her.
“What‘s a cell phone?”
This was by far the weirdest thing that had happened. How could this girl not know what a cell phone was? I knew for a fact that they existed in Pleasantview. I explained to her and her eyes grew wide.
“They make those?” she asked. She didn’t give me time to answer. Someone must have called to her because she took off down the street. I immediately turned to Raven.
“Is it just me, or did that girl not know that they make cell phones?” I asked.
“Joan, have you seen anyone using a cell phone at all?” Her reply made me think. I hadn’t seen a single phone being used. Usually, at least one person was texting.
“No,” I said.
“That, and the fact you have no service on your phone. And look at the trees.”
I did and noticed for the first time that not only did they have leaves, but they were in bloom.
I knew for a fact that Pleasantview had seasons, but I hadn’t noticed that we were in a completely different time of year than the place we had left. I have seen temperatures in the winter reach as high as 70 - not in San Francisco, but in the Midwest, - so the temperature change hadn’t indicated a season change in my mind, but blooming trees were not something you would see in December.
“I don‘t think we‘re in the present,” Raven said, making the next logical jump. She was right. We had figured out where we were, but now we had to find out when we were.
“Any ideas about the time?” I asked.
“It’s spring, but I‘m not sure of the year. Only that it‘s not recent.”
“There was a newspaper stand back by the park. The paper should have today‘s date on it.”
We turned around and went back to the park, finding the newspaper stand. On the paper was the date - April 2, 1994. At first I was confused. I didn’t know why or how Raven and I ended up 15 years in the past. What could possibly happen in Pleasantview in April of ‘94? Then I remembered. A date from that month and year came to me from the back of my mind - not the current date, but two days later. I looked at Raven.
“Do you know what this means?” I asked. She shook her head. “Raven, Bella Goth is still in Pleasantview.”
Chapter 3
“This is not a coincidence,” I said as I put down my soda can. Raven and I were sitting at a table at a park. The watch I had bought told me it was noon, and Raven and I were taking a break from shopping and were discussing the situation over lunch. We had decided that the first thing to do was blend into the crowd. Somehow a decent supply of money had ended up in my pocket, and we were able to spend some on a few outfits, necessities, and our lunch, all for ridiculously low prices. Once we were sure we didn’t stand out, after changing and placing our old clothes along with anything else that wasn’t around in the early 90’s in our new bags, we could discuss our situation without worrying about drawing too much attention to our conversation.
“I mean, I load the Sims 2, and we randomly find ourselves in Pleasantview,” I continued. “There are just too many similarities.”
“I think you‘re right,” Raven said. She took a bite of one of the hot dogs we had bought. “We may not know how we got here, but the best way to get home is to figure out what we have to do here.”
As I took a bite of my own hot dog, I realized that I had felt almost every emotion but panic. Raven and I are superheroes, and we both knew that we wouldn’t find ourselves in a different world unless our presence was needed.
“Well,” I started, “considering we arrived pretty much right before Bella‘s disappearance, I think this must have something to do with her.”
“How do you know you have the right date?” Raven asked me. “There are no dates in the game”
I put down my food at looked at my best friend.
“Raven, have I ever been wrong about a story?”
“No,” she said. Then she finished her meal and got up to throw her trash in the garbage can. I finished my lunch and threw out the wrapper.
“So assuming you’re right, and our situation does have something to do with Bella, and her disappearance, we should figure out what we know about the abduction,” Raven said as we picked up our bags.
“We know who, what, when…”
“What time?” Raven interrupted my thoughts.
“Sometime at night. I‘m not sure but 10:00 PM seems to come to mind. I could be wrong though, I‘m only right when I‘m sure.”
“What about where? Do you know any details about the location?”
“She was abducted from the house across the street from hers.”
“If we have to find her house, we‘d better start looking.”
“It shouldn‘t be hard to find. It‘s the biggest house in town. Plus I know the address.”
“You memorized her address?”
“Don‘t ask,” I said as we left the park.
“So, if I remember correctly,” Raven said, “Bella‘s married and has two children at home.”
“That‘s right,” I told her. “Why do you ask?”
“I was just trying to make sure I remembered.” We passed a gas station advertising $1.50 per gallon. The last time I had seen gas prices under two dollars was a distant memory.
“Wait, how did Bella disappear again?” Raven asked paying no mind to the crazy gas prices.
“She was abducted by aliens,” I said, “Most people who are abducted are returned to the site of the abduction, but Bella wasn’t. Abductions are actually a pretty common thing in this world, more so in some towns than others.”
“How common is it in Pleasantview?”
“I don‘t think it‘s that common here. I can‘t be sure though.”
We spent the next two days strategizing and sightseeing. We had decided the best plan was to simply observe the abduction, and figure out where to go from there. I enjoyed walking around Pleasantview. I was glad to see a bright blue sky instead of the cloudy one that was recently in San Francisco. We enjoyed looking at the local places of interest so much that once we visited the scene of Bella’s disappearance, we visited other places. We went to museums, parks, and sat outside the library watching kids play on the playground. We never actually saw Bella though. I was glad about that - it would have been way too awkward. We camped out at night in some patch of land no one cared about. I love seeing new places, and seeing Pleasantview was like an adventure. I felt like we had done everything in the town by the time the sun set on April 4th, the night of the Bella‘s disappearance.
Chapter 4
“What time is it?” I asked. Raven lit up the watch with a flashlight.
“8:15,” she said.
“Really, I thought it was like 9:30.” I turned around and something sharp hit my arm. “Ow! Stupid bush!”
We were sitting behind a bush in the side yard of the house across the street from Bella’s. We could not have found a better place to observe from. We could watch what happened at the door, window and roof of the neighbor’s house while remaining unseen. We had been sitting there since sunset but so far nothing had happened.
Raven grabbed a bag of chips out of one of our backpacks.
“Do you want one?” she asked.
“Sure,” I said and opened the bag.
I ate until I heard a sound in the distance. It was a short periodic noise like the ticking of a clock - or someone walking on the street. Raven and I looked at each other, then looked past the bush in the direction of the noise. The figure of a woman walked across the street, through the yard and up to the door of the house we were next to. I couldn’t see her in detail, but what I did see confirmed her identity. It was Bella, I was sure of it.
“It‘s her,” I said shoving the chip bag into a backpack while trying to make the least amount of sound possible. Raven tapped my shoulder and I turned my attention back to the porch.
A man opened the door, and Bella walked inside the house.
“Thanks for inviting me,” she said.
“Oh, no problem,” the man said. “It gets lonely here sometimes.” They disappeared into the house and the door shut.
It seemed like a courtesy visit between neighbors, but of course Raven and I knew better.
Do you really think he asked her to visit because he was lonely? Raven asked me telepathically. We often use telepathic communication to converse whenever we didn’t want to be heard. However since Raven’s telepathic and I’m not, she has to be the one to initiate contact. If I needed to tell her something I let her know by squeezing her hand, and she would let me know that she could hear me. It was the perfect time to use our special way of communicating because we wanted no one to know of our presence.
No, I told her. I have an idea of what it may be, but I know it’s not a regular visit.
Bella had disappeared inside the house and both she and her host were in a part of the house we couldn’t see well from the window. Raven couldn’t see anything at all, but I could see some motion. It wasn’t much. Without my glasses I can’t see details at a distance.
You see anything? Raven asked.
Nothing much. I don’t have my glasses.
Where are they?
At home. In San Francisco. In 2009!
We waited for a while and then Bella and her host entered the room with the window. They sat down and appeared to talk for a few minutes. Then they once again vanished from our sight. I noted the direction they took and squeezed Raven’s hand.
I think they’re heading for the roof, I told her.
We looked up and sure enough Bella and her host emerged on the house’s flat roof. It was like the one at Titans Tower, but nowhere near as big. I could see them better now - there were lights on the roof - and I could tell what was going on.
The man was getting way too intimate. He placed his arms around Bella’s waist and was leaning in pretty fast. Bella had other ideas. She pushed him away to the point where they broke contact. I couldn’t hear what the man was saying but I could hear her words loud and clear.
“I don‘t like you that way,” she said as she pushed him away.
Did he just try to kiss her? Raven asked me.
If I were her I would slap him and leave.
Why isn’t she leaving?
She’s too polite to do that. She doesn‘t want to cause trouble with her neighbor.
“Do you ever look at the stars?” the man asked.
“Yes, sometimes,” Bella said nervously. “Why do you ask?”
“I was hoping you could help me try out my new telescope.” He led Bella to a simple telescope at the edge of the roof.
“Sure,” she said. “I‘d like to.”
I could have yelled “No Bella, don‘t do it!” I could have had Raven fly me up to the roof so I could stand between Bella and the telescope. I could have done a lot of things, but what mattered was that Raven and I weren’t supposed to be in this time and place, so instead I watched anxiously as Bella leaned over the telescope and looked through the lens. When nothing immediately happened I relaxed.
“It‘s a beautiful night, isn‘t it?” she asked.
As if on cue it came out of nowhere. It was a stereotypical UFO with a glowing green trim. It made sort of a propelling sound as it swooped down toward our exact location. It stopped right above the telescope and emitted a beam of light that was so strong I had to shut my eyes. The beam was incredibly noisy. I had to plug my ears just to be able to think. It all lasted about 15 seconds, and then the light went out. I opened my eyes. I couldn’t see in the dark, but I heard the spaceship propel away. I knew she was gone.
Chapter 5
There was no point in waiting at our hideout - we knew she wasn’t coming back. We also knew that it would be three hours before Bella would be considered missing. That was the typical time for which people who were abducted were gone. Once that time had passed we suspected that the area would be swarming with police cars and news crews, and it was not a good idea for us to be around when that happened.
We waited until we were sure no one could see us. The man went back inside his house, and nothing else happened. Once the coast was clear, we slipped out from behind the bush. We walked down the street and started talking when we knew no one could hear us.
“Wait a minute,” Raven said, “why didn‘t this guy report what just happened?”
“You wouldn‘t report an alien abduction right after it happens since most people return after about three hours. I would think you‘d have to wait that time out before reporting anything to officials.”
“So… what do we do now?” Raven asked. She spoke in a whisper.
“I‘m not sure,” I said. “Maybe we have to wait until Bella‘s declared missing.”
“Wait for what?” Raven asked skeptically.
“I don‘t know. Maybe we will go home.”
“Do you think we‘re automatically going to go home?”
“Well we were automatically sent here so it could be a…”
My body slammed into something and fell to the concrete of the sidewalk. I picked myself up and saw the object I had run into was a girl a few years younger than me. She had gotten off the ground and was picking up the books she dropped. I bent over to help her and noticed the books were textbooks - the kind used in schools. She had probably been studying at the library and left when it closed.
“I‘m so sorry,” I said giving her the books I had picked up. “I totally didn‘t see you.”
“That‘s Okay,” she said, putting her books into a bag. “I‘m sorry too. I should have been looking where I was going.”
She smiled at me and for the first time I saw what she looked like. She had black hair pulled into pigtails and was wearing glasses. If this was the person I thought it was then talking to her wasn’t going to be easy.
“I was just coming home from the library,” she continued. “What are you doing?”
“We’re new in town and we got lost,” Raven said. She gave me a look and I understood we were both thinking the same thing.
“Welcome to Pleasantview,” she said. “I‘m Cassandra Goth.”
Once again, I was right. I had done a lot of crazy stuff before but this was my first time talking to the daughter of the woman I had just seen disappear. Still we introduced ourselves and shook her hand.
“Do you know where we can find a hotel?” I asked her.
“There aren’t any around here,” she said, “But you can come to my house and I can help you find a place to stay.”
“It‘s 9:30,” I said.
“All the more reason you should come.”
“Thank you,” Raven said. “We‘d love for you to help us out.”
Cassandra lead us back the way we had come and up to Bella‘s house. She told us to wait on the porch and went inside. I turned to Raven.
“Are you sure this is a good idea?” I asked her.
“We don‘t have anywhere to go,” she said. “And this way we‘ll know when Bella‘s declared missing.” I sighed, knowing my best friend was right.
Cassandra opened the door a few minutes later and introduced us to her father, who explained that his wife was out, but would be back soon. I bit my tongue.
“All the hotels around here stop checking in guests at nine,” she said. “Therefore we‘d like to invite you to stay the night.”
We couldn’t thank her enough as she set us up on the couches in the living room, and joked about how the family ghosts would get us if we tried to steal anything. She explained that if we were good guests, the ghosts would have no reason to bother us. The concept of ghosts didn’t bother me. After all, once you’ve seen worse things, ghosts just made everything more interesting.
The sofas were the comfiest I’d ever sat on. I was practically asleep once I laid down.
***
A ringing telephone brought me back to consciousness. I glanced at the digital clock - 2:00 AM. Who the heck would call a house at two in the morning? Then I remembered. It was the phone call I knew would be coming.
I heard footsteps coming down the stairs and turned to face the back of the couch so whoever it was would think the phone hadn’t woken me up. The footsteps came closer and then further away. Then, I heard the sound of the receiver being picked up.
“Hello,” I heard a man’s voice say. It was quiet in the house, but I still couldn’t hear what was being said on the phone. “Yes, how may I help you?” A long pause followed. It felt like it had lasted five minutes, but I didn’t think it had really been that long. “Thank you,” I heard the man say and the phone was hung up. After another long period of silence the footsteps came back - at a slower tempo - and started up the stairs.
Once we were sure we couldn’t be seen or heard, Raven and I bolted off the sofas. We both looked at each other and knew we had the same idea.
We flew up the stairs to avoid making noise and once we got to the second floor landing we saw a figure go into a room. As we approached the door, I squeezed Raven’s hand.
Yes, she responded.
If we’re seen, I told her, we were looking for the bathroom.
I saw her nod as we stood by the door in a position where we could see what was happening, but could not be seen.
“Cassandra, wake up!” The girl’s father sat on the side of her bed and shook her awake.
“Dad, it‘s the middle of the night. What’s going on?”
“It‘s your mother. She‘s missing.”
“WHAT?” Cassandra immediately sat up and Raven and I backed away from the door.
“She was at the house across the street when she was abducted by aliens. She should have come back after three hours and it‘s been five.” Cassandra started to cry. She took a pillow from her bed and placed it in front of her face for something to cry on. “I know this will be hard for you so I want you to get some rest before morning.”
“I can‘t sleep now,” Cassandra said through her tears. “Why did you tell me now?”
“Cassandra, you‘re 15 and no longer a child. I‘m not going to treat you like one. Be strong and be an example for your little brother, okay?”
“Okay.” Cassandra was obviously upset. As her eyes rained tears, her father pulled her into a hug, and she placed her head on his shoulder. They stayed like this for quite some time, but Cassandra did eventually lift her head. “Can I get something to drink?”
That was our hint that it was time to exit. We flew down the stairs and laid back down on the couches. Sure enough, as I faked sleep, I heard footsteps coming down the stairs.
“They‘re still asleep?” Cassandra asked.
“Yes.”
“What should we do?”
“Let them stay. It‘s what your mother would do.”
With my face to the back of the couch, I spent the next 30 minutes or so listening to an array of sounds coming from another room. Then I heard one set of footsteps go back up the stairs. Once that sound was gone, it was silent.
After waiting for another five minutes, I got off the couch and headed for the bathroom. As I worked my way through the dark hall, I noticed a noise coming out of one of the rooms. I stood at the doorway and peeked in. Cassandra had been the one that went back upstairs, because her father was sitting alone in this room. Then I realized what the noise was - the sound of crying.
***
The next time I opened my eyes, the room was filled with light. I was happy that I had actually gone back to sleep, since half the time when I wake up in the middle of the night I end up lying awake through the rest of it.
Our hosts gave us some breakfast, and while we ate we were pointed to the hotels that were the best to stay at. I had run into Cassandra as I went to the bathroom to change, and her eyes were swollen, a typical sign of late night crying. They started to water as she and her father told us about what had happened last night. We offered them both our heartfelt sympathies and told them that since we didn’t want to impose, we’d best be on our way. I wished I could reassure them that Bella would be back soon, but I knew that wasn’t true. We wished them the best of luck and thanked them for their hospitality.
No sooner than we walked out the door, the world began to change. The green landscape gave way to spinning stripes, all a different shade of beige. I didn’t need to look at Raven to know that we were thinking the same thing. Were we finally going home?
That
Fateful Night
Genre: Mystery/drama
Summary:
What 19 year-old Joan likes best about being a Teen Titan is the
unpredictability. From impromptu trips to foreign countries to dropping
everything to stop a bank robber, she enjoys the thrill of never
knowing what’s around the bend. So it’s understandable that after three
days of no crime, she’s bored. But, when Joan and her best friend
Raven finally find something to do, life throws it’s most unpredictable
challenge yet. The girls find themselves in Pleasantview - two days
before the night when Bella Goth disappears.
Now, Joan and Raven
are faced with traveling through space and time as they witness Bella’s
disappearance and discovery ten years later. As Bella reunites with her
family, the girls must find a way to integrate themselves into a new
world, all while trying to figuring out how to get home. But, when
everything falls to pieces, it’s up to them to find out what really
happened on that fateful night.
Please ignore the crummy formatting. I don't have time to fix it.
Chapters 1 - 5
Chapter
1
It’s
been three days. Three days since we’ve been called out. At first
it was nice to get a break, but now, I’m bored. I enjoy life a lot
more if there’s excitement. It’s one of the things I love about
being a Teen Titan - everything’s unpredictable. Sometimes we’re
so busy it’s hard to find time to sleep. And other times, like the
last three days, there seemed to be no crime, or at least no crime
that the San Francisco Police Department couldn’t handle on their
own. We had started to enjoy ourselves, playing Super
Smash Bros. Brawl and
Mario
Kart Wii, but
soon one thing led to another and I couldn’t turn on the Wii
without a fight breaking out. Between that, and the fact that it was
cold and raining, there was nothing to do.
I
sat on the couch in the Ops room flipping through a copy of Nintendo
Power that
I had already read twice. Sitting next to me was my best friend
Raven. She was reading a book, which was a good idea except that I
didn’t feel like reading at the moment. Raven and I have a few
things in common. Besides the fact that we’re both super heroes
and enjoy
fighting
crime, we both love stories. Other than that we’re polar
opposites. Raven likes to spend her time by doing serious things
like reading or meditating,
while I enjoy doing more fun things like video games or dancing to
music. Most of the time we’ll compromise - we’ll read a book
together, which most of the time is one we can’t put down, and then
we’ll play a card game or watch T.V. or do something else that I
want to do and we both end up enjoying ourselves. We’re always
there for each other and in times of need we make each other feel
better in a way no one else can.
“Raven,
what time is it?” I asked.
“Around
1:30.”
“Can
you pass me the remote?”
Raven
looked at the remote that was on the other side of the huge room.
Using her telekinetic powers she picked up the remote and brought it
over to the couch. She’s not only telekinetic but telepathic as
well, although she never entered anyone’s mind unless it was an
emergency. My own powers are, well, nonexistent. I’m an expert at
physical combat and can fight a guy twice my size.
I
thanked Raven and turned on the T.V. One quick check through the
guide and I knew that there was nothing on. The T.V. at Titans Tower
is a 300 - some inch flat screen that when turned on comes out of the
ceiling and covers part of the window that gives us a view of San
Francisco Bay from 180 feet in the air. I left it on because I would
rather watch a Phineas
and
Ferb
episode that wasn’t my favorite than rain falling on the window.
An
ad for a new game came on the T.V. which suddenly gave me an idea.
The
Sims 2.
I had spent so much time with The
Sims 3 and
college stuff that I hadn’t played the old game recently. But now
that it was semester break and the crime rate was virtually zero, I
had plenty of time.
“I
know what to do,” I told Raven as I shut off the T.V. and got off
the couch.
“What?”
she asked.
“The
Sims 2,”
I said, “Playing it this time and not taking pictures or videos.
You want to come?”
Raven
closed her book and we left the Ops room and headed to my room. I
turned on the computer and started the game.
Raven
sat next to me and opened her book while the game was loading. She
didn’t like to play video games, but she did watch as I played and
followed the storyline.
Once
the game had reached the menu screen where I could chose a
neighborhood, I accidentally clicked on the arrow and was shocked to
see the pre-made neighborhoods of Pleasantview, Strangetown and
Veronaville on the screen. And then I realized - I hadn’t deleted
the files on this computer.
One
story in The
Sims 2
had become, and still is, my favorite. That was the story of Bella
Goth. When the game begins, she had been abducted by aliens from
Pleasantview and disappeared, making her, if she wasn’t already,
the most famous Sims character. Everyone had their own version of
what happened to Bella, including me. I had created a story about it
in my mind and when I started having chronic nightmares a few years
ago, that story became my life so I would have something to occupy my
mind. I had even set dates for the events. Once the nightmares
became less frequent, I realized that I was losing touch with reality
and shoved everything about that part of the game out of my mind. I
had even deleted the game files so I wouldn‘t run into them.
Despite the fact that I now live 2,000 miles away from my hometown of
Chicago where I had lived for a normal 14 years, I do go home
regularly, and it turns out that I had deleted the files at home but
not at Titans Tower. It didn’t matter anyway. It doesn’t bother
me anymore. After all, it’s just a story.
I
was about to click the mouse when the power went out. So much for
the game. Then the room was illuminated by a flash of light coming
from above, followed by a huge clap of thunder. It took everything
in me to keep from screaming as I jumped from the startling noise.
As my hand left the mouse, a spark flew and shocked me.
“What
was that?” I asked Raven.
“I
think lightning hit the lightning rod,” she said as she took my
hand to look at it.
“I
meant the shock,” I said. “I thought those electrons wanted to
be grounded.”
Raven
touched my palm and out of nowhere we were sent flying by another
spark. I could feel myself land on my bed.
“You
Okay?” Raven’s voice came from my right but I couldn’t answer.
All I could do was feel my eyes close as I listened to the rain hit
the roof.
Chapter
2
I
opened my eyes and immediately squinted from the light of the sun.
The sky was clear and blue, quite the opposite of what I’d last
seen. I got up off the grass and looked around. I was on a suburban
street lined with small houses. The grass was dry and the air was
slightly warmer than I remembered. Raven was standing in front of me
and she was looking at the tree behind my back.
“What
in the world happened?” I asked her.
“I
don‘t know,” she answered. “The lightning hit the lighting rod
and we shocked each other, but other than that I‘m not sure.”
I
began to run through my head all of the possible scenarios.
“Well,
knock out gas is out,” I said, and Raven nodded in agreement. I
hadn’t felt any of those symptoms, and once you had been knocked
out by that stuff, you know when it’s happening again.
“This
isn’t San Francisco. Do we even know where we are?” Raven asked
in a sarcastic tone.
“Guess
we‘d better find out,” I said as we started walking.
We
reached the end of the calm street and turned the corner onto a
busier one lined with stores selling everything from groceries to
clothes. It was a place I had never set foot in, but it seemed so
familiar - almost as if I had been there before. The weirdest thing
was that no one seemed to notice us. It took us a few moments to
realize this, for people in San Francisco were used to seeing the
Teen Titans around town and therefore left us alone. But everywhere
else we went, there were at least a few groups of people who pointed
and pulled out their cameras. We weren’t in San Francisco, but
these people ignored us as if we were two normal nineteen year-old
girls who were just walking down the street.
We
eventually came to a park that had a swing set and a swimming pool.
The pool was covered up, but I could imagine what it looked like
during the summer, when kids would come to escape the heat.
“I‘ve
seen this place before, I just know it!” I said frustrated that I
couldn’t remember when or where. Maybe if I walked around the
place it would jog my memory. I took off toward the entrance and
Raven followed without asking any questions. The place was pretty
much deserted save for a squirrel running across the grass. At one
point I viewed the place from a certain angle and then stopped. I
recalled everything around me. When I had last seen this place it
had been surrounded by a rectangular border, like the one framing the
computer screen.
“That‘s
it!” I exclaimed. “I know where I‘ve seen this before!” I
turned to face my best friend. “I‘ve seen this exact same place
on my computer while playing the Sims 2. We‘re in Pleasantview -
one of the neighborhoods from the game!”
“Do
you have any idea how we got to Pleasantview?” Raven asked as we
rejoined the people on the streets.
“No
clue,” I replied. “But hey, at least we know where we are. What
time is it?” I pulled my cell phone out of my pocket and flipped
it open. “Okay, that‘s weird,” I said. There was no
information on the screen at all, just an out of service message.
How could there be no service in the middle of the suburbs?
A
little redhead girl in a black jumper - like the kind I wore when I
was little - stopped next to me.
“What‘s
that?” she asked.
“My
cell phone,” I told her.
“What‘s
a cell phone?”
This
was by far the weirdest thing that had happened. How could this girl
not know what a cell phone was? I knew for a fact that they existed
in Pleasantview. I explained to her and her eyes grew wide.
“They
make those?” she asked. She didn’t give me time to answer.
Someone must have called to her because she took off down the street.
I immediately turned to Raven.
“Is
it just me, or did that girl not know that they make cell phones?”
I asked.
“Joan,
have you seen anyone using a cell phone at all?” Her reply made me
think. I hadn’t seen a single phone being used. Usually, at least
one person was texting.
“No,”
I said.
“That,
and the fact you have no service on your phone. And look at the
trees.”
I
did and noticed for the first time that not only did they have
leaves, but they were in bloom.
I
knew for a fact that Pleasantview had seasons, but I hadn’t noticed
that we were in a completely different time of year than the place we
had left. I have seen temperatures in the winter reach as high as 70
- not in San Francisco, but in the Midwest, - so the temperature
change hadn’t indicated a season change in my mind, but blooming
trees were not something you would see in December.
“I
don‘t think we‘re in the present,” Raven said, making the next
logical jump. She was right. We had figured out where we were, but
now we had to find out when
we were.
“Any
ideas about the time?” I asked.
“It’s
spring, but I‘m not sure of the year. Only that it‘s not
recent.”
“There
was a newspaper stand back by the park. The paper should have
today‘s date on it.”
We
turned around and went back to the park, finding the newspaper stand.
On the paper was the date - April 2, 1994. At first I was confused.
I didn’t know why or how Raven and I ended up 15 years in the
past. What could possibly happen in Pleasantview in April of ‘94?
Then I remembered. A date from that month and year came to me from
the back of my mind - not the current date, but two days later. I
looked at Raven.
“Do
you know what this means?” I asked. She shook her head. “Raven,
Bella Goth is still in Pleasantview.”
Chapter
3
“This
is not a coincidence,” I said as I put down my soda can. Raven and
I were sitting at a table at a park. The watch I had bought told me
it was noon, and Raven and I were taking a break from shopping and
were discussing the situation over lunch. We had decided that the
first thing to do was blend into the crowd. Somehow a decent supply
of money had ended up in my pocket, and we were able to spend some on
a few outfits, necessities, and our lunch, all for ridiculously low
prices. Once we were sure we didn’t stand out, after changing and
placing our old clothes along with anything else that wasn’t around
in the early 90’s in our new bags, we could discuss our situation
without worrying about drawing too much attention to our
conversation.
“I
mean, I load the Sims 2, and we randomly find ourselves in
Pleasantview,” I continued. “There are just too many
similarities.”
“I
think you‘re right,” Raven said. She took a bite of one of the
hot dogs we had bought. “We may not know how we got here, but the
best way to get home is to figure out what we have to do here.”
As
I took a bite of my own hot dog, I realized that I had felt almost
every emotion but panic. Raven and I are superheroes, and we both
knew that we wouldn’t find ourselves in a different world unless
our presence was needed.
“Well,”
I started, “considering we arrived pretty much right before Bella‘s
disappearance, I think this must have something to do with her.”
“How
do you know you have the right date?” Raven asked me. “There are
no dates in the game”
I
put down my food at looked at my best friend.
“Raven,
have I ever been wrong about a story?”
“No,”
she said. Then she finished her meal and got up to throw her trash
in the garbage can. I finished my lunch and threw out the wrapper.
“So
assuming you’re right, and our situation does have something to do
with Bella, and her disappearance, we should figure out what we know
about the abduction,” Raven said as we picked up our bags.
“We
know who, what, when…”
“What
time?” Raven interrupted my thoughts.
“Sometime
at night. I‘m not sure but 10:00 PM seems to come to mind. I
could be wrong though, I‘m only right when I‘m sure.”
“What
about where? Do you know any details about the location?”
“She
was abducted from the house across the street from hers.”
“If
we have to find her house, we‘d better start looking.”
“It
shouldn‘t be hard to find. It‘s the biggest house in town. Plus
I know the address.”
“You
memorized her address?”
“Don‘t
ask,” I said as we left the park.
“So,
if I remember correctly,” Raven said, “Bella‘s married and has
two children at home.”
“That‘s
right,” I told her. “Why do you ask?”
“I
was just trying to make sure I remembered.” We passed a gas
station advertising $1.50 per gallon. The last time I had seen gas
prices under two dollars was a distant memory.
“Wait,
how did Bella disappear again?” Raven asked paying no mind to the
crazy gas prices.
“She
was abducted by aliens,” I said, “Most people who are abducted
are returned to the site of the abduction, but Bella wasn’t.
Abductions are actually a pretty common thing in this world, more so
in some towns than others.”
“How
common is it in Pleasantview?”
“I
don‘t think it‘s that common here. I can‘t be sure though.”
We
spent the next two days strategizing and sightseeing. We had decided
the best plan was to simply observe the abduction, and figure out
where to go from there. I enjoyed walking around Pleasantview. I
was glad to see a bright blue sky instead of the cloudy one that was
recently in San Francisco. We enjoyed looking at the local places of
interest so much that once we visited the scene of Bella’s
disappearance, we visited other places. We went to museums, parks,
and sat outside the library watching kids play on the playground. We
never actually saw Bella though. I was glad about that - it would
have been way
too awkward. We camped out at night in some patch of land no one
cared about. I love seeing new places, and seeing Pleasantview was
like an adventure. I felt like we had done everything in the town by
the time the sun set on April 4th,
the night of the Bella‘s disappearance.
Chapter
4
“What
time is it?” I asked. Raven lit up the watch with a flashlight.
“8:15,”
she said.
“Really,
I thought it was like 9:30.” I turned around and something sharp
hit my arm. “Ow! Stupid bush!”
We
were sitting behind a bush in the side yard of the house across the
street from Bella’s. We could not have found a better place to
observe from. We could watch what happened at the door, window and
roof of the neighbor’s house while remaining unseen. We had been
sitting there since sunset but so far nothing had happened.
Raven
grabbed a bag of chips out of one of our backpacks.
“Do
you want one?” she asked.
“Sure,”
I said and opened the bag.
I
ate until I heard a sound in the distance. It was a short periodic
noise like the ticking of a clock - or someone walking on the street.
Raven and I looked at each other, then looked past the bush in the
direction of the noise. The figure of a woman walked across the
street, through the yard and up to the door of the house we were next
to. I couldn’t see her in detail, but what I did see confirmed her
identity. It was Bella, I was sure of it.
“It‘s
her,” I said shoving the chip bag into a backpack while trying to
make the least amount of sound possible. Raven tapped my shoulder
and I turned my attention back to the porch.
A
man opened the door, and Bella walked inside the house.
“Thanks
for inviting me,” she said.
“Oh,
no problem,” the man said. “It gets lonely here sometimes.”
They disappeared into the house and the door shut.
It
seemed like a courtesy visit between neighbors, but of course Raven
and I knew better.
Do
you really think he asked her to visit because he was lonely? Raven
asked me telepathically. We often use telepathic communication to
converse whenever we didn’t want to be heard. However since
Raven’s telepathic and I’m not, she has to be the one to initiate
contact. If I needed to tell her something I let her know by
squeezing her hand, and she would let me know that she could hear me.
It was the perfect time to use our special way of communicating
because we wanted no one to know of our presence.
No,
I
told her. I
have an idea of what it may be, but I know it’s not a regular
visit.
Bella
had disappeared inside the house and both she and her host were in a
part of the house we couldn’t see well from the window. Raven
couldn’t see anything at all, but I could see some motion. It
wasn’t much. Without my glasses I can’t see details at a
distance.
You
see anything? Raven
asked.
Nothing
much. I don’t have my glasses.
Where
are they?
At
home. In San Francisco. In 2009!
We
waited for a while and then Bella and her host entered the room with
the window. They sat down and appeared to talk for a few minutes.
Then they once again vanished from our sight. I noted the direction
they took and squeezed Raven’s hand.
I
think they’re heading for the roof, I
told her.
We
looked up and sure enough Bella and her host emerged on the house’s
flat roof. It was like the one at Titans Tower, but nowhere near as
big. I could see them better now - there were lights on the roof -
and I could tell what was going on.
The
man was getting
way
too intimate. He placed his arms around Bella’s waist and was
leaning in pretty fast. Bella had other ideas. She pushed him away
to the point where they broke contact. I couldn’t hear what the
man was saying but I could hear her words loud and clear.
“I
don‘t like you that way,” she said as she pushed him away.
Did
he just try to kiss her? Raven
asked me.
If
I were her I would slap him and leave.
Why
isn’t she leaving?
She’s
too polite to do that. She doesn‘t want to cause trouble with her
neighbor.
“Do
you ever look at the stars?” the man asked.
“Yes,
sometimes,” Bella said nervously. “Why do you ask?”
“I
was hoping you could help me try out my new telescope.” He led
Bella to a simple telescope at the edge of the roof.
“Sure,”
she said. “I‘d like to.”
I
could have yelled “No Bella, don‘t do it!” I could have had
Raven fly me up to the roof so I could stand between Bella and the
telescope. I could have done a lot of things, but what mattered was
that Raven and I weren’t supposed to be in this time and place, so
instead I watched anxiously as Bella leaned over the telescope and
looked through the lens. When nothing immediately happened I
relaxed.
“It‘s
a beautiful night, isn‘t it?” she asked.
As
if on cue it came out of nowhere. It was a stereotypical UFO with a
glowing green trim. It made sort of a propelling sound as it swooped
down toward our exact location. It stopped right above the telescope
and emitted a beam of light that was so strong I had to shut my eyes.
The beam was incredibly noisy. I had to plug my ears just to be
able to think. It all lasted about 15 seconds, and then the light
went out. I opened my eyes. I couldn’t see in the dark, but I
heard the spaceship propel away. I knew she was gone.
Chapter
5
There
was no point in waiting at our hideout - we knew she wasn’t coming
back. We also knew that it would be three hours before Bella would
be considered missing. That was the typical time for which people
who were abducted were gone. Once that time had passed we suspected
that the area would be swarming with police cars and news crews, and
it was not a good idea for us to be around when that happened.
We
waited until we were sure no one could see us. The man went back
inside his house, and nothing else happened. Once the coast was
clear, we slipped out from behind the bush. We walked down the
street and started talking when we knew no one could hear us.
“Wait
a minute,” Raven said, “why didn‘t this guy report what just
happened?”
“You
wouldn‘t report an alien abduction right after it happens since
most people return after about three hours. I would think you‘d
have to wait that time out before reporting anything to officials.”
“So…
what do we do now?” Raven asked. She spoke in a whisper.
“I‘m
not sure,” I said. “Maybe we have to wait until Bella‘s
declared missing.”
“Wait
for what?” Raven asked skeptically.
“I
don‘t know. Maybe we will go home.”
“Do
you think we‘re automatically going to go home?”
“Well
we were automatically sent here so it could be a…”
My
body slammed into something and fell to the concrete of the sidewalk.
I picked myself up and saw the object I had run into was a girl a
few years younger than me. She had gotten off the ground and was
picking up the books she dropped. I bent over to help her and
noticed the books were textbooks - the kind used in schools. She had
probably been studying at the library and left when it closed.
“I‘m
so sorry,” I said giving her the books I had picked up. “I
totally didn‘t see you.”
“That‘s
Okay,” she said, putting her books into a bag. “I‘m sorry too.
I should have been looking where I was going.”
She
smiled at me and for the first time I saw what she looked like. She
had black hair pulled into pigtails and was wearing glasses. If this
was the person I thought it was then talking to her wasn’t going to
be easy.
“I
was just coming home from the library,” she continued. “What are
you doing?”
“We’re
new in town and we got lost,” Raven said. She gave me a look and I
understood we were both thinking the same thing.
“Welcome
to Pleasantview,” she said. “I‘m Cassandra Goth.”
Once
again, I was right. I had done a lot of crazy stuff before but this
was my first time talking to the daughter of the woman I had just
seen disappear. Still we introduced ourselves and shook her hand.
“Do
you know where we can find a hotel?” I asked her.
“There
aren’t any around here,” she said, “But you can come to my
house and I can help you find a place to stay.”
“It‘s
9:30,” I said.
“All
the more reason you should come.”
“Thank
you,” Raven said. “We‘d love for you to help us out.”
Cassandra
lead us back the way we had come and up to Bella‘s house. She told
us to wait on the porch and went inside. I turned to Raven.
“Are
you sure this is a good idea?” I asked her.
“We
don‘t have anywhere to go,” she said. “And this way we‘ll
know when Bella‘s declared missing.” I sighed, knowing my best
friend was right.
Cassandra
opened the door a few minutes later and introduced us to her father,
who explained that his wife was out, but would be back soon. I bit
my tongue.
“All
the hotels around here stop checking in guests at nine,” she said.
“Therefore we‘d like to invite you to stay the night.”
We
couldn’t thank her enough as she set us up on the couches in the
living room, and joked about how the family ghosts would get us if we
tried to steal anything. She explained that if we were good guests,
the ghosts would have no reason to bother us. The concept of ghosts
didn’t bother me. After all, once you’ve seen worse things,
ghosts just made everything more interesting.
The
sofas were the comfiest I’d ever sat on. I was practically asleep
once I laid down.
***
A
ringing telephone brought me back to consciousness.
I glanced at the digital clock - 2:00 AM. Who the heck would call a
house at two in the morning? Then I remembered. It was the phone
call I knew would be coming.
I
heard footsteps coming down the stairs and turned to face the back of
the couch so whoever it was would think the phone hadn’t woken me
up. The footsteps came closer and then further away. Then, I heard
the sound of the receiver being picked up.
“Hello,”
I heard a man’s voice say. It was quiet in the house, but I still
couldn’t hear what was being said on the phone. “Yes, how may I
help you?” A long pause followed. It felt like it had lasted five
minutes, but I didn’t think it had really been that long. “Thank
you,” I heard the man say and the phone was hung up. After another
long period of silence the footsteps came back - at a slower tempo -
and started up the stairs.
Once
we were sure we couldn’t be seen or heard, Raven and I bolted off
the sofas. We both looked at each other and knew we had the same
idea.
We
flew up the stairs to avoid making noise and once we got to the
second floor landing we saw a figure go into a room. As we
approached the door, I squeezed Raven’s hand.
Yes,
she
responded.
If
we’re seen, I
told her, we
were looking for the bathroom.
I
saw her nod as we stood by the door in a position where we could see
what was happening, but could not be seen.
“Cassandra,
wake up!” The girl’s father sat on the side of her bed and shook
her awake.
“Dad,
it‘s the middle of the night. What’s going on?”
“It‘s
your mother. She‘s missing.”
“WHAT?”
Cassandra immediately sat up and Raven and I backed away from the
door.
“She
was at the house across the street when she was abducted by aliens.
She should have come back after three hours and it‘s been five.”
Cassandra started to cry. She took a pillow from her bed and placed
it in front of her face for something to cry on. “I know this will
be hard for you so I want you to get some rest before morning.”
“I
can‘t sleep now,” Cassandra said through her tears. “Why did
you tell me now?”
“Cassandra,
you‘re 15 and no longer a child. I‘m not going to treat you like
one. Be strong and be an example for your little brother, okay?”
“Okay.”
Cassandra was obviously upset. As her eyes rained tears, her father
pulled her into a hug, and she placed her head on his shoulder. They
stayed like this for quite some time, but Cassandra did eventually
lift her head. “Can I get something to drink?”
That
was our hint that it was time to exit. We flew down the stairs and
laid back down on the couches. Sure enough, as I faked sleep, I
heard footsteps coming down the stairs.
“They‘re
still asleep?” Cassandra asked.
“Yes.”
“What
should we do?”
“Let
them stay. It‘s what your mother would do.”
With
my face to the back of the couch, I spent the next 30 minutes or so
listening to an array of sounds coming from another room. Then I
heard one set of footsteps go back up the stairs. Once that sound
was gone, it was silent.
After
waiting for another five minutes, I got off the couch and headed for
the bathroom. As I worked my way through the dark hall, I noticed a
noise coming out of one of the rooms. I stood at the doorway and
peeked in. Cassandra had been the one that went back upstairs,
because her father was sitting alone in this room. Then I realized
what the noise was - the sound of crying.
***
The
next time I opened my eyes, the room was filled with light. I was
happy that I had actually gone back to sleep, since half the time
when I wake up in the middle of the night I end up lying awake
through the rest of it.
Our
hosts gave us some breakfast, and while we ate we were pointed to the
hotels that were the best to stay at. I had run into Cassandra as I
went to the bathroom to change, and her eyes were swollen, a typical
sign of late night crying. They started to water as she and her
father told us about what had happened last night. We offered them
both our heartfelt sympathies and told them that since we didn’t
want to impose, we’d best be on our way. I wished I could
reassure them that Bella would be back soon, but I knew that wasn’t
true. We wished them the best of luck and thanked them for their
hospitality.
No
sooner than we walked out the door, the world began to change. The
green landscape gave way to spinning stripes, all a different shade
of beige. I didn’t need to look at Raven to know that we were
thinking the same thing. Were we finally going home?