Dimensia

by Steven Thornton, Jr

  Chapter: Five.

  The following weeks, Comfort and I spent inseparable. I was as happy as I ever could have imagined. My parents came up the weekend prior to last, and got to meet her. She helped me entertain them, by accepting the role as tour guide: showing the campus, a few of the local restaurants, and historic places of Columbia. I wasn't quite sure what my parents would think of Comfort. Initially it was awkward, but towards the end of their stay I think they liked her more than me, which came as no great revelation. At this point, Comfort and I were going out, and she was the first girl that I had ever had a serious relationship with. To beat scrambled eggs, it didn't seem like a relationship as much as fun. The dreams I had struggled with were in the past, which was great. I was back to my somewhat normal life of work, home, and Comfort. Soon I would be adding school to the list, however. I had recently enrolled with a school guidance counselor, my first electives for the first semester. I wasn't really worried about finishing school in record time, so, decided to only enroll in only nine hours, to make sure I wasn't overloaded of course. (Wink.)

  Before I knew it, the school year had arrived. At first it was a tad overwhelming, but I eventually started to gain my bearings on campus, and began trying to figure out my place or role in life. Of the electives, I had a computer class that was pretty cool. It was basic computer skills with web developing, a pre-requisite for any degree. I also enrolled in an English course, as well as a Psychology course. In the computer class, I made a friend by the name of Rob. He was a cool, hip, black dude. He wore his hair in little knots that he constantly twisted and I thought looked really cool. He was musically talented, but his parents wanted him to have a degree before pursuing his musical ambitions, something to fall back on, he explained. Rob and I hit it off instantly. We both where somewhere we really didn't care to be, and he was cool. We started hanging out outside of class, and became pretty good friends. One day, hanging out, I expressed to Rob how interested I was in dimensions, and explained how the lab was across town.

  "Dude, let's case the joint and wait for the Bill Nye dude to come out of the building and jump him." Rob said, excited with a smile.

  "Jump him? Come-on bro, I'm not trying to get in trouble."

  "Me neither man candy. I'm talking wait game. For info bro, you feel me?" Entertaining the idea, I have to admit, the thought had never actually crossed my mind . . . And it begins!

  The formulated plan was to skip the next class period, run home to retrieve the details, then engage the fifteen minute drive across town to the lab. Facilitating our plan, we located the lab a few miles past the airport, and pulled into the parking lot. Then decided to wait out in front of the building. Moments later, we saw a security guard making his rounds, patrolling, hoping he wouldn't notice us, but did, and stopped. As he started walking towards us, a feeling of nervousness set in. I thought, 'we are going to jail for sure.' As the security guard approached,

  "You guys got visitor passes?" he asked. Thinking 'we're screwed,' and realizing how much we must stick out like tourists I thought 'we are doomed.'

  "Did you play ball in high school?" Rob asked out of the pink sky. Looking at the security guard, presumably mid-twenty something, a black guy, slightly overweight. Thinking, 'great make fun of the security guy that really helps Rob.'

  "Yeah, I played a little pig skin back in the day." The security guard suspiciously answered.

  "What's up?" As he grabbed his belt, leaned back, as if proud,

  "You look familiar that's why, where you from?" Rob asked, with a warm grin.

  "Clayton High,"

  "I thought I recognized you dirty. We played in the regional finals back in 2000. I was QB." As the security guard furrowed his brow, gave a suspicious going-over with his eyes, with a puzzled expression etched on his face,

  "Metro?"

  "Guilty." As Rob grinned, extended his arm for a hand shake,

  "I didn't know it was you man, my bad. You're good - don't sweat it. Also, no hard feelings man, that game was filthy." As the security guard scanned the immediate surroundings, Rob laughed.

  "So, what are you guys doing here?" he asked, with a new found friendlier tone,

  "My brother-in-law works for the lab, we have to pick something up." Rob offered confidently,

  "You mean, drop something off?" the security guard mused, grinning suspiciously, then shook Rob's hand one final time and turned to walk away. Feeling uncomfortable, thinking we were not there for that reason, or whatever reason he juxtaposed. When he stopped and turned to face us,

  "Peace," he said as he threw up a deuce, wearing a heart felt grin. I turned to look at Rob as I sighed, expressing my gratitude.

  "You played football?" I asked, confused.

  "Nope," Rob said, bearing a smile full of teeth.

  "Let's keep that between us," as he winked. I laughed and grabbed a seat on the cement bench.

  Twenty minutes later, the scientist I recognized from the CNN clip, Dr. Scott, emerged, exiting through the front doors and headed our direction. I quickly stood, and ran towards him, as Rob hung back.

  "Excuse me sir," I yelled.

  "Excuse me," as he turned to face me.

  "What can I help you with son? Rattle your dags," the Dr. said, hearing an Aussie accent. I smiled, excited to be meeting him face to face. In fact, it took a minute to compose my thoughts, but I expressed how sincere I was about the dimension research and how much I loved his work, and how I had a couple questions. Annoyed, he interrupted,

  "I'm sorry son, I'm running late for a tee-up," as he glanced down at his watch.

  "Just a second of your time, that's all," I pleaded.

  "Son, you seem like a good kid, but trust me when I say leave it alone," as he turned to walk away. Not the response I was expecting, I hustled to catch up.

  "Sir, I want to know more about what's in the dimensions, how they work, how to access them?" As the Dr. stopped, turned towards me, unveiling a look of disbelief,

  "Kid, you have no idea, just leave it alone," he said with a stern tone, shadowed with an apparent look of confusion, as he turned to walk away. Embarrassed, borderline upset, Rob stood and ran to meet up.

  "How'd it go?" Rob asked, excited.

  "Better than worst but less than good," I sadly replied.

  "He pretty much, in a round about way, basically, more-or-less, essentially, told me to not care, to leave him alone." Seeing Rob appear to become aggravated,

  "Man, forget that Bill Nye douche bag." As Rob reached into his pocket, grabbed his cell phone and gazed at the screen, then pressed a coordinating button, placing the phone up to his ear, extending his index finger, motioning me to wait.

  "Hang on, Cuzo, Rob. I need a favor man. My homie from school needs some information about," as Rob turned towards me,

  "What's this lab called?"

  "Dimensia Movement Lab," I replied, as Rob repeated.

  "Alright, well hit me up and let me know what's good? Stay up." Then, shut his phone.

  "What was all that?" I asked, confused.

  "Were cool, don't trip family," he grinned as we turned to walk towards my car. Feeling bummed about how things had materialized, Rob saw and felt this.

  "Fisher, cheer up, its bagels and eggs, I've got edges, I'll get what you want, don't stress." Rob said, with a warming grin.

  "Cool." I said, forcing a smile. I then drove back to my place and played some Xbox 360 until Comfort arrived from work. When she arrived Rob and I explained to her how we had skipped school and went to the Dimensia lab, and of how we alluded getting arrested for trespassing.

  "You two are nuttier than squirrel poop." she said, in a wisp of laughter. I then asked about her day and if work was busy. I hadn't been working as much because of school, pretty much only weekend shifts. Rob interrupted, while glancing at his watch.

  "Could you take me back to the dorm?" Sensing an urgent ton
e to the request,

  "I have some hens coming to the coop. That's the real-deal Holyfield." I grinned, and asked Comfort if she wanted to ride. A few minutes later, we piled into my car and headed for the dorm. Halfway there, Rob received a call. The phone call was his cousin and Rob placed the call on speakerphone.

  "I hacked into the mainframe and downloaded the information, but it's pretty crazy swayze. It doesn't make much sense to me." His cousin voiced over the phone. Smiling, happy to hear the news, I hooked a U-turn towards Rob's cousin's house.

  Moments later, we pulled up to the house and Comfort and I waited in the car. Rob's cousins house was in the projects, a place where you don't have the luxury of opening your blinds. The ghetto, the slums, with different rules, different lives. A place foreign to most; the extent of another world.

  Rob was gone for approximately ten to fifteen minutes, when he emerged holding what looked like a large stack of white paper, at least two- hundred pages. Initially skeptical, I couldn't submerse the rush of excitement. I asked that Comfort drive, so I could begin to look over the information. Hesitantly doing so, she feared that we could get in trouble for having the information on our person. Not worried, seeking clarification I asked,

  "Is there was anyway we could get in trouble if they found out?"

  "Man, I said I would get it for you right?" as Rob laughed,

  "Stop acting like a white-boy and use it. You will be fine, trust." Not the reassurance I was aiming for, but it would have to suffice for the time being.

  Then, I proceeded to drop Rob off at the dorm, and headed back to our place. On the ride home, Comfort began to voice her concern.

  "Do you think this is such a good idea?"

  "What?" I replied, aggravated.

  "The dimensions and what-not?" Comfort clarified, with a serious demeanor.

  "Everything's going to be cool." I laughed assuredly, while trying to convince myself. Shortly after we arrived at our place, I went to my apartment and she went to hers. She was tired and wanted to rest, and I wanted to read the research.

  Inside my place, I looked over the material and I couldn't believe what I was looking at. Basically, it was what the scientists looked at on a daily basis, with months, if not years of accumulated work. Like cotton candy, it was kind of awesome. Starting at the beginning, I read their hypothesis on what they wanted to prove. It stated: 'The proof of dimensions is detrimental for science, and we will conclude with nothing less than to prove that parallel dimensions exist, furthermore, co-exist.' As I dove further into the material, it showed tests that the lab had conducted, the test subject being a scientist on the team. As I continued to read, I felt excited as it explained how he went through a series of rather intense phases.

  It explained how they had him shave his head and prepared for the treatments, as they called it. Continuing to read, they introduced the deliverance chair. The material showed diagrams of the deliverance chair that was truly magnificent. To my assumption it was a machine that could read thoughts or somehow control, or capable of manipulating, or accessing certain parts of the brain, that had previously never before been explored. I didn't make much sense of it, however, I found it intriguing nonetheless. I continued to read it and was unable to put it down. Strange, but for some reason they stopped talking about the young scientist and steered more towards their theories of the different dimensions.

  The question that first peculated in my mind: 'why had they stopped describing the scientist?' Then, 'what happened to him?' I tried to finish the rest of the material, but there was a lot of useless scientific terminology. Stuff I thought they had written to make themselves feel smarter. Although, it did mention something that caught my attention: quipping of Albert Einstein, 'That people typically only use ten percent or less of their brains.' Which leads one to wonder, what would happen if we could unlock or access the rest of our brain?

  With this heavy on my mind, I came up with my own personal theory. Do you ever have, or have you ever had moments of enlightenment? If not that, than moments where you felt you were on the verge of something new or big? Where out of nowhere you get this huge rush of energy? I was feeling this, as if sent from the heavens above directly to my brain. As I got out of bed, I walked towards my computer and searched, but couldn't find what I was looking for. I thought to myself, 'maybe it's in a different dimension,' when I saw it. As I walked towards the counter, I picked up the business card the snake lady had given me.

  On the front of the card I saw an address, hand written with no phone number, name, email, or website. With the card in hand, I headed to my computer and map-quested the address, seeing as I wasn't too familiar with the town still. After punching in the correct coordinates, I printed off the directions that estimated the address to be approximately twelve miles or fifteen minutes. I then grabbed my jacket, wallet, and car keys, and headed downstairs to the parking area and hopped into my car.

  En route I speculated the different scenarios that could lie ahead. To be truthfully honest, I didn't have a clue what would happen. Knowing the snake lady and how weird she was, I was anticipating something equally as weird, if not weirder.

  After fifteen minutes of driving, I finally arrived at my destination and parked my car, headlights beaming on an old abandoned house. The house before me was boarded up and covered in graffiti. I killed my car, and cautiously stepped out, eyes drawn to a paraplegic lady in a wheel chair on the front porch, staring off in space. I remember thinking, 'that's odd. It's almost midnight, why is she still up?' Making my approach, I felt uneasy about the situation, and felt troubled that I may never see the light of day.

  *

  Voice:

  "What is life without risk? Surely not living?"