"Please Auntie, it isn't far okay? Get dressed, hurry." I said again. She looked at me for another minute, then looked me up and down and said, "I used to have a shirt just like that," then made her way into her bedroom to throw some clothes on. I sat on the couch with the kitties and waited for her. Booms came and crawled into my lap. He was naughty and spoiled rotten, but I think he was my favorite. The rest of them were sweet as pie, but I always loved Boom-Booms the best.
She came out about 10 minutes later, hair pulled back into a fresh Auntie bun and fully clothed. "Okay, Lovebug, I'm dressed, is this acceptable for your highness?" she said sarcastically. "Stop making fun Auntie, be serious. Come on, we gotta go." I said, making my way to the door. We got outside and she looked at the driveway and then looked back at me and said, "Where's your car?" "It's at home, probably. Come on." I said, and we made our way across the yard. "Why are we going over here? Did you finally move in or something?" she questioned. I didn't respond and I looked around to make sure that I wasn't about to die before we got to the door. Nothing tried to kill me yet, so that was a plus. "Take a breath, Auntie." I warned. "You're scaring the shit out of me, child. Knock it off. What's going on?" she said to me, taking a breath. She was getting pissed, her ears were turning red, so I opened the door and said, "Come inside, Auntie." She followed behind me and I closed the door and locked it. "Here goes nothing." I thought to myself.
CHAPTER TWELVE
I slowly made my way inside and I saw the Screen shut off in the living room. Then my Dad said, "Chloe, is that you?" "Andrew?" said Auntie from behind me. We finally got into the living room and she stopped walking abruptly, jaw hanging to the floor. Auntie Callie jumped up from the couch to stare too, and both of them walked right up to each other, looking right into each others faces and simultaneously screamed, "HOLY SHITBALLS!"
That just about killed me, I was laughing so hard that I almost tinkled in my pants. They both looked hilarious and the 'Holy Shitballs' was just priceless. Then my Dad started laughing too. It was just hysterical. "AUNTIE CALLIE! OH MY GOD!" screamed Auntie Allie. "HA! I told you she was going to say that, didn't I tell you that, Chloe!" Aunt Callie screamed. "Hey, Allie Bear! YOU GOT OLD, GOOD LORD!" she yelled, giving her a huge hug. They were VERY excited to see each other. "This is so strange! What are you doing here? Andrew! HOLY SHIT! LOOK AT YOU! But... how?" she asked, giving him a gigantic hug too. Questions were flying out of her mouth left and right.
"Oh my God, Allie, you're an old fart now! Where's your cane? Dude, you look like DAD!" said my Dad, sticking out his hand toward her. "It's Carson now, Carson Sawyer, that's UNCLE Carson to you, young lady." he said, jokingly. That made everybody laugh and Aunt Allie said, "You've always been a dumbass, Andrew. What's going on here? Why in the hell are you all here in this house? Something has happened, hasn't it? Oh shit, don't tell me, I don't wanna die just yet." she said. "Come in and sit down, we have to discuss something with you. It's important." I said to her.
"First of all, I have to warn you, that I'm not technically your Chloe, well I am, but I'm not. Your Chloe is probably at home asleep right now. I'm future Chloe, but my new name is Zoey Larson, okay?" I said to her. "Umm, what?" she said, looking confused. "It's a LONG story, Allie, you need to be prepared. We have a lot to tell you, and we are telling you first to break the ice, because we have to get the Others involved too." said Callie. "What others? Andrew and Chloe?" said Aunt Allie. "Exactly, yes, that's why we are all here." said Carson. "And, I'm just wondering, how in the hell are all three of you here at the same time? This doesn't make a damn bit of sense. I'm happy to see you all, but what the hell is going on. How did you do it?" she asked, looking even more confused.
Aunt Callie pulled the links and the clip out of her pocket and put them down on the coffee table in front of her. "That's how. That right there." she said, pointing to the clip. "What in the fuck is that?" said Aunt Allie. She was already slipping back into her potty mouth, it didn't even take 5 minutes. "Wow." I mumbled. "Chloe, tell her what it is, it's all yours." said Callie.
I told her the whole story, from the time that I found it in PawPaw's attic to the present, when we all came here. She was amazed and kept holding the clip and staring at it longingly. "I wish I had found that back in the day!" she said. "That's the same thing she said." I replying, pointing to Aunt Callie. I didn't tell her about what had happened in 2045 yet. Aunt Callie said that something bad would happen if I started to, and I was scared to begin, plus, we still had to tell Dad and my Other, so we only wanted to tell that story one time, so we didn't have anything happen to us twice. "So, what has happened, Lovebug?" said Auntie Allie. "We can't tell you yet, Allie. We will, but we need your help to get the Other Chloe and the Other Andrew over here. We all need to be here so we only have to tell the story one time. You know what happened the last time we tried this shit." said Aunt Callie.
"Oh yes, that freaking Dorito Incident of '92." said Auntie Allie shaking her head. I started to laugh. I'd never heard her talk about it before, I'd only heard about it from the Aunt Callie version of her. "Why are you laughing, Chloe, we are serious! WE ALMOST DIED!" said Aunt Callie. "We did, you almost didn't have an Auntie at all, if we had died, you wouldn't even exist, Chloe Elaine! We gave up the Doritos after that, no more ever again, right Callie?" said Aunt Allie. "Fucking right, never again." said Aunt Callie. This was just too weird. I couldn't imagine being two of the same person, and I was about to get a taste of it myself, once my Other got here.
"Is it hard? Having the same life and memories?" I asked them both. They looked at each other and then shook their heads. "We are okay, Lovebug." said Auntie Allie. "It isn't as bad as you think, it's like you have a ready-made best friend that already knows every single thing about you. It's kind of freaking amazing actually." said Aunt Callie. "Oh, definitely amazing. I sure missed your face, Auntie Callie!" said Aunt Allie. "How long has it been for you?" Aunt Allie asked. "3 years. I'm 40 now." Callie said. "Wow, that's all? And now something has already happened again. Unreal. Well, we better get the show on the road. How should I do this, Chloe Bear?" said Aunt Allie.
"I think I just need you to call them both from your house and tell them to come over, because you have something important to talk to them about and you have some people you need them to meet. Don't clue them in, I like the surprise effect, alright?" I said. "Hell yes, this shit is fun. Allie, I don't know how y'all kept this a secret all of those years, what an awesome experience." said Carson. They both shrugged. "Go call them from your house real quick, Auntie. Come back after they both get there, and make sure that they both come." I said. "Okay, Lovebug, I'll be back in a bit, okay?" she said. "Okay, we'll be here, we're going to be here for a while. Go ahead. LOVE YOU!" I yelled, as she made her way back to her own house.
"That went better than I thought it would." I said to both of them. "Your Auntie has been through some shit, she wouldn't ever be as shocked as you would expect her to be." said my Dad. "He's right about that, we had a hard time back in the day. I'm sure she is super nervous about what is going on though. I hate to keep her in the dark, but it is truly a necessity." said Aunt Callie. "She probably has old lady gas right about now. PRRRT!" said my Dad, laughing at himself. It made me laugh too, but Aunt Callie slapped him upside the head for that one. "Don't be a dick, UNCLE CARSON." she said, sarcastically, rolling her eyes.
It was getting easier already to refer to her as Aunt Callie after seeing the two of them together. I hoped it would be easier once the rest of them got there, to get used to the new names. I was nervous to see the Others too. I hoped that they would take it as well as Aunt Allie did, but I had a feeling that they were going to freak out, especially Other me. I guess I would be finding out shortly. Nobody lived very far away, my house was only 10 minutes away and Dad was probably only 15 minutes away.
"What do you think will happen when we start to talk, Auntie?" I asked. "Lovebug, I have no idea, but whatever it is, be on the lookout, because it ain't gonna
be nothin' pretty." she explained. I believed that, after their description of the Dorito thing, I'd be sure not to eat anything right away. We waited for about 20 minutes, when finally, the front door slid open. "Why are we coming over here, Allie." said my Dad, from outside. "Yeah, Auntie, this is creepy, what is going on?" "HOLY SHIT, THAT'S ME! I sound so whiny." I thought, nervously. We all stood up and waited for them to make it into the living room. This was going to really be the weirdest day ever, and I didn't know if I was actually ready or not. They all walked into the living room and stopped in the middle of the floor. Then Chloe said, "WHAT THE HELL! NO WAY!" "There it is." I replied, smiling. I loved surprises.
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
"What in the HELL is going on?" said Chloe from the doorway, pushing past everybody to get a closer look. My Dad was just standing there staring, I thought that he was broken, until he said, "Holy crap, is that me? Young me? DUDE!" My other Dad, Carson, stood up from the couch to walk over and take a good hard look. Both of them looked each other up and down for what felt like an eternity until finally, Carson hollered, "HOLY SHIT ANDREW, you got fucking old, brother! Dude, you have the greybeard!" and then laughed. My Dad laughed too and said, "I don't know what is going on here, but that's one good lookin' dude right there." pointing to Carson and smiling. They were douche-bags, both of them. I laughed to myself about that one, while I watched them continue to size each other up.
"Just call me Carson, sir, Carson Sawyer." and then laughed again. "Don't be an idiot, CARSON." said Callie. "Aunt Gillian never liked us to say the word idiot, CALLIE!" said Carson. "Aunt Callie? Is that you! I MISSED YOU! It's been so long! Holy crap! How long has it been! You look exactly the same as you did when we were kids. You haven't changed a bit!" said my Dad, as he hugged Callie tightly. Meanwhile, other Chloe was circling me like a cat circling it's prey. "What in the hell is this? How? You are the same age as me! Is your hair longer than mine? What in the hell are you wearing? This is so freaking weird! What is going on here! Am I dreaming? This can't be happening!" I thought that her brain was about to explode. "It's happening, for real. Just call me Zoey, Zoey Larson is my new name, that way nobody gets the two of us confused. I'm from the future, from 2045." I explained. She really looked at me crazy then. "Say, WHAT?" she said.
"Come on guys, I know it is really shocking, but they are here for a reason, and I for one, would like to know what has happened to cause them all to travel all the way here to see us today. It couldn't be anything good, am I right?" asked Aunt Allie. We all nodded. "Wait, you all came together? How in the world!" said my Dad. We re-explained the clip again and Chloe helped me along this time. She had already done the test with Riley, years ago, so she already knew that it would do what it did. She didn't know that we would be able to bring extra people along, and that surprised her too. "You should have told someone about that clip, Chloe Elaine!" said Aunt Allie. We both looked at each other and shrugged and we both said, "Sorry!" "I can't believe you all got to travel together. Why are you all here?" Chloe asked.
I started to open my mouth, and then stopped quickly to look around. Aunt Allie and Aunt Callie looked really nervous, both of them were bouncing and fidgeting and wringing their hands. They really believed that something bad was going to happen, and I believed them. The looks on their faces were proof enough. "How do I do this?" I asked them both. "I don't know, love, I don't know what is going to happen. Maybe the Dorito thing was a fluke and we were just being pigs and eating too fast, maybe not." said Aunt Callie. "No way, I don't think so, there's no way, we ate like that all the time and nothing ever happened. That was the past, I just know it." said Aunt Allie.
Just as I was about to open my mouth, a huge "BOOM" rang out in the distance. We jumped up and looked out the window. "What the fuck was that?" said Callie. We looked around in the backyard and didn't see anything. "Wait, maybe it'll happen again." said Aunt Callie. "Start telling us what happened, Lovebug, maybe it will happen again once you start talking and we will see what's coming for us." said Aunt Allie. I was really scared now, and I wondered what could have made that huge noise. "Was it an explosion?" I wondered.
I swallowed my nervousness and started to talk. "I went back in time, to 2023, Aunt Allie's 40th birthday. It was the only date that I could think of to travel to after what happened. I am from 2045, so I am a year older than you, Chloe." I started. "Something terrible has happened in 2045 and I needed Aunt Callie to help me fix it." I said. Suddenly, another huge "BOOM" shook the walls. Everybody screamed and ducked all at once. I looked out the window again and I saw that it was giant fireworks exploding in the air above the house. "BOOM! BANG! POP! POP! POP!" It echoed off of the fence in the back and made a hell of a noise.
"Fucking hick ass rednecks! Always blowing shit up! It's New Years Day, remember!" said Carson, obviously irritated. "You're right! It is! They're just blowing up the last of their stashes." I said, a little less scared. "Dumbasses! God, I always hated that shit! They aren't even allowed to do that in the city limits! I should call the police." said Aunt Allie. I was glad to know that it was only the dumbass rednecks popping firecrackers, so I started to talk again. The fireworks went off, more and more frequently as I was talking, but I was able to get some of the story out without anything happening to me.
Just as I started to finish and tell them that they were dead, another gigantic "BOOM" exploded, very nearby, and suddenly all of the lights flickered off. We were plunged into darkness, luckily it was daytime and there was a bit of light coming through the curtains, but it was a cloudy day and it still scared all of us. "Oh hell no!" yelled Carson, whipping around to look outside. Everybody screamed again, and Dad walked out of the front door to see if the rest of the neighborhood's lights were out too. "Nothing else is off but this house." he said, as he walked back inside. "Shit. I told you, this is that bullshit!" said Aunt Callie, shaking her head. Aunt Allie was sitting there looking very fearful. "You have to finish Lovebug, it'll be okay once you get it all out. Talk fast, child, come on." she said, nervously looking all around.
I started to talk as fast as an auctioneer, I had to get it all out, I didn't want anything to happen to us. The more I talked, the louder the fireworks got, booms and bangs echoing with enormous intensity, then suddenly, the transformer behind the house exploded. Blue electricity was blazing and shooting to the sky from the box, the power line attached to the house popped off with a crack and was jumping and spraying sparks all over the yard. Chloe screamed and I kept talking as fast as I could. "... and after that I changed the date to Auntie's 40th birthday and disappeared! I'm here to save your lives! You're going to die in a little over a year if I don't!" I finished. The grass in the yard had caught on fire, so Dad rushed outside to put it out. I prayed that he wouldn't get killed in the process.
The power line continued to spark and jump through the grass in front of Auntie's old shed. Once I was done with the story, I noticed that it seemed to chill out a little bit, and it wasn't sparking as much. Dad managed to get the grass put out without getting electrocuted and everything seemed to be fine after I finished. Nothing happened to any of us, but it almost did. I was really scared now, about what was going to happen to us once we started really trying to change everything.
After Dad got back inside, we all just sat there in silence for a while, waiting to see if the power was going to come back, but it didn't. "Maybe we should call the electric company, they'll send a bot to fix it, or a drone, it wouldn't take a long." said Dad. Aunt Allie whipped her Handheld out of her pocket and called, they said that they would send a drone out in 10 minutes. They were always really fast, once the bots and drones took over the manual labor. "They'll have it fixed soon, no worries." said Aunt Allie, hanging up the call. "Bots and drones, wow, unbelievable!" said Carson, shaking his head.
"I'll go switch to solar real quick, we should have plenty of juice to get by for a while." said Dad, walking out to the garage to flip the switch to solar power. Aunt Allie and Dad just got the pa
nels installed on the house recently, in an upgrade. The city was trying to change the whole system eventually, but it was still a process and it could get a little glitchy. Renewable energy was all the rage these days. The lights flicked back on and my Dad walked back into the house. "Sweet, they're working great, I'm glad that we didn't waste our money on getting those installed, Allie." said my Dad. I thought that he was just babbling because he didn't want to think about what I just told them. Nobody wanted to know that their time was almost up.
"So, what are we going to do! I don't want to see y'all get freaking shot!" said Chloe. She was very upset. She had never been through any of this stuff like the rest of the family. I was her, and I knew she wasn't as brave as everybody else. "We will figure something out, love, don't you worry." said Aunt Allie, patting her on the knee. "It happens on July 9th, next year. We all decided that we were going to be staying here, with the three of you, until then. We will have to go back on New Year's Eve, so we don't catch the sickness, but we will come right back.
We need all of the technology from now to be able to find these men and figure out who they could be." I explained. Everybody nodded. They were glad that we had some sort of a plan. "I never had a plan when I changed things the first time, not until the very end, and I was very lucky that it worked out and that your PawPaw and Granny were able to save my life." said Callie. Aunt Allie nodded and said, "You know, we actually got impaled by that tree right there? It went right through the middle of our stomach." pointing to the tree behind the shed. Aunt Callie shivered and said, "Thank God I barely remember that shit, I bet it was disgusting!" "IT WAS SICK!" said both of my Dads. They were in the shed when PawPaw and Granny pulled her inside to send her back. "I still have nightmares about that shit, there was blood EVERYWHERE!" said Carson, shaking his head. "Ugh!" said Dad, "He's right, it was gnarly. I've never seen anything like that, I can't believe you survived it and were able to drag yourself through the yard."
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