The World of the Unknowns: The Discovery.

by Nadia Bethell

  Chapter 18. Back with the family.

  After initial excitement of being hungry that indicated they were home, Bradley got concerned. They did not know where in America they were, and James was suggesting it was one of the southern states. If he were right, then they were long ways from home. The tunnel ended very abruptly, probably because another section of a wall broke off and obstructed it. The kids ran into an old lamppost, partially buried by rubbish and pieces of broken wall. In desperation, the kids returned back to the train station and sat down near the tracks. Megan complained that she was very hungry and thirsty, and Bradley was sure that the same was true for James, even though he was not saying a word.

  “Looks like this underground station suffered a wreckage of an earthquake,” suggested Bradley.

  “It may take us a while to get out, and there is no water!” Megan exclaimed, took the flashlight from the boys and went back to the end of the platform to check if there were any remnants of stairs. Bradley let her do it. If there were an earthquake, at least the beginning of a staircase might still be visible under the wreckage. If there were no staircase to begin with, maybe there was no earthquake… Bradley and James stayed put, using the method of Sherlock Holmes.

  “So do you know more precisely what part of the country we could be in?” Bradley asked, getting more comfortable and putting his legs off the edge of the platform.

  But James was not sure.

  Bradley went on, “Well, one thing is clear, we are next to a railroad. Maybe, one of those that they used to get the slaves into the World of the Unknowns, if your theory is right. The lamppost at the end of the platform looked really old and might very well be from that era.”

  James did not respond, and Bradley concluded that he was agreeing with his statement. All of a sudden he remembered why James’s name was familiar to him. Not long before they left for the World of the Unknowns, he watched a video on the history channel, the re-enactment of the Great Train Chase. A civil volunteer by the name of James Andrews fighting on the side of the Union hijacked the train called “The General” and created a lot of damages on the railroad track leading from Atlanta to Chattanooga to sabotage the confederate army. His team was captured, and he was tried in the military court and hanged as a spy.

  “James, I think we may be in Atlanta,” Bradley suggested, vividly remembering the video. “And by the way, is James Andrews from the Civil War your relative? Great-great-great-grandfather or something?”

  “He actually did not have kids, as far as I know,” James responded. “But yes, my family says we are related. Why?”

  “I was just thinking about these railroads and remembered the Great Train Chase,” Bradley said.

  A light approached them, and Megan’s voice said, “Guys, in the end of the tunnel there is a door in the ceiling! There is a small ladder leading up to it! We should check it out!”

  James and Bradley stood up and followed Megan into the tunnel. Indeed, there was a ladder that they somehow missed before, probably because of piles of rocks covering the bottom two stairs. The ladder led to a door in the ceiling that appeared to be locked.

  “Looks just like a door in the World of the Unknowns,” Bradley began to doubt again. Then he said resolutely, “Ok, let’s go!”

  James climbed the ladder first and tried to open the door, but it was locked.

  “Not opening,” he reported.

  Then it was Bradley’s turn to try. After discovering that the door was indeed locked, which he hoped was not the case and James simply was not doing it right, Bradley started to bang on the door really loud. His reasoning was that since it was locked, someone should hear the noise and come unlock it. Indeed, after a while he heard footsteps, but the door did not open right away. The steps disappeared, then appeared again, as if someone on the other side also had difficulties opening this door. Finally, the door opened, and Bradley saw a face of an angry lady whose expression quickly changed from anger to surprise.

  “How did you guys get in there?” the lady inquired. “This door has been locked for years. They say there used to be a storage room, but honestly, since I worked here I never remembered anyone using it. …Several businesses changed, and nobody did,” she added, helping Megan up as she was the last one to get out.

  “Well, the walls are broken down there in places, and we got lost,” mumbled Bradley. He heard that James and Megan spoke at the same time, also saying they were lost. Bradley wasn’t sure the lady would believe them, but he didn’t care at this point. What they needed the most was food and drink, and he was hoping the lady could help them out. They have not had anything for months!

  Luckily for them, the business was a restaurant. The owner’s son was there at that time, and the lady explained him the situation. While he was contacting the police, the kids had a meal. The lady served them in the back room of the restaurant, because the front had a bar with a bunch of men gathering there for drinks in the late afternoon. From the place where Bradley, Megan and James were sitting, that part of the restaurant was not seen. The room had only six tables and was decorated with bright yellow, orange and red paintings. The main impression Bradley got from these paintings was the Sun.

  Bradley gobbled up his meal before anybody else and was staring around when the police arrived. It appeared that they knew exactly who Bradley, Megan and James were. They thanked the owner and the lady and escorted the kids outside the restaurant. They walked out into an ally, all decorated with the strings of red and blue flags. Bunch of people were gathering around, some loudly talking with each other but ignoring what was going on. The policemen and the kids walked up an elevated walkway towards the police car that was parked next to a bright blue train engine. The police car was also blue, with the words “Atlanta police” prominently written along its side. The blue train engine had “Underground Atlanta” written on it in several places. “So, we are in Atlanta,” concluded Bradley, again in admiration and with envy to James’s wits.

  From a brief back and forth between the policemen, to his surprise Bradley gathered that both his and James’s parents were all vacationing in the same place at the same time, and they lost them just earlier today. Bradley’s heart sank. Instead of reuniting with parents who lost them several months ago and would be joyful to see their kids again, Bradley and Megan would have to deal with a supposed discipline problem. Bradley did not like this outcome at all. Tricks of the Unknowns!

  “Wait, but we gone for a long time!” he heard James shout. “We were not lost today. I, in fact, was away from home for about half a year! You’ve got to listen to us – there is the tunnel underneath the restaurant, with old railroad tracks!”

  “Yes, we know about the Underground,” one of the policemen, who was sitting in the front right seat, said gloomily and gave out a sigh of exhaustion. “He ought to have had a busy day looking for us,” Bradley concluded, but did not say anything out loud.

  James continued, “Not the Underground. There is another secret tunnel out there. The passageway is half hidden under rubbish, and the old staircase leads up to the restaurant where you found us. This tunnel connects to a very evil place, called the World of the Unknowns.”

  “Sure,” the policemen replied. “Kids like to tell these stories. There are no secret tunnels down there, and the train on display, you are not supposed to play on it!”

  Bradley was going to intercede and try to prove to the policemen that what James was saying was true, but the police car rolled into an underground parking of a hotel. James was dropped off, and Bradley at the last moment realized that they needed to exchange emails, which they barely had time to do.

  “Officer, we are not lying,” Bradley began as they pulled out back onto the street. “There is another world out there.”

  “You kids always make things up to try to cover your bad behavior,” responded the policeman, unwilling to hear any more of the story. Bradley opened his mouth to continue, but they pulled next to another hotel where his family w
as staying. Escorted out of the car and past the reception desk, Bradley was desperately thinking what to say to make his parents believe what truly happened to him and Megan.

  “How did you manage to get lost during the tour?” asked their father angrily as soon as he saw them.

  Bradley did not come up with any strategy, so he simply said the truth, “Dad, Mom, what tour? We have been gone for months!”

  Megan said almost the same thing at the same time.

  Bradley was desperately thinking, “Could time stop here same way as in the World of the Unknowns and only a few hours passed while we were gone? No, it would be spring then, and we would have to go to school tomorrow, and our parents would not be vacationing…” Something definitely was not right.

  “What are you two talking about?” asked their father angrily again. “Wasn’t it enough troubles for one trip already, not to mention the fact that you had to stay for the summer school and we could not take a longer vacation as we planned?”

  “What troubles, what summer school?” Bradley murmured and looked at Megan. She shrugged her shoulders. Bradley turned to his parents. “Are you sure? We were not here for several months!”

  “What are you going to make up next?” asked their father. “Well, now we are going for dinner, then to bed, and tomorrow we are going home.”

  “All right…” the only thing Bradley managed to say.

  Out of the elevator, mom and dad resolutely marched towards the exit from the hotel and turned right. Dustin whined, “Why don’t we have special last night dinner at that Legal place, as we originally planned?”

  But the parents were not in any mood to explain. Bradley and Megan figured they cancelled the special dinner because of their supposed bad behavior. They ended up eating pizzas across the street. Dustin gave them an angry look.

  During dinner Bradley tried to start an investigation about what was happening while they were gone, but his parents were not in the mood. What was worse, Dustin made fun of him and Megan, and their parents had to hush the conversation because he was getting obnoxiously loud. The dinner ended up in sinister silence. When they returned to the hotel, parents ordered them all to bed, including Dustin, who expressed frustration and scolded Bradley, “Why do I have to be punished along with you? I didn’t do anything wrong!” Bradley opened his mouth to push back, but parents interfered and reminded everyone that the next day they would have to get up early to go to the airport.

  Bradley waited for mom and dad to go to sleep so he could ask Dustin about what was going on. But by the time he was sure their parents were asleep, he heard Dustin was snoring, too. “So much for not wanting to go to bed!” Bradley thought in disappointment.

  The family reunion did not go quite as Bradley thought it would. Something was not right. One discrepancy that Bradley noticed was that his parents did not mention anything about John being missing, too. If Bradley and Megan were the only ones who supposedly were lost only today, then were was John? Bradley was convinced that John was stuck as a guard in the World of the Unknowns. He was the guard on the last day when Bradley and Megan boarded the train to escape. Or was he? Bradley suddenly realized that he had not seen John for the last few days before he had his escape idea. Was it possible that John, too, ran away and was back home some days go? And was declared lost and found, just like he and Megan were today? Bradley could not wait to find out the news about John and even wanted to wake up Dustin and talk to him, anyway, but thought twice about it remembering how punchy his brother was when woken up in the middle of the night.

  And, of course, summer school. What was that all about? How was it possible that he and Megan could have such bad performance as to stay for the summer school? There was only one month left before the end of the year, and their grades were very good. Again, Bradley almost got out of bed to ask Dustin what happened, but all of a sudden he felt such overpowering tiredness that before he had a minute to think any further, he fell asleep. What he and Megan found when the family got back home is a completely different story.

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