Intertwined

by Cooper Eaton

  “Did you win?”

  “With 10 seconds left they scored and got up by two points, so coach called a timeout before sending us back onto the court. We ran a play where I run off two screens and get passed the ball. Anyways, the play worked. I got open, the ball hit me in the hands, I pulled up and shot. The leather spun from my hands and time seemed to slow. The ball floated towards the hoop and just as it looked like it was about to go in, the ball hit the back of the rim and shot out. We lost, we lost and it was my fault.”

  “Oh.” Was all Jessica said placing her hand on my shoulder. “It wasn’t your fault.”

  “That’s it though, it was my fault. It was and everyone knew it. No one would talk to me in the locker room except to whisper about me. I felt awful. That night on my way home from the game with my parents I was completely out of things. Both my parents tried to console me, but they couldn’t possibly. I would never play again, that was it, and I’d screwed it up. Now everything rode on me getting into higher learning. When I got home I found the test results letter. I completely forgot about the terrible loss and I ripped open the letter that contained my future. I remember what the letter said almost word for word: Dear Mr. Rose we thank you for all of your hard work and for your dreams of pursuing a higher education by taking the higher learning test. You scored a 155, and unfortunately the bottom line score this year was a 160. We are sorry to inform you, but you have been found unqualified to attend the higher institute of learning. We wish you the best of luck in your future endeavors. Sincerely, The Higher Institute of Learning. The paper slipped from my hands and floated downwards just like all of my dreams. I looked over and saw my mother crying, my dad had appeared and he tried to put an arm around me in an attempt to console me. Everything felt like a terrible dream after that. I went to bed, but couldn’t sleep. My entire life was crashing around me. Everything I’d worked so hard for was not out of reach. Now I was destined to end up just like my father working at a landfill with no hope of ever moving up in the world, thanks to the fact that only those who graduate the higher learning institute can move up. All night my mom cried for me. That night is forever seared into my memory.” My voice caught slightly.

  Jessica, sensing my pain wrapped her arms around me. “I’m sure things didn’t all go wrong, did they?”

  “Unfortunately yes, the next morning my girlfriend, Hannah, came over to break the news that she’d been accepted into higher learning. Upon finding out I hadn’t, she broke things off saying that we were going in different directions. What she really meant was she didn’t want to be with a loser. After she left I found another rare letter on paper that had been delivered. The seal was black and had the print of A.S.T.A. I opened the letter and started to read: Dear Mr. Rose, we are writing because we would love to have your help. We are undergoing a huge experiment for the betterment of our world and we need volunteers to participate. We believe you are just the right candidate for the job. If you decide to participate in this once in a lifetime opportunity then you will get to stay at the ASTA testing center for 6 weeks! During this time you will have the time of your life! You will meet many new people and experience many new things! The biggest prize of all is though isn’t what you’ll experience at the test; it’s what you’ll receive for participating. Every tester that finishes the test will receive $100,000! That’s right, $100,000! We would love to have you and can’t wait to hear from you. If you are interested please digi mail your response to ASTA. The details of the test will then be sent to your digi mailbox for you to read in discretion. Please respond within 24 hours to receive this opportunity of a lifetime!

  I almost dropped the letter right there! I couldn’t believe it! $100,000. There seemed to be hope on the horizon. After finishing reading I looked over to my mother who’d finished reading the letter from over my shoulder. She wasn’t as happy as I was, but after some convincing she and my dad decided to let me go. Looking back now, I wish so badly something had gone differently. I wish I’d made that shot, I wish I’d scored a little higher on that higher learning test, but most of all I wish I’d picked a different girlfriend.”

  This got a laugh out of Jessica. “Why though, she sounded like a real winner.” She joked.

  “I still remember the last words from my mom. Be safe baby, I love you so much. No matter what, remember we’ll always be here for you! Promise me to be safe, and don’t do anything crazy. I love you so much honey.”

  “She sounds like a great lady.”

  “She is.”

  With that, our conversation drifted off. The last thing I remember was how perfect Jess felt in my arms. She didn’t mind listening to me rant, and I liked that about her. Despite reliving my terrible past, Jessica had made me feel good. In that moment, with Jessica next to me, everything felt alright.

  The next morning I woke up with Jessica’s hair in my face. She had rolled over and our faces were almost touching. Her eyes fluttered open and she looked shyly up at me, then, she yawned and sat up.

  “I’m ready to climb.” She oozed excitement.

  “Great.”

  “Common Will; you can do this. It’ll be easy. You’ll be fine.” She stood.

  “Maybe for you, but we have absolutely no climbing equipment, and I’ve always been bad with heights.”

  “Just Remember to not look down. Always keep your eye on the prize and you’ll be fine.”

  With that she handed me the second to last granola bar and we gnawed slowly on the now cold, hardened snack.

  “Alright, let's do this.” She turned to the wall and examined it as if looking for the hidden paths.

  I was now trembling with fear! My hands felt like they were on vibration. I’m going to die! I’m going to fall and break every bone in my body! I’m going to die!

  “Are you ready?” Jessica said as she turned back to my fearful face.

  Noticing my trembling hands she leaned in and hugged me. “Good luck Will. Just follow me and you’ll be fine.” She whispered.

  With that, she turned, leapt onto the wall and began the climb. I slowly found my first set of holds as I began the treacherous climb.

  I climbed slightly to her left for safety. As we moved, Jessica gained considerable ground on me. Even with my gloves with every new hold, my hands got colder and colder. The cold from the cliff face seeped rapidly into my hands. Within minutes my hands barely had the functionality to grip the wall.

  “Hurry up William!” Jessica called down.

  I could barely talk at this point. Fear seemed to have hold over every aspect of my body. I’m thousands of feet up and losing control of myself! “Jessica! My hands are freezing up; I don’t know how much longer I can hold on!” I yelled up.

  “You have to.” Was her response.

  And that’s when it happened! “Woosh!” The rock I had place the majority of my weight on broke free! Uh oh!

  My bottom foot also slipped and I was separated from the cliff! “Aaahh!”

  I was falling! My stomach rammed into my throat in complete terror! The ground rushed up to greet me. Everything turned blurry as wind whistled around me and into my eyes! The ground zoomed up as I seemed to fall faster and faster! This was it!

  “SPLAT!” The body hit the floor!

  But it had happened right in front of me! I seemed to be looking at the bloody carnage from the outside. I must have died; what else could this be? The feeling of looking from the outside felt like the weird experience I’d had when I had my procedure on the first day of the test. I felt like I was still alive, but something was off. What am I?

  I thought about movement and I moved! Left, right, backwards, forwards, everywhere! I had complete control of the psyche I now occupied.

  This is awesome! I zoomed around, experiencing the joy of flight for a minute before I remembered. What about my team? I gradually started floating upwards! My speed increased and I flew upwards faster and faster! I reached a level area above the cliff Jessica and I’d
been trapped on. What I saw there surprised me.

  Jessica, Rasben, and Rachel were all huddled together, and if I’m not mistaken Jessica is crying. Whoa!

  I zoomed into the middle of their huddled bodies. “Guys I’m right here, I’m okay.” But they didn’t seem to hear me. “Guys look behind you, I’m fine!” No one moved. All around them the little colored spirals that I’d been seeing zoomed around.

  They seemed to not even notice me. “Guys, can you hear me?” I called, but without my mouth the call felt weird, almost telepathic. When no response came, I floated forward and right through Rasben!

  I was a ghost! I must be dead. This is so weird! I wanted to comfort my friends but after several failed attempts I decided to take a look around.

  Flying was incredible. I was no longer afraid of heights! I felt totally safe! I floated slow and fast and both felt strangely pleasing. I floated up the mountains seeing gorgeous views the whole way. The world seemed to have opened in an entirely new way! The snow sparkled and danced in the sunlight. Giant glaciers surrounded me with their bluish tints. I flew past and through giant rocks that jutted off the mountain. This is amazing! Being dead isn’t that bad, I can handle this.

  And then I saw it. A giant military building appeared as I reached summit. There was a fight taking place. I flew over and ray blasts began to fly all around me. It was utter chaos.

  The blue, red, and green cords of color I’d been seeing were much stronger here. They danced around those fighting as if feeding them! But I didn’t study the cords for very long as my attention was drawn to him.

  Matthew was amongst the fighters! In fact, it looks as though his group was in a lock with some sort of military group. It’s the testers!

  Leaving his group I made a speedy circle around the base and was very surprised by the result.

  Matthew’s group wasn’t the only one. There were two other ray fights, both of which were caused by tester groups. And one of the groups appeared to be Chris’s. His group was the furthest and looked as though they were about to attempt breaching the facility.

  As rays of light flew past me and through me I floated through one of the buildings walls! The interior was dark almost deafening so. However, red emergency lights flashed providing momentary glimpses of sight. Although this lack of sight didn’t last long. I felt a switch being flipped somewhere inside me, changing me from seeing to feeling. I could feel what was in front of and around me. What the heck?

  I’d have to figure out what had happened later, I needed to move. I floated down the hallway and noticed a lot of little spirals coming to and from a doorway. Then, the door burst open and I could feel a dozen men running towards me yelling, “Let's get em!”

  I tried to move, but wasn’t quick enough. Luckily they ran right through whatever I was and continued on towards the fight. Seeing things from this new perspective was overwhelming. I could see more through feeling, yet the opposite held true.

  No one could see me which was oddly freeing. I was free from the judgments of others; I was free to do what I wanted, which would have been great, except I couldn’t interact with the world around me.

  I could feel the emotions swirling in me; fear, anger, guilt. People were dying and I could do nothing.

  Well, I’m not going to stay here. I flew higher and higher, leaving the terror of those fighting behind. I gradually became level with the clouds! My sight returned as my need for feeling vanished. The clouds came into focus and they were there, yet they weren’t. As I flew amongst them I realized how crazy what I was doing was. I’m actually in the clouds. Talk about crazy!

  And then, as suddenly as it had happened, it was over. I was ripped from my relaxed questioning state and vacuumed back into the simulation’s tunnel of light! However, this journey was different. Time slowed and the colors making the white lights swirling around me became visible. There were many colors. Some red, some green and other blue, and they looked exactly like those of the cords that I’d seen rushing around only minutes before. What are they? What do they do? Why am I seeing them? I need to figure out what is happening and a way to fix it. How hard can it be?

  Chapter 8: Digging

  I sat up abruptly! Where am I?

  “Hey, why are you still here?” Rasben asked from somewhere behind me. “If you die, aren’t you supposed to be sent home?”

  I turned around and Rachel, Jessica, and Rasben were all looking at me mystified. “I saw you fall, there’s no way anyone could have survived that.” Jess whispered.

  I didn’t know what to tell them, how was I supposed to explain to them that I had been flying around while they’d all thought I’d been killed? “I must not have died.”

  I could tell no one really believed me.

  However, before they could question me further Mr. Blackwood entered. “William please come with us.” Behind him stood two large men.

  “Okay.”

  I left my group in our small room and followed the headmaster and the two guards. It didn’t take very long to get where we were going. We entered another small room, that had a large mirror stretching across one wall.

  The only piece of furniture was a table with two rickety old chairs. Mr. Blackwood motioned, “Please take a seat.”

  I complied, and the questioning got under way. “What happened out there Will?”

  “I don’t really know myself.”

  “Not even a little bit?”

  “Well, one second I was falling and the next I was floating around. I thought I’d died, and was just stuck in the simulation with everyone else. I didn’t realize anything was wrong until I woke up. I swear I didn’t mean for any of this.”

  An older gentleman entered the room. It was Dr. Madstein. His short goatee and extremely white lab coat were hard to miss.

  “Hello William, nice to see you again.” He approached and offered a hand.

  I had no idea what to do, so I simply sat looking at his outstretched hand until he retracted it.

  “I think that went out of style a little before his time.” Mr. Blackwood informed Dr. Madstein. Then he turned to me. “This is Dr. Madstein, our head scientist. You know him from when he gave you your operation, but he does quite a bit more than that, in fact he’s in charge of almost all operations here.”

  The doctor nodded politely. “How are you doing today William?”

  “I’m alright, just a little confused.”

  “As am I, would you mind telling me exactly what happened and maybe we can get to the bottom this.”

  “Well, as I was telling the headmaster; I don’t know. One second I was about to fall and die, and the other second I’m out of my body and looking down at the carnage.”

  He looked at me questioningly. “What all did you see while you were out of your body?”

  “I don’t remember. It’s all hazy. Why does it matter?”

  “We’re just as confused as you are. Our equipment malfunctioned briefly and we lost track of everyone. When we pulled everyone from the simulator your name registered as alive. It’s all very odd, do you mind if Mr. Blackwood and myself discuss the matter in private.

  “Sure,” I said unsure of where to go.

  Luckily, the two of them got up and walked to the corner and began to discuss. I only caught snippets. “There’s no way. We need to solve this problem, he might have it. Should he stay?” They finally came to some agreement and walked back over.

  “Alright William, here’s the deal. We’ve decided to let you stay; however, we don’t want you talking about what happened to you to other testers. Try and keep this quiet, okay? Also, since your team failed the mission, you all will be required to participate in the next deciding game.”

  “Okay.”

  “Alright then, you're good to head back to your room. The deciding game won’t be till tomorrow, but you should tell your team tonight that they'll be participating. Good luck.”

  “Thank you,” I muttered as I
made my exit.

  Dang it! Why us! We got screwed. Well at least I’m still in this thing. I guess I should be thankful, but still this is gonna suck. I know everybody's gonna be pissed. The thought of having to participate in a bloodbath for some simulated crowds entertainment seemed ridiculous. Why couldn’t we play something a little less gruesome? I had to find my team and deliver the terrible news.

  As I walked back to my room I noticed that it was very dark outside. The simulator and interrogation must have taken quite a while. I got back to my room and Rasben was waiting for me. “You okay man, what happened?”

  “I’m fine, just tired.” I responded hoping to brush him off.

  “Well before you go to sleep, would you mind explaining to me what actually happened?”

  “Rasben, I already told you what happened.”

  “Yeah, you told me that you lived through a fall of at least 200 yards, which is impossible, no matter who you are.”

  This kid had me figured out. I guess I could use an ally. But can he be trusted? I guess there’s only one way to find out. “Alright, I’ll tell you, but you have to promise to keep your mouth shut.”

  “Sure, not problem, I do that most of the time anyways.”

  “Okay, here it goes. Before I hit the ground I was somehow ejected from the body I was in. It felt kinda like the start of a simulation. Anyways, my consciousness was taken from the body and I saw my avatar Sherpa body smash into the ground inches in front of me!

  Rasben cut in, “Wait, I meant for real. What really happened?”

  “I’m telling you that’s what happened. After I was ejected from my body I just flew around in some sort of consciousness form.”