Walter laughed at the sight of Matthew in a pair of shorts that were perfect for a boy of fourteen but not a man of eighteen. “At least they don’t have any cartoon characters on them.”
April and the boys didn’t understand Walter’s comment, so he chuckled and then said, “We have new sets of clothes for the both of you over here on the table. Why don’t you both change and meet us in the main conference room. It has a big mirror.”
April and Walter left the boys in the room by themselves so that they could get dressed. Matthew glared at Connor, who was staring a hole through his brother.
“What are you looking at? Quit staring at me.”
Connor replied, “I just can’t believe that’s actually you. You’ve definitely filled out.” Connor grabbed a pair of pants off the table and felt his arms as he pulled them up.
He asked, “What about me? Do I look a lot different?”
Matthew was preoccupied with his own changes and had ignored his brother’s. He looked Connor over, and to his surprise, there wasn’t much of a difference. He took the subtle approach.
“You look just like you did when you went to sleep, ugly.”
Connor couldn’t believe it and snapped back at Matthew. “You’re crazy, can’t you hear my voice? I’ve changed as much as you have.”
That wasn’t the case. While Connor’s voice had grown deeper and his facial features were more defined, his overall look hadn’t changed that much. He did have a bit more definition in the muscles around his arms and legs, but he had only grown an inch or so.
Matthew finished putting on his shirt and took one last feel of his upper arms before exiting the room. He could tell that things had changed in a big way.
Matthew and Connor raced down the hall to the elevators and rode up to the main conference room. They were trying to look at the reflective surfaces that made up the elevator, but the mix of dark bronzes on the paneling made that difficult.
Connor felt Matthew’s arm before the doors opened and said, “Dang, man, I bet you could toss a beamball now.”
“Do I really look that different?” Matthew asked. “Do you think I could pass for someone in college?”
Connor popped his brother on the arm and said, “You are nowhere near as attractive as me, but I think you can pull it off. Who knows, maybe someone will think I’m the younger brother now.”
Matthew smiled at his brother, and they exited the elevator. The conference room was empty except for Walter and April. They were waiting, anxious to see the boys’ reactions to the changes in their appearance. Connor saw a mirror in the corner of the room and jetted his way over to it. He stared at himself for a couple of minutes, taking note of all the small differences in his features.
“I’m definitely more buff than I was. I’ll look like Agent Marco in no time. I love the deep voice, too. I feel like I could lift a building.”
He turned to his mother and added, “Not bad, if I do say so myself.” She agreed and waited to hear what her other son would say about the changes in his body.
Matthew still stood by the door. He was ready to see what he looked like, but he was also a little scared. What if it wasn’t good? What if Connor was messing with him and he still looked like a little kid?
Walter motioned to him to go ahead and take a look. “You need to get used to a new reflection.”
Matthew eased his way over to the mirror with his head lowered, positioning himself squarely in front of it He stood there for a moment, trying to prepare himself for what was to come. His head inched upward until his entire body came into focus.
He was so shocked that the words wouldn’t come out. He couldn’t believe that was really him in the mirror. His voice cracked when he said, “I’m taller, and I look older. I even have some facial hair.” Matthew was so excited by what he saw that he almost forgot anyone else was in the room. His mother’s eyes began to water as she saw the happiness on Matthew’s face.
The young man that stood before her now had not existed three weeks ago. This young boy now stood as tall as his brother and had chiseled facial features, a strong chin and cheekbones, and plenty of muscles to compare with Connor’s. He had grown up in the blink of an eye and would have no problems passing for a freshman in college. He felt like a senior.
April walked up to the mirror and put her arms around her matured son. “It doesn’t matter how big you get, you’re still my boy.”
Matthew hugged his mother and said, “I may look bigger, but I’m still Matthew. I’m still just a fourteen-year-old kid.”
Connor corrected his brother. “Actually, we both had birthdays a few days ago, so we’re actually fifteen.”
As April and Walter agreed with Connor, the room became filled with the familiar aroma of one Amanda Curry. She stumbled in a bit breathlessly and said, “I heard you guys were awake, so I wanted to see if you were ok.”
She looked at Connor and could see that he looked a bit more mature, but nothing to get too excited about. She panned the room looking for Matthew, finally spying him standing in the corner, and with that first glimpse, she had to grab the doorframe to stabilize herself. She couldn’t believe it was him! Her first thought was, “Wow, he looks hot!” She turned toward Walter, hoping to avoid any humiliating blushing.
“Now that they’re done cooking or growing or whatever, are we ready to get the show on the road?”
Walter replied, “Patience, Ms. Curry, we are well on schedule. We need to give the boys a few days to prepare for the missions. In fact, I think it would be good for you to work with Matthew and get him up to speed on what you have been studying with Agent Addison.”
Amanda was hesitant but agreed with Walter. She started to fidget with her hair and couldn’t stand still. She called over to Matthew, “I’ll meet you in my room in thirty minutes and you can work me over. For information, I mean. You can pump me for information. I mean, I’ll help you study.”
Flustered, Amanda marched out of the conference room and rushed back to her own room. Her face was red, and she shook her head in embarrassment. She thought, “‘Pump me for information,’ what an idiot.”
She hadn’t expected such a dramatic change in Matthew. Why was Walter torturing her? She thought, “‘Yes, Ms. Curry, you can get Matthew up to speed on the mission material.’ Why didn’t he just throw me down a flight of stairs and be done with it?”
The mission had become Amanda’s focal point over the last three weeks. She had worked and studied with Addie since Matthew started his long nap, and she was amazed at what she had seen. The technology that existed around 2016 was so far beyond anything she had dealt with in 1984. As Addie had told her, everyone was connected, and information was plentiful. Just type a few words into a computer or personal phone and start scrolling through all of the things that would pop up. Once she figured out what scrolling was, it made a lot more sense. She wondered how easy school would have been with something like that at her fingertips. No more encyclopedias to deal with.
Amanda arrived at her room and pulled out all of the magazines, articles, and study materials that Walter had given her. There was so much to learn. He’d told her that some things would have to wait until she reached 2016. For instance, the smartphone that Walter had given her to practice on wasn’t very smart. There was no Internet in 2185 for her to work with, so she simply practiced scrolling through dummy data that Walter had loaded on the memory card.
She couldn’t believe that people in 2016 would spend hours on end looking at it. “Didn’t they have anything better to do?” she wondered. For her, it was the future, and there should be all types of things to do in the future besides rubbing your finger up and down a phone.
Addie told her that people carried these things with them everywhere they went. Amanda looked at the size of it and couldn’t understand how anyone could carry it around all the time. Addie explained that the bigger the size of the screen on the phone, the more things you could see. It would show pictures and movies and sit
es.
Amanda wasn’t clear on what a “site” was, but she would figure it out. She thought people used TVs for movies and pulled out photo albums if they wanted to look at pictures. It would be a different world for her, but she was determined to be prepared and to fit in. The whole mission depended on it.
Amanda waited on Matthew for over an hour before he eased his way into her room. “Are you ready to show me what you’ve got?”
Amanda paused in confusion before realizing that he was talking about the study material. It was going to take a while for her to get used to seeing him like that. He was tall and handsome now, not just cute. He looked like a young man, even though he was still a fifteen-year-old at heart and in mind.
Amanda was much the same way. She hadn’t been placed in a pod and aged three years, but she felt much older than she was. While her mind was that of a sixteen-year-old, the entrenchment of her responsibilities and the burden of her expanded knowledge had made her feel much older. She would have no problems passing for an eighteen-year-old physically, but she yearned to go back and be a kid again.
Matthew could feel Amanda’s apprehension and said, “I know this is weird. I decided to take a shower and get a quick haircut before coming down here. It’s amazing how much your hair grows in three weeks. Aging three years probably didn’t help much either.”
Amanda smiled and said, “It’s ok. I don’t think half an hour is going to make much of a difference. There’s so much to look at.”
Amanda was staring at Matthew. Not on purpose; she just couldn’t help it. She studied Matthew’s face and his confused expression until finally she tore her gaze away and said, “There’s just a ton of information here to go over.”
Matthew didn’t want there to be any more tension between him and Amanda. Instead of waiting for a perfect moment to bring it up, he just blurted it out.
“I know things have been really strange for us since we got here.”
Matthew hung his head as he spoke. He wasn’t sure of what to say, but he knew something needed to be said. “I can tell that something is bothering you, and that probably has a lot to do with me telling you that we’re nothing more than friends, but I need you to know that I still care about you.”
Amanda shook her head as he spoke, as if with every movement she was catching Matthew’s words as he said them. Matthew wanted to continue rambling on, but Amanda stopped him.
“Look, I get it…and you’re right. We’re just friends. I can see that now, and I’m sorry I put pressure on you when we first got here.”
Amanda reached for a piece of paper and handed it to Matthew. “I have no doubts about how you feel about me, and that’s fine. We can work together and complete the mission that Walter wants us to complete.”
Amanda’s words convinced Matthew that she no longer had feelings for him. He was almost relieved that she felt that way, but he was also dying inside because of it. He wanted to be honest with her. He wanted to tell her that she was the only thing that he thought about. He wanted to tell her all of the things that were in his heart. But he couldn’t.
Walter had made it clear that relationships and the mission could not coexist. Matthew couldn’t risk something bad happening to Amanda, and the only way to stay close to her was to lie to her about how he felt. He had to keep up the charade. He had to keep it up until they got back from 2016. Once the mission was done, maybe he could tell her the truth.
Amanda, on the other hand, kept her wits about her and was convinced that the mission was the only thing she needed to concentrate on. She rummaged through the papers that Walter had given her and started to explain the finer changes to Matthew. “Let’s get started.”
Matthew enjoyed the three hours he spent with Amanda. He wasn’t getting to tell her the things he wanted to, but even studying history from 2016 with the most beautiful girl in the world wasn’t so bad.
They covered as many subjects as they could. This included technology, sports, hobbies, and fashion. The fashion portion piqued Matthew’s interest. It was impressive to hear that people had tons of information at their fingertips by way of their smartphones, but he was even more interested in what the females of 2016 wore on a day-to-day basis.
“So, you’re telling me that girls wear shorts and skirts that are this short, all of the time, in 2016?” He pointed to a picture in one of the magazines she had laid out.
Amanda rolled her eyes. “It looks like they do. I thought the skirts I wore back home were short, but these are ridiculous.”
“So, you’re gonna have to get some shorts and skirts like that too, right?”
Amanda grinned and even blushed for a moment. “I don’t think the climate where we’re going will require a lot of booty shorts or microminis. We’re gonna end up somewhere in Virginia toward the end of the summer. Fall won’t be far behind.”
“You still may need some shorts,” Matthew replied, chuckling as Amanda threw a pen at him. They were flirting with each other, even if they didn’t realize it.
“Well, if I’m stuck in shorts and skirts, you’ll have to decide on your own outfit.” She showed Matthew a picture of a man in khaki pants and a button-up shirt. “I kinda like the preppy look.”
Matthew couldn’t care less what he was going to wear, but if Amanda liked it, he was all in. He was curious about the actual mission. So far they had talked about the differences between 1984 and 2016, but they hadn’t discussed the actual mission.
“Do you know what we’re gonna be doing? Do you know the actual mission?”
Amanda shook her head. “Not really. Walter told Addie that we wouldn’t learn the whole plan until we got there.”
Matthew replied, “Yeah, he’s bad about that.”
Amanda enjoyed her time with Matthew, and that scared her. She had a job to do. She didn’t want to get pulled back into her old thoughts about Matthew. She glanced up to the clock on the wall and said, “Look, it’s getting late. Why don’t you take some of this stuff with you tonight, and we can go over some more of it tomorrow.”
Matthew leaned back in the chair. “I’ve been asleep for three weeks. I’m not even tired.”
Amanda dropped her hands on her bed and said, “Well, I haven’t been asleep for three weeks and I’m tired, so I wanna go to bed.”
Matthew understood and got up from his seat. “Thanks for helping me. I’m sure we’ll do great when we get to 2016.”
Amanda straightened the rest of the papers and said, “You’re welcome.” She walked Matthew to her door and asked, “Can you make sure Steven gets down here? I don’t like him wandering the halls after I go to bed.”
Matthew promised he would make sure Steven got back to her room, but he wasn’t sure where to look for him. Amanda suggested he find his mother—she knew Steven wouldn’t be far away.
Amanda closed the door to her room and left Matthew standing in the hall. She took a deep breath and proceeded to change her clothes. In just a few more minutes, she hopped into her bed. Clicking off the small lamp that sat on a nearby table, she placed her head on a pillow. As she fell asleep, a small tear crept down her cheek. She wiped it away from her face and stared at the door of her room. It was so quiet. All she could hear was her own breathing. She wondered if he was still on the other side of the door.
On his way to his mother’s room, Matthew ran into Walter and showed him the papers Amanda had given him. “It’s amazing how much information you come up with for these missions. It’ll take me a week just to read all of this.”
Walter replied, “Well, you don’t have a week. I want to get your team on its way by tomorrow night.”
“What’s the rush?” Matthew asked. “I thought we had plenty of time.”
Walter put his hands on Matthew’s shoulders. “Sometimes plans change, son. We need to get things going as soon as possible.”
Walter started to walk away, but then he turned back. “When you get a minute, come by my office. I have a few more things you can look at. You can
never be overprepared.”
Matthew agreed, telling Walter he would be by after he found his mother. Her room was just a few more steps down the hall.
Knocking on her door, he heard the familiar, “Come in.” He entered the room and found April and Steven playing some sort of game on a monitor in the center of the room. Matthew asked, “What are you two doing?”
Steven replied, “Mr. Walter had one of my favorite games, and he’s letting us play it.”
April added, “You know, it looks silly, but it’s really difficult to eat all of those little flashing balls before one of those flying dead people get you.”
Steven shook his head. “They’re ghosts, and they’ll kill you if you let them touch you.” The popping sound that the little yellow mouth made as he ran over the screen was annoying, but Matthew could see how it could be fun, too.
He was astounded that Walter had such a thing lying around, but the more he thought about it, maybe he shouldn’t be that surprised. Walter seemed to be able to come up with just about anything, for any situation.
He watched the joy in his mother’s eyes as she played with the young boy. He also saw the joy in Steven’s eyes. It must be nice getting to be a kid for a while. He watched for a few minutes and then said, “Well, your sister is going to be the one killing me if I don’t get you down to your room and to bed.”
April looked at the clock in her room and said, “Oh my, I didn’t realize it was so late. We do need to get you to bed.”
Steven wanted to keep the game going, but he gave in to April as soon as he got the “mom” stare. April had perfected that look after years of taking care of her own two boys. Even Matthew backed up a few steps when he saw that glare from his mother’s eyes.
“I told Amanda that I would walk him back.”
“Oh, I’m sure you have other things to do,” April replied. “I can walk him back.”
Matthew thanked his mother, since he himself needed to go down to Walter’s office to pick up some study materials. April was more than willing to take Steven. She had grown accustomed to his being around. Before she left, though, she asked Matthew if he had seen Connor.
Last Chance Volume 2 - The Legend of the Hathmec: Planting the Seed Page 12
