Eli Stillwell: The Voyage Home

 

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Chapter 1

        The dreams hadn't been happening for too long, but each night they were stronger and more real.  Each night I felt like I was really there.  I had heard of lucid dreaming before; where you know that you're in a dream and can control it, but I had no control over what happened regardless of the fact that I knew I was sleeping.

    "Eli, you're the only one who can save us all."  The woman cried out from behind a screen.  Maybe it was me behind the screen.  The more I looked around, the more it seemed like I was inside some sort of television looking out.

    "What do you mean?" I tried yelling back, but my voice couldn't find its way out of my throat as I just ended up moving my lips in silence.

    "Look for your father's..."  Every night since I began having the dreams, she would get cutoff before telling me what to look for.  I was someone's only hope, just like Obi Wan, but I didn't know whose or how to help.  

    This was the sixth week in a row that I had the dream.  At first it was just a dream, one night just like any other, but then it became twice a week then three nights.  Now it had been every night.  I knew it was a dream.  I always woke up in my own bed.  The clock always said sometime between 3:00 and 3:30 AM and I was always drenched in sweat, but it was just a dream, I told myself.

    I stared at the clock as I tried to fall back asleep, but it hardly ever happened after the dreams, and since they had been happening more and more, I was becoming more and more exhausted.  A few hours had to pass before my alarm started buzzing so I began counting down to try and fall asleep.  It didn't work, but eventually the sun popped up and the buzzer went off.

    My window didn't have much of a view, just the apartments across the lot from our building and the worn down "playground" that the apartment management kept in a rock filled pad just to make the complex seem more "family friendly."  It wasn't much, but it was ours and my dad worked his tail off to keep us in here.  I made my way down the stairs of our apartment to a surprising greeting of "Happy birthday, old man!" from my dad who was eagerly waiting in the kitchen with a stack of pancakes illuminated by a single candle.  As he made his way to the living room singing, I could feel my cheeks warming with embarrassment.

    "Happy birthday, dear Eli.  Happy birthday to you!" He finished with the embellishment of a pop star singing the national anthem at a Cubs game.   "What do you say we both take the day off and go downtown, just the two of us?"

    "I've got a couple tests today, dad," I replied, wishing that I didn't.  I could see the disappointment hiding behind his smile.

    "That's fine.  I've got a lot to catch up on at the office, anyway."  He fumbled around every pocket feverishly looking for something.  "Oh, before I forget, here's your present!"

    He reached into his front pants pocket, finding what he was searching for, and produced a black, shiny, rectangular device.

    "Is that a..."

    "Yes it is."  He cut me off before I could finish my sentence.  "A new Andromeda C5."

    "You said I was too young for a phone like this."  I was in shock.  It was the newest device out there, and I was inches away from holding it in my hand.

    "You were," he said with a chuckle.  "Now you're sixteen.  Just the right age for it."  He handed it to me.  The moment I made contact with it, the display went crazy with every color of the rainbow flashing in blocks of light before returning to the default home screen.  Judging by the puzzled look on his face, my dad must have seen it as well, but he didn't say anything.

    "How can we afford this?"  I asked.  Although we never went without, I knew that we didn't exactly have a ton of money to spare.  

    "Don't worry, I've been picking up some extra hours here and there."  I hoped someday to show my dad how much I appreciated him, but today I had to pass trig and genetics tests.  He reached out for a handshake, but got a hug in return.  I caught the bus to school, carefully hiding my new phone in my backpack, but feeling drawn to use it despite the risks of flashing such a device on a crowded bus full of high-schoolers.  A few hours of tests and boring classes later, it was time to head home.  I had some time to spare, so I decided to walk instead of ride the bus.  I couldn't wait to pull out my new phone and see what all it could do, so I stopped off at a park on the way home and did just that.

    I hit the power button to wake it up, slid my finger across its smooth screen, and watched as the tutorial video began.  "Eli," the screen went from the Andromeda logo to static hiding the silhouette of a figure.  "Eli, my son..."

    Dad sure went above and beyond on this one, I thought.

    "It has been too long."  The silhouette faded into view as a man who looked familiar, but also who I couldn't remember ever meeting.  The figure's eyes met with mine through the screen  "Eli, I am your father."

 

    

 

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