10 Years Ago Today

Chapter 5

sorry that i haven't been updating frequently. i just moved to a new house and i'm adjusting to NOT having a second job to go to by finishing up the details and such. it's so weird not having to rush to get to another job. (＠_＠) anyway, i have been fervently writing (pen/paper) on stories, i just can't seem to get them up fast enough. but please be patient and i should get into my newfound freedom shortly.

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Kaycey opened the door and Leon walked in. The boy looked up and watched Leon as he sat down on the cot next to him. He made a face at the aura of booze hanging around Leon but just turned his head a little.

"Hi."

"Hi... I can't believe it's really you..."

"I don't know who you are. I asked them to call my brother, Leon. My parents wouldn't be up at this hour and I don't feel like explaining to them..."

"What do you mean? I am Leon."

"They put you in on this two?" Nate said with an angry look. "You're about as annoyingly hilarious as the other guy out there. He says he's my other brother, Hael. Now you're trying to jump on this too? You're like thirty; my brother is only sixteen."

Leon turned his head. "Nate, I was sixteen when you disappeared."

"I was only gone for a few days! A week maybe? Ten days at most?" Nate got up and started pacing. "What the hell is going on?!"

"What do you remember?"

"I was following that dumb light and ended up in front of that random oak tree with the maple leaves. The light stopped in the middle of this weird circle of mushrooms and then I got dragged in by this... this thing. Aelan tried to save me but it was too strong... but it wasn't that long ago!"

"Nate, that was ten years ago." Nate turned to Leon. "You disappeared in the forest ten years go."

Nate stared at Leon and then began to shake his head. "No... no, that's not right!"

Leon suddenly remembered what Aelan had said. Fairy rings....

"You said there was a ring of mushrooms in front of the oak tree right? Like a fairy ring?"

"Yeah! A fairy ring. Once I entered it is when I got sucked into it and..." He shook his head. "Whatever the case, it hasn't been ten friggin years."

Leon sighed and took out his phone, going to the very picture that had come up on the screen earlier that day.

"Look."

Nate grabbed the phone and then looked at Leon. He looked at the date on it. "10 years ago today" read the top of the picture. Nate swallowed hard and looked back on the phone.

"This isn't happening..."

"Aelan mentioned something about fairy rings so I looked them up. You each... well..."

"Well what?!" Nate growled. "You're telling me that I've been missing for ten years when I know that I've only been gone for like a week! One week!"

Tears started trailing down his face, his confusion starting to unfold as he tried to comprehend what was going on. Leon sighed, not really knowing what to do."

"When I looked up fairy rings, one of the many things that happens if you get caught in one is that the passage of time is different. People who believe they have been there for five minutes are really gone for months or years... If that's the case, what may have been a week or possibly ten days to you, has been ten years for us. I really am Leon and that bonehead out there really is Hael. Aelan is... elsewhere. Here, you can even see my driver's license."