Blink and Vine: Origins

Chapter 2: Things escalate

So, yeah. A year later and I'm doing pretty well considering I almost died back there. I've been doing a lot better money-wise ever since I was officially recognized as the world's greatest deliveryman of all time. This led to me picking up a few extra jobs for triple the cash. Everything was running pretty smoothly, I'd say! Nobody ever found out about my powers, and life was better than good. We almost had enough money to move into the inner row!

The date was March 21st, 1985, when my world ended.

It was chilly outside, so me and my family were on the couch watching a movie. We were watching Planet of the Apes for the umpteenth time (per Ricky's request). It was his turn to pick the movie that night, and he's consistently chosen that movie every time since he was four. I was really sick of Planet of the Apes.

We heard a thundering BOOM! from outside. Originally, nothing was thought of it.

Then we heard another.

And another.

And another.

Each one increased in volume, until it sounded like it was right in front of our house. At that point I was more aggravated at whoever was setting fireworks off on our front lawn than the stupid movie I've been forced to watch every three days for twelve years straight. I paused the movie and walked over to the window to see what was making the loud noise, and my heart dropped when I opened the curtains.

Outside, there were several women and men in latex suits flying around and destroying everything. I quickly noticed that those large booms we were hearing weren't fireworks, but explosions. The loudest one I heard was because it was the house in front of us blowing to smithereens..

..And the roof of said house was hurling right towards our house.

I resisted the urge to stand still, frozen, and scream. Running over to where my brother and mom were sitting on the couch, I embraced them into a hug and teleported the three of us into the heart of the town.

"Jamie! What's gotten in...to.. you..." My mother's concerned shout died down as she slowly spun around to take a good look at the area surrounding us.

Let's get one thing straight: everything was on fire.

"Jamie, how did we get here?" Ricky demanded sternly, panic rising in his voice with each word. "It's a long story--" I was cut-off by a man flying right over our heads, carrying a woman who was shooting fire out of her hands. A rumble distracts my train of thoughts, and nearby I see a woman with comically large fists slam her hands onto the ground. I could see cracks forming, buildings collapsing, and I didn't want to stick around to find out what happens after. "--Which we don't have time for! We need to leave Birch Springs, like, yesterday." I panicked, grabbing their arms and teleporting to a different location.

Now, you might be wondering why I teleported us to Carter Carter's house and not to a different state entirely. That was for two reasons.

One: The farthest I've ever teleported was when I teleported from the warehouse to my house.

Two: I needed to know the Carters were okay.

Another reason was that I wasn't entirely focused on where I was going, just away from wherever I was then. My mind just subconsciously thought of them too, I guess.

When I blinked my eyes open to come across the familiar house number of 91, relief overcame me. I directed my gaze upwards and found...

...Nothing.

Literally nothing was left behind. There was no house. There were no signs of life.

The Carters were dead.