Turn Back Time

Chapter 4

At dinner time, I picked up a salad and plunked my ass right next to Chip. His goonies Greg and Kirsten slowly stood up, the cracks of their joints echoed synchronously with them. It's no wonder, if you painted both of them in camo, they'd fit right into a tank battalion. Chip quickly ushered them back down with confirmations that "he's cool" while the two looked at me in disdain.

"Why do you hang out with the two of them," I asked. "Those two seem like the type who'd get into an argument about the difference between 'G sharp' and 'A flat'."

His snorts of laughter quickly dissipated the chatter of the lunchroom around us like a hot knife through butter. "What, can't a man laugh in peace? Get back to whatever the hell you were doing." he shouts and leans closer with his hand over his mouth. "Their parents are high ranking officials. They probably haven't passed a course in their life but I'm stuck with them cause my parents work for them."

I could see Murray scuttling away from the corner of my eye. The uncharacteristically tense lunchroom was uncannily similar to the hazardous terrain of Mexico back when we were infiltrating their waterfront resort. The hierarchy of different students seemed extremely superficial, especially when almost all of the recruits had boasted incredible assets and were top dog at their previous institutions. I wonder why it was so, and how I didn't realize such a simple dynamic my first time around.

On the other hand, I had just secured my position at the very top, even with how harmless my body was at my meager age. Perhaps the school had employed Chip and his gang to weed out the less competent spies. I shook my head at what only added to the fever dream that I was currently living through. Everything that I touched, every interaction I had seemed so fragile, so archaic. Everything that occurred felt lifetimes away, even as I continued to breeze through my surroundings. It almost felt like the flashbacks of a Zelda game, nostalgia blending together in a concoction with longing and regret.

***

Before I went to bed, I made sure to set everything up. I placed a few pillows under the covers and camped out beside my lamp directly to the left of the window. I knew I would probably be fine either way, but I wasn't going to take any chances with my very fortunate turn of events. I wasn't about to get sent back in time only to die to the first real threat now, was I?

As much as I wanted to, I would have to let the man go. This would secure my place at the box where I coud control a lot more of the events that happened previously as I would know what happened. Also, who knew what the CIA would do with the man.

Like clockwork, at 0130, the tap, tap, tapping of my window vibrated throughout my room. It's a bit humbling to see how far I've come. Nowadays, any threat so amateurish would've been neutralized and disposed of in mere seconds.

The chefs were one of the most underrated aspects of our school of espionage. They weren't making the food so deadly on purpose, but all the blame, and there was a lot of it, was placed on them, creating an infamous reputation that unnerved some of the older members and downright terrified the new recruits. Although the pay was good, getting judged by teenagers would definitely build up strain in a person. They were so surprised by my compliments to the chef that I now had free movement through the entirety of the culinary labyrinth, but more importantly, it allowed access to crucial vents as well.

They were so friendly that I now wielded a cast iron skillet in my right hand. As soon as the assassin crawled into the room and walked to the side of the bed, I bonked him right across the back of his brain and watched as he ragdolled and face planted right into the ground. I grimaced. That was going to leave a mark. I took my chair and tied the man up with a few zip ties that I had managed to snag from the butcher, making sure to keep the pan close by in case he managed to tear through the chair. After tying his mouth with a random shirt from my floor, I waited for him to wake.

"It may seem scary. Of course, this is your first time as a receiver of monologues, but fear not. Me, Jonathan Monkeywarts, will walk you carefully through this perilous activity. Of course, you being a bad guy, you've never been on this side of table." I picked his gun off the floor. It had clattered there lifelessly when he lost consciousness. "Why don't we play russian roulette with your gun here."

His eyes widened. "It's has a fucking magazine dipshit!" he said, muffled by the shirt.

"Don't get your panties in a twist. I was only joking. Could you imagine though?" I asked, bringing the barrel closer to his head. "Anyway, back to the interrogation. I don't actually need anything. I know you work for Spyder. I know what's going to happen for roughly the next five years. I want you to go back to your heads and tell them that Pinwheel is more dangerous then they could ever have imagined."

"Why would I do anything that you said."

I froze and looked him in the eye. "Would you rather let them know that you got captured by a twelve year old?"

There was one more thing I wanted to do. I had to see who this perpetrator was. When I pull his ski mask back, you'll never believe who I saw.

It was just some random mercenary. I've never seen that guy before in my life. I slowly untied him with the gun securely in my hand and fired a shot into the concrete to sound the alarm.

"You better run."

***

"I'm not sure what's so confusing guys. There was a guy who climbed into my window and asked me about Pinwheel. I've taken care of him and stripped off this gun. Do you really think that I'm paranoid enough sleep with a firearm. I'm not that crazy yet."

"Took care of him?!" Tina said.

"Yup, I dumped the body down the toilet."

"What?!"

"No, he got away. Didn't really give much information, but hey, that should make up for such a terrible introductory exam score, no?" I placed both hands on my knees and stood up. "If I'm no longer being detained, I'll be going back to bed."

Alexander pulled me back. "You said something about Pinwheel?" he asked.

"Yup, should've been something planted in my file, and judging by Sidebottom's face, he was probably the one who was tasked to add it in." I looked at the other lady in the room, Agent Coloretti. "This should be security level 4C right? I'll head to the box. I need my beauty sleep." When I left, I heard her murmur, "This kid knows something. Everything he does is like he's already been informed about the situation. Make sure the mole hasn't gotten to him first. It's almost like he's lived this before, he could be already compromised."

***

Word Count: 1225

Total Word Count: 7322

Date Posted: 12/31/2022