Phil & The Mysterious Whirly Walls (Book 1)

Chapter 12 - The Blue Goo

Day 11, Afternoon

We are all in Simon's gaming room, which has somehow turned into our lair since the day we discovered each other. Everyday, we pair up in twos to accompany one another home to pack up some essentials like a fresh change of clothes and all, but we will sleep in Simon's home.

We are determined to get our families back so we must figure out how the vanishing happened. Here's what we know: we woke up in our own beds one morning with everyone gone and it took us four days to discover each other.

Simon is a zombie expert. He learnt all his zombie stuff from the internet and here's what he thinks:

This is an apocalypse and it's caused by some kind of virus like the zombie virus. But instead of becoming zombies, maybe this virus turns people or animals into gas. The four of us survived the apocalypse because we have weird DNA. I don't like the apocalypse idea because it means we won't be able to get back to our families. According to Simon, we ARE the new world. Just the four of us!

Lin has a totally different theory. She says that since we are hearing white noises, we are not alone. Here's what she thinks:

This is a dream trap. Maybe in reality we are just sleeping, sort of like in a coma. So these white noises are actually noises from the actual world. She thinks we have to find a way to wake up on our own or we will never be leaving this dream trap.

Adi is an alien enthusiast and he thinks:

Giant aliens kidnapped every living thing to be put into a mini zoo on their planet so that they can study earth creatures. But he doesn't understand how these aliens can be so stupid to have forgotten the four of us. We were not even hiding. We were sleeping in our beds just like everyone else! If they took away even the ants, how can they miss us, right?

As for me, I am really into space-time concepts and I believe in the multiverse and multiple timelines and so, the existence of a parallel universe. So my theory is:

Maybe the four of us fell into a different universe or space-time dimension, including Kitty. To get back to our own universe, we must find what zapped us here and reverse-zap ourselves.

Sitting in a circle on the floor, none of us can come to agree on each other's theories. However, there is one thing we can agree on and that's the same question of 'Why us?' Why four nine year olds and a kitten, all from the same area? There must be a reason for such a coincidence. We have to figure out the cause to find the solution. That's what Mrs. Jaya, our science teacher, always tells us. So, we take our memories back to the day before everyone vanished.

"Okay, what do you guys remember about that day?" Adi asks, looking around at us for answers.

"Let's go one by one, starting from the moment we woke up," I suggest.

"Okay, I'll go first," Lin agrees, as she puts Kitty into the middle of our circle. Kitty lets out a tiny meow and rolls onto her side, purring.

"I woke up at six-thirty in the morning and went to brush my teeth. But I ran out of toothpaste. So I used my baby brother's toothpaste, which tasted a lot like weird apples. Then I changed into my school uniform and went downstairs. I had a cup of warm cereal drink and a slice of toast while my mom tied my hair-" Lin is telling in minute detail when Simon suddenly cuts in.

"You can remember all the details? I cant even remember what I ate yesterday!" Simon gasps.

"Err... yeah," Lin shoots Simon an awkward stare before continuing, "Then I got my schoolbag and got ready for the bus. The journey to school was boring as usual. Then it was school time. You guys know the rest, we're in the same class. Nothing happened."

"Nothing special happened in the morning for me either. Then I took the same school bus as Lin to school. The only thing that was rather different was the thunderstorm and that we went to the playground..." I start to relate about my day when it strikes my mind!

"THE TRUCK!" Simon, Lin and I shout at the same time.

"What truck?" Adi asks impatiently, almost crawling into our invisible circle.

"It was a weird white truck with a radioactive sign painted on its side. It skidded off the road right before our eyes and crashed into a brick wall beside the playground," I explain, starting to feel a little excited myself.

"Wait, I was there too. I saw the truck crash," Adi said, rolling his eyes wide.

"But there were only the three of us," Lin swears and it's true. The storm had just stopped and it was getting dark. We were the only three kids at the wet and muddy playground because we needed to collect leaf and insect samples for a science project.

"I was cycling towards the convenience store and when I neared the brick wall, the truck crashed into it. Just before my eyes," Adi explains, his face serious.

"So you were on the other side of the accident. No wonder we didn't see you," Lin says, nodding.

"What about Kitty?" I ask, pointing at the now curled up kitten.

"We found it at the playground. Maybe Kitty was there too during the crash," Adi answers, sitting back onto his spot.

"So we were all at the scene when the truck crashed," Simon adds, pinching his own chin as his eyebrows push together in deep thoughts.

"Can it be the blue goo?" I ask, suddenly remembering the weird-looking blue substance that was leaking out of the back of the truck when it crashed. We stood there for like two whole minutes watching what looked like alien blood flow into a large puddle. Soon, some people came in two black vans. They had these astronaut-like suits and gas masks on and the first thing they did when they reached was to shoo us away and cordon off the entire playground and some other areas surrounding the truck.

"Maybe we were exposed to some sort of radiation. And... and that put us into some sort of coma," Lin suggests softly .

"Or the radiation made us immune to whatever virus there was," Simon says.

"Or the radiation made us invisible to whatever tech the aliens used," Adi adds.

"Or just maybe, the radiation allowed us to cross over to another dimension or timeline," I propose.