ＳＴＡＹ ••• 𝙖𝙙𝙖𝙢 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝙙 💌

2.

time travel exists, and now they know it.

adam and darlene stood outside in the backyard, watching the golden retriever bark towards the forest. adam had a flashlight in one hand and darlene's hand in the other. she stood a couple inches behind him, trying to look out into the dark to find what hawking was barking at. adam turned the flashlight on, but the light didn't light up, so he held it towards his best friend, and she hit it, illuminating the backyard to an extent. he walked to hawking, letting darlene pet his back. "what is it? you see something?" the dog barked once more, before whining and starting to run towards the trees. "hawking, stop ! hawking !" the two chorused. but he kept running into the forest.

darlene took a deep breath. "okay," she sighed, taking the flashlight and starting to walk ahead of adam, shining the light in a sweeping motion as they got closer to the bundle of trees. looking back, she saw him grab the wooden bat set against the play goal. "hawking !" they called, starting to walk down the hill together, hands still intertwined.

walking deeper into the forest, adam and darlene watched golden flakes fall down from the sky. "what...?" adam's mumbled. darlene started to stick her tongue out to catch the flakes, and her friend looked up in wonder. she did too. "woah." they breathed. orange and yellow flakes fell from infinity, and it was beautiful. darlene's eyes shimmered in curiosity. hawking's bark interrupted the moment. he walked right up to the pair. the girl shined a light on the dog. "oh my god. you scared the crap out of me." adam sighed, starting to bend down to pet hawking, but darlene heard something. she quickly turned the flashlight in that direction, but, nothing. "who's there?" no response to her, "i swear to god, i will knock your lightbulbs out." adam looked at her.

"i don't think we should be out here." he sighed, "come on, hawking !" hawking started to run towards the house, and the two kids immediately followed, making sure they weren't to lose each other in the forest. and soon, they were back home, in the backyard. adam fell to his knees, and when darlene heard him start to wheeze, he searched for his pockets. nothing. she rummaged through her jacket's pockets as fast as she could, and found the inhaler in the left pocket. she was wearing adam's jacket from school today. she instantly put it up to his face, and he took a breath. "1... 2... 3. okay." she coaxed, hearing her best friend breath regularly again. she had been doing this the past twelve years of her life. this was normal. "we're okay." adam nodded, petting the hawkings head, who was just smiling, his tongue lolling out of his mouth.

suddenly, they heard big clatter sounds coming from... the garage. darlene pointed her flashlight at the garage, and sighed. "i swear to god." hawking started to bark again, and ran towards the garage. "hawking !" he called after his dog. "c'mon adam. let's go take the lightbulbs out of this guys head. where's the bat?" adam held it up nervously, and darlene nodded, starting to push adam to the garage. the stairs slowly creaked as darlene walked onto them, "i swear to god, if you anyone tries to hit me, i have a flashlight." the short girl warned.

slowly, she swept the flashlight across the garage with adam right beside her, until she got to the very left of her, finding a guy all bloody. "take it easy." the man said in a gravely voice. adam's yelped, falling back. "or, you know, fall down and scream." darlene and the man said in unison. she whipped her head around to him with a weird look on her face. "who are you?" he opened his mouth, and she raised the flashlight at him, "who are you? you come into my best friend's garage while it's just two kids home alone? not cool, dude." he looked at her for a moment, before seeming to have an 'a-ha !' moment and mumbling something to himself.

adam came through the door, politely walking past darlene with a small series of 'sorry', before rushing up to the man and holding a bat up to him. "jeez. who the hell are you?" "put the bat down. put the bat down. i'm not gonna hurt you two, i promise." "says the man who sneaked into our garage." darlene stated, walking from the doorway over to adam, who still held the bat over his shoulder. "what are you doing here?" he demanded. "mostly bleeding." the guy replied. "who are you, a woman on her period?" darlene asked sarcastically, a hand in her pocket with the flashlight in her other hand now off. adam held the bat unsurely. "wait, how old are you?" he sighed. darlene and him glanced at each other, before looking back at the adult. "what?" they chorused.