Hatchetfield.

Oregon is close to California, right?

"Don't be fucking stupid," Lex told him. They'd been on a FaceTime call for the past three hours and she was starting to look tired.

Ethan rolled his eyes, lovingly, of course. "I'm not. I just think it'd be funny."

"Funny?" She repeated.

He nodded. "Funny."

"Well, suit yourself. You know what they say just as well as I do, but if you don't believe it, that's not my responsibility. Just don't drag me down with you."

"Aw, c'mon Lex," he laughed. "You don't seriously believe that naming your video game family after yourself can transport you back in time or whatever. You're smarter th–"

"Alright, hanging up. Idiot."

And so, she did. Ethan spent a moment or two just looking at his phone until eventually the screen went blank. At that, he sighed and turned his attention back to his computer screen.

On it was a game: The Oregon Trail , to be exact. And it was asking him to name his wagon party. He'd heard the stories, of course he had, but plenty of people on the internet had proven it wrong and even if that hadn't been the case, it wasn't like Ethan was stupid enough to actually believe it.

A video game couldn't transport you back in time. That was impossible! Sure, maybe it could, like, mentally put you somewhere else, but in his experience, that was only something really, really good games were able to do and he had his doubts that one from 1985 could do it when lots of 2020 releases had already failed.

Ethan Green didn't feel like he was betraying his girlfriend when he named his wagon party Ethan, Hannah, Banana, Lex and Tex. Then he pressed play.

Lex was a lot of things. Often, she was right. And right now, Ethan wanted nothing more than for her not to be.

But Ethan couldn't always get what he wanted and rather than sitting down in his bedroom with the curtains half-drawn, kind of ready to head to bed, he was now standing out in some dirt. A little ways away from him, a sign read Independence, Missouri and next to that stood his girlfriend, her arms crossed and her expression more annoyed than he'd seen her... ever.

"Ethan, you fucking asshole." Even if Ethan hadn't been looking directly at her, he's pretty sure he could have recognized the rolling of her eyes just from her tone. "I told you to leave me out of this!"

Before he had the chance to speak up, a voice from behind him spoke up. "What's going on?" Hannah. Oh no.

"Uhhh..." Ethan turned to face her, then scratched the back of his head. How was he supposed to tell his girlfriend's little sister that he had accidentally travelled them back in time? "Y'know."

Hannah raised her eyebrow and the expression on her face told him that she absolutely didn't know. Which, in her defence, was fair. Ethan didn't either.

At Hannah's feet laid a banana. It looked almost too generic, too much like a perfect banana. And Ethan felt a strange attachment to it, so he decided to pick it up. Once he'd gotten back up, he felt a tap on his shoulder.

He turned around to face Lex. Well... Lex, but if she was slightly older and from Texas (at least Ethan assumed that's where this almost-Lex came from, judging by the pink cowboy hat, cowboy boots and, well, the t-shirt with the shape of Texas printed on it). "You're... you– you're..." he stammered.

Almost-Lex nodded. "Tex. Yeah! Or should I say: Yee-yeah!"

"No," Real-Lex intervened immediately. "No you fucking shouldn't. Please. Don't– just, don't ever say that. Ever again. Okay?"

Tex smiled and nodded again. "Okay!"

Hoo boy! This was going to be a long journey.

Ethan felt a tug at his sleeve. He looked down at Hannah, who had taken the banana from him. "Where are we, Ethan?"

When Ethan didn't immediately answer, Lex took a step towards her sister. She gestured to the sign. "We're in In–"

But before she had the chance to finish replying, a man in a hat and a concerningly big moustache stepped out in front of them. "You're in Independence!"