Time Shift

Chapter 11

Derek was driving home. Joy was next to him, sleeping and snoring her whole way through. He was twisting and turning so many times, that Joy woke up from it. Only the rumbling of the engine could be heard. No one talked for the duration of the trip to Derek's house.

When he parked outside and pulled the handbrake, Joy woke up again.

"Are we there?" Joy asked.

"Yeah."

Both of them got out a moment later and walked to the house. He noticed that the lights inside were turned on. He raised a hand to stop Joy.

"Someone's inside. The lights are on. I always turn the lights off when Emilia and I leave the house. Let's go to the back of the house."

Both of them headed there and Derek unlocked the back door and entered without making a single noise. He wasn't as stealthy and sneaky as Emilia, but Joy was louder than him. The back door led to a rather small kitchen, but Derek still could prepare food here if he liked. Derek stood behind the edge of the entrance to the living room. He peeked through and saw no one in sight. He beckoned Joy to come and both of them went into Emilia's and Derek's room just down the living room. Still, no one was here. He turned around and screamed. Emilia's face was suddenly up and in front of him. He stepped backward and tripped onto the bed. Joy didn't react at all.

Emilia laughed so hard from the reaction.

"Seriously, after a day or two of being kidnapped, you present yourself like this?!"

"I'm sorry. I just had to do it!"

Emilia ran towards Derek and hugged him tightly. He returned the hug, smiling and closing his eyes. When he reopened them, he saw Conor peeking through the door.

"Conor! How's the time sphere?"

"I.." Conor trailed off. "I fixed it back. I can't keep it for long."

"Alright," Derek said as he released his girlfriend from the hug. "Good to see you. Oh, yeah. I forgot. I have Mark Apollo's laptop in the car."

Emilia and Conor immediately frowned at Derek.

"How did you get it?" Conor said.

"I'll explain it when I give it to you."

Derek exited the room and saw Cert standing and leaning against the wall.

"Hello, Cert. How's it been?"

"It was pretty good. I've had two fights this year."

"Fighting the cowboy?"

"Yes, and one more. A harder one. I was against three other protectors. Then I lost to them. Knocked out. Seriously, I like action, but I think I'm getting old."

Both of them chuckled as Emilia, Conor and Joy left the room.

"Oh, yeah. Speaking of the cowboy, where is he?"

"He disappeared," Emilia said, answering the question instead of Cert. "When I woke up, he was gone. First, he wanted to join me, but then he left, for some reason. But, whatever."

"Wait, what do you mean 'when you woke up'?"

"Well.."

And Emilia told the long story about the team trying to save Derek, but in the end, failed horribly.

"After the fight with those damned protectors, I woke up on the ground instead of being trapped on the wall. I was the second one to wake up. Ermine was gone. I didn't bother finding him, but I woke the team up, though, there were only Cert and Conor left. Then, after that, we went home to plan out more, until you and Joy came home."