Gregg

Chapter 11

"Turn off the light, I'm trying to sleep." I tell whoever is in my room. "Gregg you need to wake up so we can talk." A woman answers. Wait, a woman is in my room? I shoot out of bed as quick as I can. All of a sudden all the memories flood back into my head. She's my mother. The one that left me when I was seven and the one who just decided to come back into my life now. "Oh, it's you. What time is it?" She looks at her watch. "It's almost noon. Your body needed sleep after all the excitement yesterday." Oh you have no idea lady. "You mean, I missed school? Never mind, I don't care. What do you want, Chrissy? Or whoever you are." She sighs and looks away. She's ashamed and she has a great reason to.

"Gregg, I'm your mother whether you like it or not and I'm here to stay no matter what." She really thinks I'm going to call her "mom"? She must be joking. "Look, Chris, I haven't had a mother in almost ten years. Just because some woman comes back and says she's my mother, doesn't mean I'm going to call her mom." She looks a little angry at me for calling her Chris. "If you don't want to call me mom, it's okay. I never expected you to. But I want a little respect, so you're going to call me Chrissy or Christina. You will never call me Chris ever again. Do you understand me young man?" Great, now she's trying to sound like she has any authority over me. "Yes ma'am. So, Christina, what did you want to talk to me about?"

"Get dressed. We can talk over breakfast, I'll take you anywhere you'd like to go." Ugh, I just want to go back to sleep. "You get to pick. I don't usually eat breakfast so I don't like going anywhere." She leaves my room and I assume she goes downstairs. I put on my Guns n' Roses shirt and black jeans. Black hoodie and converse are next and I'm ready. I mentally prepare myself to be understanding but I can't get rid of the anger I have for her. I hear her car start and assume she's waiting for me there. I go outside and step into her silver smart car. I hate these things. She starts the car and pulls out of the driveway. "Where are we going?" She laughs a little at my question. Oh boy, I'm scared. "Someplace you've never been to before." That's it? How does she know I haven't been there? She starts driving really fast. I check her speedometer, she's going ninety miles an hour! "Christina what are you doing?" She's smiling. "Just trust me Greggory. You'll like it." She opens a little cover on the dashboard of the car and hits a button. Suddenly a bright light and then nothing.

Great, more time travel. As soon as I see that we're in a different place, I erase all emotion from my face. "Let me explain what happened, Gregg." I roll my eyes at her. "No need. Just tell me what the date is." She looks shocked. "Wait, you've done this before?" Now it's my turn to laugh. "Yeah just a bit. I'm hungry Crissy. Can we just go eat?" She sighs. "Okay. I'm guessing you know about the vegetarian thing then?" I nod and keep my eyes locked on the surroundings outside of the small car. Tall buildings are everywhere but I think we ended up somewhere underneath a highway. It's super loud and just gross.

Chrissy drives for what feels like hours in silence. We pull into a driveway, not a parking lot, a driveway. "I thought we were going out to eat?" She gets out of the car without a word and I follow. "Welcome home Gregg. Come meet your new family." She said that so calmly as if I wouldn't freak out. "Wait, what? What do you mean?" She walks into the small house. I have to follow her. I have to find a way to get back to my own time, to my actual family. "Now's not the time to panic Gregg. Stay calm. Maybe you'll find Charlie and she can get you home again. I walk into the small house and see a bunch of people sitting on a couch staring at me. Some people are crying and some looked shocked.

"Christina, I want to go home." An old woman gets up when I say that. She looks at me then hugs me. I don't know who she is so I just sit there. "Greggory we missed you so much." She says. Everyone else gets up and embraces me. I can't breath. Oh no, I'm going to panic. "Everyone! Get off of me!" I start yelling. I can't be here anymore and I begin shoving these strangers off of me. "I don't know you people! Don't touch me!" I shove through the last couple of people and run into the first opening I see which takes me to the kitchen. The crowd follows me with their eyes. "Gregg, it's okay, calm down. This is Edna, your grandmother. These are your cousins Heitor, Julian, and Mel." She points to the old woman and three boys that look kinda like me. The boys all wave hi.

"Hey Gregg. I'm Julian and I'm the oldest of the three of us. This is Heitor, it's spelled H-E-I-T-O-R but pronounced A-tor. He's strange. And the little one is Mel." Julian introduces his brothers. "Gregg, those are your aunts and uncles. My sisters and brother and your dad's brother, and their husbands and wives." The strange woman and men say hello to me and step back. I feel like a cornered animal. I don't know any of these people. They're not my family. I don't have any cousins and my dad doesn't have any siblings. I want to go home. "I'm sorry for just dropping all of this on you sweetheart. I'll let Edna tell you what's going on." The old woman steps forward and sits me down at the kitchen table.

"Listen here, kiddo. We are your family. You're gonna need to get used to that. We had you for seven years until your daddy stole you away. When he took you back to the early 2000s, we all about died at our loss. We didn't know where he went or how he just disappeared. We had no way of knowing that he took you back in time. He said that this was no generation to raise a child in. He just disappeared. It's been ten years to the day since he left. Today is your seventeenth birthday Greggory." What? Wait, now I'm really confused. Pete and Eliza took me forty years into the future and I, or Phillip, had disappeared long before then. I'm seventeen? My birthday isn't for another four months. My dad didn't even use my real birthday? That can't be right.

"I don't believe you, I only believe the fact that this woman over here is my mother because I heard my father talking to her. My birthday isn't for another four months. My birthday is November 13th, 1991. My mother left me and my father on January 12th, 2001, when I was seven. My father married Felicia on July 21st, 2004, which was the day I had my first panic attack. That's my life, that's the truth, nothing you say matters to me. All you people are doing is filling my head with lies and hoping I believe you. Well, it's not going to happen. Take me home Christina." Each family member has a different expression on their face. I see shock, anger, sadness, disbelief, and disappointment. "Oh Gregg. What has my son done to you?" Edna says.