Nexit

Head First

Cathryn looked up from her clipboard looking slightly confused, "Sir?"

"I'll do it. I'll go in." I said, nodding my head in confidence.  

Cathryn raised her eyebrows as if to say your joking, but after a brief stare down she understood I was being serious.    

"Okay." She said casually, continuing, "You understand that if anything happens..."

I waved her words away. I knew what would happen if I was wiped off the face off the planet. Stocks would plummet company switches CEO blah blah. Right there and then I was standing in front of something that I made happen and simply felt it was my responsibility to step in whether or not I was one of the wealthiest individuals on the planet. Money can bring happiness but it won't fill that void. 

I looked away from Cathryn and focused on the portal, "You know Cathryn, I always felt I was going to do something big one day, even once I became a billionaire there was still something else that needed to be done. I guess this could be it." I waited for a response but got no reply. Maybe if she wasn't such a robot we would've been dating by then. 

"Have you sent anything organic in?" I asked,  little butterflies fluttered in my stomach. I knew what I was about to do.

Cathryn remained unemotional, "We attached plants to poles. They came back completely normal. We also had a dog come in and out completely unharmed. We threw a ball through the portal and it fetched. Pulling on the leash, the animal came back fine."

I sprinted at the portal head first, "Good to know." I yelled over my shoulder, feeling the stale wind of the underground facility flow through my hair. Nobody including Cathryn had a chance to say anything. I hit the portal door but felt nothing. It was as if the door was made of air. 

Sprinting through the portal was a mistake. I was ejected at high speed into the same facility I came from and there was a wall only six feet from where I was ejected. Yep, head first. For a minute I was sprawled on the ground, visionally impaired and wondering why I decided to sprint through the portal. Why didn't I just poke my head in first?

Once I regained my composure I noticed the entire facility was the same as the one I came from but it was dirty, abandoned, not a soul to see. A parallel Earth I thought to myself in humour. I decided to take the secret exit out of the dusty facility and head for down town. One thing I noticed as soon as I made it to a main street was how young everyone was. I'm in my mid-thirties but everyone and I mean everyone was easily between twenty to twenty-five. There was not an old person in sight. So I continued to walk, trying my best to be normal but everyone began to stare and point their finger at me. Before I knew it people started following me, calling out my name and taking photos on what looked like smartphones made of clear glass. Looking around frantically I saw entire building walls covered with ultra high definition, video clips of commercials and special promotions. There was one which caught my eye and it covered an entire skyscraper with a younger looking version of myself staring right back at me. My name in hologram format hovered above the enormous building. 

"James Scott Industries. What the hell did I do?" I said to myself.

People nearby began shouting, "James! James! What brings you down this way?James! We love you James! We love you!"  

A familiar face appeared. She looked younger, had short hair and wore a very bright, fluorescent miniskirt. Cathryn moved within one step in front of me and wrapped her arms around my neck, "Looks like holidays made you older."