Transform Plate Boundaries Book Two

Chapter 2:

Friday night:

Yitian glanced at her clock. It was 10:30 pm. Good. Time for her to embark on her journey. She checked through her backpack one last time. Her laptop, phone, and chargers: never left home without them. The device: yes, it was her key to harnessing the power of the stars. More gadgets for collecting data about the alternate world: yep, definitely needed that. A binder with information she researched about her journey: definitely. A notebook and writing utensils: of course. Extra food: well, she absolutely could not survive without it. She felt like she was forgetting something. She sighed, grabbed the heart-shaped flash drive that James had given to her for their first date from her nightstand, and shoved it into her pocket. Then, she scribbled a note to her family.

Sorry, I had to go. You might never see me again. But just remember this: I will always be with you, maybe not physically, but remember that you will always have part of my heart. Don't try to come after me... it will be hopeless. Just remember- I love you all to the stars and back.

Always your daughter, Yitian.

She stuck the note on the dining table, then grabbed a lawn chair. She snuck to the door, turned the lock and the doorknob, and quietly slipped into the night, knowing very well that she might never return.

Yitian breathed in the cool night air as she walked towards the football field. There was a slight breeze. It felt good on her face. She listened to the quiet chirping of the crickets. It seemed so strange that she hadn't noticed these little things about life until she was about to leave it, possibly forever. She tried to enjoy the scenery one last time before she headed into the unknown, but she couldn't help wondering about what lay ahead of her in her path. Yitian looked up into the night sky. The stars were almost in line. Just a little more than another hour, then she would be gone. She remembered the first time she came up with the theory, when she was stargazing at the George observatory with James. It was the first time that they kissed and held hands. It seemed like eons ago...

She stumbled out onto the football field. Quickly setting up a makeshift lab, she unpacked her backpack, laid out all her tools and her laptop, and got ready to spend a long night waiting for the stars to align.

Before she knew it, someone was shaking her awake.

"Yitian! It's 11:50! Wake up!" James' voice said.

She jerked awake, scrambling to place all her equipment in the correct place before she embarked on her journey.

"How could I have fallen asleep?" She scolded herself. She turned on her laptop and checked the device and the other equipment to make sure it was all in the right place.

"James?" She asked quietly. He was instantly by her side.

"Yes?"

"Could you help me do some last-minute checking? I have the formula ready... but I'm not sure if I'm correct. Just quickly plug in the numbers and tell me what you get, okay?"

"Anything for you." He took her open laptop and opened up the application with her calculations.

"The one at the very bottom. Just plug in the numbers you see on the left. Use a calculator," said Yitian as she scribbled down some notes and equations and checked the placement of equipment once more.

"Of course."

"Hey, this is easy," thought James as he looked at the formula Yitian had set up. "I don't need a calculator. I guess I can impress Yitian with my mental math skills." He quickly crunched the numbers in his head.

"Yitian?"

"Yeah?" asked Yitian, bewildered.

"You got this one wrong. The answer is supposed to be 0, not 6."

Yitian nodded. "Okay —let me just tweak a few things," she said, pushing the device a few centimeters to the left and turning it on. Immediately, there was a slight buzzing sound, and the air felt like it was filled with electricity. Then, she clicked a few dials on the device, and the buzzing sound increased in volume.

Yitian looked at her watch. 11:55. Enough time to give James an explanation of what was going to happen. "So, when the time comes, there should be a pale white beam of light coming from the stars. When it hits the ground, it should stabilize for about 30 seconds. We step into the beam of light, and then it should safely transport us past the wall of dark matter and into the alternate world."

"If everything goes right?" asked James. Yitian nodded gravely. "What if something goes wrong?"

"Remember — I... I love you. If anything goes wrong, remember that I will always be with you in heart and in mind, even if not physically."

James nodded and held her hand. "We will always be our parabola — our love will go on and on and on and we will never be separated, no matter what gets in our way."

The stars looked as if they were in the right spot. Yitian glanced at her watch again. 11:58. Just a few more seconds...

And that was when the world exploded.

Dark clouds rolled in from the edge of the sky. Colors swirled everywhere, and they were trapped in a tornado of chaos. A dark beam of lightning flashed in the distance.

"Is it supposed to be like this?!" James screamed.

"NO!" Yitian yelled, panicking. "SOMETHING'S WRONG!"

"Let's go back then!"

"WE CAN'T! I CAN'T PASS UP THIS OPPORTUNITY! I'M GOING TO HEAD DEEPER INTO THE STORM!"

James paused, taking in his surroundings. They were in a void of darkness, but everything was still there. The football field, the lightning storm —everything that made their situation more real.

"Yitian! It's too dangerous! We have to go back!" he screamed. The wind was blowing Yitian's hair all over her determined face, making her look even more beautiful than she already was. James didn't know that it would be the last time he saw that beautiful face. The leaves and grass flying everywhere made it hard for him too see, and the wind distorted his words. It was chaos.

Yitian looked back at him. "I have to do this," she said, her voice surprisingly level.

"Yitian, please! You can't... It won't work!" he begged.

She turned around and headed further into the storm, towards the black beam of lightning that led to the unknown. Standing in front of the dark light, she knew she had to go, for the sake of science. Just before she stepped into the beam, she heard James one last time.

"I. LOVE. YOU!!!!!" his desperate voice screamed. "DON'T FORGET ME! DON'T FORGET US! I LOVE YOU!!!"

A single tear slipped down Yitian's face as she stepped into the darkness.

"Something went wrong!!! Yitian, come back!!!" he tried to yell, but she was already gone.