I stare at this couple with a blank look.
"Talk? About what?" I ask.
"Well..." He says. "Can we take a seat?" He asks pointing at the empty booth seat across from Tony and I.
"I guess." I say, hoping that I won't regret this decision.
"Well let's introduce ourselves. I am Jackson and this is my wife Donna. We have been happily married for 22 years now. And we are botanists."
I stare at him as he pauses. Does he think I have any idea what that means?
Seeing my confused look Donna speaks up, "We study plants, we are plant scientists."
"Okay and what does this have to do with me?" I ask still confused.
"Well we've traveled many places and analyzed many plants around the world. But we have come to a sort of drought in our research. And we want to go to new places and discover more plants." Jackson says.
I'm starting to get worried of where this is leading to and my stomach starts to churn.
"Would you just get to the point?" Tony says.
"We'd like you to come with us. As sort of a guide. We figured you would have the skill and..."
"Where exactly are you talking about?" I asked nervously.
"Well Magnum Terram of course." Donna says.
A laugh comes ripping from my insides. "If you think for one second that I am ever going back to the place, then you are very sorely mistaken. Now sorry but we have to go. Good day!" I say.
But before we get up they continue, "Please Mr. Hudson. We need someone that has been there before. We need help with our way around."
"You do know that Magnum Terram is so strangely huge and excessive that I wouldn't have a clue where we were?"
"Well yes but it would still be nice to sort if have a guide"
"No." I say.
"We've been trying to call you for quite some time now but you haven't answered."
I flashback to the park about 20 minutes ago when my phone rang and I ignored. So it's been them this whole time trying to call me.
"How did you get my phone number and how do you know my story?" I ask.
"Oh well you can find anything on the Internet these days. We just wanted someone who's been there before. And we thought you were a good choice. So will you come with us?"
"I already said no! Absolutely not! I will never go back there under any circumstances. You people are crazy!" I say. I lean on my elbows and get closer to them. "If you want to go, be my guest but you aren't taking me with you. You have fun with the bipolar weather, and the sinking mud pits of death, and jungles of hanging killer plants, and large groups of Terrors attacking, and cliffs falling on you. Yeah go ahead and enjoy all of that. Oh let's not forget when you get to watch your friends' limbs be torn off their body and their blood spraying everywhere as the Creature eats your friends them alive. I am not going on your little research trip. AND THAT'S FINAL!" I say standing up and banging my fists on the table.
I angrily walk away and Tony trails behind me. They continue to sit at the table watching us march off. I start ranting to Tony.
"I don't have any clue who's those people are and they're insane. They obviously don't know what Magnum Terram is like. And they have the guts to ask me to have the pleasure of going with them. I feel like they've just been watching me and waiting. I mean what are the odds that they show up to the same place as us at the same time. I'm just so pissed."
"Yes I know. Just calm down. It's okay." Tony says to me.
"NO! It's not okay! How do they know about all this stuff? How did they know? I'm just very overwhelmed." I say.
"Okay well do you want me to take you back to your apartment?" He asks.
"Yeah. I just want a break." I say.
On our way to my apartment I just stare out the window and watch as everything passes in a blur. What's happened to me?
I keep thinking about this couple. Why would they ask me that? How do they know who I am? Why do they want to go to Magnum Terram? At all the places you could go and they pick there.
We get to my apartment and Tony offers to give me some company for the night. I decline and get out of the car.
I slowly walk up to my apartment and open the door. I look around and see absolutely nothing. Just an average boring-looking apartment. Clean and flawless. But life isn't like that.
I begin to just mess up everything. I take drawers out and dump whatever is inside of them on the floor. I take multiple stacks of playing cards and just toss them everywhere. I take my dirty clothes and throw them and scatter them across the floor. I take my dresser drawers with clean clothes in them and dump them out too. Next I get out an old backpack filled with school papers and shake them all out to the floor. I also knock over my book case and throw books everywhere. And I do the same with all the movies I have. I continue to do this kind of stuff until my apartment looks completely trashed.
I kneel down right in the middle of my living room surrounded by all my stuff. I look around and begin to cry. Not just because I realize I'll have to clean all this up but also because of the tragic things I've been through that I can't erase from my mind.
Will I ever be able to be the same again? Why did this have to happen to me? Can I somehow forget? These are all questions that I ask myself, but I find no answer to any of them. How come it's been a whole year and a few months and I feel like I just got away from that place. The memories are still fresh in my mind like it happened yesterday.
I decide the best thing I can do for right now is just try and think of something else. Or try to make it seem like it was all just a nightmare. My head continues to swirl around. I look around at the mess I made and slowly start to clean it up.
