HTH

Chapter Eight

An Apartment Complex, Bethesda, Maryland, 2019

Jay was sitting in his room doing his calculus homework. It really wasn't very hard; then again, he had a microchip in his brain that did most of the work for him. He had just figured out how to make the chip calculate everything for him, and was flying through his assignment. He needed to hurry in order to make his date.

Vrrr

Jay's phone buzzed on the table. He checked his phone, and then the time. It's not even 6. She's really early.

He wasn't complaining, just glad that he was able to get so much of his work done. Jay finished his last problem and ran over to the window.

Down of the street below, a young girl with light pink hair was staring back at him with a small smile. She was wearing a white hoodie with contrasting dark jeans. She was beautiful, and she was the most important person in Jay's life.

Brooke.

Jay smiled and waved at her. He dashed off, grabbing his leather jacket as he ran out of his room towards the door.

No.

He stopped for a second. He got a strange feeling that something was wrong, that he needed to remember something. He shrugged it off as just him being nervous about his relationship, and continued down to the elevator.

In what seemed like a second later, Jay emerged from the building, ecstatic about going to dinner with Brooke. Rain had just begun to lightly fall, but for once he didn't care. He only cared about her.

No. This isn't right.

Suddenly Brooke's eyes widened and she clutched her head in her hands. Jay heard sirens from his left, and suddenly he remembered what happened next. Brooke looked over to the left.

NO!

The world froze. Time stopped, and the raindrops hung in the air like stars. Jay stepped across the road, slowly walking towards Brooke, her hair frozen in the wind just like everything else. As he walked he glanced down the street and saw a black sedan being chased by multiple police cars. They were only about 100 yards or so away, and the driver of the sedan was (or had been) attempting to turn the car onto a side road.

Jay turned away, unable to look at the cause of his own self destruction. He reached the other end of the street, looking up at Brooke's freckled face. Jay brushed her hair away from her face, tears welling up in his eyes. He kissed her on the cheek and whispered "I'm sorry."

Everything began to slowly begin to move again. Jay backed away, the tears rolling down his face.

No. Don't make me relive this.

He wanted this moment to last forever, for time to freeze forever at this one spot. Yet time marched on. So Jay did the only thing he could to stop it. He punched himself in the jaw.

---

Jay's eyes flashed open and he breathed in sharply. He sat up in his hotel room bed, still reeling from the effects of his dream. Vanessa had dragged up a part of his life he desperately wanted to leave behind. He had managed to take control of the events in his dream, but he never wanted to relive any part of that night.

It didn't help he was in a very stressful situation. Just when he thought he was clear of the police, two hitmen had come after. The guy on the train, and again at the cafe. Alex had to run through the kitchen to escape him. The only reason he'd been able to survive the past 24 hours is the superhuman serum given to him when he received his chip. Originally designed to help his body maintain the added stress of the chip, it now gave him increased strength, speed, and reflexes. But according to Vanessa, the serum wasn't taking on enough of the added mental power.