The Nibiru Effect

Will Save

I'm blind. The thought echoed throughout Will Jr.'s mind as he scanned his surroundings. There was nothing but darkness. No source of light. No supernatural glow. Yet, somehow, he could still see his body.

That's weird.

Will Jr. was not afraid. Nor was he worried. He was merely curious.

Where am I?

He looked around once more, but there was nothing for him to see. Then why could he feel the ground beneath his body? Come to think of it, he could still sense the dresser pressed against his back. He glanced over his shoulder, but there was nothing there.

It was all so illogical, so confusing. There was but one rational explanation.

"Am I dead? Is this the afterlife?"

Will Jr. did not expect an answer, yet he received one.

"No."

The voice came from behind him. Heart hammering, Will Jr. jumped to his feet and spun around. Standing a few metres before him was a man. He didn't look very threatening, yet Will Jr. kept his distance.

The man was a few years older than him. He had an athletic build and exuded youthful vigour. His beard stubble was patchy, giving him an almost dirty look.

Will Jr. knew he had never before met this man, yet there was something familiar about him.

"Who are you?" he asked.

The stranger smiled. It was a sincere grin, the kind that lit up a room. Somehow, that made him seem even more familiar.

"I know this must be confusing—" began the man.

Will Jr. scoffed. "That's the understatement of the century."

"—but it will all make sense soon enough," continued the man, ignoring the teenager's sarcastic remark.

He paused long enough to give Will Jr. another one of his broad smiles.

"This will be hard to accept," he warned. "I'm your father."

Silence. It was everywhere. Omnipresent. Omnipotent.

"That's impossible," finally blurted out the teenager. "You're too young to—"

The man cut him off, though he did not seem aware of it. Will Jr. did not listen to the words pouring from his mouth. He had just realized the man was not real. He hesitantly reached out and waved his hand in front of the man's face. There was no reaction. He tried touching him, but his hand went right through him.

A hologram.

The man was nothing more than a representation of the person he had once been. For some reason, that brought a smile to Will Jr.'s lips.

Maybe he is my father. His heart started racing, and his hands shook with excitement as he studied his so-called father.

The man appeared quite weary and rather dirty, but if you removed the filth and the unkempt facial hair, he shared quite a few similarities with Will Jr. In fact, they could have passed for brothers. Or father and son.

It was not until the hologram revealed his left wrist that Will Jr. suspicions were confirmed.

An hourglass symbol adorned his skin.

The mark was identical to the one on the memory organizer but for one small detail. The symbol was inverted; the top triangle was empty, and the bottom one was full. Will Jr. did not know what it meant, but he could tell it was a bad sign. On the plus side, Will Jr. now had proof of the hologram's identity.

"Dad," he croaked. His father's hologram did not respond, but Will Jr. could have sworn he winked. It may have been a mere glitch in the programming, but Will Jr.'s heart swelled with joy.

Will Jr. had so many questions. Why had his father not been there to raise him? Was he dead or alive? And what of the birthmark? Why was it upside down? What did it all mean? So many questions, and not a single answer.

Will Jr. was so busy rejoicing he failed to realize his father was still talking. Suddenly aware the recording could not be paused, he stilled his frenzied mind and focused on his father's words.

"...I was not there to raise you, but please know that I love you more than words can describe," said Will Sr. as tears trickled down his cheeks.

"We may never have met," continued the man, "yet there's a way for you to get to know me."

"How?" asked Will Jr., momentarily forgetting that he was addressing a hologram.

"The memory organizer is more than a mere recording device," explained Will Sr. "It's a highly advanced piece of technology. The memory chips that accompany it contain a copy of my memories. Well, most of them. The memory organizer was designed to remove the unimportant memories and condense the essential, yet lengthy ones. It has also reconstructed the parts of the story for which I wasn't present by creating new memories using the knowledge I gathered afterward. What you are about to witness is a thorough recollection of my life. I know it can never make up for the fact that I wasn't there for you, but hopefully, it will help you understand why I did what I did."

There was a moment of silence during which Will Jr. realized he had learned more about his father in a few minutes than he had from his mother in the past fourteen years. Part of him resented being kept in the dark, but deep down he knew he could not blame his mother. Every time he had questioned her, the conversation had ended in tears. In time, he had learned not to ask.

"I love you, my son," said Will Sr.'s hologram, interrupting his son's musings.

"I love you too, Dad," whispered Will Jr.

Moments later, a million different images exploded within his head.