Disremembered Tales

Chapter 1

"I know how to drop my pulse to zero – but only for sixty seconds! Go!" Marco sprinted out of his gurney as Janna's heart monitor cried out in alarm. He was able to slip through the approaching EMTs as they ran towards the seemingly dead girl. The police, however, barricaded his path.

"Halt!" A man in blue commanded. He had his riot shield raised, ready to use it if necessary. Everyone thought the gas explosion at the Taco joint had either been a teenager prank gone too far or some kind of protest, so the police had been notified to bring riot gear. It'd seemed pointless when they'd arrived, but now the police officer was grateful that his intimidating presence was probably enough to scare the kid trying to escape the scene of the crime into rethinking his escape plan.

Marco, however, had much more important matters to deal with than such trivial things as law enforcement. He charged at the nearest officer only to dart to the left at the last second. He was clipped by the plastic shield and fell to the ground but he kept his momentum going. He hit the ground on his side and rolled like a hot dog past the officer. In less than a second he was back on his feet and running from the crime scene.

"HEY! Get back here!" The police officers screamed. But Marco would do no such thing. Getting to the strange illusion in the sky was the most important thing in his life now. He was running as fast as he could, but the magic circle was dropping too fast. He was never going to make it at this rate. It couldn't end like this.

Frustrated, Marco stopped running. There was no point in trying anymore; he didn't even bother moving from the center of the street. He had done so much in the past few months, he deserved to be with Star. He deserved his happy ending. He deser-

"Hey Marco. What's up?" Marcos head snapped to the left. It was Jackie! She was sitting on a bench with her arm around her... girlfriend? Despite the awkwardness of their breakup, Marco was happy for her. She deserved someone who made her happy.

"Jackie! Hey, wow it's good to see you!" She gave him one of her million-dollar smiles. Those smiles used to render Marco completely useless, but now it only made him happy to see an old friend. Star was the only one that could make him feel that way.

Star! Marco slapped himself – which probably wasn't the best first impression for Jackie's girlfriend – How could he forget about Star?

"I have a super important favor to ask – can I, umm, borrow your skateboard? It's super important. There's this light portal and it could be Star and I'm never gonna make it in time before it disappears and if that happens then I might never see her again and the-"

"marco."

"I need to see her again because we just kiss-"

"Marco."

"That sounds weird. I'm not a creep, but Star and I have to be together-"

"MARCO!" Jackie tossed her board to him. "Go get her."

Marco started to thank her and was about to get on his knees to worship her kind nature, but she reminded him that time was of the essence. She gave him a small smile as he ran out into the street and put the skateboard on the road

There was only one problem. Marco had never ridden a skateboard on his own. He'd ridden it with Star before, but he hadn't been in command before. Marco had no idea how this worked. It should be simple, right? Get on, push, and don't fall.

Simple.

Throwing luck into the wind, Marco put both feet on the board and focused on his balance. Jackie snuck up behind him and gave him a hard shove.