Black to the Past

Chapter 47

"Are you sure it's safe," Brooke asked in a terrified voice.

"Yeah, it's the weirdest thing, though, Michael has a bunch of memories here that he never had before," Wilson explained.

"Let's just hurry up and get out of here," Meredith said, getting the chills all of a sudden.

"Okay, lock everything up perfectly," Halle reminded Wilson as they exited the last door from the sub-basement. Halle checked for details to ensure that only they would be able to regain access.

Michael was still sitting on the stairs. He had a baffled look on his face. "Guys, I don't know why I didn't picture it all along. Professor Harold is my grandfather."

Shocked faces spread across the group.

"His face is suddenly so familiar if I picture it much younger. My grandmother was so distraught after he'd gone missing that she never kept it out and about the house and I remember that my grandmother had died before I was born but now I remember her so vividly as an old lady and she had a picture of my grandfather as a young man everywhere! How am I supposed to understand this," Michael asked as he held his head in his hands.

Jalen felt sorry for his longtime friend. More than ever he wished there was a way he could comfort him but given the feelings it seemed that Michael had for him he definitely did not want to send out mixed signals so he patted his shoulder. Brooke, on the other hand, was quick to sit next to Michael and she wrapped her arms around him. Michael took solace in the comfort she offered.

"I don't see anyone," Michael's father told someone else nearby.

"Maybe it was nothing, dear," a female voice said.

"Mom," Michael whispered.

"Mike what's wrong," Brooke asked quietly.

"You don't understand. My parents are workaholics! They're never at home and if they do come home they're never together. I don't understand why I have so many memories of spending time with them all of a sudden this is so confusing."

"I'm feeling it too, Mike, man. I remember being here with you in the summer. I remember your parents taking us places. It's weird," Jalen told him.

The new memories they had were causing a collision course with old memories causing them to question and doubt what was real vs. what wasn't.

"Why don't you call out to them. Head upstairs, we're right here with you. You can say that Brooke came in the house and straight to the basement. You didn't realize they were awake or something. It's after 9 o'clock," Halle said, offering a viable story.

Michael breathed out deeply. He hoped it worked.

"Dad, mom, what's wrong," Michael asked as he exited the basement stairs and stood in the foyer between the kitchen.

"Michael, be careful. Someone just came in the house. Where are your friends at," his dad asked cautiously as he continued searching the first floor.

Michael tried to laugh as normal as possible. "Dad it was just Brooke. I told her I'd left the door unlocked and to just come down into the basement."

His father put his guard down. His mother came around the corner from the living areas of the house. She looked happy, settled, content. Whatever it was, Michael couldn't quite put his finger on it, but his mother didn't carry the weighted, harried look she did in his memory.

"Michael! Your girlfriend doesn't have to sneak in the house, you know that! Where is Brooke," she asked as she angled her head to look for the strawberry blonde hair that singled out her son's girlfriend.

Up the stairs, Brooke passed everyone to stick her head out. They were unsure if they should all come tumbling out at once. Halle went next followed by Wilson, Meredith and Jalen.

"Look! The gangs all here," Alice said happily.

The kids all looked from one to the other. They realized that some fast acting was going to be needed until they could reconvene and put some facts together.

"Hey," Halle was the first to recover.

"Why were you late getting here, Brooke," Michael's father asked.

"Um, I went shopping," Brooke said slowly as she looked at Michael for confirmation.

Michael nodded his head in agreement as he looked at Brooke in a new way. He was definitely realizing how cute she was. He'd felt "right" in her arms. He looked back at Jalen and he felt the comfort and familiarity to Jalen that one would feel for a brother.

"Jalen,  you didn't clean your room like I told you to last night," Alice told him.

Jalen was taken aback. Meredith gasped and covered her mouth quickly to recover.

"You're surprised, Meredith?" Alice asked as she laughed and waved them out of the foyer into the family room. "Me too. He always cleans his room. I usually don't have to say anything but this morning he went through it like a hurricane had hit before leaving the house. I don't understand it. So, I wouldn't go up there if I were you, Mare, unless you want to be in the middle of a storm."

Dr. Alice Van Der Haven had never smiled so much in his life, Michael thought to himself. And Jalen had a room in his house. What in the world was going on. Michael was developing a headache and didn't know if it was due to the time travel, a lack of food, or all of the above.

"I'm starving," Meredith grumbled out loud.

"I thought you guys were ordering pizzas. I never heard a delivery guy come to the door. I left the money on the counter," Alice said.

She went into the kitchen and the $50 bill was right where she'd left it.

"Michael, Jalen! You guys are being so rude. Feed your friends. Nevermind I'll order," Alice told them as she walked into the kitchen and started her phone call.

"Next time Brooke, if you come in like that, just announce yourself," Dr. Van Der Haven told her sternly.

He stopped and looked at the group. They were stunned by all that was going on and the looks on their faces was one of shock and astonishment and he didn't understand why. But people had been acting strange all day. His professor from college had called him today asking about Michael and his friends which had been strange!