Plot

"It's all up to you now!" A familiar voice rang in my ears.

"Paradox?! You hear me?! You have to remember and find us before this all happens? Got it?!"

A silhouette of what seems to be a woman with long hair was yelling with tears in her eyes.

There were loud noises everywhere. Sounds of growling, banging and screaming could be heard from the background.

"Who are you?" I tried to speak, but nothing seemed to come out of my mouth.

I couldn't see who the person was but this person seemed important to me. It was obvious. My heart was in pain as the person in front of me spoke.

"Please find us... all of us. Trust us! You have to trust us when we see you." The woman continued. "Now go! It's up to you now! GO!" There was a trace of despair in her voice.

"Wait who are you? What do you mean by 'finding you'? I don't even know you." I still tried to speak but no words came out of my mouth.

Just as I tried to yell out another question, a sound of what seemed to be a door being forcefully opened echoed through the room. Time begun to slow down as I witnessed something gruesome and very… very traumatic.

What came out of the door was not human. It looked human but rotting flesh was found all over the body. To make it more horrifying, there wasn't just one of "it". There was a load of them.

I was terrified. People were being bitten to death and it seems like they were eaten... ALIVE. This scene felt pretty much real to me. Even the pungent smell of what seems to be blood was very clear.

Then I saw the woman clear as day -- Long black hair, brown eyes, with the face of what seemed like God really taking the time to create her. She was perfect. But this perfection would soon be horded upon by these "monsters".

I felt my heart racing and tried to move away but my body betrayed me as it seemed to be glued on the floor. As I watched as the beautiful woman in front of me was being devoured by these monsters, I felt as if my heart was being torn apart.

I knew this feeling, I definitely did -- grief. I felt like this woman meant a lot to me. I could definitely feel it. Then the urge to save her came to mind. I wanted to scream but nothing came out.

As the scene became clearer and clearer, I shouted one last time and a voice finally came out of my mouth as the scene faded to black…

________________________________________

"Toni!" the sound of my voice bounced in the room. A knock came from a door and a worried voice came with it. "Is everything alright in there sir?" The flight stewardess asked me with a concerned voice.

I was still heavily panting. Sweat was heavily pouring out despite the good air-conditioning. I then realized, I was still on the plane. Knowing this, I then started to calm myself down.

A dream? Another Dream?

Another knock brought me back to my senses.

"Everything's fine! I just… had a nightmare. That's all"

"Do you need anything sir?" the stewardess asked

"No, but thank you" I politely answered.

The attendant soon left and a question came up to mind.

Was it really a dream? It really felt real this time.

Fear started creeping in. I had been having these dreams for a month now. But none of them felt like this. This time, there was even another name.

I pulled out a notebook from the bag under my bed and opened it.

I started writing and drawing my dreams from the moment I realized these dreams were not normal. In the first page, was an image of what looks like a meteor shower.

"My first dream..."

I then flipped it to the next page.

A drawing of a crescent moon was there. The weird part was that it seemed like the side was blown off by a huge explosion and what made it even weirder was the fact that it was colored green. Beside it were the words "The night where it all started" and "Decay".

I then went on flipping the pages fast. In a blank page, I wrote the name "Toni".

Who was this mysterious woman? Why was she so desperate in having me find her? More questions came up everyday.

"Good morning passengers! This is your captain speaking. We are now about to land on Los Angeles international airport. Please make sure that you throw all your garbage…"

I wasn't focused on the announcement but on the notebook. I then wrote one more name --"Paradox". The woman in my dream, Toni, called me that.

This was confusing. This wasn't my name. Who am I you say?

My name is Dwayne Ricks -- A 16-year old boy who was the son of a famous finance consultant and the heir to a famous business man in the Philippines who was currently missing at the moment. Tall guy, average looks, and was trained in every way.

My father had a… weird habit of "preparing" me. I was told that he needed to prepare for the worst since he had been having terrible visions about the future and he didn't want me to suffer.

Can you believe that? This was just a lousy excuse for me. "I don't want you to suffer." PSHHHHH. HAAAAH! PLEASE… That's all he ever did… What did he do you say? Well it started with…

Teaching me martial arts at the age of 4. I should have been playing catch with him or something.

I had to be adept in handling guns at the age of 7. Instead of giving me an iPad or something, he gave me a gun… A GUN! I mean what parent does that?

Not to mention me being dropped in the middle of nowhere a couple of times with nothing on me except a knife and a bottle of water. There was even I time that he started dropping me off with nothing AT ALL. I had to carry a knife where ever I went just in case. What? That isn't so bad you say? I WAS 10 when that happened.

At the age of 12, I was "kidnapped" a couple of times and I had to save myself since my loving father won't pay the ransom money, only to find out that he was the one who set-up the kidnapping himself! For what? All to train me. These were not the things a boy should be experiencing at a young age. I hated him for that.

My mother on the other hand, was very loving. Though she couldn't do argue with father's decisions, she was always showing her love to me. But now both of them disappeared without a trace. No letter, no clues, none. And that's when the dreams started.

When I started telling people about my dreams I was branded as a crazy person. People were very skeptical, saying I must be traumatized because of my parents. It's only been a month since it happened after all. So I decided to leave for the states to where my father used to go, hoping to find any clue about their disappearance.

After the plane landed, my butler, Jerome was waiting for me. Jerome has been in the family for generations. He's like a second father to me. Well, he is more of a father than my real dad. Once, he had to save me in the middle of nowhere in Kansas when my father left me there for his "training". He's a great guy.

Anyway, when he heard about the disappearance of my parents he was devastated. He couldn't do anything because he was in Los Angeles when it happened. Even now, Jerome was still getting better and I know he's just trying to be strong for me. It was clear.

"It's good to see you Jerome."

"I'm delighted to see you too young master Dwayne." He responded while hugging me.

We soon boarded our vehicle -- A Mercedes-Benz G63. Definitely a favorite every time I was here. Since our mansion wasn't found in the City but in a small town in Bridgeport, we didn't need a lot of fancy city cars. I wasn't the type to show off. I'd rather have a simple life with friends and family.

It was a long drive to Bridgeport but we were finally here. The mansion was located at the edge of town where there was a small mountain. It was surrounded by that mountain and the only opening was in front of the mountain which was the entrance to their home. Dad was very mysterious and too paranoid at the same time that he believed that this place would be the best place to protect them. This was a 20 acre lot after all. Everything we ever needed was there.

"Your room is exactly as you left it Master Dwayne. You better get settled and prepare for school." Jerome reminded.

"Can I start tomorrow?" I complained.

"I don't need to remind you why you're here Master Dwayne? As much as I want you to relax, there isn't really much time as you need to see your teachers today." Jerome answered politely.

I didn't answer and hurriedly ran towards my room to prepare. Putting on the simplest clothes I could find, I rushed and started running to our garage.

Out of all the cars there, I chose the Chevrolet Camaro since it was the most low-key out of every vehicle there. Not to brag but yes, that's how rich we are. Hey! All I wanted was a Toyota Vios or a Jeep but dad wanted to "Keep me Safe." Way to go dad…

I started driving towards Lee Vining High School. It was the only high school in town and everyone knew EVERYONE. So if there was a new student, everyone would definitely know.

I parked two blocks away from the school and started walking. I didn't like people staring at me and I definitely didn't want the attention. Being the heir to an international corporation gave me plenty of that.

I finally arrived in the principal's office and waited for my turn. When suddenly someone slipped and almost spilled juice all over me. Luckily, I evaded in time.

"I'm so sorry! Are you alright? I really didn't mean to." The man said.

"No worries man. It's fine." I laughed while saying it.

"I'm so so sorry! I really didn't…" The man stopped apologizing and stared at me with surprise in his eyes. And he shouted "It's you!"

This caught the attention of everyone in the room. I whispered while trying to calm the person down, "What is wrong with you? Please shut up."

"I can't believe you're here! You're really late man! Everything starts in 3 days and you come here like you don't know me. Ha-ha" The man chuckled while talking.

What the --? Who is this guy? He must've noticed since I just stared at him with a confused look.

"You don't know me, do you? You still haven't gotten your memories." The person said it as if I understood it all.

Looks like someone came out of crazy town just now…

"Excuse me? What memories are you talking about?" I confusingly asked.

"I guess Toni hasn't talked to you yet." This person doesn't even know what he's…

WAIT WHAT?! Did he just say TONI?

"Did you just say Toni?! Can you take me to her?!"

This is it! The answer to all my questions!

Just then someone called me. It was the principal asking me to go inside already. When I turned my head to where the guy was, he was gone.

Great! The only clue to my nightmare is gone.

I hurriedly went inside and was looking forward to getting this over with so I can find that guy.

Finally… After minutes of agony, the principal finally gave me my class schedule and I dashed out hoping to still have some time to look for this guy before class. But I noticed that the halls were empty.

Great… Just great… class has already started…

Finding that guy can wait. I better head to class. I went into my first class which was Biology… Yipee… This day just keeps getting better.

The teacher had me introduce myself in class and everyone started pointing fingers and whispering.

Yep… The usual… I get this a lot. *sigh*

Some girls were already winking at me. What's wrong with them?

The teacher assigned me to an empty seat at the back. Cliché right? But it did happen.

So I walked pass the girls who were probably taking about me because they giggled a lot. And I sat down and started to listen when I noticed someone staring at me. When I looked as to who it was, it was probably a girl. I couldn't tell since her face was covered with a face mask with a black hoodie on. She's probably sick. Oh wait… this is Biology class, she must be preparing for the experiment.

She continued to stare at me the entire time. I was feeling uncomfortable around this person. Just as class was about to end, she handed me a small note that said "Meet me behind one of the bleachers at the football field. I'll be waiting."

WHAT?! Is this a love confession?! No wait… this has to be a trap. I had plenty of this back in the Philippines.

*Sigh*

This will be fun.

I decided to go and meet up with her. There was no harm in going, right? Wrong! Being harmed was always a case for rich people. But I'm not even scared one bit. Let's just see what she wants.

I finally found her behind the third bleacher. I silently crept up to her and I noticed that there were people with her. She was not alone. There were a total of 4 people. 2 women and 2 men...

This was definitely an ambush. Then why aren't they on alert? I must be overthinking.

I decided to take the risk and approach these people. If this goes down to fighting, I'm sure, I won't lose.

As I begin to approach, they finally looked at me with expectant eyes.

"He's here! Hey dude!" one of the guys said.

As per instinct, I took my battle knife, gave it a spin and then pointed it at the man.

"Woah! Easy there Dwayne, we're not here to hurt you. We're just here to talk." He continued.

"What do you guys want from me?" I asked

The girl from biology class started to approach me with her hands up in the air. I gripped my blade harder and was ready for an attack. She then started to remove her mask. It was the last person I expected her to be.

"Toni?" I asked in a low and hesitant voice. I could barely recognize her. She looked younger and she had shorter hair that was at most in shoulder length. But the beauty was still there.

"Well, I'm touched that you at least remember my name." She said

"So you are Toni? What's going on? Why do I keep having dreams about… you?"

Did I just say that? I just admitted to a girl that I was having dreams about her. Oh crap! That sounded weird. What??!!!

"That's sweet of you but we have no time to explain." She said in a serious tone.

"Time? What don't we have time for? I need an explanation as to why I'm having these nightmares! You had no idea what I went through! People called me crazy because of it! So if you've got something to say, say it now!"

I was still panting when she turned her back against me.

"I do know what you went through. In fact, I 'remembered' way ahead of you. The worst part is that I had to wait for two years to finally see you." She said calmly.

What was she talking about? Is this girl insane? How could she wait for someone she doesn't know?

"It's best if you do it now Antonia." The other guys spoke.

"Indeed… Now would be the best time." Toni said

She then began to approach me in quick steps and we were now face to face, inches apart.

"Wh- What are you doing?" I asked nervously.

She began to say straight to my face, "Project unlock: Code 0-0-2-1-5."

"Wha – " The sound of my voice was soon stopped when I heard a voice in my head saying…

"Memory Block Protocol Deactivated, Please state the password" A female mechanical voice rang inside my head.

What in the world was that? But before my question could be answered, Toni continued to say…

"Death of the Moon"

Suddenly a rush of pain was surging in my head. It was like a whole new information was being crammed into my brain all at once! What is this?! I couldn't take it anymore and I was already screaming from the pain. The next thing I knew I passed out on the ground…

When I woke up… Everything started to make sense. The nightmares I've been having, the names, the drawings, the written names in the notebook, even the name Paradox. It all made sense.

I slowly stood up from the ground where I was previously rolling in pain. And I smiled at the four people who were in front of me.

They finally understood what was happening. It became clearer than water.

"Welcome back… Paradox." The other woman said.

A smile began to creep up to my face

"Glad to be back…"