Chapter 2: The Future

August 23, 2034

August awoke with a start. He started to have a headache when he woke up. Where was he? Then he remembered everything. Looking around, he saw things he's never seen before. He tried touching himself, but his arms weren't there. Next thing he knew, they came back.

Am I a ghost of some sorts? So maybe when I try to be invisible, I become invisible, but I don't try, I become seeable. That kinda makes sense, I guess. It's like a turn on and off button.

He tried going through walls, and it work! So, was he dead? Or maybe he's not? Who knows. But wait, what was he doing here? In this, place, home maybe. It looked like one. Somethings looked familiar. Like a sofa, some pillows, but that was where it ended.

There was some large black thing plugged in. August notice a remote, so he pressed a button. The black thing turned on and showed a, well, a cooking show. He pressed it again and it turned off. How did it work? It kinda worked like a TV, maybe it was a better version of it?

He had noticed earlier the lights were off, so he found a switch on the wall and flipped it. The lights were a blue color, matching the black, white and blue furniture. " Woah, this is nice." He turned it off and moved the curtains. He was amazed at the sight he saw. He was in a tall apartment, and there was a park nearby. He could see it from there because it was huge. He stared out the window for a bit, taking a look at some birds he's never seen, a few dogs walking by, and some people.

They were wearing things he'd never see in Britain. Women were wearing pants, but Men looked more normal. And they both for some reason wore jackets with no zipper that had strings on them. It was unusual for people to wear things like these, but they wore it.

Just as he was thinking, he heard the door getting opened. He was going to hide, but he just turned invisible. A young man walked into the room, looking like he has had no sleep in a while. " Ughhh, I need to work, but I just want sleep." He fell down onto the couch and sat there for a while. August wanted to help, but he knew if he did know, he would scare him, or at least that's what he thinks. After a while, he finally sat up and took off his hoodie. August stood frozen at what he saw on his arms. His arms had cuts, lots of cuts. He also had cuts on his neck.

What happened to him? What sort of person w-would do this to him? Or did he do it to

hi-himself?

August had accidentally turned visible, so he tried to leave the room without him noticing. Then he stepped on a creaky spot on the floor.

Oh no.

The man turned around and looked at him. " Sup." He said. After a few seconds, his eyes widened as he realized what happened. " What the- " He scrambled to the kitchen and pulled out a knife. " Don't you dare come to a step closer or I'll use this you-" Before he could say anything else, August went invisible and took the knife.

"Why are you here? What do you want?"

"Relax, I'm not going to stab you, I don't even know why I'm here anyways" August said, looking around the kitchen. " Anyways, the name's August. August Hooper." He extended his hand for a handshake.

" Wait, your name is August Hooper?!" His face looked shocked.

" Yes, why?" He asked, confuzzled. He pulled away his arm.

" My last name IS Hooper. Kyle Hooper." Kyle paced around the room."Wait, NO. You can't be. You're the one who got stuck in the future!?" He stopped as he asked him.

" I'm am NOT stuck in the future. What's the date?" August asked.

" August 23, 2034. There you go, you're stuck in the future." Kyle proved it.

That's why everything looks different. How dumb of me to not realize that.

" Everyone in our family knows the story of when one man claimed to go to the future. So it's true."

" Makes sense. I am in the future, am I not."

" Also, what are you wearing? Is that what they wore back then?" Kyle pointed out his steampunk outfit.

" This is what is called a steampunk outfit. Also no, they didn't wear this type of outfit. Only I ever did this in- wait, where are we?"

" You're in Britain," Kyle said. " You probably got teleported here because I'm the youngest, I don't really know.

"Oh. So what am I supposed to do now?"

" You don't have anywhere to go, so you might as well stay here until we find out how to get you back. In the meantime, you might as well help around the apartment." Kyle looked sort of relieved to have him around.

" So, what do you want me to do? I can clean, cook, do laundry, and fix things for you." August asked.

" You can do all of that? Well then, first can you clean? I have all the stuff in a drawer on the TV. If you know what that is. I'm going to leave to buy groceries, " Kyle said.

" I know what that is! Drawers were invented in the 17th century!" August was flustered. Of course, he knew what that was! He wasn't that dumb!

After Kyle left, August got to work. He went towards the TV and opened a drawer. It had some spray and a cloth to clean a table with, but where was the broom? He spotted it in the corner of his eye. August grabbed it and started to sweep the floor. Next, he took the spray and sprayed the tables in the kitchen and the living room. Then he wiped them. After all of that, the apartment looked good as new.

" Wow, how did you get it to be this clean? It's only been 3 minutes." Kyle asked as he walked into the house.

" This stuff is better than in the 18th century, so it makes everything cleaner," August said, sitting on the couch. " What did you get?"

" I got some ramen, cheesecake, and stuff to make some tea and soup," Kyle said, lifting the bags onto the table.

" That's not much. And by the way, what's ramen and cheesecake? I've never heard of it."

" Well, ramen is, you what, you'll know when you eat some."

Kyle took some instant ramen and put it in the microwave. August stared into the microwave until Kyle tugged him back.

" Don't stare into the microwave! It'll hurt your eyes." Kyle scolded him as he took out the ramen. " Trust me, do NOT do that." He gave a cup of ramen to August. August took a fork and ate some. It was the most delicious thing he's ever tasted!

" This is so good! I should take some if I leave." August said, stuffing his face in ramen.

" So, how are we going to take you back to the past?" Kyle questioned him.

" I don't know. I- " August stopped midway and collapsed to the ground. His head was hurting a lot. " Ug- help!" August had spat up blood.

" Are you ok?!" Kyle said, trying to get him up. He took him into his room and put him on his bed. He rushed to get an ice pack. He also brought back some medicine to help. " Here, take the medicine." He forced August to take the medicine. Now he had to wait. He checked his forehead. It was very hot. But it was going to cool down. It had to. He got the fans in the room to turn on. He went downstairs and took a glass. Then he filled it with water. The sound of the water was like it was trying to rush him. He took some ice cubes and put them in the glass of water. He walked upstairs with it and entered the room.

August was still in his bed and hadn't moved. His head hurt too much to move. He started to hear a sound in his head.

" August, August, where are you. I've been looking for you. Help me. Help you."

" August! August, are you ok?" That voice was familiar. Wasn't that Kyle? What was that other voice then? Who was that voice?

August woke up, but couldn't see very well. He could see the outline of Kyle, but it was blurry. " August, are you ok? Can you see?" He couldn't see what was happening, but Kyle sounded worried.

" I- I can sort of see."

" Don't try. Just go to sleep."

" Ok, I'm tired anyways." August fell asleep very quickly. Kyle sat down on a chair and waited for him to get better. " Kyle. Your the best." He whispered as he turned a little. Kyle was tired, so he made a small bed on the floor with a blanket and sleeped.