The Choice

It's June 20th 1996, 5 days have past since we last knew about the boys on the 15th. Lewis and Johnny set up camp in the forest. Johnny is sleeping in the makeshift tent they created. While he does that Lewis picks up a recording device he had found in some bushes, and starts recording. Lewis: 'it's 7am June 20th 1996, we're still stuck in the past. It did help with something Johnny and me have grown closer. At least I think so. We scrounge for food together in the streets. We have to look through trash cans sometimes, and even follow the local homeless people so that sucks. We look out for each other though, the other day we almost got mugged by a local homeless fighting for food. Johnny stood up for me, and decided to split the sub we found in the trash with him. I was gonna give it to Johnny cause he earned it, but then he split it with me.' Lewis looked over at Johnny sleeping in the tent.  Then he continued speaking into the device, and said: 'Johnny's been doing a lot of sleeping though, sometimes I think he just pretends and does it to think. We can't ignore the huge elephant in the room. That's why I say all this, and I don't mean the time travel. We've already gotten over the time travel, it's everything that's happened since then. Allan never came back, and I felt we needed some closure so we decided to barry something. We bought a McBacon Chicken sandwich, and we buried it. Johnny took a bite out of it though cause he felt it's what Allan would want. We mourned, I cried a lot. Johnny cried even though he looked away, covered his eyes cause he didn't want me to notice. That combined with the fact that his uncle drove up in front of him, asked him for directions, and then drove away not giving him a chance to even say anything, have done a number on him, and me. I hope he gets over it.' Lewis stops recording then, he turns over to Johnny who has just woken up. Then Johnny asks: 'so what's for breakfast?' Lewis laughs, and said: 'yesterday someone gave me 5 bucks so I bought us a bag of bread.' Johnny: 'wow what a score, man who knew I'd ever be so excited to just have plain bread for breakfast.' They both laugh while they eat the bread. Then Lewis said: 'should we really be laughing at this situation. I mean this is actually pretty awful, we're stuck in a different moment in time, we have no food, and we lost our best friend.' Johnny says: 'life sucks what can you do about it?' Then Lewis starts laughing uncontrollably, and says: 'is it bad that I found that kinda funny?' They continue laughing, and conversing. Then Lewis says: 'after everything all that we can do is laugh.' Johnny: 'yeah stop bringing the room down so much, and follow me.' Lewis: 'ah I kinda missed that it had been a while since you've been mean to me.' Johnny: 'well we need a good balance, midget boy.' They both smile, and walk away. While this is taking place Allan's still stuck in that dimension with Kronos. It's been 5 days but he hasn't felt the pass of time. Kronos is in his chair but he's facing the opposite direction that Allan's sitting in.  Allan grabbed a hankie he had in his pocket, and tied it around his ankle. Allan wants more than anything to escape, and get back to his friends. He can't stop thinking about how devastated they all must be. He's also concerned with if they got back home. Then he remembers the moment that Kronos said he brought him here to help him. He never did state what he meant cause when he asked him he just told him that he would understand later. He limped his way up the stairs, and tapped his throne. Then he said: 'I want you to help me.' Kronos looks at his tied up ankle then his face, and says: 'now we're in business.' Kronos and Allan sit on the last step. Then Kronos grabs him by the foot, and says: 'I can fix this but you're gonna have to trust me alright?' Allan says: 'fine I do.' He wasn't even done saying it when he starts squeezing it, and twisting it. Allan: 'ow you didn't even let me finish, also what the hell?' Kronos: 'It's a trick I learned years ago, it hurts now but you'll feel better later.' Allan: 'I thought you were gonna use your powers or whatever.' Kronos: 'I would but I don't have healing power, so hurting you will do.' Then he laughs. Allan: 'you didn't help much it still hurts.' Then Kronos says: 'but you can walk now, though.' Then Allan places his foot on the ground, and starts walking although with a bit of difficulty. Kronos: 'see I told you to trust me, time here doesn't really work the same way though so you'll continue to feel some pain.' Allan sits down next to Kronos, and says: 'thanks for giving me my foot back, but there's something else I need you to do for me.' Kronos: 'oh right the reason I brought you here, I think you're ready to hear it now.' Allan: 'hold on a sec, I don't know the reason you brought me here, but let me let you know from the get go, the thing I care about the most are my friends, and family. So unless this is about getting back home I don't wanna hear it.' Kronos: 'you're determined I like that a hopeful optimist, I would have to be dumb to offer you anything else.' Allan: 'wait really? I had no idea if that was gonna work.' Kronos laughs then puts his arm around Allan, and helps him walk up the stairs. Back with the boys, we can see that they're busy looking for more time slips. They draw trails in the sand so they could easily locate the places they have checked to distinguish them from the areas they haven't checked. Johnny: 'f this man, we've marked literally almost every spot in the forest, and still nothing.' Lewis sits on the floor, and says: 'maybe you have a point, we have to be logical. It's over we can't get back home.' Johnny: 'I wish Allan were here, he's usually the optimist here, you're the depressed pessimist, and I'm the realist. Now you're both the pessimist and the realist, which means now I have to be optimistic.' Lewis: 'I told you not to get wrapped up on false hope, that's why I tried to get used to life here, cause we can't go back.' Lewis goes back to the tent. He sits there, then Johnny opens the tent. Johnny says: 'come on you ugly bastard, don't lose hope remember all the fun we had, making fun of you, and stuff. Come on I don't wanna stay here. We have to keep trying.' Lewis: 'we can't get back man, it's over.' Johnny started walking away from Lewis he started talking to himself, and said: 'I don't need him, plus I don't want to end up like him. I don't wanna be all depressing, and logical, and hopeless. Then he looks back at the tent and says: 'besides I do have so much left to lose.' Then out of nowhere a slip appears right in front of him. The slip is bigger then the one he saw before. Johnny looks extremely surprised, his eyes light up, and he can't believe it. He runs back to the tent. He starts trying to wake up Lewis. He tells him about the slip. Lewis says: 'no don't even joke about that, I can't deal with the false hope just leave me here man.' Then Johnny slaps him in the face then makes him go outside. That's when Lewis sees it from a distance. Lewis starts getting tears in his eyes. Then he hugs Johnny who pushes him away. Lewis: 'I can't believe this, we have to go now.' Then Lewis starts running straight at it with Johnny running behind him too. Then Lewis stops for a second, and asks: 'wait what if we appear in a different moment in time?' That's when Johnny tells him: 'idiot we have to try anyway.' Then he pushes him in. They land in a place that's unknown to them. They look up, and they see stone stairs, and a throne, at the end. They also see the lights at both extremes of this dimension. Then a strange figure pops out from behind the throne. Johnny screams: 'it's a trap get in the v-thingy.' Before they could get through the figure closes it. He starts approaching down the stairs, then a person screams from behind the throne: 'ha it worked.' Then the throne turned, and the face behind the scream was revealed. Lewis and Johnny look at each other in shook. They laugh, and their faces light up. It's Allan they finally found him. Kronos steps aside, and says: 'go to your friend.' They both run up the stairs. Lewis goes to Allan first, and hugs him. Lewis: 'man we thought you were dead, I can't believe you're alive, and here with this weird shadow man.' Johnny: 'I told Lewis, we should've kept looking I knew you were alive, stupid, retarded, gay, midget.' Allan laughs, then Lewis tells him: 'don't let him fool you I think he mourned for you more than I did. It was his idea to mourn you with a McBacon Chicken.' Johnny: 'I thought it's what you would've wanted if you were actually dead, but then you ruined it by being all alive, and stuff.' Allan laughs, with Johnny, then Johnny gives him a pat on the back, and a smile. Kronos observes them for a while. Then says: I'm glad I could help, I've been watching you for a long time so, I've really been rooting for you.' Allan steps forward, and says: 'thanks for bringing them here, but I think we should all get back home.' Lewis says: 'wait that thing's your friend now.' Allan: 'he's not exactly my friend, he did bring me here against my will, even if he said he just brought me here to help me.' Johnny: 'what? So he just brought you here against your will, and kept you here, to help you for free. No that motherf-er wants something.' Lewis: 'he's right, Allan think about it.' Kronos then stands in the middle, of the floating rock. Then he says: 'yeah listen to your friends Allan they're right, there is something you have to do for me so I can send you home.' Allan: 'what the hell do you want?' Kronos: 'oh Allan don't act so mad this benefits both of us. You see as a time keeper my job is to keep the flow of time intact, but there's a specific moment in time that I've wanted to change forever. But time itself does not allow me to go there.' Johnny: 'get to the point you a-hole, what does this have to do with us.' Kronos: 'it's simple I want you to break the rules for me, I want you to change something that happened in a specific moment in time, and in favor you'll get to go home to a new life that you've always wanted.' Allan says without a second thought: 'We'll do it.' Lewis says: 'what? No are you crazy if we change something it could change everything, it could change all of our futures there is no telling what could happen.' Johnny: 'AJ, he's right, and you know I don't agree with him very often.' Kronos says: 'oh but here's the beauty of it. I've looked at it from countless angles, and measured all the variables. If you do this exactly how I tell you, this could change your lives for the better. Allan you would get your mom back, Lewis your dad would come back, and Johnny your uncle would be just fine.' They all stare at each other in confusion. Kronos: 'don't act like that's not all you want Allan you've been afraid you're whole life of ending up alone. Afraid of being abandoned, afraid that at some point everyone will leave you, and you'll never find love. Lewis your dad leaving you made you feel like you're not good enough for anybody, and you expect less of life, cause you are too afraid to hope anymore. The only reason you're here is because of these guys. Don't you two want those absent parents back? Oh, and last but not least Johnny. You may pretend to not care but you just might be the one who cares the most. Thanks to your uncle who taught you how to care for people. But after seeing how sick he's gotten over the years you've grown cold, and independent. You're a lone wolf afraid to get too attached or to love anyone else like that again.' Johnny goes to try to attack him out of anger. Allan and Lewis hold him. Johnny asks: 'who does this son of a B think he is?' Kronos flies over to his throne, and says: 'take your time to decide, but just know that there is a 20% chance the outcome could be different. But more if you fail to do as I say.' The guys huddle up, Johnny says: 'f this guy, it's probably just a trick.' That's when Lewis says: 'this is stupid we're not doing this.' Allan says: 'but I think it's the only way we get back home, and if we could change all that our lives would be all the better. We can't let this opportunity pass us by.' Johnny: 'I can't believe you AJ, this is literally f-ing insane.' Allan says: 'what if he can help your uncle man?' Then Johnny started remembering what happened that day, when he had a chance to tell his uncle about the disease but just couldn't do it out of fear for how his future would turn out. Lewis and Allan patiently expect his answer. Then Johnny says: 'screw it let's do this.' Then Kronos said: 'I don't want to rain on your parade, but there's a small chance you might prevent each other from ever meeting.' Allan says: 'I won't let that happen.' Then they all start making their way down the stairs. While Kronos sits on the stairs smiling, and looking down at them. Lewis says: 'I didn't agree to this.' Johnny: 'did we ask though?'