The Mandela Effect

Ch 40

 Jon bursts out once again into the cold Chicago air. This time, he keeps his eyes up. He didn't notice anyone taking notice of him. Jon shoves his hands into his jacket pockets and makes his way across campus towards the parking garage. He is gripping the keys tightly in his hand.

Jon finds the back stairway to the parking garage. Luckily, the door was propped open as it often was. Giving one look more look around, Jon ducks into the doorway. He climbs the stairs upwards.

Mark's car was typically parked on the third floor. Jon made his way up the stairs. He didn't see or hear another person in the stairwell; only the echoing of his own feet.

When he reached the third floor landing, he paused briefly by the door. For the first time, he heard voices in the garage; those voices coming from the other side of the door on the third level of the parking garage. Jon thinks for a second before opening the door. Instead of exiting, he went back down the stairs to the second floor.

Jon cracked the door on the second floor and listens. He doesn't hear anything and he opens the door and exits onto the second floor. Moving in the direction where he hopes Mark car is parked, Jon creeps and tries to move silently.

As the grade of the ground turns upward, Jon can peek between the levels of the garage. He thinks he can see Mark's car, parked in its familiar spot in the corner of the garage. But he definitely sees the two men in casual wear standing between him and the car. Jon creeps closer to the corner where he can get a better view. Luckily, neither of the men seems to hear or notice him.

"You sure this is the car?" the first man asks.

"Pretty sure," the second confirms.

"And he's coming here?" the first one continues, "for sure?"

"Not for sure, you idiot," the second one answers, "who the hell knows where he is. But we have to make sure that if he comes this way, he doesn't get any further."

"Shit," Jon says under his breath.

"Who is this guy anyway?" the first one asks.

"Just some guy," the second one says, "we just need to pick him up and put some fear in him."

Jon slinks away from his hiding spot and moves back towards the stairway. He's going to have to find another way to get out of here. Jon looks over his shoulder, checking to make sure he's not be spotted. The coast is clear.

Turning back around, Jon has to stop suddenly to avoid a car backing out of a spot. The driver honks his horn unnecessarily.

"What's that?" Jon hears one of the voices call from the third level.

The driver rolls down the passenger window, "Jon, what the hell?"

The driver seems to recognize Jon but Jon doesn't recognize him.

"Sorry," Jon apologizes, moving around the rear of car.

The driver puts the car in park, half way out of the spot, and gets out.

"Are you okay?" the driver asks.

Jon is looking over his shoulder, and the roof of the car, back towards his hiding spot, "I'm fine, really."

Jon keeps moving towards the stairwell.

"Hey!" someone shouts from behind him. Jon keeps moving towards the stairs.

"Hey!" the voice calls again, "Stop!"

Jon is a few dozen feet from the door to the stairs when he looks over his shoulder. The two men from the third level are walking quickly in his direction.

The driver of the vehicle that almost hit him is still standing next to his parked vehicle, half way out of the parking spot and between Jon and the pursuers. He has turned and is looking at the two men walking his direction. Jon continues towards the stairwell.

"Jon!" the pursuers call, "Stop! We just need to talk to you."

"Whoa," the driver says, "who are you guys."

Jon reaches the stairwell and opens the door. He looks back towards the scene again. The two pursuers are coming around the back of the car. The driver is stepping towards the rear to meet them.

"I asks who you guys are," the driver says.

As the two men come around to his side of the car, the first man reaches into the rear waistband of his pants and pulls out an object. He points it at the driver. The tell-tale buzz and rattle of a taser being deployed echoes through the garage. The driver drops instantly to the pavement and begins to convulse. The two men continue to pursue Jon, quickening their pace.

Jon yanks open the stairwell door and moves into the stairs. He pulls the door shut behind him. Thinking quickly, he turns over a garbage can on the landing and wedges it between the door and the metal bannister of the stairs. Checking that it was as secure as he could manage, Jon heads down the stairs as fast as he can.

He's at the first level when he hears the door being banged on. Apparently, his impromptu wedge was holding. When he headed back onto the street, he could hear yelling coming from the second level of the garage.

When Jon reached the sidewalk, he started walking. He wasn't sure where he was going but he walked away from the parking garage as fast as he could without drawing attention. His eyes were scanning the crowd, looking for anything out of the ordinary; looking for any eyes watching him. He must have been walking for a few minutes before he realized that his body had unconsciously taken him towards the train station.