"Elseworld"

Long Road Ahead

Jacob sits by a tree watching cars zoom past. "They don't even know what's going on behind the scenes. In their minds there is no war." He checks the time on his phone "6:15." His mom insisted that he be there early, so he did with thirty minutes to spare. He texted Kiara, but knowing her she wouldn't answer his texts soon and would probably arrive by 6:28. He got up and decided to walk towards the main entrance of the school. Along the way he notices the few students still lounging on the school lawn, but he doesn't see anyone he recognizes and continues towards the parking lot.

Further ahead he can see a kid walking with his hood pulled over his head, hands in his pockets, and head slumped forward. Jacob walks faster as he figured out who this person is. Once he catches up he grabs his shoulder, startling Elijah. He jumps, quickly turning to see, to his surprise, Jacob. He pulls out one headphone, almost annoyed but responds with, "Oh. Hey Jacob."

They walk side by side now, but there is no talking, they had never been together without Kiara there, both were socially awkward so neither knew what to say. They arrive at the doors to find them locked. After a slight jiggle of the handle and then a more forceful one Elijah sighs and sits down. "Should I open it?" asked Jacob. Before Elijah can answer the door slowly opens, they both look towards it and then to each other. "That wasn't me," Jacob assures.

Elijah gets up and both boys walk in to see the man from before sitting at the security desk smiling at them. "That's not at all creepy," Elijah thinks. The boys reach the desk and the man speaks, "You two are early. You can hand your belongings to the personnel which will be in shortly then you can have a seat," gesturing to the floor, "Once Ms. Monroe arrives, we will be departing for the facility." The boys wait in silence for a few moments. However awkward silences could only goon for so long, Jacob speaks up trying to make conversation with Elijah.

"How did goodbye go with your parents?" Startled Elijah tries to think of a response which doesn't fully give away too many details.

"Fine, I guess. I talked with my mom the entire ride back here, so that was a fun time. I actually just got off the phone when you came up behind me outside."

"You didn't say goodbye in person?" Elijah just shakes his head and Jacob waits a moment before continuing to speak, "I didn't get to say goodbye to my dad. He's in Florida right now, so I couldn't obviously do it in person. I'm pretty sure someone will tell him eventually," he leans back a little more relaxed, "Think they'll take away our phones when they take us?"

"I hope not," Elijah replies, "I couldn't survive without a youtube video or some music. I'd hate to go mad on this little journey." They both laugh. "Who knows though, maybe they'll give us calling hours or something just in case."

"Yeah, I guess." Jacob then remembers something he's been thinking about since earlier in the day. "Hey, can you create a working phone with your powers?"

Elijah thinks for for a moment about the question. "Yeah I'm pretty sure I could, maybe not with service, but I've never tried. I can, as far as I know, make anything that's smaller than I am. But I'm not really sure." Jacob seems impressed with the response. "Do you think I'd be able to control the phone after you make it?" Elijah starts to grin, "I don't know, wanna find out?"

Jacob grins back and Elijah takes that as an agreement. He begins to create a replica of his phone, and within a few seconds it forms fully. A tiny flash it is made on the screen. "Does it turn on regularly?" Jacob asked. Elijah turns it on, answering his question. "Am I able to hold it?" "Yeah, just don't drop it." Elijah replies as he passes the phone. Jacob takes it and stares at it. A few moments pass and nothing happens. "Does it not work?" asked Elijah. "No, it does. It's just a bit different. I can't really tell how, but it's different," he pauses to think and turns to face Elijah, "wanna finish that video from earlier?" while looking at him, the phone jumps straight to youtube and playing the same video as before. "I can, uh, do more than just play videos though." At that, the man's phone began to ring and as he answered "hello" his voice came through the phone the boys were messing with. The man realized what was going on and turned his attention to the two teenagers.