TIMESCAPE

2

 Professor Campbell wanted to meet the next evening. As soon as Dante left work, he headed straight to the professor's house. The drive was longer than he'd expected. Professor Campbell lived way off in the woods, seemingly uphill the entire way. By the time Dante pulled into his dirt driveway, there were no other houses in sight. The house was complete isolated.

As Dante stepped out of his car, he began to feel nervous. He became aware of how alone he was, out here in the middle of nowhere with a man he barely knew. Suddenly the mysterious email seemed threatening. Maybe it was just a ploy to get him out here in the middle of nowhere? But...why? That was stupid. He was just a fireman. He wasn't worth anything. And why would anyone want to kill him? He'd never broken any laws! A few speeding tickets, yeah, but who doesn't have a few of those...

Dante walked up the steps to the large house and knocked on the door. In those moments, Dante involuntarily clenched his muscles and he realized he was readying himself for a fight. Just in case. If anything jumped out at him, he was ready.

The door was pulled open to reveal the professor greeting him with a warm smile and all the tension seemed to instantly flutter away. James Campbell was a tall, thin man with a full head of gray hair and a pencil thin mustache. Dante thought he looked like Vincent Price, an old actor from movies his mom used to make him watch. But the most noticeable thing about the professor were his eyes. James Campbell had striking bright blue eyes. They were kind eyes, but at times they could also pierce right through you and give you the impression that he was staring right into your very soul. It's like he knew how you were feeling and what you were thinking.

"Dante!" Campbell smiled at him, contagiously. "Is it really you? Good heavens, you've grown. But I suppose that's a good thing, isn't it? Come in, come in!"

Dante entered, the aura of the home instantly made him feel better. Some homes you enter and you just feel, well...at home. The peacefulness and silence of the environment combined with the professor's cozy decor made this place a delightful place to be. He followed the professor through a series of rooms and into the kitchen. The place was larger than Dante had imagined. The rooms went on and on, this place was a mansion.

All the way to the kitchen the professor talked about this and that, asking about Dante's work, about his life, talking about his dad and how he missed the good times. Dante mostly kept silent. He was often silent when meeting new people, but this was an exceptional case. Whenever he thought of something to say, the professor would go off on another tangent and Dante would forget his thought.

Soon he found himself with a cup of coffee in his hand and he was drinking and listening. Eventually the professor slowed, stared into his coffee, and sighed. The entire back wall of his house was one giant window made of glass. You could look out the back wall and see the trees and river that flowed by the house. The professor stared out this window as he began to talk.

"I suppose this is all rather overwhelming. I have the tendency to do that. I really do mean well, but I have to confess all my talking is just an excuse to prevent me from telling you why I've invited you here. I never know how you're going to take it."

Dante set his coffee mug down on the counter, it was mostly empty by now. "Yeah, I have to admit, I've been trying to guess why I'm here ever since I got the email." Dante said.

The professor smiled, sadly, as if he was remembering someone he lost long ago. "You'd never guess it. So I'll just have to tell you. Tell you, no. That's not what I'm going to do. I'm going to show you why I've invited you here. What I'm trying to say is, Dante, I've invited you here because I've got something to show you."