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Chapter I
A small, skinny boy raced across the pavement to somewhere, anywhere, that would provide shelter from the horrible, lashing, PETRIFYING,
rain.
“Aaaahhh!” Screamed the small, skinny boy.
The small boy’s name was Peter, and he suffered from full-blown aquaphobia, a morbid fear of water.
Like rain.
“Help!”
He was seen as a complete misfit in the school playground, which was also why he wasn’t stopping to shelter under a tree or his raincoat, because he had a gang of school bullies hot on his tail.
Peter was puffing like a steam train, and the bullies were catching up.
Peter saw an open door up ahead, so he turned sharply into the doorway, slammed the door behind him and barricaded it with a heavy armchair.
Peter held his breath as he heard the stomping footsteps grow louder and louder… then softer and softer. ‘
He then exhaled so much air he could have blown out all the candles on an immortal jellyfish’s birthday cake.
He looked out a window. The dreaded rain was still bucketing down, so Peter decided to explore. The room was one big library, with seemingly endless rows of shelves.
It looked quite old fashioned, and was dimly lit by a small chandelier hanging from the roof, and a few scattered candles.
Even though the rain was still lashing outside, everything seemed eerily quiet.
After his eyes adjusted to the low light, Peter saw that there were little white specks rising out from the books, and drifting slowly along the rows.
On closer inspection, they were actually letters and numbers and symbols, in random orders, floating gently. He decided to follow them.
They seemed to be moving towards a strange pulsating glow of golden light. The light was coming from a large, leatherback book with a title written in golden, classical letters: The Time Book. The letters and numbers flowed into it, seemingly being absorbed by it.
As Peter edged closer, the book opened and flicked its pages gently. He opened up the book, which seemed to warm the air around it, and flicked over to the contents page. He skimmed over it, looking for something interesting.
It seemed to start at the origins of the Earth to what was happening right that second. At the end of all of that, there was a chapter entitled “Alternate Realities”. “Cool!” Thought Peter. He traced the dotted line over to the page number. Page 912! Peter huffed in amazement as he flipped over to page 912. The first part of the chapter was, “A world without land” And had a picture of these strange, amphibian-like beings that seemed perfectly adapted for life in an ocean.
They seemed to be hanging out in this high-tech looking underwater lab, that had a few of the tallest bits poking out. The only thing that abnormal was that it seemed so realistic, so vivid, so real; that Peter couldn’t help but reach out a hand and touch the beautiful drawing. Suddenly, and invisible force clamped onto his arm and yanked him into the picture, slamming the book shut in the process, leaving no trace that Peter had ever stumbled upon the strange library, and changing his life forever.
Peter yelled louder than he ever had. He felt like he was being thrusted backwards, through time and space. He didn’t know for sure, but he felt like he was being squashed and stretched in all the wrong directions, images flashing before his eyes, the G-force rippling his cheeks. He didn’t know it, but this was time travel. But Peter felt like he wasn’t going forwards and backwards. He felt like he was going sideways in time. Suddenly, he felt himself stop. He was in outer space, looking down on the Earth. “Alternate Realities” He whispered breathlessly as he was yanked back down to Earth.
A small, skinny boy raced across the pavement to somewhere, anywhere, that would provide shelter from the horrible, lashing, PETRIFYING,
rain.
“Aaaahhh!” Screamed the small, skinny boy.
The small boy’s name was Peter, and he suffered from full-blown aquaphobia, a morbid fear of water.
Like rain.
“Help!”
He was seen as a complete misfit in the school playground, which was also why he wasn’t stopping to shelter under a tree or his raincoat, because he had a gang of school bullies hot on his tail.
Peter was puffing like a steam train, and the bullies were catching up.
Peter saw an open door up ahead, so he turned sharply into the doorway, slammed the door behind him and barricaded it with a heavy armchair.
Peter held his breath as he heard the stomping footsteps grow louder and louder… then softer and softer. ‘
He then exhaled so much air he could have blown out all the candles on an immortal jellyfish’s birthday cake.
He looked out a window. The dreaded rain was still bucketing down, so Peter decided to explore. The room was one big library, with seemingly endless rows of shelves.
It looked quite old fashioned, and was dimly lit by a small chandelier hanging from the roof, and a few scattered candles.
Even though the rain was still lashing outside, everything seemed eerily quiet.
After his eyes adjusted to the low light, Peter saw that there were little white specks rising out from the books, and drifting slowly along the rows.
On closer inspection, they were actually letters and numbers and symbols, in random orders, floating gently. He decided to follow them.
They seemed to be moving towards a strange pulsating glow of golden light. The light was coming from a large, leatherback book with a title written in golden, classical letters: The Time Book. The letters and numbers flowed into it, seemingly being absorbed by it.
As Peter edged closer, the book opened and flicked its pages gently. He opened up the book, which seemed to warm the air around it, and flicked over to the contents page. He skimmed over it, looking for something interesting.
It seemed to start at the origins of the Earth to what was happening right that second. At the end of all of that, there was a chapter entitled “Alternate Realities”. “Cool!” Thought Peter. He traced the dotted line over to the page number. Page 912! Peter huffed in amazement as he flipped over to page 912. The first part of the chapter was, “A world without land” And had a picture of these strange, amphibian-like beings that seemed perfectly adapted for life in an ocean.
They seemed to be hanging out in this high-tech looking underwater lab, that had a few of the tallest bits poking out. The only thing that abnormal was that it seemed so realistic, so vivid, so real; that Peter couldn’t help but reach out a hand and touch the beautiful drawing. Suddenly, and invisible force clamped onto his arm and yanked him into the picture, slamming the book shut in the process, leaving no trace that Peter had ever stumbled upon the strange library, and changing his life forever.
Peter yelled louder than he ever had. He felt like he was being thrusted backwards, through time and space. He didn’t know for sure, but he felt like he was being squashed and stretched in all the wrong directions, images flashing before his eyes, the G-force rippling his cheeks. He didn’t know it, but this was time travel. But Peter felt like he wasn’t going forwards and backwards. He felt like he was going sideways in time. Suddenly, he felt himself stop. He was in outer space, looking down on the Earth. “Alternate Realities” He whispered breathlessly as he was yanked back down to Earth.