The Traveler Chronicles: Volume 1

So…this is the part where I talk about my superhero origins, right? Since it is the first story I’m writing in this journal, it would make sense. Right?

Then again, I am making this journal for myself—for now, at least. I know Alisa made her own journal when she did the kind of stuff I’m doing. She chronicled every one of her adventures. And she probably didn’t why either; I know for sure I don’t know why. Maybe it’s a way of reminding myself of who I am—not who I was. I can’t go back to who I was. Especially not when I’m having so much fun. I am who I am now, and I’m proud of it. But who am I?

I am…THE TRAVELER!

(That has a nice ring to it, doesn’t it?)

The bottom line is this: Alisa kept a journal and she probably meant to hand it over to someone else to discover her secrets, just in case she found herself out of commission for some reason.

Truth be told, I met Alisa once and only briefly. She’s still alive, mind you, but I’m not really in a hurry to go where she is right now. I know while I’m doing this stuff, I should probably find her again and ask her why she is where she is now. But maybe I’m just afraid to know the answer to that question. But I get the feeling it’s going to happen to me sometime. Especially now that I know what I know about the future.

So, just in case, I’m writing this journal to keep track of what I do. And if you’re reading this, you’re going to discover some incredible stuff.

I know if this is going to be some big-budget Hollywood action/sci-fi flick guaranteed to make big money at the box office, it’s going to be all about the origin story. You know the drill: underdog discovers power, underdog learns to control power, underdog gets grand master to help, underdog’s development happens to coincide with potential villain’s development, big climax with the underdog becoming a hero, blah blah blah, so on and so forth.

OK, I’m sorry. I know you probably want to find out how I discovered the power to Travel (that’s “Travel” with a capital “T”; a specific kind of “traveling”). But honestly, I’m very tired at the moment and I have a lot to write about before I go on my new adventure, so I’ll give the really short version of it:

Three typical, average prep-school boys, Victor, Zack, and Richie (that’s me), discover a mysterious book and a mystical stone in their dorm room. They learn that the stone gives them the ability to Travel any place/time simply by mere thought. After using it a few times, they hold the ability within themselves. Upon reading the book, they learn that it was brought to them by another “Traveler,” named Alisa, for safekeeping. They also learn that she has been captured in the future. Upon saving her and thwarting the plans of a corrupt US Senator in the process, Victor and Zack decide not to use the ability anymore, after their adventure. But Richie continues to use the ability, as he leaves his friends and life behind…

Where do I go from there? Well, I’ve already been to Chicago, Atlanta, St. Louis, and even Tokyo. I’m just going from place to place, doing whatever I want. Come to think of it, that’s why I wanted to go to boarding school in the first place—to get away from everything else and do something new. I wished for it and I got it. There’s nothing more I could ask for than the power to Travel.

I’ve lost track of time. I don’t keep a smartphone or even a watch with me. And I don’t care what point in time I Travel to when I go from city to city. I just think of a place and I’m suddenly there—it’s as simple as that. I don’t even know how long I’ve been gone. It’s almost like time doesn’t exist for me anymore.

So, whenever I decide to return to the point I left school, to be with my friends again, I just have to remember this: “Dorm room, January 15, 2012, 4:35:31pm.” That way, I can appear right then and there and just go from there…at least, until I decide to run away again.

This way, nobody will have missed me. They won’t even know I was gone.

The ironic thing is, the place I’m writing in is actually in Manila, a small town in Northeast Arkansas—the place I wanted to get away from in the first place. This was my hometown. This was the recreation center in which I used to hang out with my old friends. Now it’s a place that’s barely familiar to me anymore. It seems so much smaller now. Maybe it’s just me, I guess.

I don’t know why I ever thought of coming back here. Maybe after visiting the Sears Tower (oh sorry, the Willis Tower), the CNN building, the Coca-Cola factory, and other places, maybe I wanted something more quiet.

On top of that, the dreams came back. Bad dreams. Real bad. The dream is always the same. I don’t usually remember how they begin, but I always wake up at the end.

It’s a city. Engulfed in flames. Sirens going off like crazy. Thousands of people screaming in agony. And then a bright flashing light that envelops the entire area. And a really loud scream or a shriek is what wakes me up, and I’m usually sweating when I wake. It freaks me out just to even write about it. I’ve always been afraid of apocalyptic scenarios. Honestly, I think that’s why I never think of going to the future. If the world is ever going to end in my lifetime, I’d rather not know when, because knowing in advance would mess me up for life. I’m almost sure of that.

But the more of these dreams I get, the more I realize they probably mean something. Is it some kind of telepathic vision Alisa is trying to send me from her world? Is it a premonition of something to come? I wonder…