Time Capsule

Chapter 1: Last days of Innocence

It was a beautiful summer day. More specifically, it was the beginning of the last week of summer vacation. But instead being outside, living it up, Lor, Tino, and Carver were down in Tino's basement rummaging thought some dusty old shelves. Well, actually Lor was just watching them from the stairs- supervising as she put it.

Tino, standing on an old milk crate to reach the higher shelves, turned to us as the world goes gray, "Oh hey, Tino here. But I'm sure you know that by now. Where have you guys been? You missed a great summer. Man, too bad that we have to go back to school next week. Yeah, sometimes I wish that the fun would never end. What are we doing down here you ask? Well, we got to thinking, we're going into the 8th grade now- that's like Junior High man. By this time next year, we'll all be teenagers. This is, you know, our last summer as kids! Pretty scary thought huh. So we decided to make the memories last forever- literally. Now if we could only find what we're looking for."

The world regained its pace as Tino shifted an old pot out of his way unveiling one of his many phobias. "ACK! A spider!" Actually, it was merely a dust ball. But it was still enough to send Tino flying back off the milk crate onto the floor below. Fortunately, he landed on an old, dusty mattress. The cloud of dust risen from the impact filled the air causing Tino to hack and cough.

In a moment, he noticed that there was chocolate dripping onto his forehead…. Lor was standing right over him gnawing on her frozen choco-fudge. She held a gray metal box, roughly the size of a shoebox, aloft in her spare hand. "Is this what you're looking for?" She asked very nonchalant.

"Um, yeah. Where did you find it?" He asked staring up at her from the floor.

Lor delayed her response as she swallowed her mouthful, "Under the stairs."

"I see." Tino said as yet another droplet of Lor's snack hit his forehead.

"I guess the old mentality of starting from the top and working your way down doesn't apply here, huh T." Carver joked as he helped his friend to his feet.

"Dude," Lor said as she finished off her frozen treat, "when we agreed to make a time capsule, I imagined something like a shoebox or a Tupperware container. What the heck is this thing?"

"It's an old safe box that used to belong to my dad. I figured that it would be the perfect thing for a time capsule" Tino explained, wiping the sticky mess from his brow.

"Yeah," Carver added, "Shoeboxes break down in the elements. But this sucker is built like a tank. It will keep our stuff safe through Armageddon."

"Right," Lor retorted, "Like we're really going to stop and reminisce about our childhood when we're radioactive zombies." She illustrated by teetering her arms out in front of her in a very zombie like fashion.

"I don't think radioactive zombies were ever mentioned in the Book of Revaluation." Tish corrected as she made her entrance down the stairs with a black carrying case strapped around her shoulder.

"Wasn't Keanu Reeves in that movie?" Tino asked Carver.

"No, no, I think she meant that one where Bruce Willis dies at the end." He responded.

"You mean that one where he was a ghost all along?"

"No," Carver continued, "That was a different movie all together… or maybe it was the sequel."

"READ A BOOK!" Tish screamed, "IT'S IN THE FREAK'N BIBLE!"

They all paused and looked at Tish with her arms in the air.

"Oh," Lor broke the silence, "So it was the one with Mel Gibson."

Tish dropped her arms to her sides and looked at Lor, "Yes Lor, radioactive zombies." She said in the dead-panest of voices.

"Cool." Lor said simply. Tish just rolled her eyes.

"What took you so long?" Carver asked Tish.

"Well, I couldn't find anything in my room that I'd really be willing to part with," She explained as she swung the case from her shoulder, "So I brought my video camera."

"You mean the one that you pleaded your parents to buy you when you were positive that you wanted to be an artistic film director?" Tino smirked.

"And then you didn't touch ever since you decided you wanted to be a poet the very next week?" Lor finished.

"Well now it's being put to good use." Tish defended.

"I don't know Tish," said Carver, "I don't think your whole camera will fit into the box."

"Try to stay with me here," Tish mocked, "I'm going to make a movie to put in the time capsule."

"Wow, Tish," Lor complemented, "That's a great idea, I was just going to put some baseball cards in it. You know, hoping that they would become really rare and valuable."

"Yeah," Tino added, "And I was just going to put in my Captain DreadNaught action figure with the laser lights and the 16 action phrases and… are you recording right now?"

"Yes." Tish answered with a smile from behind the lens of her camera. "We only have one week of summer left so what better time to start getting footage then right now?"

"Alright then." said Carver, "But wouldn't it be better if we were to actually do something as opposed to sitting around in Tino's basement talking about our little dollies."

"Action Figure!" Tino retorted.

"You're right." Tish said as she turned off her camera, "So what shall we do?"

"Um, I'm thinking somewhere along the lines of EVERYTHING!" Carver answered.

"Yeah," exclaimed Tino, "this is our last week before homework and studying. Let's do everything that we can possibly do between now and then! With Tish in the director's chair of course."

Tish let out a geeky little squeal, "Alright then, come on, we're burning daylight! Last week of summer, here we come!" She ordered as she led the group upstairs.

"I'll be right up." Tino called as Tish herded Lor and Carver.

Tino turned to us once more for another of his monologues. "Well, I've got to go now. Looks like we're going to be partying non stop all week. But hey, don't wait too long before checking in again, you know I love talking to you guys."

Tino was cut off by Tish calling from up the stairs, "Tino, stop breaking the fourth wall and come on already!"

"Look who's talking!" Tino shot back. "Well, wish me luck in Junior High. Later Days." He said to us with a wave before heading up the stairs.

The basement light flicked off and everything went dim. The only remaining light source was rays from the sun beaming through the basement window. The ray of light slowly panned across the floor, then went dark as day turned to night. Night soon turned to day and the ray of light once again made it's journey across the floor, only more hastily this time. Day became night, night became day. Faster and faster the cycle turned building up to a velocity so rapid that the window flickered like a movie reel. Weeks, months, years passed by in an instant. Finally, the wheels of time regained their true pace. In the basement, layers of dust have piled on immensely. Outside the window, trees have grown, houses have changed, but it was still the same old bright and cheerful Bahia Bay. A taxi cab pulled up in the driveway and a blond man in his mid twenties climbed out. The voice of an excited young boy could be heard in the dwelling upstairs, "He's here! He's here!"

Author's Notes:

Well I've finally gone and done it, I've begun my second Weekender fan fiction. This chapter obviously served as the prolog, pretty much illustrating that this is the end of innocence, their last days as care free children. Which I've always felt that the series was partially about. I've been wanting to write "Time Capsule" the moment I finished "Stop Staring at your Shoes", but I was afraid that it might come off as a rip-off of Malachite's "Awakening". But I'm sure it won't, seeing as "Time Capsule" takes place when the group is 24, while "Awakening" is about the group as teenagers.

The direction and ultimate plot of this story is still a bit shady, but I'm sure it will all come naturally as I write it. This story will most likely be longer than my previous- but I won't be updating it rapidly like last time, I'm going to pace myself with this one. Well, I can't say anymore at the moment as I don't want to leak any of the surprises.

On a final note, I have to toot my own horn with how I ended this chapter, seamlessly throwing the reader 12 years into the future. Especially the opened ended part about the voice of the young boy. I feel that a good amount of zonisum went into it. Well, R&R as always, Later days.

by the way, for those of you outside my chat circle, zonisum is a word I made up meaning the imaginative force evoked when an artist or writer is "in the zone".