This one dates back to high school. A friend of mine named, Jason Hashimura, gave me the idea for the backpack. I created the characters, situations and storyline. I've known Jason since I was three years old. I've submitted a friend request to him on Facebook, but as of this blog, he hasn't responded yet.
The Walker of Camper High
Paul Stone never knew where he got his backpack. All he knew was that he's had it all his life. It was a pretty non-descript backpack, but it was special. For some reason, anything he put into it disappeared. That was his secret and the backpack went wherever he went. Paul was a cop. He was on the trail of a serial killer.
The victims of the killer were always mutilated beyond belief and parts were always missing. One day, Paul got the idea that maybe someone else had a backpack like his. Then one night, he pulled out a bloody arm from his backpack. He knew it was one of the missing parts.
He wanted to see if he could find the killer through his backpack. He reached his arm into the opening and climbed into the hole. Suddenly, he found himself falling through space. He landed with a splash into a body of water, causing him to become unconscious.
When Paul woke up, he noticed he wasn't in his apartment. Then he remembered the backpack.
"Where am I?"
"Relax now, you had a nasty fall."
"Who are you?"
"I'm Jane Dopplehoffen. This is my home. I was fishing when I saw you fall from the sky. I've been taking care of you for the past couple of days."
"Days? My watch says it's only Thursday. I remember it was Wednesday when I last checked."
"Those words mean nothing to me. I studied your watch device. Do you go on a twelve hour day?"
"Twelve-hour day? No, the days are twenty-four hours."
"You're not from Cyril then?"
"Cyril? I'm from Tucson, Arizona."
"Is that a planet?"
"No, it's a city!"
"Please calm down. I must tell you something. You're not on Tucson anymore. This is planet Cyril. You must have found a portal into my world and come through it."
"The backpack."
"What?"
"My backpack. I can put stuff in it and it disappears."
"Do you recognize this?"
"That's my 11th grade report card. I remember that. See, it says my name. I never showed that to my mom. I put it in my backpack."
"You've put many other things in your backpack too, haven't you?"
"Yeah, anything I don't like."
"One of the things we do here on Cyril is collect alien artifacts. Everybody has his or her own collection of stuff that fell from the sky. Do you want to see my broccoli garden?"
"I hate broccoli."
"You've made quite a name for yourself here on Cyril. I can't believe I'm actually talking to the Paul Stone."
"Please, just call me Paul."
"Well Paul, it's getting late. We should get some rest. We can't talk all night, the volcano has hushed to sleep."
"What does that mean?"
"On planet Cyril, we have eight-hour days. For four hours, the volcano glows and lights the entire planet. Then it calms and it becomes dark for four hours. The volcano is on an island. It's a nice vacation spot, but I haven't had a chance to go there yet."
"Well, maybe some day. Good night."
"We can talk tomorrow. Good night."
The next day, Paul slept through the light hours and woke up the next night. "I have to get used to this eight-hour day. This is the strangest case of jet lag I've ever gotten."
"In two hours, the volcano will be glowing again. I need to get some sleep."
Paul sat and thought for those 2 hours. He thought of questions he wanted to ask about Cyril and his situation.
"Good morning, Jane."
"Hello, how long have you been up?"
"Around two hours, I think."
"You must be bored."
"Well, on Earth, we have days that are three times the length of a Cyrilian day so we also usually have longer attention spans, but yeah, I'm bored."
"How many days are there in an Earth year?"
"There's 365."
"That would be what, like 12 months, right? We have 122 days and that's four months."
"You must have a different kind of lifespan. Mind if I ask how old you are?"
"No, I'm 90 since last week."
"You see, I'm only 30. That means we're the same age."
The next day, Paul and Jane went to visit her parents' home. "Everyone, this is Paul Stone. Paul, this is my mother, this is my father, Professor Dopplehoffen and this is my little sister, Krystl Rose."
"Nice to meet you."
"Well, Paul, it's nice to meet you."
"I think Professor Dopplehoffen can help you get back to your world and time."
"Well actually, I was trying to catch a serial killer from where I live. The newspapers have dubbed him the Walker of Camper High. I have reason to believe that he has an inter-dimensional portal like the one I came through, that he uses to go to different times and places."
"The stars?"
"That's right, Krystl Rose."
"What about the stars?"
"Well you see, there are thousands of those stars up there. Each one is an inter-dimensional portal to a different time and/or place. I figure Paul must have come out of one of them, but which, I don't know."
"Is there any way to get up to those stars?"
"The only way is up Star Mountain."
"Star Mountain?"
"Yes, it's not too far from here. Only one person has ever gone up there successfully. He was an explorer named Jack Slopplegoffen. He never came back down."
"Jack Slopplegoffen? That was my father's name!"
"Let's go to the library. They might have old newspapers about that event. It took place only a couple years ago. It was quite a big thing."
"Paul, do you think Jack was your father?"
"If he was, that would mean that I'm half Cyrilian."
Paul and Professor Dopplehoffen went to the Cyrilian Library. "Here's an article about Jack's expedition, but the picture's not very clear."
"What's this book right here in the glass case?"
"That is the Great Dictionary. Most of us on planet Cyril speak English. We all learned it from this book."
"I remember that. My mom gave it to me for my 15th birthday."
"You've really had a great influence on Cyrilian culture and customs. But anyway, about your father. I know where his family lives. Both his parents are dead, but his sisters, Esper and Nessa still live around here."
"This isn't a very big planet is it?"
"Well, we figure it's about the size of your moon, perhaps slightly larger. The entire population is only a few million people. There's a main continent and some smaller islands. About 40% to 60% land to water ratio."
The next day, Paul and Professor Dopplehoffen went to the house of Esper and Nessa Slopplegoffen.
"Who is it?"
"It's Professor Dopplehoffen."
"You wanna flunk me in Biology again?"
"Esper, you're suck a joker. You used to be the class comedian."
"Yeah, well I haven't seen you since graduation. May I help you? Is something wrong?"
"Well, this is Paul Stone."
"Nice to meet you."
"Pleasure to meet you too."
"Paul has come down from Earth and he might be the son of your brother, Jack."
"I have a nephew?"
"I guess I would be your nephew. I never thought of that. Is aunt Nessa around?"
"She's in the other room reading."
"Well, we'll only be a minute. We just need to know if you might have a picture of Jack."
"Oh, of course we do. One moment." Just then, Nessa came into the room.
"Hi, Professor Dopplehoffen. Who's your friend?"
"Hello, Nessa. This is Paul Stone."
"The Paul Stone?"
"Yes, I am. And if I'm correct with my theory, I may be your nephew."
"Woah. I have a scarf and mittens set that I found near the sea. It's one of the prize pieces in my extensive collection of alien artifacts."
"Oh those? My mother gave them to me one Christmas. All I had wanted was toys."
"Here's a picture of Jack. Do you think he might still be alive?"
"Wow, he looks just like me."
"We're pretty sure that he is in fact alive, but he. . .It's a long story. Can we keep this picture?"
"Sure, go ahead."
Paul and Professor Dopplehoffen went back to the professor's house and planned an outing to Star Mountain. They'd have to go at night so they wouldn't attract any attention and so they'd be able to see the stars.
"Well, it looks like we're about halfway up the mountain. I recognize some of this junk laying around. That's my broken calculator. That's my old pair of shoes."
"Well, let's keep on going."
When they reached the top, Paul saw a red flag hanging on one of the portals. The portals looked a lot smaller when seen at ground level. The flag had the initials J.S. on it.
"This must have been where my father went."
"Well, I guess this is goodbye then."
"I'll miss you all. Please tell everyone I said goodbye." Paul went into the portal and found himself in the dark. He was in a closet. The portal was in a cloth draw-string bag. He climbed out and stepped out of the closet. He was in his old house.
"Jack, is that you?"
"Mom, it's me, Paul."
"I don't know anybody named Paul."
"Mom, I don't know how to tell you this, but I'm your unborn son, Paul Stone."
"You know what? I believe you. I was kind of expecting you."
"What?"
"Here, let me explain. You see this picture? It says Tanya and Jack at the beach. Jack is your father."
"I know that, but why were you expecting me?"
"He left on business and I sort of peeked into his journal. It's some weird stuff in there. He explains that he is from another planet. I thought it was just a bunch of crap."
"Go on."
"Well anyway, I'm pregnant with his baby. He said in his journal that he didn't want Cyrilians to mix with humans. Whatever Cyrilians are."
"He's from planet Cyril."
"Oh. Well anyway, he says that he'll go into the future and kill you as an adult. He wanted to go into his unborn child's future and kill it."
"He must have come into my time and tried to kill me. All those innocent people are dying because of me. Jack is now known as the Walker of Camper High. He's a serial killer in my time. I'm his main target. Jack might come back here to kill you because doing that will also eliminate me. I suggest you get away from here."
"Hey, Tanya, who's your friend?" Tanya's sister, Dara came into the room.
"Dara, this is my son, Paul Stone."
"He's your son?"
"It's a long story."
"I've come from the future. I'm Tanya's unborn son."
"Well, whatever you say, Tanya."
"Aunt Dara. You used to be my favorite aunt."
"What do you mean used to be?"
"I don't know how to break it to you, but you died when I was eleven years old."
"I died when? You're from when?"
"I'm from the year 2010. Look at my ID card. Birth date: October 12th, 1980. I'm right there in this time." He pointed to Tanya's stomach. "But in the future, I live in Tucson as a cop. We moved from Sierra Vista to Tucson when I was 16. Mom, did Jack leave anything other than his journal?"
"Yes, he left a cloth, draw-string bag. He told me never to touch it. It's in the closet if you wanna see it."
"I know. I just came out of it. I'll tell you what. As I said earlier, Jack might come back here to kill you. I have to go back now. As soon as I go into the bag, put it in a safe or something. He won't be able to come back. And aunt Dara, in eleven years, you're going to win a trip to Hawaii. Please, don't go."
"Whatever you say."
"I love you both very much. As long as you do what I instructed, you should be OK. And mom, take good care of you son, especially at the Grand Canyon."
"Sure thing." Paul went into the bag. As soon as he was safely back, Tanya and Dara buried the bag and planted a tree over it. Paul went back to Professor Dopplehoffen's house.
"I had a sneaking suspicion you'd be back. Wrong time, right?"
"Yeah, I should have guessed. He went to my past."
"I was crossing my fingers, but it looks like my gut was right. It'll be a challenge to find your present." They went back up Star Mountain.
"It could be any of these."
"Except that one." The professor pointed to the red flag.
"I'll just have to check each one until I find it." He stuck his head into one and found himself under water. "OK, it's not that one." They marked it off with a felt-tipped marker.
He stuck his head into another one. Suddenly, he couldn't breathe. "Not that one. Can't even breathe. Geez, this could be dangerous. Uh, yeah, mark that one off." A few tries later, Paul was in a place where he could see cloth. It was his backpack.
"Professor, this is the one. Put the blue ribbon on it."
"OK. Be careful. Your father could already be in there."
"I will be, thank you. Don't forget the plan."
"I won't. Good luck." Paul went in and he was back in his apartment. Just then, there was a knock on the door. Paul quickly got a rope and dropped one end of it into the backpack, leaving one end out. He then got his service revolver and hid in the bedroom. Jack broke down the door and entered Paul's apartment.
"I know you're in here. I have a knife. Come out and. . ." Jack saw the backpack. "Oh, is this how you want to play it? Well, I'm game if you are." He climbed into the backpack in pursuit of Paul. Instead, he found himself stuck in a cage that Professor Dopplehoffen had put beneath the portal.
At that moment, in the apartment, Paul zipped up the backpack and popped it into the microwave oven. He set it to cook for two minutes then called the police. He described Jack to them and they were on their way. Just then, he heard an explosion in the kitchen. Jack had tried to come back through the backpack and the microwave had cooked his head.
When the police arrived, Paul looked outside his window. They saw his face and it matched the description of the Walker of Camper High. Firearms were raised and Paul quickly closed the curtain and ducked. He crawled into the kitchen, opened the microwave and pulled out the backpack. It was bloody but intact. He climbed in and landed on top of his father's headless, bloody corpse.
Quickly, he shoved the body into the portal. He climbed back up into his apartment and positioned the body in a sitting position against the front door. After climbing back into the backpack, he shot off one round of his service revolver and shattered his front window.
In self-defense, the police open fired into the apartment in to incapacitate the perpetrator. When they entered the apartment, they found Jack's body. There were no other ways out of the apartment so they assumed they had finally brought down the Walker of Camper High.
Paul let himself drop to the top of the mountain on Rosa. The professor had removed the cage. Paul never returned to Earth and that was alright with him.
The Walker of Camper High
Paul Stone never knew where he got his backpack. All he knew was that he's had it all his life. It was a pretty non-descript backpack, but it was special. For some reason, anything he put into it disappeared. That was his secret and the backpack went wherever he went. Paul was a cop. He was on the trail of a serial killer.
The victims of the killer were always mutilated beyond belief and parts were always missing. One day, Paul got the idea that maybe someone else had a backpack like his. Then one night, he pulled out a bloody arm from his backpack. He knew it was one of the missing parts.
He wanted to see if he could find the killer through his backpack. He reached his arm into the opening and climbed into the hole. Suddenly, he found himself falling through space. He landed with a splash into a body of water, causing him to become unconscious.
When Paul woke up, he noticed he wasn't in his apartment. Then he remembered the backpack.
"Where am I?"
"Relax now, you had a nasty fall."
"Who are you?"
"I'm Jane Dopplehoffen. This is my home. I was fishing when I saw you fall from the sky. I've been taking care of you for the past couple of days."
"Days? My watch says it's only Thursday. I remember it was Wednesday when I last checked."
"Those words mean nothing to me. I studied your watch device. Do you go on a twelve hour day?"
"Twelve-hour day? No, the days are twenty-four hours."
"You're not from Cyril then?"
"Cyril? I'm from Tucson, Arizona."
"Is that a planet?"
"No, it's a city!"
"Please calm down. I must tell you something. You're not on Tucson anymore. This is planet Cyril. You must have found a portal into my world and come through it."
"The backpack."
"What?"
"My backpack. I can put stuff in it and it disappears."
"Do you recognize this?"
"That's my 11th grade report card. I remember that. See, it says my name. I never showed that to my mom. I put it in my backpack."
"You've put many other things in your backpack too, haven't you?"
"Yeah, anything I don't like."
"One of the things we do here on Cyril is collect alien artifacts. Everybody has his or her own collection of stuff that fell from the sky. Do you want to see my broccoli garden?"
"I hate broccoli."
"You've made quite a name for yourself here on Cyril. I can't believe I'm actually talking to the Paul Stone."
"Please, just call me Paul."
"Well Paul, it's getting late. We should get some rest. We can't talk all night, the volcano has hushed to sleep."
"What does that mean?"
"On planet Cyril, we have eight-hour days. For four hours, the volcano glows and lights the entire planet. Then it calms and it becomes dark for four hours. The volcano is on an island. It's a nice vacation spot, but I haven't had a chance to go there yet."
"Well, maybe some day. Good night."
"We can talk tomorrow. Good night."
The next day, Paul slept through the light hours and woke up the next night. "I have to get used to this eight-hour day. This is the strangest case of jet lag I've ever gotten."
"In two hours, the volcano will be glowing again. I need to get some sleep."
Paul sat and thought for those 2 hours. He thought of questions he wanted to ask about Cyril and his situation.
"Good morning, Jane."
"Hello, how long have you been up?"
"Around two hours, I think."
"You must be bored."
"Well, on Earth, we have days that are three times the length of a Cyrilian day so we also usually have longer attention spans, but yeah, I'm bored."
"How many days are there in an Earth year?"
"There's 365."
"That would be what, like 12 months, right? We have 122 days and that's four months."
"You must have a different kind of lifespan. Mind if I ask how old you are?"
"No, I'm 90 since last week."
"You see, I'm only 30. That means we're the same age."
The next day, Paul and Jane went to visit her parents' home. "Everyone, this is Paul Stone. Paul, this is my mother, this is my father, Professor Dopplehoffen and this is my little sister, Krystl Rose."
"Nice to meet you."
"Well, Paul, it's nice to meet you."
"I think Professor Dopplehoffen can help you get back to your world and time."
"Well actually, I was trying to catch a serial killer from where I live. The newspapers have dubbed him the Walker of Camper High. I have reason to believe that he has an inter-dimensional portal like the one I came through, that he uses to go to different times and places."
"The stars?"
"That's right, Krystl Rose."
"What about the stars?"
"Well you see, there are thousands of those stars up there. Each one is an inter-dimensional portal to a different time and/or place. I figure Paul must have come out of one of them, but which, I don't know."
"Is there any way to get up to those stars?"
"The only way is up Star Mountain."
"Star Mountain?"
"Yes, it's not too far from here. Only one person has ever gone up there successfully. He was an explorer named Jack Slopplegoffen. He never came back down."
"Jack Slopplegoffen? That was my father's name!"
"Let's go to the library. They might have old newspapers about that event. It took place only a couple years ago. It was quite a big thing."
"Paul, do you think Jack was your father?"
"If he was, that would mean that I'm half Cyrilian."
Paul and Professor Dopplehoffen went to the Cyrilian Library. "Here's an article about Jack's expedition, but the picture's not very clear."
"What's this book right here in the glass case?"
"That is the Great Dictionary. Most of us on planet Cyril speak English. We all learned it from this book."
"I remember that. My mom gave it to me for my 15th birthday."
"You've really had a great influence on Cyrilian culture and customs. But anyway, about your father. I know where his family lives. Both his parents are dead, but his sisters, Esper and Nessa still live around here."
"This isn't a very big planet is it?"
"Well, we figure it's about the size of your moon, perhaps slightly larger. The entire population is only a few million people. There's a main continent and some smaller islands. About 40% to 60% land to water ratio."
The next day, Paul and Professor Dopplehoffen went to the house of Esper and Nessa Slopplegoffen.
"Who is it?"
"It's Professor Dopplehoffen."
"You wanna flunk me in Biology again?"
"Esper, you're suck a joker. You used to be the class comedian."
"Yeah, well I haven't seen you since graduation. May I help you? Is something wrong?"
"Well, this is Paul Stone."
"Nice to meet you."
"Pleasure to meet you too."
"Paul has come down from Earth and he might be the son of your brother, Jack."
"I have a nephew?"
"I guess I would be your nephew. I never thought of that. Is aunt Nessa around?"
"She's in the other room reading."
"Well, we'll only be a minute. We just need to know if you might have a picture of Jack."
"Oh, of course we do. One moment." Just then, Nessa came into the room.
"Hi, Professor Dopplehoffen. Who's your friend?"
"Hello, Nessa. This is Paul Stone."
"The Paul Stone?"
"Yes, I am. And if I'm correct with my theory, I may be your nephew."
"Woah. I have a scarf and mittens set that I found near the sea. It's one of the prize pieces in my extensive collection of alien artifacts."
"Oh those? My mother gave them to me one Christmas. All I had wanted was toys."
"Here's a picture of Jack. Do you think he might still be alive?"
"Wow, he looks just like me."
"We're pretty sure that he is in fact alive, but he. . .It's a long story. Can we keep this picture?"
"Sure, go ahead."
Paul and Professor Dopplehoffen went back to the professor's house and planned an outing to Star Mountain. They'd have to go at night so they wouldn't attract any attention and so they'd be able to see the stars.
"Well, it looks like we're about halfway up the mountain. I recognize some of this junk laying around. That's my broken calculator. That's my old pair of shoes."
"Well, let's keep on going."
When they reached the top, Paul saw a red flag hanging on one of the portals. The portals looked a lot smaller when seen at ground level. The flag had the initials J.S. on it.
"This must have been where my father went."
"Well, I guess this is goodbye then."
"I'll miss you all. Please tell everyone I said goodbye." Paul went into the portal and found himself in the dark. He was in a closet. The portal was in a cloth draw-string bag. He climbed out and stepped out of the closet. He was in his old house.
"Jack, is that you?"
"Mom, it's me, Paul."
"I don't know anybody named Paul."
"Mom, I don't know how to tell you this, but I'm your unborn son, Paul Stone."
"You know what? I believe you. I was kind of expecting you."
"What?"
"Here, let me explain. You see this picture? It says Tanya and Jack at the beach. Jack is your father."
"I know that, but why were you expecting me?"
"He left on business and I sort of peeked into his journal. It's some weird stuff in there. He explains that he is from another planet. I thought it was just a bunch of crap."
"Go on."
"Well anyway, I'm pregnant with his baby. He said in his journal that he didn't want Cyrilians to mix with humans. Whatever Cyrilians are."
"He's from planet Cyril."
"Oh. Well anyway, he says that he'll go into the future and kill you as an adult. He wanted to go into his unborn child's future and kill it."
"He must have come into my time and tried to kill me. All those innocent people are dying because of me. Jack is now known as the Walker of Camper High. He's a serial killer in my time. I'm his main target. Jack might come back here to kill you because doing that will also eliminate me. I suggest you get away from here."
"Hey, Tanya, who's your friend?" Tanya's sister, Dara came into the room.
"Dara, this is my son, Paul Stone."
"He's your son?"
"It's a long story."
"I've come from the future. I'm Tanya's unborn son."
"Well, whatever you say, Tanya."
"Aunt Dara. You used to be my favorite aunt."
"What do you mean used to be?"
"I don't know how to break it to you, but you died when I was eleven years old."
"I died when? You're from when?"
"I'm from the year 2010. Look at my ID card. Birth date: October 12th, 1980. I'm right there in this time." He pointed to Tanya's stomach. "But in the future, I live in Tucson as a cop. We moved from Sierra Vista to Tucson when I was 16. Mom, did Jack leave anything other than his journal?"
"Yes, he left a cloth, draw-string bag. He told me never to touch it. It's in the closet if you wanna see it."
"I know. I just came out of it. I'll tell you what. As I said earlier, Jack might come back here to kill you. I have to go back now. As soon as I go into the bag, put it in a safe or something. He won't be able to come back. And aunt Dara, in eleven years, you're going to win a trip to Hawaii. Please, don't go."
"Whatever you say."
"I love you both very much. As long as you do what I instructed, you should be OK. And mom, take good care of you son, especially at the Grand Canyon."
"Sure thing." Paul went into the bag. As soon as he was safely back, Tanya and Dara buried the bag and planted a tree over it. Paul went back to Professor Dopplehoffen's house.
"I had a sneaking suspicion you'd be back. Wrong time, right?"
"Yeah, I should have guessed. He went to my past."
"I was crossing my fingers, but it looks like my gut was right. It'll be a challenge to find your present." They went back up Star Mountain.
"It could be any of these."
"Except that one." The professor pointed to the red flag.
"I'll just have to check each one until I find it." He stuck his head into one and found himself under water. "OK, it's not that one." They marked it off with a felt-tipped marker.
He stuck his head into another one. Suddenly, he couldn't breathe. "Not that one. Can't even breathe. Geez, this could be dangerous. Uh, yeah, mark that one off." A few tries later, Paul was in a place where he could see cloth. It was his backpack.
"Professor, this is the one. Put the blue ribbon on it."
"OK. Be careful. Your father could already be in there."
"I will be, thank you. Don't forget the plan."
"I won't. Good luck." Paul went in and he was back in his apartment. Just then, there was a knock on the door. Paul quickly got a rope and dropped one end of it into the backpack, leaving one end out. He then got his service revolver and hid in the bedroom. Jack broke down the door and entered Paul's apartment.
"I know you're in here. I have a knife. Come out and. . ." Jack saw the backpack. "Oh, is this how you want to play it? Well, I'm game if you are." He climbed into the backpack in pursuit of Paul. Instead, he found himself stuck in a cage that Professor Dopplehoffen had put beneath the portal.
At that moment, in the apartment, Paul zipped up the backpack and popped it into the microwave oven. He set it to cook for two minutes then called the police. He described Jack to them and they were on their way. Just then, he heard an explosion in the kitchen. Jack had tried to come back through the backpack and the microwave had cooked his head.
When the police arrived, Paul looked outside his window. They saw his face and it matched the description of the Walker of Camper High. Firearms were raised and Paul quickly closed the curtain and ducked. He crawled into the kitchen, opened the microwave and pulled out the backpack. It was bloody but intact. He climbed in and landed on top of his father's headless, bloody corpse.
Quickly, he shoved the body into the portal. He climbed back up into his apartment and positioned the body in a sitting position against the front door. After climbing back into the backpack, he shot off one round of his service revolver and shattered his front window.
In self-defense, the police open fired into the apartment in to incapacitate the perpetrator. When they entered the apartment, they found Jack's body. There were no other ways out of the apartment so they assumed they had finally brought down the Walker of Camper High.
Paul let himself drop to the top of the mountain on Rosa. The professor had removed the cage. Paul never returned to Earth and that was alright with him.
No comments:
Post a Comment