John Gone Read Free Page B

As
Virgil left his line of sight, John bolted from the office to the
bathroom next door. Once inside, he leaned over the toilet and
coughed against his nausea.
    John glanced at the innocent and silent face
of the watch beside his downturned head. Its entrancing wires still
pulsed and waved beyond the glass, perhaps even stronger than
before. They carried the same glowing blue as the electric arc that
had leapt and struck Virgil.
    It’s 3:13 now , John thought. I’ve
got to call the police, then Mom, then Molly--she’s going to be
angry . John shook his head. I can’t think about that now!
What am I going to tell the police? They’ll have to believe me when
I show them the watch, right? Right.
    Feeling secure in his plan, John rose and
reached deep into his right pocket for his phone. Before he could
lift it, a strange feeling of weakness washed over his shoulders
and chest, as if the weight of his head and arms was suddenly too
much for him to bear. Soon, the effect was radiating to his right
arm and both legs. John shook out the limbs as if they were asleep,
trying to throw the odd feeling overcoming him. His legs went numb
and collapsed.
    John fell limp to the floor, finding himself
unable to move the majority of his body. The sensation had spread
evenly across him to everywhere but his left arm, where the humming
watch still clung to the wrist.
    John raised the arm and flexed it above him,
first by choice, then by impulse. Moments later, it began shaking
wildly in spasm, moving randomly and rapidly above his helpless
body. He tried to fight against it, hoping to contain the raw
energy forcing the frenzy. Suddenly, the arm went stiff. That’s
when it happened.
    A pulsing wave of energy exploded outward
from the watch’s face, blinding John, and enveloping the bathroom
in effulgent blue light. Only a moment later, the light was gone.
And so was John.
     
     
     
     

Chapter 2
     
    The sound began as a listless vibration
buzzing past his eardrums. Soon, it grew to a muddled cacophony of
tones: an air conditioner’s hum, what may have been the sound of
rushing water, a voice. It was saying something John couldn’t
understand.
    John straightened his back and forced open
his heavy eyelids to a blur of lights and vague geometric shapes.
His arm twitched; he could move again. He checked his wrist for the
watch; it was still there. John lowered his arm, and his fingers
touched a cold surface beneath his legs. Moving his hand against it
revealed a shape and feel.
    How did I get on top of the toilet?
    It wasn’t long before John’s eyes could stay
open without struggle. The oddity of his new surroundings was
immediately apparent. The bathroom was completely different than it
had been a moment ago. The décor had changed, and even stranger
were the newfound fixtures, a large, curtained shower in front of
him and a porcelain sink to his right.
    The shower was currently in use, and a wispy
cloud of steam billowed from the opening at its top. The silhouette
of a man cleaning himself stood behind its curtain, singing the
refrain of a song John didn’t recognize. The stranger had a
terrible voice for the song he was attempting--whatever it was--but
that didn’t stop him from continuing on and on in forced
falsetto.
    Acting as quietly as possible, John stood
from the toilet and crept to his left where he spied a small
window, closed but clear. He carefully approached it and stood on
his toes to reach the glass. Just tall enough, he looked through
the window and saw a fenced back yard, complete with a barbeque
grill and child’s playhouse.
    The bathroom didn’t change , he
suddenly realized. I’m just not there anymore .
    John looked behind him toward the bathroom
door. A letter sat just beneath the fogged mirror hanging above the
sink.
    This has got to be some sort of alien
planet , he thought, taking soft, careful steps toward the
letter. Or a parallel dimension where people eat Styrofoam and
bugs run the post office. Or --