Kate Andrews

Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Kevin, Aaron and I exchanged wary looks. Well, Aaron and I did, Kevin was jumping up and down with excitement. I had no idea how to react. Sure, I had always wanted an adventure to 'another world', but now that it was staring me in the face, it was scary.

“Here, take these and fill them with whatever you want,” Binstrome said, completely oblivious to our reactions, tossing each of us a dark blue backpack. As soon as I caught mine, I could tell there was something special about it. It was lighter than a feather and the fabric felt like flowing water. Solid, but liquid. It felt magical. Like this whole crazy situation.

“They can hold anything. It is and always will remain weightless. No need to worry about small things like food, etc. The bag already has an endless supply of that. I would’ve thought you had outgrown the need for such trivial things. Obviously I was wrong, as they seem to still be a necessity. If you need to summon anything from its depths, just say the name and it will appear. Now go. You have exactly 10 minutes.”

In unison, the 3 of us stepped inside. Kevin raced off to his room, while I headed off slowly to mine. Aaron, however, went in the opposite direction, toward the back door.

“Where are you going?” I asked.

“I’m going to go lock every opening to the house. We’ll stay inside and refuse to give in to him. You saw his true form. How can you trust him after that?”

I was already scared and slightly suspicious, but I wasn’t scared of Binstrome. Just at the idea of everything that was happening. Honestly, I have no idea why I trusted that guy, he just seemed truthful. He didn’t fake a nice attitude, and let us know exactly what he felt about us and ‘our species’.

But I knew that Aaron wouldn’t understand that. Kevin saved me from having to answer, by shouting, “Guys come here and check this out! Everything went in here, just like Binstrome said! This is so cool! I even fit in the computer!”

I shrugged and went to his room. Sure enough, it was completely bare. I mean, the furniture was all where it should be, but everything else was gone. Kevin handed me his backpack, and it was still as light as air. When I looked inside it, I expected to see some sign that the bag held something, but no such luck.

“That’s great, Kevin. Except that you are not taking your computer on this mission or whatever this is.” I told him. 

“Yes, except for the fact that we’re not going.” Aaron said leaning in the doorway.

Kevin’s happy expression slid down his face faster than, well, something that slides easily. I’m sorry, but I’m a little confused to make up good metaphors.

“Why are you guys acting so strange? This is all so amazing! Isn’t this what you’ve always wanted, Kate?” Kevin said.

“Kev, it’s not that easy. I admit I did want something like this, but…hey! How did you know I wanted it?” I snapped.

He muttered something that I couldn't understand.

“What?”

“Your journal.”

That didn't seem like too big a deal, anymore.

I looked at Aaron, “What choice do we have?”

“Let’s at least check if there’s any way out of the house. If there isn’t, well, I’d prefer not to go anywhere by force.”

“Fine.”

We went and checked the back door and all the windows, leaving Kevin to take out all the video games he had put into his bag. As soon as we tried to step/climb out, an invisible force pushed us back.

“Five minutes,” Binstrome’s voice echoed around the house.

“Might as well fill it,” Aaron sighed, “It’s better than leaving empty handed.” He shouldered his bag and went off to his room, while I went to mine.

I won’t give the boring list of the stuff I filled the bag with. Let’s just say that my room was as bare as Kevin’s by the time I was done. I tossed all the books on my many bookshelves right in. The bag was fascinating. I wondered where all the stuff went, because it couldn’t just disappear. It must, somehow, enter some vault.

After I was done, I found Kevin having an animated discussion with Binstrome. Binstrome’s face was lit up as he listened to Kevin. Huh, maybe he hadn’t always been so sour. Aaron was still packing and since I had nothing to do, I plopped down on the couch and began reading. 

When Aaron was finally done, we were ready to take off. I had a feeling that he had delayed on purpose, knowing, like I did, that Binstrome would never leave any of us behind, no matter how much he wanted to.

He had probably been thinking of a way to avoid going, though I had given up and truthfully, I wanted to go. It was practically a dream come true. When we came out, there was a bus parked in front of the house. It was the size of a regular school bus, but it looked much cooler. It was blue, painted with waves that really seemed to be moving, and I could feel the cool breeze that blew over the picture of the ocean. I was ready to bet that if I went close, I would be splashed by the lapping waves. I didn’t really see how we could get to another planet by bus, but I decided not to ask.

The outside of the bus was nothing compared to the inside. The first half had the driver’s seat, in which Binstrome sat, along with leather couches, had a swimming pool, a massage machine a basketball court and a tennis court. I decided that the look of the bus outside was a mere projection, with the inside being the real deal.

The back half of the bus was a totally decked out pad with huge LCD screens, laptops, etc- in short it was Kevin’s dream world. He spends practically every waking minute on the computer. You could adjust the weather inside by typing in your choice on panel- rainy, sunny, snowy-whatever. Aaron and I had only gotten around to admiring the whole thing, but Kevin was way ahead of us. He was getting a massage while he played on a handheld.

The idea of 10-year old getting a massage was ridiculous, but I’ll admit, even I was tempted a bit. My hobbies were reading and writing, but I wasn’t bad at basketball and it helps me exert some of my extra energy, so I headed over to the court and shot some hoops. Now that I had (mostly) come to terms with the whole situation, I decided that I needed some answers. Aaron seemed to have the same idea, and we dragged Kevin along with us. We sat together on a couch and began our ‘interrogation’.

So, what do you think?