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Prelude. Escapism ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
It was so quiet he could hear the ringing in his ears, the room as still as statues. He's tried to fight against it, to go outside when the sidewalks were slick with rain and the car headlights were the only source of light against the inky December sky- but no such luck. As his eyes drooped with exhaustion, his brain never quite stopped buzzing. His solution had been between himself, a pen, and a peace of paper. The poems wrote themselves most times. Other times, he'd rather think than say, that what he didn't have to feel his heart clench when he saw it again while flipping through the book for a fresh page.
New York had been entirely different from Philadelphia. And, of course, Shawn had come to understand that there would be a big change, but it had still managed to cut him like glass to skin. It wasn't the people or the location really, it was the type of change where the bread didn't taste quite the same and the coffee shops felt like a small adventure.
Shawn's pencil hovered slightly above the page. He turned his head to stare at the door for a couple seconds. Then it came again, the knocking, so soft that he almost stayed still for another few seconds to see if it had been the exhaustion driving him to make up sounds. But he got up, his book sliding off of his lap and onto the dark red couch. He twisted the brass knob and pulled the door open.
His heart stopped for what felt like more than a few seconds. There she stood, looking the same and yet every bit different. She changed her hair up, it just landed naturally over shoulders. She had a cable knit sweater on that was a size or two too big for her and a nervous smile on her face that she tried her hardest to conceal.
"Angela?" Shawn looked behind him and figured he'd leave the silence behind by stepping into the hallways and closing the door behind him. "You came back."
"Yeah, of course I did. I just didn't know if you want me to." She said.
"Why wouldn't I?" He thought to tell her about the calendar in his room filled with the red-crossed boxes, but he decided against it.
"I don't know, I guess I thought you'd found someone."
"I haven't," He didn't want to ask it but he forced the words out of his mouth anyway, "have you?"
"No," She said quickly.
It seemed for a moment that they had understood each other, gotten all the awkward hello's out of the way and melted back into the familiar. They stepped forward and wrapped their arms around each other, tipping back and forth like a slow dance. They didn't say much but they also didn't need to. They stayed like that until the walls dissolved and they stood standing in another room. One that was bigger than the hallways of the New York City apartment. It was homey and not very fancy but clean and orderly.
There were no more checkered tiles and instead it was replaced by carpet above hardwood. There was sloped floors with black reclining chairs and air conditioning that he couldn't hear but could most certainly feel. Shawn clutched Angela's hip and brought her closer to his side as he looked around. He breathed a silent sigh of relief as he scanned the room of recognizable faces.
"Why is this not the strangest thing that's ever happened to me?" Shawn thought out loud.
"Angela?" Topanga left Cory's side and ran up towards her friend, quickly bringing her into a hug. She pulled away, "Aw, you you look so good."
"So do you." Angela laughed.
Suddenly she got serious, "So did you bring back any shoes?"
"I did actually."
"Sorry to cut into the girl talk but I think we just got kidnapped." Cory raised his voice on the last word, his hands flying up before falling back down to his sides.
"Actually according to this note, we were taken to be shown 'the future.'" Eric cut in.
"So, kidnapped?" Cory repeated again, motioning his hands in a circular motion as if to get Eric to catch into their predicament.
Amy walked up to Eric, slipping the note from out of his hand to read it. "You had a note and you didn't say anything sooner?"
"Teleportation exists and the first thing you expected me to do was read?" Eric scoffed at his mother, turned towards the rest of the room, and pointed at his her mockingly.
Amy stared at him for a second or two, her mouth hung in disbelief before walking away to flop herself down onto a chair in the front row. "Let's just do this."
Mr. Feeny made his walk down the aisle to Amy, kindly took note and cleared his throat to read. "Formal apologies for interrupting your early morning. However, i write this note hoping to deliver some good news and hopefully some excitement too. You will be watching your future. It sounds ridiculous but it's true. Relax and enjoy as you watch some of your kids overcome many of the challenges that you have along with many others. And also, who wouldn't want a glimpse of their future? With much love, Anon."
"I had a dream like this once," Shawn said, breaking the silence.
"This a mistake. I shouldn't be here." A woman said. She was tan with thick brown hair and a look of honest shock that she clearly tried (and failed) to hide.
Shawn stared at her for a long while, racking the catalogs in his brain for where he had seen her and yet he came up blank. Perhaps it truly had been a mistake but there hadn't seemed to be any exits and the only thing that came close was a couple of vents screwed into the wall that would most definitely require a tool or two.
Before anyone could offer up any solutions for her, the screen powdered on in a zap of bright white light.
THEE SCIENTIST SPEAKS Welcome to this kinda rushed chapter. I didn't take this part too seriously like my stranger things book because BMW is a sitcom and I just feel as though wouldn't freak out too bad tbh. Also I am fully using that as an excuse to hurry past this part. Also Angela + Shawn reuniting moment. Sorry if it wasn't very fulfilling, I tried my best in that part to make it realistic but also true to them. I'll work on it but share your thoughts and feelings. (Also the lady with the brown hair that said she wasn't supposed to be there is Shawn's birth mother, he just doesn't know it yet. Her name is Catalina/Kate, as stated in the last chapter) Votes/comments are always appreciated. Anyway, much love, bye!
