Time Escape

Chapter One

It was an evening like every other. At least, I thought it was. My best friend Aurélie and I were having a great time. Since it was Saturday, we enjoyed our time and watched a DVD which Aurélie bought the other week. – Yep, we were old-school like that, not streaming a movie online for a change. – But something unexpected distracted me that evening: I got a phone call. Well, I admit, that's not really unusual considering we're living in the 21st century. But that call came from my father and, knowing he isn't usually someone who is fond of picking up the phone, in opposite to my mother, I knew it must have had an important or even serious reason for that call. Indeed, it was: My brother was in trouble, which was rather unusual as well.
"Laura, I'm sorry for disturbing you this late. I know it's already 11 p.m., but I didn't have any chance to reach you earlier. And your sister wasn't available either," Dad was stammering.
"It's okay, Dad. Just tell me what's going on! You sound quite anxious," I said.
"Well, yes, I am indeed," Dad answered, "You know, I've already tried to phone your sister, but she wasn't in. David has got himself into trouble..."
"Wait a minute." I couldn't let him finish the sentence; I was too confused at that moment. "David? You mean my brother, David?"
"Of course, I'm talking about your brother! What do you think? That I'm complaining about my pet?" Dad said impatiently.
"You don't have a pet called David," I interrupted him again, ignoring his annoyance at my remark. "I'm sorry," I whispered, after I heard him grunting from the other end of the phone.
"Well, anyway," Dad continued, "he's got himself into trouble. He was brought home by the police last night. It's not the first time David is acting weirdly since he got engaged with that gang. But I think last night was too much. Your mother doesn't take this seriously. She says it's just a phase. But listen, I worry about him. Could you have a word with him, Laura?"
"Dad," I said, "why don't you talk to him yourself? You're much closer to him, like physically closer. I'm in France, remember?"
You see, I'm from Germany, my parents and my little brother still lived in my hometown, whereas I was currently staying in France. I went to University in a sweet and small French town near Paris and studied business economics. After my graduation a year earlier, I moved to the center of Paris, where I was sharing a flat with Aurélie. I just finished my internship and was about to start my new job there. And my twin sister, Emily, could be found in her nice apartment in London. – Jealous? Why should I be jealous of her? I'm not jealous. Who said that? – Uh, anyway, the point is: It'd be much easier for Dad to talk directly to my brother than for me, who saw him in person once a month, at the maximum.
"Yeah, but I've tried, Laura, I've tried," Dad continued rambling. "He wouldn't listen to me. I barely recognize him anymore. I don't know what it is. Usually, we get along extraordinarily well. But recently, he's been turning away from your mother and me. He's telling me, 'Dad, leave me alone. This is something you don't understand.' He wouldn't even try to explain his problems to me. I need you to support me somehow, please. I thought he might rather listen to you or your sister..."

I know what you're thinking. This sounds like a common teenager having problems with his parents. But if you think so, you're wrong. I guess I should tell you a bit more about my brother. My brother David was twenty-one. That would be the first argument to keep you from thinking he was a troublesome teenager. Apart from this simple fact, David used to get along very well with our parents, with our sister Emily, and with me. He usually talked to Dad about his problems, whether it was about girlfriends, about trouble with aggressive idiots in school or about anything else. He has always been a good boy, not looking for any trouble, a great student. David was the son every parent would wish to have. I'm not envious, though. My sister and I haven't been that bad either. In our teenage years, we were probably just a little bitchy. But that's not the point here.
Anyway, David has never been that kind of guy mingling with gangs and getting himself under group pressure. Actually, he was rather sort of a leader. He was quite popular in high school, though he never committed himself to one certain group. He got along with almost everyone. This makes it far more difficult to understand why his behavior changed so much when he started going to University. And since University is only about an hour away from home, David decided to stay at our parents'. It seemed like a clever idea. But who could tell back then that he would turn into a jerk, when he used to be such a lovely little boy? At that moment, I wasn't able to find out the reason for his sudden metamorphosis at all. Nonetheless, I hoped that someday I could understand it completely.
However, David hadn't been himself for the past half year. I must admit I hadn't noticed it myself yet because I lived miles away from home. From what my Dad told me, I could gather that David had picked up some new habits. Speaking of my parents, it's weird that my Mom wasn't really worried about my brother. That wasn't typical of her at all, actually. She always used to need to have control over my siblings and me. Considering it, she really wanted to have control over everything. Anyway, I tried to make a bit more sense of what Dad was telling me on the phone.

"Okay, Dad, I could try to talk to him. But then, you should probably tell me what it's all about. I mean, what exactly did happen that even the police had to take care of him? It almost sounds, as if David was a criminal..."
"Well, I hope it won't go that far," Dad answered. "He was going out with those 'friends' of his. Actually, I thought it'd be alright. I mean, he's twenty-one, right? He's grown-up and I should be able to count on him, I should trust him to act with responsibility. Then about 2 a.m., the cops brought him over here, his buddies nowhere to be seen. I guess they freaked out somehow and left him alone. So much for 'great friends'..."
"Alright, Dad, but what happened? Why was he being caught by the police?" I urged.
"Ah yes, err... I'm sorry I can't tell you that," Dad replied.
"Are you kidding me right now? C'mon Dad, it's not as if I was fifteen and as if you had to keep everything unpleasing away from me. I can handle it, whatever it is. For goodness' sake, I'm older than David!" Somehow, I couldn't really understand what Dad's problem was. Why was he changing the subject all the time or turning questions down?
"Laura, I'm really sorry I can't. And no, I don't try to hide it from you. It's just that I don't know the reason for last night myself. Your brother just shrugged and told me again that I wouldn't understand. So I didn't want to upset him. I wasn't awake enough in the middle of the night, either," Dad said.
"Wait a second. Let me get this straight: You're calling me at 11 p.m. to ask me for support, when you don't even know what for?" I was appalled. What was he thinking? That I could dive into David's brain and magically extract the needed information from it? – Well, I wouldn't ask twice, if some random magician offered me telepathic powers... – If David was my twin brother, maybe it wouldn't be that difficult to follow his train of thoughts. Surely, there must be such kind of thing... Emily and I always had some sort of connection which we couldn't explain. It was as if we could read each other's thoughts sometimes. But David and I didn't have that special thread. Neither did Emily and David. My only explanation for that would be that our brother wasn't a twin.
"Dad," I continued, "if you don't know what this is all about, then what exactly are you expecting me to do?"
"Oh, I don't know. You know I'm not good at this. Your Mom loves giving people instructions, but I'm not very familiar with such a situation. Couldn't you just try and talk to him? Maybe he'll tell you something he wouldn't tell your Mom and me," Dad pleaded desperately.
"Don't worry, Dad," I promised, "I will call him tomorrow and see what I can do. Is that all for now? Aurélie and I would really like to continue watching that movie."
"Alright, kids. Thank you a lot, Laura. You can't imagine how relieved I am. Have a good time then, will you?"
"Yeah thanks, Dad. Goodnight." After I had hung up, I went back into the living room, where Aurélie sat on the couch, a bowl of popcorn on her lap, looking at me questioningly. "I'll tell you tomorrow," I answered the unasked question. "Now, let's just watch that DVD and enjoy the rest of the evening."