They were staring at the lens which was now flashing a red dot. The camera didn't look like how it looked two days ago. Now it was modernized, a few years ahead of the two of them.
James studied the edges which were now slimmed out. It looked like something from twenty years into the future. This didn't even seem real. He peered through the small frame which was now on top of the camera itself. There was a button that read, "push here" and James looked at Nole with suspicion.
"How do we know this won't set off a chain of events that'll alter the future?"
Nole flashed a smile and cracked his knuckles together, "We don't."
They were sitting in Nole's bedroom now, the flatscreen paused on a video game, the fighters in the screen stuck in motion now. Their controllers lay dormant beside them. Now they were focused on the camera.
"How do you think this thing changed appearances? It doesn't make any sense."
Nole's expression got serious. "That I'm not sure, but the only thing I can conclude is that..." he trailed off. James could tell he didn't want to say something he would regret later.
"I don't know either. Maybe whoever it belongs to doesn't want us knowing that it's theirs?"
Nole shrugged, "Yeah, maybe."
Suddenly, there was a voice coming from the bottom of the camera. The light that was red stopped blinking and there was a loud click. They both looked at each other, completely perplexed now. They listened.
The voice was robotic, definitely not human by any standards.
"if you want to travel back to two-thousand and one, blink three times. If you want to travel to seventeen-forty one, snap twice." It proceeded to list dates from past present and future. The voice was listing dates James didn't even know existed. Before the Roman Empire, before the dinosaurs. He wondered if this was even before time itself.
They were too stunned to speak and sat frozen for a few seconds before Nole finally let out a huge breath he had been holding in for what seemed like minutes.
"That is so cool! Dude, we can go anywhere in time! Whenever we want, wherever we want." He paused. "I could see my great-grandfather. You could see your aunt."
James shook his head. Something about this seemed off. Nole just so happens to find this camera in the woods a few months ago? Laying around? Impossible.
Now the camera is talking to them and telling them that they can go back in time? Impossible.
It was too suspicious and James didn't trust it.
"I don't think we should be playing around with that thing. I don't think you should've picked it up. It's not meant for us, Nole. We have to put it back."
Nole's face suddenly got cold and his eyes changed. James had never seen him like this before. It was scaring him. He wasn't the same Nole he was a few minutes ago.
"No, James. We can't. It is meant for us and we have to use it. We can't put it back. Not now, not when we are so close to Mr. T." His voice changed, James noticed that. It got deeper and more possessive almost as if he were changing into a different person entirely.
James shot his head directly in Nole's sight. Mr. T? Who the heck was Mr. T?
James got tense and he could tell Nole wasn't the same person. What was wrong with him?
And just like that, as quickly as Nole changed, he was suddenly woken up again. He looked stunned and was unable to speak for a few seconds.
"James---wh--what happened?"
Nole looked disgusted, almost violated.
James sucked in a huge breath, "Dude you scared the crap out of me. You like, turned into a different person. Muttering about Mr. T and how we have to keep investigating this camera and the disappearances."
Nole stared at the camera now in his hands, his finger on the start button. The robotic voice telling him which selection he had chosen. There was this enormous wind that followed as Nole began to fade into thin air, right before James's eyes. James panicked and his heart began to race.
"Nole! What's happening?" Nole couldn't move, the only thing he could do is yell back faintly.
"I'm not sure--James, I don't know what's going on. You have to find out what happened. You have to--" he struggled to breathe now. His hands went up to his throat as he clutched onto it. Nole looked at James in horror, his eyes now as big as ever. He shook his head no but it was too late.
"You have to--" he sucked in a breath, choking on the air. "Figure it out. All of it. Break into the police station. Get Ethan, get Cassedee. She has The Gift...read my jour--"
And just like that, he was gone. Poof. Right into the air that James was desperately trying to take in.
He sat there stunned for a few minutes, not believing what he had just seen. The wind had died down now and the only sound that James could hear was the thump, thump of his heart. The rapid breathing coming from in him. And the camera. James glanced over at it, now realizing that this thing--whatever it was--was capable of horrible things. James stared at it now, back to its original form. A magic camera from the future?
James sat in absolute silence for a while for what seemed like an hour. This couldn't be real, this can't be real. Nole was gone, just like the rest of them. All because of this camera? How?
From the past? Who was Mr. T?
This was too much.
James knew he needed help. How was he going to explain Nole's absence? And his parents. He would have to tell them the truth.
We found a magic camera in the woods and something possessed Nole and made him push the button that sent him back in time.
Suddenly, James remembered. Nole pushed the button.
He grabbed the camera, careful not to push it. The robotic voice now silent. The camera looked the same as it did when Nole first showed it to James.
So strange.
He glanced down at the date selected--nineteen-fifty-six. The same date that Nole's great-grandfather disappeared on.
He wasted no time. He had to help his friend, somehow in some way. He grabbed his backpack and stuffed as much as he could in it. All of Note's journals, the camera and...
There was a map, lying face up on the floor. It wasn't there before Nole disappeared.
James looked down at it, unsure of its presence.
The map fluttered as the wind blew in from the open window.
There right in the center of the map, was Nole's face.
Now James finally understood. Nole was right, the police were wrong. The townspeople were wrong. Nobody had passed on, nobody really had disappeared. They were all stuck somewhere, unable to get back to their time. James knew he had to act fast.
But how?
James suddenly remembered that Nole had been obsessively keeping journals on all of his theories as to what happened and why everyone disappeared every ten years. James got up, still shaking and quietly made his way over to Nole's desk.
It felt wrong being in his room alone without him, but what else could he do?
It occurred to James suddenly--he was going to have to figure this thing out whether he wanted to or not. He was going to have to save Nole and everyone else.
Brushing the thought of, he reached into the desk and pulled out the journal. It was worn with a leather bound cover that had Nole's name etched into its surface.
He sat down on Nole's bed, his comforter was plaid with blue and red smushed together almost like a tie-dye. He was a huge fan of comics and had every known character carefully placed into glass cases which lined the shelving units James had helped him put up a few months ago.
There was a navy blue rug, underneath it hardwood floors. A red lamp lay on the nightstand along with Nole's phone charger and book. Ironically the book's title was Caught in Time.
Funny, James thought to himself.
He stared at the leather covered journal now, opening it carefully not to disturb the pages that lay behind it. It was old. James could feel that from the paper and the smell. It was musty.
He opened the first page and read what Nole had written two years prior. Normal stuff about how school is annoying and the girls there are cute.
James flipped through a couple pages and stopped.
There drawn sloppily on the page was an image of what looked like a man. The drawing had a thin face and their eyes were cold looking. A short frown was stretched across their face and jagged teeth peered out from their mouth. They looked so evil looking.
Below the image were several rushed notes. James could tell Nole had been writing fast. In bullet format Nole had listed all the possible identities as to who this man was.
Number four read Mr. T, which was circled at least a dozen times.
The year 1956 was also written and some name James didn't recognize.
Emily.
Who was Emily? And how was she involved with Mr. T?
James flipped through the pages a few more times and found a poorly drawn area of a map. This looks like the same area where the camera was found.
He analyzed the map Nole had drawn. The old manor hung in the background with an arrow pointing at it which read, "Mr. T."
The graveyard was in the backyard some few inches away from the manor and the pond was in the front of the page.
James imaged how lavishing the manor was back then. Grand ballrooms filled with wealthy folks, dressed in suits and cocktail dresses. Their hair done and drinks in their hands. Laughing, the jazz band playing until midnight.
There were some notes scribbled next to the drawing.
Police involvement, hypnotized by Mr. T.
Townspeople unaware they are all gone.
We are all alone
Our town is an illusion that was created by Mr. T.
How do we get back? This is not reality, this is fake
James is a magical sorcerer.
Cassedee can stop time, alter it or speed it up.
Ethan is a navigator
Time is running out for all of us...
James closed the journal. He couldn't believe his eyes.
I'm a sorcerer?
He realized that he had to break into the police station.
He realized somehow that he had to explain to Ethan and Cassedee all of this.
Somehow.