Destiny took this moment to say to Xan, “Hey, do you realize that you have a pretty nasty hole in your wall right over there?” She pointed to a small hole in the wall, near the TV. It was about big enough to fit a finger in, and around a foot from the floor.
“Aw, dude, you totally do,” Alan agreed. “Looks like somebody drilled right through or something.”
“Never noticed that before… Weird.” Xan crawled over to the hole and looked right in it with his left eye.
“What can you see? Alan asked, walking over to the hole and crouching down.
“Hm… Just blackness. Which means that some- Ow!” Xan yanked his face away from the hole and crawled away.
“What just happened?” Destiny asked as Xan stood up again.
“Something friggin poked me in the eye!” Xan exclaimed. “Granted, it probably wasn’t a good idea to stick my eye in there in the first place.”
“Hey, check this out. Something fell out of the hole,” Alan said. He showed Xan and Destiny a small, rolled-up piece of paper. “Wonder if this has anything written on it. He started to unroll the paper.
“Wait, that could be some, like, trap!” Destiny yelled, snatching the paper from Alan. “Seriously, Alan. We can’t open this.”
“What kind of trap is in a piece of paper? And who would want to kill us anyway?” Xan pointed out, taking the paper back. “I have a good feeling about that paper. Let’s open it. Whatever it is, it will probably be pretty un-boring.”
“Your funeral. I’m backing way off when you open that thing,” Destiny stated, starting to walk away. “Alan, come on, let’s go over- OH MY GOD YOU OPENED IT.”
“Heck yeah! And check it, it does have writing on it! Yay!” Alan exclaimed, doing a little victory dance. “Plus, we didn’t get blown up.”
“You’re an idiot,” Destiny said, facepalming.
“An awesome idiot, mind you. So, here’s what the writing says.” Alan read the paper in a deep, freaky voice. “Yo, Alan, Alexander, and Destiny, are you up for adventure? I am a djinn from the future. I sense that you want to wish for an adventure that will definitely not be boring. So please write yes on the bottom of the page, roll the paper back up, and stick it back in the hole if you want to go on this adventure.”
Alan looked up from the paper, and with a huge grin on his face, said, “Hell yes we wanna go!”
“Yeah, sounds better than Mario Kart 10 in any case!” Xan actually sounded excited and enthusiastic for the first time that day. “Let’s write back and say yes. Always wanted to go on a heroic adventure.”
Destiny shrugged. “I guess if somebody wanted to bomb us or something, we’d already be dead. What the heck, lets try it.”
Alan found a pencil on the floor and used it to write the word “YES” on the bottom of the paper. He rolled it up and stuck it through the hole in the wall.
…
Nothing happened.
“Well, I guess we can play Mario Kart now,” Destiny decided, sitting back down on the couch. “Come on, it’s probably somebody’s stupid prank.”
“No, wait, look, it looks all trippy and rainbow-y and time portal-y in there now,” said Alan, who was still looking through the hole. “Coo- Oh, the next paper came out.” And sure enough, another rolled-up piece of plain, white paper had shot out and landed on the carpeted floor.
“Let me read it this time!” Xan asked excitedly. Alan handed it to him. “Okay, so this one says…” Xan switched to a high-pitched squeak as he read. “To start your adventure, please travel back in time to 5:00 PM Pacific Time, December 31, 2000 AD.”
“Told you it was a prank,” Destiny laughed.
“Wait, let me try something… Alan, hand me the pencil. Thank you.” Xan wrote the words “We don’t know how to time travel” at the bottom of the page and stuck the paper back through the hole.
“Oh, yeah, it is trippy in here… You should look, Destiny!” Xan encouraged.
“Fine, whatever.” Destiny walked over, crouched down, and put her right eye right up to the hole. “Oh, you’re right… I wonder what’s causing that… Must be an expensive pr- AAAAAH!” Much to Alan’s amusement, Destiny fell backwards on the ground, a thin, metal cylinder lying on her belly. She jumped off the ground and scurried away, behind the couch. “Okay, that’s totally a bomb. That’s a bomb. THAT’S A BOMB! Some sick, twisted science fiction addict is trying to kill us!”
“Oh, really? Then why does it have the words “Time Machine” engraved on the side?” Alan asked smugly, picking up the silvery tube. “Seems pretty authentic to me…
“Actually, yeah… I don’t even recognize this metal… Maybe some rare alloy?” Xan examined the cylinder for a few seconds, then handed it back to Alan.
“Don’t touch it! Are you insane? It’s probably made of some radioactive shiz or something!” Destiny was almost hysterical at this point. “Dude! Seriously! Have some common sense, man!”
“I think you’re just jealous that I am currently holding a time machine and you aren’t,” Alan smirked, putting his hands on his hips. “Besides, according to your past self, this whole thing is a prank.”
“Or homicide. Or a homicidal prank,” Destiny defended. “You know what, just stick it back through the hole, cover up the hole, and forget this ever happened. It’s for the best.”
But Alan and Xan weren’t listening to Destiny. They were whispering to each other.
“Hey, what are you whispering about?” Destiny asked, annoyed. “Better not be making fu-“
“HAH!” Alan jumped and tackled Destiny, pinning her on the couch. Xan ran over and proceeded to sit on Alan’s back, further pinning the girl on her back.
“Get off me, dude! Not cool!” Destiny protested.
“Let’s see… December 31… Year 2000…” Xan said, pressing down on a few tiny buttons on the side of the silver cylinder. “Okay, ready to go!”
He started to press down on the large button situated on one of the circular ends of the tube.
“No no no no no no no wait don’t do that-“ Destiny frantically begged.
“Ah, ha ha ha haaa!” Alan cackled.
And Xan pressed the button.