The Virus- Part 3

April 3, 2024

“Wait this is my house.” I said in astonishment.

“What do you mean?” Jack said. 

“So you know how I traveled in the future with Vicky?” I asked.

“I mean yeah,” He replied.

“Back in the year of 1994 this was my house. Also where Violet Tyel lived as well.” I finished.

“Oh,” He said, not sure what really to say. 

“It’s fine, is it ok if I look around the house though. You know memories.” I said.

 “Yeah, sure,” He told me.

We pulled up in the stone driveway that looked a little too familiar. I remember when I was around the age of 4 or so me and my mother were outside she challenged me to see how many of the individual stones we could color in with chalk in 5 minutes. We did the challenge over and over again until when my Grandma came home that night from shopping the entire driveway was filled with yellows, pinks, and purples. The driveway was so pretty. I was so sad when the next day it rained. My mom promised me that we would do it again soon but we never did. As Jack parked his car and I got out it reminded me of when I used to get out of my moms car and where my beloved bike was parked. I walked up the small path and 3 steps then waited for Jack to unlock the door. The door was a different color. It was originally a nice dark red that I had always adored. Now it was a black. Now don’t think I don’t like black. Because I do, it’s my favorite color. It was just the red that was so bright it just made the house pop. 

“The door color is different.” I said.

“Oh, yeah when I was 6 or so me and my grandpa painted it.” He said.

“It used to be red.” Vicky said.

“Yeah I barely remember that.” Jack replied.

Jack unlocked the door with a golden key and the door popped open. Inside there was a small mat that was meant for wiping your feet. I was the first one inside the house so I wiped my feet then looked around the house. It was confusing to see the house I grew up in with just different furniture and everything. I went upstairs to see my bedroom which had turned into Jack’s bedroom which was bland compared to what I had. In his bedroom there was one picture of a mountain which I had come to assume was Mount Tamsri. His bed was a full that was made and had a grey comforter on the top. His pillows had cases on them which were identical to the color of the comforter. His desk was brown and polished and made of oak. On it was a stapler, a book, and a camera. Next to his desk was a white dresser with a little drawer. On top of the nightstand was a clock, a lamp, and a glass of water. I missed seeing the pink walls which were now painted a drab blue. I miss my stickers on the walls of skateboards and motorcycles. The one true thing I really missed was my grandma. I never said goodbye. She never even did anything. Jack then came into the room. 

“Uh I see you seen my room.” He said.

“Yeah It’s nice. I like the picture of the mountain on your wall.” I said.

“Yeah it’s actually Mount Tamsri where we are going to go to find the crystals.” Jack told me.

“Oh cool. Are you into photography?” I asked noticing the camera on his clean and tidy desk.

“Yeah actually I am.” Jack told me.

“Oh nice. I used to be into photography. I took a couple courses in my freshman year.” I told Jack.

“Cool, I don’t do it much anymore since my father died from the Virus.” Jack explained.

“Oh I'm sorry to hear that, you should start again though you have a lot of talent.” I told Jack.

“Yeah maybe I should.” Jack told me.

Then Vicky came into the room. Caring 3 or 4 books in her hands with sticky notes sticking out of the pages. 

“I found these books that mentioned things about Mount Tamsri and about the crystals.” Vicky said in excitement.

“Cool!” Jack said with hope.

“We can drive halfway up the mountain. Then we need to walk for an hour and a half till we reach a sharp turn left. After that we continue up the mountain until we reach the Tamsri River. There under the water grow the beautiful shimmering Tamsri Crystals.” Vicky said with excitement.

So then Jack got down a bunch of snow gear for all of us, and a bag to put the crystals in. 

We got to Jack’s car then we started to drive off towards the mountain. We drove for what seemed like forever. We drove past where the box was found and into the deep snow. We started to travel up the mountain which made my ears pop. We traveled up the mountain for a long time which was nice because I got to sleep. When I woke up I hoped to be back in my own bed nice and warm. Tucked in. Innocence. But when I woke up to the sound of Jack’s voice telling me and Vicky (Who was also sleeping) to wake up and be prepared to walk 13 miles up to the Tamsri River where the crystals would be found. So we took our map to see where to turn and such because there were a lot of forks in the pathways where we could end up getting lost. I mean after all some of Vicky’s books said that the catchphrase of the mountain was “Everyone that comes up doesn't always come back down.” Scary huh? We each got our gear such as the bags, backpacks, snow gear, and food and water. It was so cold on the mountain it must have been at least 7 degrees fahrenheit. 

“Ready to begin the climb?” Jack said as we all started to walk up the freezing cold Mount Tamsri to the crazy mission to fix my mother’s stupid mistake.