Chapter 25
Darin ran down the sidewalk on Brightwood Avenue and his lungs about to explode from being overworked. He tripped over his two feet and took a tumble on the sidewalk scraping his right elbow.
He sat up and tried to catch his breath. Then the flashing red lights from the two squad cars racing down the street caught his attention. He sprang to his feet and noticed the entrance to the university within sight to the left. "I can make it. I can make it," he yelled out to give him the needed assurance.
He ran off down the sidewalk cringing with chest pains.
Inside Chief Hanson's squad car, he saw a shadowy figure running down the sidewalk heading toward the university. He grabbed his Motorola radio handset and pressed the button. "Our prisoner is up ahead to the left. He's obviously running to the university to hide," Chief Hanson said into the handset.
"Copy, the prisoner, running to university," said Officer Jacobs from the radio.
Darin ran to the entrance of the university. He bent over and tried to catch his breath. The flashing red lights that illuminated the area made him rethink stopping. He ran off into the campus.
Darin ran as fast as he could and tripped over his feet again. "Fuck!" he cried out while he took a nasty tumble on the pavement. He heard a snap in his left wrist. The pain was excruciating, and he fought hard from screaming out loud.
The flashing red lights from the squad cars illuminated the pavement. Darin painfully stood up and felt something wet running down his face. He touched it and looked at it. Blood. His forehead had an enormous scrape on the right side. He wiped away the blood that started flowing down to his right eye, held his left arm and ran off with a limp and in pain, from his banged-up right knee to the main entrance of the Science and Engineering building.
He stopped fifteen feet from the building.
Blood flowed down into his right eyes again.
He wiped away the blood from his eyes.
Red flashes of light illuminated the ground. He turned around and saw the two squad cars getting close.
From inside his car, Chief Hanson saw Darin run away from the front entrance and down the right side of the building. He grabbed his handset from his radio. "He's going to the rear of the science building," he said while he screeched his car to a stop near the building.
Darin ran to the rear of the science building.
He ran to the concrete steps that led down to the two double wooden doors with windows.
While he rushed half-way down the concrete stairs, he stumbled and fell. Darin hit the bottom with a loud thud and let out a cry of pain.
He painfully sat up and saw it was quiet outside without any signs of the squad cars. He felt relieved while he painfully stood up and faced the double wooden doors. He turned the doorknob of the right door, and the door opened. The alarm to the building rang out. He could care less about. "Thank you, Dr. Bowman," he said and slipped into the dark basement.
Once he got inside, he flipped on the light switch, as he didn't want to take a third tumble on the concrete floor.
He rushed off through the basement with a painful limp.
Chief Hanson drove his squad car up over the curb, hearing the alarm of the science building ringing. He drove through the grass to the rear of the science building.
Officer White drove his squad car over the curb and followed Chief Hanson's car through the grass.
The two squad cars drove through the grass and to the rear of the science building.
Both cars slid to a stop in the grass. They all jumped out of their cars, leaving the engines running and the door opened.
Chief Hanson saw the basement lights were on from the rear door stairwell.
Back in the basement, Darin was grateful that Dr. Bowman left the door to the room he built unlocked.
He rushed inside the room.
He rushed over to the Studebaker time machine's driver's door.
He removed the key from his pants pocket, unlocked the door, and sat down in the seat.
He slammed the door shut.
He shoved the key in the ignition and turned it.
He buckled himself in the seat with the harness.
Darin flipped up the "1 - Power" switch. The light above the power switch illuminated green. All the left lights above the other switches were not lit up. There was a low electrical hum while the electronics of machine fired up.
He flipped up the "2 - Doors" toggle switch. A loud click sound was heard that indicated both doors were locked. The light above that toggle switch illuminated green.
He glanced down at his watch then dialed in June 15, 1971, 2320 in the "Present Time" panel.
He dialed in June 15, 1995, 2320 in the "New Time" panel.
He flipped up the "3 – Time Set" toggle switch. The light above that toggle switch illuminated green.
He flipped up the "4 - Engine" toggle switch and noticed the lens above it illuminated the green side of that lens.
The engine in the front of the Studebaker started up with a whine. The engine started to hum.
Darin cringed in pain as his broken left wrist was killing him. He closed his eyes and debated if he should continue.
He silently prayed that he wouldn't be vaporized into a million pieces. But then he thought about his life with Tiffany and thought that that wouldn't be a bad way to go.
He flipped up the "6 - Travel" toggle switch quickly before he changed his mind. He noticed that the lens above it illuminated the green side.
The flipping of this switch activated the time travel process and the humming got louder and was ear piercing. Darin covered his ears with his hands and cringed in extreme pain.
Darin glanced at a speedometer and saw that the needle jumped off the peg at the "0" MPH marking.
The Studebaker started to slowly spin counter clockwise on the round base.
Darin could see the speedometer move up the MPH readings to 10 MPH.
The spinning of the machine started to get faster.
Darin got dizzy inside the time machine while he spun around faster.
The time machine started to spin at hypersonic speed.
He glanced at the speedometer, and it was pegged at 160 mph.
Darin saw millions of twinkling psychedelic balls of red, white, blue, green, and yellow lights raced outside the windows of the Studebaker. He really liked that show.
He passed out and slumped down in his seat while he spun around at hypersonic speeds.
Back at the rear door of the basement, Chief Hanson, and Officers White and Jacobs rushed into the basement.
They scanned the area over then heard a strange sound coming from that new room at the other end of the basement.
"Over there," said Chief Hanson and they all ran to the new room.
They raced to that room and saw the door of that room was left open.
A screeching sound was heard coming from the door opening of the new room.
They cautiously entered the new room with their revolvers drawn.
The cops came to a halt once they got one foot into the new room the second they saw the blur of the Studebaker time machine spinning around at hypersonic speeds in its counter clockwise rotation.
"What the fu..?" said Chief Hanson while they stared at this strange blur.
They stood there speechless and did a double take to make sure they saw what they thought they saw.
The Studebaker time machine vanished, and those millions of small balls of colored lights flew all over the room like miniature flying saucers.
Chief Hanson and his two officers hit the deck, fearful of those balls of lights.
The balls of lights dissipated into thin air, and the basement was an eerie quiet.
They looked cautious while they slowly stood up after thinking it was safe.
"What the fuck just happened?" said Chief Hanson while he looked at the bare spot where that machine was once kept.
"It disappeared. It just fucking disappeared, Chief," said Officer White.
Officer Jacobs just stood there with his mouth dropped to the floor in disbelief. He was speechless and dumbfounded.
Chief Hanson and his two officers cautiously walked deeper into that room.
"It was here. I know it was just here a few minutes ago," said Officer White while they all stood in the spot where that blur of a strange machine once occupied.
Chief Hanson moved his hands around in thin air, thinking that maybe this machine turned invisible. It wasn't. He removed his hat and scratched his head.
"Should we write up a report of this, Chief?" said Officer Jacobs.
Chief Hanson looked at Officer Jacobs. "Are you fucking stupid or what? If we did that, I'd be sent to the loony farm for being crazy," he said.
"We'll forget what we just saw. Do you understand?" he said to George and Billy.
"Yes sir," they both said in unison.
"Do you think our prisoner was inside that thing?" said Officer White.
"Maybe, but we better double-check to make sure he's not hiding somewhere in the building.
Chief Hanson and his two officers spent the next three hours searching every nook and cranny of the science building. They didn't find Darin anywhere in the building.
Chief Hanson made his two officers swear that they wouldn't tell a soul about that disappearing contraption.
They headed back to their squad cars, and since they were still there with the engines running, Chief Hanson figured Darin was really inside that disappearing contraption. Chief Hanson stated he would write up the report that Darin escaped and believed he left Burkeville.
Once he got back inside his car, Chief Hanson's eyes widened when he remembered something. He reached in his pocket and removed that Polaroid picture that Officer White snapped tonight.
"I need to go home and take care of something," he said.
Officer White started up the car, put it in gear, and drove away.
Ten minutes had passed, and Chief Hanson returned home.
He busted into Robbie's room where he just got in under his covers in bed.
"What the fuck is this?" yelled Chief Hanson when he removed that Polaroid picture from his shirt pocket.
He showed it to Robbie.
Robbie's eyes widened in fear the second he saw someone had snapped a picture of him giving Sal a blow job in the woods. He knew he was caught. "I, ah, I, ah, said Robbie knowing he couldn't lie out of this one.
Chief Hanson was furious that his son, the quarterback star, liked having sex with men. He removed his belt and started to whip Robbie.
Robbie cried like a girl and shielded his face while his father beat him.
Chief Hanson was done beating Robbie. "You're joining the Marines in the morning. I can't have a son that's a peter puffer living in my house," he said while he put his belt back on his pants. "For the life of me, I can't figure out why you turned out to be a fucking queer," he said then paused for a few seconds. "I'm going to have to do my best to keep this from spreading around town," he said, then left Robbie's bedroom.
Robbie sobbed in his pillow while his father left his bedroom. He knew he had to join the Marines. He didn't want to have anything to do with the military. For the first time in his life, he was scared.
The next day arrived, and Chief Hanson drove Robbie south to North Chestwood to the Marine recruiting station. It was a quiet drive, and Chief Hanson was still furious.
Robbie filled out the required paperwork and lied to the questions about having sex with men. Chief Hanson overshadowed Robbie to make sure he correctly filled out the paperwork.
Chief Hanson dropped Robbie off at his sister's home in North Chestwood. He wanted Robbie to stay out of Burkeville.
But a week passed, and the word still slipped out about Robbie getting caught having sex down at Lake Willow.
Kenny knew his goose was cooked and he was looking at spending time in prison, so he had a friendly chat with a reporter from the Burkeville Daily News. He told the reporter about Robbie Hanson getting caught having sex down at Lake Willow. It made it on the front page of the Burkeville Daily News the next day. Kenny hoped that news would have the town folk concentrating on Robbie instead of him.
The following weeks were rabid with gossip about Robbie and were weak with the news about Kenny. And theories were also rapid about what happened to Robbie since he hadn't been seen around town in weeks. Some had speculations that Chief Hanson killed Robbie and dumped his body in Lake Willow.
Robbie left in mid-July for Marine basic training at Parris Island. He never returned back to Burkeville, as his father disowned him.