So the Story Goes on

Part one of this story is told by JBaz

Carl helps Jaylene buckle the twins, Denny and Jenny, into their seats while Adam buckles himself into his spot. He grabs the cat carrier with Felix inside and puts it in the Jeep Wagoneer. He then signals for Barker to join Adam in the third row. Climbing behind the wheel, he glances over at Jaylene to make sure she's buckled in, then starts the engine.

Jaylene raises the garage door, but Carl barely gives it enough time to rise completely before he reverses the Jeep out. Barely slowing down, he backs up onto the street, doing a complete ninety-degree turn, before he puts the car in drive, and with squealing tires, he speeds away from their home. Turning left at the stop sign, he maneuvers the SUV to the highway.

Adam and the twins are shrieking in delight at the rare experience of their dad speeding through the streets. Poor Felix is mewing loudly in his cage. Barker is starting to whimper and whine while lying in Adam’s lap. Carl felt guilty driving as dangerously as he was, with his family in the vehicle especially.

Jaylene had been demanding since they left their home what was going on and what he had seen outside the kitchen window. For the first time in their nine-year marriage, he was thoroughly ignoring her. Concentrating on driving, he attempted to buy himself more time before he had to tell her what he had seen and the secret he had been hiding from her all these years.

Seriously, he thought, what was he going to tell her? That his whole life had been a lie? That he wasn’t who he said he was? That he was an illegal alien with no country to call home? That he had found him? That they had located him after all these years? Nothing he told her made sense, and she definitely would have a hard time believing him.

He drives on into the night, pulling up to a rundown motel when he can’t hold his eyes open anymore. He remained silent as Jaylene and he took the kids and animals inside the room. Keeping his mouth shut even while they put the children down in one of the beds, even though he could feel her questioning eyes on him.

After they finish this nighttime ritual, Jaylene looks at Carl, saying, “Okay, enough. Something's going on, and you’re not telling me what it is, Carl. We never have secrets from each other. Talk.” Then she sat down on the empty bed, crossed her legs and arms, and waited for him to talk.

Pacing back and forth in the confines of the small ratty room, Carl finally says, “It’s a long story, and I don’t rightfully know where to start. I’ll tell you everything; just bear with me.”

Sitting down on the bed beside his wife, Carl took her hand. He turned it over, and kissing her palm, he turned his cheek into it. Closing his eyes, he sat there like that for several seconds, until Denny, turning over in his sleep, farted. Raising his head, Carl opens his eyes and begins his story.

“Let me start by asking you to let me tell my tale, without you interrupting me, please. I promise I’ll answer all your questions if you have any when I’m done.” When Jaylene nods, Carl continues, “Do you remember how I told you that I wasn’t born here? Well, I wasn’t lying; I just omitted to add that I wasn’t born in this world.”

“You see, fifteen years ago, I was fleeing across galaxies, attempting to evade capture by a member of the race of cosmic bounty hunters. The why isn’t important right now. I’m not that being anymore, you’ve changed me.”

“Anyways, I entered an asteroid field, trying to hide from the hunter. I was doing fairly well, too, I thought, when I was suddenly pulled off course by a strong gravitational pull. What I hadn’t known when I entered the field was that it was caused by a newly formed black hole, which was pulling me deeper into its magnetic field at a speed that I found utterly frightening.”

“What I saw and felt inside the black hole is beyond words. In the space of seconds, I saw lifetimes rise and fall, worlds form and unform, and the impossible became the possible. I felt fear, yet I was exhilarated in my excitement. I saw my future and past, and I saw all the possibilities that could be.”

“Then I came out onto the other side, damaged ship spiraling out of control. I tried what I could to keep the shuttle up in space, but for all my efforts, all I did was control my crash to Earth, and eventually to you.”

“As you can tell, I survived the crash, I won’t bore you with the details of my fiery descent into this planet’s atmosphere. Just know that men were waiting for me in the Oregon forest I crashed in. Men in black suits wearing black sunglasses. These men captured me and took me to an underground facility where they ran all sorts of tests on me. Poking, prodding, and sticking me. Taking my blood for whatever morbid reason they had. They ran their many experiments on me until, one day, they were lax in their security measures.”

“By this time, I’d already realized that the black hole had already done something to my physiology. While I’d been underground in the facility, I had started having visions. Vivid as could be, they were, and they’d come true. I mentioned to none of the personnel who were responsible for my care what was going on. So I knew my chance was coming; I just had to watch for the day to arise.”

Carl got a pained look on his face as he was drawn out of his recollections suddenly. With a look of fear, he looked into Jaylene’s eyes and said, “Shit, they’re here!”

----------- 𝔗𝔬 𝔟𝔢 𝔠𝔬𝔫𝔱𝔦𝔫𝔲𝔢𝔡 -----------

*a/n: JBaz will pick one or two stories to continue himself out of the entries he receives. This isn't a challenge, it's just a fun prompt that he thought we'd all enjoy doing.