The foggy evening was mysterious and dark enough to claim the title of some stories related dark fantasy, when Gustin was on the way to his home from airport. The black patches that were turning the evening slowly into another casual night, kept the taxi driver in dark. Hence Gustin couldn't see his face. He assumed that the deep violet mask that covered almost half of the driver's face , was ugly and had a danger sign on it.

He heard from his mother that it should take around fourty minutes to reach their house from the airport. The fact that the address which he noted down years ago after his parents divorced, still existed, was amusing to him. Resting his body on the back sit, he glanced out of the window. The scenery kept changing time to time. Near airport, it was heavily lighted that he almost got headache from that. But the road which led to his destination , was pleasantly suburb type, with thin light and thick trees around. As if he was going through a forest!

He didn't remember much from his childhood. So he let those scenic views outside the window, surprise him continually. Just when he left some motels behind, around 200 metres ahead of the motel, the car stopped suddenly.

Crecch!

His mind came back to the harsh reality but he felt cold down his spine, when he brought the glass of the window down.

Turning to the driver, as he intended to ask the reason of sudden halt, he found the seat empty. Panicked, he got out of the car immediately and looked around.

Dun! Dun!

Suddenly sounds of thumping huge drums almost rushed to his ears to make him numb. He covered his ears and squatting down, clenched his eyes, hoping to stop the noise and enquire about its source.

But earth shook violently which added to his bewilderment. In midst of the chaos, he searched for the car door handle. As soon as he found it, he almost jumped inside and reached for his phone. Just to reduce his assurance of 'calling other and he would be fine' , there was no signal. He went to press emergency, but before that the earthquake turned even more violent, as if it wanted to turn the single standing car upside down. Grabbing his backpack, Gustin limped out of the car. Before he could move, his feet froze where they were. The road ahead was splitting into two parts, as if some one was tearing a bread into two pieces.

******

Three months ago.

" Hey Gustin! Would you like to drop by? It's Jeanie's birthday!" Gustin just took something for breakfast from the cantin but ended up almost spilling the drink because Jon, his closest buddy in this university gave him a nice little pat on his back!

Despite having different majors, they ended up being good friends, the only friend for Gustin, after getting to know each other in a educational tour. Slowly they got well acquainted because of Jon's idiotic behaviour. However, Gustin didn't not regret having a caring and kind friend's back.

Jeanie, Jon's younger sister, born seven years later after Jon celebrated his second birthday. She was her stepsister, however, her behaviours never showed the distance between two typical step siblings. Jon's father died in a car accident. Thanks to his mother , who worked in a reputed farm, he still got a stable starting. He was seven when his relatives gave condolences at his father's sudden passing.

Three years later, his mother introduced him to one of her colleagues. A thick glassed fellow, maybe two or three years older than her, stared at him excitingly. He was introduced as his future father. He didn't get much of it, however accepted him. When they got together like a family few months later, he saw his new father cuddling a two year old baby. He was so happy to have a playmate, that he almost forgot all grieves. And thus the bonding between siblings formed at an early stage.

That's what Gustin heard from Jon, once they went out to have dinner together. He met Jeanie few times a ms well. But the thing he was envious of Jon, was the fact that he had got a full family to enjoy vacations together, to laugh at the dinning table, to tease each other !

Leaving with his super busy father alone, he was glad to have someone else, trustworthy, like Jon who always had his back.

When in that evening, he went at Jon's parents' place to attend the celebration, his father Joseph was seated on a stool covering his forehead with left palm, which was resting on the table, that looked like a pub table; beside the stool. His white lab coat was crinkled in some places due to overwork or maybe because of his inelegant sitting position. Several other people of varying ages were there sitting in a similar way , while some were pacing up and down in short steps.

A lady with brown ponytail, seemed to be in her late 30s, came forward with a holographic page emerging from her wrist band, "Should we inform EARTH WING 3? They can talk to governments.." Joseph cut her off, " They won't help anyway. Instead we'll get in trouble. Anything regarding the timing?" She sighed lightly, " The lines are not discrete and fully irregular. We can not foretell. Shi told it would possibly take a year at least."

Joseph calculated, it would be too late if Gustin didn't meet his mother any soon. So that night when he returned from his original workplace, which was completely unknown to Gustin who knew his father was some kind of manager in a company, important enough to stay out of home until late night; he faced Gustin face to face.

" You should visit your mother sometimes.." , Joseph started the abrupt conversation as soon as he entered in Gustin's room, after 3 knocks. Gustin, who got in the house not long ago, responded without meeting those staring eyes still sitting in front of his study table covered with some printed sheets and various books under his laptop, " It would be vacation in three months."

Getting a positive reply, the father went out to book required tickets to finalize the journey, while Gustin lifted his eyes to see the door getting closed behind his father.

That's how he ended up in such a unbelievable circumstance.

While Gustin crawled down the road and squat down on a tree's roots, the whole earth along with the whole forest and even the tree trunk he was resting against, kept shaking slowly as if the after shocks of an earthquake, which would never stop till infinite times. He felt like the trees in the dark forest through which the road rived, kept on shaking holding their laughs and making fun of a sole human.

..Amidst the confusion and darkness, he ran his gaze in the surrounding after the crater engulfed the car and moved towards the city he was coming from, clearing his vision of the other side of the road.

While he was busy searching for another soul, bright sparks transgressed the black cloak. As if the thunders were playing some kind of sports on the sky or, aurora from poles lessened themselves into thin threads of luminaries. The environment ... particularly the sky over his head, turned into the colourful canvas of bright shades of red, blue and greens.

Just at the moment, when Gustin was almost blinded by a white flake of light, he finally noticed that the tremors stopped, just that he couldn't realise when it did. He gradually understood, looking at those intense brightness in the part of the sky that was free to see through the parallel canopy, that the brights threads of light were arranging themselves into a pattern. Before he could figure out it fully, a movement from the right on the side of the road caught his eyes. The reflection showed him a danger signed mask, telling him that it was the ghostly driver.

It didn't take even a second before he returned his eyes towards the sky... to find those bright sparks taking the shape is tunnels. In moments, around ten tunnel like structures were formed of the illumination and floated in the sky as if they were the tunnels to the heaven.

He assumed them to be of two metres in diameter for each, while their extention of length seemed unimaginable to him. They're wiggling slowly as if the gentle wind was floating them like feathers. In awe, he forgot to close his mouth which opened out of surprise and encountering the strangest thing ever happened.

Hearing the sound of rustling, he diverted his attention from those confusing pipes of light, hollow from inside and translucent; towards the other human being. His pupils constricted seeing that only figure other than him took a great leap from the other side of the road, successfully crossing that hell reaching pit with a long jump and ran at him.

Shocked by the continuous queer events, his mind wiped of the thought of having some danger from this kinky driver, resulting in no movement in his muscles, hence he kept at the same posture untill that frame kneeled in front of with one knee and put his left hand on Gustin's left shoulder.

First at that dark outlook of the man's face, still covered with a mask, and then at his hand at his shoulder which seemed to be consoling him, Gustin took a blank look and found his dictionary empty apart from a , 'Huh?'