Call of the Unknown

Helping Hand

Martin knew the hardware store very well, he was in there a lot the first few months he moved into his farmhouse and had made friends with some of the people working there, including Kate, who became one of his best friends.

"Hey friend, what are you doing here?"

"I'm helping someone with a project"

"Oh, the hottie you walked in with?"

"Yeah I guess, he's fixing up a house down the road from mine and I thought I'd give him a hand"

"He's hot, have you and him, you know", she waged her eyebrows.

"Don't be so crass besides he's not my type"

"I'm not, I just think you two look good together"

"Thanks but we just met and I don't sleep with people I just met"

"Well if you ask me I think you should try it, it might loosen you up a bit"

"Well, no one asked you, so how's Stella?"

"Harsh, and she's great, a little tired from the work but that is what happens when you work in medicine"

"She still working nights?"

"Yeah, but she is going to take a few days off soon"

"That's good, you two should try to get away for a while"

"I tried to talk to her about it but she wants to stay close in case she gets called in"

"Maybe try to plan a stay-cation"

"I think I will, I better get back to work before my boss sees me"

"OK, we will talk soon girl"

They went in separate directions with Martin going to find Jae and see what he was getting into, he was in the electrician section looking at light fixture parts. Martin was sure the bigger man had no idea what he was looking at and had read a few articles online on what to look for. A small smile crept up on his face when he saw how helpless the other man looked trying to figure out what to buy.

"How old are the wires in the place you bought"

"I am not sure, and I didn't buy the place it was abandoned"

"You know you can't just squat in someone's house right"

"I looked it up and found out that no one owns the house, so I just decided to semi-move in"

"So why not just hire someone to come and fix it up for you?"

"I don't want someone finding me coming in naked at who knows when after we do what we do"

"I guess I can understand that, so let's get started"

They spent the rest of the afternoon buying supplies and what they couldn't find they ordered online, there was something adorable about watching a man try to read the instructions to a faucet mount. It was getting late and Martin knew he should be going home but he just couldn't drag himself to the door, at the same time he wanted to see what would happen if he stayed.

"I guess I should be getting home, it's late"

"Yeah you probably should", Jae gave him a questioning look. "What are you thinking? You have this look in your eyes"

"I was wondering what would happen if I stayed the night"

"What do you mean?"

"I mean we always wake up in the woods naked right, so what if you were already together when we fell asleep, what would happen then?"

"That's a good question"

"Why not set up a few cameras around the house and see how our other selves react to already being together"

Martin ran home and grabbed a few extra cameras Sam left in case the ones outside got damaged by animals; the cameras were placed in areas most likely to catch movement. They waited until eleven to get into bed, it was hard for Martin to fall asleep because he wanted to talk to the other Jae and find out what he knew about what was going on. It didn't take long for Jae to fall asleep and thirty minutes later he sat up right and looked right at Martin but it was like he was trying to figure him out, like he could tell something was off.

"You are not him", it came out like a statement.

"No, I'm not, I wanted to have a little chat before I fell asleep"

"You want to know why"

"Yes, I want to understand what is going on"

"I cannot give you the answers you seek"

"Why not, I can't keep waking up in the woods without any clothes"

"Only you can give you the answers you look for"

"How am I going to do that?"

"That is for you to find out", the other Jae put his hand on Martin's forehead, causing him to fall back onto the bed, and darkness closed in on him.

Martin shot upright in the bed trying to remember everything that happened the night before, he was once again naked with no sign of his clothes, and dirt under his nails, he knew they had been outside at one point. He also noticed that he was at home in his bed, not sure how he got there, his best guess was that the other him must have walked back after he was done. Taking a very quick shower he put on some clothes and headed out to his car only to remember he left it at Jae's house, luckily he saw Jae coming.

"What happened last night, did the cameras catch anything?"

"I don't know I figured you would want to watch them together"

"Yeah, let's head back over to your place and we can see what we got"

They hopped back into Jae's car and headed back over to his place to watch the videos and see if there was anything they could use to help with the mystery, almost all of the cameras came up empty. Only the last one had something on it; they could see themselves in the living room sitting on the couch naked, it was like they were having a hushed conversation. The bigger man was holding the smaller man's hands for a minute and then they both turned and looked at the camera, the bigger man spoke first.

"We both know you have been trying to figure out what's been going on", his voice didn't sound like Jae's.

"This is something that you need to figure out on your own, all we can tell you is that we are from a past life", it was weird for Martin to watch himself on camera and know it wasn't him looking back.

"That's what the other you told me last night in bed"

"Wait, you spoke to him"

"Yeah, after we laid down I purposely stayed awake to try and see if I could get some answers, he did something to me to make me sleep"

"For now you need to look for the man with the anchor tattoo"

The video ends with the men getting up and walking out of frame most likely to head to the woods to do whatever they do out there; Martin was ready to get started with the search for the man with the anchor tattoo. He told Jae he would go home and get started and that he should come by around six so they could do some research together and have dinner. Six came by so fast and he hadn't even begun to think about food, he was so wrapped up in research that he almost didn't hear the knock on the door. Jae had brought some alcohol thinking if they were going to get anything done he would need to have a good drink.

"You know alcohol dulls the mind, right? How do you expect to get anything done if you are drunk?"

"Drinking helps me think, besides, I was thinking that maybe if we were drunk they couldn't take our bodies this time"

"You know that is not how that works right? If we are passed out from drinking they can take our bodies easier, they usually have to wait for us to be unconscious and if we pass out we will be unconscious"

"I really didn't think about that, to be honest"

"I figured as much, let's just keep researching, I found some old army records for the men in this town, specifically the ones from the last 40 years, If we subtract our birth years I think we can come up with a time to look from"

"Good Idea"

The rest of the night was spent going over document after document searching for a man with an anchor tattoo, there were so many men with the same tattoo it was driving them crazy; most of the men were dead. There was one man who was still alive and still lived in town, he was their only real lead for the time being so they would have to try and visit him the following day. By the time they were ready to sleep it was late into the night, Jae was about to head out when Martin stopped him and suggested he stay the night.

"So you do want to sleep with me", he said with a teasing smile.

"Oh shut up, I want to test a theory, nothing more"

"What theory is that?"

"I think the other us doesn't like us waking up together, it's like they want to do their thing but go their separate ways after, so I want to see if you will wake up in your house or mine"

Martin got his cameras ready for the night and he and Jae headed to the bedroom, once again he made sure to try and stay awake to talk to the other Jae but as soon as he realized he wasn't the other him he put him to sleep.