If I can start over: A new world

IX. You have to catch up. Part 3

I woke up after a few minutes, according to my criteria, on the cold tile of a bathroom. My head hurt tremendously. My lips were split into a thousand pieces, and if I brushed them with my tongue I could feel the burning in every hole where they had detached.

My nostrils were dilated, so my larynx was sore. My eyes felt heavy and sunken. Dazed, I tried to stand up, but without success, I slipped to the ground. I hit my tailbone as I fell, and let out a groan, which bent my back to the side, and immediately put my left hand on the sore area.

"I told you you shouldn't push him to those practices." I heard Francesca fuzzily.

"If you don't let him experience these kinds of events, he'll never learn what pain is, what it means to exceed your own limits in battle. He should experience those risks here, in the open field, with us who are destined to take care of him, and not against an adversary more experienced." From my angle, it only seemed that a dwarf, with the arms, bent in a vee and hands-on-hips fought against the cold winter breeze that Wisconsin breathed out.

"He's right," I managed to say, about to pass out again. "It's better here than elsewhere." I realized then that it was already dark. "How long was I asleep?"

"A couple of hours," Francesca replied. "I thought... well, your body is not used to that kind of magic."

"Oh yeah," Vuk interrupted "but it'll be very soon. Didn't you see the tremendous lightning bolt it took out? I had to shovel wolfish pounds of snow with my hands to stop the wildfire you almost started, boy. It was amazing!" His hands were still on his hips, but now a broad smile crossed her face.

"Where are we?"

"Close to the recreation center you mentioned," Francesca replied.

"How did we get here?"

"Well, because I'm an expert at locating places, kid. Oh yes sir!" Vuk yelled.

"Because you said let's go head-on," Francesca said laughing. "And he listened to you. We ran into it after about thirty minutes of jogging. He put you on his back and brought you mounted."

"Thank you." I looked at Vuk

"Until death, boy." He smiled back. "Can you support yourself in weight?"

"I think so." I was already feeling much better. At least my chest didn't hurt when I breathed, and my legs didn't shake anymore when I tried to stand up. "Let's ask about the card."

I came out of the small bathroom where we were and saw the machines, the cars, the sweets, the glasses, the slot machines, the tickets, and the bowling pins. It was full of group activities for the sole purpose of amusing the few families that remained, because according to the clock on the wall hanging high on one wall, it was almost nine o'clock, and the place closed in an hour.

We move towards the bar near the bowling alley, as it was the first cash register I saw, and where there is a cash register there is a smiling saleswoman who can give me the answers I need. I walked over to the bar and sat on the wooden stool with the ocher padded seat.

"Isn't that you?" Francesca said to me. "Along with Ale, Ramcés, and Claudia."

"Shit..." I turned in the seat, turning my back to them. "Yes, we are. But how?" I twisted the look on my face. "They should be in Hiawatha, in the bombing."

"Oh sure... Vuk jumped back a couple of days. Since you weren't waking up, we agreed that it would be better to get you out of the present. Shall we abort?" Francesca suggested.

"You're insane!" Vuk snarled. "We are here, now go to that sweet lady and ask the questions you came to ask... and be careful that none of them see you."

I crossed the place with caution, equaling the cashier.

"Hello, welcome to Knuckle Heads. How can I help you?" I didn't have to move, because without realizing it, a waitress approached me on the other side of the bar.

"How are you!" I feigned joy as much as I could. "Excuse me, I have a refill card for the coins, but I don't remember when I last used it, could you please check the expiration date?"

"But, if you like, I can give you another one, throw that one away, and right now..."

"No!" I interrupted her. "This card was given to me by my girlfriend, and it is very special to me. It's a nice memory." The girl rolled sheep eyes as she nodded her body. "I've had it for a long time, so I wanted to check if I can still use it."

"Okay, okay, let me see what I can do for you." And she gave me a huge smile, I even managed to catch a glimpse of a little glow in her eyes. He turned around and approached the closest computer he had.

"You look so much like Garpur..." Vuk said.

"It was theoretically simple," Francesca intervened. "He just had to bring out the feminine and affectionate side of the female to create an affective bond." I just listened, I didn't want them to see me talking to myself.

"Ok..." she returned almost immediately. "It's odd... but seems that this card was used five years ago, or at least that was the expiration date on it."

"Really?" I didn't have to feign surprise. "How long does it usually have to expire?"

"A year," she replied, still with a smile on his lips.

"Excellent. Thank you." I returned the smile and got off the seat.

"Bye," she said a little louder than I had imagined. "Have a nice day."

I left the recreation center through the opposite door to the bowling one, as long as I didn't run into my other self in this timeline.

"You suck at bowling, boy," Vuk told me.

"I know," I replied. "What does it mean that they used it five or six years ago? That the guy with the wolf mask lived in the residence at that time?"

"Or he stole someone else's wallet on one of his trips," Francesca said. "Maybe he was looking for you, found the wrong one, and took a souvenir."

"How do you know where he was staying, or if he was a student like me?"

"Simple," Francesca cleared her throat. "You obviously know Hiawatha from head to toe. He knows where the alarms are, how to get to the kitchens, he knows building one... We may not be able to know if he's a student or not, but he stayed there since he knows the place too well to be a foreigner."

"We can discuss it throughout this beautiful night, by the light of the moon and the stars," Vuk interrupted. "Or we can go back five years and try to infiltrate the students of the time."

"I support Vuk on this one," I replied. "Better to act now, but... do I have permission to do the jump? I mean, I haven't had any vision from five years ago."

"I guess…" Vuk thought about it for a moment. "If we don't change anything, and it's just to collect inquiries, we won't get into any trouble."

"Let's go back inside, then," I proposed. "I know what date we should jump to."

"Why do you want to go back?" Vuk asked me. "Did you really like the waitress?"

"She's nice," I told him. "But we return cause inside have doors."

Vuk nodded his face and an indelible smile that covered much of his face. We both entered, but only I was visible to the rest. We walked to the bathrooms, I opened the door, made sure no one was inside, and jumped back in time five years to the past.