Everything is black but only for a moment before Michael begins to open his eyes. He hears someone calling out his name as he opens his eyes. He realizes he’s looking up to the roof of this place. He sees Kevin lean over him but he looks different. He looks younger, with freckles and slightly shorter hair.

“Dang man, I didn’t realize I hit you that hard.”

He opens his eyes fully, laying on his back in the school gymnasium. He too is back to his true self, 13 years old. Kevin walks over him holding a dodgeball. They’re both in their physical education uniforms.

“What happened?”

He sits up rubbing his head.

“Well, I kinda hit you in the face with the ball… My bad!”

Michael gets an intense shocked look on his face.

“No! I mean with the explosion! And Francis!”

“Woah man, chill! Francis isn’t even in this class! What explosion?”

Michael stands with Kevin’s help. He looks confused. The PE teacher approaches them.

“Are you alright? Do you need to see the Nurse?”

“No, I’m… fine…”

We see a view of the whole school. It is fairly large. It is now the 4th day of highschool. Thursday, August 20th, 2032. Lunch Time. Kevin and Michael stand in line to get their lunches. Michael looks serious in thought.

“Hey man, you’ve been real quiet. Are you sure I didn’t hit you too hard?”

“No Kevin, I’m fine. It’s not that… I just feel like there’s something wrong here. That couldn’t have all been a dream…”

He then explains what he remembers of this fantasy world back to Kevin who doesn’t seem to remember anything. They walk out with their food.

“So we were like underground hitmen? Sweet, did I look cool?!”

Michael gives him an irritated look as they sit at a table.

“Hey guys!”

He looks up to see Jade walk up to them with her food. Jazmine behind her. Jazmine does not seem to be happy. She seems to be concerned. Michael notices this.

“Hey, Jazmine. Are you okay?”

She quickly snaps out of it. 

“Yeah! Just… some bad test scores is all, haha!”

She smiles at him. He questioningly smiles back. A bell rings.

Cuts to Michael laying on his bed back at home after school, still thinking. 

‘There’s no way it was all a dream… Something is going on here…’

He sits up, rubbing his face. 

‘If it was a dream… am I awake now? It all felt so real. For months I lived life after life as if it were my own.’

He looks at his phone. He picks it up and looks at a few pictures of Jade, Kevin, Jazmine and himself all having fun.

‘They were for sure real so why don’t they remember?’

He stands up and puts on a jacket from his closet. He creeps out of his room quietly since it is so late. Before he leaves the house, he stops by the living room and sees his dad sleeping on the couch to TV. He smiles then leaves. As he’s walking down the street he begins to think some more. He remembers the blast of energy and bumping into Kevin before coming back here to the real world.

‘I guess I forgot too…  Is it different this time? Was that blast of energy all it took? Why am I the only one who remembers?’ 

He remembers seeing the 3 of his friends hurt so badly in the last world.

‘They went through so much… Why did we go through all that?’

He walks down a sidewalk next to a river channel. He then slides down the grassy hillside into it and hops down in front of an entrance.

‘Ah, the old hideout.’

As he walks in he looks around to see a small room with some bean bags, a table with some chairs, a desk and a small fridge. There’s also lights hanging from the roof and posters on the walls.

‘I think it was a storage room for construction but was abandoned when they sealed off that door.’

He looks over to a cemented entrance. He stares for a moment before stepping back outside. He reaches into his pocket and pulls out his phone. It’s currently 1 am. He pauses but then texts Jade.

“Hey, are you up?”

“Yeah, what’s up?”

“I wanna talk to you in person.”

“Okay, well wanna meet at the hideout? I can sneak out!”

“Sounds good! I’ll be there!”