Pitter, patter, pitter, patter. I dashed to the opening, where the trees groaned and cried. The rain soaked into my clothes and hair, slowing me down. Crackling beams of red thunder bellowed above the gray murky sky. I needed to act fast, before it was too late. I could hear people calling out my name behind me, but soon was drowned out by the loud roaring thunder that cackled above. I can't let it succeed, because when it does, it's over. I pulled out a flashlight and entered the woods, where the creature lay inside. I have to stop him, I should've seen his behavior. I should've seen the signs!
I should've...
I should've...
I should've...

Just like a bird about to spread its wings in the rain and take off,

something hit me.

- - - -

I entered the wide movie room where my friends were directed to wait. My blue shoes hit the soft fuzzy velvet colored carpet that covered the whole floor. When I lift my foot up to feel the pressure release, I can't help but sense an instant calmness from the bounce. The movie room had some shelves stuffed with CDs, records, a black pearl colored couch that glistened against the shining rows of dotted ceiling lights, a little projector hanging right above, and a huge white closet. It's usually echoey and lonely in the movie room. But not today. Right now, it is filled with people that I recognize and some I haven't talked to in a while. It warms my heart to see familiar faces again.
"Meme! You're finally here!!!"
An excited voice called out to me. I surveyed the room to find the source of the voice. It didn't take long before I laid my eyes on them. The person who called out to me wore light orange pastel bear hoodie that looks like the color of an apricot, wore shining black sunglasses that hid their pair of brown hazel eyes, and they also wore red peachy colored shorts.
"Blaza! What's up man?"
I walked towards Blaza and greeted him. Blaza seemed to be having trouble containing his excitement, like almost all the time. He was always the most energetic and upbeat one in the friend group. He was the type of person that wouldn't mind if an apocalypse hit and he'll still try to be positive about it to make things less miserable.
"You have no idea how long I've been waiting for Socks to come back so we can all meet up again! It's been so long! Though I gotta ask, how many people will be coming? I've only seen Socks, Tbh, Joocie, Nadwe, and Muffin."
Blaza asked. I thought for a moment before answering. The truth was, I actually don't know what I'm doing half of the time. So I'm not even sure if the rest have gotten the invitations that Laff sent. I do know that the people who are missing are: Oof, Woolf, and Tbvg.
"It should be everyone that's coming. But if they don't come for some reason, we'll just have to do the fun stuff without them. Also, I have other things to do now, talk to you later!"
I dismissed myself. Blaza nodded, giving me a thumbs up and went back to talking with Socks and Tbh in a corner.
"Oi, Meme!"
A hand touched my shoulder. I turned around to see that it was Laff wearing his annoying intimidating gas mask (AGAIN). I swear, one day when I have the chance, I am going to crush that mask into gazillions of pieces and burn it. That gas mask is so freaking creepy!
"Something wrong?"
I asked, praying that everything is going smoothly. The least thing that I want to deal with is another useless problem.
"Nope, nothin's wrong. I got the responses from Oof and Tbvg. Oof says he's on his way but will be late. And Tbvg told me that he's too busy so he's not coming."
I listened carefully to the news and nodded in satisfaction. That is mostly everyone at least.
"Okay, so Oof is coming later, and I think we can re-invite Tbvg some other time. But what about Woolf?"
There was a slight pause.
"About that... I couldn't find his contact anywhere."
"What?"
"I'm not joking, you better check."
I quickly pulled out my phone and looked through my contacts. Laff is right, there were no traces of Woolf's contact. Panic rose through my chest and I started fantasizing reasons why Woolf's contact might've gotten deleted. What if Woolf was a secretive spy for the government and decided to get rid of his contacts to prevent communication with other people?? What if he was kidnapped?? What if he just really hates Laff and I? What if he was actually a bot or cyborg that got reprogrammed or terminated?? What if he has another identity??
"Mate, you gotta calm down. I could see your eyes moving frantically like it's about to pop out of your eye sockets!"
Laff chuckled and handed me a bottle of cold water to clear my mind. I gladly accepted it and chugged all of it down in one round. That's probably going to give me an extreme brain freeze now. Awesome. I thought sarcastically before dumping the empty bottle in the trash bin.
"I'll handle this Woolf situation later. While you and I get the others ready for the surprise. How does that sound?"
Laff suggested.
"Okay, you already made a plan that we can work with. Can you also tour everyone else around while I monitor the machine?"
"Will do mate, will do."
And then an arrangement has been made in less than five minutes.
- - -
Socks, Blaza, and I spoke with each other for a while. We talked about many things. Socks shared his stories about his adventures in space while we told him our 'exciting' adventures back on Earth. This just felt like old times: chatting, making fun of each other, making terrible or good jokes, saying random things... It brings nostalgia. I also have concerns on what Joocie, Muffin, and Nadwe is doing. Nadwe seemed to be showing them an old indie horror game that he recently found, and I have a feeling that they are theorizing about it. But I won't stop them for theorizing. As I was listening to the conversation that was happening between Socks and Blaza, a random thought came to me and I realized that there was something that Socks needed to know, something important. Socks doesn't know that Oompa died yet. So I waited till both of them finished talking before saying:
"Socks, there's something that I or we need to tell you."
I made my tone as serious as possible, because this is something that needs to be taken seriously.
"What is it Tbh?"
Socks listened, turning his attention to me.
"While you were gone off to space, something happened to Oompa,"
I took in a deep breath, clearing away any heavy feelings that I may have felt from before. Blaza's enthusiastic face was soon replaced with a frown as I spoke. He knew what I was going to mention to Socks so he glared at me. He looked like he wanted to say something to switch the topic that I was about to bring up.
"Oompa might've-"
My throat felt clogged. I couldn't seem to find the right words to say, it was all scrambled.
"He... well.."
I tried to force myself to say. This is way tougher than I imagined.
"Just get to the point already!  What happened to Oompa?"
Socks looked at me with concern and eagerness to know what in the world happened to one of his childhood friends. Will I be able to handle another person breaking down? I wondered. Just say it, just say it, JUST.SAY.IT.
"Oompa d-"
"Oh hey, LOOK- Meme is showing us something!"
Blaza suddenly interrupted me, pointing at where Meme was setting up some sort of machine in the closet. All of us turned to look at it. By taking a closer look, the machine looked like a huge printer with four wheels at the bottom, there was a thick cord attached to the printer like machine where it led to another different set of the machine. The other set of the machine looked more like a portal stand or an arch of some sort.

"Does anyone have any idea on what that is? Because I sure don't."
Blaza asked in curiosity, probably not expecting for an answer. And as expected, no one said a word, because of course none of us knew what even that thing was. Socks and I decided to get a better view of the machine so we walked closer to it. Blaza trotted behind, then sooner came Joocie, Muffin, and Nadwe. When we came closer enough to see the machine, I heard Meme mumble something in frustration and kicked the machine.
"ARGH, WHY WON'T THIS THING BUDGE."
Meme rampaged and stomped his foot.
"Need a hand?"
Socks offered and randomly chose a side of the machine and started heaving it up. The machine's metal parts groaned in an unsettling way as its parts were lifted up in the air.
"Oh geez, this is way heavier than I thought."
Socks let go and cracked his knuckles before going back into the same position that he was in before.
"Can I please get some help over here?"
Socks asked while gripping on the edge of the machine, preparing for another lift.
"Socks! That's not how you're supposed to move it!"
Meme rushed over to the machine and opened a hatchet that was part of it. I took a peek of what was inside, and unsurprisingly, it just contained a ton of wires and some metal.
"This thing can shrink, but parts of it that makes it shrink is jammed."
Meme informed Socks while he looked through each piece of metals and wires in the machine.
"How am I supposed to help you with that?!"
Socks cried out.
"I want you to kick it as hard as you can"
Meme deadpanned.
"Are you being serious?"
Socks asked to make sure.
"Actually you know what? Go ahead."
Meme encouraged, trying to hide a smile. Meme closed the hatchet and backed away from the machine.
"Okay then..."
Socks steadied his rainbow colored shoes before backing away and tackled towards the machine with a massive kick.
"AAAAHHHH-"
Socks cried out as the impact hit. There was a loud CLANNNNNKKKSSSTT sound that echoed and vibrated amongst the room, piercing through my ears. It was like a sharp fork scraping against metal.
"HMMM HM HM HMMM-!"
Socks's lips pursed as he limped and bounced away from the machine, holding up his leg that he kicked with. Clearly showing pain.
"You okay Socks? You need me to check on you?"
Joocie offered with alarm. Joocie had a glass cup of orange juice as his head and face, long story short on how that happened: Joocie used to be an alchemist. He was an alchemist until one of his experiments turned his whole head into a cup of orange juice. And you guessed it, that's where he got his name, "Joocie." He says that he prefers to be called after something that he made a huge mistake on. So he'll always be reminded of his other past mistakes and failures. That's a really sad thought though. After that incident, Joocie became a certified doctor with a real medical degree. Can you believe that? Meme used to always make this boast about how he has a real medical degree. Everyone always made fun of him for it, including myself. But OH how the tables have turned! Now Joocie is the one with a real MEDICAL DEGREE instead of Meme!
"Ahh- I'm good- just stubbed my toe."
Socks sat down and rubbed his pained foot.
"Pfft- I actually didn't think you'll be stupid enough to kick it."
Meme tried to stifle a laugh.
"You're the one who told me to!"
Socks defended himself, crossing his arms to show his annoyance.
"Anyway, I actually didn't need any help. I just needed to create some attention to call all of you guys here."
Socks glared at Meme.
"Then what was the point of all of this?!"
Socks gestured towards his pained foot.
"Heh, obviously drama."
Meme replied smugly.
"You haven't even changed a bit once I left."
Socks mumbled loudly for everyone to hear.
"Alright, fineee I'll help you up."
Meme offered a hand and helped Socks up. Socks's leg slightly limped and escorted himself back to Blaza and I. Meme then clapped his hands together and started pressing random buttons around the machine. Then started to intensely type on the keyboard of his laptop that was attached to the side of the machine. The machine shook from the intense pressure that was coming from the clicking keys. Meme needs to chill with his typing- I thought to myself. Everyone watched him do this for a while in astonishment.
"Does anyone have an idea on what he's doing?"
I wondered out loud, still feeling shocked from the intense sounds that Meme was making. Everyone shrugged and shook their heads. Of course they don't have any clue. If someone did, we'll get some context of what it is. Even though I've known Meme the most than the rest, I've never seen Meme this so focused before. It blows my mind that this is actually my best friend who's doing it. Meme was usually a slacker or had a hard time focusing on the main task, seeing him do this is a big change for me. Maybe I don't know about my best friend as much as I thought. I reflected to myself. After a while, the machine whirred and the portal stand started to glow. No one dared to disturb Meme as his hands moved efficiently and smoothly on the laptop's keyboard. Whatever he was doing, it was causing the portal stand to glow. Then there was a small flash of neon blue light, creating a small orb in the center of the portal stand. The orb grew bigger and bigger till it hit the edges of the portal's arch. Meme pressed one final key with a satisfied click and turned to the rest of us with a triumphant look on his face.
"I would like you all to see my latest invention,"
A final flash of blue came from the forming orb, and it completed taking its official shape: A portal.

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Hope you enjoyed this long chapter :) I promise that I will get to the main point of the story somehow