The Machine

My name is John Davis. I was born on May 12, 1986. It’s a bit complicated to say what I do for a living. Actually it’s classified. But I’m going to tell you anyways. Why? Because I got betrayed by people I trusted. Now I’m sitting in a prison, counting the days until my death sentence.

It was a hot summer day. On August 25, 2001 was when I discovered that my family was a part of an international terrorist group. Once they figured out I knew, they burned down their house and somehow blamed me for doing it. The police put no effort into investigating their background. They had no idea that the most wanted terrorist group in the world was right in the building during interrogation. Then they talked to me. They “talked” to me as in telling me that I’m guilty for arson and going to spend a long time in prison. That was when I realized that there was no way out of this. The only way I would be set free is if a miracle occurred.

Then it happened. The miracle, that is. I was in court awaiting my trial. My lawyer was preparing his poorly done case to present to the judge. We both knew there was no way they would believe his case. Then he came. As soon as he entered, the whole court went silent. Even the judge, who was talking to the jury about the case, went pale and was dead silent. The man was in a dark black coat and wore a hood that leaned over his face. From his pocket he pulled out a letter and handed it to the judge. He leaned in and whispered something in his ear. The judge immediately banged the gavel and said “court adjourned” and everyone left. Then the hooded man grabbed me by the arm and pulled me out of the courtroom. “This is your only chance” he whispered in my ear. “I can get you out of your punishment. We can get revenge on your parents.” As soon as he said that my mind immediately said “Yes, yes! I have to do this!” “But,” he continued, “It will require training. It will hurt. It will be the hardest thing you have ever done. But it’ll be fun.” “Why should I trust you?” I asked. “I’m all you’ve got,” he replied. “I’m in.”

As soon as we got in the car, we started driving really fast. I assumed we were going over 100 miles per hour and no one noticed. In fact, everyone was standing still. Everything was frozen. I looked out and briefly saw a man frozen with newspapers flying out of his hands. The newspapers were levitating in the air, not falling to the ground like anything would. I took out a pen from my pocket and dropped it to the floor wondering if it would freeze just like everything else. It fell to the ground like a normal pen would. I looked at the pen, puzzled, and the man looked back at me. “I see that you discovered that everything is frozen,” said the man. “How did you do that?” I asked. “Every time I start this car, everything stops and we can go where ever we want undetected,” he replied. “Whoa,” I said in awe. “Trust me,” he continued, “you’re going to discover way cooler stuff than this.” We sat in silence for the rest of the car ride.

Once we got there, I noticed a small cabin a few hundred yards away to my left. Right ahead of me was a water tower and the man was walking to it. I ran ahead to catch up. “Why are we going to this water tower?” I asked. “You’ll see,” replied the man. We reached the water tower and started climbing up the ladder. When we reached the top the man said “this is the only way we can get in.” I was about to say get in where until he pushed me off the water tower. I knew it. To good to be true was what I thought. Why would someone want me for some super secret organization? But, right as I thought I was about to die, the ground opened up and revealed a giant hole in the ground. At the bottom was water. I fell in the water and then people were helping me get out. Surprisingly I didn’t break any bones from falling into 6 feet of water. “How did I not die from that fall?” I asked. “Even though the water was there I still would’ve broken some bones.” “That’s classified,” said the hooded man. He helped me up and brought me into a small room. “Who are you? What is this place?” I asked. As soon as he was about to answer someone came in the room and said “Sir! Come quick it’s an emergency!” He rushed out of the room and I chased after them. While I was running I saw red lights flashing everywhere. People were screaming out “Def Con One! Def Con One!” “Great timing for a new recruit to come in.” mumbled the man. “What’s wrong? What did I do?” I asked puzzled. “No, no. It wasn’t you,” said the man. “Some idiots at The Pentagon set off an alarm.” The Pentagon? I thought. What is this place? “Wait a second. That’s not right,” said the man. “Wait. What’s not right?” I asked. “Buildings are disappearing right off the map!” he exclaimed. “Wait, where’s my watch?” He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small device. Then he grabbed my arm and pushed the button. “What did you just do?” I asked. “If I’m right,” said the man, “someone stole an invention from this facility that makes anything you want erased from existence,” explained the man. “The button that I just pushed made us invulnerable to that machine. What you need to do is find that machine and destroy it and everything will go back to normal.” “Just me?” I asked. “I need your help” “I can’t help you. The machine won’t let me help you,” he explained. “Good luck.” “Wait!” I exclaimed. “I need help!” He then pressed a long complex code into the device and he disappeared.