CHAPTER 1
THE TRIP
Jack and Linda meant 10 years ago at the New York time, where Jack was working. He felt for her the moment that he saw her, and they got married in a year.
Once they got married, they went to live at Linda's apartment in Mart Hanta; they had only been married for a few months when they received the news that Linda was pregnant.
She gave birth to a baby boy, which they decided to name after Jack. A few months later, she got pregnant again, and this time, they had a baby girl.
They still live in the same apartment where they first moved in when they got married and raised their kids. Jack still works in the newspaper business but not for the New York Times.
Jack went on his own and put the small newspaper that he has run for two years. Jack and Linda name the paper the news with Jack. For the newspaper to have so much competition is still doing very well for them.
Jack went over to his business like he does every morning. He opened the door and went inside his office. He went behind the desk, and he sat down on the chair.
Jack has three people that work for him, and all three of them also write for the paper; first, there is Janet, an old black woman, smart and fast on her feet when it comes to the news.
Tony is Jack's best friend; he is a very bright writer even though he only had been writing for only two years. Paul is the new guy on the team; he has been working for Jack for only a month. He is a young man in his late teens; he only works part-time because he is going to college.
Jack comes out of his office, and he says hello to his team and asked Tony if he could please see him in his office. Once they went inside Jack's office, Jack closed the door behind them. He looked at his friend, and he told him to take a seat.
Even so, they were best friends; Jack didn’t treat him as such when they were at work. He didn’t want anyone to feel that he was unfair because of the friendship they had, and Tony understood totally and was more than okay with that.
Jack sat back down on his leather seat, and he looked at Tony and said to him I have been doing some thinking. What about Tony asked him? Jack smiled, and he said to his friend that he was thinking about moving to the country.
Tony looked at his friend, and he asked him to the country. Tony had a grin on his face as he asked Jack that. Jack got up from the chair, and he sat up on top of the desk. He then looked at his friend, and he replied to him, yes.
He told Tony that I was born here in New York, and I have lived all my life here in the city, and I want a change. Tony smiled, and he asked him if he had already talked to Linda about this.
Jack got quiet, and when he replied to his friend that no, he hasn’t yet, he then added that he didn’t see a problem. Tony asked his friend what he needed from him. Jack smiled, and he told him that we are best friends; you always come straight forward. Jack looked at his friend, and he said to him with a serious look on his face that he wants him to stay in charge while he is gone. He told him that he doesn’t want to sell his paper. He told Tony that he would pay him in cress.
That comment of more pay made Tony smile. He looked at his friend and said that he would be more than glad to help him out but no need to pay in cress. God, Jack, we are best friends. Jack thanked his friend.
He opened his laptop, and he went to the page that had the homes in the country. He wanted to share with his friend the home that he had seen. When he found the home, he looked at his friend and asked him what he thought of the home.
Tony smiled, and he said to his friend, joking around that he envied him.
The home that Jack loved was a two-storey wooden home with a small porch at the house entrance.
He said to his friend that the home has 4 bedrooms and 4 baths. It was built in 1890. It seats on 50 acres of land, and they are only asking 1,500 a month. Tony told his friend, laughing, that you could only get a 1 bedroom here in New York. That is another reason I want to go to the country. I want to give the kids a better place to live and more space to run and enjoy themselves.
Tony said to his friend this home in Apopka in a town in Florida. He looked at Jack, and he said to him I wish you luck on convincing Linda. Jack closed the laptop and looked at his friend, and he said to him, you know what? I am going to go home and talk to Linda right now.
Tony smiled, and he said to his friend that he was brave. Jack smiled and told Tony just to wish him good luck. Tony wished him good luck, and then Jack left the office.
He walked over to the subway; this was the good thing about living in New York. There wasn’t a need for a car. You either could take the train or ride the public transportation and let’s not forget about taxies; yes, as for transportation, there was nothing like New York; the big apple had the number one on that.
The train came, and Jack got on it. He found an empty seat, and he sat down. The train was full. He had found an empty seat next to this nurse. The train began to pass through a tunnel. Jack began to see lights flashing, and when the train came out of the tunnel, there was no one on the train but Jack and a young boy about Jack's age.
Jack was starting to look around, and he began to wonder what had happened to everyone else that had been on the train just before they had gone through the tunnel. The train had been full, and now, only he and this boy were here how that could be possible, he thought to himself.
The boy was sitting just a few seats from him, and the boy had a face that looked creepy. Jack freaked out when the boy got up, and he began to walk toward where Jack was sitting. He stood in front of Jack, and he looked right at Jack. The boy had short black hair, and he was thin.
Jack began to wonder what the boy wanted, why he had walked up to him. Jack looked at the boy with a look of conciseness in his eyes, and he asked the boy what he wanted. The boy looked at Jack, and he said to him not to go there. Jack had no idea what the boy was talking about, so he asked him not to go, son.
The boy didn’t tell him where he just kept repeating the same thing over and over. Jack was losing his temper, and he finally raised his voice and little and asked the boy one more time not to go where? The boy still didn’t give him an answer. Jack was now screaming at this boy.
The train went through another tunnel and when it came out, all the passages were back on the train.
There was now a police officer standing by Jack, and the officer looked at Jack and asked, sir, are you okay?
When Jack saw that everyone was back on the train, he began looking around and freaking out. He looked up at the officer, and he asked him what happened. The police officer told Jack that he was screaming. Jack looked at him with a look of fear in his eyes and asked the cop what he was saying?
The man looked at Jack with a look of concern on his face, and he said to Jack that he kept saying, don’t go. The cop asked him again if he was alright. Jack told the officer that he was alright; he explained to the cop that he probably just fell asleep. He apologized and told the officer that he was sorry if he had to give him any trouble. The cop smiled, and he said to him, no sir, no trouble at all.
The train came to Jack's stop; he got up from where he was sitting, and he stepped out of the train.
Jack couldn’t believe how real that dream had felt. He could have sworn that it happened; he was so confused, but he needed to put that in the past.
Jack got to his home, and he opened the door and went inside. Linda was doing some cleaning, but she stopped what she was doing when she heard him come in. She was surprised that he was home; he never came home this early.
She came out of the bedroom, and she smiled, and she walked over to her husband. She kissed him, then asked him what he was doing home so early, my love?
Jack put a smile, and he said to her that there was something that he wanted to talk to her about and that he didn’t want the kids to be around. He looked at Linda and asked her to take a seat to show her something.
Linda sat down on the brown leather sofa, and she was a little concerned about what her husband wanted to talk to her about. Jack took a seat next to her, and then he opened his laptop and went to the page where the house was on.
He told Linda to look at the house. She looked at it and looked up at her husband, and she saw the smile that he had on his face and asked her husband, what is this