Chapter 7

A month and a half later...

Leo stroked the lever which would boot his Neurometer, hesitating to power it on. He was sitting on his apartment chair, fully clothed as if he was going out for the day. But he wasn't going anywhere, in fact, today was the day where he'd log himself into his Neurometer to see if he could transport himself to the 'other place', as he called it. If Leo was being honest with himself, he was having second thoughts about all of this. None of his conspiracies were remotely possible to actually occur, and he was acting on his own self instinct, which wasn't a very reliable alibi. His hands were literally shaking with fear, the fear of the possibility of the unknown.

'Shake it off!' He told himself. He'd come this far, there was no need to back down now.

'What if it's not possible?!' A part of him asked himself.

'Suki is dead and she isn't coming back!' Another part said.

'You're committing suicide and leaving your mother behind!'

'What a cowardly way to die!'

'You always have and will always be a pussy!' His mother's words echoed in his head.

'STOP IT! SHUT UP!' He screamed at the voices in his head.

He then suddenly jolted and switched the lever on, overwhelmed by the negativity in his mind. He was well aware that what he was doing was extremely dangerous, but if there was even the slightest chance that he could bring Suki back, he wouldn't hesitate to go for it.

He immediately regretted turning the lever, but there was no going back.

He closed his eyes and waited for something to happen.

He waited.

And waited.

Yet nothing was happening.

'Huh...?' He thought.

Then he screamed.

He felt a jolt of electric current coursing through his body. He pressed the off button on the controller on his left hand, HARD. He kept the controller in his hand in case of emergencies, such as this one. He was lucky he pressed the button quickly, otherwise he would've been fried in a few moments.

Leo panted heavily as drops of sweat trickled down his face.

He then fully realized the magnitude of what nearly happened to him. He had almost been killed. Recklessly too. He could not control his breathing and his whole body trembled with shock and fear.

'Calm down.' He told himself. 'Inhale, and exhale.'

After a few minutes he could no longer hear his heartbeat in his ears and his breathing was almost back to normal. He got up and paced around the room a few times, trying to shake off his uneasiness.

After a few more minutes, he decided to try again.

He sat down on his chair, and connected himself to his Neurometer. He counted to three in his head and switched the lever again.

Nothing happened.

'Huh..?' He thought again. He nearly turned the Neurometer off for the fear of being electrocuted again but he decided to wait.

He waited.

And waited some more.

But this time, nothing happened.

'Crap!' He yelled. He released his Neurometer failed to power on completely.

He tried turning the Neurometer on yet again.

This time, it powered on, but strange music started playing. He did not recall that being part of the core program and soon realized it was a glitch.

Soon, more than four hours had passed, and he still had barely been able to start the machine. To say that Leo was frustrated was and understatement. He felt like a failure. His father was depending on him to find out the truth in his grave, and Leo felt absolutely horrible for not honoring his promise to his father.

He got up from his chair, dejected, and went to the kitchenette for a glass of water.

He sipped his water, barely tasting it. He mentally scolded himself for wasting the day. He decided to spend the rest of the afternoon and the whole night repairing the Neurometer.

He knew that using the Neurometer wouldn't be easy, but this was not what he had bargained for.

Reluctantly, he dialed Miss Aiko's number on his cell. Fortunately, it led to voicemail.

'Hi, Professor' he said. 'I am just calling to report that booting the Neurometer has been unsuccessful. Hopefully, with a few tweaks and repairs, the Neurometer would be up and running tomorrow. We may not speak again when that happens, so I send you warm regards and I hope that everything will continue to go well at your end. Farewell, Professor. And thank you.'

He ended the voicemail and put his phone on the kitchen counter.

He sighed, running his hands through his hair. It became a habit over the past years. He always had something to sigh about.

'Just, hold on, Suki.' He muttered to the air. 'Hold on a little while longer. I'm coming for you.'

Then he thought about how crazy he sounded, talking to a dead person as if she were right in front of him. Well maybe he was crazy. No normal person would be able to build something as unbelievably extraordinary as the Neurometer. A lot of people thought he was insane. But you know what? He was okay with that.

He quickly hustled himself back to his living room and got started on repairing his Neurometer.

When he checked the time when he first started, it was 3:00pm. He looked up to check the time again and it was 11:00pm. He quickly fixed his gaze on his window and saw the sky was pitch black. When the heck did the sun set?

He got up, took a quick shower and wore jeans and a polo shirt. He decided that he couldn't wait. He had to try the Neurometer now, or it would drive him crazy.

He sat down, connected himself to the Neurometer yet again, took a deep breath.

Then he switched it on.

Nothing happened.

He felt like screaming.

He tore the wires off his body to go see what the problem was.

He looked at the cables and noticed that the plug was not connected to the socket.

Not only did Leo feel stupid, he also felt exhausted.

He connected the plug to the socket and reconnected himself to the Neurometer.

Leo decided if the Neutometer didn't work in the first try he'd go straight to bed.

He powered it on.

For a second, nothing happened. Then, he slowly felt himself losing all his energy.

'It's happening!' He thought. 'This is the first step!'

Soon, he began to see a light. As he felt himself becoming weaker, the light slowly became brighter.

Then, he started hearing voices.

'I-It's happening again!' A female voice said

He couldn't tell if he was hallucinating or if that was a real voice. Soon, his vision almost became clear. Just as he was about to move, he was suddenly back in his apartment.

He blinked, not sure of where he was.

It took him a moment to realize what happened.

'I-I think I just saw the other place!' He said, elated.

His lips hurt because he hadn't smiled for so long.