“Richard, Richard!” Richie, awoken by his mother, pulled out his phone and saw that the time was 9pm.

“Mrs Rubick is here, she’s asking if you know where Rodney Rubick is.”

Richard had dreaded this moment, he knew it would come but hadn’t prepare, he was just lazy to even think now.

“Richard, have you seen my boy?” Mrs Rubick asked immediately as Richie entered the kitchen.

Mrs Rubick was young, much younger than Mr Rubick, she had nice red hair like Rodney, strawberry red. She had married Mr Rubick after his divorce to the former Mrs Rubick now Mrs Arby, as she married the owner of a nearby diner. They only had Rodney after their marriage and she loved her weird little boy to bits and shreds.

“He uh, pulled a prank on us,” Richie said running his hand through his shinny brunette hair. “He said he opened a portal and disappeared right after, funny guy huh.”

Mrs Rubick wasn’t pleased by his revelation.

“Rodney wouldn’t disappear like that, something must have happened, Richie, he isn’t home!” she started crying.

“Shh, oh sorry Rhonda,” Mrs Pulanski comforted her.

“Where did he go after, Richard?” His mom was the one asking now.

“Well we don’t know, we thought he’d show up tomorrow and surprise us but it seems we were wrong,” Richard said, grabbing his pants uncomfortably.

“It’s okay Rhonda, if he doesn’t show up in 48 hours, we’ll call the police,” Mrs Pulanski said while hugging her and rubbing her back.

“Keep an eye out, okay Richard?” Mrs Rubick asked him beseechingly.

“Yes, Ma’am,” he said.

With that said he escaped the room and went to his room flying, he pulled out his phone and video called all three of the others, only Nerdy and Noobie picked up.

“Rodney’s mom was here, she’s scared and crying,” Richie said furiously. “This is real! This is very real.”

He paused for a second, “Where’s Victor?”

Both Noobie and Nerdy shrugged their shoulders.

“I don’t know, look dude, we are going to get him, okay?” Noobie assured him.

“Fine, we’ll go to find him in that dimension,” Nerdy said disputed.

“Good, don’t forget, tomorrow at 2pm, okay?” Richie said.

“Sure,” Nerdy said.

“Aye, Aye, Captain!” Noobie said saluting him.

“What? Did you just call him Captain?” Nerdy asked Noobie.

“What?” Noobie asked.

“Not this again,” Richie said sagely.

“No, if there would be a leader of The Boyz it would be me,” Nerdy said wistfully.

“There is no leader of The Boyz,” Noobie said with his voice heightened.

“Toby, Mrs Rubick is here for you!” Mrs Balm yelled in the background of Noobie’s screen.

“Okay Mom, I’ll be right there. Guys I’m out, see you tomorrow at 4,” Noobie said standing up.

“No, 2 o’clock!” Richie said.

“What?” Noobie asked confused.

“1400 Hours is two in the afternoon not four, that’s 1600 hours,” Nerdy said enjoying his brainy moment.

“Okay, 2, got it, locked in the vault,” Noobie said and rang off.

“All right see you tomorrow, Rich,” Nerdy said to Richie and rang off.

Richie ended the video call, opened his media player and played Rodney’s favourite song, then he closed his eyes and drifted out of consciousness.

He started dreaming of four boys standing in a dark, familiar room. He took out his phone, turned on the flashlight and showed it to the four boys. They stood there only looking at him but they didn’t have irises, their skins were pitch black and were vibrating like they were losing energy. They wore no clothes but didn’t seem to be naked either.

He stepped closer to investigate, but keeping a safe distance, he noticed that the one in the middle looked like him, except he was pitch black with white eyes. Then he looked at the others, they looked like Noobie, Nerdy and Vic respectively.

He searched for one that looked like Rodney and found in the side of the room Rodney unconscious with his skin pale and his counterpart standing next to his body. Rodney rushed towards him but they all opened their mouths, a bright white light showed out of the inside of their mouths then an eerie sonic sound came out and it immediately pierced Richie’s ears, he tried to cover them but it was futile.

He woke up to find the room very hot and he was sweating everywhere, it was very odd to him since it was the middle of winter. He reflected on the dream and realised the room looked like The Boyz headquarters. He flew out of his bed and ran downstairs to the headquarters. He opened the door and flew in. But was only met with a heat wave, there was no one inside. The room was as hot as the park in the middle of summer. Richie, disappointed, went back to bed.

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