The clock hit 1pm. Richard sat on the kitchen counter while his mom made him a late lunch. Mrs Pulanski slid the plate towards the dazed Richie. It had scrambled eggs and three slices of bread spread with mayo.

“Richard, are you okay?” Mrs Pulanski asked, leaning towards Richie with her fists under her chin and elbows resting on the counter.

“I’m okay, Mom,” Richie said, faking a smile.

“Boy, I gave birth to you, I know when you’re lying,” she said, smiling.

“I’m stressing about Rodney, what if he’s hurt?” Richie said stabbing some scrambled eggs from his plate.

“Don’t worry, he’s disappeared before right?” she said, Richie nodded. “Then chill out, boy.”

“Mom?” Richard said.

“Yeah, Richard?” Mrs Pulanski said as she walked to the kitchen sink.

“I love you,” Richie said with a real smile this time.

“I love you too, weirdo,” she said filling the sink with water.

A knock came in from the door, Vic stood a t4 feet so his slick raven coloured hair was visible from the glass filling in the middle of the door.

Mrs Pulanski opened the door.

“Oh, hello, Victor,” Mrs Pulanski said as Victor smiled amiably and waved at her.

“Come in, are you hungry? I’m making lunch.”

Vic nodded vigorously as he sat next to Richie and let his duffle bag hit the ground; a loud thud filled the room. Richie was spooked; he leaned back and looked at the duffle bag, confused as ever.

“What’s in the bag, Vic?” Richie asked looking at the side of Vic’s face.

Mrs Pulanski slid a plate identical to Richie’s and Vic started eating, ignoring Richie’s query.

“What’s in the bag, dude?” he reiterated but was ignored once more.

Vic took a bite of a sandwich, he turned his face and smiled. Richie was confused but interested in seeing what came next.

Time went by quietly, and by 2pm, Nerdy and Noobie entered the house and they went straight to The Boyz HQ. Vic threw the duffle bag to the floor, a loud thud engulfed the room again and this time Nerdy and Noobie were the ones confused.

“What’s in the bag?” Nerdy shot a sharp whisper at Richie.

Richie shrugged his shoulders in confusion. Vic opened the bag and pulled out a fanny pack then gave it to Richie. When he was about to open it, Vic slapped his hands. He wiggled his finger in his eyes and shook his head.

He gave each of them gas masks and plastic clothing then packed some in Rodney’s bag. They all wore the plastic clothing and hung the gas masks on their necks. Richie hung the fanny pack on his waist. Vic snapped his fingers and pointed at the fanny pack. Richie opened it and pulled out a couple of envelopes with numbers in front.

“Vic, what’s going on?” Richie asked, irritated.

Vic walked over to him and took the envelopes from his hands. He put others in the fanny pack and gave him one written “1”. Richie, tired of all the suspense opened the envelope and found a note. Richie read it aloud as Vic investigated the integrity of the portal.

“Ahem, Dear Boyz, I’ve read Rodney’s journal and done the necessary research we need to embark on this journey. To save Rodney we will need to go in after him, into the other dimension and try to extract him. I learnt how to activate the portal but when we get to the other side we’ll have to improvise. If it is any of the types of supposedly mythical alternate dimensions then it will be better, not good, better. Let’s do this!”

By the time he was finished reading, Vic had already given the others backpacks and wore one himself. He gave Richie a backpack too then took the printout and walked over to the portal.

“Vicky Boy, ain’t messing around,”” Noobie said laughing as they also walked over to the portal.

Vic cleared his throat then started reading out the incantation.

“He can talk!” Noobie screamed.

“You never heard him before?” Richie said with pride.

“Shut up you guys, the man’s working here,” Nerdy said irritably.

When Vic was done, the markings illuminated with a bright red colour. Vic picked up the flint and steel then activated the portal, he adjusted the gas mask and held the other boys’ hands.

“Keep holding hands until we are stable, okay?” Vic said to the others.

“This is really weird,” Noobie said excited. “You’re talking, dude!”

Vic moved his foot and stepped on the portal. A red bright vein covered his foot then moved up to his body, then his arms, then covered all the other boys. They imploded and disappeared. The room was filled with falling red flakes.

Tell us: What do you think will happen next?