Future.

I stared at the chipped paint, the rusty hinges and paused. This was the place I had been looking for. The faded black numbers on the letterbox and the bent down street sign read exactly the same as what was written on the piece of paper with the address the orphanage had given me. I stepped onto the pavement and proceeded through the rusty iron gate. As I did so, a shadow emerged from the from porch with a hand gun. "What are you doing here, boy?" said the shadow. It was a man. He was roughly shaven with a bald patch in the middle of his head, little grey hairs sprouting like grass stems. I stuttered and froze, staring. "I was given this address... by the town orphanage, could you help me?" I asked. The man looked at me with curious blue-grey eyes. Probably faded from smoking but i was too far away to see. "What's your name, boy?", he took a puff of his cigarette and then put it out with his foot. He must had been interested, he lowered his gun.

"Adam, Adam Cooke", I answered with a tremor. The man looked amazed and surprised. "Come with me", and with that he turned around and walked inside the front door. I followed him willingly. When i got inside he was no longer there. I looked around for him. The furniture looked like it hadn't been touched in 10 years. Everything had gathered thick layers of dust. There was a grandfather clock in one corner of the room, I couldn't tell if it were black or brown from the amount of dust it had on it. But on the face i could make out two pictures. One a man, and the other a woman, looked like they were taken about 20 years ago though. The clocked itself had stopped at 10:00 on the dot. I sneezed.

"I said follow me, stop fussing about". the mans voice was raised a little. I jumped, nearly out of my skin. I quickly followed him down through the hall way toward the back of the house. So many picture frames on the walls. all of the same people from the clock. Some empty. There was one with a baby, though I didn't stop and look. There was no time.

The man lead me out the back to a shed big enough to keep a horse in. This must be his work shed. As he was rustling around in his pockets for the right key he said "By the way... my name's Shameous". Shameous found the key he'd been looking and drove it into the padlock of the shed door. The door swung open. He gestured for me to enter. As the lights were turning on, I noticed a big round looking object in the very centre of the room. It had covering on it so i couldn't tell what it was. Shameous turned to look at me, this time his eyes were worried. He was about to tell me something, and by the look on his face it was either extremely important, or very bad.

"Look, Adam", he paused looking at his feet. "Your parents, they've been missing for 19 years. Nobody knows where they went. But they left this behind." He handed me an envelope which read, "To our dearest Adam Cooke,". I opened the envelope without hesitation and read it in my mind.

"Dear Adam,

We are very sorry we couldn't be there to watch you grow up. But darling you have to understand we were very busy people and something came up. Look for us when you're 20 and you will find us. We love you Adam. Shameous, your brother will help you make the right decisions. And Adam, do hurry.

Love you forever and a dar,

Mum and Dad. xxx"

I kept reading over the letter. Why did they keep saying "were", and Shameous is my brother? Why couldn't they just have taken me with them? I was angry but relieved at the same time. Angry because Shameous lied about not knowing where they were, or are. Also because they left me behind. But relieved because they wanted me, and loved me. And i was 20 years old!

I turned toward Shameous. "What do we do now?" I asked. He didn't answer. He just simply walked over to the round object and took the covering off. He said with anxious expression, "Get in". I followed him into an open door on the side of the object. "What IS this?" I asked. "A time machine. Mum and Dad built it before you were born. The dates already set. I think they did it" he answered. I was stunned. Shameous pressed a button that read "Go". Nothing happened. I took a moment to indulge in my surroundings. Maybe this was it. Goodbye 2000, hello... I read the set date, 3000?

A rumble started to happen. Shameous and I strapped ourselves into the seats situated on the wall. What an experience this was, I wish I could see outside. I wanted to watch the change. But then again I didn't, I felt sick. I didn't know if it was from the news or from the excitement. Either way I wanted to chuck.

The rumbling felt like it went for hours. My cheeks began to hurt, I looked over at Shameous. He looked very serious. Suddenly the rumble stopped. Slowly, unsure of what to do, we unbuckled ourselves from the seat.

Shameous put his hand on the door knob and looked up at me. "Brace yourself". I took a deep breath. He opened the door. We both stepped out onto a concrete feeling floor. It was pitch black. Welcome to the future.