The Fourth Dimension Read online

  Nemesis:

  I know many people would classify my family tree as “evil”, but we are just a tree of people who want answers. My great-great-great-great grandfather was a person who made many mistakes. I will not fail where he did. I will live on his legacy, hunting down the other machine. Even though I may seem evil, I am really a nice guy. I give housing to thousands of people and make jobs for many of them. I even feed them. Many people fear me though. I am not to be feared. I am to be looked up to. When I finish taking over all of Europe, I will take on the rest of the world. Recently, I have found that two boys have acquired my precious other machine and they were right next to one of my many outposts, but they will pay for the damage they caused. When you time travel, the time travel hurts our family because of the curse laid on our family by the old wizard. The two boys killed two of my youngest nephews. They shall pay for that. I have no reason to fear though. I have my own army. A strong one with a red and black flag. Many run at the sight of the flag alone. The boys have no clue what they have discovered or what they can do. They are young, naive, and certainly cannot stand up to an army of over a thousand. Besides the boys, I have to face the other countries that refuse to surrender to me and my power. They simply won’t give up. The Americans are no help either. Sending supplies to Britain is just a pain. If they send reinforcements, that will be a big problem. I am running out of personal funds but can take from the countries I have defeated. When this war ends, many will be dead or forced into hiding. I have inherited my ancestors magic skills and can cause an earthquake with the snap of a finger. Buildings fall when I stomp my feet, and tsunamis happen when I splash the water. I will become know as The Great Ruler. No one will be able to stop me then. Yes, there will be resistance groups, but none powerful enough to defeat me. Do you know who I am now? If you haven’t, I am the great and powerful Hitler.

  Matt

  Pedro and I were walking, near the old concentration camp in Auschwitz, Germany. We were really just killing useless time. We were so bored on this trip. My dad was still working even though it was 6:00 in the afternoon. Pedro stopped in front of the camp. That was when I saw his face. His expression was that of huge terror. I imagine that his home in Paramonga was like this. Since the gates were open (it was now a museum), Pedro and I walked inside. He immediately walked over to those really big and really old gas apparatuses. I walked away and kept looking for something interesting until Pedro called my name. I went over to see what he had called me for. He was standing in front of this thing that looked like a block of gold. There was four little buttons that were lit up like a Christmas tree. Suddenly this bright light appeared out of nowhere and sucked us in! We were screaming and shouting in that glowing cylinder until darkness came upon us and I felt like I was landing. A glare of light broke the complete darkness. Pedro and I had the same thought at that moment: run. We sprinted in the opposite direction until another light appeared in front of us. We turned around, only to notice there was crazy beams of light from every direction! We just layed on the ground then. One of the beams of light got closer until it was close enough to touch. We heard rapid talking then. I did not know the language, but it was not like anything I had ever heard before. They were just standing there for hours, talking. Finally, the voices faded and I imagined people walking away. I whispered to Pedro to run, and we sprinted towards what looked like a fence. Right away, we saw a big gate. And the sign on that gate? Auschwitz Extermination Camp.

  Right then Pedro pressed this brochure into my hand. It was a brochure for this camp, and the year at the top said 1937. That made NO sense, because we were just in the year 2013! But I remember that gold thing with the lit up numbers. I looked at Pedro and I could tell we were thinking the same thing. The numbers in those number spots put together made one number: 1937.

  After seeing this, I had no idea what had just happened. I was confused and scared at the exact same time. Pedro looked like he was thinking about something. All of a sudden, shrill screams came from all around. Thank you to Mrs. Moitoso that she taught us about the concentration camps just before we left on the business trip! I knew, with a flash of horror, that the guards that had been around us earlier were now killing other people THAT HAD NOTHING TO DO WITH THIS! This was too much for me, and I could see by the look on Pedro’s face that he agreed with me. These guards would find us and do the same things to us! We had until morning at best, which was probably only about one hour away. I saw Pedro scanning the area for something that I was not sure about. He poked me in the side and pointed at a small hole in the ground that was almost completely engulfed by trees. Perfect! I started to run and Pedro was not far behind me.

  We enter the hole and Pedro starts to talk soon after. “You know how we are stuck here, in the same year that was shown on the gold portal? Well, it brought us forward in time, so why can’t it bring us back? It is worth a try.”

  I was shocked and confused that that little gold bar thing had brought us back in time. I could also tell Pedro’s hypothesis confused him too. But it was worth a shot. We both reached for the gold bar, but then I pulled back, letting him have the honors of doing it. He typed in the numbers ‘2013’. The time portal started to shake and glow. We hear yells and shouts in the distance. Our hiding spot was found! A glowing portal appeared in front of me, and Pedro jumped in first. I followed him just as the portal closed. We both close our eyes shut. A couple seconds later, I open my eyes, look at my watch, and find that now that we are back in our world, no time has passed.

  Almost directly after we land back in present time I ran to the library and started to research time machines. I learned about Nikola Tesla back in 1912 when he brought the Titanic forward in time. I researched so many others after that, but all seemed to have failed. It was then that I realized that we had the second working time machine! Tesla’s had not even worked like ours, so ours was the first of its kind. Finally, Pedro decided to start to help me. He wanted to go back to Paramonga. Where he could get killed. He wanted to go back because he knew someone who could help us. He wanted to also go back in a disguise. I said that I could try to convince my parents to go there to see something great. He said that the only cool place was an ancient temple. Also, that was where we needed to go. Since he needed a disguise, I said we should go down to the costume shop downtown. We decided to meet there after school at 3:00.

  I went to the store straight after leaving a note for Pedro at the apartment. I told him to bring a couple coins. The guy who ran the costume store LOVED coins, but who even knows why? So after dropping my bags I rode my bike to the store. I waited for Pedro for about ten minutes before I saw him riding his bike at full speed towards me.

  “Sorry I am late” he called out.

  “That is okay.” I said back.

  We stashed our bikes against the gray picket fence and walked up to the old two story apartment building that had a bright sign on the porch in front of it. The paint was peeling and the entire building looked in need of repair. I push open the storm door to be greeted by a skinny, tall, and very old man. He looked pretty normal except for his eyes. One was green and one was blue. He looked like a normal grandfather except for those scary eyes. He knew me as an old customer, so I felt comfortable sitting down on his rickety armchair for all guests to use. Pedro gave me a look that was meant to tell me something. I think he was thinking that this guy was a psycho, but he really was the best around. This guy knew that I knew French so we started speaking in it. After a while, we came to an agreement that Pedro should look like a normal American boy. The old man picked a couple masks. He brought them over and I called Pedro over. I took out a photo and showed it to him. I asked him to pick out the one he thought least looked like him. He chose a very convincing one. He put it on and an expression of shock covered his face. HE looked so much like me. It was funny and weird. I went and asked to man for a costume. He went to the back and retrieved a costume and skin changer. I showed him by testing it out on the floor. I t
old him to take the stuff and put it in the bag he brought. He also figured out what the coins were for and gave them to the old man. The old man danced around and shook our hands with a strength that I never knew he had. Pedro practically dragged me out of the shop as I was saying goodbye. We mounted our bikes and Pedro biked away as fast as he could. I could tell he was scarred for life. With a last wave, I started to pedal slowly away and wondered,

  “Will all of this really work? Or will we be found by the cops?”

  I decided not to think about that and pedaled forward to try to catch up with Pedro who was a block ahead of me and crossing the street. Something told me that everything would be all right, and I believed it.