text: I want to preface that, this is my first post and I am not sure how reddit really works but I just want to be able to get my work out there. It's nothing fancy just a single parent who enjoys writing. Thank you for taking the time to read my work. Thomas had been single and not looking for about 2 years. His divorce was messy due to the simple fact that his ex-wife had been sleeping with his boss. As sad as it may seem, it was a blessing. He and Jessica had been married and together for 15 years. High school sweethearts, fell in love in Algebra shockingly. The last two years were really rough, Jessica lost her parents in a freak accident back in the summer of 1988. They were headed home from a little get together with their closest friends when a drunk driver hit them head on. Since then she was never the same considering she was the only child and that was her only family left here in America. They came from a small village in China called Heshun Town. Enough of the back story on this witch, but since Jessica was sleeping with his boss, he actually received a pay raise and a new higher position. Mr. Flint had felt bad that he took his wife from underneath but knew he also deserved the raise. Thomas is an honest hardworking man who would have done anything for his ex but this was the time that he moved on and worked toward his own goals and found his true self since he lost his identity because of her. He could get back to his video games and he had this fascination with trains. He would ride them any chance he got. He really loves the first high speed train that was built in 1964 in Japan. It’s known as the bullet train. They have been known to reach speeds of 350 km/h. Thomas was thrilled about the idea of riding it one day. Since Thomas’s boss had been sucking up to him for a year now, Mr. Flint gave Thomas a 2 week paid vacation trip to Japan as a Christmas present. “ You are such a great asset to this company Thomas, I don’t know where we would be without our best journalist here at Flint Stone Magazine.” Said Mr, Flint to Thomas. They thanked each other and went about their day. Thomas was excited. He was about to go from station to station riding all the bullet trains he could within the two weeks allotted for him and everyone knew he needed this vacation. He landed in Kagoshima, Japan, 24 hours later. Thomas had his itinerary already to go, but unbeknown to him it was all going to change. Thomas got to his hotel and passed out for a good 10 hours. Those 24 hour flights are hard on the body as you get older. He needed the rest. He woke up about 9 am feeling refreshed and ready to start his vacation. Thomas handed the stewardess his ticket as he boreded and went to find his seat. He was like a child in a candy store. Taking all the pictures, walking around where he could before the train took off. He touched everything he could until he came to an empty seat that had this old pigskin journal. He looked around to see if anyone was going to sit there but the train was pretty empty considering the time and day it was. It was Sunday 10:30 am. The stewardess made an announcement that they were getting ready to take off and that it wasn’t going to be a long ride. Thomas went to his seat and opened the journal. Unfortunately he couldn’t read it because it was in Japanese. But he has a translation book that would hopefully help him. The train started to move and so Thomas sat back and enjoyed the ride. He was so excited since he was living his best life, even if he had lost the love of his life to his balding suck up of a boss. That wasn’t going to stop him. Thomas finally got back to his room after the train ride and he had been smiling ear to ear once he walked into the room. He had plans to go to the nearest restaurant to grab some grub since he hadn’t eaten since the plan, but he wanted to figure out what the journal said. So he ordered in and got to work. He ordered a plethora of sushi from the hotel because how could you not? Thomas got the first page translated and what he first noticed was the date. It said December 2023. He had to go over it multiple times because he didn’t believe what he read. He even went down to the front desk to ask them if it was correct and they looked up at him and said yes. He started reading knowing that the translation was right, the first sentence had said Earth is about to end. There was a weird sensation flowing through his body because at this point he didn’t think it was a real journal because it dates to the future not the present time. Was it a story book or was it a time travelers journal writing down their experiences? Thomas needed to figure it out. He waited for his sushi to arrive before he started reading. He tipped the bellboy, for bringing his food. Thomas started reading at 1 p.m. and the first sentence that he read was “ If you found this, it might be too late.” Thomas was never this scared to read something in his entire life, including his own divorce papers. But thankfully, Jessica left him everything because she moved in with Mr. Flint and since he owned the magazine, he was a billionaire. She didn’t need anything except some family photos and her ugly ankle biter of a dog, which Thomas hated anyway. But back to the journal, some things weren’t translating correctly so he had to make it out himself and one of the things that was concerning was it had mentioned a spy. Thomas got excited then, he thought, Does this belong to a spy? Are they still alive? Where are they now? What is going on? The second page starts off with “ Be prepared for war!” “ What does that even mean?” he said in a calm voice. He kept going, mentioning that Russia was about to send nukes to Ukraine while China was about to go to war with America. He wondered how bad it was going to get. One line had said “ China and North Korea were sending Nuclear weapons, and troops over to Russia.” How did this person know? They definitely must be a spy at this point, Thomas thought. As Thomas kept translating, it was written that aliens were actually all behind this. He chuckled loudly, “There’s no such thing as aliens! That is barbaric!” he said sternly. Thomas was starting to think this journal was just a fiction novel someone made up because they were high on PCP. He put the journal down and decided that he had enough for the day and he’d continue tomorrow at some point. He just wasn’t believing it. Thomas decided to go back to the train station to ride another train, he needed to get his mind off of everything. He brought his camera so he could take all the pictures. But first, he wanted a nap. Thomas laid his head on the softest pillow he’d ever lay his head on and passed out. There was a loud buzzing noise that woke Thomas right up. His eyes needed to adjust because the lights seemed to be on and way brighter than he thought. When Thomas’s eyes finally opened all the way, he realized he was NOT in his hotel room. He was in an all white room, bright lights and 2 large one way mirrors facing each other. There was no smell nor a door that he could see. Thomas started panicking until the door opened...he looked up and froze with his eyes as wide as they’ve ever been. There, at the door, was a standing reptilian dressed in a fancy red suit. It said, “ We’ve been waiting for your return Thomas.