Chereads / The Returner Dad Is S-Rank / Chapter 6 - Return

Chapter 6 - Return

It was a Friday night at 10 o'clock which meant that most of the working people had gone home by now. They had worked tirelessly all week, now it was time for them to go back home and rest their weary bones. Rest and replenish their energy, play around a little with their friends and families on the weekend, and then go back to their arduous jobs starting next week.

The highway was almost empty at this time of night with the exception of a few cars passing by here and there. A few cars would pass by in short intervals who were still out and about for some sort of work or pleasure. Moments ago a car had passed by the road which statistically speaking meant that there were a few minutes till the next car would cross the road.

At this particular dark and empty road, a light flickered in space. The light was just a small flicker in the dark but there was no cause or reason for this spark to be there in the dark which was suspicious or rather curious. The spark struggled to light itself for a while. It would be born one second and then die the next moment. It was a brave sparkle as it continued its struggle against the dark.

Then finally after trying and flickering a few times, the small sparkle lit up and flashed a bright light tearing a hole in the veil of darkness. From the center of the light, a tear started to form in the space inside that light.

The tear increased in size and changed its shape until it was the exact replica of the spatial crack that Jake had entered through before. When Jake had disappeared in that spatial crack a similar crack had formed on Earth above this road. Like before the space and light around it were distorted. The light that gave birth to this crack was sucked in and broken into pieces and disappeared.

The lights of the street lamps were being sucked into the crack as the road further darkened. The streaks of light from the street lights bent inward near the crack and broke off into little specks of light. It felt like the darkness inside it was maintaining itself by feeding on the light near it.

The crack then spat something out of the darkness and a body landed on the road below it. As if it had paid it's due it slowly healed itself piece by piece and disappeared from existence. Thank god there were no cars or people around to see it. Jake lay unconscious on the cold hard asphalt-laden road. Unaware of where he was or what had happened to him.

He slowly gained consciousness a minute later and groggily sat up. His face was covered with dirt and dust as he lay face-first on the ground. He was clutching his head as he rubbed his temple. His head was banging with pain like a dance party was going on in there. He was feeling a little groggy when he woke up that's why he did not notice the road in front of him even though he was facing it a minute ago.

He slowly got up from the ground with a headache and stood on his feet. His ears were ringing from the music coming from the party in his head as he was disoriented. All of his senses had been affected by the inter-dimensional travel between the two worlds.

It was nothing short of a miracle that he was only disoriented and had a massive headache. Imagine that instead of having come back to Earth in one piece he had been caught in the void and ripped to atomic pieces as Jafer had predicted. So what he was feeling right now was uncomfortable but a miracle nonetheless.

Moments later the disorientation and pain slowly subsided and he became aware of his senses and surrounding. He took a look at his surroundings and a glimmer of hope welled up in his dry as a barren land of a heart.

'Am I Back? I am back right?'

He quickly looked around himself and saw things that could have only existed on Earth. He was exhilarated at this discovery. It was like finding water in a dry desert.

"I am back, I have to be. Those are definitely street lights and is that a bus stop? my god, look at those buildings and those traffic signs." Jake raised his hands and took a deep breath and at the top of his lungs declared to the deaf world.

"I am back Baby! I am finally back!"

He looked ahead of him towards the city. The high-rising buildings and skyscrapers were covered with glass from head to toe which he had not seen in the other world. These giant marvels of human engineering could only exist here. There had been buildings like these in the other world but they were made of simple clay bricks and carved out in mountains and huge trees. They did not have this level of architecture. None of those buildings were straight and vertical like these.

He looked around and saw that he was standing in front of a bus stop. Which was quite nostalgic. The last time he was transferred to the other world he remembered that he had been near a bus stop on the way back home. He looked at the sign and the details which reported the timings of the bus.

Then he bent down to the ground and touched the hard and cold road in front of him. Felt the cold yet sturdy path that lay before him.

"This is definitely a road. Oh, I have missed this rough sensation of roads. I traveled to all the continents of that world but never did I ever encounter a road like this. This time I am going to buy a car. One of those sporty ones. I never needed it before but this time I am definitely buying one. I would love to drive on these roads."

'It will be a fun family trip. I need to find Sylvia and Ellen first and then I will take them on a road trip.'

While Jake was bent down on one knee in the middle of the open road, thinking about various things, a pair of lights appeared on the other end of the road. These lights were approaching Jake at increasing speed. They were gunning straight for Jake but he was in a world of his own. As they got closer to him Jake could hear the roaring of the engine of the car that was barreling towards him.

He got up and was looking at the car with nostalgia and he forgot that he needs to avoid a car when they are coming toward him. The car came to a screeching stop as it just missed Jake while he was standing in the middle of the road grinning like an idiot. The driver lowered his window and started shouting at him.

"The fuck is wrong with you man? Why are you standing in the middle of the road smiling like a happy-go-lucky idiot? You wanna die? If you want to commit suicide, be my guest just don't use my car for it."

Jake then realized that he was standing in the middle of the road and that it was his mistake. It was just that he was so caught up with everything that he did not get out of the way. So being a civil person Jake apologized to the angry driver.

"I am sorry man. I was just out of it you know thinking about something and didn't realize I had walked in the middle of the road. Don't worry I am not really trying to commit suicide here, in fact, I have never felt so alive.

Anyway, that's a really nice car you are driving here. I am not that good with cars and don't even remember the name of the model but isn't this one of those sports cars? I really like these types of cars, I have never driven them before but still. They look really cool and I bet it feels great to ride one."

"Of course, it's a nice car how much do you think it cost me to buy this thing? Why do you wanna know about it if you don't even recognize a famous brand like this? Goddammit, I am already late for my date and you are making me waste more time here. Just get out of the way I have to go somewhere."

"Alright man have fun on your date… "

The man rolled his window back up and raced off before Jake could finish his sentence. Jake looked at the car as it raced off with a roar, it looked damn good. He really did not know anything about cars, in fact, he did not even know how to drive one. The only reason he was interested in these sports cars was that they were physically appealing to look at.

Jake held his hand in front of him and a second later a small black hole appeared in front of him. He put his hand inside and it disappeared into the dark hole. Moments later he removed an old and damaged box from it. This was the gift he had bought for Ellen but was never able to give it to her before. Now he had a chance to meet his family and he will give it to her this time. He gave it a slight smile and then put it back in the hole. It was time to search for his family.

'Let's see I was near a bus station last time when I went away and now I am back in front of a bus station. I am not sure if this is the same station or not. I was on the way back home from the gift shop. The gift shop is in the city and my house is in the suburbs which is in the opposite direction. So by that logic, It should be that way, but I can't recognize this road. Let's just go in this direction for now and see if I can recognize any place.'

The strategy was set which was a very simple one. Choose a general direction and start walking until he can recognize anything, a street, a house, or a sign. After walking for some time if he still does not recognize anything then change direction and try again. He chose a direction and set off to find his family.

"Wait for me, baby! Daddy's coming home!"