The Cosmic Man

Prologue (Somewhere, Sometime in the Multiverse)

Space is never empty. There are stars, nebulae, planets, and then there are hungry darknesses; areas of the universe so dark all light disappears... Along with everything else. We don’t know the exact nature of these terrifying places but, we do know they are the apex predator of the universe. They will devour anything that crosses their path in close proximity. They are known as black holes.

But what happens after entering a black hole? Scientists have theorized you will get “spaghettified”. (Ah, yes, spaghettification; the official and totally real term used to describe how an object gets stretched by the immense gravitational pull of a black hole. One can assume it is a rather painful experience. At least the terminology is light-hearted relatively speaking.) What happens after that? Where would you go? Another dimension? Another universe? Would you cross the boundaries of time and space- jumping decades ahead or behind of where you once were? Or would you just die and nothing more? Scientists have speculated what might happen if an object enters a black hole, but it’s only a matter of time before they have answers they have been so strenuously searching for...

1. A Fine Day (Franklin Square, NY, November 2013, Universe “X”)

ANDREW: Stay in the car!

Andrew directed a teenager in the passenger seat of his car. Andrew Mills, a middle-aged, balding man was the father of said teenager. Kyle, a 17-year-old boy found himself as an observer in a rather unpleasant situation involving his dad and some random guy. Andrew slammed the car door and walked hastily to the man nearby. What transpired was Andrew, who was in the process of leaving a parking space backed up into a passing car. Kyle watched as his father argued with the owner of the other vehicle. Kyle couldn’t make out the exact words through the window, but he filled in the blanks. Unfortunately for Andrew, he hit a rather expensive sports car which belonged to a rather aggressive man. It was unfortunate that this man had an anger management problem and thus was the one to escalate things. The argument got heated enough that he suddenly punched Andrew across the face causing him to stumble onto the ground. Kyle immediately sprang into action. He unbuckled his seatbelt and exited the car. As he was walking towards the aggressive man his dad looked up at him, blood spewing from his nose, and commanded Kyle to get back in the car. Kyle, with his intent to defend his pride ignored his father’s words and walked briskly to the man towering over Andrew. The aggressive man spoke to Kyle in a condescending tone,

AGGRESSIVE MAN: You better listen to your pops, kid.

KYLE: No.

Kyle walked up to the man and shoved him against his car. His dad yelled Kyle’s name, but he chose to ignore again. The man then towered over him, grabbed his shirt, pulled him close, and said menacingly,

AGGRESSIVE MAN: Don’t you ever touch me you piece of shit.

He then shoved Kyle onto the ground. In response to that, Andrew got up and threw himself at the man yelling,

ANDREW: Don’t you fucking dare touch my son!

He shoved the aggressive man against his car again and punched him in the face. The aggressive man, now also bleeding from his nose, punched Andrew once more causing him to fall to the ground again. The aggressive man kicked him while he was down. Kyle watched in shock as the man took out his phone and started taking pictures of the dents on the cars as well as the license plates. Kyle looked around and saw passerby’s stare at the situation. Some were idling by with their hands over their mouths. It was when the aggressive man was in Andrew’s car searching for insurance information that cops arrived on the scene. The driver of the cop car stepped out and ordered the man to step out of the vehicle. The man obeyed but explained what he was doing. Another cop stepped out of the car. She walked to Kyle and Andrew who both stood up; Andrew stood up a little slower holding his hand on the side that was kicked. As expected, they were asked for an explanation of what transpired moments ago. Andrew exchanged insurance information and driver’s license info while the aggressive man was given a summons for starting the fight. Both men were told they were to appear in court sometime in the future.

***

There was complete silence between Kyle and his dad on the way back to their home in Malverne, Long Island. Tension had invaded the silence. Once they had gotten home Kyle went straight to his room while his dad went straight to the bathroom to clean himself of the dried blood on his face. Andrew was, to say the least, embarrassed his son had to witness him getting clocked twice and kicked while he was down. They hadn’t talked until supper when Andrew finally spoke up about the incident,

ANDREW: What happened today…You shouldn’t have intervened with that man and I…

Kyle gripped his fork tighter and stared down at his food in silence. Kyle continued to eat, however at a faster pace because he wanted to leave the vicinity of his father as soon as possible. He felt kind of awkward with his dad after that whole situation.

Once Kyle was finished eating, he placed his dishes and silverware in the dishwasher and went upstairs without saying a word. He spent the next fifteen minutes laying on his bed alternating between staring at the ceiling and scrolling through Instagram. The sound of his dad coming up the stairs made Kyle quietly groan because he knew his dad was going to talk to him about earlier.

Andrew entered Kyle’s room and like a reflex Kyle blurted out,

KYLE: I think I’m going to Mom’s.

ANDREW: Oh yeah? Why and when?

KYLE: This coming weekend and because I feel like I haven’t seen her in a while.

ANDREW: We’ll discuss that later, but I came up here to talk to you about earlier.

Kyle made another loud groan that his father chose to ignore.

ANDREW: I told you to stay in the car.

KYLE: Yeah but…

Kyle knew what he was going to say but felt a little bit bad for his dad, so he held back his words. Andrew knew, however, what Kyle was about to say and as a result he looked down and sighed.

ANDREW: Thanks for being my back up, buddy.

Andrew smirked. Kyle looked up at his father and grinned slightly. Andrew brushed Kyle’s hair playfully and left the room. Kyle went on his phone and texted his mom.

The rest of the night was pretty uneventful; Andrew sat on his recliner chair as usual watching random crap on the TV with a beer in hand. He would watch the news a fair amount as he had interest in the current events happening in their world. The current hot topic on the news was the growing division amongst people of opposing political views in the U.S.; Republicans vs. Democrats, the age old social warfare. The internet became a host to all this in addition to the in-person quarrels. It seemed as though everyone had strong opinions and they felt the need to not only make them known but tried selling others to believe in them. Sometimes the division was in the form of verbal confrontation, and other times it escalated into physical. Objectively speaking the U.S. government at the time had no idea how to properly handle the situation. Indeed, times were looking more and more desperate.

***

The next morning Kyle inquired about seeing his mother again to his dad on the way to his school, Valley Stream North High School.

KYLE: So about seeing mom.

ANDREW: Oh yeah…

KYLE: Do you not want me to see her?

ANDREW: No, it’s not that it’s just- when do you plan to see her again?

KYLE: This weekend.

It would be less revealing if I didn’t say Andrew was not ever completely on board with Kyle seeing his mom. He knew he couldn’t deny Kyle of that, but yet he was still uncomfortable.

ANDREW: So, I’m assuming Jack will be there too.

KYLE: I guess.

ANDREW: So, Jack… Cool guy?

KYLE: I mean he’s not like a dick or anything which is pretty cool.

ANDREW: That’s… Good. What will you guys be doing?

KYLE: I don’t really know. I guess we’ll figure that out as the day goes along.

There was a heavy silence emitting from Andrew. What happened was his ex-wife (Kyle’s mother) had an affair with a “friend” when Kyle was in elementary school resulting in a dramatic divorce. It didn’t help that Andrew’s ex-wife spent most of her time away from home to work on her “medical science projects”. Or at least that’s what she would tell Andrew and Kyle. Eventually, she stopped caring to tiptoe around Andrew and outright told him when asked if there was another guy. Kyle found himself in the middle of numerous fights (Rest assured, only verbal) and saw himself being pulled in two opposing directions, metaphorically speaking of course. His mom wanted sole custody over her son while Andrew wanted sole custody as well. Battles in court ensued where ultimately the judge ruled that both parents can retain shared custody. Kyle was given the freedom to choose who he saw once he turned 16. Both Andrew and his ex-wife eventually came to terms with the agreement and decided it would be best to stop the arguing for the sake of everyone’s mental health. The years following the custody battle was a weird time for both Kyle and his father. Andrew was in worse shape than Kyle for he grasped the gravity of the situation more. Kyle went to therapy for a few years until he thought it was not necessary and just a waste of time. Andrew also went to therapy for some time secretly as he didn’t want Kyle to know he was majorly depressed. Years have passed since they both moved on and what once was a mess of a situation now blended in with the rest of life going barely unnoticed… Barely.

Kyle was dropped off at school and walked inside. He was in every sense of the word an ordinary high schooler. He had a circle of friends and acquaintances, but he wasn’t popular by any means nor was he unpopular. He was not a nobody, but he was not a somebody. Just a body. He just goes through the school days and then goes home or occasionally to a friend’s house. He met up with his friends in the cafeteria before heading to their lockers to get ready for 1st period English class. His locker happened to be across from one of his best friend, Drake .

FRANK: Hey Kyle, did you do the math homework?

Kyle remained silent for the moment as it had just occurred to him that he, in fact, failed to do so.

KYLE: Oof. Well, I have seven periods remaining to do the assignment.

FRANK: Dammit. I was going to do it, then I didn't. Was going to look off of yours.

KYLE: If I end up doing it, you'll be the first to know.

FRANK: Fantastic. Hey, are you looking to hang after school?

KYLE: I wouldn't see why not! Let's round up the other folks too!

Frank closed the locker.

FRANK: Sounds good. I'll catch ya' later!

Kyle nodded to Frank as he rushed off to his first class. Kyle, on the other hand, took his time situating himself for the first few classes. The beginning of the day seemed to be no different than any other.

But that’s just the beginning.