The Man on The Sidewalk: chapter 2

Brian sat on the bed doing his best to keep his composure as he looked around the nurses' office. Brian had been here before a multitude of times when he got sick. The small room seemed to have gotten smaller as the school nurse looked at Brian annoyed.

"honestly, Otten I don't want to be rude but this is what? the 65 times we've done this? let's just skip ahead, what is it this time, chickenpox? fever? head lice?"

"can't you tell? LOOK AT ME!!" Brian screamed at the nurse frustrated. The Nurse looked the junior higher up and down squinting.

"Well, you're taller..." Brian opened his mouth ready to scream at the woman. Toad forced her hand over his mouth nodding in agreement.

"That's right Mrs. Baker, he's taller. I think the height must be getting to him. lightheadedness and all. not to mention how hot it's been today." Mrs. Baker looked at the two slightly annoyed. She wrote out a slip handing it to Brian.

"works for me, just make sure your mom doesn't see you leave." Toad looked at the note nervously.

"Actually I think I should stay with him... for his safety?"

"you're pushing it kid." Mrs. Baker grumbled Toad gave her a begging look. The nurse quickly gave in, handing Toad a second note.

"anyone asks, you have laryngitis." Toad mouthed the words thank you as he led Brian out of the room. Brian looked at Toad, an odd feeling coming over him as he grasped his arm. He couldn't quite put his finger on it, but there was something different about Toad, not the obvious. It was something else, something Brian found impossible to ignore.

"Hey Toad?" Toad looked at Brian.

"yes?" he said as they walked. Brian hesitated unsure if he should continue

"why are you a boy?" Toad sighed his voice was lighter than it had originally been when they were on the bus.

"because I realized I was." Toad said in as simple away as he could think. Brian looked down at him confused.

"what does that mean?"

"It means everyone thought I was a girl, and I realized they were wrong." Toad explained Brian nodded understanding best he could. He didn't know this was possible but if Toad wasn't bothered why should he be? Toad stopped at a large abandoned Building pulling a small key out of his pocket. The two entered the building. Brian's eyes went wide with amazement. It was filled head to toe with things he'd never seen before. Phone brands, cameras, music devices, and guns, so many guns. There was also a corkboard with thousands upon thousands of pictures of children, teenagers, and adults smiling. All of them having similar features. all of them looking like someone Brian once knew.

Toad led Brian to a couch in the middle of the room, sitting the boy down as he shuffled through a file of notes on the table in front of them. Brian leaned over his shoulder peering at the notes. Toad looked at Brian angrily.

"what are you doing?" He demanded shoving the notes under a pillow.

"you said you were going to tell me what's going on," Brian exclaimed trying to change the subject. Which seemed to work as Toad's hostility melted away.

"It's somewhat complicated, but to put it simply, you're stuck in a loop. A loop of your life and death, from this moment on, everything in your life will skip ahead before restarting once more. That's why so much seems to have changed you've skipped straight from elementary to junior high." Toad threw the file on the table slight frustration on his face.

"nuh unh!" Brian exclaimed.

"Yah huh!" Toad said tauntingly.

"How do YOU know?" Brian asked fiddling with an old-school flip phone. Toad yanked the phone from his hands, placing it back on the table.

"because I'm trapped in the loop two, more specifically I've done this 7 times already. Going from the 19th of august to, well, the end." Brian's eyes went wide with surprise.

"the end?" he gasped

"the end, of our lives? you know, when we, stop." Toad replied almost emotionless to the idea. Brian's hands shook. death, the idea never crossed his mind. sure, he heard death was a thing, but he never quite thought about it up till now. He Grabbed Toad's shoulders shaking him furiously.

"You mean we DIE? I DON'T WANT TO DIE TOAD!" Toad shook his head laughing.

"no, I meant the end of the cycle. We're trapped in a loop Brian, we can't die, it's physically impossible. It's like a video game it all just resets. even if you do kill yourself you'll just go back to august 19. You can't die, Trust me, I've tried." Toad pulled down his sleeve attempting to cover his arm better. Brian looked at the objects Toad had collected over a multitude of lives. Toad put a hand on Brian's shoulder.

"I know, this is a lot to take in, but I need you to try to keep quiet about this. I'll fill you in on what you missed. we're stuck together okay?" Brian nodded slightly unsure about all of this. Toad opened the door, locking it from the other side before turning to Brian.

"so, what do you want to do now?" Brian looked at Toad confused.

"shouldn't we just head back home?" Toad rolled his eyes as he remembered Brian was still in elementary a couple of moments ago.

"This is junior high, the rules are different now. As long as we're close to home we can do whatever the heck we want." Brian's eyes went wide with excitement. Toad was right, they could do anything they want! they could walk around alone, they could drink and smoke, and play those machines he saw in Vegas, the one's his dad never lets him play! HE COULD HAVE A GIRLFRIEND NOW!!! but most importantly, in this specific moment...

"I wanna buy a candy shop!" Brian yelled excitedly, Toad covered Brian's mouth trying to quell his friend's excitement.

"Okay, we still can't do everything yet. that was kinda an exaggeration." Toad admitted quietly. Brian groined annoyed

"then what CAN we do?" Toad shrugged his shoulders.

"We can GO to a candy shop and buy some stuff." Brian nodded half-heartedly. his eyes went wide with excitement

"Can we go to the M&M store?"

"No, that's in vegas." Toad said bluntly Brian looked at Toad confused.

"What's Vegas?" Toad stopped in his tracks his large eyes looking at Brian in pure confusion.

"You know Vegas, the city with lots of lights and a really high electric bill?" Brian shook his head.

"you know, Looney Toons, back in action? There’s a part where they go into a-" Toad tried again Brian shook his head.

"my mama won't let me watch looney toons, she says it's too violent. Not to mention satin." Toad looked at Brian confused.

"Daffy DUCK! my dad says he's a metaphor for satin!" Toad shook his head disapprovingly. What did Brian say? Was Toad mad at him? Toad grabbed Brian's arm pulling him behind him.

"your parents are WRONG and are fixing this." Toad proclaimed as the world around Brian became blurry. Brian looked around him, they were at goodies already? It couldn't be this close, could it? Toad opened the door waving at the lady at the front as the two sat down for a moment.

"How did you do that?" Brian said dumbfounded. Toad shrugged, eyeing the glass jars of sweets.

"oh I didn't do that, that just happens on its own. It's nice though saves a lot of time." Brian looked at the container of chocolate coins. gummy worms, candied necklaces, and thousands of lollipop-like treats. his mouth watering with anticipation.

"Your parents don't let you watch ANY Looney Tunes?" Brian shook his head.

"Like I said, they're too violent."

"but they let you watch kung fu panda." Toad retorted, Brian nodded proudly.

"yep took a whole week but I managed to convince dad it was about a panda finding spiritual enlightenment. He got it on my iPad for lent." Toad looked at Brian only for a moment before focusing back on the sweets.

"Okay so we're gonna get some snacks, then we're going straight to my place to watch Looney Tunes back in action. Followed by the actual cartoon, and anything else you want to watch." Brian felt a twinge of guilt in his chest.

"I can't because my parents are gonna kill me..." Toad shook his head.

"you're skipping ahead through time and you're worried your parents are going to ground you for, what, a week? maybe two weeks. Brian, this isn't just about the show. This is about showing you a world outside of mom and dad. It's time to live your life man!" Brian looked at Toad slightly surprised. what did he mean "outside his parents?" Was there a world outside of them? Brian felt a slight desire to explore this unknown world.

"Okay, just let me text my Dad. I want to let him know where I am." Brian texted his dad telling him he was going to Toad’s house. His dad sent him a text back.

"That's fine, just don't tell your mom." Brian looked at the text confused.

"He told me not to tell mom." He said to Toad as the lady behind the counter handed him a bag of cheddar popcorn. Toad nodded a slight look of disgust on his face. Not surprised though, as though Toad knew his mom would say that. In the end, Brian got a bag of cheddar popcorn, five horn-shaped lollipops, a bag of chocolate coins, and another with gummy worms. Toad just got himself a bag of mint chocolate truffles.

The two made their way to Toad's house. Toad stopped for a second looking at the wall by their house Brian looked at it two. A couple of brightly colored strings hung from the wall as though someone had ripped off what used to be there. Toad scowled as he made his way to the door ringing the doorbell. His mother answered the door. Brian looked at her in shock; he always thought Toad's mom would look like him. with a long mouth and big green eyes.

That wasn't the case, yes she and Toad had the same light brown hair and the same green eyes, but her mouth was fairly small, she was fairly thin with glasses falling off the bridge of her nose.

"hey, mom." Toad said as he effortlessly made his way into the house. Brian followed, looking at Toad's mom in slight awe.

"Hey honey you're home early?" She said her voice was pleasant and sweet. much sweeter than Brian's mom's voice. Toad dragged Brian behind him.

"Brian passed out on the bus so I took him here." Toads mom nodded.

"Well he seems to be doing much better now," she said, looking Brian up and down.

"Yeah but he's never seen Looney Tunes so we were going to go watch it."

"and his mom knows he's here?" Toad's mom asked Brian nodded showing her the text from his dad. Toad's mom flinched for a second before handing the phone back to Brian. Toad quickly changed the subject.

"Is Deceptacon home yet?" Toad asked his mom who shook her head.

"no she's working late tonight, I'm heading to the store, Brian honey, help yourself to whatever, just stay out of the closet. that's where we keep the alcohol, I'll be back in a bit. bye boys"

"Okay, bye mom!" Toad screamed pulling Brian downstairs, Brian stared at the room, it was nice. Not as big as his parent's house but nice. The basement was a small coffee table and three old green chairs sat in front of the stairs. a surprisingly large tv taking up most of the house. Toad grabbed two of the remotes pulling up a Roku account, a turtle with glasses taking up the place of Toad's account. Brian's eyes went wide as he watched the screen light up like he'd never seen before. Toad clicked on the red N, smiling as he amazed the previously elementary student.

Brian and Toad spent the rest of the day watching looney tunes. Each episode baffled Brian with the colored cartoons brutally attacking each other. This was amazing? why hadn't he ever seen these before? And why was his dad being so mean to Daffy Duck? was he mad about him attacking Bugs? Admittedly, Brian's thoughts couldn't quite stay in one place as he processed what was happening.

He was aging forward in time. So was Toad, who clearly knew more about all of this than him. They could move forward at any moment in time without control. his friends had changed and his dad thought Daffy Duck was the devil. It was a lot for Brian's 7-year-old brain to process. Tears leaked from Brian's eyes as his new reality set in. Toad peered at Brian his own smile slowly disappearing as he acknowledged his friend's sadness. He held the crying boy as the last cartoon began to end.

"I was scared my first time too." Toad said, clutching the sobbing boy.

"It's going to take some getting used to... at least we're not alone in this." Brian nodded as he looked at Toad's saddened smile. Brian felt his face go red only for a moment as Toad looked at him. It was an odd feeling, one Brian had been doing his best to ignore. Toad released himself from Brian who felt lonely as Toad's arms left.

A woman made her way downstairs dressed in a police uniform with her raven black hair tied back in a messy bun. Toad turned around an odd relief coming over his face.

"Hey, Deceptacon!" the woman smiled as her eyes met Toads.

"Hey, how was your day at school?" Toad's second mom asked

“It was fine I invited Brian over.” Toad responded. Toad's other mother looked at Brian a kind look on her face. Something about it seemed off though like she felt sorry for him.

“I see that, how are you doing? You hanging in there?” Brian nodded nervously, talking back to other kids was one thing but to be addressed by an adult he barely knew felt odd to him. Toads' other mom nodded understandingly.

”Always the quiet one aren’t you? how's your mom doing.” Admittedly Brian had no idea how his mama was. Much like the past comes back to an old man with amnesia, it came to him.

”she’s doing alright, pretty stressed about dad’s new job. She’s regretting her life choices. The important ones: Marrying dad, becoming a teacher, having kids… She’s -“ Toad gestured to Brian motioning for him to stop. Toad's other mothers sighed In agreement.

”Ah, I feel you, little guy. I feel you.” Toad's other mom looked at a photo of an older woman holding a baby.

”That's just how some people are. That's why the sane people have to stay together. Don’t EVER blame yourself for what you’re mom feels.” Brian processed the words he just said. ‘His mom regrets having him?’ What was he saying? What did he mean? Why did it just occur to him now?

the thought repeated in Brian’s head as he nodded To Toad's other mom. Toad put A hand on Brian’s shoulder.

”Decepticon, I think I need to talk to Brian alone.” Toad muttered. Toad's mom nodded as she slowly left the room.

”what just happened?” Brian wheezed as he tried to calm himself down. Toad sat back down on the couch keeping an eye on Brian.

“You were relieving.” Brian looked at Toad confused.

”relieving?” Toad nodded

”When we skip ahead we don’t stop existing in time. Our consciousness just moves to a later time in life. We haven’t experienced the things we missed but our bodies did. The result is relapsing, there will be moments your brain thinks of things that have already happened or could happen.” Brian did his best to translate what Toad just told him.

“So I remember because my body remembers?” Toad nodded looking to see if his mom was still watching.

“Next time you experience it don’t say anything.”

“why not?” Brian asked as he took one of the chocolate coins he bought earlier. Toad grabbed Brian’s arm leading him out of the living room only addressing him when the two made it to the bathroom.

”We are currently skipping through time. One little thing can change how people react and how your life goes. I told my grandma about this before and ended up skipping into a mental hospital. Trust me, talking about this with people outside the loop can make things harder.” Brian nodded in an attempt to calm Toad down. Toad took a deep breath finding calmness once more as the doorbell began to ring. Toad walked to the door, opening it to reveal Brian's mom.

Brian’s mom looked down at Toad with a disapproving look on her face. Toad forced a smile as he stared at the woman.

“Hello, Mrs. Otten How’s your day going?” Toad said a fake-sounding excitement resonating from his mouth. Brian's mom looked past Toad seemingly for signs of her son.

”could you get Brian for me?” she said completely ignoring Toad's question. Toad turned back to where Brian was standing.

”Brain, your mom’s here to get you.“ Brian stood himself up as he walked to the door unexplained anxiety sitting in his stomach. the feeling growing with each step he took. Brian looked at the woman, an odd confusion coming over him. This wasn’t his mama, his mama was beautiful, nice, always dressed nicely.

This woman wore a coffee-stained shirt and her hair was a mess. the dark space under her eyes were so dark she looked like a raccoon. she stumbled into the house swaying as she got through the door.

“Hey kid, how was school today?” The stranger said, Brian held back his desire to tell the woman he didn’t recognize her.

”It was great.” Brain said a little too honestly. The woman nodded.

”I heard you were feeling sick, are you feeling better now?” Brian nodded his anxiety rising as his mom’s words pierced into him. If his mom was good at anything it was scaring him. Toad looked over Brian’s mom nervously.

”yes, actually Mrs. Otten, Brian wanted to stay the night.” Toad clutched Brian’s shoulder his comforting touch changed to a grasp of desperation. Brian looked at his mom hesitating.

”Well hon, Brian has school tomorrow come on Brian.” Brian followed his mom to the car. Pulling on his buckle. His Mom drove forward silently. Brian attempted to talk to his mom. No response, Brian felt a memory enter his mind. They were mad at each other. Brian didn’t know why but he said something that hurt her.

”Mama, I’m sor-“

”This is the 12th time you’ve done this. What did I do wrong? I raised you on PBS kids Brian, PBS KIDS! I took you to church, I was always there when you were sad. Where did that land me? Now I’m stuck with a son who won’t do anything and a husband who can’t do anything…“ Brian’s mom peered at Brian. Brian stared at his mom, his own sadness welling up as he watched his mom break down into tears.

“I’m sorry, but I just want to have a good life. You aren’t gonna get anywhere if you don’t try.” Brian nodded

”I’ll try mama I swear.”

”how do I know that?” Brian’s mom wiped her eyes. Brian opened his mouth, not entirely sure how to respond. That’s when Brian saw it. The semi-truck. Brian screamed to his mom who turned the wheel furiously as the truck Smashed into the two. The glass smashing as Brian lurched forward. His mom bashed his head on the desk board. Brian tried to undo his seatbelt burning pain steering through his solder as he struggled to unbuckle his belt.

Brian's breathing became heavy as he felt the world around him go dim. the tunnel of light came into view once more. The screams of people as they were forcibly dragged past him. his mama, where was his mama? Brian peered at his surroundings looking for any sign. The tunnel lunged towards Brian ready to swallow him whole. Brian felt someone grab his shirt yanking him back into reality.

Brian looked at his savor, a short teenage boy with big eyes and a wide mouth looked at him. Butterflies seemed to fill Brian’s stomach as they locked eyes. Brian looked the older boy up and down.

”Toad?“ Toad took a deep breath Tired from yanking people into other dimensions.

“Good, you're catching up. You're doing okay?”

Brian shook his head. He felt unsettled as he peered around desperately looking for his family. He found his dad dressed in all black a tired look of sadness in his eyes. Brian was also wearing black, as was Toad who sighed as he looked at what Brian’s dad was crying over. An open casket, Brian felt a sadness build inside him as he pushed past his dad.

His mom sat in the casket, her face powdered and done up. her favorite green dress laid in a bed of flowers. Brian wailed as he looked onward. Why? How? She was fine, in the car she was breathing. She was okay. So why? What happened? Toad held Brian solemnly looking at the sight. It was odd the dead look in Toad’s eyes. Brian never noticed it before. Had he become immune? To death? To grieving, traumatized beyond belief.

Brian looked at the boy's face. The face of a teenager who's been through hell. Brian looked at his own face barely noticing the shaggy style goatee that covered his face. Toad held him trying his best to show emotion. Would Brian be like that someday? Was death a normal thing? All Brian knew at that moment was one thing.

His mom was dead. I wish I could say this is the last time Brian would watch his mom die, unfortunately, I can’t.