Laying on the grass, both boys stared into the pale blue sky. “Will? Are you there?” Josh’s voice sounded like he was speaking through water or maybe jello. That feeling you get from water being stuck in your ears? That’s what Josh was experiencing. There was something unnatural about the loss of his hearing. He wasn’t okay with that. It felt like your ears were ready to pop but didn’t.

               “What happened?” Will sat up enough to realize they weren’t in the abandoned warehouse. “Where the hell are we?” The grass was clean and freshly cut. The pungent smell of wet greenness filled their noses. “I don’t recognize this field. Are we still inside the warehouse?” Will scratched his head and slowly got to his feet. Josh sat crosslegged, looking in every direction.

               “I don’t know. I don’t recognize it either.”

               “Hey. Dude! Where are our bikes?” The warehouse’s entrance should’ve been where they left their bikes. But, like the warehouse, the bikes, too, were gone! Will ran to where they entered the warehouse, and there wasn’t so much as a trace of their bikes. “Someone stole our bikes, dude! You know I can’t afford to ask my parents for a new one, right, Josh? Damn it. Why’d I have to listen to your dumb ass!” Will kicked the slick grass, not that it did much good. “I TOLD you this was a bad idea.”

               “You didn’t have to listen to me. You never have to listen to me,” Josh said as he stood up. “Best make the best of it now, though.” Josh scanned the horizon, thinking there would be a landmark, anything to give them bearings or a direction to head in. But there was only green grass and fields as far as you could see. And from where they stood, there was a lot to see. A lot of green grass that is.

               Josh snapped his fingers. “I got it! We’ll head back the same way we came. Only we don’t have streets or signs to guide us, so we’ll use our wits and guts. At least we can find out where home is, right?” His voice trembled slightly, almost as if he was asking Will for his permission. That wasn’t like Josh. He usually sounded bold and confident. But not now.

               Will shrugged. “I followed you here. Losing you now means I may never get back home. So, yeah, I’ll keep following you.” He dejectedly added, “I guess.”

               “Come on, Will. We’re on a real adventure now!” He grabbed his shoulder and pulled him into a sideways hug. “We got this bud. Just you and me. Traveling this new and unexplored world. How freaking cool IS THAT!” He shouted like they were the only two around. But they weren’t.

               “Josh?”

               “Yeah?”

               “Is it weird,” Will said, reaching down to pick up a handful of the freshly mowed grass, “that the grass is cut, but there’s no landscaping crew? No mowers to be heard? No weedeaters?” Will brushed the wet grass out of his hand, trying to scrub the remainder grass from his palm. “There’s no sound.” Suddenly both boys felt their ears pop. It was such a rush of sound that it dropped them both to the ground, grabbing at their heads, trying to stop the inundating sounds from reaching their ears. Neither boy could stop the sounds and scrunched their eyes shut. Not that either boy thought closing their eyes would help, but it couldn’t hurt either.

               Just as fast as it started, it stopped. Josh looked at Will. Will looked at Josh. At that moment, both recognized where they were – standing in the warehouse once more, almost in the same spot when they disappeared into the field. In Josh’s excitement, he knocked Will flat on his butt, almost stomping on him as he danced around the warehouse. “Check us out, baby! We’re freakin’ back! Dude. We totally traveled somewhere else!”

                “Yeah,” Will said, brushing the dirt off him and standing up. “But where was that somewhere else?”

               “Who cares, dude! We DID IT! The stories WERE TRUE! This place,” he pointed to the floor, “can teleport people. At least two at a time! You and me. We did it! And we came back, right where we left. Can you freakin’ believe it? Dude. That’s so cool. What an adventure!”