A Twist in Time

==Chapter 1: So begins the Twisted Tale of the Twins of Time...==
On the date of January 6, 2012, two young twin boys, Garman and Chast, were bored. They had just come home from a snowball fight at the park. They lived on Tortuga in Haiti, ever since their Mother moved the whole family because she worked for the Red Cross foundation and had volunteered to help the locals after the huge earthquake in 2010. It was odd to have snowfall, because Haiti is usually very hot and humid, and barely ever received snow. Garman was brushing off the snow when Chast pulled a snowball out of his pocket. Garman suddenly started to back away, but then Chast brushed away some of the snow, which then revealed a red ruby, old, yet in beautiful condition. "What is that?" asked a suspicious yet curious Garman, eyeing the ruby. "I don't know, I found it lying in the snow." said Chast, also curious like his twin. At this same time, two things were happening at entirely different places and one at an entirely different time. A young man named Bill was looking around for a certain item. In fact, it was the same item Chast held in his hand as we speak. "This is what I get for travelling time in a rush. Now I may never see anyone else I know from the 1700s ever again." Bill said, concerned about his Ruby. He had already dug around and made many crater-like holes in the snow, but to no avail. That's when Bill noticed footprints. They looked about the size of a male teen's, and there were tracks side by side and what seemed like many small lumps of what used to be snowballs by a scatter in the tracks. The tracks were soon straight and he had figured out that they both lead to one area. As he followed the tracks and Garman and Chast were still examining the ruby, a fight was taking place in the year 1744. Lord Maxamillion was practising sword-to-sword combat, angry about almost being forced to resign due to the amount of hatred he was receiving from other lords. He then became so angry that when he was duelling, he accidentally stabbed the man. He was escorted away to be attended to, and another man replaced him, sweating. "Do you reckon you should take a break, sir?" said the man that replaced the injured trainer, very scared, trembling and covered in sweat. "That's the sixth man you've taken out today, Lord Maxamillion." "No, not until I'm completely deprived of my rage." "Please, my lord." "Ugh, fine." Said Maxamillion in a very annoyed tone. At that moment, it was a rush. Chast and Garman were both holding the ruby when one of them said,"This looks so beautiful. It must be worth so much. I wish I could see where this came from." Garman took it and put it in his pocket. They decided to make lunch. When they were eating, Garman choked on his food. He made a bit of weird sounds and sputtered out bits of words. "Ca- he- arr- gah!- deh- jur- he-he-help!" Chast had already noticed he was choking and was already punching him in the stomach. They both let out a sigh of relief when Garman started spitting up the food. Then Garman's pocket began to glow. Garman pulled out the ruby, and Garman noticed that is was glowing on and off, and it was getting quicker. And quicker. And quicker. At this point, Chast put his hand on the ruby to feel it. It felt like it was vibrating. And then the world twisted, turned, flipped and flopped, and even flattened and lengthened until it was straight again.
Chast and Garman were standing in the middle of a shack. An old shack of dark greyish colors. They were still both holding onto the ruby, and were both wearing their snow clothes. Chast let go at the same time Garman did, and they screamed in unison. They looked at each other, and then at themselves. They were still the same, exactly as they were, except their snow boots were both burnt on the bottom. They only had seconds to look at their snow boots before hearing rustling in the house. They both turned around to find a rat, foam emanating from its mouth continuously, assuring to them it had rabies. They quickly ran for the door as the rat chased after them, and they ended up on sand when they ran out of the shack. "Sand?" Chast said questioningly, as he looked down. It had just been Winter, and now it was the middle of Summer.
They both looked around, but each immediately started sweating. It was so hot, and they were dressed for the snow. Garman tore off his coat, burnt boots, gloves, and hat, then rolled up his sleeves. Chast seemed to copy him as he went along, except when he was done, he hid their snow clothes behind a bush. They walked, and looked around, trying to figure out where they were, but then they say the sign. The sign said,"Welcome to Tortuga" in chipped paint and was very hard to read. They spent about ten minutes trying to figure out what it said, but they soon understood the sign, and were very confused. "If this is Tortuga, why isn't it snowing?" said Chast aloud. "Yeah, and why did we go from being wet and soggy to dry and hot within a matter of seconds?" Garman said. And then, it hit them. Garman had said he wanted to know where the ruby came from. He must've somehow made it teleport them to its rightful home, where it was created and found. But where was that? An alternate universe? The past? The future? Or were they put into some kind of simulation. They then saw a man walking by them. He looked odd. He was skinny and wearing rags. He had a large white beard and a cap atop his head. "Excuse me, sir, what is the year?" Asked Chast. "Blimey! Where've ya been, lad? The year's 1744!"
They were both horrified at the thought of living in the 1700s. No cars. No computers. No cheeseburgers. But the worst of all, no iPods. That's when they noticed. They had travelled back in time. The world's two most dumbest teens had gone back to the 1700s, all because of a crystal. And then, it hit them again. They needed that crystal, it could be their only way back home. They ran to the shack to find the rat gone, but a man investigating the ruby. They took it from him and ran. They ran all the way to a bar called, "The King's Arm." Its sounded interesting.
==Chapter 2: "...E-lec-tron-ic?"==
As the twins entered, they were astonished to see many people in the bar, either dancing a jig, playing poker or blackjack, passed out, or arguing about who owns the bar. They went up to the counter. "Um, sir, can you tell us where we are? What country, or state, or city, or whatever?" asked Garman, polite as he could be. "King's Arm, Tortuga, lad. Ye don' look like yer from 'round here. Where'd ya sail from?" he asked. "We come from the United States, in Lakewood, Washington." said Garman, again as politely as he could. "United States? Lakewood? Washington? What the bloody 'ell are those?" asked the man. "Washington is the coffee capital of the world." said Chast, noticing the man's confused look. "That's where we were born. We lived there up until we moved to Haiti. We still get the latest new and electronics and stuff from the State though." The man looked more confused than the twins thought possible."E-lec-tron-ic? What are all these words yer sayin'? I don' understand! Ya must be from another country. Must be mixin' yer words. Happens ever so often. Anyways, would you two like anything?" "No, we just ate. But do you guys have Coke?" said Garman. The man then looked at them as bewildered as he had before, and pointed towards the door. "Out until ye learn proper English." They simply walked out, and looked at each other, wondering what happened. "What'd I say?" They said to each other in unison.
They walked down a sand path enclosed in by small rocky formations. They continued on until they reached a cart. A woman was standing by it with a cauldron boiling over a fire. They ignored her as she looked creepily towards them. She was wearing rags and her hair was frizzy. They made their way to what seemed like a hollowed out log. They walked through it to find a creepy and odd sight. Mossy headstones everywhere surrounded by skeletons. They noticed one of the skeletons using some kind of magic on a grave, and another skeleton rose out of the grave. This was what the others were trying to accomplish. However, they did not succeed. One glowing skeleton holding some kind of staff that held a glowing crystal at the end turned towards the twins and screamed."PIRATES!!!!!!" The skeletons ran toward them and the one holding the staff shot a glowing green orb towards Chast. It hit him, but nothing happened, so they ran out through the hollow log and onto the beach again. The skeletons had gone, but they were still running. Chast bumped into a man. He turned towards them. "Oh, sorry didn't see ya there. I'm Skippy. Looking for work?" the man said. Garman and Chast couldn't manage any words and had hardly listened to what the man said, so they both just nodded. "Great! Take these fishing rods and try to find me three trout. I'll give you my dinghy in return." The man said gleefully. Garman and Chast were a bit confused, as they both only heard the words "Catch" "Three" "Trout" and "Dinghy." They were heading over to the edge of the dock when they heard a man exclaim,"WOW! I'm lucky today! Three trout and a giant salmon!" They walked over behind the man. He was so amazed at the giant salmon he had just caught that they had enough time to bring the fishnet with three trout concealed within it to Skippy. "Wow, you're both quick fishers. Here's the oars for my dinghy. It's over there." Skippy said. They both made their way to the dinghy and Garman decided to row. They had found a compass and a map under one of the bench seats. They decided to head to Port Royal, since it was an English dock (something they actually learned in Social Studies). They were mid-way there when Chast screamed. Garman quickly looked up from the map to see his brother staring at his hand in horror. Garman looked at Chast's hand. It had become complete bone.
==Chapter 3: Skeleton==
"W-W-WHAT'S HAPPENING TO ME?" Chast screamed. Garman couldn't help but just stare in awe at his hand. "I-I-I don't know, but it looks like you're hand has become completely bony." Garman observed it curiously. "NO, REALLY?" Chast said sarcastically while still panicking. "Look, its my fault we're here in the first place, so let me see what I can find on the map. OOH-" Garman was suddenly interrupted by Chast. "You're right, it IS you're fault we're here!" He said angrily, standing up. "You're the reason my hand is all bone!" He then picked Garman up and threw him off the boat. "AAAAAAAA-" screamed Garman before he landed in the water with a large SPLOOOSH. "WHAT WAS THAT FOR?!?" He screamed at Chast. "FOR DRAGGING ME HERE, YOU IDIOT! I NEVER WANTED TO HAVE A SKELETON HAND!" Chast screamed back. Garman slowly climbed back into the boat. Chast was about to push him back out when Garman yelled "WAIT! I didn't mean to bring us here. I was just holding that ruby thing, and then I chok-" Garman then stopped and noticed something. "I think I just figured out how we got here..." Garman just stared at the ruby, thinking to himself. Could it be that this thing is why we're here in the first place? And how? Was it by the choking? If so, what did I say again? And would it help us to get back? While Garman was in a deep state of mind, Chast was dumbstruck and still worried about his boney hand. He then looked to Garman. "What are you thinking about? And what did you mean by 'I think I just figured out how we got here...'?" Garman looked up from the ruby in his hands. "Dude, this ruby is magic. The choking sounds from earlier were words. We were transported here from Haiti in 2012. We're stuck until we figure out what you said..." He said with a blank expression. Chast started to sweat. Were they really going to be stuck there? If so, how would they live? Like a peasant, pirate, or try to sneak their way into a royal family? As they both thought to themselves, Garman noticed an island.
"Land!" He yelled. They soon got close enough that they could see people running around on it. Just at that moment, Chast sat down in the dinghy. He was about to brace for the impact of the shore as a cannonball flew past his head. "WHAT THE-" He yelled in horror as I just barely missed his nose by a few centimetres. Another cannonball whizzed over the dinghy. "HIT THE DECK!!!!!" Garman yelled. They both fell to the wooden boards at the bottom of the dinghy. They heard yells over head. "You bumbling bilge rat! You're going to get us killed!" A somewhat deep voice said. Chast sat up for a second. One ship had a Spanish flag. The other, a British one. He saw Spaniards running about on the Spanish ship, and a very burly man was yelling orders at everyone. He looked over to the British ship. They were somewhat calmer. The man yelling orders at others was on a cannon. He was somewhat older, but he looked a bit more tired. A man aboard the British ship yelled "LOOK!" and pointed to Chast and Garman's dinghy. Just then, some of the Spanish crewmen looked too. Both sides were yelling things neither Chast nor Garman could hear due to the other ship drowning out the other. Then, some Spaniards dropped off the ship, and into a dinghy. They started rowing towards Chast and Garman. Crewmen on the opposing ship did the same. Chast smiled thinking they were going to help them somehow. Little did he know he was dead wrong.
==Chapter 4: Why You Shouldn't Tick Off The Kings Of England And/Or Spain==
Chast and Garman were sitting down. Chast had a smug and satisfied look on his face, glad the men were coming, but Garman knew otherwise. He was worried and sweating. He knew the real reason both the men were coming after them. They thought they were pirates. He felt shivers just thinking about what they would do if either of the two clueless teens tried to deny it. The Spaniards arrived first, and the leader drew his sword. Chast thought it was to fend off the British crewmen. However, he had a grim look on his face when the man took Garman and held the sword to his neck. "Give up, pirate. We've got you cor-" He was cut off when one of the British men stood up as the dinghy he was riding bumped into Chast and Garmans'. "Ha! Thought you could hide from us, didn't you, pirates?" He pulled his sword out and waved it in the air as if to gloat. The Spanish man holding Garman then said "Step back, dirty Brit! These are our prisoners, don't touch them!" The British man got a little angry, but stood calm. He then said something that devastated the two teens. "Here, let's split them up. That way we both get a prisoner. Everyone floats away happy." The British man said. Chast was awestruck and Garman looked like he was about to faint. The Spaniard gritted his teeth. He then said "Fine. Deal." and shook hands with the Brit.
As both teens floated away on separate dinghies, they looked at each other from afar. They were both sad and stared until the other's face disappeared. In all of the actions, Chast almost forgot about his hand. He looked down at it. It had gotten worse, and had spread to his wrist. He was a little worried about this, but then got an idea. He waved it around the dinghy. Everyone had gotten scared, and some crewmen even fell off. However, the leader was not amongst those people. "That does not scare me as much as the others, young one. It's merely surprising. But I've seen much worse. Tell me, what is your name?" He asked. Chast didn't say anything. He asked again, but Chast said nothing. Finally, he yelled at him. "TELL ME YOUR NAME BEFORE I RUN YOU THROUGH WITH MY SABRE!" At this, Chast stepped back in the dinghy and said "Chast" in a silent voice. They reached the ship. Chast looked at the man that was previously shouting orders. He'd seen him before, but he didn't know where. Chast sat in the brig for a while. He wondered what was happening to Garman.
Garman sat in the brig next to the drunk pirate. "So how'd ye get in here?" He asked him. Garman wasn't paying attention. He then looked at the drunk pirate. "I'm sorry, what?" He asked him. "Oh, ye be wonderin' 'bout my story, eh? Well, it all starts...." The drunk pirate then babbled as Garman thoroughly observed the cell he was in. The Spaniards payed little attention to him when they took him to the ship. They seemed more focused on beating out the British, so this gave him the perfect opportunity to make a mental map of the ship. As the crewmens' feet creaked on the floorboards above, Garman was formulating his escape plan. Little did he know his brother was doing the exact same on the British vessel.
==Chapter 5 and 1/3: Meeting of Utmost Importance (Chast's Side)==
Chast sat still as he felt the ship shake. "Wha-" he said aloud but was interrupted as some men marched in. "His majesty has requested your presence." One of them said. Chast thought to himself. His majesty? Who could that- then it hit him. The British flag, the familiar man, the crewmen calling Garman and himself pirates. This was the King of England's vessel, and he had thought them to be pirates, and everyone knows; The king of England hated pirates. Chast started sweating. He didn't know what would happen next. The men opened his cell door. Two walked in and picked him up by his arms. His feet dragged as they brought him to the Captain's quarters. When they arrived, they threw him to the ground. Chast stood up, but shook and sweat. He was afraid of what would happen next. The man sitting at the desk in front of Chast gestured towards a guard next to him to come closer. He whispered to the man and he walked out. The man at the desk then looked at Chast. Chast avoided direct eye contact. "Guards, get this boy a chair." The two guards that carried Chast walked out and came back 5 minutes later with a chair. The man at the desk gestured towards the chair. "Sit." He said. Chast did just that. "Now, tell me, what is your name?" "Ch-chast" Chast just barely managed. "Chast? What a peculiar name. I assume you aren't from England?" The man at the desk said. "Well, I'm John Breasly. King John Breasly II of England, to be exact. Now, would you like to explain to me why you and that other boy were floating towards Port Royal in a dinghy?" He asked. Chast spilled the beans. "My brother and I had gotten a dinghy from Tortuga. We're trying to get home. We live-" He stopped himself. He thought for a minute, and said,"We live on Port Royal. We ran off a few days back because we were angry at our parents. We've heard our mother is worried sick and were trying to get home." Chast stood with no emotion. He hoped the bluff would work. "Very well. But what is that?" The King said as he gestured towards Chast's skeleton hand. Chast had almost completely forgotten about his hand. He began to worry about it again for a split second, but then he bluffed yet again. "My brother and I were tricked by a gypsy. She gave us a potion for free that she said would give us 'majestic powers.' I was the first to drink it, and my hand became all bony. We quickly disposed of the potion. Now I'm stuck like this." Chast held his breath. He knew some people were really into magic around this time-frame, but he didn't think the guards and King would actually believe it. "Ah, a gypsy. They're very troublesome." said King Breasly. "I think I may know someone to help you. Thank you for being honest with me, Chast. Now..." He cut off. The man he had previously whispered to walked in. John nodded at the man. The man snapped his fingers. All the guards pulled out guns. Every single one of them were aimed at Chast. Chast was scared. He didn't move. He looked the King directly in the eye. "But-" He uttered. "Now now, Chast, did you really think we'd believe your silly story? Take him back to his cell." John said with a smug look on his face. Two guards carried him back. They all threw Chast in his cell. As Chast sat, he hoped that his brother was having better luck than Chast himself. However, he wasn't. And the confused Bill Plunderbones that was trapped 268 years into the future wasn't either.
==Chapter 5 and 2/3: Meeting of Utmost Importance (Garman's Side)==
Garman had the whole ship mapped out in his head. He already had an escape plan. He had everything. He just needed someone to open his cell door. But no one would dare come near Garman's cell, due to the blabbering drunk cell mate of his that just wouldn't shut up. Garman sat and wondered for a while. He was bored, and soon took out the ruby in his pocket. The drunkie had passed out. Now, it was just Garman and the ruby. Garman observed it. It was in perfect condition. It seemed timeless. It, in some odd way, attracted Garman. He couldn't take his eyes off it. He seemed transfixed on it. Then, he heard footsteps. Garman  shoved the ruby in his pocket, and sat still. He then saw an old man walk up with a group of Spaniards behind him. "King Pearson has requested your presence." He said, and some of the guards snickered. He unlocked the door and Garman bolted out. Garman ran past the cells and onto the surface deck. Guards were shooting at him and crewmen chased after him. Just as Garman was about to reach a dinghy, a man Garman. "Tell me, what is your name, youngling?" He asked. "Garman." Garman said with a slight grunt. "Garman? That's a rather odd name for a pirate." The man said. "I'm not a pirate." Garman grunted. "What was that, pirate?" The man said. "I'M NOT A PIRATE!" Garman yelled. The guards drew their guns. The man spoke again. "Stand down." He looked Garman in the eyes. "I don't like impolite little boys." He said. "I'm not a little boy! And I'm definitely not a damn pirate!" He yelled at him. He pushed kicked the man in the shin and ran to the ropes that were holding up the dinghy. He was about to jump in, when the guards released a rain of bullets. Garman just narrowly avoided all of them, but one man grabbed him. The man and some guards escorted him back to his cell. Garman was angry. He started mumbling bits of words under his breath as he reached his hand in his pocket and grasped the ruby. At that moment, it started to glow. Garman was angry. Very angry. The ruby glowed brighter and brighter. It started to shake. Garman was getting more steamed by the minute. Then, everything went bright white. Garman's eyesight was blurry as everything faded, Garman regained consciousness. "W-what?" He said. He was wobbly. The first thing he saw was the old drunkie. "What the-" Garman said. He noticed sunlight. Sunlight? But- Garman was confused. He looked around. Garman looked down. He saw wooden boards. He looked around. He was on a deck. He saw many people staring at a man talking to a teen. The teen seemed to be the same age as Garman, and he had the same hairstyle too. He also sounded like him. Garman thought for a minute. Then he realized. The boy over there was him. And the man was the same man who was talking to him a few minutes ago. What the hell is going on? The past Garman then yelled at the man. He was escorted back to the brig. As the crewmen resumed, Garman hid. The drunkie followed him, and he got the perfect idea for a distraction. He told the drunkard that his rum was hidden somewhere in the crowd of crewmen, and that he needed to find it. The man bolted off. A commotion broke out as Garman snuck over to a dinghy. He got in it and loosened the ropes on it. Just as he was about to be free, one of the crewmen spotted him. "Hey, over there! That kid got out!" A bunch of crewmen came running after Garman in a crowd. As Garman loosened the final knot, he waved the crewmen goodbye as the dinghy fell to the water. Garman tried to row away as fast as he could, and he soon lost the ship. He leaned back. He didn't know where to go. He found a map and compass. He used it. He was going to try and find Port Royal, He pulled out the ruby for a second. Who does this belong to anyway? As Garman thought about the ruby, the actual owner of it was trapped in current day Haiti searching for the exact gem Garman held in his hands.
TO BE CONTINUED...
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