It was Mark’s turn now, but he was not in the mood to try a new ring. They had yet to find something really useful to solving his little brothers’ problem. Whether they wanted to be separated or not, he wanted to find a solution. He needed to find a solution. Mark turned to Luke’s bed, with the named rings. There was only one that they had avoided trying. He approached and took the wood ring with the disturbing rhyme.
“You’re going to wear that one?” Max questioned.
“It could be dangerous.” Jack looked clearly worried. “That one was all about time after humans.”
“We need to figure out what all the rings do, right?” Mark insisted. When no one put forth an argument, he continued, “Something about this ring seems off. None of the others have words or any true indication of what they can do. Why is this one different. In any case, we’ll know once I try it on.” Mark then slipped on the ring his finger, before anyone else could put up an argument.
His mind became cloudy, as images flashed by. There were so many, and they appeared and went so quickly that he could barely glimpse at them. One image caught his attention just long enough that he could concentrate on it. He focused on his younger brothers, imagining what life would be like if they found a way to separate them. Suddenly, room disappeared. It was like being on one of those flat, circular play structures that could be spun quickly. The word, merry-go-round, came to him. It was like being on one of those as the world spun around you, distorting everything.
Finally, the spinning stopped. Even though he had not been moving, Mark had to spread his arms out to balance himself. “What happened?” Mark asked aloud. He realized that he was not in the same place as before. He was in a hallway. Cream-colored carpet was at his feet, and the walls were a tan-like brown. Mark did not recognize where he was. “Did I teleport?” Mark whispered, making sure no one could overhear him in case had had.
A picture on the wall caught his eye, a family portrait. There were six people. He instantly recognized his parents who were sitting beside each other, though they looked different, older. His father had grayed, and his mother showed a few more wrinkles. Behind them, Mark recognized the pair of twins as himself and Max, though he embarrassingly had difficulty telling himself and his brother apart. They too were older, with matching moustaches. At the feet of his parents was another pair of twin young men, sitting with their backs resting against each other. It was clearly an older version of Zack and Jack. He guessed they were around seniors in high school when the image was taken.
Mark gasped when he realized that Jack and Zack had their backs against each other in the image. They were separated. He looked closer, analyzing them in the photo. The image was clear, and the older Zack and Jack each had their hands interlaced over mirrored, upraised knees. While it was slightly obscured, he could make out that Jack and Zack were wearing at least one ring each, and the rings they wore surprisingly seemed to be the two-in-one rings.
Mark smiled, he was beside himself with excitement. Assuming this was some future, his younger brothers do get separated. They are able to figure out which rings can separate them. It just surprised him that the two-in-one ring might be involved.
He then took another look around the hallway he was in. This was definitely not his family’s house. A window was on the far side of the hallway, and Mark walked to it. Outside, everything was covered in snow. “It doesn’t snow in…” Mark said, speaking about where he currently lived, until a realization made him stop short. They would have had to move, like he had warned the others earlier. With Jack’s sudden existence, they would have had to move somewhere where no one knew his family, as there would be no way to explain how Zack magically had a twin.
“Jack… Zack…” a male voice called from downstairs, which Mark identified as his dad. He jumped when he heard his dad call. He had not expected there to be anyone in the house.
“We’re in our room.” A pair of voices called from the adjacent room from Mark. They sounded older, but the two voices were clearly his younger brothers.
Mark did not want to get caught by the future versions of his family. He turned and backtracked down the hallway for a place to hide, but his younger siblings’ door popped open just as he stepped in front of it. He froze. In front of him were his younger twin brothers, but they were almost as old or older then he was now. They stood an inch or so taller than him. But, what really made him pause was the fact that they only had one body between them. Zack and Jack had a pair of checkered pajama pants, and a bare torso. Their abdomen and chest was well built with lean muscle, as if they were on the track or swim team.
Mark’s mouth hung wide open as he took his in ‘younger’ brothers’ appearance. He was not sure if he was more surprised about how well built and older they looker, or by the fact that they were sharing one body still. Zack and Jack stepped into the hallway, and passed by Mark, as if they could not see him. Mark realized that was incorrect. His brothers could not see him, and Zack’s arm had actually swung threw his own arm. “I’m not really here.” He said aloud. “I am not physically here.” He figured that he was more like a silent, intangible observer.
He had not heard his dad come up the stairs and approach his youngest twin sons. “You guys still have not changed. I know you’re on break, but you guys cannot spend all day in your pajamas. Max is coming over with his fiancé, and Mark has his date on the way” Their father said to them.
“Don’t worry, we were about to jump in the shower.” The twin on the right spoke, which Mark figured was Jack. “This guy is really starting to smell.”
Zack, the twin on the left rolled his eyes. “I told we should have gone for a run earlier. Now we won’t have time before everyone is over.”
“All part of the plan.” Jack smiled. “You made us run yesterday anyways. We can take a day off.”
“You guys had better not have been joined together when you ran.” Their father spoke. “What have I told you about…”
“We know, we know.” Zack raised his left hand, palm outward. “We were careful.”
“Yeah, he made us cram our heads into the same hoodie. It was like your cheeks were superglued together when we finished. “ Jack pointed to his brother.
Their had game them a look, which could only mean, ‘not what I meant.’ But he then shrugged his shoulders as if giving up the argument. “You know it would have been easier if you just separated. I don’t know why you two insist on being joined together all the time.”
“We like being like together, despite how annoying this one can be sometimes.” Zack complained, point at his twin. He spoke as if they had this conversation multiple times before.
“Technically, we were supposed to be like this anyways. Its only natural that we’d want to stick together.” Jack commented, but Mark was not sure what he meant by ‘supposed to be like this.’ “And besides,” Jack continued. “We have no choice but to spend part of the day together.”
“Part of the day.” Their dad stated. He sighed again. “It does not bother me; I just cannot understand why you choose to be joined almost all the time.” He then threw up both hands palms up like he knew this was an argument he could not win. “You guys can stay together for as long as you want. You just need to be separated when Max’s fiancé and Mark’s date come since they don’t know about this…” He pointed at the twins’ shared body.
“Don’t worry dad.” Jack spoke. “We’ll split up after we shower.”
When the conversation ended, their father went back down stairs. The twins grabbed a towel and walked into what he presumed was the bathroom. Mark wanted to know how the separation worked, but he had noticed that neither of the twins had rings on their fingers. He stepped into the twins’ room as was not too surprised to see pretty much one set of most furniture. There was only one bed, one nightstand, and one desk. He immediately noticed a few rings on the nightstand by their bed. Two of them were the two-in-one ring, one was a black ring with a topaz gem, and three others were ones that Mark had not seen yet. He recognized the two-in-one and topaz from the picture, and figured that these were used for the separation. But, he did not get his answer, as the room began to swirl around him. He found himself back in Luke’s bedroom.
“Are you really sure you want to try that ring.” Zack, the normal Zack, spoke.
“But, I did use the ring.” Mark said, confused. The others all looked at each other, and it was clear that no time had actually passed while Mark had taken his little trip. He explained everything he had learned and experienced.
He had taken off the ring to make sure that he would not suddenly disappear into the future by accident. While holding it, he realized that the words, which were previously carved into the wood, were gone. His brother theorized that it was to keep people from using the ring, as it held a lot of potential. “So that ring takes you to a possible future.” Max rubbed his chin. “That has so many uses.”
“Yeah, and… I think I know how to separate Zack and Jack.” Mark said.