Run! Get out of here! If you stay, you'll never be happy!
The voices screaming out in the young boy's head were frantic. Jacob Collins was only ten years old when his father had died in a war
overseas. His mother had married again three years later in order to help support him. His stepfather already had a son who he favored
over Jake and was cruel to the boy whenever his mother wasn't around. His stepbrother was just as cruel as his father and bullied Jake
at the school they went to. And now, just weeks after Jake's 15th birthday, his mother had died in a car accident. He would miss his
home, family, and friends, but he knew he couldn't stay.
He had packed a bookbag with neccessities and some of his most precious possesions before running away. His mom's cross
necklace, his dad's watch, and his art kit. Jake was an amazingly gifted artist. He could draw anything from memory and draw it exactly.
He had planned on going to college to become an animator, but with his stepdad he knew it wasn't possible.
He first went somewhere he knew well; a playground in the nearest town. There was a store nearby where he bought a map and tried
to decide where to go. He made up his mind and, by the end of the day, he had arrived in the next town. He began to look for a place
to sleep when he saw a building with the back door cracked and light streaming out. He decided to see if the owners would let him
spend the night.
He walked up to the door and knocked. The door was loose on its hinges and swung open from the knocking. Jake looked inside to find
that the building was actually abandoned. It was an old store that had been cleared out and boarded up. The room Jake had entered
was a small room where the door had fallen off its rusty hinges exposing it to the rest of the building. The light was coming from a
circular hole in the wall. Jake looked inside the hole to see that it was a small, empty room like the one he was in, but he light was
coming from a window through which he saw...daylight!
Curious and confused, Jake walked through the hole and into the other room. It was even smaller than the one he had been in, just big
enough for the hole, a door, and a small window on one side. He looked out and saw the sun shining down on a city far larger than the
one he had just come from; and somehow...different. He heard voices from the other side of the door.
"Mary! I want those tables spotless! Just 'cause our customers eat like pigs don't mean they have to live like 'em!" said a loud male
voice sounding similar to Danny Devito.
"Sorry, your majesty," came a sarcastic, Brooklyn-accented fenale's voice, "I'll tell the dust to settle somewhere else."
"Hey! I don't need no wise cracks from waitress who can't even work a cash register!"
Jack decided he would try knocking on the door.
"What? What is it? I thought we were done with this!" the man said angrily as the door opened.
Jake's mouth dropped as he saw who had been talking. In the doorway stood a pikachu with a cigar in its mouth.
"It's a kid! A freakin' kid!" he complained, "Alright, where's Marty? This is the last straw!"
The pokemon pushed past Jake to the hole and jumped through.
"Come on, Marty, I told you I ain't doin' this shit no more!" he yelled until he saw that the place was abandoned.
The creature came back into the room where Jake stood and looked up at him.
"Alright, how'd you get here?"
"I ran away from home," Jake explained, "I was looking for a place to sleep and the door was open. I came in to ask if I could sleep
there, but it was abandoned. I saw the sun coming through the hole there and wanted to check it out."
"Aw, poor kid," came the female voice as into the doorway came a big-busted cartoon woman with a navy blue jogging suit, frizzy black
hair, hoop earrings and too much makeup. "Look at 'im Franky, the little guy's scared."
"Oh no, no, no! I ain't taking no runaway in!" the pikachu argued.
"He ain't askin' for ya leg, he's askin' for a place to sleep!" she said angrilly and took Jake by the arm. "Come on in, sweetie, make
ya'self at home."
"Are you deaf?" the pikachu said, "I said he ain't comin' in here!"
"Well he's in ain't he?" she gave him an "I beat you" stare.
The pikachu stopped to think about that while he closed the door.
"Alright, alright, fine! But if he stays, he works!"
"He can work later. The kid looks exhausted, let him sleep in the back."
The woman led a confused Jake through the bar he found himself in to a door next to the bar. Once inside, she indicated an old couch.
"You can sleep in here, doll, just make yaself comfy."
"Uh, thanks," Jake said, "But, can I ask you something?"
"Sure thing."
"Where am I?"
"Oh, that's right, you came through the portal. You're prob'ly all confused. This is ToonWorld, hun."
"ToonWorld?!" he repeated in shock.
Jake had read about scientists connecting with parallel universes a few years ago. He had heard that ToonWorld was one of the most
popular. It was a place where everything worked like a cartoon and the laws of physics were warped. It was also a place where
anything drawn on Earth was instantly copied to.
"Yep, kid, this is ToonWorld alright. But you just get some sleep and we'll talk later."
"Thanks," he said.
"No problem, kid."
ToonWorld, Jake wondered to himself, Well I guess if you're going to run away from home you might as well go to another dimension.