Dead, Alive & Missing: 1999 Paradox Series: Part 2

By KSZ OLIVER

'Something Wrong Isn't Very Right ...'

Continue following the trajectory of young Denny, and his Alter ego, in search of the forgotten truth, soon after realizing that he was not the only one who seemed to remember how things were supposedly — or the only one to think that he remembered what they really were like.

While he and his unsuspected Counterpart seek answers to the unknowns that suddenly invaded his bucolic and predictable routine, they are faced with unexpected revelations that test his sanity and perception of reality — established in his, until then, reliable memory.

Furthermore, many revelations still await Denison in search of the alleged lost reality — and Emmanuelle. In addition to facing yet another revealing discovery, which will connect his reality to the past that he is reluctant to recognize ...

And to find out the answers to these and many other intriguing situations, just keep following the series: '1999 Paradox series: Dead Alive & Missing'.

K.S.Z OLIVER

HAVE A GOOD READING

• Language: English
• Publisher: Bibliomundi
• Release date: Mar 16, 2022
• ISBN: 9781526032225

Book preview

PROLOGUE

W

ith a lighter and more fluid mind, he sat down on one of the school's cement benches.  He reasoned again about what was most likely to be happening in that place — or with him ...

Very well: I do not use drugs, so that was not a hallucination. he began.  I do not drink.  So, obviously, I'm not drunk ...

Denny went on to quote the variants to see if he reached a conclusion by elimination.  Or to a common denominator that confirms, or not, the thesis of his Alter ego — or the delusion of his head ...

I also don't seem to be sleeping — nor am I at the PD... he talk "Well, it could be the lack of such 'remedies', mentioned by Mary and Minhoca ... After all, he had found traces of them at home! ... ", he thought again about that thesis.

However, even though he found them in his bathroom, Denny still didn't accept the idea of taking it because he couldn't remember.

... Likewise, I don't think I'm in a coma or died ... Not that I remember ... I don't remember having any accident in the basement! ...

Maybe you had a heart attack ... his counterpart suggested his other theory in an ironic tone.

Did he have a kind of ‘Seizure’ and die in that basement? ... then Denison suspected, fearful, considering that thesis.

Well, if you are dead and that is the anteroom of the afterlife: what part of the Hereafter would it be?  Heaven or Hell? ... his imaginary counterpart asked, seeming to play with the strange event.

However, after looking more closely at everything around him, he started get real: The people there, as well as the place, were as real as he was, he had to admit.

  Looking up, he realized that there were stars shining, clouds in the sky, the moon ... The weather was hot and muggy, typical of that time in the region.  However, a light night breeze eased the sensation of heat:

Those things couldn't be virtual or spiritual. he thought to himself. "He breathed, smelled and listened to sounds ... And he seemed to be conscious and in his own body  not in an astral projection, or in a digital ambience ...

Even after noticing the apparent materiality of that place where he suddenly found himself, Denny just couldn't say whether he was in another dimension, parallel reality;  inside that video;  or really in her past ...

PREVIOUSLY, ON "THE 99 PARADOX – THE DREAM GIRL PARADOX"…

I

t began with strange dreams, déjà vus, lapses and visions which he immediately deduced if they were merely mere hallucinations or effects of fatigue.  Soon after, Denny found himself facing an inexplicable picture of existential crisis, where only he seemed to realize that historical facts have undergone slight changes in the way they presented themselves in his reality.

Trying to prove that he was not mistaken, or even going crazy, Denny then went after his last resort, the teacher and mother of one of the victims of the case he was investigating — and whose data he suddenly claimed to have changed.  However, he had left with more doubts than when he entered.

Then, he was dealing with another unusual and surreal situation, supposedly involving his city, state and country.  Picture that had not yet determined to be real or fantasy of his apparent disturbed head ...

To continue following and discover the development of Denison's mysterious trajectory, just check out the next pages to follow ...

  K.S.Z OLIVER

Have a good reading.

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Part 1/I:

The Billboard – Part 2

A

fter Denny left Professor Rita's house and found himself in what seemed to be the center of a Murity, with scenarios and elements quite different from those he knew, he tried unsuccessfully to contact his friend, the Minhoca ...

While waiting for him to answer the call, he noticed just ahead what looked like a big billboard on top of a roof, strategically in plain sight.  Very curious, he slowed down to get a better look at it ... Again, it seemed to be the same orientations as the posters on the walls.  Denny had never seen it there before ...

But after all, what is this ‘Corona Virus'?! ... he asked himself, noting that the billboard contained maps of areas of the city and other municipalities in the region marked in red, and marked with 'X', as if  were in some kind of quarantine or isolation.

2020?! ... That date isn't wrong, is it?! ... Denny mentioned while the phone rang on the other end of the line.

Just the date? ... pointed his Alter ego to some detail that Denison consciously did not seem to see, like the city being called Muritiba, instead of Murity.

The already confused boy had observed that there was also a date for the end of that kind of quarantine — September 2020 —, apparently wrong, since it showed a year ahead of the one he knew he was in.

  As soon as someone answered the call, he got to the point before the battery ran out:

Worm?! So, are you in Store?

What?! he heard what seemed to be his friend's voice asking on the other end of the line.

I want to know if you are in Assistance?  He repeated.

Who is talking?

How are you?! he did not understand what the friend meant.

Denny was still trying to locate himself, when suddenly he saw another billboard containing those same medical recommendations — and something else ...

Democratic Republic of Brazil?!....  What the hell ...?!" he was amazed by the image of the Brazilian flag, still blue in the center, but having a sickle and hammer intertwined, plus 9 red stars scattered in sets of 3.

Is this some kind of bad joke?!... - reacted his Alter ego, while Denny saw that the map of the Northeast on that billboard, in red, was highlighted from the rest of Brazil, with the Chinese flag to the side.

What is it? The week of pranks? he asked himself, noting that it was also painted in red with the phrases: communism out! and China out!, there was also the slogan Together we are stronger, in place of   Order and Progress in the Brazilian flag...

Hello?! Who is talking?! Denny heard the voice of his friend who was still on the other end of the line. when ...

Beep, Beep!  Beep, Beeep!

Before he could answer his colleague, he heard the low battery beep and felt the device vibrate in his hand ... This time, Denison could see the fabric of reality distorting — as if he were seeing everything blurred through the windshield. Then he slowed instinctively, thinking that his contact lenses might be blurry or dirty. After the outer landscape returned to normal, he felt his car jerk, as if something had hit the rear and pushed him a little.

Screeeech!! He braked immediately, but without stopping the vehicle.

What the fuck was this time?! ... he reacted again the most to that surprise, seeing nothing unusual or any object colliding behind the car.

Slurp-Lamb. Slurp-Lamb ... The windshield wiper suddenly turned on.

Part 2/I:

Mind Tricks?

F

ollowing noticing a strange phenomenon occurring after his smartphone turned off, Denison also realized that suddenly he seemed as if it had been raining heavily again, as if it had returned to the same place before. With the shock of that string of unexpected events on the road, Denny had simultaneously removed the accelerator and clutch feet. That caused the car die on the road, forcing it to brake suddenly by reflex once more, stopping slowly and completely in the middle of the track.

Vussssh! Vrummm! Fommmm! This all ended up causing more confusion, with the vehicles braking behind him and others passing very close to his, honking at length in protest. Once again startled and gripping the steering wheel, Denny tried to understand what had happened there again. Confused, he felt his heart pounding and his breath fast. You can only be kidding! ... He reacted, not knowing what happened or who to blame for that more episode on the road.

Despite finally noticing some of that phenomena, Denny did not understand what actually happened outside. Neither could: he still had no idea who, or what provoked them. But he saw that suddenly it was as if his vehicle had been transported back into the same heavy rain as it was a few minutes ago ...

Meanwhile, some drivers honked their horns and others cursed him, as it did moments before ... He didn't listen. He was still in a kind of shock or numbness, absorbed by this new episode, not understanding at all what was going on. After a few seconds, many drivers simply began turn around their parked car and continue their trip, ignoring it, unlike the other drivers from moments ago.

Toc Toc Toc! Denny heard someone wearing a raincoat slapping the side of the vehicle: it was a city traffic cop. Denison quickly lowered the glass. Hey, are you ok?! ... asked the guard, also asking for his wallet. He showed his ID badge from PD, explaining that the car just had turned off suddenly ... Then rewired the vehicle and proceeded.

Fuck! Almost I cause a hell of a pileup back there! He acknowledged, trying to get away from that place as quickly as possible from there. Glancing at his cell phone, he saw that it went out, totally discharged. Battery damn! He said, throwing his phone back on the dashboard.

As he headed back to his friend's store, called Cellphone Assistance — or simply Assistance — Denny considered all those events from minutes ago. He perceived that the cell tower he had seen before was back to the size it saw in the morning, ‘tall’ — as if it had been momentarily in another version of Murity.

After all that, where he could no longer tell which of those things were real and which were not, he was extremely worried about his mind. He thought his mind might be playing some kind of 'trick' on him. Or he was suffering some kind of psychological disturbance from stress? ... Probably even that traffic light was in right place in the morning, and he didn't see it! he suspected. "Should he worry about his sanity? ..." he mused. "No! ... He think this is all just tiredness!." He accepted once again that shallow explanation. But the real nature and cause of those mysterious and recurring phenomena he would know and understand only when he experienced it again in irrefutable circumstances.

In fact, what Denison had just been through had been such a fantastic and surreal experience that, as he could not rationally explain, he preferred to consider it just a psychic phenomenon — from the stressful state of his mind. For that reason, he wanted to get to Assistance and forget about it all. Denny liked to talk to his childhood friend to de-stress and loosen his mind. However, for obvious reasons, he decided that he would leave out those unusual 'events and experiences' out of the way ...

Gilson, or Worm — as it was commonly called —, had been his friend since arriving in the town of Murity in the early 2000s. He was a bit of a scrotum sometimes: especially with — or about women. He didn't believe in love or relationships very much. Despite not admitting, he was addicted to pornography. He saw the female figure more as an object of pleasure than as sentient beings, in fact. Other than that, it was completely reliable and harmless.

Denison regarded him as the older brother he never had. Worm was about 16 years older than him. But he seemed to understand him well. While not having good advice — especially how to behave or deal with women — was always a good listener. Or almost always.

Around 10:30

Very close to the Assistance and recalling his conversation with professor Rita, Denny concluded that despite her constant escape from reality, apparently, she seemed to be a pleasant lady. However, contrary to the direction his feelings had been sent him so far, he tried to forget everything he had heard or glimpsed while he was with her. He preferred to believe that, although the good person, Emmanuelly's mother was really a little crazy. And everything that he felt or heard there was only a figment of his imagination.

Therefore, he also preferred to believe that all the strange phenomena he experienced on the road were also ‘things from his head. "Maybe, those things you thought you saw were exactly because of the insanities that did you hear at her house! ..." his Alter ego suggested one more possible explanation for those pseudo-events on the road.

Nevertheless, he would discover, experiencing in practice, that this whole situation was already his new life dynamic. And there would be no where else to run from her. Denny would realize that no matter how much he thought he was moving away from it all. As in a pre-established script, no matter how far away, it would only be getting closer to what it was running away from. He would just have to accept that new reality and try to find out why it ...

Part 3/I:

The Assistance

A

fter that strange episode on the road, Denison came to his friend's Assistance. The cell phone was off but it was assumed to be somewhere around 10:30 in the morning. He had expected to breathe an air of normalcy in the midst of all the madness that threatened his sanity since he noted the tampering in his files. Nonetheless, he would avoid mentioning his recent and weird road experience — or even the visit he just made to the teacher.

Upon entering, he soon spotted his friend the Worm working at his workbench. He was fixing the cell phone of an old acquaintance and client who was waiting for the service right there.

"Gilson, what's new?! Denny immediately noticed that his friend was watching the entire welding process through a video monitor connected to the digital microscope that was pointed at the gadget's electronic board. It seemed that finally his friend had taken his advice and purchased a USB microscope, he observed.

What's up? Are you off or unemployed? Worm greeted him, without taking his eyes off the welding that was giving on a piece.

What?! Denny said, laughing at that question.

Well, in Brazil, currently, a guy is roaming around at a time like this, can only be retired — as is the case of Luiz there — or has nothing to do ...

Or it's rich! Added Luiz, the client and acquaintance of the Worm, joining the conversation. (Laughs)

It's easier he is taking a off, really. Rich people have more to do: they need to keep the money they have earned! Worm pointed, making them laugh and agree with that statement.

After that providential moment of relaxation between them, Denny mentioned one of the intriguing details experienced on the road:

"Have you heard of ‘Corona virus'?

No ... What is it?  Is it a new type of computer virus or mobile malware?

I do not think so.

How is it: ‘coronga virus'?! ... Minhoca's client found the term interesting, changing the name.

Corona. Denny corrected.

Wasn't it the name of an 80's singer, recently murdered in Rio de Janeiro city?

I think Luiz is right. It's her. Agreed Minhoca.

IS. I mean, no. Not in that case. tried to explain Denison.

So I never heard of ... that man admitted, also having no idea what Denny was talking about.

Wants to know? Nevermind. Denison gave up on that question, thinking that everything could have really been just his mind. Boy, at that time, the call failed because the battery had run out. Denny changed the subject. "I just called to say that I was coming here.

Denison taking a chair, sat next to Luiz.

I must have dialed another number on my cell phone, and I thought I was talking to you.  He said, but making sure he dialed the correct number, for he had heard the Worm's voice talking to him. Denny was not in the mood to make conversation done on this subject. So let it go.

THE ROOT

"Speaking of which ... I brought my cell phone, which you installed that Beta System. I wanted you to take a look at it.

What's up with him now? Asked Worm, looking at his friend from under his goggles as he was already fitting the electronic board into the housing of the client's device.

"Dude, it crashed almost all System functions. Some Apps no longer open or work, such as the Playstore." Denny reported.

Still this problem? Worm was surprised. Haven't I taken a look at it and made a diagnosis?

No, I haven't shown you him yet.  Said Denny.

The native apps are gone; locking screen; Logo has changed ... quoted Worm, as if he already knew those technical problems.

How do you know that?! Denny was curious.

What do you mean, ‘how do I know'? ... It was you who told me — remember?

What a day?

When you had here, that Friday, man. Don't you remember you came here telling me you thought it could have been the ‘root’ you did on it? Worm reminded him. Remember that after that, you said the system didn't want to start? Worm remembered, while he closed a smartphone."

I told you? ... When was that really? Denny was still trying to find himself in this unexpected situation.

A couple of weeks ago. You're eating a lot of cheese, see?! Joked the Worm. It's getting forgotten, is it?!

I don't remember that, no! ... Denison replied, scratching his head, a little confused, not remembering to have taken that device to his colleague earlier. It’s as if some program or ...

...‘A hidden function consumed all the energy'?! ... Worm completed Denny's speech again. Yeah, you told me that too! He said.

Well, really? ... I don't remember telling you that, but ... Do you really think that could have been the problem with the badly done ‘root'? ...

I do. confirmed Worm. As I told you that day, there are certain brands of devices that do not accept the root very well.

But I always did it on Samsung devices. Never gave problem! Denny argued. Did I tell you that, too? ... Joked Denny.

Already said. informed Worm.

Really?! ...

Denny was amazed by this situation, where he seemed to repeat the same pattern he had during his visit to