Day 21 Required and Bonus

Plot Points:

Beginning in 1990: A private investigator is ambushed, shot, and apparently dies.

Awakening in 1982: Micah dreamed, or so he thought, of being an older man, being an ambushed private investigator who managed to kill two of his attackers. He tries to remember who shot him last in the dream.

Talking with both sisters: Little sister Stephanie sees something different in him and tells him so. Older sister Ewa reminds him that he’s always wanted to be a writer, tells him to write the dream.

Introduction to “Consciousness”: Older Chance introduces himself to younger while preparing for the prom.

Albany High Prom: Micah meets a few of Antoinette’s friends and explains his Chance nickname. He also has to deal with one of her former boyfriends, someone that can’t understand how she could love him no longer.

Picking up Antoinette: Micah is introduced to her boss, an older man that has had an unlawful crush on her since the first time he saw her.

Van Rossum Knows: Micah’s teacher meets with the man, setting the man to finding the painting. Micah’s older consciousness changes.

Difference in Old Persona: After meeting with the supervisor, consciousness tells younger that something’s not right, can’t remember fully the reason though.

The Graduation Present: His journalism teacher edits and submits the story of the dream to a magazine. He’s informed just before his graduation.

Dangerous: Antoinette is kidnapped. Micah and his cousin find her alive.

More Differences: Micah’s warned that Van Rossum knows

Discovery: The map exists; the stolen painting is on his family’s farm.

On the farm: It comes down to the two of them. Van Rossum does not, cannot, understand why Chance won’t give up the map.

Bonus:

She called him at work, wanting to know when he’d be coming home. He didn’t give her a precise time, just an estimate. This infuriated her. She slammed the receiver back onto the cradle before pulling the entire phone from the wall and tossing it across the room. It shattered.

Emily Vaughn had met Micah a year: he was a guest at her niece’s wedding. That night, the two began intense relationships that led them down the aisle themselves three months later. Their passion lasted only a few more months, ending when he discovered a secret: she had slept with her boss the night before he proposed.

“I don’t know why I try,” she mumbled while she cleaned up the mess she caused. The knock on the door ended her cleaning.
“Yes,” Emily said. She looked suspiciously at the young blonde-haired woman: She was too old to be selling cookies, and too young to be preaching the Good Book.

“Does Micah Vaughn live here?”

An awful, sinking feeling rolled over Emily when she heard those words. She wanted to lie, but she knew the woman wouldn’t believe her. “Yes, but he’s not home right now.”

“Good,” she said. She backed away, allowing two big men to rush into the house, pushing Emily inside with them. The blonde looked around, made sure no one saw this. She closed and locked the doors behind her.

Micah Vaughn sat on the couch, the only spot in his home that wasn’t either broken or overturn, and listened to his wife’s complaints. She was upset, and rightfully so. Attacked and beaten, Emily wanted answers, wanted to know why people came to her house.
“Why in the hell do they think I know anything?”

He sat there and looked at her. He had nothing to say, couldn’t calm her, comfort her. She had a right to be mad. He knew this coming.

He sighed heavily and was direct. “People want to know the location of a stolen painting. They assume I know where it is, and further think I told you.”

“They think you discuss work with me? How stupid are they?’

“They’re desperate.” He stood and tried to embrace her. She pushed him away.

Her sister walked in the door. The two women looked silently. Emily nodded. “I want you gone by the time I return.”