Life here in Arcadia Bay has gotten a lot stranger, and more mysterious than ever; like: Having these strange dreams that felt so real that it caused me to have another nose bleed, having to hear how this old town of mine had an Urban legend that predates all the way back before the colonization of the early settlers, and discovering a new power of mine.... that gave me an ability to freeze time for now. To put icing on the cake, I almost ended up getting run over by an approaching vehicle; leading to my camera getting destroyed in the process. So yeah, everything has indeed been turned upside down.
On the bright side I met a new comer….his name is Allen, and he is a traveling handyman. A nice person, to whom I met unexpectedly, and had offered to repair my fractured camera. After having a brief conversation with Amanda, I made my way to the end of the bar's corridor where Allen was sitting at. What's awkward about him was the way he looked especially when I notice him wearing some sort of Sci-fi helmet on him, and had these weird green goggles attached to them that look like X-ray visions with a Minnie light attached to it; as he sat there carefully disassembling my camera….piece by piece.
I sat across from him in the booth, and begin to examine him carefully. He noticed me looking at him and had stopped mid-way….
"Oh, hi Ms. Caulfield, as you can see here….I'm still working on the camera. So what can I do for you?"
I laughed as I studied his uniqueness and asked him a rhetorical question, "Call me Max, I am not married…."
"Sorry about that….Max. I am still trying to adjust to socializing." he replied, feeling embarrassed.
"Oh….no worries. By the way what is that thing that you have wearing on your head?"
Allen pointed at the helmet he was wearing….
"You mean this one? Well, it's one of my inventions, and it makes my job easier for me to see smaller objects since I have poor eyesight. Plus, it helps me to zoom in on objects that are hard to see by the naked eye well; freeing my hands and giving them free access while disassembling small components…. Like this camera." Showing me a smaller object that came from the camera.
"Fascinating…" I replied, looking all amazed.
Mesmerized by his work, and seeing how he carefully started removing shards of the fractured lens. I kept quiet throughout the entire procedure, and as for Allen, he didn't talk much and kept his gaze on his work. For nearly 30 minutes he had completed disassembling the broken parts of my camera. He then reached out for his bag and slowly pulled out a small box, made of strong polyester material. As he opened it, I saw different size and variety of lenses; not to mention a couple of brand new and well preserved flashers.
My eyes where gleaming with joy, for this was the first time I've seen these kinds of models online or on magazines. However, one of the lenses I spotted had a familiar texture that allows a user who has a good quality camera to zoom in further, up to 500x more. Not to mention the clarity it gives when you get that perfect clear visual image; without any of that blurriness that happens when you move slightly.
As I was admiring that specific lens, Allen immediately reached out for it; causing me to snap back into focus….
"What? What is he going to do with it?" I got curious to see what Allen was planning to do next with it. And what I saw next really made me extremely happy.
As Allen worked his tired hands on carefully reattaching the new lens on the camera, I begin to wonder, as to who he was? Where he came from? And does he even have a home to go to? Because by the way he looks to me, he looks like a wanderer….a.ka. a traveler that travels from one place to the next.
While been preoccupied in my own thoughts, Allen finally finished. He then gave it a good clean, and was able to remove any scratches that the camera had held; making it completely good as new.
I was astounded to see him working on my camera and giving it an upgrade. He then turned his gaze to me and smiled,
"Ok, Max….Say cheese!!!"
The sound of the new flash came instantly, and been caught off guard he took my picture. As he gave me a warm smile, he showed me the results. He turned the camera around and in the little projector screen it showed my image clearly. To my amazement, the picture quality was so unique that I was crying tears of joy….
"Thank you…. Thank you…. So very much Allen," I said, as I wiped my tears away.
With joy in his heart, he smiled and handed me back my camera…. "Here, it's on the house."
It surprises me to hear him say that he wasn't charging me anything at all for fixing my camera. Something he worked so hard for, only for him to offer his free service to me.
"No Allen, I need to at least offer you something for all you did for me, restoring my camera back to good use."
"It's alright Max, having someone to talk to such as yourself, gave me motivation to continue moving forward in life. And seeing you having gone through a rough day today…. I knew that I did the right thing, and offering you my service brings me joy to my heart…. Anyways, I must be going now." He said; carefully packing all of his stuff and putting it all in his bag.
"….Wait!"
Allen stopped mid-way, turning his gaze towards me; giving me that curious look.
"Yes, Max, what can I do for you?"
"Do you have anywhere to go by any chance? I hate to be nosey, I just want to know….Since I been seeing you out here a lot. Especially, in school last week." I said, keeping my voice low.
He started to show signs of discomfort, but kept his personal thoughts to himself, and gave me his replied….
"Yes….I do have a place to go to; once I am done doing all sorts of jobs I can get my hands on."
By the way he replied, I knew for a fact that he was indeed lying…. But before I can press further Amanda approached me with a concern look. And for a mere second I was facing Amanda, until I notice Allen gone in a flash. Leaving me no choice but to cut short my interaction with Amanda, for I was eager to follow him and see where he residing at.
"What is it Amanda?" trying to speed up the conversation with her
"Well Max, get this I found out from Selene that her new friend that she made at this Academy. Had shared her news article of Sean and Daniel Diaz…." She said.
"Sean and Daniel Diaz…. never heard of them?" I replied, giving her that confused look.
"Well, do you remember how Lucas's car flipped under mysterious circumstances, and in that crime scene photo there was a hooded figure standing in front of his vehicle, before walking away?"
"Obviously," I said to her, feeling clueless.
"That hooded figure that was standing right in front of the vehicle may have something to do with one of the Diaz brothers….and his name is Daniel…." She replied, while whispering in my ear…. "And get this; this Daniel has this ability known as telekinesis,"
I looked at Amanda with disbelief, but was eager to hear more of what she wanted to say next. But, I excused myself and asked her for an arrangement in order to share this new information with Gwen and Moses.
"Hey listen Amanda, you mind taking an arrangement? And let's schedule this interesting conversation another time….privately. And avoid anyone else from eavesdropping in our conversation."
Amanda, looking all confused agreed with me on this one, "Sure Max, how about Saturday? We could all meet at your house. What do you say?"
"Sounds good, I will call you tonight once I arrive home safely." I said, while giving her a goodbye hug.
"You better….Super Max," giving me an acquitted name that I most certainly heard of before.
I made it out the door, eager to search for Allen, but couldn't find him anywhere in sight. I was desperate to locate him and not a single clue on where to find him. I decided to channel my thoughts and reactivate my new powers and see if they respond to me well. Hope for the best and see what else this new power of mine can do.