Sam's POV

"The Year 2020: Lazarus Institute Laboratories Station I- New York"

"Sam, my son will be in charge while I was away from the country. He will guide all of you and he was a very intelligent man I can say! He's all grown up now and someday, I will give him the right to become the next CEO of our company." my father said as I stood up looking at the other head scientists of my father's company as I fake a smile. He was the CEO of the first Lazarus Institute established in New York. We specialize in innovating technologies such as computers. Father and I never really have been of good relation to each other. Ever since I was a child he always sees me as a friend, a co-worker and a partner. I can't feel the connection of being a son when I see my other classmates with their parents having fun. I was the only child because mother became infertile even before giving birth to me. They consider me a miracle to their family but I don't feel it around father.

I don't like to be part of this shitty company. I want to do something I want, something that doesn't involve business. I don't like this but here I am forced to be part of the company that was already forty-five years in business.

"Yes, father." I replied. The people in the room applauded.

Father will go to Europe to have a partnership with another infamous corporation that will produce us equipment needed to create more discoveries. Even though I hate father, I love doing works that involve Science like him. It was my hobby to discover things that I don't know since I was just a little boy. I studied at Harvard University when I was in college and achieved summa cum laude. I was also introduced to various shows on television which I kind of hate, I don't like being around many people. I have few friends during my school days and the only one lasted and I actually referred her to my father. She is my dear friend, Alisa Frost. She is my classmate in college, she was also superior in terms of knowledge comparable to me. We even got a chance to make a science project, two of us together and won multiple awards and we called our project "Phoebe", a robot puppet that has the capability to provide any information you asked it and it will process all of it through internet, it can also do things human can do such as cooking and many more. Well, not all information is really provided by "Phoebe". We made her appearance based on multiple persons we both love. "Phoebe" became a success and it was even bought by my father to create replicas and sell it for a big price and that boosted my father's company business.

I still hate my father no matter what. He was a selfish person who only thinks about his business and forgetting his family. He was not there during my success yet he is getting all the attention that should have been onto me but I wouldn't want to be the one with attention anyways. When I graduated mother was there happy looking at his young son successful. All of these awards were paid off and I do not thank my father for it. He was never been part of my life if it isn't for mother I will not accept the fact that I am next to his disgusting throne. I wish he was dead, maybe when that is granted everything will change.

"May 2, 2020"

It was Sunday night, I invited Alisa to come by the house so we can watch the horror movie I told her about yesterday. The movie reviews I found online said that it maybe is one of the best horror movies everyone must not miss watching out there. I was sitting on the couch when she texted me that she was outside. I let her in the house and then she hugged me.

"Smarty! I miss you!!" Alisa said

She put her bag and another bag full of snacks on the table in front of the couch.

"Oh! Hey Alisa. How was your day?" I asked as we both sit on the couch.

She smiled and said, "Well it's fine! Actually, I tripped a while ago three blocks away. There was this stupid banana peel lying on the ground."

I chuckled and said, "It is still possible to fall with such things? My advice, next time look where you're walking."

"Look who's talking who hit his head while entering a convenience store? Remember?" she replied. We both laughed.

"Ouch" she added.

"Are you hurt?" I asked.

"My head." she replied.

"There's no bruise or anything?" I said as I checked her head.

"Got you!" she laughed. I tickled her in her spot. I can see her crying from laughing telling me to stop.

After a while, we started watching the movie. Alisa was scared of watching this type of movies yet she wanted to watch it here in the house with me. She kept screaming and covering her face with a pillow.

I got a phone call from the travel agency and she told me something that shocked me. It was Flight 247 to Madrid, Spain and it had a major accident, a plane crash. It was the plane father took and it crashed somewhere in Portugal.

Alisa looked at me and asked, "What happened?"

I replied sadly, "Dad."

"Your dad? He went to Spain right?" she asked.

"Well yeah but." I felt both sadness and happiness but I wouldn't want such a thing to happen to my father even though I hate him.

"But?" she added.

"His plane crashed" I said as tears fell down from my cheeks. I don't know what to actually feel that time because I know that there are times I have wished that father should be dead.

Alisa comforted me and said, "I'm sorry.."

"I don't want this. I just wanted to be treated as a son... I just want a father.." I cried silently. I know she can hear me and then she hugged me. It was too late and the past can never be changed.

I don't want my mother to find out that father died to such an accident but it was inevitable. Mother felt the pain of mourning father's death even greater than I am. Even though father rarely visits the house, mother loves him very much. A year has gone by and mother became ill physically and mentally. She missed him so much, she also became addicted to gambling and even do drugs and alcohol which almost wasted twenty-five percent of the company's money. The other head scientists quitted their job for I am not paying my full attention in keeping my father's business. The sales of our company's slowly go down as we lose to the competitors. Alisa was there for me saying that she will do her best to help to sustain father's company. She tried making different creations to raise the company's sales but it wasn't enough. I hate father so much that I have hatred towards this company, not only he didn't treat me like his son but also he left us with no farewell at all. He made mother go insane.

As a concerned son to her, I have tried multiple times speaking and saying to her that move on about father's death. She was ignoring me and telling me Father will come home because his body wasn't found and I shouldn't feel bad about it. I actually don't feel bad but I now realized that wishing for my father's death is a bad idea. It feels like both of them don't bother about me suffering from the love that I will never get no matter how hard I try to convince them. In times of my weakness, there was someone who was always there for me, Alisa Frost and our love bloomed from being just friends.

"December 24, 2022"

Another year has gone by and nothing much really happened. I sat on a bench looking at the huge Christmas Tree standing with no other people than me, it was a very gloomy Christmas Eve for me. The lights glittered vibrantly and I can hear bells ringing as the cold winds blew. I felt sorrowed and I can't stop tears flowing from my eyes. I can't bear all the struggles left for me ever since he disappeared. I thought his death will make my life any better but I was wrong, even though we got everything most people want, still, it is true that money cannot buy true happiness. Far away from me, I heard a familiar voice.

"Hey! Smarty!" Alisa yelled. I looked at her after wiping my tears. She was wearing her favorite blue winter coat. I can see her heterochromatic left blue and right brown eyes reflecting the lights from the enormous tree surrounded by Christmas lights. Her black hair hidden behind her hood. She was smiling and waving her hand to me from nearby with two beers in her hand. She ran towards me.

"Oh! Hey, Alisa" I replied and smiled back at her. She sat beside me.

"You feel bad? Is it about your family again?" she asked while opening her can of beer.

I replied, "Well uh."

"Here drink this, I bet this will make you feel better. You know its cold out here and its Christmas Eve, we should be having fun not sitting here lonely." she said trying to comfort me. I opened the can of beer she gave me.

"Cheers!" she added as we clinked our cans.

"So why are you alone? I bet your mother needs you right now." she said as she sipped from the can.

"I just needed some free time and you know I am used to being alone but I'm happy that you're here with me celebrating Christmas countdown after an hour now." I replied. She smiled.

"So why are you here? Why didn't you visit your home in Washington D.C?" I asked out of curiosity.

"Well, there will always be next year. I may not visit them now but I have gifts for them," she stopped and added, "and for you two! Surprise!!" she hugged and gave me a wrapped little box as a Christmas present.

"What is this?" I chuckled as I examine the little box.

She laughed, "You will not find out if you don't open it!"

I slowly unwrapped the box and it was a pregnancy test result.

"Alisa!" I shouted in joy. I hugged her happily. She hugged me back. It has been two years already since father died and Alisa was always there for me and of course I have confessed my love for her in which we ended up with an offspring.

"Sam! Enough." she laughed as I hugged her tightly as tears fell down from my cheeks. She told me that she was already one and a half months pregnant. It made me feel happy and felt that spark in my mind and heart that life is still worth living for. I promised that on this day I do my best, I will continue father's business for my baby's future. I will be a good example of a father, I will show him.

"July 1, 2023"

Alisa gave birth to a baby boy. He was like her mother with his heterochromatic blue and brown eyes. He was a very healthy baby and at this time the company is slowly blooming in business once more. We named our son Apollo which means the God of light. He became the light of my life after all the difficulties I have defeated in the past. He was my savior, a torch that led me to a path of forgiveness. Alisa and I also have married each other and she chose to use her maiden name Alisa Frost in her job in our company. Not only that, but we have also established five new laboratories in Australia, Great Britain and other parts of U.S.A. Apparently, mother is in an asylum here in New York. She was slowly recovering from her illness and it made me feel happy but it will never be the same as before. She used many varieties of drugs after father's death leading to brain damage.

"July 1, 2026"

It was my son's 4th birthday. Mother is freed from the asylum while I and my wife are at work, we promised to go home early and was getting ready to do a birthday party for Apollo. We went to the nearest mall and buy him expensive toys that he will love. But this day is the actual day when my light faded away instantly. It was like winds passing by taking away the light of my life. When we arrived at home during the afternoon, the guards told us that mother took Apollo to the park secretly. I left my wife and went to the park that the guards were informed about. When I arrived, I didn't see my son but my mother was there happy playing with the other children.

I shouted angrily, "Mother! My light! My son! Where is he!"

She pointed towards the sun which irritated me.

She added, "That is the light!"

I cried and approached her furiously and I tightly grasped her tiny arms.

"WHERE IS MY SON!" I cried out loud scaring the kids away. Mother looked at my eyes.

"Apollo?" she called. I looked around and Apollo wasn't anywhere in the park. I tighten my grip for I felt extreme anger towards her. She was crying. She was pointing towards a bench.

She stuttered, "He- he wa-was there"

I cried, "Mother! What did you do!"

She said the words repeatedly when a child suddenly said, "He was a scary man. He told us that he will give us candy. "

"No! It can't be.." I cried as tears fell down from my cheeks. The dark clouds appeared in the sky and it rained.

Another child responded, "He told us that she will kill grandma if she didn't give the kid to him"

I looked around and there were no parents. These children were all stray kids.

Out of anger, I said something that hurt my mother a lot even though she doesn't understand most of the things now.

"You better off dead than my son!" I shouted furiously as I walk away from her leaving her behind with the kids. I called the guards to accompany mother home. I can't bear seeing her face after what happened. I didn't know my words pierced her heart. I fired the guards who let my mother get away, I felt depressed from what happened.

Apollo went missing, Alisa tried her best to find him. We announced it to the public and we will offer a million dollars to the person who can find my son safe but it was no use. After his disappearance, I couldn't cancel my flight on my way to Sydney, Australia to introduce my company's one of the biggest achievement, the first flying car. Even though I feel melancholic, I tried my best to tell the world about technology's huge step to a bright future which seemed to be dark to me now. My light is gone.

When I returned back home, Alisa told me that mother doesn't want to eat anything. She told me that mother told her things about me when I was just a child. She also told her that she will be gone soon. I felt pain once more, it all came back. Mother felt guilty about everything, my father's death, and now my son's disappearance.

"July 25, 2026"

My mother died. She died from refusing to eat every time. I came to talk to her a day before she died. I told her that she must eat and that I forgive her but she just smiled at me and held my hand.

"I'm sorry" she cried. I was crying too. The next day in the morning she was dead.

I felt guilt within myself, I shouldn't have been so harsh to her. Maybe that smile dictated her farewell to this cruel world. If only I can change the past and turn back time, will any of these things happen?

"August 20, 2026"

We started research for Time Machine that I actually told worldwide as my future work. My wife is with me and she is helping me to know how can we invent such a thing. We called the Project "RTRN" which is shorter than return. A year passed by and our project seemed to move only a few percent. It was hard for us to create this project secretly and I know what we're doing is dangerous but all I want is to see my son and mother back again to my life to feel that missing puzzle I've been longing for.

We have built more and more facilities worldwide and in the process of making this time machine we have successfully found out the way to create it in the Year 2034.

The time machine worked but it doesn't have the capability to change the future. I saw the exact scenes on what happened during that day and a masked man really took my son away from my mother who was crying out loud as a gun was focused her pitiful face. I visited all the happy times that happened in my life and it made me feel sad for I can't bring them back anymore and they were just the past that can never be changed. It was hopeless but I saw something as I dive deep into time. It was miraculous and incredible to see the creation of the first humans.

They were gigantic creatures that long-lived in the world before the existence of other living things. They were the topmost ancestors of every living being.

These creatures were deep beneath the ground and I can hear a calling that I should free them from their long slumber which I don't know-how. For one year I focused on finding a way to free them for they give me insomnias during my sleep telling me about freedom and my son's revival. I can't sleep well and I know I've changed physically as I undergo this research. They were in my dreams all the time and I came to know more about them, they were the rejected, fallen and was given punishment by the Creator to rest underground for eternity which didn't last forever. They told me that the Creator's power has weakened, he was around the Earth billions of years before their existence. I became mad for more discovery which led me to almost destroying the entire world.

I've freed the creatures through the power of science and technology.

"The Year 2036: Phobos Unleashed and Year 2037: Aftermath"

As I was looking behind a transparent mirror, I saw the invention working and I felt happiness. I laughed out loud when suddenly the ground trembled, we have caused an earthquake. As soon as it happened, hot fissures on the ground revealed humungous alien-like creatures just like in my dreams. Everyone panicked as the earthquake caused a huge impact all around the world. Alisa was there beside me and she was scared. She doesn't want anything of this.

She told me, "Sam, you've changed. Apollo is long dead and we must stop this nonsense" I ignored her and then she ran away from me crying. I was just standing there looking at the scientists devoured by these creatures seeking help from me as they call out my name.

World War III has started and it was my fault, the world battling against the creatures I have summoned have made fear of extinction to humanity. The earthquake caused small islands to disappear in existence. Tsunamis have happened all over the world until almost seventy-five percent of the population were dead. The once beautiful world turned to a dreadful land of dust and grave.

The world witnessed my mistake, I regretted my actions and I promised them that in the future humanity will live the Earth without fearing Phobos from coming back for I saw the future of the world with my latest creation of time machine capable to see the future and I saw it ending with these monsters and I must stop it with my power and inventions. I foresaw the future of me being the kings of all, the ruler and the protector of humanity. This was my mistake and I, being the superior and the most intelligent person on Earth must stop all the people who get in my way no matter who they are. With the other head scientists, I will pursue the path of my victory. I have a plan and I will execute it very well.

To be continued...

Hidden Case Files:

"Missing Child? New York Times
Published July 7, 2026"

Sam Wilson, the CEO of Lazarus Institute told shocking news throughout the world about his son's sudden disappearance. He was in pure grief about what happened. It was still uncertain about what actually happened. He offered a million dollars to the person who can find his son. There were rumors about seeing the child and the most special feature of the child as what Mr. Wilson said is his heterochromatic blue and brown eyes the same as his wife Alisa Frost.
- Selena Roberts

"Past Projector July 1, 2026"

"Come here child or else we will kill grandma over there!" a man said with his uniform looking like from FRI Technologies, a rival of Lazarus Institute.

FRI Technologies was demolished on April 25, 2034, as they stated that they really took the child and killed him which Sam can't accept. The body was never found up to this day.