[ TT ] He 's telling us this , telling us that . Changes it everyday .

The man in front of Sally was short, stout, and had a bushy mustache. He wore a suit and sat behind a desk but she thought he was unlike any principal she had ever seen. 
 
 And she didn ’ t like him. 
 
 As he peered at her over his teensy-tiny glasses that hung off the end of his nose, she cleared her throat. She was shaking because she was awfully nervous but didn ’ t know why. The man was smiling and acting friendly but she felt something else, something…*ominous. * 
 
 “ I ’ m here about David, ” she finally said. “ As I told you over the phone, he ’ s been acting rather… ” 
 
 “ *Strange? * ” 
 
 She nodded, wishing she had a glass of water or something. Her throat was dry as a desert and gosh, she wished he ’ d stop gawking at her! *He ’ s got a stare that could melt the north pole, * her mother would ’ ve said, and for once, Sally agreed. 
 
 “ One day he tells me this, next day that—he changes it every single time I talk to him! ” She paused, shaking her head. She had a tendency to get worked up and so she took a few deep breaths, calmed herself, and then continued on. “ I want to know what you ’ re teaching him at that school of yours. He used to be such a sweet and loving boy. Now he ’ s so *indifferent. * He treats me like I ’ m the most boring person in the world! ” 
 
 The man didn ’ t seem bothered by this. In fact, he looked positively chipper, still smiling as if there was nothing wrong at all. “ Ms. Monroe, you must understand, ” he started. “ David is a very…*special* boy. ” 
 
 “ Of course! ” she agreed, nodding her head. “ He ’ s my son! ” 
 
 The man bit his lip. “ Well, yes, but that ’ s not exactly what I mean. ” He wrinkled his mustache, placed both hands on the desk, and stared at her seriously. “ He can do things others can not. He ’ s very powerful, madam. ” 
 
 Sally couldn ’ t help but cock a brow at this. Was this man crazy? David was a little more athletic than most, sure. But *powerful? * That made him sound like some sort of comic book superhero, and now she was *certain* there was something off about this man. 
 
 “ You probably think I ’ m loony, don ’ t you? ” he asked, lightly chuckling. Then, he reached toward a tiny globe that sat at the corner of his desk and spun it. “ Where would you like to go? ” 
 
 “ What? ” 
 
 “ Pick a country, any country, ” he asked, globe still spinning. 
 
 “ You ’ re mental. ” 
 
 He jammed his finger against the globe, stopping it mid-spin. “ Mexico it is! ” 
 
 In an instant the entire room began to shake. It was a low tremor at first, but very quickly the walls were bouncing up and down, books sliding off the shelves. The very desk the man was sitting behind toppled over, and Sally clutched desperately at the arms of her chair, fearing for her life. 
 
 But, to her surprise, she found that both her and the man were completely unfazed. It was if they were in a different world. 
 
 Then, in the blink of an eye, everything changed. The roof flew away, revealing a crisp blue sky speckled with puffy clouds of white. The walls collapsed, and before her was a sprawling beach packed with hundreds of happy-go-lucky people all running about and having a good time. 
 
 Sally's jaw dropped. She wanted to speak, to say *something, * but her breath was stolen by the miracle she ’ d just witnessed. There was wind where there used to be nothing, and the dim lightbulb had been replaced by a blazing sun. 
 
 She looked over at the man, dumbstruck. He seemed to be enjoying the spectacle of it all, smirking, finger still tracing the globe. 
 
 “ What do you think? ” 
 
 “ I think I need more sleep. ” 
 
 The man laughed. “ Yes, well, we don ’ t often show normals this—but these are special circumstances. ” 
 
 “ Where are we? ” 
 
 “ Paraiso Beach, Mexico. ” The man cast a quick look around. “ Beautiful, isn ’ t it? ” 
 
 “ You ’ re kidding. ” 
 
 “ I ’ d do no such thing. ” 
 
 Sally continued looking around. She found it strange that nobody had pointed out the desk and the chairs and the man and the woman that had suddenly appeared out of nowhere, and so she asked him about it. 
 
 “ Oh, they can ’ t see us because we aren ’ t *actually* here. We ’ re still back in the States, sitting in that drab little room. To anyone there it looks like we ’ re just going about our normal conference. To anyone here we simply don ’ t exist. ” 
 
 All Sally could do was shake her head. Was she going crazy? She almost wanted to believe this man. After all, she did have all of the evidence she needed right here. But god, it was just so absurd, wasn ’ t it? 
 
 The man leaned forward, brow furrowed. He was incredibly tense, and for the first time she noticed he was sweating. It looked like he was straining, pulling at a branch on a tree that simply just would n't break. 
 
 “ This is what David can do, Ms. Monroe. This is what *we* can do. ” 
 
 “ *We? * ” 
 
 “ It ’ s rather complicated. *We* are Travelers—and, before you say it, I know the name ’ s cheesy. ” Then, he spun the globe one again, jammed his finger against it, and suddenly they were back in the room. There was no wind, there was no tremor. This time it was as simple as there one moment, gone the next. “ We can send our bodies to anywhere we can imagine in our heads. We don ’ t even have to have ever been there. ” 
 
 “ And David can do this? ” 
 
 “ Yes, ” the man said, adjusting his tie. His undershirt was soaked through with sweat, and he looked positively miserable. “ You see, I ’ m not that strong. Just that journey was enough to make me wan na go take a nap. But David? Why, David has the potential to take off this world! ” 
 
 “ What do you mean? ” Sally asked, confused. 
 
 The man pointed over her shoulder, and when she looked back, she saw a map of the Milky Way pinned to the wall. 
 
 “ For too long my people have been forced to do bad things. We've been spies, picking apart the weaknesses of impenetrable castles, overhearing conversations, stealing information deemed unstealable. 
 
 “ But now, because of David, we might become something better. Picture this: no more satellites. No more Rovers. No more need for billions of dollars to just take video of other planets. No, my dear, if trained correctly, David could visit them! He could be the most important piece of space exploration! ” 
 
 The man reached a hand out toward her, evidently hoping he ’ d made his point. “ And so I ask you, Sally Monroe—please allow us to keep teaching your son. I ’ m sorry we ’ ve been so secretive, but like I ’ ve said, the more people that know about us, the more danger we're in. ” 
 
 She stared at his hand for a long time. The feeling of wariness around the man had long since faded, and now, even though it was crazy, she wanted to trust him. She wanted to reach out, grab his hand, and tell him to make David into the best damn Traveler there ever was. 
 
 And so she did. 
 
 “ Just make sure he stays safe, ” she asked. `` Oh, and tell him to stop making excuses! If he's going to fantastic places I wan na hear all about them! 
 
 The man smiled. `` Will do on both accounts, madam. *Promise*. ” 
 *** 
 Sorry if I veered from the prompt a bit! Either way, I had a lot of fun with this story: D ( Also, I know the writing's a little rough compared to my normal stuff. It's just that it's so looooong, haha ) 
 
 If you like this story, check out my sub! r/longhandwriter
