“I miss you, Nate…” Ryan whispered, as he looked down the little photo which he held in his giant hand. “I don’t know how I could wait another twenty years before I get to see you again… I wish I could see you sooner…”

Ryan stood up and placed the photo of him and Nate in a small, empty picture frame, which he gently hung over the dresser on his bedroom wall. Then Ryan just stood there, staring at the photo. He remembered the four days he got to spend, while getting to know this awesome boy from the future. It wasn’t fair; four days just seemed so short. He looked at the photo and remembered the brief moment of happiness when the picture was taken. Why did it have to be so short?

Ryan tried desperately to look away, and then he turned and looked at the photo one more time. What would Nate be doing right now, thirty years in the future? The thought of having to wait that long made him break down in tears one more time. But suddenly, Ryan heard a familiar voice coming from behind him.

“Quit crying, YOU BIG BABY!” the voice said out loud.

Ryan was astonished! He immediately turned around and saw the tall, red hair boy standing in front of him, with his arms crossed in front of his muscular chest and a big smile on his face.

“Nate…? Oh my gosh… NATE??? IS THAT YOU??” Ryan shouted. He couldn’t believe it. Nate was standing there, right before him, in his room.

“Yep. It’s me! Who else did you expect?” Nate replied confidently.

“But… but… What are you doing here? You just left! YOU’RE SUPPOSED TO BE IN THE FUTURE, NOT HERE!” Ryan shouted, feeling happy and angry all at once.

“I DID RETURN to the future, but NOW I’m BACK!” Nate answered, enjoying the fact that Ryan was completely confused.

“But how did you get here? Where’s the tunnel?” Ryan wondered out loud.

“Uncle Ryan, I learned how to travel in time, to the past, using my own powers. Remember that I told you that I was going to learn that? Well, I did! And now I came back to teach it to Uncle Tyler and my dad!” he responded calmly.

Ryan gasped when he heard it. Nate was able to travel in time, completely on his own!

“If you can travel through time, by just using your own powers, then… then…” Ryan reasoned out loud.

“Then, I am able to come here any time I want!” Nate said, as he approached Ryan. Ryan still didn’t believe him. But Nate suddenly began to grow; his arms and legs grew longer, as the boy rapidly gained height. He continued to rise up, passing 10 feet, 12 feet, 14 feet, until he stopped at 30 feet. Ryan was now looking at Nate, realizing that it really was him!

“NATE! I can’t believe it. It’s really you! NATE! YOU’RE BACK!” Ryan screamed out of joy. The two giant boys embraced each other as they realized that they would never be separated for a long time anymore.

“Ryan, I’m going to tell you a secret, okay?” Nate said to Ryan, in a serious tone of voice. Ryan just nodded his head. “I will be with you ALL THE TIME. I can see everything you see, and I’ll here everything you hear. If you need to talk to me, then just wish for me to be here, and I’ll come! So, don’t be sad! Stop crying! I don’t want to see you looking so sad ever again, DO YOU HEAR ME? I came back to CHEER YOU UP, RYAN!”

“Oh man… Nate, YOU’RE THE BEST! Thank you! You DEFINITELY cheered me up, alright! You made my day! No, you made my week. No, you made my month! Aww shucks, this is the biggest event of the WHOLE YEAR for me! You made my YEAR!!” Ryan shouted, as he was ecstatic about Nate’s surprise return.

“So… You can just pop in whenever you want?” Ryan asked Nate, anticipating his positive answer.

“Oh yeah! Just go down stairs. Dustin is making chocolate chip cookies! When you get there, just wish for me to be there and I’ll appear right besides you! But don’t tell anybody!” Nate said. Then Nate placed his finger in front of his lips, signaling Ryan to remain quiet. Suddenly Nate disappeared into thin air, right before Ryan’s eyes.

“Wow! That is so cool!” he said, as he turned towards the bedroom door.

Ty and Peter were sitting on the couch, watching TV. They were both very quiet, as a feeling of sadness was still lingering around the house. Dustin was baking cookies in the kitchen, hoping that those would help cheer up the group.

“Gosh, Peter… I can only imagine how you must feel right now…” Ty said, looking over to his cousin. Peter was still in tears, since it was taking him longer to accept the fact that Nate was gone. He almost seemed to be in mourning, for he knew that Nate would be born in the future. But it was the fact that he had to wait twenty years before he could see Nate again, that bothered him.

“No kidding, Ty…” Peter said, barely able to watch TV, with his eyes constantly filling up with tears.

“But just to see him, even if it was for four days, that was awesome! That must have been the greatest Christmas gift ever!” Ty responded, while trying to console his cousin during his moment of deep sadness and grief.

“I know… I guess I just need to become more grateful… It was great seeing him, but it was also so hard to see him go…” Peter replied, as he tried to wipe the tears from the eyes.

Ty grabbed the photo Dustin had taken of him and Nate with Peter, and showed it to Peter while still sitting next to him on the couch.

“Your son is one awesome dude, Peter! You must be very proud of him. Gosh, I can only imagine what it must be like to meet your kids from the future…” Ty wondered out loud. “Now that I see this photo, I can honestly say, that your boy looks just like his dad… Except for the red hair!” Peter and Ty chuckled for the first time, just when Dustin walked over to them while holding a plate with cookies in his hand.

“I brought you guys some chocolate chip cookies, fresh from the oven, and guaranteed to be warm and soft. I made these in order to cheer you up, Peter!” Dustin said, while holding the plate in front of Peter and Ty.

At that very moment Ryan came down the stairs.

“Here comes Ryan! Poor kid, he became such good friends with Nate… It must have broken his heart to see Nate go…” Peter whispered, expecting Ryan to be sad and gloomy as well.

But Peter was shocked to see how happy and upbeat Ryan looked!

“Hey, Dustin made some cookies! Awesome! Thanks, Dustin!” Ryan said, as he grabbed eight cookies with his giant hand, and tossed them in his mouth all at the same time.

Ty and Peter looked at each other in amazement. They both wondered how come Ryan was suddenly so happy again.

“Boy, Nate is missing out! These cookies are delicious! Great job, Dustin!” Ryan continued, while he was chewing on the delicious, soft and warm cookies.

“These are so delicious… I wish Nate were here to enjoy them with us right now!” Ryan said out loud, much to Ty and Peter’s great surprise.

Suddenly Nate appeared in the living room, while standing right next to Ryan. He was wearing a t-shirt, his jean shorts, and his blue baseball cap. Both Ty and Peter gasped when they saw the boy appear in their living room.

“OH MY GOSH… NATE!!” Peter shouted, as both he and Ty stood up. “How is that possible?”

“Oh, hey dad! Can I have some of Dustin’s cookies? Man, they look so good…” the 30- foot boy said, reaching down and grabbing a handful of them off the plate.

Just then Dustin walked out of the kitchen, and was astonished when he saw both Ryan and Nate, standing as two 30-foot giants, in his living room!

“NATE!! YOU’RE BACK!!” Dustin shouted, when he saw the big boy eating his cookies.

“Guys, I have learned how to use my powers to travel through time. So don’t be so sad! Cheer up, I can come any time, and I have given Uncle Ryan the ability to call on me whenever he wants to! I came back to teach my dad and Uncle Tyler how to use their powers to travel through time to the past and to return to the present where they came from! Isn’t that cool?” Nate said, showing a wide grin on his face.

“Oh great, now I see that I don’t have enough cookies left over! With you two giants in the house, I need to bake a lot more! I wish I would have baked a thousand chocolate chip cookies instead of just a few dozen…” Dustin said, while wishing out loud.

Suddenly, a huge cloud formed in the living room, just a few feet above Dustin’s head. The cloud turned light brown and then became a huge bundle of a thousand cookies! The block of cookies then came down on Dustin’s head, knocking him to the living room floor!

“YEEEEOOAUWWW!!!” Dustin screamed, when he came to the realization that those cookies were hot, since they had just come out of the oven.

Nate, Peter, Ty and Ryan began to laugh out loud, when they saw Dustin, as he laid on the floor, while being completely covered with chocolate chip cookies!

“Ha ha ha ha! Somebody needs to teach Uncle Dustin how to use his magical powers! You need to be careful what you wish for, Dustin!” Nate said, while shrinking himself down to his original height of 6 feet and 10 inches tall. Nate quickly ran over to Dustin and extended his hand so that he could help him get back up and on his own feet. Then he grabbed a few cookies and stuffed them in his mouth.

“Hey Ryan! Every time Dustin bakes cookies, call me, okay? I’ll come over to steal a few of them so that I can take them back to the future with me!” Nate said out loud. “Merry Christmas, everybody!!”

At that moment, they all laughed and they were happy. The house was filled with joy. Nate would come and go as he pleased, and Peter and Ty never knew when Nate would come again. Nate spent time with Ty and Peter, teaching them how to use their powers to travel through time. But Peter was very happy with Nate, and he knew he would put his time traveling powers to good use. He could only travel to the past and back, but not to the future. But that was okay, for Peter knew that his future would be awesome!

Ryan smiled, for he would always know when Nate would appear again. For Ryan, the friendship with Nate would last a lifetime. Ty would join a school band and play the guitar in the band. Peter would be more joyful and confident, because he now knew how his future son would turn out. Both Ty and Peter would end up joining the high school newspaper, where Peter would be a photographer and Ty would be a reporter. And Dustin would use his new magical powers to help him out at home, especially when he had to cook dinner for Ryan, at work and at school.

But for Peter, Ty, Dustin and Ryan, the four days around this Christmas would always be etched in their memories as being the best ever. They had the opportunity to meet Nate, who had made a life changing and lasting impact on the lives of every single one of them.

The End

By scriptboy (tfwizard) and muscl4life •