MILLER&JACOB
ADVENTURE OF THE BEYOND

Chapter One
The Introductions

‘Oh God!’ Jacob gasped as he came crashing through the surface of a ferocious sea. Where was he, how had he gotten here? The answers he was so frantically searching for were forced to the back of his mind as he struggled to keep his head above the water. He cried out for help as he felt panic surging through every inch of his young body but his screams were muted by the violent waves that were forcing him back under. Jacobs body was tossed through the water as he struggled to get to the surface but the ruthless waves pushed him under again and again, denying him the air he felt he desperately needed. Once more he struggled upwards but again he was forced back, swallowed by the ocean. All felt hopeless, his strength was spent and he felt his eyes reluctantly close.

*

Jacob slowly tried to open his eyes but they hurt too much. Though he was young and his body small, he felt it was heavy, too heavy to lift; his limbs were sprawled uselessly. He laid for what seemed like hours. After a while he tried to open his eyes again but his eyelids where too heavy. He had no strength. Still he couldn't move. His brain began turning, trying to figure out what had happened to him and where he was.

With a deep breath and some determination Jacob opened his eyes wide. The light was so bright it felt as if his eyes were on fire but gradually the sensation eased, helped by the soft cool breeze that now blew against his upturned face. Jacob stared at the beautiful blue sky with amazement. The sky shouldn’t be what there; he should be looking at the ceiling of his father’s pub if he was lying on his back. He impatiently willed his brain to work. Slowly Jacob remembered glimpses of being thrown violently under water, where he had fully expected to die. He tried to remember how he had gotten into the water but his memory was still blank. The last memory he had before he found himself in the sea was getting accidentally punched in his Dads pub, when he had snuck downstairs to get some pop for him and his brother Miller, only to step into the middle of a bar fight.

Jacob stayed motionless, staring at the sky, just thinking. Steadily Jacob became more aware of his body and he curved his fingers to feel the ground between them, which slowly ripple through. His hands made soothing gestures along the floor. He was on soft sand. Jacobs’s body was now beginning to fully register again, all his senses were coming back to him, and the sounds he could hear began to make sense. His eyes still fixed upon the cloudless sky he couldn’t see a sun anywhere but even so he presence was casting a long shadow on the flat sand next to him. The strangeness of this lingered in his thoughts briefly before more important matters came racing to the front. Emotions surged through him. What had happened to him? Where was he? Was he in danger? Where was his family, he wanted his Dad to look after him and his brother…where was Miller?! He wanted to stand up and look around but as he attempted to do so his legs buckled under his weight and he fell hard back to the ground. Sheer panic was all that Jacob could feel. He felt on the verge of tears he was so frightened but he held these back, even now when he was lost alone as he dare not show any weakness his father would have frowned up.

‘Jacob!’ a familiar high voice screeched, sounding as frightened as he felt, ‘Jacob!’
Immediately Jacob tried to acknowledge his name but his voice was weak.

‘Jacob!’

And with a whisper that grew into a desperate roar Jacob called out to his brother
‘Miller! Miller I’m ere, I’m ere’

Suddenly Jacob felt himself being shaken frantically.

‘Jacob are you okay? Jacob, JACOB! Please’ Miller begged hoarsely as he voice broke with anguish ‘Please J, look at me’

‘Miller’ Jacob whispered to his brother who quickly leant his ear closer to hear his brother. ‘Stop being a baby’ he continued with a forced smile. Miller dropped him back onto the ground but not in anger. He had a huge grin of relief on his face for he knew his twin brother was fine.

*

Miller and Jacob stood surveying their surroundings in astonishment. Jacob felt petrified because he had no idea where they were and he was completely, utterly mystified to how they had even arrived there. Millers’ emotions were quite the opposite. Like his twin he was anxious about whether they were in any danger but he was relishing the mystery of the situation and the strangeness of it all, he felt like he had landed in the middle of one of his beloved sci-fi adventure movies. To him, something amazing was happening and these thoughts were fuelled by what they both saw around them.

The brothers had quickly stopped talking to each other once they had realized that neither had the faintest idea where they were. And so they stood in silence just taking in the unbelievable sight that their eyes were showing them

The first thing they both realised immediately was that wherever they were it sure wasn’t England, it was a tropical, gorgeous place. They were on a beautiful long white beach that stretched a never-ending distance both forwards and behind of them besides a great, vast river. The water next to them was no further than a few feet away and was the clearest you could ever imagine seeing, any more transparent and you would fail to notice it at all, and it was breath taking. Just glancing around took away all the worries in Millers mind, nothing bad could happen in such a beautiful place,  he surely thought. In the far distant, they heard the sound of crashing water, it came from a waterfall which looked miles and miles away but still Jacob and Miller could see the monstrously size of it. Perhaps, Jacob thought, that is where I was earlier when I almost drowned. Though the sight of it still did not inspire any ideas to how he could have gotten there.

On the other side of the river, far, far away, Jacob observed a gigantic wall of red rock that stretched as eternally as the beach they stood on. On top of it sat what looked like a rain forest, where light was bouncing off every lush tree, causing a dazzling display of sparkling illuminations. The trees towered higher than any building Jacob had ever seen, there were many different types clustered together but they were all as big, if not much bigger than sky scrappers. Even on television, Jacob had never seen trees like these. They were enormous; he felt he could not bend his head back far enough to see the tops of them. How amazing. Just as he felt he was finally going to fall backwards by looking up his eyes saw a huge shadow fly over the treetops. A strange giant bird had appeared, which must have been bigger than his school bus he thought, so what could it have been?

While Jacob was examining the wonders across the river, Miller was stood gob smacked by what he was studying in the opposite direction. Just less than a mile away across the sandy white beach rose thousands and thousands of mountains. Unlike dark vicious mountains of jagged rocks you would see in an intimidating scary movie, these mountains were awe striking, they looked almost as transparent as the water they stood besides and they all seemed to soar higher than the sky itself. Light passed through the bodies of the mountains, making each sparkle like giant diamonds that had been thrust from the heart of the Earth.

No longer did Miller feel panic or an urged to escape home, he felt content in their arrival to Eden, what a wondrous place to be he felt and his desire to find an escape vanished. Jacobs did not

“Something is really weird here” Jacob said, breaking the silence
“Yeah I know, I’ve never seen anything like that on the tele” Miller answered, pointing to the sheering mountain in front of them
 “No I meant something else”
“What can be weirder than this?”
“Well, Just come here won’t ya”
“Why what’s wrong with us?”
“Just come stand next to me and I’ll show you”

Miller gave Jacob a puzzled look but he pulled his sunken feet out of the soft white sand and stood shoulder to shoulder with his twin. Miller looked up to Jacob to see what he would say next

“Don’t you think that’s weird” Jacob asked
“What?”
“I’m having to look down at your face…I’m taller than you and we’re suppose to be identical”

Miller pondered this quickly and answered “It’s probably the ground that is uneven”
“Could be but look at this” and Jacob lifted up his brothers arm and held them out

The brothers stood apart to scrutinize each other more thoroughly. They both still had the short brown hair that spiked up at the front and flipped out on the back and sides. They both still had a small cluster of freckles over the bridge of their bumpy button nose and they both still had hazel eyes but they both could see the difference immediately now that they were looking more closely.
Jacob was about half a foot taller than Miller. He noticed his brother face was rounder and chubbier while Miller saw that Jacobs face was longer and thin. Jacob recognized that Millers eyes were bright and excited, and Miller felt that Jacobs’s eyes no longer sparkled with mischief. The clothes they wore were not the same but nothing unusual. Jacob had on a pair of baggy blue jeans, white trainers and a t-shirt with a name of a band that Miller had never heard of. Miller too wore similar jeans and pumps but Jacob noticed he was wearing an old t-shirt, though it now looked brand new, which had an image of a superhero from a movie they both use to love called Captain Flabbatastic.

Jacob sat quickly on the floor and stared ahead, it was all too much to take, he felt like his brain was going to explode. What was happening to them? Miller stood over his brother with a hand rubbing his chin, which was nodding slightly.

“We’ve been kidnapped” he suddenly announced. Jacob looked up quickly, eager to hear any sort of explanation or idea to what was happening to them.
“By who? Terrorists?” Jacob asked
“Aliens”
“WHAT!” Jacob shouted. What was his brother thinking?
“Aliens, it makes sense. Look at those mountains; I’ve never seen anything like that in geography”
“You’ve never been in geography!!! You’re always bunking off lesson to play pool down the café”
“Yeah well, I’d av seen something like it on the tele…have you seen anything like it?” Miller demanded
“No” Jacob said “but…”
“But nothing. Look at those trees. One of’em look taller than the Empire State building”
“You’ve never seen the Empire State building”
“I saw it on King Kong”
“Arghhh! Movies again” Jacob howled as he threw himself flat on his back. His brother was not helping at all and his attitude was getting weirder, he hadn’t know Miller to act like this for some time now, not since the accident. “Your talking stupid Miller! Shut up and say something when you’ve got something useful to say won’t ya”

They both fell silent, though Miller wasn’t going to let Jacobs’s grumpiness sour the fantastic idea that they could be on an alien world. Jacob sat quietly, his brain aching for answers. Every now and again he would give his mind a quick rest and look at his brother. As well as Miller looking slightly younger than him, he was acting weirdly too. When Jacob had last seen Miller in their room above the pub he looked no different than him, other than the scar he had on his chest from the operation he had after a car crash a year ago. But there was something more unusual about his twin now other than his unexplainable appearance. Miller looked happy, bright; full of amazement of where they were but these were not things he would have expected from his brother because since the crash and what happened to their mother in it, he had been moody, miserable and reclusive. There was a joy in Jacob’s heart that he had his old brother back, his fun loving, adventure seeking twin but he just didn’t understand it, but then he supposed that he didn’t understand much of anything that was happening now.

Jacob started to imagine all of the different things that might have happened to them and Millers idea of aliens was maddeningly pushing to the front more and more but this just made Jacob angry with himself. How stupid, there were no such things as aliens, stuff like that don’t happen to people in real life, especially not to him and Miller, only bad things seem to happen to them and this felt like a bad thing.

Jacob tried to continue his thoughts but once more he was interrupted by his brother

“Well you know what the up side is J” said Miller
“Not really, what?” Jacob said in a low tired voice, bracing himself for more of his brother’s recovered immaturity
“It doesn’t look like we’ll have to start at the new school next week” Miller laughed “but, we’re gonna miss the World Cup”

Millers smile crumbled a little after realizing he could miss seeing England play if he didn’t find a way home quick enough but this comments had totally baffled Jacob

“Are you okay Mill?”
“Yeah why…we’re only been kidnapped by aliens and taken to their home planet” answered Miller as he eyed the mountains that loomed before them

Jacob ignored Millers last sentence, that was nonsense he still thought, but he concentrated on what his brother had said before

“Why did you just say that about school?”
“What do you mean?” Miller asked
“You just said we won’t have to start the new school. What school are you talking about?”
“Campion, why?” Miller asked again, now looking at his brother with the same puzzled expression that Jacob was giving him

Jacob felt a new dread stab at his stomach. Had Miller banged his head when they were in the rough sea? They had started their new secondary school in the South West over a year ago but his twin was talking as if they were about to start next week.

Just as Jacob was about to explain all this to Miller he saw his brothers new found happiness drain from his face, he was looking at something behind him

“Jesus” Jacob shouted with fright as he spun around to see what Miller was looking at.

“Nay, he’s down at Entry bay triple X 90” said a man who was stood before the two twins. He was smartly dressed in white linen trousers and wearing a shirt and jacket made of similar material; on his feet he wore long knee high brown leather boots. Although the style was unfamiliar it looked like a uniform. The man casually leant in towards the two and with a hushed voice said “Between you and me…he ain’t anything special…in fact they’ve only given him this job to keep him out of the way”

The pair stood in shock but suddenly, before Jacob was even fully aware of what he was doing himself, he had run forward and grabbed hold of the man in a fury.

“Where’s are we? What do you want with us” Jacob demanded “Who are you?”

Unconcerned the man simply replied “It is of no interest to you who I am but you need to go over there; he will explain”

Jacob and Miller turned around. The beach was now full of thousands of other people who looked as dazed and lost as them. People were screaming, women were crying and children were calling for their parents. The calm, serene beach had turned into a scene of utter panic.

“Do not be afraid” said the man. “I know it is difficult. You are scared. You do not know what is happening to you but please go to that official over there, his name is Amicus and he will explain everything”

Miller looked to Jacob who stared back, each hoping the other would suggest what they should do next. Miller recommended first

“RUN AWAY” and with that Jacob watched as his shorter twin brother ran off in the opposite direction of the huge crowd of people on the beach.

Jacob continued to watch as his twin got smaller and smaller in the distance and with a stunned expression he turned back to the man stood beside him.

“That boy is being foolish, though it looks like you have more sense” the man said to Jacob “If you just go over…” But before the man could finish his sentence Jacob too had turned and sprinted off after Miller.

Miller and Jacob were running as fast as their legs would carry them, though Jacob now being taller quickly caught up with his brother. They felt crazed with desperation to run away from the man who they thought must have taken them to where they now were. It no longer felt like an adventure to Miller, he now felt as afraid of what could happen to them as Jacob had been all along.

The brothers escape had not gone unnoticed, it fact it had been very much detected by everyone else on the beach and suddenly mass panic erupted. Nobody knew why the boys were running, but nobody were waiting to find out and so the masses of strangers on the beach took heed of Miller and Jacobs example and soon they found thousands of people stampeding behind them. The huge crowd were following them, though the brothers thought they were being chased and ran even faster.