The Lone Star State (Journal Entry)

With around $800,000 plus the remaining $5 million we went to our final destination, Texas. We chose Austin. Not our friend Austin formerly from IBSH but the capital city of Texas. As our first stop we went to the University of Texas. Texas is currently known for its tornadoes and one of the most famous one was the twin tornadoes of 1922. It turned out as one then split up into two separating the damage. Once I got of the cab it was windless but after a few moments a gust of wind blew and was raging. I quickly went inside the building of the university. It looked awesome from the outside. It looked like the capitol building in Washington DC. Then there was a tall building kind of like an obelisk but with windows. On my way inside the building I saw KD. Kevin Durant the famous basketball player from Golden State Warriors! I walked up to him unsure if it really was him. It was! He was frowning up in the sky. We nervously walked towards him. He noticed us and said hey. The first thing that blurted out from my mouth was nothing what his fans would say like: Can I have a picture with you, or may I have you autograph. I just simply said hey. I asked him why he was here he replied “I Graduated from here just checking to see how it was maybe see my old professors.” Marvin then asked him a question something like “Why were you staring at the sky?” He said “ Because there might be a tornado coming. There are signs that a tornado is coming. Gray sky and clouds, sudden gust of winds, and a wall cloud.” Why hadn't I noticed it before? There was a cloud slowly spiraling down towards an open field. We then chatted because he assured us that it wouldn’t come this way but disperse after a few minutes. We ducked into the building and discussed degrees. We learned that UT Austin was mainly on Law and Medical Degrees. When we nearly arrived at the main hall, masked gunman stormed the building pointing AR’s and sawed off shotgun at us. Several stared at Durant, but I had no idea what they were thinking because of their mask and all I can see was their eyes. Students and us all put our knees to the ground as if police were pointing guns at drug lords and his men. We can all see everyone’s faces as they bustled outside of their dorms or lecture hall. They were all staring at the gunmen and Durant. Mainly Durant I think. While Students were getting to their knees Speakers blared about an incoming tornado, and instructed students to go to bunkers in the University. But the announcement came to late. A tornado stuck the west side of the building and was barreling towards us. The mask gunmen dropped their guns and ran in terror. We all did the same. We ran and screamed as the tornado came into our direction. We veered sideways hoping it would go straight but did not. It seemed like a heat seeker. A tall grey shadow loomed towards us as we ran away. Everywhere it went it tears bricks away. As If bricks have learned to fly and went crazy mode. I felt my very essence being sucked out me. My breath, my soul my organs were being pulled towards the tornado. It seems it would go on forever. Whenever I would look behind me I would always see some backpacks, chairs, table, bricks, everything you can expect in a university. I even saw a the smokey cannon. The cannon was fired everytime the someone scored a touchdown in American Football. We always veer sideways hoping to lose the grey tower of destruction. So far my trips have been full of bad luck. I thought I was a goner because I felt my feet starting to get lift off the ground I screamed for anyone to help me but none came to my aid. I saw my life flashed before my eyes and the only thing I remembered was every single bad luck I had in my trip which was something I don’t want to remember. When I looked behind my back I saw the tornado retracting back to the clouds like a snake retracting back to its hole. I then remember falling face flat onto the pavement. It hurts but better than dead. I then noticed the carnage around me. Bricks, chairs, water, everything was splattered on the ground like a child ruining her barbie house. I then felt a moment of relief then I passed out.

DALLAS:<this is included in the Kane Chronicles but this time this is seen as a first person  point of view from the victim of the Chaos attack.><Carter Kane, nor Sadie Kane was narrating only Cedric Martin.>

After the shock of the tornado we went to somewhere far away from Austin. We went to Dallas. When we arrived we went straight to the Dallas Museum of Arts. Why you ask? I heard Mike Rawlings is there enjoying a sort of cowboy party. Mike Rawlings is currently the mayor of Dallas. So me and Marvin decided to chat with him. We told the driver to get us there. Just like the driver in Alaska he was particularly chatty about Dallas’s history, once we told him we are new here. He told us that Dallas was a center for cotton trade in the 1870s and by the 19th century it was the largest inland cotton market in the U.S. He also told us that there is a university in Dallas that was made in 1911. One look at Marvin we knew we aren't going to any university anytime soon. And finally just before as we arrived he told us there was a Egyptian Section in the Museum of Arts. We then hopped off and greatly tipped him for the commentary. I was excited. I just finished reading a book called the Throne of Fire and it was basically about Egyptian Gods. When we went inside everyone was in a festive mood. We met a lovely woman named Anne Grimson who is the president of the Museum then introduced us to her husband JD Grimson. She then left. I was nervous because I read at the back of the Throne of Fire there was a sneak peek about the book “The Serpent's Shadow.” The sneak peek was about an explosion in the Dallas Museum of Art. Anyways I was interested in the Egyptian Museum but everytime he talks he always fiddles around like he was nervous or something. Then Once I got to the part about magicians in Egypt. He was about to respond when 2 teenagers one boy and one girl came and talked to him. I caught some words but the two was called Carter Kane and Sadie Kane. He then apologized and went with them. I just walked away to find Marvin. Turns out he found the Mayor and was having a delightful chat about politics and government. When I walked to them they were talking about available jobs in the government office. I caught some jobs that were available. There was architect, 911 call taker, Billing manager, and much more that I can’t remember. It sounded interesting, then he invited us to try out those jobs in the future. I imagined myself being an architect or an accountant. It seemed cool but I still have other interest. We politely declined and talked about other things. He then started about the history like the driver we had. He told us that 7 eleven was made in Dallas. It was shocking since all I knew 7 eleven was made in America it did not occur to me about it being made in Dallas. He also told us that there is a Bonnie and Clyde situation going here. I did not get that at all but he explained that Dallas was the home of the notorious Bonnie and Clyde who committed tons of murders. I then thought about that and then the people that pulled JD Grimson away from us. Before I could process more about the information the Band Jammed up the music and then soon from talking to dancing. It was a party where you just put random moves to the beat. Then soon it was slow love dance song. I then found myself dancing with a pretty girl about my age or lower. She was wearing a red dress, with black hair. I wanted to make a joke involving her and a bull, but I thought against it. I tried to politely decline. Then when I looked at Marvin he grinned and gave me thumbs up like he planned this. In my mind I was one was to thank him the other part of me wanted to strangle him. We danced, I sometimes stepped on her toes because this was my first time. We danced for a while and I stared at her eyes, while she stared at mine. She smelled good with some perfume. We swayed for a while then “Careless Whisper,WHAM” was being played by the band. I have no clue how they made it work, but they did it. She then pulled me aside to a empty balcony and we chatted for a while, with me trying to make jokes. I found out her name was Layla. Her laugh sounded good, and everytime I looked at her I would sometimes look somewhere else for a moment to catch my breath. The air seemed to go up a few degrees the longer I was with her. We chatted for a while, then she gave me her phone number and I also gave her mine. I talked about my journey in the U.S so far, sometimes I was staring, like the way I looked at her hair being swept over her shoulders, or whenever she laughs and her eyes would twinkle. When I am done she said she pitied me. But then she got a call and had to leave because of her parents. Before she left she pecked me at the cheeks. It wasn’t that big of a kiss, but I probably would have sat there, looked at the stars and have tried to remember what my name was. Marvin jolted me back to reality when he said “Wow got lucky” I felt my face went up around 10 degrees and felt myself blush. He laughed at my reaction and told us that we probably should go back to the party. And we did. Once I saw Mike Rawlings, I suddenly remembered about Carter Kane and Sadie Kane. I walked up to him trying to tell him about them. That’s when the building exploded. Well not the whole building but the around the Egyptian Exhibit area. Luckily we were not part of the explosion otherwise we would have major burns or we would’ve been toasted. Everyone instinctively crouched down to the floor as dust sprinkled down from the ceiling. We all looked around to see if anyone was hurt. Then we heard gunshots. Holes were being peppered in the ground and everyone scattered. The sniper must have been really bad at aiming or the explosion rattled his position. Holes were appearing right around the mayor. I pulled him away before the marksman found its mark. Marvin, the Mayor, and I was the first to scramble out of the building then as soon as we left, another explosion rattled the building turning it into rubble. I looked around to see if anyone was hurt, but I guess I was mainly looking for Layla. Everyone’s clothes was in tatters, and is torn apart, with gray ashes on them. Some was badly injured, but I barely paid any attention to them, I still scanned the crowds for Layla. No luck. The only sounds I am hearing right now is the screaming and wailing of people. A few minutes later a team helicopters, police vans, new vans, ambulances, and firefighters surrounded the exploded premises. A while later I heard that there was 40 casualties. Luckily the Mayor was barley harmed due to the terrible aiming. I then heard a reporter that” ___it was a failed assassination attempt towards the Mayor of Dallas, the Grimsoms is dead and 6 more others, with 32 casualties. If anyone suspecs anything about the plotters please come forward. Anyone found responsible shall come forward and be arrested without further violence.”  I then got a call from Layla. she said “are you ok? I heard what happened” I replied “ Thank God you are safe, Yeah I am ok, an explosion and a failed assassination attempt happened.” We then agreed to meet at a starbucks cafe tomorrow at 10 am. Tomorrow at 10 am I brought Marvin along, I found Layla came out of a white Toyota Corolla. I introduced Marvin to Layla and Layla to Marvin. I hastily bought coffee for the three of us because I was nervous what she have to tell us. The I ordered a double espresso venti, Layla ordered caramel java chip grande, while Marvin just bought a vanilla frappuccino. She said she suspected Carter Kane and Sadie Kane. I blinked at that. I then told her that I met them when they pulled JD Grimson from the conversation we were having. She seemed surprised at information that. And asked “what do they want from him?” I said “Something about unlocking the egyptian art exhibit and something about a explosion.” She did not seem surprised at this and said that she ran into them while they were suspiciously heading to the Egyptian Exhibit. I replied that the first explosion came from the Egyptian Exhibit area. Marvin then said “First we need proof about them. We could start with the security camera.” I then said. “How are we gonna do that? We don’t have authorization.” Layla grimaced and said. “Leave that to me. Should we go now? I have a ride.” I raised my eyebrows and Marvin and I nodded. It was a luxury white SUV. The seats was black and comfortable with a chauffeur driving. It turns out that she was rich. On the ride to the “formerly Art Museum to now a pile of rubbles” Layla and I chatted while Marvin just slept. It turns out that Layla’s parents are both famous businessman and businesswoman. That was how the car was like that. I asked her a question. “So with this idea of yours, are you gonna bribe the cop.” She sighed and replied like she was explaining things to a 2nd grader which might have been the circumstances considering I don’t understand anything. “My dad was going to buy some artifacts so he installed cameras inside the Art Museum to monitor things just in case some might get stolen. We can use those cameras to see what happened there.” I replied looking astonished. “Nice plan.” Once we arrived at the site we searched the exploded museum’s guard house for a blue and white case. Layla said that “The case for the USB is blast proof and can withstand a grenade blast, so their might be a chance that it is still intact and data might still be retractable.” I just nodded and kept on pushing rocks away. Then Marvin found it laying under a pile of rocks. We scrambled towards it and crowded over it for the big reveal. Layla opened it and there it was safe and unharmed as if it haven’t even experienced an explosion or as if nothing had happened at all. Only the case was scratched up. We got back into the car and inputted the USB to Layla’s Macbook. It was decorated with a BTS macbook case. Once she clicked the file 8 boxes flickered to life. 4 on top 4 on the bottom. Each labeled as Egyptian Exhibit Camera 01 or Egyptian Exhibit Camera 02 and so on. We got a view of the entire Exhibit. We saw JD Grimson, Carter Kane, Sadie Kane, and 1 blonde girl, one dark haired girl, one muscular around the age of 17 and a young boy around the age of 10. It was a strange crew to see. All the cameras then went all static screen. Layla was going to shut it down,but then it all flickered back we saw JD Grimson running towards the dance while Sadie Kane was holding a golden box as if wanting to keep it. The rest was just all crowding around something large black and dark grey and fussing over it as if trying to build something but in my suspicion I guessed that the large thing was a bomb . Then it suddenly clicked JD Grimson might be the guy who planted the bomb as a back up plan and then went up to a high place with a good sniping position. I told this to everyone and then they all agreed and said it made sense. Layla beamed at me for the thought. She then told the chauffeur to drive us towards the police station. Marvin again slept while Layla and I was discussing about our life. It turns out she lives in California and I told her I would visit her or vise versa. I then asked if I could borrow her computer. She said yes and I did. The car have personal hotspot which was good. I went to a website and booked BTS tickets for a concert as a surprise to Layla. We arrived at the police station and asked for the police captain. A few moments later we were all seated in a chair facing the police captain’s desk. Soon he arrived. We showed him the USB of the clip. We were not sure what to make of his expression because it was all cold as stone as he stared at the footage. He kept on rewinding the footage as if trying to find something like trying to find an easter egg in a movie. At last he said “this is an interesting video which shows some promising facts about the assassination. Do you have any thoughts about this?” I then told him about my idea about JD Grimson running off and about the black and dark gray object. He nodded and said “well that is an interesting theory and it might actually work well I am going to send this to the proper authorities and I will notify you when it is done and if it shows promising results you will get a reward.” We all looked at each other on what he said and then we strolled out the door. Once we got into the car Layla told the Chauffeur to bring us to our hotel. Layla even paid for the hotel bill. Once we arrived at the hotel Marvin told us to go along and he will wait outside to go buy something to eat. Before we went inside the building I gave one look at him and he grinned and gave me the thumbs just like what he did in the Dallas Art Museum. I led her up the stairs into my room. It wasn’t much just like an average 4 star hotel. I led her to the balcony to see the sight. It was an amazing view which love to come to look at or to go to place to rest when Marvin is annoying me. I looked at her and she looked at me. It was just like the scene back in the Dallas Art Museum right before it exploded except we kind of knew each other and I was the one that led her here. I said mysteriously “ I got a surprise for you.” She blushed and said “what?” I too must have been blushing I said “I booked a ticket for the next BTS performance.” She was astonished and asked how did I know. I then told her about her cover. She was grinning. She then hugged me fiercely I must have been blushing like crazy. But then something magical happened. She looked at me and kissed me on the lips. A hot stream of lava went up my stomach as my heart leapt a whole ten beats. We stood there for a long time as I returned the kiss. We were looking at each other’s eyes daring not to move or to ruin the magical moment. A spark went up in her eyes that I didn’t want it to be turned off. Suddenly out of the blue Marvin burst inside the room laughing and shouting “WADDUP BOIIIIS?” Both of us stared at him like he was insane. He then noticed the moment and said “ooooooohhh baby… is there an air conditioner cuz it getting hot in here! Oh well I will just be outside the door waiting for you.” I looked at her but then something interrupted. It was a call from her chauffeur. I sighed I held her hand not wanting to let go of it she then held mine I said “Bye, see you back in California, I promise I will visit you then we can go to the BTS show. I couldn’t believe what a day it was. Texas has been one of my craziest adventures in my whole life. Not only did I learn valuable life lesson, I also learned to NEVER EVER EVER go on a road trip with Marvin. Man, he was the worst party pooper I could ever imagine. Anyways, I can’t wait to go back to the Philippines and check on my family. I called all of them and told them I was doing just fine in the US and missed the a whole lot. Before leaving the hotel to go to the airport. I took a deep breath and  called Layla. She picked up. I was nervously tapping the table while Marvin was filming it from his phone. I nervously said “ Uhh Hi just wondering if you would love to go back with us to California. I promise that I’ll treat you the best ever and love you forever.” No answer I heard a soft sob in the background as the butterflies started to dance in my stomach. Suddenly a broken voice said, “ I would love to Johann Cedric Estores Martin.” My voice went so high even Whitney Houston couldn’t beat my squeak. “Ok. I’ll meet you at the airport in 30 minutes.” I said. I hanged up and heard a low grunt. It was Marvin clutching his hand because my voice must’ve broken the glass on his phone. “Karma Karma kicking down like Sparta that’s what you get for filming me!” I laughed. We hailed a taxi and went to the airport. We raced through the airport and searched for Layla. It was too easy. All I had to do was to search for the most beautiful girl in the airport. We then went to the lounge and waited for departure. “I guess stories do end happily…” I said on the plane as we took off. We were just beginning our trip of happiness. And I closed my eyes for the journey up ahead