Category: Finished

My problem started one night, on my way home from a friend’s house. It was a dark night filled with odd lights, and strange noises, but it was about to get much worse. I had never drunk alcohol before, but I was about to be accused of drinking underage. I wouldn’t even be able to tell my side of the story. Not only that, but even my parents would not believe I was innocent at first. Anyway, it all started with street lights, and a beer bottle.

I was outside at night, walking down a dark street wearing sandals. The only street light on the block not working was the one over me. I had just passed the broken streetlight when I heard the sound of a car. I turned while continuing to walk, to make sure, it wasn’t a crazy person. To my relief, it was just a cop car. Suddenly, I stumbled over a broken beer bottle, which I hadn’t seen in the dark, just as the cop car stopped right next to me. The cop got out, saw the beer bottle next to my foot, and quickly looked back up at me. She asked me to walk the curb, but I desperately tried to tell her what had happened. She wouldn’t listen to me, and I managed to stumble along the edge of the curb as if I was drunk. The cop quickly asked me where I lived, and put me in the back of the police car. I didn’t even get to call my parents, and tell them what had happened.

When I arrived at the jail, I asked the cop to call, or allow me to call my parents. She pretended like I had said nothing, escorted me into an empty jail cell, and told me to sit down. The jail cell was in need of a good cleaning, so I just stood, and watched the cop go back to her office. Several minutes later, to my relief my parents came to my rescue, or so I thought. It turns out; they didn’t believe me either.

I seemed as if everyone was against me. The cop didn’t believe me, and even my own parents didn’t believe. I wondered how my parents could believe such a story. They came into the cell, looked at my foot, and looked back at the officer. They thanked the officer, and shook hands. I was confused, and didn’t know what was going on.

The cop must have noticed my distress, and explained that she had stopped her car when she saw me stumble. At first when she looked down she wasn’t sure if I had been drinking, but then she saw my foot, and realized that I had actually tripped, and cut my foot on the beer bottle. Then, she asked me to walk down the curb to check her assumption. When, she realized that I was only stumbling, she asked for my address to see how far I had to walk. Instead of driving me to my house, she decided to just call my parents from the police station, because it was closer. What I thought was injustice, was just a misconception.

The water was cold. That was the only thing Dawn could think of as she skimmed her foot across the top of the pool. The temperature of the water was to be expected though, given the season of the year.

It was early fall, and the winds had been picking up more than usual the last couple of days. The sun was shining from behind the trees and barely increasing the warmth of the afternoon. The leaves had fallen all over the yard and even into the pool, but thanks to a net the pool had just been prepared for swimming.

Dawn shivered as a draft of wind blew past her. She would have given anything to be in the water and remembering the past couple of years. Getting into the pool on the day before the first day of school had been a yearly ritual for her and her brother Dan. It had always been their way of commemorating the summer that had passed and the school year that was about to begin. But now Dan wasn’t there, and still she felt strangely obligated to continue the tradition alone.

Dan was away at college, having to start class a week earlier than the local middle school. He’d been so excited and in a hurry he’d even almost forgotten to say goodbye on moving day. He hadn’t remembered their tradition in the excitement of that day, but then again neither had she.

“Are you going to get in?” Dawn turned to find her mother watching her expectantly from the lawn. Then seeing her daughter’s expression of upset, she continued on down the hall until she stood next to her daughter. “Dawn, I know Dan’s not here right now, but he’ll be home in a couple of weeks. And when he comes home, you two can swim together then.”

Dawn grabbed her towel from a nearby chair and walked past her mother and towards the back door of the house. “You don’t understand. Its not the same.”

“Dawn, wait.” Despite her feelings telling her to run into the house before the tears came, Dawn stopped to listen to her mother. She could feel an unknown anger beneath the surface and was afraid that if she turned around her mother would see it. So in true angry fashion, she kept her back turned. “Dawn, honey. It’ll be okay. I don’t know about this tradition you two have, but I’m sure it’ll be the same in a couple weeks when Dan comes home.”

Dawn didn’t even bother acknowledging her mother’s empty consolidations and continued walking into her house. She didn’t understand. No one did.

*****

“So, what do you want to do on this last day of summer?” Dan sat down next to his sister on the edge of the pool. Dawn stared down into the water of the pool and didn’t even acknowledge his presence, let alone even reply. If he wanted to pretend everything was fine, he could. Dan tried again. “So, I’m starting high school tomorrow.”

This time his statement elicited a response. “I know.”

“Well, do you want to go for a swim?”

“Today?”

“Yeah. Can’t really do it tomorrow.”

Dawn looked up at her brother for the first time. “What was wrong with the rest of the summer?”

Dan sighed as if he should have expected this comment. Look, I’m sorry we haven’t hung out all summer. I was out with my friends.

“Friends you just made. But your friends don’t mean you can ignore me practically all summer. It’s always been you and me. Then we move to a different country and you ditch me in a matter of months.”

“Look, I’m sorry. I just didn’t want to end up alone this school year without any friends just because I’m the new kid. I didn’t think that you could be lonely.”

“Not good enough.”

“Well, how do you want me to make it up to you? I’m here today. We can swim all day long if you want.”

“Still not good enough.”

Dan was beginning to become frustrated. “What else do you want?” He looked towards his little sister who was deep in thought. Suddenly, Dan became very afraid as his sister’s eyes lit up.

Dawn made a wide smile of delight. “To make up for all these days of summer that you missed! You owe me all those days back. That’s equal to one day a year, for the rest of our lives. Starting today.”

He took this in stride, still not believing she was serious. “Why this day?”

Dawn shrugged. “I don’t know. Just cause its today.” And with that he watched as his little sister made a cannonball into the pool, succeeding in splashing her brother.

*****

Dawn sat on her bed with tears in her eyes as she rummaged through a shoebox. Once again Dan had forgotten her. Sure, he had more important things to think about. And sure, he was too grown up to probably care about mindless childish traditions. But still, no one understood the bond that had grown between her and her older brother.

Her brother had been her closest friend for so many years. Growing up in a different country where you were the only two who spoke English had that effect on them. Yet, that wasn’t the only reason they had grown closer than brothers and sisters usually do. It had been her brother she could always count on and talk to as they had moved from location to location as their father’s job had been transferred time and again. He had always been her constant as other people came and went in her life. He was her touchstone.

This is why she sat on her bed rummaging through old photos, comic book cards, and memorabilia she had kept from their various adventures together. There was a medal with a stag in the middle of a forest of trees they had won for completing a Volksmarch. Then there was their special Go Fish cards they used to play every week when it was too cold to go outside. On each card was a variety of fish dressed in different clothes with big bubble eyes. Dawn chuckled to herself as she looked through the different cards, remembering the picture she hadn’t seen in almost a year.

There was a lifetime worth of memories contained in her room and in this little box alone. The objects and pictures could tell a story of her life, but Dawn wondered what exactly it told. Did it show the bond between her and her brother? Or was it just a random assortment of objects having little meaning to anyone but herself?

It didn’t matter, Dawn realized. These objects were only memories connected with the past. Dawn quickly placed all the objects back in the box and set the small box on the floor of her closet. It was time to take her first swim alone.

“How much longer are we going to suffer? This has to end now!” Casond yelled to the crowd that had gathered to hear him. I had never heard him this distraught, in all my years as his best friend. This was unwonted, but it made sense.

Casond stepped down from the stage, and came to stand next to me. “How are your parents doing?” I asked him.

“Fine.” He responded with celerity. He wouldn’t look at me. I grabbed his hand, and he looked me in the eyes. “Sarama, I’m thinking of doing something…dangerous.” He paused to make sure no one was watching. “I’m going to find a cure.”

I was excited. We were going to find a cure to the disease that had devastated our planet. We left summarily the next morning, and boarded my ship. Like Dante in the Divine Comedy, we were heading for places unknown.

“What do you expect to find?” I asked Casond when we weren’t manning the ship.

“I’m not sure.” I was about to propound an idea, when his eyes lit up. “I’m going to find the universe’s Holy Grail, immortality.”

I thought that was the least coherent and plausible idea that he had ever thought up, but I said nothing. Days passed and we saw nothing but space, until one fateful day.

We were sleeping, when I awoke to find something bright blue outside my window, a planet. It seemed to be a simple halcyon planet, but Casond saw something else. He saw the perfection of the universe, a utopian world. He was sure he would find immortality here. We landed so fast; the ship undulated on the way down. What we found was different than he expected.

We found a city where people still fought for stupid reasons. Casond was devastated, but he tried not to evince his feelings. The world was only primordial compared to our own, but he expected more. Before I knew what had happened, Casond had opened the door to the ship, and was out on the surface of the planet. People turned to look; the humans looked at us with curiosity. Then, Casond pushed a button on his remote and a thousand people were dead. I tackled him to the ground, and the remote flew out of his hand. That’s when five humans grabbed us and locked us up.

“Why?! Why did you do it?!” I yelled at him from inside our prison.

“It was nothing.” He simply said. I never knew Casond had such a myopic view on things.

Just then, the prison door opened and two armed humans came in. They had an overt anger towards us. They asked us who had pulled the trigger, but I held my tongue. Before they had come, Casond and I had made a covenant to stick together. We stood quietly as they looked at us.

“One of you will die tomorrow for what you’ve done, and if you don’t tell us who did it, you’ll both die.” The human told us, trying to get us to talk.

“She did it!” Casond exclaimed, as he tried to dissemble his lie. They quickly grabbed me and pulled me out the door. Casond had betrayed me. My best friend had betrayed me. I felt sick. I shook the guards off me, and ran for it. I found my ship outside and flew off. I put it on autopilot and headed home. I quickly went to the back of the ship, so I wouldn’t change my mind and make the ship go back. Now that Casond was the only one left, they would surely kill him for what he had done.

When I arrived back home, I learned that Casond’s parents had died the day we left. He had lied and betrayed me for nothing. His parents had already died. In my heart, I felt glad his parents didn’t know what he had done. As I listened to the eulogy at their funeral, I realized nothing had been gained from our trip. But two planets had lost their people, and I had lost my honor for Casond. I sat down and watched our suns set.

“Sarama, honey, are you coming inside?” A voice asked from behind me.

“In a second, Mother.”

A storm slowly made its way into the tiny sleepy town in the dead of night. The forecast for tomorrow called for a heap of rain, but for now the clouds took their sweet time rolling in. Outside one particular two-story house, the wind had just begun to pick up, and the branches of an old nearby tree swayed gently in the breeze.

It had been a dry last couple of months, but lately they’d had a number of strong storms pass through the area. It seemed the searing heat of summer, coupled with the oncoming moisture of fall, made for the perfect disastrous combination. In fact, just a few hours earlier during dinner, the father of the house had commented on that very tree’s age. He’d mentioned how it was weak, battered, and would need to come down soon, lest it come down on its own during one of these freak storms.

And so, the wind continued to picked up outside, and the tree’s branches began to scrape and bang against the side of the house. A few more hours passed, a couple more hours of howling wind, and slowly but surely one lowly little branch began to crack from all the pressure. The tree attempted to hold strong, but it was no match for the storm’s fury, and at last the tiny branch finally broke free.

Down it fell. Down, down, to where the backyard lay in wait to catch it. A couple inches to the right, and perhaps it would have landed on the grass and merely joined all the other debris that had fallen during the night. Instead, by some choice of fate, or some twist of chance, it fell down toward the patio deck and landed on the open grill. Thankfully, the grill’s settings were set to off, or so it appeared.

After having been on for hours, even at the lowest setting, the coils now glowed a bright orange from the heat. They reacted instantly with the branch that had fallen. The remaining leaves on the branch became singed black, and the edges began to curl in on themselves in a desperate attempt to get away. Soon, there was no stopping the assault, and the branch and the leaves began to smoke. Tiny red flames began to appear as the branch gave in to its fate. Soon the army of flames were moving and spreading to engulf the entire branch.

From there the flames jumped to a grease soaked rag lying nearby. The flames instantly fed off the welcome fuel. Another gust of wind blew the flames off the grill and onto the welcome mat in front of the back door. From there the flames now grew and reached their way up the house, welcoming the added food. Each second that passed, the flames consumed more and more ground, and looked to their new exciting . The storm had done its deed, and the rain wouldn’t come until it was too late.

A young man wearing a turban pushed his way through the crowds of the marketplace. The crowds were thick today, as a result of the upcoming religious holiday, and the market tables were lined with various types of merchandise from jewelry to exotic types of food. He readjusted his turban to get a better view, which not only helped to shield him from the sun, but also helped to hide his wandering eyes. He was scanning the streets and one thing was certain, he was looking for someone.

“You there! Young man!” Hasif looked around to see who was calling him, finding a man wearing a turban of his own staring at him from behind a table and hidden from the sweltering heat by the canopy above. “I have a special on snake. Two for the price of one. They make a good afternoon meal.” Hasif tried to hide his grimace at the thought of attempting to eat the half dead creatures as an afternoon meal.

Still, he walked up closer to get a better view. He stared at the snakes laid out on the table carefully, noticing the strange patterns and shapes. Finally, he looked up to the man behind the table. “Aren’t these poisonous?”

Instantly a look of surprise came on the old man’s face. “We’re closed,” the man said, hissing through his teeth. He grabbed the merchandise, threw it into his baskets and was on his way.

Hasif watched him go. On any other day, he might have contacted the local authorities about this man, or what passed for authority, but today he had other problems. Besides, the man was sure to be careful about his activities for a little while, since someone had caught him in the act. Yet, little did the old man know that ordinary people would never have noticed the difference, but Hasif was not an ordinary young man.

He scanned the streets again, looking for his target. Upon looking around, he recognized just how different he was. All around were people of all ages, dirty from the Saharan sand and smelling of not having bathed in at least a week. Yet, he, unlike the others, knew the importance of cleanliness.

Hasif sighed, frustrated. It had been a day of searching and having nothing to show for it. Right now he should have been helping his mother with dinner or watching over his younger sister and brother. Instead, he was doing the one thing he’d been trained for and waited on all his life to do. It was this knowledge that allowed him to know which snakes were poisonous and cleanliness meant healthy. This knowledge that made him so different than the rest of them.

He made his way through the crowed and into a nearby alley. Carefully, he checked around for signs of anyone watching or listening. Upon seeing no one around, he rolled up his sleeve. Beneath was another reason he was different. Underneath his sleeve was a watch made of silver. The face contained the normal hours and minutes, but in the middle was also the month, day, and year. April 14, 1517.

Hasif pressed a button and the watch emitted a small beep. He then counted to two before proceeding again. “This is Hasif Hijazi. The date is”¦” Hasif looked down at his watch before continuing. “April 14, 1517. 3:38 in the afternoon. Over.”

He waited for a couple more seconds until a crackle once again came over the other end, then a voice replied. “Hasif, this is Base. We read you. What is your current status?”

Knowing they couldn’t see him, only hear him, Hasif shook his head in exasperation. “I’ve been tracking the target all day, but have yet to see any evidence that he is in this timeline. Are you sure he is here?”

He regretted the words as soon as he thought of them. It was akin to blasphemy to think they could ever be wrong. Still, Hasif waited again for the answer, but was surprised when a couple seconds passed and there was no voice on the other side. Then, suddenly a crackling sound came out of the tiny wristwatch and Hasif almost jumped in surprise.

“We’ve just checked our records and we’re positive the time-hopper is there. The last agent to have seen him checked the window he left and pointed it to this day and year. We think he’s jumped to that year in order to stop Selim I and the Ottoman Empire from taking over the country.” For a split second, Hasif wondered if that would be such a bad thing. Who actually wanted their country to be taken over by invaders? But as if answering his question, the watch spoke again. “In order for the timeline to remain the same, he must be stopped. Now our records show he will be making his move soon somewhere in the market place.”

A quizzical look came over Hasif’s face. “Making his move?” He asked the watch.

“Oh, sorry. Whatever he plans to do will be happening soon. Now, use the picture and description we’ve given and continue looking. He should be easy to find because of his difference in appearance from the rest of the population. Over.”

The watch crackled for the last time and Hasif realized he was on his own again. Covering up the watch, he continued on his way through to the other side of the alley and into an adjacent street. How was he going to do this? Sure, he’d been training for it all his life. Yet, how was he supposed to find one person in an entire city?

Hasif looked up from his walk, surprised to see someone staring back at him from a corner down the street. The pale man watching him had a strange perplexed look on his face and his eyes gleamed suspiciously. All Hasif could do was smile back politely. He then casually turned around, pretending to walk away. As soon as his back was turned, he instead uncovered the watch and pushed a button so the picture he’d been given would show.

He was surprised at what he saw. It was him. It was the same man he’d just seen. There was no mistaking the eyes that had stared back at him from underneath the turban. He quickly turned around, expecting to see the same man still standing there, but the target was gone. Hasif ran down the street and turned right around the corner where the man had been standing. He caught a glimpse of a brown swish of color going around another corner and so he took flight. It was time for the chase.

He took off again, running down streets and around corners. He made sure to always keep the target in his field of vision. They were still running, albeit out of breath, five minutes later as Hasif led his target around a corner to a dead end. A good part of being local was being able to know the layout of the city.

“Its over,” Hasif called to him. A grin came over his face as his target turned around, facing away from the dead end. On his target’s face was a look of fear as he realized it was over for him. Yet, it was all over now for Hasif as well. Soon, he’d be another agent to get commendations after actually accomplishing his mission. Hasif tried again, “Give up the device, it is over.”

Hasif had been sure at that moment that his assailant would give himself up. That he would go back home to his family and everything would be fine. But what happened next surprised him. Instead of seeing the same look of fear on his enemy’s face, the look slowly turned to”¦amusement. A slow grin spread over his target’s face. And before he could wonder why, he felt a sharp and then numbing pain in his back.

He turned around to see the source of his pain, and was surprised to see the man from the market holding a dagger covered with blood. His blood he could only guess, because then he fell to the ground.

“That’s for messing with my business,” he faintly heard a voice from above and then the sound of footsteps running.

As he lay dying, his blood soaking into the starving ground, he wondered about the future. Did the man from the market realize what he’d just done? Would he even care? What would happen to his family now? Had his life been worthwhile? What would-

The target took a couple steps forward until he was standing right above and looking down to the body lying on the ground. Hasif was dead now he realized, not a trace of life left visible in his body. Now he would be able to run away once more, without a worry that someone would be following him. He grabbed a device from his clothes and aimed it into the open air. A small window appeared and soon he was gone within its ripples.

From the ground a lone voice could be heard after a pang of static. “Hasif, we’ve just noticed a window has opened from your location. Could you please tell us the year he’s traveling to next? Over.” A couple seconds passed as the base waited for Hasif to respond. “Hasif, are you there? We need the year before the window closes, otherwise we won’t know what time he’s traveled to. Hasif?”</span></p>

He ran through the dark forest, dodging branches and jumping over fallen trees, with no clear idea of where he was going. There was no path through this forest, so instead he made his own. He hurried across the marshy ground of mud and leaves. His shoes squishing into it and leaving a trail all his own. Occasionally, a wayward branch would snap back at him, succeeding in slicing him through the skin. He had many cuts and scratches now, but they merely served to remind him of his journey. Battle scars. He’d been running for a while now. All his life.

Above him the moon dripped down its silvery light through the branches, and barely lit the way before him. He had seen the forest at its worst. He’d been there when it seemed like the branches reached for him alone. It was a time when the night’s cold made him think there was no help in the world.

Yet, he had also been there when the trees were full from the bounty of spring, the pink, blue, and white flowers grew rampant, and the sun’s warmth made his hair stand on end. It was a time when everything was bright and sunny, and he felt that nothing could ever go wrong.

But this was not one of those times. Right now, he was running along the trail with danger close on his heels. The shadows, caused by the branches looming overhead, appeared to be arms reaching for him. They were a regular reminder of the darkness that was constantly there, not letting him be aware of anything else along his path.

And so, he ran farther and farther. His breathing ragged. His heart constricted. He thought for certain that at any moment the darkness and shadows would finally consume him. Then, for once, he could stop running and finally rest. So enraptured by this idea, he didn’t see the obstacle until it was too late.

In a moment of weakness, he found himself falling toward the ground below, having tripped on an uprooted tree. He fell face first into the thicket of leaves and dirt on the ground. The little light that had been available was extinguished in a matter of seconds, until only darkness remained. He choked and gagged on the darkness and attempted to get up. Still, the weight held him down. The more he tried to pull himself up, the more the darkness persisted and tried to swallow him whole. He was suffocating. There was no escape.

Suddenly, he found an void within himself that he hadn’t known existed. As he lay choking and gagging on the darkness, realizing the end was near, the void began to be filled. It was something that had been with him since the beginning of time, but only now did he become increasingly aware of an unknown sense of fulfillment and wonder. It wad like a match that had been struck, and the world became visible to him in its light. The darkness was still there, but the light succeeded in blotting it out.

With this newfound strength he finally had the strength to push against the weight of the darkness. He tried, pushed, and clumsily fell down. Still, he persisted, and the light showed him the way. At last his head was able to rise above the darkness that had consumed him. The glow of the moon was there once again where he had left it, and for the first time he saw its truth.

It was faith, hope, and any positive thing he could conceive. As he continued on his way through the dark forest, he was now intent on reaching this light, and making it to the other side of the dense trees. He knew he would stumble and trip once again on his path through life, and many times after. Only now he had the moon to guide him. She was leading him to her, and to her light. She lit the path to her, and the path inside him.