A Timeless Journey (28 page)

“Goodbye perfect world, goodbye Luna, goodbye Sky, I will always love you,” I whispered, half aloud, as the decision to go through the anomaly crystallised in my head. 

I just couldn’t risk losing my baby girl. There was no room for selfishness at that moment. With Sky in my mind, I rushed towards the anomaly and as I looked back, maybe for one last time at a world that I had learned to love and admire, I went through the spiral white fog and disappeared into what I was hoping to be the same parallel reality where I came from and not some other alternative universe.

36

The bright colourful lights of the modern Laguna City disappeared as I entered the fog and the darkness of the inhabited beach blinded my eyesight. I looked frantically around in desperation to see the skyscrapers again, but there were only some weak yellowish lights far away in the distance to my left. My phone vibrated in my pocket. No matter how curious I was to check when and where I had landed, I didn’t have the courage to pick my phone up. The shock for being back in this dark and primitive place hit me hard and I just couldn’t shake off the thought that I might never see Luna and Sky again.

The anomaly disappeared just like the smoke of a cigarette disappears up in the air and with it, the hope to return in the 26
th
century. I threw myself on the sand with my soul crushed from the pain. The sadness I felt at that very moment is impossible to be described in words. I had this emptiness inside me and strangely, I felt lost in the world I was supposed to belong. I looked around in fear and I never felt as insecure about my life as I felt at that moment.

What was I going to do in this dark and dull reality after seeing and living in the bright and advanced future for two years?

It took me awhile until I gathered myself and started to wonder if I had arrived back at the right timeline as written by me in the novel. Slowly, with my hand shaking, I dug my phone out of my pocket and curiously looked at the time and date. I had arrived at the same time and on the same day as when I had left this place two years ago, on 18 of June 2012 and the time was 3.15am.

I suddenly froze when I realised this might be the same anomaly. If I had returned to the same old reality, where was the other me who was supposed to go through to the other side? If this was indeed the same anomaly as from two years ago, how was it possible that going in the opposite direction from the future to the past, brought with it a gap of exactly two years? I was unable to explain why I didn’t end up in 2574 the first time around when I crossed this anomaly.

I didn’t notice the other me going through the anomaly on both sides. It made me wonder if no other version of me had gone through the anomaly and I had been an exception. If this was true, I should have stayed in the future and enjoyed life with my new family instead of taking this unnecessary risk. There could have been also the possibility that I had entered the anomaly in the same time as the other me in, both travelling across simultaneously, but in the opposite directions. The risk of clashing with the other me might explain why there was a gap of two hours going and two years returning.

If the other version of me had travelled the opposite direction the same time, it meant everything that had happened to me in the last two years was going to be repeated, or was it? I wasn’t sure anymore if the other version of me was going to have the exact same experience as I did and I wasn’t sure what happens when he, if I can call myself ‘he’, returned to this reality.

The only logical explanation would be an infinite time loop, repeated over and over again in three exact timelines; 18
th
of June in 2012, 2572 and 2574. If this was correct, there was no hope for the anomaly to appear again in a near future.  

My mind kept going over and over the path I had chosen and the paths I had missed. On top of this intensive thinking was the stress of losing Luna and Sky. My mind felt overwhelmed by confusion and my head started to hurt due to overthinking about the infinite possibilities of what might or might not have happened.

At some point that day, I had to face Sophie and tell her where I had been the last two years. All I could think at the time was Luna and I rather laid down in the sand and sleep, than add more stress. I had been awake for many hours by then and the idea of sleeping on the sand for a few hours before I faced Sophie and my friends, started to sound appealing.

Luna’s face lit up when she saw me standing in the middle of the living space with a gentle smile that loudly shouted, “I’m back, I’m back”. She jumped up and down clapping her hands with joy before she started to cover me with kisses.

“I can believe you are back here. You made it, you made it.”

“Yeah, apparently I did,” I answered confused by the strange turn of events.

I had no memory of returning to the 26
th
century. The last thing I remembered was sitting on the sand. I spoke again in an unsure tone of voice.

“I don’t remember anything. How did I end up here?”

“I don’t care how, only how important it is that you are here with us now.”

“How long have I been gone? Where is Sky?” I asked in one breath, as a fire started to spread inside my chest.

“You only went for a few hours. What counts is that you’re back and we are still here. Our future has not been affected. Go on, go and see your daughter.”

Sky’s cot floated in the corner of the restroom. With my legs trembling, slowly walked towards her. Happy to see my daughter again, I stretched my arms to pick up my baby, but in a flash, she disappeared in front of my eyes together with the cot. Captured by panic, I turned towards Luna shouting.

“Where did she go? What is happening to us Luna?”

“I have no explanation, she was h…”

Before she had a chance to finish her sentence, Luna disappeared in front of me the same way Sky had. Feeling horrified for what I was witnessing, I started to scream my lungs out.

“Noooooo, please come back. Help, someone help me please. Luna, Sky, where are you?”

I fell on my knees defeated and started to weep as I looked desperately around in hope of seeing them appear again in front of me, to no avail. Helplessly, I let every hope go and threw myself on the floor, face down. I closed my eyes and tried to release another desperate cry but strangely, the sand covered my mouth and I was unable to scream.

When I opened my eyes again, the daylight had taken over the surroundings. I found myself laid on the beach. I looked around to see I was still in the 21
st
century. Although everything felt real, I realised the disappearance of Luna and Sky had been just a dream.

I brushed the sand off my mouth and face, stood up and question myself if I really wanted to find out if I had landed in the correct parallel reality. I looked in the direction of the resort and checked my phone. It was a quarter to eight, which meant I had slept for over four hours on the beach.

Sophie would have woken up by that time, wondering where I was. I had no desire to face her again after the strong feelings I had developed for Luna in the past two years. It would have been easier for me if I did return two years later rather than not more than a few hours. Unlike me who had spent two years away, only a few hours had passed for my friends. As far as they were concerned, they had gone to sleep in the evening and awoke as normal the next morning, whilst for me, two whole years had passed and a lot of things had happened in my life since. The huge difference in time and the different perception of time between them and me was going to be very hard to explain, if I decided to tell them where I had been.

Dragging my feet slowly on the sand, I pushed my body forward while the uncertainty of being in a different parallel reality started to crystallise in my mind.

What happens if I find another version of myself in the hotel room?

How am I going to explain my presence?

What happens if I have indeed travelled to an alternate universe?

Do I get another chance to travel in the right parallel reality, or would I be stuck in the wrong one forever?

I had only one way to find out. Walk to the resort and get as close as I possibly could to the hotel room and investigate if some other version of me was in the room. Once I established I had travelled to the right timeline, I had the hard task of facing Sophie and explaining to her why I had fallen out of love with her.

Although I knew the impending outcome of my story, including the same doubts I was experiencing, I wasn’t sure if I had landed in the right parallel reality. There was always the possibility that the future may occur differently every time after each event. To cast each of my doubts away, I had to wait for the events to fold in the same way as I had read in the novel.

The two storied building, where our hotel room was, appeared ahead. Our room was in the upper floor and the only way to check it was by listening behind the door. I was about to find out if I had travelled to the right timeline. Looking carefully around with the hope of not being seen, I made my way upstairs to the hotel room. Itching to know if there was another version of me in the room, I put my ear on the door. It sounded quiet inside and I couldn’t tell if Sophie was alone in there or we were both asleep. I had to presume Sophie was alone, and just to be careful, I knocked on the door instead of simply turning the door handle and walking in the room unannounced.

“Scott, is that you?”

Sophie’s voice made the fears of facing her apparent. In a way, I felt relieved that there wasn’t another Scott in the room and yet, my voice shook by uncertainty as I answered back.

“Yeah, it’s me, open up.”

“Where is your key card?”

“I forgot it inside.” I answered mechanically, as I realised I had indeed forgot the key card when I left two years ago.

Sophie opened the door, but her initial momentum became paralysed after she’d had a good look at me.

“Where have you been? I woke up and you weren’t in bed.”

“I went for a walk and something happened. I will tell you everything.”

“Why do you look different?”

“What do you mean, I look different?” I was aware my appearance had changed and I only questioned her to gain some time to gather my thoughts.

“As in different hair style, your skin is less toned than it was yesterday and there is something about you which I can’t explain. There is this look in your eyes. Where have you been all night?”

Sophie’s curiosity was fast turning into anger. She could feel there was something wrong.

“Um, look! I will explain everything but first I need to get in the steamer… I mean shower, right?”

“Steamer, really? What does that even mean? Are you drunk?” She fired question upon question, annoyed by the mysterious and distant way I was behaving.

“It’s a long story! I promise everything will make sense when I explain what happened to me later.”

Sophie put her hands on her hips. She was convinced something wasn’t right.

“Explain what?” She demanded.

“Explain where I have been and what I have done.” I replied and rushed past her towards the bathroom.

So far, the events were happening just as I had described in the novel. I took the shower break to consider if I really wanted to tell her the truth, this time. I knew Sophie would never believe my story, not until she saw the mind scrambler. Regardless of the pain I was about to inflict on her, I had to be honest and tell the truth. The truth was the least she deserved. Hopefully one day she will be able to understand, after she forgot about me and dealt with the pain and the anger.

In the meantime, I was aware telling Sophie the truth was going to have one major downside, according to the novel. We had another eleven days to spend in this resort. Remembering what I had read in the future novel, I wasn’t looking forward to being on my own for the remainder of the holidays.

The primitive shower reminded me where I had been and what I had left behind while in the future. Slowly, the underdeveloped world was reappearing in front of me with its forgotten grey ugliness. For the first time in two years, I had to dry myself with an actual towel. It felt weird.

I put on a pair of fresh shorts and sat on the bed, ready to explain to Sophie where I had been for the last two years of my life. I was about to send her world crashing. Before I had a chance to speak, Sophie noticed my hairless body.

“Where have you been? When did you get rid of your body hair? Last night when you went to bed you had hair and this morning none! What happened last night Scott?”

“I am about to tell you everything. Please sit!”

“I prefer to stand. Go on, tell me!”

“First, you have to promise not to interrupt me no matter how impossible and bizarre my story may sound.”

“I will promise nothing. I want to know where you have been and how can you change appearance overnight.” She replied with a slightly hostile tone of voice.

“Not where I’ve been, but when I’ve been.” I said, trying to get her full attention.

Considering my distant behaviour since I walked into the room and my strange comment, Sophie looked at me as if I had lost my mind. She brought her eyebrows together and asked emphasising the word ‘when’.

“WHEN you’ve been? I don’t understand.”

“There will be a lot of things you will find hard to understand, or believe for that matter. This is why I need you to listen carefully the entire story without interrupting me.”

“From the look on your face, I have a feeling I am not going to like what you are about to tell me. Let’s have it.”

Sophie crossed her arms on her chest and took a hostile pose.

I started to tell her everything that happened to me from the moment I crossed to the future to the moment I returned and indeed, she never interrupted me.