I looked from Bernice to Kate and the others behind her, then back at Bernice again.
"Are you telling me that you traveled all the way from Australia down here just to play this dirty joke on me?"Bernice scrunched up her face. "Australia? When did I go to Australia?" She asked and turned to the others as if asking for them to support her."You left immediately we finished college."She actually reclined at that. "Oh my God, Karla. Did you hit your head somewhere?""What are you trying to say?""No, just.." She placed a palm on her head and shook her head, then looked at me. "You just got accepted into a college!""I was accepted into college seven full years ago!" I yelled back, getting sick and tired of the whole joke. I know they were trying to lighten the mood but this was too much."You have any idea how old you would have been then? Eleven." She said, with an expression that said, as a matter of fact.Kate cracked up and I glared at her."Eleven? Really? I am 25 right now. With a husband who just died yesterday.""A husband?" Bernice looked like she was getting tired of me. "You don't even have a boyfriend for goodness sake! Did you have a nightmare or something? You are scared of becoming a young widow?"She sat close to me and blinked, then touched my forehead. "You are fine. Just maybe sprinkle some water on your face and get a grip." She said and patted my back gently.I deflated. "Are you telling me I am somehow 18 right now? How is that?"Bernice thought about it, then smiled. "Because you celebrated 18 birthdays, blew out 18 candles and lived past 18 october 4ths. I guess."I turned to her, my eyes wide. "Look into my eyes and tell me this is not some sick joke."She cupped my cheeks and leaned forward, looking me straight into my eyes. "This is not a joke. Please get up. We announced your acceptance on the school group chat and they wanted to throw a party. So we have a party to attend. You lucky girl. Everyone wants to please you." She smacked my shoulder as they stood up, chatting excitedly and then walked away, probably to the kitchen.I sat there, feeling a little dazed. 18? That is seven years of my life gone. What are these people saying?Did I...somehow...fall back seven years of my life? Time travel?I turned to the familiar row of books on the small bookshelf. It was mostly science books, and I ran to them, opening the first one I could grab. Nothing.Then only something about the theory of relativity in the second. Then the third had an article. The writer of the article was in the top left corner of the page, and in it, he was talking about how he believes it is fully possible to bend time and pass through, letting yourself in through different horizons, at time either long past, or never experienced. He talked about the existence of the past and the future, just that they were at a different place from the present. Like three different houses, separated from the now. But I wasn't sure if this was not me in one of those far off, distant places, separated from the present. I swallowed. "How on earth did this happen to me?" I thought out loud, pushing my fingers into my hair.To him, time was like an interloping of threads, all related to each other and the ultimate space, and in rare, yet possible cases, it was possible to bend those threads. Threads...threads of time...it rang a bell, but I wasn't sure where I had heard it from. I closed the book and fell on the chair. Time travel? Me? For what? So I can re-live some of the worst years of my life?I held my hair in handfuls and yelled, hoping that if I yelled hard enough, some miracle will take place and take me back to the time I belong. I have already lived past this. This is not my life any more.Bernice came back in, and watched me from the door."Is there something wrong? This is not how I imagined you taking the news of your acceptance into college, especially when you have wanted this ever since. You said you wanted to learn science under Mr. McGregor. We all thought it was foolish since you have never even seen him, but...we are happy for you, so why are you not happy for yourself?" She asked, taking slow steps towards me.Would she even believe me if I told her that we would drift apart and I wasn't just speculating? Or that I got into a loveless marriage and he died?I shook my head. "I guess I have been too in my feelings. So sorry. I am happy."She spread her arms towards me and I embraced her. I have missed her, but this was not how I wanted to meet her again. Not in the past. It felt like we have been apart far longer than those three years, but the memories were in bits and pieces that I didn't have the capacity to put together now."Now, let's get ready." She patted my shoulders. "We have a party to turn up at."She laughed and I gave her a small smile, before she turned and left again.I watched a strange phone ring. Bernice had sat me down after consoling me, then made her way into my closet to find something for me to wear. I was still trying to grasp at the situation, trying to understand why I had come back to this time. Why not any other time? Why not the 1900s? Why did it have to be this exact time in my life?"Won't you pick your phone?"Bernice walked in with two dresses each hanging from a clothes hanger."My..my phone? I don't..use an android." I said. The last time I used an android was during my last year of college."You do, Karla. And It's ringing. Where is your head these days?" She rolled her eyes then brought the phone to me. The caller ID showed dad.My father. I was very close to him, until the news of the marriage. We got into a huge fight that night and it caused a dent in our relationship, one that was not mended by the apologies after. I guess I took it too hard because I depended on him so much. Just for him to give me up as some gift to ce
"L...luke?" His eyes were closed, blood flowing from the side of his face. I shook my head to bring myself back to reality as I wrapped my arms around the upper part of his body and pulled hard, freeing his leg from the crushed car. After getting them out, I straightened, trying to calm my nerves. My hands shook uncontrollably as I tried to analyze the situation in front of me.What should I do now? What does someone have to do when they witness an accident? I stepped away from Luke's body and felt around for my bag. I got my phone and called for an ambulance.It took roughly twenty minutes, and I got in with them after saying I was a family friend. They had started resuscitating Luke and putting an oxygen mask over him, but the older, weirdly extremely familiar man was completely still. It scared me to my bones.I don't remember seeing this accident back then, the first time I was 18 years old. So why and how was I seeing it now? What does this even mean for me? I was sure this w
Luke had his head buried in the crook of my neck, and for a second I forgot all the pieces I had been trying to put together. I had been trying to think about just why I was brought back here, to see him from this perspective, and this...it just made me forget."My dad....my dad." He just kept saying into my neck, his breath fanning my skin. I slowly put my arms around him as he pulled himself closer to me. I understood just how much he needed someone right now. To be there for him. Strangely, I found myself willing."I am sorry, Luke." I managed to say as I patted his back. "I am so sorry."Something in me told me I wasn't just apologizing for this one thing, but I kicked the notion away.He released me slowly, and when he looked at me, his eyes were slightly swollen from crying so much. I didn't even know this was how he looked when he was less than calm and collected. I didn't know this was how he looked when he was devastated."I want to go home..." He said to me, his voice bre
The feeling of his eyes on me was electrifying, and I looked down at my feet."So uhm..." I said, and cleared my throat. Being 18 years old made me a lot shyer, and to an extent, I was feeling so much more than I used to. It was like as I grew, I lost the part of myself that felt, and it was a little dizzying to find it again.I had become cold and hard, and maybe...maybe this was the best version of me."I will go back home. And I will make sure to thank you properly.""Thank me properly?""I hope we meet again." He was extremely gentle and shy, and he has a one sided dimple that gave him the pure, innocent look.I nodded absent mindedly and watched his back as he left.It was an especially cold morning, and he was only wearing the hospital wear. I found myself running to my closet. It had all the old clothes, the clothes I used to wear as an 18 year old jolly girl.I checked them for a jacket, and I found only one black one. It was the only dark colored piece of clothing I had and
"You didn't have to do this." I said, lightly kicking the umbrella away as I moved closer. He shrugged. "Made me feel like I was still with dad. It's hard to come to terms with the fact that he won't ever be around."I stopped checking the cookies out and looked at him. He didn't let me comfort him however, as he cracked a smile. "I guess I at least learned to bake." He laughed and transferred the batch to a glass bowl."So how did you get so much flour all over you?""I just wanted to make chocolate chip cookies for the next batch." He said with small laughs punctuating his words."And you made a human cookie instead." I laughed as I said it, and it satisfied me that he found it funny too."You know, my dad and I...explored cooking all the time. I hate to say it, but I was into stuff like that. I still am, but not with the same vigour." He said, as he dusted himself off."So..how did you develop a liking for cooking?"I sat on the kitchen island, watching him talk. Maybe he found
I suddenly lost appetite, as the scene of my first introduction to Luke, 7 years into the future floated behind my eyes, causing me to hear his mother's voice ring in my ears."We have maintained very close friendship with your family, Karla. In fact, your father is the only best friend that my late husband had and acknowledged. Other times, he had his nose buried in science books..."I shook my head and closed my eyes tightly, then opened them again."Are you fine?""It must have been so hard, Luke." I said again, trying hard to swallow the lump that was growing in my throat.He must have thought I was disgusting. He must have thought I was like my father. Or when he looked at me, he saw his late father's pain. I didn't do any of it, in fact, I didn't know, but...he wouldn't know that. I wouldn't even care if I was in his shoes."It gets better." He said, then pushed the bowl of cookies to me. "Do you not like it?""I do. Thanks." But I couldn't help that I had lost my appetite. My
I stopped for a while, just looking at the parcel. It felt like I was looking at Luke's disappointed eyes all over again. He had looked so disgusted. He must have thought I planned it all. Meeting him, helping him. He must have have seen me as an even worse person.I picked the parcel, but then thought of looking around to see if he would be around. He wasn't.I went back home and dropped the parcel right next to the cookies from yesterday. Maybe this travel back in time isn't working out well. Maybe I should have stayed ignorant. That way, with time, he will learn to let it go.Now...he never will be able to.I picked up my phone, but there was no one to call. My dad was the last person I wanted to hear from, and I am not sure I wanted to hear from my mum too. I didn't want to talk to Bernice or anyone. The only person I wanted to talk to was Luke. But I didn't even have his number. I sighed. Even if I did, I am sure he wouldn't pick up.I lay my head on the table, supporting it with
I felt light, like some burden was lifted off my shoulder. This was why Luke's father had brought me back here. Because I had to understand Luke. I had to see him from a perspective that wasn't biased, and now that I did, I made me feel like I had wronged him all through till the time he died. He didn't deserve his wife not shedding a single tear for him.Wait. I looked down at my shadow as I stood just outside, my heart beat picking up pace. The shadows were still two, complete with the silhouette of my hair and my sling back. I gulped.Did I have to go back? Does that mean I could only visit here and not actually stay?I watched the shadows again. They looked closer than the first time I had seen it. Was it some sort of time ticking? Was it the amount of time I had to go back that was passing by?I braced myself and walked in, but instead of attending classes and getting settled, I found myself walking straight to the library. I need more insight on the time travel machine Mr. McG