2562 - Precious Time by uofantastic
Summary:

Ava travels back in time to keep someone from the past from making a descision that ultimately ruined the future. The only problem is, when she returns back in time her memory turns into swiss cheese. Ultimately, she forgets why she has traveled back in time. 


Categories: Original Fiction Characters: None
Classification: None
Genre: Romance, Science Fiction
Story Status: Active
Pairings: None
Warnings: Original Characters, Sexual Content , Work in Progress
Challenges: None
Series: None
Chapters: 8 Completed: No Word count: 9197 Read: 23048 Published: June 22 2015 Updated: June 26 2015

1. Prolouge by uofantastic

2. Chapter 1 by uofantastic

3. Chapter 2 by uofantastic

4. Chapter 3 by uofantastic

5. Chapter 4 by uofantastic

6. Chapter 5 by uofantastic

7. Chapter 6 by uofantastic

8. Cast by uofantastic

Prolouge by uofantastic

My life was in pieces before I met her


2562.

 

The Professor adjusted his bifocals as he programmed the finishing touches to his machine. His apprentice peaked from over his shoulder barely able to contain her  excitement. It had been going on three years since she had been asked by the professor to assist him with a secret project that was bound to change history. Long before Ava had become apart of the picture the professor had been creating his machine which would travel time.


For Ava everything had come together sooner than expected. While she helped the professor for  the past three years in any way possible, she had little to do with his progress. The professor needed someone to travel time, and that was all she agreed to do.


“Are you ready?” The professor asked.


She had heard many things around campus about Professor Schulz. For any student who had the pleasure of taking a course in computer programming, he taught the class that was almost impossible to pass.  For everyone else he was a lunatic, who possibly spent a few years in a crazy asylum before taking his position as a college professor.  Ava would call his personality “vibrant” more than anything else, but she knew everyone else just thought he was insane. And Ava clearly understood why because three years ago when Professor Schulz approached her to help with his research she thought, like everyone else, he was.


He kept his thinning curly grey hair in a wild bush, and at every lecture he wore a bright neon green tie covered in pictures of old computer monitors. Not only that, but his bifocals were archaic in appearance and while no one discredited Schulz for his vast knowledge in computers and their programming; no one understood how he could be so excited during lecture talking about hardware and binary code.


“I’m as ready as I ever could be.”


She watched him mess with some buttons on the machine. She still could not believe the speed of everything. Ava always had respected Schulz, but now she looked to him as her mentor and fatherly figure. That crazy man had saw her drive and vision before she had acknowledged it herself. She had been no standout student in his class. Never visited him during his office hours, and it was seldom she answered his questions during lecture, (but then again he never really asked many questions). That is why it was a surprise when he approached her after lecture to ask to be his assistant. In a hall of over a hundred students, how did he even know she existed?


“You have a brilliant mind! Did you know some of your assignments helped me build my machine?” Is what he had said in the midst of feverous programming.


It was when she was patiently waiting for Schulz that Ava had realized she had not even said goodbye to her family. The professor had said that one month in the past is like one day in the present, and apart from the ankle brace and some money from the past, she was pretty much empty handed.

 

“Well”, Ava thought to herself.

 

She marched over to the spot in the center of the machine that would manage to travel her back in time. It was too late now. All she could do was pray that by the first half of her day in the past, her mother hadn’t called the authorities. She looked over at the professor and told him she was ready.

 

“I only gave you a month, so please don’t take any longer.” The Professor looked extremely worried.

 

“No problem! And do you mind calling my mom?” The professor let a laugh escape his tense lips.

 

“Tell her anything! I don’t know; I lost my phone, something believable.”  I pleaded.   

 

“Yeah, yeah, yeah” he dismissed with a wave of his hand.

 

“Don’t lose the brace, and remember don’t forget why you're there.”  Ava was done with the professors ranting. She just needed him to press the go button. She waited patiently and in her head listed all the things she would need to remember when she arrived in the past.

 

“Okay” he said to himself as he typed in the last thing. He signaled his hand off and began counting down from three.  Ava’s adrenaline was making her heart race rapidly, and for a second she wanted to scream ‘wait!’


Of course she was far too excited to say such a thing. Instead she clenched her fist and wished for the best.

 

Once the professor had pressed the button to start the machine Ava gave him a small wave. Then she proceeded to let her body be taken by the machine. It felt like she was being pulled down by a thousand tons, but in reality the machine was breaking down her body into individual molecules. Quickly her body vanished.

 

“Time to call her mother,” The professor groaned.

Chapter 1 by uofantastic

“Let’s Break-up.”

 

Her words had left me dumbfounded. I had driven all the way down to her place to take her to some swanky restaurant downtown. It was one of those places that you only heard about through word of mouth, and could only afford on a special occasion.

 

Tonight, the special occasion was Kat’s birthday.   

 

“Break-up?”  I questioned.  I took a glance down at the dozen red roses I had bought on the way to her place. She probably had no idea I had them since she had her front door cracked between us just enough for her head to peek through.

 

“But these are for you?” I pushed the roses up into her face.

 

“Keep them” she ordered as she pushed them right back in mine.

 

“I don’t understand, do you hate the surprise?”  

 

“Yea,” she was curt and looked highly irritated.


Two weeks ago she said I shouldn’t worry about her birthday. And then I thought it was her way of being humble.


“Look Julian, I really like you and everything. We just aren’t working anymore so let’s just call it quits. No hard feelings right-“

 

“Kat, who’s that?” A deep baritone voice interjected from behind the door.

 

“Yo, Kat are you forreal right now!”  I said in a rage, but discreet enough for only her to hear.  I practically punched myself for reacting as if I had stepped on some other man’s toes.

 

“No one! Thanks Julian, but let’s just end it here”, she said in a rush closing the door in my face, but I placed my foot between the door before she could. She stared at me as if a mutant was chilling on my head.  We stood in that position for a good 30 seconds, and I thought of all the twisted shit I should say but I just didn’t have the balls to.

 

“Are you going to move your foot?” She crossed her arms with impatience. I looked down at my foot then moved it from between the door. Standing there like a fool with roses in my hand, she shut the door without giving us a second thought.

 

So much for dinner.

 

I went back to the car and tossed the roses into the back seat. If I hadn’t already made a fool of myself I would have had the courage to go back there and beat that guy's ass. I would have even lied to Kat’s face and told her,

 

"Don't worry there were other girls too." So she would think there were no real hurt feelings. And he would understand that I never let him slide for the shit he pulled at the door.


“He knew I was there,” I muttered to myself bitterly.

 

The radio was on when I started the car and I let it play some sappy eighties song which managed to worsen my mood. The thunder roared, and poured down from the sky. It was almost impossible to see the road ahead.


If I managed to crash that night, it was all Kat’s fault.

 

By the time I pulled up in front of my crib the rain slowed down to a drizzle. In the distant The thunder and lightning could still be heard. I stared back at the roses I had tossed into the back seat. Sucking my teeth i snatched them up in my left hand and my house keys in my right.


I walked briskly through the foggy rain, and continued to curse under my breath. The fog in the air was so thick, that at even three feet away, I was unable to see my townhome. My eyes were on my ring of keys while I flipped through them in the darkness for the one to my house.

 

That is why when my foot bumped her body at my doorstep I was taken by surprise. the shock didn’t arrive immediately. It was so dark I couldn’t really see her at first. I tried to pick her up like a UPS package, but when my hands touched warm flesh it repulsed back in horror. I squatted down to my knees and looked at her more closely.

 

Her clothes were soaked from the rain as she laid at the bottom of the steps in the fetal position. The bangs of her childishly bobbed brunette hair stuck to her face, and if I hadn’t felt for the rise and fall of her chest I would have thought she was dead. I picked her up and carried her back. She was a little heavy, but luckily she was in front of my door.

 

As I held her in my arms I could feel her body burning. She had on some funky neon purple racerback spandex top with these metallic looking shorts and bare feet in the middle of February.


Maybe she locked herself out the house? The brace she wore on her foot stood out like a sore thumb. I’m sure i would recognize a person on house arrest if they were living on my block.


 I rushed her over to the living room sofa, and laid her out across it.The rise and fall of her chest placed me in a trance. If not for the ankle bracelet, I would not have labeled her as any kind of criminal. I only hoped that whatever she did had nothing to do with stealing. Not that I had anything worth taking in here.


Her face was flushed, and I had already done the basic things like feel her forehead with the back of my palm. in order to only reaffirmed what I had already knew.


she was burning up.


I needed some help fast. This girl had been the icing on my shitty cake, and i needed help for my sanity more than anything else at the moment.


I called Sora, the only girl who got me apart from my mother. Plus she was a nurse and knew a thing or two about bringing down a fever.


“Who’s sick?” She asked through the phone.


“Uh-,” I thought of something to say other than the truth. Which was strange, because I never lied to Sora. Maybe I l lied about how much I love her homemade pies, but never a flat out lie like this one.  


"Kat” I said. Kat being the only believable lie I could think of.

 

“Kat has to be one the luckiest girls to have her boyfriend take care of her when she is sick. When are you guys getting married?” Sora teased.

 

“Stop playing, it’s not even that serious.” I forced myself to chuckle.


"Just tell me how to get this fever down." I quickly changed topics


Once she instructed me on what I needed to do, I rushed her off the line. I ran around the house grabbing blankets and some clothes. I had grabbed an old shirt and some shorts that kat had left behind. I didn't have a thermometer or anything like that, so I planned to run to cvs the next morning and get stuff like that.


When i was done running around my three bedroom room townhome I stood over the sleeping induced female; deciding what the least harmful approach to undressing her would be.


Close my eyes?


Look away?

 

I squinted my eyes and quickly slipped off her weird spandex top. One by one I removed each article of her clothing until she was bare. I took a second to look at the band on her right ankle. It looked like a house arrest bracelet except for the fact that the band was a shiny silver. When I was finished being distracted by the band on her ankle I dressed her in kat's old clothes, then laid a blanket over her, and put a damp cloth over her forehead.

 

I expected her to instantly wake up after going over the whole process. Instead she was still in a peaceful slumber, and it didn’t look like she would be waking up soon. I sat back in the love seat, and looked off into the bare walls of my living room.

 

Now what?

 

I looked down at her wet clothes that sat at the corner of the sofa. I reached over and grabbed them. Shaking and patting at each article of clothing I tried to find some type of wallet, or anything that could give me a clue to her identity.

 

nothing

 

Apart from a wad of bills stuffed in her pocket there was nothing. I began to pace the floor because I knew I could not do anything until she woke up.

 

I was so caught up trying to figure out how a strange women could end up on my doorstep, it helped me to forget that my girlfriend of three years was probably sleeping with some other guy currently. So much I allowed my eyes to get heavy and drift into the same slumber that had taken the girl laying on the couch next to me.

Chapter 2 by uofantastic

When I woke I instantly felt my neck tighten as I gradually lifted it from the couches head rest. I was still in the same clothes from yesterday, and I hadn’t bothered to get up in the middle of the night.

 

“Hey, you awake?” I rubbed the sleep from my eye then looked at the girl from last. Her eyes were open and she laid upright  looking off into the dining room where the  withering roses I had threw on the table from last night laid shriveled.

 

“I can explain why you’re laying on my couch, if you can tell me what you were doing on my doorstep last night? ” She looked at me in confusion for a moment, then continued to stare at something that caught her interest more than me.

 

“Okay. You don’t remember.”

 

“Do you have anyone you can call? Mom, dad, brother, sister, uncle, aunt? Someone’s got to be worried about you.” I ranted uncomfortably. Her response to it all was a simple shake of her head.

 

“Okay. You don’t remember, anything.”

 

I ran my hand over my low fade that had grown enough for the short loose curls to form on the top of my head. I was due for a cut, but I just couldn’t find the time.

 

“So, I think i’m going to have to call the -”

 

“Where is the Professor?” She interjected in a panic. She tried to lift herself up , but fell back instead. She sighed in pain as she rolled over hiding her face in the sofa. I remember what Sora had told me earlier about aches and pains.

 

“Hold on let me get you some Tylenol.” I ran to the medicine cabinet. I grabbed the bottle and dispensed the last two tablets from the jar into my hand.

 

I went over to the kitchen and ran some tap water into a mug that Kat had brought for me two Birthday’s ago, my twenty first. It read “Hangover Medicine” in bold yellow lettering with a thin outline of black.  It had been the first birthday I spent with her, and she had been extra excited to give me her gift.

 

“I know you’ll love it!” she squealed while prancing up and down in my living room. Her hands were pressed behind her back.  Julian’s roommates sat with him, at the time, at the kitchen table eating take-out. They looked unamused by Kat’s antics. Back then his roommates couldn’t stand Kat, and she was ultimately the reason that two years later they moved out.

 

Julian casually walked over to kat and grabbed her giving her a light peck on her lips, “What is it?”.

 

Excitedly, she held a small box wrapped in bright red wrapping paper that read ‘happy birthday’ all over it with confetti. He unwrapped it patiently to see the mug. Julian looked from the mug to Kat who still had her enticing smile on her face.

 

“Thanks Babe.” I kissed her again giving her a quick hug.

 

“I knew you’d love it!” She smiled.

 

“Here take two”, I handed her the cup of water and some pills. She examined it for a second then downed it.

 

“Feeling better?” I asked. She nodded with a soft smile.

 

“That’s Good. So do you have anyone I call yet? I have work in like two hours.” She looked at me with a furrowed brow then shook her head.

 

“Well I can’t leave you here.” I said more to myself than I did to her.  I pulled the ottoman up to the sofa and took a seat leaning in close to her.

 

“What’s your name?” I quizzed.

 

“Ava” She replied with little thought.  

 

“Okay, When’s your Birthday?” At least knowing her name meant we were getting somewhere.

 

“March 3, 2539” She said with confidence. The next question I’d plan to ask quickly escaped my mind. I studied her face for what felt like an eternity to see if I could find a crack of a smile on her lips or a slither of a playful glint with in her eyes.

 

Did she just say she was born five hundred and twenty-five years from now? Because the more I stared the more serious she appeared.

 

“What year is this?”

 

“2562.” She replied immediately.

 

+

 

“Why are you looking at me like that?” Ava asked quietly. But Julian still didn’t say anything, and it started to make her worry.

 

“I’ve only been asleep since last night right?”

 

Julian only nodded.

 

“So then why are you looking at me like that!?” She shouted.

 

Julian jumped back surprised by her outburst, “It’s 2013.

 

“What, 2013?” Ava thought Julian was a nut case.

 

But it did start to explain a lot. Why he had such archaic technology in his room. Like the odd monitor set in his living space, and the other odd ends in his  space where Ava presumed he ate. What surprised her  the most though was the vibrant red plant that laid on his table freely. She had never seen such a thing in the flesh. It is all what made her believe in fact that she wasn’t in 2562.

 

And let her not forget to mention the extremely strange choice of outfit that Julian had. Ava found it impossible to explain what he was wearing, but she remember seeing them in her history textbooks. She now wished she had paid a little more attention in that class back in prepatory school.

 

Either he really enjoyed the 2000s period or she had managed to end up in 2013, which these days was not hard to believe.

 

Julian pulled Ava out of her train of thought. “I really don’t want to leave you here right now, but I also really can’t afford to miss work today.”

Chapter 3 by uofantastic
Author's Notes:

 

She must have hit her head last night too.

 

That was the only conclusion I could make as I sorted through files at work.  My job at a small law firm was nothing to make noise about. I organized some files, and followed the head lawyer of the firm to some of his cases. Truthfully, I wasn’t a ‘lawyer’. But for my parents own bragging rights I was.

 

“Hey, you going to happy hour?” another worker from the firm asked as he peaked his head into the door.

 

“Can’t,” I sighed. “I’m actually getting ready to head out. Do you mind telling the others I had to leave early?”

 

“ You can count on it, I’ll catch you tomorrow.” on that note he left me alone. Not for long though, I left a few minutes after that.

 

I called Sora over to my place, and I couldn’t leave her waiting. She was terribly impatient, and did not like anyone wasting her time. I had not planned on telling her about Ava, but she had convinced me that Sora’s medical attention was needed.

 

I had beat Sora back, and I was glad to find Ava sleeping with all my things in the places I had left them earlier.  It wasn’t surprising since I had drugged Ava up on all those painkillers to keep her from doing anything criminal while I was gone. The look on her face was peaceful, and I didn’t dare disturb her. I switched out of my work clothes for a plain white shirt and some dark blue denim jeans, and by the time I had settled I heard the doorbell ring.

 

“ I should have known that you wouldn’t be able to handle it. Where is Cat?” Sora bursted through the door without a greeting. This was typical Sora behavior, so I wasn’t too bothered.

 

“About that-” I said as I followed behind Sora. Somehow on the phone I had failed to mention Ava, and refute my lie about Kat having the flu.She roamed around the house, and finally spotted Ava on the couch.

 

“Why is Cat three shades darker?” Sora asked as she eyed Ava’s sleeping body. I ran my left hand over my hair, and prepared myself for the story I was about to unleash on Sora. She looked back at me dead on, anxiously anticipating my explanation.

 

“What had happened was...”


+


“Julian, why haven’t you reported this!” Sora was speaking to me, but her eyes were on Ava as she circled around the sofa.

 

“I was going to, but-”

 

“But what?!”  Sora countered. I was about to give her my reasoning, but we were both interrupted by the sound of Ava stirring in her sleep.

 

She was awake.

 

Sora immediately ran to her side, and kneeled before her. “How do you feel?” She asked. The tone of her voice had done a three sixty from grueling to soft and caring. It was a tone that I was only familiar with when Sora was talking to a patient. She felt her cheek and forehead and nodded her head in approval without saying a word. “Do you remember how you got here?” she asked almost innocently.

 

“I was with the professor,” She spoke slowly.

 

 

“Then I woke up here”.  She looked around the room, and her eyes fell on the roses with intrigue once again.

 

“Where is your professor.” Sora asked.

 

Ava looked out the window in the back of the living room. It was pitch black outside, so there was really nothing to look at.  

 

“He should be on the MIT campus right now.” she said gazing back at Sora and I.

 

“The last place I remember being was in a lab with him on campus.” She sat up as her memory began to overwhelm her.

 

“I just don’t remember what I was doing in there with him.” she said flustered.

 

Sora and I looked at one another debating on who would break the news to her.

 

“Go on”, I could see her practically demanding with her eyes. I cleared my throat and took a good look at Ava.

 

“Ava, you're in Maryland right now.” I could feel Sora affirming my words with the nodding of her head from behind my back.

 

“That’s impossible”,  She looked around astonished.

 

Sora couldn’t take it any longer “I’m calling the police,” she said.

 

Sora grabbed her iphone and just before she could enter her passcode Ava cried, “You can’t!”

 

Both of our attention was back on her. “Just give me some time, some time to remember”.

 

“I don’t think-” Sora began.

 

“Fine.” I cut her off before she could finish. She looked at me her face screwing up.

 

“What are you doing! You can’t keep an amnesiac you found at your doorstep in your home!” Sora was beyond disbelief.

 

“And I can’t turn her in either”, I ended the conversation at that.

 

“I hope you know what you’ve gotten yourself into”, Sora mumbled to herself. I acted like I hadn’t heard her, but I knew she was right.

 

Sora was always right.


+


Sora looked over my shoulder at Ava then whispered to me “Have you told Cat?”

 

“No.” Sora and I were only standing a few feet away from her in the kitchen. Sora had pulled me there in an attempt to talk some sense into me.

 

“Well, what do you expect her to do when she finds out there’s some women staying in your home?” She shouted barely above a whisper.

 

“She’ll be fine, Do you think I can get your help though?” without being too obvious I diverted the conversation away from Cat. I still hadn’t told Sora we had called it quits.

 

“Help!? Julian I’m calling the-”, just as she tried to walk away I pulled her back by the arm.

 

“ You’re either going to help, or you're not.” I said frankly.

 

“The hell is that! Are you giving me some type of ultimatum?” Sora cocked her hip out as she placed her right hand on it.

 

“Julian, she thinks it is 2562!”

 

“I know!

 

“For all I know, you're not right in the head either. How could you go to work and leave some strange women in your house!” Sora was no longer whispering, but yelling. She took a moment to close her eyes taking one long breath in then a slow one out. Then calmly she said,

 

“This is not a conversation, were not a having a dialogue.” She drew out her words, and waved her hand between the space that sat between us with an over emphasis of her shoulders.

 

“Were taking her to the emergency room, then I am calling the police.” In a motherly fashion she nodded her head up and down as she slowly drew out the word “police”.  I willingly gave into Sora with no further argument. From across the room I peeked over at the questionable woman, (Ava if i remembered correctly), sitting tense in my love sit. She idly thumbed around with her fingers occasionally taking her bottom lip between her teeth.

 

“Hey.” I called to her. Her eyes looked up  from her hand with wide irises. She had been startled by the sound of my voice.

 

“Were going to take you to the hospital. My girlfriend left some clothes behind. I think you should fit some....” My words trailed off and I wandered off into my room.

Chapter 4 by uofantastic

“She no longer has a fever, and I can’t find any signs of brain trauma in her scans. Far as I can tell she is physically healthy. I would say she has physiological induced amnesia .” her head shook along with her politely empathetic tone.


Sora and I thanked the doctor and in return she wished us the best. Sora had called the police a while ago and now we were waiting for them to arrive. We had already sat in the emergency room’s waiting area for three and half hours.


“Here comes the police” Sora said to me in a low tone. She nodded her head  over the reception desk where an older nurse was talking to a man and a women who weren’t dressed in uniform but were flashing their badges at her. After the nurses leaned over the table and closely examined the badges, she pointed to the room where Ava had been staying.  Then she pointed her hand over to Sora and I. Both our eyes met with the officers and they proceeded to approach us.


the female officer was the first to greet us, “Hello, officer Suarez. You called about a possible missing person?”


“Yes.” Sora jumped up, interjecting before I could get a word in.


“He found her passed out in front of his home with a fever last night. The Doctor told us she may have emotionally induced amnesia, but she is not showing any signs of amnesia. She does think it’s the year 2562 instead of 2013. She did say she remembers being with her Professor at MIT also.”


The Officer looked at me then asked, “Is that true? Um, -”


“Julian, and yea that’s what happened.” I cleared my throat as I let the words escape my lips. Though I  hadn’t done anything wrong I felt my stomach flutter with nerves. In order to show some confidence in the face of the officers I let my chest puff up slightly.


“Did she tell you the professor’s name?”  The male officer pulled a notepad from his coat pocket.


“No.” Sora and I both chimed at the same time.   


“Did she say anything else?” the male officer continued to question. Sora and I both firmly shook our head back and forth. The other took a moment to finish jotting down his notes.


“alright,” He drawled out.


“We’re going to ask her some questions.”  


Sora stood beside me with her arms crossed tightly across her chest. I nodded my head and watched the officer stuff his notepad into his back pocket then walk off into the direction of Ava’s room.


“Whooo,” Sora sighed once the police had reached far enough for their ears to no longer hear.


“Soon this will all be over.” She smiled at me and playfully gave my left shoulder a quick squeeze.


“Yea, all over.” I mumbled robotically not thinking too much about the words which were leaving my mouth.


Sora took a seat while I continued to stand, pacing from her seat back to my empty one. My patience was  wearing thin, and it felt like the police had been talking to Ava for hours. Sora was captivated by whatever daytime talk show was playing in the waiting room television, while I let myself get lost in my own head. My eyes were fixated on the door of Ava’s room, and when  I saw the female officers foot slip through the opening crack in the door I let out a breath that I had been holding in for possibly thirty minutes. I rushed over to them before they could reach the edge of the waiting room.


“So?” I asked, my voice was slightly on edge.


“She said she doesn’t remember how she ended up in Maryland, and doesn’t have any family to call. We’ll try to pull up some files on her, but for now there isn’t much we can solve right now. The doctor said they will keep her here for now and run some more test.  Much as I can tell you're free to leave.”


“Are we allowed to see her?” I asked.


“You’ll have to ask the doctor that, But I don’t see why not.” the male officer chimed happily. I quickly thanked the officers, and we gave each other some short goodbyes.


“You’re really going to see her before we leave.” Sora questioned once the officers had left.


“I don’t see why not. We are the only familiar face she’s got right now.” I shrugged.


Sora ran her fingers through her jet-black hair pushing her side-bang from  her eyes. “Well you can go ahead, Just tell me when we’re leaving.” She quickly turned away from me and stared right back into the screen positioned right in front of the chair which Sora was sitting in. She

absorbed herself into whatever daytime programming she was watching.


I knocked on the door, but barged my head between it before she could answer. “Hey.”


She was laid in the bed motionless with her head tilted up to the ceiling. Her eyes were closed, but from the way her body rose  and fell I could tell she was not asleep. Next to her bed was a chair and  in it was a clear plastic bag were Kat’s clothes lay neatly folded in it.  It wasn’t until I began to approach the bed that she calmly opened her eyes and turned her head for her gaze to meet my own.


“You never mentioned the police.” Her voice was calm and in my opinion eerie. Her unflawed brown face was expressionless. It was impossible for me to know what she was feeling.


“ I told you, I can’t talk to the police.” Ava was a little more rallied up now. Her deep-brown eyes were panicked.


“Look,  I don’t know what you did but I am sure the police-”


“Huh!” She laughed.


“No one believes me!” She said to herself.


“I’m from the year 2652! I don’t have amnesia, and if I stay here any longer i’m going to be stuck here!” She groaned shaking her short asymmetrical bob. I stare on at her in silence completely lost for words.


“I know shit is crazy and all-”


“AAHHHH!” She shouted in frustration. I didn’t bother to continue or even properly end the conversation. I turned around and quickly walked out the door.  


“You good?” Sora asked as I approached her. There was no pause needed between my strides, she came up right behind me just as much ready to leave as I was. I had touched the doors to the entrance of the emergency room when a nurse came rushing behind me.


“Sir!” She shouted. I paused, turning on the heels of my converses.


“The patient you brought in has no emergency contact. We just needed to know if you could be her’s?”


I looked to Sora who shrugged. “I don’t see why not,” is what her eyes said.


“Um, Sure.” I shrugged.


She shoved over the clipboard and a blue Bic pen. With my poor penmanship I quickly scribbled down my contact information and handed it back to her.


“Have a nice day,” She smiled.


+


the following day life had fallen back into routine. I woke up, hit the gym for an hour or two, then speed to work. Clientele at the office was slow, which was nothing new for a friday. I had little to do to keep my mind busy and like second nature as I was sitting at my cubicle I pulled out my galaxy to call Kat.


Kat and I are Done.


I mentally punched myself when I remembered we had broken-up.


Fuck! How can I forget that again?


I wasn’t emotionally capable of dealing with break-ups, especially the fucked up way this one ended. I was at that phase  where if I thought about it too much I’d risk getting drunk and in a drunken rage curse her out over the phone at two in the morning.


I went back into my phone, scrolling through my contacts just approaching Kat’s name when my phone started to vibrate in my hands.


It was the hospital.


“Julian here, Hello?”


“Julian, This is Patrice Norwood from the hospital. I’m calling because you are the emergency contact for Ava Forman.”


“Yea, I am. What’s going on?”  My back was rested against the leather black swivel chair. I casually  lifted my back from the chair to sit up right  becoming more attentive to the phone call.


“We just wanted to let you know that Ms. Forman has disappeared from the hospital. We have already contacted the police, but you need to know aswell just in case she happened to come to you.” There was no inflection within the tone of her voice. You would have thought she was calling to confirm an annual check-up as opposed to a missing patient.


“How long has she been missing?”


A moment of silence took over the phone line then she finally answered, “The Nurses noticed she was missing this morning, so possibly some time last night.”


It was now four in the afternoon.


“Thanks, I’ll let you know if I hear from her.” I hung up before she could say goodbye.


I shut my laptop and stuck it into my case. I slide my chair over to the white flimsy walls of the cubicle and peeked my head over the hedge to call out the name of my co-worker in the cubicle beside mine.


“Tell anyone who asks, I gotta leave to take care of an emergency.” I said once I had his attention. he nodded but I could tell he wasn’t really listening. I didn’t bother to repeat myself. I slide my chair back over to my desk and tossed up my car keys.


I was out of work in no time.

 

Chapter 5 by uofantastic

A local hip-hop station played some Dj Mustard sounding song as the bass saturated every corner of my car. I drove slow past every bus stop pulling my head out the window to make sure I didn’t miss Ava sitting at one of them. I had my coat zipped up to my chin freezing. It was sunny but just below 50 degrees outside. It was not the most ideal weather to ride around with my window all the way down along with my passenger side.


I would only dedicate an hour, maybe two, to driving around a few blocks away from the hospital before I called it quits. No one would know, and if I found Ava in front of some Mcdonalds, or anything like that, she would be dropped off back in front of the hospital door. What she did after that I would no longer be concerned. She already cut into my work twice. And I made no plans on moving her into my crib. the car behind me hit his horn aggressively as I slowed down in front of the fifth bus stop.


+

 

Ava took a deep inhale of the outdoor air as her feet straddled between the entrance and exit of the hospital. She adjusted the terrible bra which was lacy, tan, and a little too large for her barely C-cup sized breast. The brisk breeze or the winter wind pricked against her exposed arms.


“Freezing.” She whispered to herself as she feverishly rubbed her arms for warmth. She wasted no time briskly walking out to the street. The moon was faint behind the clouds and the few streetlights gave passersby an eerie shadow over their face.


Where am I?


The air was  thin, clear of dust and gases. Coming to the hospital as she looked down to her ankle and recognized the brace, she knew that Julian was not a liar. She had managed to forget the details, but she was in the year 2013. That was the only way she could explain why no matter how hard she tried she just couldn’t remove that tackey, tight, sweaty anklet in her hospital bed.


But why couldn’t she remember that she had traveled? From being sick to then being turned into the police, Ava hadn’t even thought about exactly what was the last thing she remembered. She stopped took a seat at some bench with glass surrounding it.


Okay.


I had just finished my test in one of my classes in computer programming. I grabbed some coffee, then I met professor Schulz in his lab. I even saw him working on this ankle bracelet I was wearing when I got there. Suddenly I woke up in 2013.


“Damn it Schulz!” She cursed out.


“Really? a time machine that makes you forget you traveled time?”


She was cold, tired, hungry, and some dirty man sitting beside her wouldn’t stop asking her for a quarter. She got up and continued to walk down the sidewalk aimlessly.  She knew that if she couldn’t find a place with some heating soon, she would only come down with a fever again and end up back with the police in a hospital bed.


“Yo ma!”


Ava’s head whipped around to take a glimpse at a young man who had to be no older than 25. He was dressed neatly in a royal blue hoodie and pair of black jeans. You could tell from the lazy way his feet dragged one foot in front of the other that he was intoxicated.


“Yea, I’m talking to you! What’s good?”


Ava quickly looked back in front of her ignoring the young man. She didn’t understand exactly what was happening. No one spoke like this in the year 2652, the way he spoke was too colloquial. But the barking tone of his voice  in the middle of night, on some street with no bystanders, made Ava’s skin feel like it was crawling.


“Prissy Bitch!” He shouted turning clumsily to stumble away.


Ava abruptly turned a corner onto the next street where she spotted a similar bench surrounded by glass like the bench she had sat on earlier. tired and unsure where she going, she rested her head across it and closed her eyes.


+


There she was. After driving around for two hours she was there at the bus stop in front of Sonic asleep. She had changed out of her hospital gear back into Kat’s old clothes I had given her coming to the hospital. I didn’t even look at oncoming traffic when I whipped the wheel across the street onto the shoulder of the road right across from Sonic. I ran across the street and lifted up her 5’ 5’’ petite frame onto my own. She was wearing no coat and her body was freezing against mine.  When we got back in my car I rolled up my windows and turned the heat up high. I heard her rustling in the back seat and from the rearview mirror I could see the slit of white between her eyelids. She moved about in the backseat, but for the most part she was still asleep.


“Mommy?” she mumbled under her breath.


“You must be crazy for real, I’m not your mother.” I said without looking back, mindful that she wasn’t listening.


“I’ll find him and the world will change. I promise.”


She hummed to herself, and from the rearview mirror I could see her nodding her head. Her eyes were still shut.


“Schulz promised.”

 

I turned up the radio to keep her nonsensical ramblings out of my ear. It was my first time dealing with this level of crazy.

Chapter 6 by uofantastic

“You have to get out the car.”

“NO!” Ava refused profusely.

I sighed, hitting my forehead against the steering wheel. I should have already known that this wouldn’t be easy. We sat in the hospital parking lot for almost thirty minutes arguing back and forth. We had gone 10 minutes protesting back and forth when I decided to turn around and grab her, physically moving her out my car. Before I could even get my hand to graze her arm she let out a piercing scream that busted at my eardrums and sent body hurdling back.

“Don’t you dare!” She screeched.

I threw my hands up in defeat then placed them right back onto the steering wheel staring right at the sedan parked in front of me.

We sat in silence for another 10 minutes until we started right back at the same banter.

“Get out the car.”

“No.”

“Why do you think I ran away in the first place?” She asked. Her body was spread out across my backseat comfortably.

“You’re afraid to go back to your mental institution?”

Her lips pressed together, her eyes deadpan. You tried it, is what she thought.

“No-”

“Listen, the police are looking for you. I’m tired, and we can’t stay in this parking lot forever. You have to go back.” I opened the car door and stepped out into the parking lot.

“Where are you going?” She asked in a panick.

“I’m finding a nurse.”

She quickly jumped out the back seat. “Go ahead! But I’m not staying. I’ll just run away.”

She started walking in the opposite direction of the hospital. I rushed over and pulled her back by the forearm.

“If you leave I won’t look for you.”  I was stern. I had a good grip on her arm, and I was sure to look her square in the eye. She herself was flustered, her face frowning.

“I don’t care.”  She snatched her arm back away from my hand and continued to storm away.

My head was turning left and right franticly. “Shit, Shit, shit.”

Now my eyes caught the sight of the different people walking by watching the both of us bicker. A mother tugged at her child’s hand as she pointed blatantly at Ava and me. An older man juggled around with his keys while he stood beside his car that was parked a few cars away, staring at Ava with concern. And a couple walked right past us hand and hand while the girl said to her boyfriend in a low tone,

“Should we call the police?”

Now shit was really getting out of hand. We’d become a scene.

“Hey! Hey, Hey.” I rushed over to her side. Her steps were short but fast. She had a brisk stride that she hadn’t let up.

“Alright, stop.”

She continued. Her pace might have even picked up. She didn’t even bother to even give me a glance.

“Hey, I said stop it!”

“Why?” She asked, not looking at me as she did so.

“So you can turn me into the police? I don’t think so.” She began walking even faster. Forget that. She was no longer walking, it was more like a jog. I had to practically run to keep up. We were steadily approaching the hospital entrance.  You could hear the cars speeding by the main road. 

“Ay! I said stop it already.” I grabbed her by the wrist. She stopped but her body still stood in front of mine staring away.

“We’ll just got back to my place, alright?”

She stood there for another moment before she turned around to look back at me. 

“You swear.”

 We weren’t too different in height, probably stood an inch or two taller. Even with us being close to eye level she looked up at me. Her eyes bare and innocent. 

“Uh, yea. I swear.”

She sucked her teeth, “I don’t believe you.”

She turned her body away once again.

“Hey!” I held her wrist a little tighter lightly tugging her back to me. 

“I mean it alright. I swear.”

She took a long pause before she turned around again. For a moment she simply looked at me. Studying every inch of my face. Her eyes squinted as her pupils wandered back and forth deciphering whether I was telling the truth or a lie. 

“Fine.”

 

+

 

If I dialed 911 now she would never know.

That is what I thought as she laid asleep in the room that one of my roommates once slept in. Before I could even turn onto my street she was fast asleep. I had to gather the rest of the energy I had left to carry her up to the room. I tossed her onto the bed right on top of the comforter. I heard her rustle around a little as I closed the bedroom door behind me, but I doubt she woke up. With the little time I had to myself I changed out of my work attire into a pair of black shorts and red shirt. I grabbed a Heineken from the fridge then spread out on the couch in front of the TV.

“Let’s see if a games on.”

I never really made it a note to keep up with the NBA schedule unless the Bulls or Wizards were playing. When LeBron ran across the TV screen I took a long chug on my beer, put down the remote, and got myself settled. 

“Good enough.”

But honestly it wasn’t. My thoughts were all over the place, and I couldn’t concentrate on the game. My mind was on other things, but the sound of the TNT commentators and the noise of the arena were soothing in the background.

I remembered how Kat always complained I was a pushover. When we would argue, I’d apologize before she could get too mad. That meant apologizing even when I knew she was wrong. She’d huff and puff for a few minutes but after she’d have no choice but to let it go.

“Be a man!” She shouted one night in the heat of our most biggest argument.

It had started up from something minuscule. That day while I had been at the office she texted me a sad face followed by,

“Today’s terrible.” 

It made me smile , and I planned after work to stop by her place to cheer her up. I had stopped by her favorite local burger joint on my way over. I made sure to put extra bacon on her burger because I knew she liked that when she was upset.

I really didn’t come their ready to argue, but magically shit turned left.

Everything was good, she curled up beside me on the couch picking on French fries. She was watching some shitty Lifetime movie that I’d been paying no mind. My hand played up and down her side while my chin rested on the top of her head. Her hair smelt like berries and cream, and some other shit like that.

Everything was perfect.

“What if I was cheating on you?” Kat asked innocently.

I blinked uncomfortably, but my body didn’t flinch.

“What made you ask that?” I peered over at the TV screen. All I saw were some white teenaged girls that were pregnant. Not a person cheating in sight

“I don’t know,” she puffed irritated.

“Just answer the question.”

I thought about it for a second, but couldn’t come up with anything to say.

“I don’t know.” I finally mumbled against the top of her head as I pressed my lips against it to give it a kiss.

“You don’t?” She sucked her teeth.

Uh oh, wrong answer.

“You wouldn’t feel anything? Mad, sad, jealous?”

I continued to stare at the top of her head, but I remained quiet.

 “See! That’s the problem!”

Kat rose up from my side and turned out to look at me. My eyes were gawking, her anger had thrown me off guard.

“Babe, calm down, it’s not that serious.” I said confused by her reaction.

At that she rolled her eyes. “It’s never that serious. Do you even take me seriously? Matter of fact, do you even take us seriously?” 

“We’ve been together for two year Julian. TWO! Your roommates are moving out and you still haven’t asked me to move in with you.”

I stared at her, apologetic. “I didn’t know you wanted to move-in.”

She let out a deep sigh. Now she was sitting up straight as she pushed her brown hair to the side away from her eye.

“That’s the problem, you never fuckin’ know.”

Now she stood up, pacing. “You didn’t know I wanted us to move in together, and you sure as hell didn’t know I’ve been cheating on you for two months.”

My face scrunched up, confused but still infuriated.

“What did you say?”

“OH, you heard me Julian! I said I’m fuckin’ someone else. Now how do you feel?”

I jumped up and quietly grabbed my key from the coffee table. My shoes were at the front door.

“Where are you going!?” She yelled.

“Home.” I stated simply. I had instantly lost all energy to yell and argue.

“That’s it Julian?” She rushed over to the front door, fuming as I laced my shoes.

She laughed hysterically, “You can’t even face me.”

I glanced back at her walking around in a circle. She suddenly stopped and walked closer towards me. I quickly stared back at my shoe laces.

“Be a man!”

“Be a fuckin’ man, and for once say what the fuck you feel!”

My jaw clenched in anger, but I still didn’t turn around to look at her. She stood their staring me down, waiting for me to yell back in anger. When I stood up and turned the door knob she spat,

“You ain’t shit!”

I had never heard Kat curse like that until that night.  We didn’t speak for weeks, and though we hadn’t said it; I thought it was over. She had been the one to finally call me out of the blue. 

“I really want to see you. I hate not seeing your face.”

I didn’t say anything, so she eventually hung up.

That night she stood there waiting at my doorstep. She didn’t say a word, but her body connected to mine instantly. We stumbled through the door, down the corridor, up to my room. My shirt flew from her hand and her romper fell clumsily from her feet. Both our breaths were heavy as we guided each other up the stairs. Sloppily we meshed each other’s mouths against one another.  

We didn’t speak.

We were rough and unapologetic. Her nails were gripping deep into my back while our bodies smacked against one another in a fast rhythmic tempo.

It was brief. 

We both laidback with space between us as we laid on top of the sheets. There no cuddling or caressing of one another’s bodies. We didn’t even look each other in the eye. We laid like that for an hour until she silently stood up and grabbed her trail of clothing putting them on one by one.

She left without another word.

After that the argument was over. We went on as if everything was fine. We never brought up that night again. 

I had known for a year that Kat and I were over. I’d called it my pride, but Kat was right. I was simply a pushover.

“I’m hungry.”

The sound of Ava’s hoarse voice pulled me out of my thoughts. I hadn’t even heard her footsteps as she came down the stairs. 

I guess I had to forget about the police for now. 

Cast by uofantastic

Ava Forman

Ava Forman

 

Julian Watanabe

Julian Watanabe

Katherine "Kat" Lee

Katherine "Kat" Lee

Sora

Sora

This story archived at https://www.valentchamber.com/viewstory.php?sid=3313