I could die.
He could die.
Either of the two, the result was never good. Maybe this was just a long nightmare, and when I woke up, I will be fifty-five again. I would rather go back to my old life than share my misfortunes with my family for the rest of their lives.
"We have another problem," Albert said after our long silence.
I groaned. "What could be worse than this, Albert?" I asked in a serious tone. My eyes were like daggers ready to pierce him. "You should have not altered the past, I mean this present time... Aarrgh! It's confusing," I started pacing the kitchen.
"In the plane, somebody tried to kill us on purpose," he admitted as he focused his eyes on the half-empty glass of milk.
I stopped walking and stared at him. Remembering the note, gave me chills. My heart throbbed thinking it was him.
Sienna moved her head towards Albert, "Why?"
"Why?" I was like a parrot, repeating my sister's question.
Albert went qui
The sun seemed to have decided to hide in the clouds this morning. At six, the sky was still sad without its sunlight. The chilly weather was piercing through my heart, and it was making me gloomy despite the truth I learned.I sat down in front of the door of the old garage as I waited for Sienna to wake up. After our talk, I beg Albert and James to leave us alone for today, and I promised I won't go anywhere, and I won't open any door unless they ask me to come.Tears started to flow in my cheeks as I looked back at my pathetic life. I didn't know my life has another version. Out of so many people in the world, this stranger has chosen us to change our lives. What did I do?If that stranger, whoever he or she was, did not alter our past, I should have been happy. I didn't need to hide from Albert. I should have enjoyed motherhood. I could have gone back to my family without arguing with myself. The decades of being alone, of living in misery made it more painf
The continuous knocking on the door woke me up. I groaned and rolled my bed, and this time I fell on the floor. The thud sound of my fall made the person behind the door panic."Are you okay?" Sienna asked as she knocked again."Hmn..." I grumbled. I couldn't believe I was crawling back to my bed. I was still feeling sleepy.The sun was already up, and it was surprisingly warm today. I opened my eyes and searched for Tweety Bird. Where is that alarm clock? Why didn't wake me up? I peeked under my bed and found it. I tried to reach but I couldn't so I glided down the bed and crawled, ignoring the growing panic of my sister's voice.I heard the click sound, but it was too late for me to get out, so when the door opened, whoever was outside, they could only see half of my body. I continued to reach for Tweety Bird when I saw familiar shoes.He knelt down and bent over to pick the alarm clock, and then smiled at me."Good morning, my love. What
It was just five, but Dani closed the coffee shop at an early time. I hate thinking it's about me, but with the good weather outside, they shouldn't have. He said it was Albert's instruction to stop me from pestering him to work today. He assured me that all employees were still paid in full for today and they were actually thankful since they could not only go home early but also they have time to study for the upcoming exams. The only ones in the cafe were the two baristas who asked permission to stay until seven, James tutoring Sienna in her math, Dani in his usual seat, and us doing our project.Jane and Ed, sitting at the other table, were working on the first part of the project. Albert and I, sitting across from each other, we're at the next table.Ed brought four laptops when he came this afternoon and I could understand why he was complaining. In front of me was a twenty-five pounds 'portable' laptop. I couldn't imagine bringing four. In my time, in the
Even if I woke up earlier than Tweety Bird's noise today, still, I wasn't able to wake up to know what time Albert left. When he came at around ten, we just lie down in bed, and I fell asleep as soon as he started stroking my hair with his fingers while my head rested on his chest. It was only six in the morning, and the plan was to leave at seven.I hurried to the bathroom, beating Sienna this time, and changed to a nice floral blue dress. Jane and I agreed to wear something nice for the interview, and her knowing I don't like owning one, gave the casual dress to her and told her to remind me about it just in case I forgot. Mom hangs it in the closet with a note.'Wear this sweetheart. Don't disappoint Jane. – Love, Mom'That left me no choice. I pulled my cashmere and grabbed my bag before running downstairs. Dad and Albert were in the living room when I came down.When my father knitted his eyebrows, I raised my hands right away. "Oh, please dad.
I opened the car window and felt the chilly wind on my face. I took a deep breath as I closed my eyes, and then I rested my elbow on a still open window and quietly looked at the trees. We were still in the countryside, and I wanted to fill my lungs with fresh air before heading back to the city. I sighed."That's a fifth," Albert glanced at me, then to the road. "Something wrong, love?""Nothing. I just can't imagine my life without you," I blurted out. I looked at him and saw him smirking."We were never together for almost four decades," he uttered, slowing down the car.I raised my eyebrows. "That was different. I mean, yes, we're apart, but I followed your social media like a lunatic fan. I have kept pictures of you,""You did?" He glanced at me, surprised by what I said."Yes, and when I'm mad, I taped your picture in the dartboard and threw darts at your face," That was a joke, but I kept my serious tone and face.He shook his
"Albert!" I screamed his name once again.My eyes widen as I hear sounds. I held on to the flashlight tightly and squinted my eyes. I stopped walking and tried to listen, but I didn't hear anything except the sound of the night. Still. Quiet. As the wind blows, the leaves of the trees would make a rustling sound.When the wind blew another cold air, I shivered. I suddenly regret wearing this dress. Why did I ever listen to Jane and to mom? Maybe I was trying to impress Albert. I weighed my options. I could go back to the car and get his cellphone and call James, or the police. I clenched my fist as I made my decision, but as soon as I turned around, I heard steps.I swallowed and my wide eyes in panic as I tried to focus the flashlight on where the sound came from."Albert?" I whispered, but again the silence of the woods answered. I craned my neck to glance at the car. I was beginning to feel dizzy. I placed my hands on my forehead and started to m
Just a while ago, I was dying of thinking Albert might be gone. Thinking of him not being in my life is worst than my former timeline. If I woke up now, and I would go back to my old life as the 55-year-old woman, I would hold this moment in my memory until the very end of my breathing.I stared at the shimmering diamond ring on my finger. Although in my original timeline I got married three times, my finger never had this kind of promise. Albert really meant to erase the painful past brought by wrong decisions in the past. I looked around and saw the happy faces of all important people for me, and I glanced at my ring, all these seemed too good to be true.The tap on the open microphone, checking if it was working well, caught my attention."Selene, my love," he waited until our eyes met. "Please receive my gift to you,"Little Charlie was jumping as he waited impatiently. I wasn't exactly sure if he understands what was happening but when Albert handed
The cloudy sky started to cry. Raindrops started pouring and people around us, wearing black and holding white lilies, some opened their umbrellas. It wasn't cold, but I shivered as I watched the priest end the service, and they started placing the flowers at the top of the casket.I held on to the flower tightly that I thought I would crush it before I could place it on the casket. Albert and I were the last people to bid our goodbye, and I never thought my separation with James would leave such great loss in my heart, something that I could hardly explain.When they started to lower the casket down to the ground, Sienna wrapped her arms around me and together we wailed, only this time somebody very special to us died. Albert put his arms around us. He cried in silence, but I knew he was hurting inside.No one will understand why we were so heartbroken.It was a short service. Both our parents were surprised that James has no family, so they understand w
Nine months laterI kept pacing the room and taking deep breathes. Albert and I may have gone back time, but this was the first time for us to experience this. I took another breath, inhaling slowly and then breathing out slowly to release the tension I was feeling.“Albert!” I screamed from the hospital room. The contractions increased, and I tried to move a lot, preparing myself for this new experience. As soon as I felt the pain and the contractions last night, he decided to bring me to the hospital. We both don’t want to panic at home when our babies decide to come out. My water bag broke already, but the contraction has often come now.Yes, Albert and I were having twins. We were ecstatic when we found out we had two instead of one. He came running to the room, his face pale that I could not stop myself from laughing.I bit my bottom lip and smiled at him.He dashed to me, massaged my back. “Are you feeling oka
I looked up at the ceiling, trying to calm my heart. It has been hammering my chest since I came to Dr. Melissa’s office. She has been my shrink for many years, but I never get to graduate from this couch. I laid my back on the familiar leather sofa and waited for her.The sound of her shoes told me she was on her way to her chair. She sat on the egg chair, facing me. She smiled at me gently and quietly opened her notebook. Perhaps, my notebook. I have seen how it was changed after several sessions with her. With my life opened to her, she could write a series about me.“How are you today, Selene?” She asked, taking her pen from her shirt pocket.My eyes flickered on her, but I returned my eyes to the ceiling. It could be because it was her job, but I liked Dr. Melissa. She was always patiently waiting for my answers, and if I chose not to talk, she would assure me that all I needed was to call her and listen to m
“I leave the future now to you, my love,” Albert pulled me closer to him, wrapped his arms around me, making me feel his warmth, his love, and then he kissed me at the top of my head, making me remember what he said on my birthday as he sealed his gift with a kiss."I'll protect you no matter what, my love. It's a promise." Indeed, he protected me, but then he slowly faded, and then Albert disappeared before my eyes. I couldn’t breathe, and for a second, my heart stopped beating.No. He couldn’t be gone!The horror of being reminded when Marco faded away before us was the day he died.Terror and shock were like waves that overwhelmed me. I could not move. It took me a while before I scrambled on my feet, and then I ran to the elevator.As the elevator opened on the second floor, I ran to the operating room, but I was too late. Lady Margarette and my mom broke down in tears when they saw me. I could
“I wanted to see you with my own eyes, the young and beautiful Selene, the curse of our family!" Those were the only voice that I could hear at the moment. It was playing on my mind repeatedly as I sat on the floor, hugging my knees, near the operating room.In whatever timeline, if I did not entertain my feelings to Albert... if only I did not allow him to love me again... if I did not travel in time, he would be okay. I may not understand it entirely, but I was a curse.When Dani and Edwin ran to the office, they did not see anyone except Albert and me on the floor. The backdoor was open, so the police officers had a hunch that the suspect had run away. I was the only witness, but they could not ask me at the moment.I could hardly notice my surrounding. I kept thinking how happy we were last night and how we climbed together in cloud nine when I found out we were pregnant. I was hardly blinking as I looked back at what had just happened. I was
My vision got blurry, tears just kept flowing, and my feelings were so overwhelming that I could not speak. Albert met my eyes and then told.“Mom,” He said, alerting his mother and, I guess, everyone in the room. “I’m sorry to disappoint you, but I think Selene won’t be wearing your wedding gown in June,”I chuckled. After Marco’s death, we decided to move the wedding to June instead of this month out of respect. I turned to my parents and his mom and smiled.“It won’t fit.”I turned my face to the love of my life. As our eyes met, he pressed his forehead to mine, and we both cried. In their eyes, we were just a young couple, getting pregnant at the age of nineteen, but for us, we waited for thirty-seven years to be together, to have this chance of sharing this wonderful experience.“I’m gonna be a mom,” I whispered excitedly, saying those words that I could not contain
Everybody seemed to be anxious about the result of the test. Dad kept pacing the room while Albert’s dad had been tapping the arm of his seat like he was playing the piano. Our mothers were chatting, exchanging their pregnancy experiences. Sienna and Jane were chatting about their excitement about the possible results. We had to wait in Dr. Mayer’s office because staying in the OB Gyne’s doctor won’t fit all the expectant guests. Albert and I stood by the large window overlooking the hospital’s garden. “It would be fun to watch their faces if I’m not pregnant,” I said, rolling my eyes. Albert smiled, pulling me closer to him and kissing my forehead. “But this would be a great story to tell to our child if you are indeed pregnant,” I leaned my head on his chest. The truth was I was scared because even if I had James, it was something I never had a memory of. This would be my first experience. “I’m scared,” I muttered. “Would you rather be not p
“Congratulations, you’re pregnant!” The doctor smiled at me, showing the result of my test. The lines and the signs definitely did not lie about it.I could not believe what I was hearing. Am I really pregnant? I gazed at Albert, tears brimming into his eyes as he came to me to wrap his arms around me. When the door opened, my eyes widened to see the tunnel. It was like sucking my body to get into it, but Albert held onto me tightly.We were shocked when a man, wearing a black mask and overall, pointed a gun at me. No, not particularly at me, but to my belly. My forehead furrowed because I just knew I was pregnant, but my belly was so big that anytime I would likely give birth. Before I could understand what was happening, I heard a gunshot and found myself bleeding.I gasped, sucking as much air to my lungs as I got up from the bed. My heart was pounding fast, and I could hear my heartbeat from the silent night. I was sw
“Are you like together again?” Sienna asked, gawking at us. She shook her head. “Something’s not right,” She squinted her eyes on us, glancing at our hands, fingers interlacing. “Did something happen a few seconds ago? Wow, you changed really fast, Sel,” She glanced at the ceiling, trying to remember the clothes I was wearing.When I heaved a sigh, she gasped, opening her mouth in surprise. “Did you just...”“Just what?” I asked, looking at my sister, hoping she would stop talking about how surprised she was at seeing us.“Got together,” she chuckled, pointing his lips to the engagement ring I had on my finger. “Fix your problem, Selene,” She said, standing up to continue setting the table. “Either you face your problem now or later.”Sienna was right. The reason things got complicated is that I tend not to face my problem. I tried to ev
Everyone in the living room went quiet. No one made a single sound, not even a movement. It was like they stopped breathing for a while, just like in the movies when we hear the most critical line of an important character, whether from the protagonist or the antagonist. In the middle of our silence, we could listen to the sound of crickets.Their faces were hard to read as well. Jane was twisting her lips, fidgeting with her hands. Ed was staring blankly at us, his hand on his chin. Dad has lines on his forehead, squinting his eyes as he analyzed what I said. Mom wrinkled her eyebrows as she pinched the skin in her throat.I glanced at Albert, and he shrugged.Suddenly, Mom broke down in tears. Sienna and I looked at each other, raising our brows as we stared at her.“I hope you’re not on drugs, Sweetheart.” She sniffed, holding my father’s hand. He squeezed Mom’s hand.I almost rolled my eyes at her, but I think it w