“Not for another year and a bit.”
“Well, keep me posted. You have a date whenever you need one.”
Even though I know I’ll never be able to take Jackson up on his offer, I still feel all warm and fuzzy.
“Will do.”
We say our farewells and I head off home.
This visit to 1996 was a pretty good idea after all.
NINE
Uh-oh.
I’d planned on going home to change before heading out to visit Grandma Millie, but when I walk through the door, my mum is standing in the kitchen, talking to someone on the phone. She does not look pleased.
“Thank you, she’s just walked through the door. I’ll talk to her now.” She hangs up and crosses her arms. “Anna! Where have you been? I just got a call from the school. Apparently you were late to class, got found trying to sneak out by the principal, handed in a blank test and then disappeared! What on earth has gotten into you?”
“If I told you, you wouldn’t believe me.”
She narrows her eyes. “Try me.”
For a moment I wonder what would happen if I actually revealed the truth. That I’m a grown woman trapped in a sixteen-year-old’s body. She’d probably have me committed.
What would be a normal response for a teenage girl who was seemingly rebelling against the system?
“I think I might be pregnant,” I blurt out. Shit. Why did I say that?
Mum’s eyes widen. “You’re what?”
“I’m probably not,” I assure her. Jeez. I hadn’t even lost my virginity in 1996. What am I doing to the me in this reality? And my poor mother! There goes all the goodwill I built up the other day.
“Don’t tell me Todd is the father,” she says, looking sick at the thought.
“Uh, no. You don’t know him.”
What am I doing?
“I don’t know if that’s worse. Honey! How could this happen? Weren’t you safe?”
“Yes, but accidents happen.”
She marches over to the phone. “I’m making an appointment at the doctor so we can figure out what to do.”
“No, no. Not today. Can we leave it at least until tomorrow? Or the next day?”
She shakes her head. “No, the sooner the better. We’ll need to book you in for a scan and find out how far along you are. When did you last get your period?”
Crap. Why the hell did I say I was pregnant?
“Um…six weeks ago?” I really have no idea.
She loosens her grip on the phone. “Then it’s still very early days. It might just be that your cycle is messed up. Have you taken a pregnancy test?”
“No.”
“Maybe we should do that first.” She picks up her handbag. “Come on, we’ll go buy one now.”
“I’m not feeling very well. Do you mind if I lie down and we can go a bit later?”
“I’ll go. You stay and rest up. I’ll be back in half an hour.”
“Okay. Thanks, Mum.”
As she leaves, she gives me a look full of fear and disappointment.
I feel awful, but I can’t do much about it right now. However, I can try and limit the damage I’ve done. I scrawl an apology on a piece of paper, saying that I got my period just after she left and that I went for a walk to clear my head.
I go upstairs to change into something a bit warmer and then lock up the house, walking in the opposite direction to the one I know Mum drove. I’ve kind of screwed up today, so maybe I should push it further and see what happens.
My first test will be with Kelsey. I glance at my watch. I’ll go to her house and wait out the front until she finishes school.
Operation Fuck Up Anna’s Life is about to commence.
***
I walk all the way to Kelsey’s, because I know she won’t be home until after three and I need to fill in some time. I thought about still going to visit Grandma Millie, but the next bus to Maroochydore wasn’t for ages, and by the time I got there, visiting hours at the retirement home would almost be over. I sigh. I think I feel worse about not seeing her than lying to my mother about being pregnant.
Kelsey arrives at her house the same time as me. “Hey, you. Come in. I expect you to tell me everything.”
I nod. I’ve decided I’m going to be totally honest with her and see what happens.
Andy is inside, sitting at the dining table and eating a sandwich. He gives me that gross look again. I decide to bluff and see what happens.
“Andy, I’d get rid of that stash in your room if I were you. You don’t know when the cops might drop by unannounced.”
He scowls. “What the fuck are you talking about?”
“I don’t think they’d take kindly to some of the…pharmaceuticals…you own.”
His face goes white. “You stay the fuck out of my room. And if the cops do come around, I’ll be looking for you soon after.”
Kelsey stares at me in shock. “What are you two talking about?”
“Nothing,” I say, and head upstairs. It seems I was right. He was already into that stuff, even in 1996.
Andy jumps up and follows us.
“Relax, I’m not going to touch your Rohypnol,” I call over my shoulder.
Kelsey gasps. “Rohypnol?”
Andy shoves past us and storms into his room, slamming the door behind him.
“What the hell is going on, Anna?”
I enter her room and point to her bed. “You should probably sit down. You’re going to think I’m nuts in a couple of seconds.”
“I already do, babe. I already do.” She sits down anyway.
“I don’t even know where to start,” I say. “Okay, so I’m not actually sixteen. I’m in my late thirties.”
Her face goes blank for a second, and then she looks annoyed. “Is this like Candid Camera or something?”
“No. I promise. I’m from the future.”
“Riiight…so what’s the purpose of telling me this?” I can see she still doesn’t believe me, but she’s playing along. For now.
“I guess I was tired of not being able to tell anyone. Do you have any questions?”
“A ton. But mostly I’m wondering whether I should phone emergency services and get them to take you away to be assessed.”
“I’m not dangerous.”
“But you’ve obviously got some mental health issues. And what was that whole thing with Andy just now?”
“In the future, he gets arrested for drug possession and spiking girls’ drinks.”
Kelsey’s face collapses. “Why would you say that?”
“Because it’s true. And judging by his reaction a moment ago, you could probably find proof in his bedroom if you went in there right now.”
She looks sick. “Okay. Well, let’s pretend for a second that what you’re saying is true. When does this happen? Him getting caught, I mean?”
“I don’t know the exact dates. You and I…”
“What?”
“We don’t really talk in the future.”
Now she looks eerily calm. “How come?”
“You thought I slept with one of your boyfriends.”
Her eyes almost bug out. “And did you?”
“No. But I couldn’t change your mind. You believed the guy over me.”
“When does this supposedly happen?”
“In 2000.”
“You mean we never speak again after that?”
“That’s right.”
“Prove to me that you’re not making everything up.”
“I can’t. Unless Andy lets you in his room.”
“Yeah, but how do I know you didn’t just go snooping around in there the other morning?”
“Either way, it’s drugs, Kelsey! And who knows what else? Your brother has serious issues.”
I can tell her head is spinning. “All right. If that’s the case, what should I do with this information?”
“I don’t know. He’s going to get arrested eventually. You could maybe call the po
lice and get them to take him away now. It might stop him from hurting any other women.”
At least in this version of reality.
She gives me a troubled look. “I don’t know if I can do that. At least not until I confront him about it.”
“You do what you have to.”
“How does this time travel thing work anyway?”
“I haven’t completely worked it out, but basically I took a supplement in my time that made me black out and wake up here. I guess it’s some sort of hallucinogenic dream where I have full control over my decisions. And so far it seems like nothing I do here affects the future. I can only come back for twelve hours at a time, and then the next time I return, nothing that happened the last time seems to have even occurred.”
“What happens after twelve hours? Do you just disappear?”
“I don’t know. Either this is a version of reality I’ve somehow slipped into temporarily and the sixteen-year-old me will take over when I leave, or it will cease to exist altogether because it’s just a product of my imagination.”
Kelsey looks like her brain might explode. “What?”
“I could tell you what the future’s like? I mean, not for you personally, but what’s happening in the world.”
Now she looks bemused.
“Okay. Tell me what the world is like in your time.”
I try to think of all the events of the last twenty-odd years.
“Uh, do you know Donald Trump?”
She wrinkles her nose. “That rich guy in America?”
“Yeah. I guess you would know him as a famous tycoon from the eighties?”
“What about him?”
“He’s the US president. Hillary Clinton was his opponent and everyone thought she was going to win.”
“You mean the wife of the current US president?”
“Yep.”
She shakes her head. “Weird.”
“And we have a female prime minister here for a short while. Aussie politics get pretty messed up and they seem to change prime ministers every few months.”
“I hate politics.” She looks like she’s finally warming to the idea of finding out more, even if she thinks I might be making it all up. “Tell me about my life until we stopped being friends.”
“Are you sure you want to know?”
“Yes! Do I meet a cute guy? What do I do?”
I think back. “Um, you hadn’t really settled down. You had a couple of relationships, but they didn’t work out.”
“What were their names? I can look out for them when they show up.”
“One of them was called Mark. You met him at the Ocean Club when we were out one night. He was cute, but he had a bit of a drug problem. You broke up with him when you caught him shooting up.”
She looks horrified. “So I could have contracted hepatitis or HIV?”
“I’m assuming you were safe when you slept together, but either way, you didn’t seem to have any health issues when we stopped talking.”
“What about the other guy I went out with?”
“His name was Robert. He was really charismatic, but he cheated on you after six months.”
She shakes her head. “Jesus. Can you tell me something nice that happened?”
“What do you want to do once you graduate? Career-wise, I mean.”
“Be a fashion designer, of course.”
“Oh, that’s right. Well, you change your mind at the end of next year and decide to be a teacher instead. Which is lucky, because the fashion industry kind of falls apart in the future and it’s really hard to make any money from it.”
She throws up her hands. “Just kill me now. I want to be a teacher?”
“Yeah. And you do really well at university. You already had a full-time placement near Indooroopilly lined up when we stopped talking, so I’m pretty sure you would have kicked butt.”
“But you don’t actually know.”
“No.”
“At least I’m down in Brisbane and not stuck here in Shell Beach. I wish you could go back to the future and come back to tell me what I’m doing now.”
“Well, I could, only you won’t remember this conversation.”
She frowns. “That sucks.”
“It does,” I agree. “If I can’t change the version of the future I’m from, I don’t really see the point of coming back. Especially when I don’t have any continuity when I do return.”
“It does seem pretty useless. I wonder if there’s a way to contact future me. Can you track me down? Or have I disappeared off the face of the earth?”
“Oh, you can pretty much find anyone these days. There’s this website called Facebook and nearly everyone has a profile page where they post photos and comments and talk to everyone else.”
“A website? So the internet becomes popular? And even people like Andy have a page?”
“Yep.”
“Andy doesn’t even know how to switch on a computer.”
“Andy will probably get quite good at using technology in the future, because it’s where he’ll be able to hook up with women anonymously. There are dozens of sites where people go just to find someone to have sex with. There are even ones for married people to have affairs.”
She shakes her head. “The future sounds horrible. Please tell me they at least have flying cars and hoverboards?”
“No. They have a type of self-balancing scooter called a hoverboard, but it’s nothing like the ones in Back to the Future. And we’re still a ways off from having flying cars. But they do have electric ones that you don’t need petrol for. And they also have driverless cars, only they’re still in the experimental phase.”
“That is so cool! Driverless cars! Tell me more!”
Kelsey now doesn’t seem to care whether I’m telling the truth or not. I indulge her and we spend an hour talking about pop culture…about the rise of stars like Britney Spears, Justin Timberlake and then Kanye West…and how there’s a possibility that even he could run for US president one day. I assure her that we don’t have another world war, at least not before my time, but there are many conflicts in the Middle East.
And then I remember 9/11.
“In 2001, terrorists hijack some planes and crash them into the Twin Towers in New York. The buildings completely collapse and thousands of people die.”
She looks horrified. “Seriously?”
“Yeah. It felt like the whole world changed after that. There was a lot of fear and all these new laws were introduced. Now when you book a flight, you have to take your shoes off at the airport so security can check you’re not carrying weapons…and you can’t take drinks onto the plane…they also have full-body scanners…”
“It sounds like Total Recall.”
“It is in a way. Oh, and not to sound flippant, but you just reminded me. They remake that movie and it’s terrible. Don’t bother watching it. But they are planning on colonising Mars for real. Except anyone who goes won’t be able to return to Earth because the trip is so long.”
“All right, all right. I think I need a break from this craziness. There’s too much to know about the future. And that’s assuming what you’re saying is actually true.”
“I promise it’s true—at least in my version of the future. Who knows? Maybe your version will be different. If you continue to exist after I leave, maybe you can use this information for good. I’d like to think that the future isn’t necessarily predetermined.”
She thinks for a second. “You say you can’t change the future from here, but what if you can use the information you gained here to change it back there?”
“In what way?”
“I mean, for example, talk to future me. Convince me that you didn’t sleep with that guy I dated. Tell her that you met me back here and that she needs to forgive you.”
“You probably won’t believe me. Unless there’s some secret you never told me I can use as proof.”
“Hmm…I pretty much tell you everything already.”
She rubs her temples.
After a moment, she claps her hands. “I know! My secret crush is Mr. Green.”
I laugh. “What?”
“Yep. I’ve never told anyone that. Even you until now. Tell future Kelsey and she will believe anything you say.”
“You’re in love with our chemistry teacher? How? And why?” Even as an adult, I can’t see the appeal. He’s so…beige.
“I don’t know, I just like him. And don’t you dare tell anyone at school. I’m trusting you here.”
“You’re insane.”
“Hey, I think today, of all days, you can’t be saying things like that.”
“Sorry. That’s true.”
“Do you think you might come back to 1996 again?”
“I’m not sure yet.”
“Well, if you do, you can always tell me about Mr. Green. It’ll be a way to fast forward through all the convincing you had to do just now. Hey, it’s like Fifty First Dates and you’re Adam Sandler.”
“I guess it is. Kind of.”
“Except you’re not trying to impress Drew Barrymore.”
I blush. I can’t help it. My brain automatically goes to Kurt.
Kelsey notices. “What?”
“Nothing. I mean, if I explain, you’ll get the wrong idea.”
“No! Tell me!”
I sigh. “I met this guy the other day when I was at The Palace, and I saw him down at the beach again today, but he didn’t remember me. So he was sort of like Drew Barrymore’s character in Fifty First Dates.”
She grins. “Ooh…interesting. Is he cute?”
“He’s not bad looking,” I admit.
“So what’s the problem? Do you have a boyfriend in the future or something?”
“Yes. I have a lovely husband called Ed.”
She looks like she can’t get her head around it. “You’re actually married?”
“Well, most people are married by their thirties.”
“I know, but I can’t believe you’re that old! You don’t talk any differently. Apart from this future stuff, obviously. But you still sound like you. Do you have kids?”
“No. Ed and I decided we didn’t want them.”
“Oh. I wonder if I had them?”
“I’m not sure. Sorry.”
“That’s okay. Well, I suppose we should make the most of the remaining hours you have here. What do you want to do?”
1996 (90s Flashback Series) Page 7