Past Truths

by Em Pitts

  Nick's expression closed and he placed my hand back in the crook of his elbow as he led me forward again. "Not me. I had a friend a few years ago. He was around Isaake’s and my age." He was playing with my fingers as he talked and looked straight ahead. "The minister at that time accused him of being possessed by a demon. He liked the minister's son and news spread through the village quickly. They tied him down to the bed..." He trailed off and shook his head. "Luke was one of my best friends. He didn't deserve to be treated that way."

  Bile rose in my throat. "Did they...Is he still alive?" I noticed he used the past tense.

  "I cut him loose during the night. Made him run. I don't know where he is, but I hope he is alive still."

  I was going to be sick. Torturing someone for who they love. Ruining a person's life because they were different than you. Accusing him of having a demon in him to make him feel that way. Another cramp went through me at a stray thought. Nick doesn't like the topic of demons. Is this why?

  A finger tapped my chin making me meet Nick's eyes. I stopped to give him my attention. "Hey, let's talk about better things." He gave me a sad smile. It felt like I was finally seeing the real Nick at that moment. "Like maybe getting you home so you don't have to marry my beetle-headed friend who doesn't even know what color your eyes are."

  I choked out a laugh and threw my arms around Nick pulling him close to me. "I'm sorry," I whispered. Sorry that you've had to go through shit that was horrible and unnecessary. Sorry that you hide behind your humor and hold your pain close to you. Sorry that you choose not to show this side of yourself more to others. I squeezed tighter to try to say all the things I was not speaking out loud.

  "For what?" He sounded off as he answered. "Not marrying me instead? It's fine. I mean, our babies would have been lovely green-eyed blonde children like you, but I will survive." I laughed out again even as the tears sounded through my voice.

  "They would be more likely to have your blue eyes. Green is a recessive gene." I remembered from my biology class.

  Nick pulled back and wiped my face. We were heading towards the club again and Nick patted my hand. "At least I know what your eye color is." He sounded smug and I couldn't help but bust up laughing.

  I hated that he had to hide behind his humor, but I was selfishly thankful for it as well. Nick, Raynor, and Isaake all have something unpleasant in their past and I wanted to curse the village and the whole time zone for causing them pain. Even Ollie, I remembered. There were shadows in his eyes not long after I got here. Too much pain for all of them. How do they balance it, when I don't see as much joy?

  15

  John was not at the club when we arrived. Ollie was the only other person there. Ollie, Nick, and me. If it weren't for Nick, it might have been awkward.

  "I'm just saying, maybe Isaake should get a thimble just in case." Nick played down a four of spades.

  We were playing five-card loo which seemed to be a mix of five-card draw, spades, and Uno. Honestly, it makes no sense and as soon as we are done with this game, I'm teaching the guys rummy. Maybe they already know a version of it?

  "If you ever take a wife, I hope you know how much Isaake is going to enjoy getting revenge," Ollie spoke as he laid down a nine of spades.

  Shit, it's my turn. I think I'm supposed to lay down a spade at this part, but I only have the ace in spades, and no one has used an ace yet. I have a jack in hearts though. They guys keep calling the jacks Pam, so I'm guessing they are important.

  I lay down the ace to be on the safe side. Ollie quirks an eyebrow after a moment with a grin on his face and goes to open his mouth. Nick beats him to it though.

  "You're supposed to say 'Pam, be civil' when you lay down an ace. And it's her first time, so you can't call her out on it." He pointed his finger at Ollie.

  I groaned and dropped my head on the table dramatically. "I give up. Can we just play rummy? Or war? War would be a nice simple game."

  "No can do, pretty girl. Got to finish this one first." Nick stated and threw down another card. I didn't bother picking my head up to look.

  "What's a thimble got to do with marriage?" I turned my head towards Nick. I felt more comfortable with him than Ollie. There was something making Ollie keep his distance and it made me feel weird. Or maybe this is just how he always is? I've only known the guy a week.

  "It's a gift to the bride. When she uses the thimble enough to wear it down, then it's cut to make a ring for her to wear." He answered distractedly. I may not understand the game, but Nick obviously liked playing it.

  "In my time, the man buys the woman a ring and gives it to her when he asks her to marry him. Then he buys another ring to give her on their wedding day." I watched Nick's face as I told him, but by his hum and glances at the cards in his hand and on the pile, I'm not sure he even heard me.

  "Are you going to make Isaake buy you a ring?" I turned to Ollie at his question. He didn't sound or look like he was being rude, just curious.

  "No, I'm going to be going home." Ollie sighed at my statement.

  "Yes, but what if you don't? I'm not saying we aren't going to try as hard as we can to get you there as soon as possible." He held up his hands placating me at my outraged expression. "I'm saying there is still a chance that it might be a while until then."

  "He's just looking out for Isaake," Nick spoke up. I guess with Ollie not playing right now, he noticed the conversation. "Denying him might cause some waves is all."

  "And you, too." Ollie defended. "If you deny Isaake, then you are setting yourself up to be pursued again by Gerlick."

  "I don't know," I admitted. "I'll do what I need to. If that means sticking with you guys until I leave, then so be it."

  "Okay." Ollie seemed to accept my answer and go back to their game. "Nick check in with the others. They should have been here already."

  Nick spaced out for a moment before getting a sheepish look on his face. "Whoops. They are here with John already." Ollie groaned at his answer. "You know how I get with games sometimes." The two men got up abandoning the cards and made to let the others in.

  The first person through the doorway was Raynor. He rolled his eyes at us when he walked through. I heard Isaake and another man's voice behind him talking about...animals? Raynor quickly went to take the chair beside me. "What are we playing?" He was looking over the abandoned cards.

  "Ask Nick and Ollie. I can't understand your card games. My games are much easier." He grinned at my disapproving look aimed at the cards. I looked toward the doorway noticing that the other two had appeared and the doorway was closing back up.

  John was an average sized man with shoulder-length grey hair and a full beard. He was dressed like the men surrounding me, with the glove on one hand and plain colored clothes covering him. He took off his hat when he entered and noticed me sitting at the table. "Is this her?" He smiled at me.

  "Careful, he'll talk for hours if you get him started," Raynor whispered from the corner of his mouth.

  I ignored Raynor and stood up to greet John. "Tessa Woods." I held my hand out to shake his.

  "John Proctor." He took hold of my hand and gave me a firm handshake as he studied me. "Marvelous." He seemed awed as he stepped back and took me in.

  "I'm sorry?" I questioned, not understanding what he was speaking about.

  "You are somehow from 300 hundred years in the future and yet you stand here, looking just as we do." He continued gawking at me until it made me uncomfortable.

  "Yes." I pursed my lips at his deduction. "Humans tend to look like humans no matter the time of day or year." He shook his head as if shaking himself out of his stupor.

  "Yes, yes. My apologies. Sit, sit. We need to discuss your plan of action." He waved his hand towards the table and walked that way quickly.

  I turned to the table to take my seat and noticed all the chairs were occupied while Ollie stood against the wall again. I walked to lean against the wall behind Nick. Isaake saw this and started getting up to offer m
e his seat. A hand reached out and grabbed my waist snagging me down into someone's lap before he could offer his chair though. I squeaked out from the sudden unexpected move and a husky laugh vibrated from behind me. Nick.

  "First off, how's Eliza?" John spoke to Ollie. Ollie looked to me before looking back at John. He didn't say anything, but it's almost as if words were passing through them. "Ah, I just assumed since she was here..."

  "She's here for you to help us learn how to get her back to her time." Ollie reprimanded him. It was weird seeing him speak that way to someone who was clearly his elder. The strange part was that I'm sure they were telling each other not to speak about something in front of me. What are they hiding? Eliza was that little girl from the candle shop, right?

  The guys and I filled him in on how I came to be here and made an emphasis on the blood clock parts. We still couldn't understand what made me appear in this time zone and on the hill where Ollie and the other guy, Brian, were fighting. John looked deep in thought by the time we finished.

  "Well, you're right that no one has the gift to manipulate time. There's a chance that it may show up, but it's a higher chance that she was brought through time with a blood ritual that was reactivated. I just don't understand what purpose traveling through time would have been in a demonic ritual." He was tapping his finger on his lower lip thinking. Demonic ritual?

  "You mean a ritual to summon demons, right?" I tried to understand.

  "It's more like people attempt to summon demons to gain power, mimicking a gift. It's dangerous because the host can easily be overtaken. The body would gain power, but the spirit would die." Isaake clarified. "I don't really know much else about it though."

  "And if the host is not overtaken?"

  "If the person could control the demon, then the power of the demon can be used," John spoke up this time. "It would make sense to use an artifact to try and summon that power out, such as the clock. It would also make sense that the power could still be trapped inside. “Where I'm confused is, that you would have awoken the power when you activated the artifact by bleeding on it. That means technically, the power would still be yours to control and you've shown no signs of holding power." He gave me a look as if to ask if that was correct. I shook my head confirming that I'm still the same little old me. "The next question, is why time travel and why now? If you were taken to the person who held the ritual or even the demon themselves, then it could be more believable. I'm stumped."

  "Okay. So, to summon it up, I touched a magical demon lamp and poofed here." I nodded my head as if that were perfectly normal. "Now, how do I get back home?"

  "Find the clock." John came out of his reverie at the idea of a game plan.

  "Small problem." I held my fingers up in a pinching motion. "I'm not Lara Croft and there are no clues as to where the clock is." I ignored the confused looks, knowing the others didn't understand half of the things I said anyway. "How are we going to find one clock that could be anywhere in the world?"

  "You came here, so I say we start here." Isaake declared. "There must be something that pulled you here, and there is always the chance the clock in this time was your anchor."

  My head was starting to spin around in circles. I was following the basic gist, but I was losing hope as well. The world is vast and there's no way I can travel all the space in it to find a clock. Especially when the car has not even been invented yet, much less a plane. If the clock was not here, then I was sure I was screwed.

  "Can you pull the clock to you?" Ollie spoke from the wall, reminding me of his presence.

  John was shaking his head before he answered. "Not without knowing anything about it. Honestly, I don't want to risk it either with there being triggers to activate it. It could be more dangerous."

  "So, I'm screwed." My voice was flat as I zoned out. I didn't ask for this. None of this. Why am I being punished when I've done no wrong? All I've done lately is look out for Abby. I've taken crap to do it and now the world decides to take a shit on me for no reason.

  A hand on top of mine brought me out of my inner turmoil. Nick leaned around me to speak to me face to face. "Not yet. Let's try and find the clock first."

  "If that doesn't work, then we try something else," Isaake added.

  "There's always the chance that the trials lead us somewhere." Raynor sounded optimistic.

  I looked to Ollie needing to hear him say he believed it would be okay too. He searched my face before nodding and straightening from the wall. "Might as well try before we give up." That wasn't as encouraging as I would have liked, but I'll take it.

  "I'm here until after the trials. Can you draw anything you remember about the clock? Anything at all that stands out would be helpful." John asked as Isaake stood up and moved behind me. I nodded my head as Isaake came back with a blank journal and pen.

  I started trying to draw the clock as the guys were trying to come up with a game plan. My drawing was not scaled correctly, but it wasn't terrible. I looked up when I heard what Raynor just said.

  "You expect to search every person's home for the clock?" I scoffed.

  "And then, we will look other places." Nick clarified sounding proud.

  "Do you have any idea how many people live here?" I asked incredulously. It was unrealistic to go about it that way, and time consuming too.

  "A few hundred, I think." Raynor looked towards Isaake. Ollie answered instead.

  "Just over five hundred now. The judge was complaining about it the other day." He then speared those grey eyes on me. "If you come up with a better plan, then we will do it your way, but for now this is what we have."

  I shook my head and passed over the drawing to John. I drew the clock and beside it, I tried to replicate the symbol as best I could remember. Pointing to the symbol I explained, "That was on the inside of the back panel. There's something written in there too, but I have no idea what it says, let alone what language it is." He nodded and past around the paper so everyone could view it.

  "I'll start at the meetinghouse. I must meet the minister and check in anyway. Oh, and Alexander arrived with me. Be careful." He nodded to the others before standing and putting on his hat. "It was a pleasure meeting you, Ms. Woods. Hopefully, we will hear some good news soon."

  "You too." I smiled back and watched as Ollie walked him out of the room. I collapsed back on to the table with my head facing towards Isaake. "This sucks," I admitted.

  Nick chuckled and started undoing my braid to run his fingers through my hair. "We will figure it out."

  "Yeah." I sighed not completely believing him. I didn't want to give up hope, but it was sure hard to hold onto it now. I closed my eyes and let Nick work the stress out. There's something about having your hair played with that makes things a bit better.

  "Tess," Isaake called out to me. I made some noise of acknowledgment but didn't open my eyes. "Are you alright?"

  "Just didn't sleep well last night," I admitted and looked up at him. His concern gave me a warm feeling and made me admit more. "I don't really sleep well at all anymore."

  "Why is that?" Raynor’s deep voice was just as calming as Isaake’s smoothness right now.

  "Abby," I admitted and refused to say more. I didn't need to think about it more right now.

  The look of sympathy on Isaake's face tempted me to talk more. Like I could spill all my secrets and he would hold me as I did him. I bit my tongue not wanting to cry right now.

  The guys must have realized I didn't want to talk about it because I heard the cards shuffling and Isaake's attention drifted to the table. "I was beating Ollie. Now we have to start over." Nick didn't sound too put out about that though.

  "Tough luck. Are you playing, Tess?" Raynor called out, shattering the miserable moment I was putting myself into.

  "Only if you let me pick the game. And it’s tough shit. Say it with me ‘tough shit’" The set of cards ended up in front of me and I looked up to see Raynor’s smirking face. I picked myself up with a groan to grab
the cards and shuffle. When Nick’s hand slipped off my hair, I just picked it up and put it back on top of my head. "The game is Rummy, and we play by my rules." I laid out the cards.

  "I'm not joining?" Nick asked from behind me.

  "No, because then you can't play with my hair," I argued my point. I heard Ollie’s chuckle from the doorway and laid out a set of cards for him too, pointing to the chair to sit.

  We would apparently be visiting five hundred people soon to find a clock. Taking ten minutes for a quick game sounded like bliss.

  16

  I awoke unsure where I was curled up. The room was coalesced shadows with a small amount of light infiltrating from holes in the wall. I sat up and looked around bemused. The bunker rooms?

  My last thought was of playing rummy with the others. Nick made me drowsy by running his hands through my hair until I passed him my cards to take my place. I must have fallen asleep when I put my head on the table and was listening to the men bantering.

  I walked to the door and found the guys on the other side still playing cards. My entrance focused everyone's attention on me.

  "Hey, sleepy head." Nick teased.

  "Don't you guys have anything better to do? A job? A life?" I walked over to them debating if I was supposed to just sit in Nick’s lap again.

  "That's just harsh. We are super special gifted people, remember?" Raynor winked. "We get to do what we want." Ollie snorted as Nick laughed and Isaake smiled.

  “Ollie and Nick cheat and help us with the crops on our land. Work is easy that way.” Isaake informed me. Ollie cleared his throat before changing the subject.

  "We were waiting on you, to make sure you were okay. You slept a long time." Ollie eyed me before asking, "Feeling better?"