by Simon Rose
Deanna had said that what she called the gift was different for everyone. Although Max had long refused to believe that he possessed any special kind of ability and had merely been manipulated by David’s ghost, he’d reluctantly come to accept it. He couldn’t read people’s thoughts like Deanna could or see ghosts in the same way as Julia. He’d seen David and also his mother, but in the first instance David was trying very hard to contact him. The other ghost was a relative so the situation wasn’t the same as with Julia’s power. She seemed prepared to accept what she was and develop her gift and see where it took her. To some degree Max remained in denial, yet he knew that he had some kind of paranormal power. The fact that his mother had had abilities that were of such strong interest to Kovac had convinced Max that he’d inherited this mysterious gift, even if he wasn’t exactly sure what it was or how to control or channel it correctly.
HIS DAD WAS still out at work when Max got home. He went inside and went up to his room, placing his backpack on the floor beside the dresser. Both his hands were shaking as he replaced his mother’s lock of hair in the wooden box and put the controller and cables back on top of the lid. Max knew that he needed something belonging to his dad to help him on his mission. He went into his dad’s room, and on the dresser, there was a framed photograph of his parents when they were young. Max took the picture into his room, took a deep breath, and lay down on the bed. Max was determined to have sufficient control of his dad’s body once he arrived at his intended destination. With his mother, Max hadn’t been able to alter the course of events by influencing her actions. He simply had to control his dad’s movements and decisions since he knew he had so little time to make a difference to save his mother.
Holding the frame tightly beneath his hands clasped together across his chest, Max did his best to focus on just about every memory of his dad that he’d ever had. Max began to relax and kept taking deep breaths, just as he’d done at Deanna’s house under her supervision. He didn’t have the benefit of Deanna’s voice growing increasingly faint but still felt as if he was drifting away. Suddenly, his mind was filled with images of him and his dad, each one rapidly moving further back in time until they were just a blur, then Max reappeared in a setting resembling the real world, but he was no longer in his room.
MAX WAS ON the train platform again. The sun was shining brightly as the passengers waited for the train. He even recognized some of their faces and the fragments of conversations that he could overhear. Yet this time it was different. Max glanced at the window of the kiosk beside him. His dad’s younger face was staring back at him and his hair was thick and black. Max was distracted when he heard a baby crying. He looked down and saw himself as an infant in the stroller.
“Is he okay?”
It was his mother, with her unmistakable brown hair and hazel eyes.
“Yeah, just a little hungry, I think,” Max heard himself reply. “Let’s hope he can wait until we get home.”
His mother leaned into the stroller and kissed the baby.
“Okay,” she said. “Just drive him up and down the platform a little. I’ll see if the train’s nearly here.”
Max watched his mother walk away toward the train tracks. He began to panic. His dad’s words were identical to those that he’d spoken on the previous occasions when Max had experienced this scene. His mother’s dialogue hadn’t altered either. Was he really powerless to change things and prevent her death? As his mother glanced back at him over her shoulder, Max felt himself turn the stroller to begin pushing it along the platform. It was now or never. He focused all his energy and made a supreme effort and stopped walking, bringing the stroller to a halt. He turned to a middle-aged woman that was walking toward the kiosk.
“Could you watch him for a second?” Max asked. “I just need to go and see my wife.”
The woman looked a little taken aback but mumbled that it was okay.
Max’s mother had now reached an empty section of the platform, almost right beside the entrance to the steps leading to the underpass. Max ran down the platform as his mother came to a stop. He reached her just as she began looking along the track while standing at the edge of the platform. She was shocked and whirled around when Max grabbed her forearm. Max then spun around too and saw the man in the shadowy underpass then felt a push. Max heard the screams of the other people in the station and the ear-splitting screech of the train’s brakes.
Chapter Sixteen
Altered Fates
MAX WOKE UP in his room with a jolt. He sat up on his bed, struggling to breathe. He immediately noticed that he had a nosebleed and went to grab a tissue from the bathroom. He went back to his room, and although initially everything looked the same, Max noticed the wooden box was missing from the top of his dresser. He couldn’t see the framed photograph of his parents either. He wondered if it might have fallen when he’d woken up so abruptly, but the frame wasn’t on the floor. Max quickly checked to see if he might have accidently kicked it under the bed but the photograph was nowhere to be seen.
Max picked up his phone and went downstairs, where he immediately noticed that the picture of his mom was missing from the shelf above the fireplace. However, it had been replaced by the framed photograph of his young parents that he’d been unable to find in his bedroom. Examining his surroundings, Max was perplexed. Things looked the same, but slightly different. The furniture was in the same place, as was the TV, but there was an unfamiliar wooden cabinet with double glass doors. The cabinet was filled with a collection of china dolls and a variety of delicate ornaments. He recognized some of the pictures on the walls but there were also ones that he’d never seen before, along with some decorative plates and framed photographs. Glancing into the kitchen, Max spotted the wooden box on the table. Max felt very confused as he went over to the kitchen. He gasped when he saw that the contents of the box were different than he remembered. Max sat down at the table and quickly examined some of the items. They weren’t just from his mother’s life anymore. There were now also items from his dad’s life and childhood, including school reports, certificates, and a few newspaper clippings. There were also photographs of his parents together in different locations, as well as family pictures taken at their wedding. What was going on?
“Oh, good, you’re awake.”
Max’s grandmother entered the kitchen through the door from the back yard, carrying a small plastic watering can.
“I thought I’d let you sleep while I tended to the flowers.”
She placed the watering can on the kitchen counter and sat down across the table from him.
“I see you’re still looking at your mom and dad’s things,” she said, smiling. “I hope it’s not too upsetting for you? As I said yesterday, I wanted to wait until you were ready, although I’m not sure if I ever really thought that you would be. Still, I promised I’d do this when you turned fifteen. I’ve been keeping this box ever since I moved in here to look after you.”
“What?” said Max, feeling thoroughly confused. “I don’t understand.”
“It’s fine, Max,” she said, reaching out and squeezing his hand. “I know that this must be quite stressful for you. I thought that you should learn more about them but it can’t be easy for you, especially knowing how they died.”
“How they died?” said Max, haltingly.
His grandmother wiped a tear from her cheek.
“It was so brave of your dad, trying to save her at the station. And then they were both killed by the train.”
Max was speechless. What had he done? His grandmother clearly meant well and cared for him deeply. Yet she had no idea what was going on in Max’s mind. He had to get away.
“I’m sorry,” he said, pushing back his chair and standing up from the table. “I need to go out.”
“Okay,” said his grandmother, smiling at him again. “I should have dinner ready around 6.30, so let me know if you’re going to be late.”
MAX BROKE INTO a run the second he closed t
he door to the condo. He didn’t stop for five blocks, his mind in complete turmoil. He was breathing rapidly as he tried to comprehend what was going on. How was this possible? Had he really transformed things so dramatically that both his parents were now long dead? It appeared that when he’d tried to save his mom at the station, both she and his dad had fallen under the train. He had to put things back to normal, although it was tough to determine what exactly normal was anymore. Only Deanna could help him now, despite the way she’d behaved when she asked him to leave her house. Max pulled out his phone. Deanna was no longer listed in his contacts. Max checked the recent call history too but her number didn’t appear there either. Had his actions affected Deanna too? Or perhaps somehow erased any details about their relationship?
Max journeyed to Deanna’s house on the bus, desperately trying to make sense of everything. Deanna had been right. It had been far too dangerous to try to change his mother’s fate and interfering with his dad’s timeline had proved disastrous. Max had been so sure that he was doing the right thing. Perhaps in the role of his dad he could’ve offered to watch for the train’s arrival while his mother pushed the stroller? Then she would never have been near the stairwell. But would she then still have been killed elsewhere? And what would’ve happened to his dad? It was all so impossible to figure out. Max would have to tell Deanna exactly what he’d done yet he knew that she was very unlikely to let him try again to save both his parents. It was doubtful if she’d even help him try to put things back to the way they were but he couldn’t risk doing it alone. He had no idea what might happen next time.
THE MATURE TREES, older properties, narrow streets, and everything else in Deanna’s neighbourhood looked much the same. Her car wasn’t parked outside her house but Max still hoped that she was at home. He pushed open the wooden gate to set in the high hedge and ran up to the front door. Max rang the bell and heard footsteps on the other side inside the house. The door opened and a young woman was standing there but it wasn’t Deanna.
“Where’s Deanna?” Max demanded. “I have to see her. Are you a friend of hers?”
“I’m sorry,” said the woman. “I think you must have the wrong house.”
“No, I don’t,” Max insisted, shaking his head. “Deanna Hastings lives here. She’s my friend and I really have to see her.”
The woman frowned and looked very confused.
“We’ve only lived here for a couple of months, but I don’t know anyone by that name in this neighbourhood.”
“No!” Max exclaimed. “This is all wrong! She lives here! I have to see her!”
A tall man in his early thirties emerged from the sitting room and joined the woman at the front door.
“What’s the problem?” he asked, looking first at the woman then at Max.
“He has the wrong house,” said the woman. “I keep telling him that but he’s getting very angry about it.”
“Do you want me to call the police?” asked the man.
Max stepped back from the door.
“No,” he said. “No, you don’t need to do that. I’m going.”
He turned and hurried through the gate and into the street. Where was Deanna? Had his actions at the train station somehow affected her timeline too? It didn’t make any sense.
“Excuse me.”
Max whirled around to see an elderly woman looking at him curiously as she stood on her front lawn beside the sidewalk.
“I couldn’t help overhearing,” she said. “Were you looking for Deanna Hastings?”
“Yes, I am. Do you know her?”
“I did once,” the woman replied. “Poor Deanna, it was so sad.”
“What happened to her?” asked Max.
“I knew her very well. She was a lovely young woman. She used to help me out sometimes, even drove me to some of my appointments at the doctors. The car accident was such a shock. She was always such a careful driver and always looked after that black car of hers. I was so upset when she died. All her neighbours were.”
“When did she die?” Max asked.
“It was in the early summer. The house was sold quite quickly and that young couple recently moved in. It was such a tragedy. Were you a close friend of Deanna’s?”
“Yes,” said Max. “I was. I’m sorry, I really have to go.”
He turned and ran off down the street, almost colliding with a car at the intersection. He kept running until he reached a small park. Max took refuge behind some shrubs and bushes and sat down with his back against a tree. He tried to remain calm as he attempted to make whatever sense he could of the nightmare in which he now found himself.
Max went over everything, trying to understand how things had changed. In his misguided rescue attempt to use his dad to save his mother at the station, he’d killed them both, that much was clear. It appeared that since he’d only been a baby at the time of his parents’ death, his grandmother had moved into the condo to take care of him. That was why some of the furniture, pictures, and other objects were the same while others were items that his grandmother had added over the years. But that wasn’t the only thing that had changed. As Deanna had feared when Max had told her about Connor and Drake’s interest in him and their visit to the school, Deanna was a likely target. The people connected to the operation had steadily been eliminated. The woman that had lived in Deanna’s neighbourhood had talked about a car accident but Max was in no doubt that it had been yet another murder. It must also have occurred just after he’d originally met her, no matter which timeline was used. Otherwise he’d never have been sent back into David’s life in the first place. Max also knew from all his recent experiences that changes to an existing timeline could always have unexpected consequences and lead to events going in a wild and unexpected direction. Deanna’s death somehow had to be a direct consequence of his actions.
When Max had first met Deanna, she’d explained how she’d left the city after her experience at the waterfront and only recently returned, keeping a low profile while working as a psychic. The altered chain of events meant that she’d never been involved in locating David’s body, but she was still one of Kovac’s victims. Max had no doubt that she’d been among those that had been silenced, with her death made to look like an accident.
Max had no idea what he was going to do. He could recall all the different timelines, including the revised one. Many of his memories were intact, such as his childhood, his time at school, even his imaginary friend as a child and his visits to Dr. Hammond. He also knew that he still had the same friends and attended the same school so some things were unchanged but it was wildly confusing. He remembered the different courses of events but also his recent experience with the box of objects, having ghostly experiences about both his parents, and doing the research on each of them, not just about his mother. He also had memories of meeting Julia, about Connor and Drake coming to school, the trip to Jeff’s house, as well as the incident at the hospital with Julia and their argument afterwards. The reason for their trip there had been slightly different but the events seemed to be the same.
Max pulled out his phone, not expecting Julia’s contact details to be there. Yet despite how things had changed, her number was still in the phone. Max’s call history also showed that he’d sent her texts after they’d parted but as yet Julia hadn’t replied. Since the messages still existed, he and Julia were obviously still acquainted. She also had psychic abilities so Max was hoping that she’d traversed the timelines and would still be able to help him. And yet even if Julia still knew him, Max had no idea how to find her.
His memories had somehow been replaced rather than altered. He still recalled everything from the different timelines that he’d experienced, but certain things were different too. Max still had memories of experiences with his dad and living with him while growing up. However, he also remembered living in the same place with everything featuring his grandmother instead—his adventure in David’s life, meeting Carrington at the park, meeting Deanna, th
e incident with Kane, as well as recent events. It was unbelievably weird. Max was thankful that he still retained thoughts from all the alternate versions of his life, yet as they multiplied and continued to diverge he wondered how long he’d be able to keep track and if some of the memories he still retained might eventually fade away altogether.
He’d left home in such a hurry that he hadn’t had time to grab his laptop. Fortunately, his phone was still fully charged so he was able to use it to get online. He typed in SecretConspiracyXpose but the website didn’t appear in any of the search results. Max tried several different spellings and arrangements of the words but there was nothing. He even searched Kovac’s name and other ways to see if there were any links but there was nothing. It appeared that Jesse’s site either no longer existed or had been taken offline. Depending on how quickly people had been eliminated in this revised timeline, perhaps Jesse had never even had the chance to set up the site. Another chilling possibility was that Jesse had also been eliminated and the site shut down, all traces of it erased by those responsible for the murders. Max wondered if he might be next. He acknowledged that they might not know of his connection to everything. Yet the fact that he still recalled Connor and Drake coming to the school confirmed to Max that he was far from safe.
HE DECIDED TO go home and at least try to figure out what he was going to do, even if the situation appeared hopeless. He stepped out of the bushes and made his way toward the park entrance. He’d only gone a few steps along the sidewalk in the direction of the nearest bus stop when he heard the wail of a police siren. Glancing over his shoulder Max saw a police car driving down the street in his direction. To his alarm, it screeched to a halt right beside him. A tall bulky officer with very short, jet-black hair got out of the driver’s side of the car. He stepped onto the sidewalk directly in front of Max. His colleague, a shorter, slightly-built man with thick brown hair, emerged from the car and stood on the sidewalk behind Max. He gulped as he realized that they were preventing his escape in either direction.