The Traveler: A Time Travel Thriller

by Fredric Shernoff

  I was disoriented, still trying to make sense of what had just happened, when I realized I was completely naked. I got to my feet as quickly as possible, stumbling over myself in my hurry. I looked around, expecting people to be staring at me, but there was nobody there. It was still night, just as it had been as I sat in my car moments earlier, but it was darker. Much, much darker. In my confusion and frantic search for cover I didn’t stop to think about why that was. Only when I had hidden myself in some nearby bushes did I start to realize what I was seeing…or rather not seeing.

  There were no lights. No streetlights anywhere. The convenience store… well, it was different. Where there had been a standard 24/7 shop there was now a simple, wooden structure with a large front porch. It looked like what you’d see in old-time, yellowing photographs, with men sitting around smoking and chatting about somebody’s cows or chickens or something. There was nobody on the porch now, though. Nobody anywhere, from the looks of it. The place was closed for the evening.

  I felt panic creep in and my pulse quickened. What was happening to me? I pinched myself to see if it was a dream but nothing changed. For the first time in months I thought about the night in the shower. This was like that, but it was different, too. That had been a passing, freaky blip of an experience. This was ongoing. I was able to sit and take stock of my surroundings. While that sounds like it should have calmed me, it had the opposite effect. The more I looked around, the more I listened to the silence and smelled the distant scent of horses, the more upset I became.

  I’m not an idiot. I knew what appeared to have happened…I had gone back in time. I say “appeared” because I didn’t believe it was really happening. I had entertained the possibility of brain cancer before, but now I was convinced. I wished I hadn’t been so stubborn and had listened to Helena about going to the doctor. I thought I was probably sitting in my car outside the convenience store at that very moment screaming and hollering gibberish. And yet… my mind felt so clear.

  I sat there with my thoughts racing for a long time. I couldn’t say how long, seeing as how I didn’t have my cellphone or even a watch. I’ll never understand how it happened but somehow I fell asleep.

  I woke to the sound of a voice yelling at me. “Sir? Sir? I need you to wake up now.”

  I opened my eyes. The early morning sunlight told me I’d been out for quite a while. The face of the police officer staring down at me told me that I was in trouble.

  “Sir, can you tell me your name?”

  “I’m Daniel Wells.”

  “Mr. Wells… can you explain why you’re sitting in the bushes and not wearing any clothes?”

  I sat up, the previous night’s events rushing back to me. I could see the convenience store behind the officer, and my car not far from the police cruiser. Yet, here I was, under the bushes and naked. “I don’t really know, sir,” I managed. “I went to pick up dinner last night and I don’t remember anything else.”

  That wasn’t true, of course. I just thought I was better off appearing like some kind of a victim than a mental patient.

  The officer looked suspicious. “You don’t remember anything,” he repeated.

  “That’s right. But that’s my car over there. Maybe my belongings would be there?”

  He let me get up, putting a coat over me. He followed me over to my car. The engine was still running, with the keys in the ignition. I realized how lucky I was that I lived in a safe town. It was pretty amazing that the car was still there. Inside, my clothes were draped across the seat. My shoes were on the floor on the driver’s side with socks positioned properly inside them. I had to admit it all looked very strange.

  The policeman called over to his partner, who had been leaning against their vehicle. “Officer Smith,” he said to the new guy, “this gentleman here has no explanation for how he came to be naked in the bushes with his car running and his clothes laid out in the driver’s seat. Odd, don’t you think?”

  “Yeah, I’d say that’s pretty odd, Officer Nelson.” Officer Smith turned to me. “Would you mind taking a breathalizer?”

  “Not at all,” I said. “I haven’t had anything to drink.”

  Officer Smith gave me a look that said he’d heard that one before.

  Sure enough, there was no trace of alcohol in my system.

  “Well, that’s surprising,” said Officer Nelson. “What do you say you get your clothes on, and we’ll follow you down to the station where we can have a little chat?”

  I didn’t see any alternative. I just wanted to get this over with as soon as possible and call Helena to let her know I was okay. “Alright, just give me a second. I think I’m going to need some gas.”

  The officers laughed. They hadn’t quite figured me out, but they seemed to have decided that I didn’t present a clear danger. I dressed, squirming around in the seat as I put my clothing back where it belonged, and drove the car to the fuel tanks at the far end of the parking lot. The officers waited in their car, watching me a little too carefully. While the pumps slowly provided gasoline, I fished my cellphone out of my pocket. It had only a fraction of battery life remaining, and I had seventeen missed calls and five voicemails from my wife.

  Sighing, I hit the button to return Helena’s calls. She answered on the second ring. “Dan? Where the hell are you? Are you okay? I thought you were dead! I kept calling the hospital.”

  I waited until she paused for breath. “Honey, I’m fine,” I said. “Something…something weird happened and I’m headed to the police station right now to answer a few questions. Can you meet me down there?”

  “The police? Danny… what did you do?”

  I became defensive. Helena always had that effect on me. “I didn’t do anything! I told you, something happened to me. I’ll explain when I see you. Just please trust me that I’m okay. I’ll see you soon. I love you.” I hung up before she had a chance to protest further. I drove as carefully as I possibly could, not wanting to have the police nab me for erratic driving or speeding on the way to the station. I knew they were watching me for signs of something wrong that might explain the whole odd scenario. I just wanted to get through all this and be able to confide in Helena that I thought it was time to go see the doctor after all.

  At the station, the officers popped out of their car quickly and were waiting for me by the time I turned off the ignition and opened the door. They escorted me, a little too close for comfort, and walked me in to the station. I explained to them that my wife was on her way, and they assured me she would be brought back to see me when she arrived.

  I was glad to see that they weren’t arresting me or making any effort to book me, though I didn’t trust for a second that I would remain so fortunate. Officers Smith and Nelson led me to a small interrogation room, probably the only such room in the whole tiny station.

  “So…Mr. Wells,” said Smith. “Would you mind telling us again how you came to be naked in the bushes?”

  I could tell from his tone of voice that he found my predicament to be amusing, if slightly concerning.

  “I don’t know,” I said again. “I was sitting in my car listening to music at night and then the next thing I knew I was waking up on the side of the parking lot. I…I think I might be sick.” My voice trembled as I said that last part. Though I was leaving out what I assumed was a whopper of a hallucination, I wanted to be honest with the police. I had done nothing wrong, and I really was scared.

  The officers exchanged glances. When Officer Nelson spoke, his voice was sympathetic. “Mr. Wells, have you been tested for any kind of mental illness? Anything like that?”

  “No,” I said. “My wife wanted me to go to the doctor after I had a confusing spell a few months back.” I lowered my head in shame. “I didn’t go.”

  “Well, that wasn’t particularly smart. What was the previous incident?”

  I told them about the situation in the shower, leaving out the part about the woman. Their faces registered an appropriate amount of conce
rn.

  “Hmm,” Officer Nelson said. “Well, we’re inclined to let you go with a warning this time, but all of this is pretty disturbing, Mr. Wells. I hope you see that. You need to look into these problems you’re having before it gets you into worse trouble.”

  “I certainly agree,” I said. “I don’t consider it to be a laughing matter, that’s for sure.”

  “Good,” said Officer Smith.

  Just then Helena came bursting into the room. She looked awful, like she hadn’t slept all night. I felt so terrible at that moment. “Daniel!” she called out as she came over and wrapped her arms around me. “Thank God you’re okay.” She turned to the officers. “Is my husband in trouble?”

  Officer Smith shook his head. “No, ma’am. He doesn’t have any priors and nobody saw him running around naked or anything.”

  “Naked?” She turned to me. “You were naked in public?”

  I felt myself blush. “It’s not like that exactly. There’s…something wrong with me, I think.”

  “Yeah, I’d say so,” she said. “What the hell happened to you?”

  “Mrs. Wells,” said Officer Nelson, “I’d strongly advise you to get your husband to a doctor. A blackout like he experienced when there’s no drugs or alcohol in his system…well, it doesn’t sound good, ma’am.”

  Helena smacked me on the back. “I told you to go see a doctor after you fell in the bathroom!”

  “You’re right,” I said. “I’m sorry! I’ll go next week. I promise.”

  “In the meantime,” said Officer Smith, “I think you should take it easy and avoid wandering around by yourself.” He looked at Helena. “If he’s caught like that again we may have to give him more than a warning.”

  “Got it, officer,” she said. She give me a sour look. “Right, Daniel?”

  “Right.” The confusion of the whole experience and my concerns about what may or may not be occurring in my brain had drained me. I just wanted to go home and curl up for a while. We thanked the officers and walked out to the parking lot. Helena kept looking at me in this bizarre way, like I might spontaneously combust or something. I didn’t care for it. We said goodbye and got in our respective cars. She followed carefully behind me all the way home.

  Chapter 3

  1

  Helena accompanied me to the doctor the next week despite my repeated protests that I was okay to go to the appointment on my own. We sat in the waiting room and read magazines. I tried not to convey how nervous I was but Helena picked up on it anyway.

  “I’m sure everything’s going to be fine, Dan,” she said.

  “I hope so,” I replied. “I have my concerns. This stuff happening to me…it’s not normal.”

  “It doesn’t sound all that unusual,” she said. “Maybe it’s like a blood pressure thing or something. I don’t think it’s good for you to get all worked up and come up with your own theories about this. Have you been looking on WebMD? I’ve told you, I think the Internet is a dangerous thing when people start diagnosing themselves.”

  “I haven’t been using the Internet,” I said. “I just… I have reason to worry.”

  “What reasons?” she asked.

  Just then the nurse poked her head out of the door. “Daniel Wells?”

  We were brought back to a small exam room where the nurse took my vitals and said the doctor would be in shortly. Doctor Park had been my general practitioner for several years and I trusted his judgement. When he arrived five minutes later he listened carefully as I told him about the fall in the shower and the previous week’s adventure outside the convenience store. At first I simply relayed the same story I had shared with Helena and the police officers. Then, suddenly, I decided to tell more. I guess it had something to do with how scared I was. I figured there was an uncomfortably large chance that I might not have a great deal of time left on the earth.

  “Doc,” I started, “Before I fell asleep in the bushes… something happened.”

  Helena’s mouth dropped open. “What…what are you talking about, Danny?”

  “Go on,” said Doctor Park. “What happened, Daniel?”

  “I found myself on the ground, in the dirt outside the convenience store, only it wasn’t the same store. It was…old, like a place people would shop that you’d see in old postcards. Like a…uh…”

  “Like a general store?” the doctor asked.

  “Yes! An old-fashioned general store. And the lot was just dirt and it was empty. I saw I was naked and I ran and hid. That’s when I fell asleep and when I woke up the officer was standing over me, like I told you.”

  Helena looked furious. She was always getting so angry at me…though maybe this time I could give her a pass. “Daniel,” she said, “why didn’t you tell me this before?”

  “Because I was scared,” I said. “I’m still scared. I think I’m losing my mind.”

  “Now there’s no reason to jump to conclusions like that,” said Doctor Park. “Let me examine you here and then I’m going to refer you over for a few scans at the hospital. I’m sure we’ll find that everything’s okay. Sometimes bizarre things are just brought on by stress. It’s possible what you thought you experienced was really a half-dream as you wandered over to the side of the parking lot. Like sleep-walking.”

  When he put it like that, it did seem plausible. I started to relax for the first time since the incident. Doctor Park put me through a standard physical. At every step, especially when he examined my eyes, I kept expecting him to discover something horrible. When he was done, he smiled at me. “Daniel, I can’t find anything out of the ordinary. As I said, I’ll set you up for some further tests but I would suggest you stop worrying.”

  “I’m not thrilled,” said Helena as we walked out of the doctor’s office.

  “You’re not thrilled that the doctor told me I seem okay?”

  “Well… no, it’s not that. I mean, of course I’m glad he didn’t find anything wrong. But still, with what happened to you… in a weird way I’d feel better if we had some kind of diagnosis. Does that make sense, or am I just a horrible person?”

  I smiled at her. “It makes sense…and you’re only a moderately horrible person.”

  “Hey!” she said. “I’m the one who’s standing by my husband who likes to run around town in the nude.”

  “Yup, that’s me. Town nudist.”

  2

  In the few days between the visit to the doctor and my schedule tests, I became more and more convinced I was going to die. Though I had no more episodes during that time I became more depressed and moody. Finally Helena called me out on it.

  “You need to stop being an asshole,” she said in her inimitable way.

  “You don’t understand what I’ve been going through. I’ve seen things during these episodes…”

  “Right,” she said. “I know. The general store.”

  “Yes but there were other things. Other times.”

  “Like what?” she asked.

  I waved the question away. “It doesn’t matter. It’s just freaking me out. You’re right though. I’ve been a dick and you deserve better than that. I’m sorry.”

  “It’s okay,” she said. “Just remember that there are two of us in this marriage, and I’m supporting you through all this shit but it’s not fair to me for you to get all down and take it out on me.”

  I began my usual defense, calling her out on making the situation about her, but decided to let it go. “Right, okay. Sorry.” I responded with a weak smile.

  Two days after that conversation we went to the hospital for the battery of tests Doctor Park had arranged for me. I went through MRI’s, CT scans, blood tests and many of the same physical examinations that Doctor Park had performed previously.

  Helena and I sat for over an hour waiting for a doctor to come see me. I was so glad to have her with me as I faced what I was sure would be a devastating diagnosis. Finally, a young doctor came in to the room. His face was expressionless, which I interpreted as represent
ing bad news.

  “Mr. Wells,” he said, “We are still waiting for some of the results to come in but I can tell you that you do not appear to have anything dangerously wrong with you.”

  I breathed a sigh of relief, then thought about what he had said. “Dangerously wrong? So…there’s something wrong with me that’s not dangerous?”

  The doctor smiled. “I wouldn’t say there’s anything ‘wrong,’ exactly. There are a few regions in the back of your brain that are larger than normal.” He saw the look on my face. “I don’t mean any kind of a tumor! This is totally normal, functional tissue. An untrained eye probably wouldn’t see anything unusual. We’re talking about a very slight, though measurable, difference.”

  “So, what does it mean? Is that what’s causing my…episodes?”

  The doctor nodded. “There’s no way to be one hundred percent certain, but I think so. There is still a great deal we don’t know about the brain and how it works. The parts of your brain that we’re talking about are known to be involved in REM sleep. I think there’s something going on there that’s causing your hallucinations.”

  “But, doctor,” said Helena, “can’t you do something? What if this happens to him again?”

  “I’m going to give you a prescription for some medication.” He turned to me. “I want you to keep a pill with you at all times. You can get a small container to throw in your pocket. If you feel the problem starting to happen, take a pill. It should suppress some of the activity in that part of your brain, if that is what’s happening. I can’t say you’ll prevent another episode, but you might be able to minimize the severity and the duration. Honestly, I wish I could give you a better answer. If you were able to know when these bouts were going to happen and we could have you hooked up to some equipment as it happened, that might tell us more. For all we know, you might not have any more episodes anyway.”