“Eventually, yes.” Tyler set up two chairs so that they were facing each other. “But I wanted to get an interview with you for this project I’m working on and figured this would be a good setting for it—you know, the room where it happened. Plus no one ever comes here this early on a Sunday, so I figure we’re good for at least another hour or so.”
Tyler gestured to one of the chairs, and Elias obliged.
“So what would you like me to do?”
“Just be yourself and answer each question honestly.”
It sounded simple enough to Elias. And he was just relieved that Tyler was not angry with him for anything he had done at the party. If he had to sit through a few questions before they could go out and do something exciting, so be it.
Tyler situated himself in the seat across from Elias and pointed the camera in his direction before asking the first question, though technically, it was more of an instruction, “Please state your full name and where and when you were born.”
“My name is Elias Caldwell, and I was born in London, Britain on the seventeenth of May in 1869.”
“What were your plans for the future up until this point?”
Elias couldn’t help but let a sardonic laugh slip. “Well, I had very little mapped out previously. I was about ready to attend university…Cambridge, more specifically. But my parents had other plans. They didn’t feel I was…refined enough to enter into society and represent the Caldwell name. They wanted me to attend a reformatory school first.”
“Was it just you and your parents?”
Elias shook his head. “There was my paternal grandfather, who was also living with us. And my younger sister, Samantha.”
“How old is she?”
“Seven, was about to turn eight not long after I left.” Even as his heart panged with guilt and his eyes were rimmed with the threat of tears, Elias felt a smile spread across his face as he thought of his sweet little sister. He had been so caught up in the wildness that had occurred since his grandfather had placed the watch in his palm, he hadn’t stopped to think of what Samantha might be going through. Surely she knew he was gone by now, but hopefully their grandfather had come up with a good story to tell her. He hoped she was okay and that she would not miss him too dearly.
“So how did you get to be here now?”
Elias paused a moment then pulled out the watch from the pocket of the jeans he was wearing for emphasis. He kept the trinket on his person at all times. Though he had no intention of leaving any time soon, having the option was still comforting in a way, and he was fearful of what would happen if he were to lose it.
“My grandfather saw that I was unhappy…that I had been unhappy for a long time. And he gave me this watch. When I was a child, he was always away on holiday and travelling to exotic places. He revealed to me that it was this object that allowed him to travel, not only to different places but to different decades and eras in time as well. Of course, I did not believe him when he told me, but he made the argument that if none of it was true then there was nothing to lose by trying it…and so I did.”
“How did it work?”
“Well, my grandfather had told me to close my eyes and to focus. He said that I would need to concentrate on the place and the time that I wished to travel to for it to work properly. At the time of my departure, though, I was, shall we say, in a bit of a hurry. I didn’t focus on anywhere or anytime which I realize now was rather risky. Yet here I am, and in one piece, too. It was surreal. I hardly realized it was happening, and yet I can remember one moment where I felt almost weightless. Only when I opened my eyes was I disoriented, because the realization sunk in that I was no longer in my own home. It just seemed so impossible.”
“What do you like about being here so far?”
Elias thought for a moment. “I like that this is a place where, from what it seems, people are not only allowed but encouraged to be different. It is…refreshing. And also precisely what I was looking for when I left.” He also wanted to say And I like you but figured that was not the sort of answer Tyler was seeking for this project.
“Is there anything you regret so far about the decision to leave home?”
“I will miss my sister and my grandfather more than words can express, but regret? No, I do not regret the decision. I felt so alone, with nowhere to turn. I was being suffocated in a life that had not been truly meant for but planned out for me, nonetheless. I was miserable. Being here, even if it has been for only a short time, I see that the misery I was experiencing was not my only option and is not how my life has to be. And if I were to go back…” Elias reached into his mind for the next words, but the thought of being back in his mother and father’s household, going to parties with people who thought so little of him, and never being enough for anyone—it brought back the suffocating feeling he had previously been discussing, and so his next words were a struggle as he found it suddenly harder to breathe. “I can’t go back, Tyler I can’t. I won’t. If you don’t want me here then I’ll find somewhere but please…I just, I can’t go back there!”
The tears that were previously threatening to emerge when he thought about Samantha were stinging his eyes once more, but he quickly rubbed them away. At this point, Tyler put aside the camera on the nearest desk and came over to Elias, wrapping his arms around him. “It’s okay,” Tyler said. “This is your choice. No one is going to make you do anything you don’t want to do.”
Before now, only his grandfather had offered the same understanding and comfort. As he sat there in the warmth of Tyler’s embrace he thought that perhaps, for once, maybe things would turn out okay.
“Hey, let’s get out of here,” Tyler said.
Elias took a deep, calming breath then looked around. “You don’t have any more questions for me?”
“Eh, I think we’ve had enough of that for one day.”
“But what about your film?” Elias asked.
“I mean…I still have to hold up my end of the bargain,” Tyler said.
“What do you mean?”
“I promised to help show you around, learn about what it’s like to be in the future…or in the now, I guess? Either way, come on, I think you’re really going to like this.”
Tyler grabbed his things and made for the front door, so Elias followed. Since the moment he’d arrived in that very library he had blindly put his trust in the redheaded boy. There was little point in stopping now. In fact, if their exchange just before had taught him anything, it was that Tyler deserved even more of his trust.
He followed Tyler out to the lot where his automobile was stationed. Elias was still hesitant around the behemoths of industry and engineering, which must have been abundantly clear, because Tyler opened the door for Elias and waited patiently for him to get settled before starting the car and driving off.
“Where are we going?” Elias finally asked.
“If I tell you it would ruin the surprise.” Tyler seemed to think about his answer for a moment. “Well, actually, no it wouldn’t because it wouldn’t make any sense to you. They didn’t exist where you’re from. Just wait. You’ll see.”
After a bit of driving, Tyler turned into a large lot, like the one at the school’s campus, signaling to Elias that they had arrived at their destination. Elias peered out the window of the auto and saw rows of shops all lined up in one building that, in spite of being in the future and in spite of everything being so incredible and new, looked rather unremarkable.
When the auto came to a complete halt, Elias felt like he could ask, “What is this place?”
Tyler fanned his arm out in a sweeping motion as they each got out of the vehicle, “Behold, the glory that is the strip mall!”
Elias forced a smile, but it must not have been convincing, because Tyler burst out laughing.
“It doesn’t look like much, but it’s what’s on the inside that matters,” Tyler explained.
The sentiment caused a genuine smile to form on Elias’s face.
/> Tyler nodded in the direction of a pair of doors at the far-right-end of the “strip.” He looked at Elias over his shoulder and asked, “Don’t you trust me?”
I do trust you, Elias thought. And so he trotted along after Tyler, eager to see what this impromptu surprise was.
As they walked through the doors, Elias stifled a gasp. Tyler hadn’t been joking when he suggested that the interior would be far more exciting than the exterior. The difference was night and day, which was appropriate considering the space they were in might as well have been veiled in night. The windowless space would likely have been pitch black were it not for the many glowing screens, flashing lights, and even paint that was somehow luminescent, decorating the walls in the shape of stars and planets to look like the very cosmos.
“What…what is it?” Elias asked, breathlessly.
“It’s called the arcade,” Tyler said. “It’s where you can come for games, prizes, games, food that’s delicious but terrible for you, and oh yeah, more games.”
“Where do we even start?”
“Well, first we’re gonna need tokens.”
Tyler went to the front desk and exchanged his paper money for coins, or “tokens” as he had called them. After that he led Elias to one of the large columns with a glowing screen and started showing him how the controls worked. Using a lever which Tyler referred to as the “joystick,” Elias was able to control a small, yellow, circular being that gobbled up pellets while being chased by colorful ghosts. Each time one of the ghosts came near him his heart rate spiked, but as soon as he was able to get away and eat one of the larger pellets, making all the ghosts a flashing blue, he felt on top of the world—the predator rather than the prey.
He kept losing but assured himself that with each new token he was that much closer to mastering the game. Tyler eventually came and pulled him away.
“Oh come now, just one more round! I was so close to collecting all the little fruits.”
“Pac-man is great, no denying that, but I brought you here to get the full arcade experience, not just one game,” Tyler said. He led Elias across the room to a large pair of screens that had silver platforms in front of them. Upon each platform was a central black tile with the letters D-D-R, and surrounding it were four other black tiles, each with an arrow pointing in the corresponding direction, vaguely similar to a compass.
“I figured we could try a game that we could play together,” Tyler continued. “This one is called Dance, Dance, Revolution.”
Elias looked about for the joysticks or buttons. “Where are the controls for this game?”
Tyler lifted his left leg slightly and circled his foot about in the air. “Right here,” he said with a laugh. “It’s a dancing game.” He nodded to the screen. “You watch the monitor and then”—he pointed down to the black arrows on the floor—“you stomp your foot on the tile that matches the one that pops up on the screen.”
Elias nodded and stepped up on the left-most platform. Tyler popped in a couple of tokens and took his place atop the platform on the right. He turned to Elias as the voice blaring from the machine started counting them down to the start. “Don’t worry if you don’t get the hang of it right away. Honestly, it can take some practice.”
“I shall do my best to keep up,” Elias said with a nod.
Once the game commenced, Elias hopped gracefully from one foot to the other, obediently tapping his foot on the tiles illuminated by the pink and blue lights as they so commanded. Sweat made his skin slick and his breath grew shorter as the speed of the game accelerated. He let himself get lost in the music and the lights. He barely noticed when the level was over. He kept tapping his feet but realized there were no lights corresponding with the movements anymore.
He looked over to Tyler who was standing completely still on the center tile on his platform, his mouth hanging open. Elias snuck a glance over at Tyler’s monitor and noticed that his score, compared to Elias’s own, was rather abysmal.
“What…but…how…but…huh?”
Elias laughed. “When you’re a part of high society it is expected that you grow up cultured and skilled. I have mastered at least seven different forms of dance over the course of my short life. And I must say if this is what you Americans pass off as dancing, I pity you.”
Tyler threw his head back and laughed. “Trust me, there is much worse dancing than this. You haven’t even seen the half of it.”
They decided to take a break for refreshments, which consisted of fizzy sugar water and a feathery confection Tyler called “cotton candy” which was essentially just more sugar in fluff form.
Tyler then lead Elias to a game called Skee-Ball.
“So you’re given a certain amount of balls and you roll one up the platform and try to get the ball to land in one of the holes. The rim shows you the number of points that each one is worth. Here, I’ll go first.” Tyler swung his arm back and released the wooden (or at least, wooden-looking) ball. It rolled up the pathway and landed in a socket that had a rim with the number 300 painted in white numbers. Suddenly, near the opening where the balls were released, a thin slot started releasing paper tickets that looked like the sort of admit-one tickets that were given when you went to the circus.
Elias pointed, “Why is it doing that?”
“Those are tickets I won for sinking the ball.”
“But that doesn’t make any sense,” Elias said. “Why would the prize be tickets, what good are they?”
“The tickets aren’t the actual prize,” Tyler explained. He pointed back to the main entrance. “You exchange them there for one of the prizes behind the counter.” Tyler cracked his knuckles before ripping off the line of tickets that had spewed out of the machine. “I should probably start picking out which prize I actually want. That stuffed pug is pretty cute. Obviously, I’ll be the one winning all the tickets, but don’t worry, I’ll get you something, too, if you’re nice.” He flashed Elias a grin.
“Oh is that so?” Elias asked, stepping into Tyler’s personal space, their faces inches from each other. “We’ll just see about that.” Elias bent over and grabbed one of the balls (definitely not wooden). “I’m going to win more tickets than you could fathom.”
“Bring it on,” Tyler said.
“I surprised you with that dancing game, didn’t I?”
“Fair,” Tyler conceded.
Elias wound his arm back but as soon as he started to bring it forward again the ball loosed before he had intended it, and when his arm was in front of him once more, he was not surprised to see that his hand was empty. The harsh sound of glass breaking let him know that the result had been disastrous, but Tyler’s arm was already around his own and Tyler was yanking him toward the door before he could get a good look at the damage he had done.
“Let’s go!”
“Hey!” A burly man with dark bushy sideburns framing a round face and topped with a bald head shouted at them from behind the counter as they passed, but Tyler was too quick for him, and they were out the door before the employee could work his way around to the other side.
The disparity between the lack of light in the arcade, save for artificial glowing ones, and the natural light of day, was jarring and hurt Elias’s eyes, but he shielded them with his free hand and continued after Tyler until they were safely in his auto. Usually Tyler was thoughtful about waiting for Elias to get completely settled before starting up the engine, but there was no time to waste. Tyler had the thing flying out of the lot, wheels swerving and screeching as they went, before Elias could clasp the buckle of his seatbelt into its holster.
“I am so sorry,” Elias said, unsure if he wanted to curl up and die or burst out laughing.
“What? Why?”
“I didn’t mean to vandalize the place. Now we are wanted criminals.” Elias threw in a playful grin to let Tyler know he was joking.
“Trust me, that’s hardly the worst damage they’ve had to deal with after some kid doing something stupid.”
/> “Pfft.” Elias crossed his arms over his chest. “Stupid, huh?”
“Oh, no offense!” Tyler said quickly, like the afterthought that it was. He then laughed.
Elias looked down, and his eyes caught sight of the ribbon of blue tickets poking out of Tyler’s pocket.
“And we didn’t even get to exchange your tickets for same fanciful prize.”
“Huh,” Tyler said absent-mindedly, his eyes fixed on the road. He quickly glanced down at his lap. “Oh right.” He reached down and pulled out the strand of tickets, handing them to Elias. “Here, you can have them as like a keepsake or something.”
Elias riffled with the tickets. He ripped one off the end and twirled it between his fingers before folding them all up and sliding the keepsakes gently into his own pocket.
As the auto pulled into the increasingly familiar lot at Briar Grove Academy, an odd yet wonderful sensation struck Elias. Since arriving, the only real excursion he had taken from the school’s campus was the first night to that museum. Otherwise, he hadn’t experienced what it was like to go away and come back. Now, as they returned, it really felt like he was coming home.
“Well I hope that got your mind off things, at least for a little bit,” Tyler said.
“It was delightful, thank you.”
Tyler reached for his keys but Elias grabbed his wrist. “Wait…can we just stay? Maybe listen to one more song on the radio?”
Tyler could have easily told him no. They could play music in the dorm room; Tyler had done so before. But he obliged, pulling his arm back to his side. They both sat there, as the hum of the music filled the automobile and the sun sank lower in the sky. This excursion was meant to make him feel better, and while doing so, it was also another door opening. Tyler had been showing him the future—teaching him about things that had once seemed impossible. Now, Elias was more determined than ever to make Tyler’s world his world as well. To make this home.
Chapter Twelve
Dreams on Hold
Between the kiss, the embarrassment that quickly followed, Eli’s emotional breakdown during the interview, and the amazing time they’d had at the arcade, Tyler was not prepared to go back to classes on Monday. He considered faking sick but decided to just suffer through whatever mockery he was sure to receive.
The Time Traveler's Guide to Modern Romance Page 9