What Tomorrow May Bring

by Tony Bertauski

  “As a matter of fact…” Mary Brighton shuffled some papers on her desk and pulled out a thin manila folder. Inside was a piece of lined paper with a series of numbers jotted down in a neat cursive hand. “Ah, here we go. I had a feeling you might be back, so I took the liberty of checking the microfilm archives for newspaper articles about the Masons, the family that owned the property. Here’s a list of reel numbers and slide positions for the articles I found.” She handed Alessa the paper across the desk. There were two lines of numbers carefully recorded on the page. “All of the film and the reader machines are on the fourth floor. They’re relatively easy to use, but feel free to come get me if you run into any trouble.”

  “Thanks again for your help.” Clutching the paper, Alessa turned to go. This was already far more than she had been hoping for and she was eager to see what the articles contained.

  Ever since her encounter with Isaac in the bathroom a few days prior, Alessa’s obsession had taken on a new heat. He’d finally seen her. She was no longer an invisible bystander, but a fully acknowledged player in this strange game. By the look on his face, Alessa surmised that he had been just as surprised about this turn of events as she had.

  After he’d vanished the instant before she reached him, Alessa had slammed her arms into the water in frustration, streaking the walls with a splash of bubbles. The situation was infuriating to Alessa. She’d been so close to a breakthrough, and then nothing.

  She wondered what he had seen when he looked at her. Did he realize he was dead? If he’d been wandering that house alone for almost 100 years, she could only imagine what a shock it would be to turn around and find someone else there. Did he know who she was? Did he think she was another lost soul? She hadn’t a clue how to find out, but she was determined to try.

  She hadn’t been able to stop replaying the scene in her mind, wishing she’d had the courage to move faster, or the insight to realize sooner that he’d been looking at her. She had to be ready to act the next time she saw him, and in the meantime, she needed to do everything she could to learn more about him.

  Alessa took the stairs two at a time up to the fourth floor and followed the signs to the microfilm archive. The shelves of film were neatly organized and clearly numbered, and it was only a matter of moments until Alessa set her eyes on the reels that the librarian had indicated.

  The microfilm projectors had instructions posted nearby and Alessa was able to load the first reel easily enough. She turned on the scanner’s backlight and booted the attached computer, double-clicking the icon for the scanner program on the desktop.

  The first slide popped up immediately. It was an issue of the local paper, The Courier, from 1916, the year before Isaac’s house had changed hands to his uncle. Alessa checked the list Mary Brighton had given her and navigated to the suggested slide.

  Alessa gasped. There in black and white was Isaac, dressed smartly in a dark suit and grinning with pride. She’d never seen him so cheerful. He was standing alongside two well-heeled middle-aged adults, who Alessa guessed were his father and mother, and a young girl who must have been his sister, Josephine. In the photo, a man behind a podium was handing some sort of plaque to Isaac’s father while they looked on, smiling. The headline on the article indicated that he was being presented with an award by the local Chamber of Commerce. Alessa continued to read.

  MASON MANOR HONORED FOR MERCANTILE ACHIEVEMENT

  On August 10th, Albert Mason, owner of Mason Manor, was recognized by the Chamber of Commerce for Outstanding Achievement in Production and Trade. Mason Manor was one of 11 local businesses nominated for this year’s award. Remarks from Chamber President Thomas Browning indicated that Mason Manor was selected for continuing economic achievement. “This growing season, Mason Manor is producing a variety of crops at record levels, marking our township as a popular center of commerce for traders throughout the region. The Mason family has been an influential member of our town for many generations and we are proud to honor Albert Mason for his service.”

  The article was only a stub, but the photo was more valuable than any words could have been. Alessa couldn’t take her eyes off of Isaac. It was surreal to see him here, to have clear evidence that he actually existed, that he was once a person with a life and a family and hopes and dreams. Affection bloomed within her chest. She longed to see Isaac as he once was – whole and happy and alive.

  Alessa took a screenshot of the photo and article and logged into her webmail, attaching the screenshot to an email addressed to herself. On second thought, she added Janie to the email as well.

  Alessa sat back in her chair, still gazing in awe at the photograph on her screen. The hair, his build, those eyes – they were all the same as the figure she’d been seeing. Isaac, her ghost, was real. There was no question in her mind anymore that she’d imagined any of it.

  Alessa’s head was swimming. She’d had her suspicions about the ghost’s name and what had happened to him, but there was always that voice of doubt in the back of her mind, whispering that none of this made any sense. But now Alessa knew for certain that the ghost was once an actual person. Now she had genuine proof. Without a doubt, the ghost was Isaac Mason.

  Alessa’s hands trembled with excitement as she removed the first film. She didn’t know what she would find in the next article, but she was certain that whatever it was would give her a fuller picture of Isaac’s life, and help her to better understand who he was and maybe even why he had appeared to her. She fumbled with the second reel while attaching it – she felt like she couldn’t move fast enough.

  Alessa paged through the slides with a hunger, finally stopping on the spot the librarian had designated. It was the front page of The Courier from the 14th of April, 1917. Alessa’s eyes greedily scanned the page, impatient to find the next bit of information.

  She didn’t have to look far. It was blared across the main headline, in big bold letters:

  MASON FAMILY PERISHES IN TRAGIC FIRE

  Bile rose in the back of Alessa’s throat. The blood drained from her head and her vision blurred as she tried to digest what she’d just read. The whole family had died in a fire. No. All of them? Isaac and his parents and little doe-eyed Josephine? The thought of that much loss was too terrible to entertain.

  The strength of Alessa’s reaction surprised her. She’d known Isaac was dead, and she’d already guessed that something tragic had happened to the family. But it hadn’t felt real before. In this moment, it didn’t feel like Alessa was reading a sad story that happened to some long-gone family over a century ago. She felt like she was reading about people she loved.

  She felt like she was reading about her parents.

  Alessa’s realization took her right back to the night her parents had died, standing in the doorway as it dawned on her why the police had knocked on her door in the middle of the night. The nausea, the dizziness, the denial. It was the same. Alessa sucked down air as she struggled to stay upright in her seat. She felt like someone had opened her up and scraped out her insides, leaving her empty and exposed and cold.

  She took a moment to steady herself before she read the article, each word a searing stab in the chest.

  MASON FAMILY PERISHES IN TRAGIC FIRE

  Mason Manor was the site of a tragic barn fire which claimed the lives of all four members of the prominent Mason family yesterday evening, including Albert, 42 years of age, Martha, 41, Isaac, 17, and Josephine, 9. The Fire Department and Sheriff are still investigating the official cause of the fire, but witnesses on scene speculated that it was likely due to an unfortunate accident.

  The Masons’ housekeeper, Henrietta Jameson, was the first to notice the blaze. As she explained, “I was in the kitchen preparing supper and I saw little Miss Josephine heading out toward the barn. A few minutes later, I smelled smoke, and when I looked up, the entire barn was aflame. I called to Mr. Mason and he and the Missus ran outside to help.”

  The Masons and their household servants doused th
e barn with buckets of water and were able to free many of the horses that were trapped inside. After a short while, they heard young Josephine Mason calling for help from inside the barn. According to the housekeeper Ms. Jameson, “When we realized Miss Josephine was in the barn, that’s when things really got bad. She always loved to play in that hayloft and I suppose she was up there when the fire started and got trapped.”

  Mr. Mason rushed to his daughter’s aid. Eyewitnesses report that shortly after he entered the barn, a section of the wall collapsed, but as far as they could tell from the outside, Mr. Mason had not been hurt.

  At that point, the family’s son, Isaac Mason, had noticed the blaze and come out to join the firefighting effort. When he learned from his mother, Mrs. Martha Mason, that Albert and Josephine were inside, Isaac too dashed into the inferno.

  A tearful Ms. Jameson recounted his last words. “He turned to Mrs. Martha and said, ‘No, this is all my fault.’ Then he just leapt into the flames the same as Mr. Mason had done.”

  At the time Isaac entered the burning barn, the building was showing signs of severe structural damage and instability. Witnesses report that shortly after Isaac disappeared from view, two walls and the roof of the barn collapsed inward. All three Mason family members inside were killed.

  Though Mrs. Mason was safe from the blaze, she was severely affected by the emotional trauma of the incident. Not long after the barn collapsed killing her husband and two children, she suffered a heart attack and doctors were unable to revive her. Mrs. Mason was known for many years to have had a weak heart.

  The tragic and sudden loss of this well-known local family has left many in a state of disbelief. The Masons were best known for their successful agricultural business and were recently honored by the Chamber of Commerce in August of last year. The Masons are survived by Albert’s brother, William, a prominent local businessman, and will be honored in a ceremony at St. Anthony’s Church later this week.

  Tears splattered onto the keyboard in front of Alessa with a soft whap. The sound pulled her back from the article and she remembered where she was. She wiped her face self-consciously and glanced around. Mercifully, there was no one nearby to see her weep.

  Alessa hung her head in her hands, mentally reviewing the devastation of the article. A barn fire, Josephine trapped in the loft. Albert rushes in to save her, then Isaac comes outside and learns what’s going on. It’s “all my fault,” he says, and runs into the burning barn. Isaac’s mother watches helplessly as her family is burnt alive, then dies from the shock of it all. It was a wonder that Isaac was the only ghost she was seeing. It was just too horrible to contemplate.

  Alessa felt physically sick. She knew she should have expected something like this, but she’d been completely blindsided by the article, especially coming off the high she’d felt after finding Isaac’s photo. Isaac’s entire life had flashed through her mind in the span of only a few moments, and it was more than she could handle. Alessa felt like her chest had been ripped open and now only an empty hole remained where her heart had been beating moments before.

  She wanted to do something to comfort Isaac, but what could she do? Having lost her own family, she well understood the intense emotional pain he was experiencing when he had died; she was still feeling it over a year later. There was no way he could have accepted his loss in the few moments he had before the barn collapsed, and so he’d gotten trapped between this life and whatever came next. He’d probably been reliving that horrific night over and over again for a century, a fate far worse than death.

  How could she help him move on? She knew now that Isaac was more than just a figment of her imagination. He was a real person, and one she felt as obligated to as if he were her own family. She needed to do something. The only question was, what?

  17. DESPERATION

  Alessa frantically rapped on Janie’s bedroom door. “Janie, are you in there?”

  “Yeah, yeah, one sec!” Janie called from inside with a hint of irritation. She opened the door with her hair in a towel, one hand holding her bathrobe closed. She caught the look on Alessa’s face and her expression changed to concern. “What’s wrong? Are you okay?”

  “No,” Alessa moaned as she pushed past Janie and sat down hard on the bed. She leaned forward with her elbows on her knees and her head in her hands, sniffling, her long hair falling in front of her face. She tried to breathe deeply through her nose but only succeeded in clogging it further.

  Janie closed the door behind her and stared at Alessa’s hunched form with concern. She tied the belt of her bathrobe and pulled her desk chair around to face her friend. She sat down directly in front of Alessa and placed her hands on Alessa’s knees, mirroring her position in sympathy.

  “Less, tell me what happened. You’re scaring me.”

  Alessa took another loud sniffle and brushed her hair back, looking up at Janie with glassy red eyes that still shined from the tears she’d shed on her walk back from the library. “I know how they died, Isaac and his whole family. It’s terrible, Janie.”

  Janie clenched her jaw and waited for Alessa to continue.

  Alessa took a quivering breath. “It was a fire. In a barn. Isaac’s sister was trapped inside.” She snatched a tissue from the nightstand and blew her nose. “Then his father went in to save her, and Isaac followed, and then it collapsed on all three of them. His mother watched everything from outside the barn then died of a heart attack later that night.”

  “That’s horrible,” Janie agreed, though she didn’t look nearly as shaken as Alessa. “How did you find out?”

  “From some old newspaper articles in the library archives.” Alessa wiped her nose again.

  Janie rubbed Alessa’s shoulder in an effort to console her. “I’m sorry, Less, that’s really sad.”

  Alessa just sniffed again.

  “Didn’t you expect that it would be something like this?”

  Alessa nodded. “Yeah. I don’t know… It just brought back a lot of feelings, from when I lost my parents.”

  Janie got up and retrieved a bottle of water from the fridge, which she held out to Alessa.

  Alessa accepted the bottle and took a swig, clearing her throat. After a moment she added, “I found a picture of him. It’s in your email.”

  Janie snatched her laptop from the desk and plopped down on the bed beside Alessa, opening the attachment in Alessa’s email. She stared at the photo as Alessa watched her reaction.

  For a brief moment, Alessa saw what looked like recognition – and maybe relief? – cross Janie’s eyes. Puzzled, Alessa was about to ask Janie what she was thinking but then her odd expression was replaced by curiosity and approval. Alessa thought she must have misread Janie’s initial reaction.

  Still eyeing the photo, Janie said, “Well, I can certainly see how he snagged your attention. I wouldn’t mind this guy popping up in my bedroom from time to time, either.”

  Alessa leaked a small smile. Janie always knew how to lighten her mood. Exhaling, Alessa rubbed her eyes and wiped the tears from her face. “Sorry I’m such a mess. It was just such a shock, to see him there in that photo and finally know for sure that he was real, and then minutes later read about this horrible thing that happened to him.” She shook her head.

  “It must have been hard.” Janie squeezed Alessa’s hand.

  They sat in silence for a few moments, each lost in their own thoughts.

  Then Janie asked, “Do you know how the fire started?”

  “Not really. The article was from the day after and just said they were still investigating, but that it was probably an accident. Though it did also mention that Isaac had said something about it being his fault before he went into the barn.”

  “That’s odd. I wonder what he meant.”

  “Yeah, me too.” Dejectedly, Alessa added, “I’m sure we’ll never find out.”

  “Well…” Janie paused to assess Alessa’s condition before continuing, concerned about adding more turbulence to Aless
a’s already difficult day. “I don’t want to get your hopes up or anything – because it’s a long shot – but I was thinking about the ghost theories you were telling me about, specifically the time warp theory…”

  Alessa cocked her head in interest.

  “Did you do the reading for our next unit in physics yet?”

  Alessa signaled that she hadn’t.

  “Well, it’s about electromagnetism, and there was a sidebar in one of the chapters about how spikes in the planet’s naturally occurring electromagnetic waves can cause weird changes in perception in certain locations. So I was thinking, what if our house is on one of these spikes? Maybe that could cause some sort of ‘wrinkle’ in the space-time continuum which is allowing you to see into the past?” Janie rolled her eyes at herself and chuckled. “I sound like some nerd from a sci-fi movie or something.”

  Alessa smirked in agreement, but stayed quiet. She was eager to hear more of Janie’s theory.

  “Anyway, I was thinking that maybe there’s some scientific explanation for why you keep seeing Isaac, something about our times crossing paths. And I thought that maybe if we can figure out what’s causing it, you might be able to contact him.”

  Alessa perked up. She thought she knew where Janie was going with this. “You think… I could warn him?”

  “Maybe… I don’t know. It’s just a guess. I have no idea how to go about doing this, of course.”

  Alessa’s mind was racing. Maybe this was why Isaac had appeared to her. Maybe she really was supposed to help him. Maybe she could save him.

  Janie interrupted her reverie. “Less – don’t get too excited. Remember that much smarter people than us have been trying to solve the problem of time travel pretty much forever and they’ve made almost zero progress. I don’t think we’re going to have much better luck.”

  Something Alessa had read during the fog after her parents’ deaths surfaced in her mind. “No, no – Janie, that’s it. They have made progress. Do you remember the news that came out last fall about those scientists who had created a particle accelerator that could move things faster than the speed of light?”