The Long Chron

by Adam Oster

  Old Lance looks at me and frowns, looking like a reprimanded puppy. Other Griff has the same look on his face.

  Finally, Agnes steps forward. “It was mai idee, Chelle, mum. If’n youse is to blame anyones, it is to be me. I thought it wud be bess to meetcha in my ‘ome.”

  “Fine,” I say, turning away once again. “Then I blame you.”

  Chapter 58

  I storm off the platform and back into the main concourse of Chelle Station, feeling as I did months ago when Griff first picked me up. I look up at the green ceiling and am reminded of the first time I entered Grand Central Station and felt as though I had been transported to an entirely different world.

  Of course, I had been. It’s been ages since that day, since the day Griff changed my life forever. And now I’m supposed to believe that this person who has so directly changed my life, made me completely different from the person I was just mere months ago, is my son.

  I stop in my tracks, staring at the ceiling, seeing all that has been built, apparently in my name. All of this came from me. If Griff did all this, did it all because of me…

  I turn around, looking toward the area where I had left my supposed family. I see they have all followed me, standing just in the entry arch to the main concourse, staring at me wistfully.

  I suddenly realize why this was such a big deal, why they all felt completely comfortable in pulling me from everything I knew, just to get another moment with me. I suddenly fear that this would be the only time I would get to spend with my son, that if it weren’t for these moments, I would have never gotten to know him, or his wife. This glimpse into the future is a glimpse into a future without me. That’s what they haven’t been telling me. It’s not just that I die, it’s that I die before ever getting to know the man who would build all of this in my honor.

  Slowly, I walk back toward the three people watching me. Tears have begun streaming down my face as I near them. Lance is the first to run to my side, wrapping me up in his strong arms, making me feel as though this is the only place I could ever want to be.

  I break the silence, pulling from Lance and looking to Griff. “I understand now,” I smile. “Thank you.” He steps forward and wraps his arms around me, holding me tight enough I fear I may never be freed.

  “No, thank you, Mom. Thank you for being the amazing woman Dad has always told me you were. For being the person I needed you to be.”

  I feel him shaking as he holds me, the tears continuing to fall from my face.

  Once again, I separate myself from the embrace, now turning my attention toward Agnes. “Agnes, you had better treat him right, okay?”

  “Awright, mum,” she smiles. “Oi’ll do me best.”

  “You had better,” I smile, giving her a big hug as well. Separating myself from yet another strong-armed hold, I wipe the tears from my face and look to Lance questioningly. “So, what now?”

  “Well, dearie,” he says. “Although I’d luv to be having you around here for forever, we both know that can’t be done. You ‘as a big ol’ life to be livin’. One that will finally catch up with me at some point.”

  “But, are you okay? I mean, maybe I should try to stay away so you don’t have to—“

  “No, darlin’. I wouldn’t trade any of it fer tha world.”

  “Okay, but, where do I go from here?” I ask. “What do I do next?”

  “Whatever you want,” Griff smiles. “You’ve still got a lot of life left in you, and a ton of adventures left to go on.”

  “Great,” I smile. “That means I can take a break for a while, huh?”

  “Of course.”

  “Perfect. Which one of these trains will take me home?”

  “We’ll walk you to it,” Lance smiles.

  Chapter 59

  The three of them take me back to the train we had just departed from and we sit in a brief silence as the engineer leaves the station, headed toward my home town.

  “So,” I begin, feeling awkward as they continue to look at me, “I still don’t understand the whole grifting thing. Why teach me the ways of the game?”

  “Oh, that’s easy,” Griff smiles. “You see, those weren’t the rules of the grift, they’re the rules of time travel. In order to make sure that we don’t leave much of a trace when we’re mucking about in time, I developed a list of rules. I just modified them slightly to make them seem like they served a different purpose.”

  “So, the whole training thing, that was just to get me ready for this trip?” I ask.

  “Yep,” Griff says, pointing to Agnes. “It was all Aggie’s idea, too. You see, in your will, you had set up this requirement, that you would need to be there for all the important parts of my life, graduation, marriage, all that stuff. But what was most important in there was that you got to meet the woman I was going to marry before I followed through. I guess you had thought you deserved the ability to give your blessing on the whole thing.”

  “Wait, I don’t remember you graduating or anything else.”

  “Just think of it as one of those time travel things,” Griff chuckles.

  “Right,” I snap. “I guess that just hasn’t happened yet for me.”

  “So, do you?” Griff asks, leaning forward on his seat.

  “Do I what?”

  “Give your blessing? It’s kind of the whole reason you’re here, you realize.”

  “Oh,” I laugh, “of course. I may not know either of you well enough to get to be called mom, but you seem perfect together.”

  Agnes stands up from her seat and wraps me into a tight squeeze. “Oh, fanks, mum. I hopes you don’t mind if’n I calls you that.”

  “I have to admit, it’s still a little weird. Let’s stick with Chelle for now.”

  “Fanks, Chelle!” Agnes says, shaking me slightly before letting me go.

  “So, The Wizard,” I ask. “Is that all taken care of then?”

  “Of course, dearie,” Lance answers. “You were quite smart at that, locking him up back in the past. We’ve got an eye on him, doesn’t look like he’s going to get back out again.”

  “But what about all the things he did to the timeline, aren’t they going to be a problem?” I ask.

  “Oh, no,” Lance replies. “Tis a simple thing to reverse the things he did. Might mean a robot or two being placed in where folks have died, but nothing too big.”

  “What about the higher power or whatever The Wizard and Wyllt were saying was telling them what to do?”

  “I think that was all just a silly thing with The Wizard and all of his robots. Using different versions of himself to give himself messages or whatever,” Griff answers.

  “And Noll and Tenney?” I ask. “They were robots too?”

  “Yep,” Griff answers. “Got a little worried when you were traveling back in time further and we were noticing how much the stream was diverting from its path. Figured you needed some extra muscle.”

  “That’s a shame,” I frown. “I liked them.”

  “Good,” Agnes smiles. “They’s my bruvahs.”

  “Great,” I clap. “I got to meet the in-laws too!”

  “It was a pretty successful day,” Griff says with a deep breath.

  “What?” I ask. “What’s wrong?”

  “Nothing. Just realizing that you’re going to have to go off and live your life now,” he says as the brakes begin to squeal. “I’ve really enjoyed the past couple months with you, Mom. I mean, Chelle.”

  “I’ll never forget them,” I agree, a tear forming in my eyes as the train comes to a complete stop. “But this isn’t the last I’ll see of you, right? I mean, there’s still graduation, the wedding, maybe some grandkids or something? I mean, don’t rush on the grandkids, I’m a little young to be a grandma, after all.”

  All four of us laugh at the idea, and then a silence fills the air.

  “So, I guess this is it, huh?” I ask, looking out the windows to find the brick walls of the train station I had sat outside of what seems like a
ges ago.

  “That it ‘tis,” Lance says sadly.

  I look at each of them, knowing that there is nothing I can say, nothing I can do, that will make this moment feel complete. That no matter what I do, I’ll be walking off this train wishing I had more time. Wondering how a person capable of time travel could even find themselves without time.

  “Oh, I almos’ fergot,” Agnes says, reaching down under the chair by her feet and coming up with a box. “Fer you,” she says as she shoves it into my arms.

  “Don’t open it now,” Griff says quickly. “Also, thought you might miss having this around,” he says as he pulls out my backpack from hiding in the chair behind him. “You left it back at the stables.”

  “Okay,” I reply slowly, my words failing me. “Thanks.”

  Without a word, Lance pulls me into his arms and holds me tight. I feel as though I know nothing about this man who is embracing me, but the sadness of the moment doesn’t escape me. Although he may just be that stable boy to me, I obviously meant a great deal to him at some point. I find a tear crowding my eyes.

  Next thing I know, two more bodies join the embrace and we stand there, quiet, outside of the random sob, as we all search for some way to make this moment not have to end.

  Finally, I separate myself from them, realizing that if someone is going to end this, I’ll have to be the one.

  “Well,” I say, searching for the right words. “I guess you all know where to find me, right?”

  All three of them laugh with great exhales of air.

  “I really don’t know what to say,” I admit. “I’m sorry I didn’t stay around longer.”

  “We’re sorry we made you stay as long as you did,” Griff says, his eyes red.

  “I wouldn’t have traded it for the world.”

  I look each of them in the eyes once again before shrugging and turning on my heel to face the door to the normal world.

  With a simple three steps, I exit onto the platform that Griff had used to take me on my first train ride months, or centuries, ago, depending on how you look at it.

  I look out at the bustle of people walking around the outdoor station, realizing that I look as though I’m just another traveler getting off just another train, even if I’m wearing something a little odd.

  “Wait,” I say as I turn to look at the train. I wanted to ask about the rocket and if they had helped my shoe cause it to explode. I want to know why the robotic version of Griff would get time sick. I wanted to wave one last goodbye to what is apparently my future family. Instead, I find that the train is gone, that I’m alone with my backpack and the white box they handed me.

  Chapter 60

  As if in a daze, I walk forward off the platform and into the brick building that houses the ticketing counters and benches for waiting. I fall onto one of the many benches as I reflect on the events of the past couple months, specifically the last few days, while also coming to terms with the realization that I have absolutely no clue how to explain all this to my parents, when I do finally arrive at home.

  I look down at my hands to the white box Agnes had handed me, curious as to what item they might think I should have to remember them, and to be able to remind myself that it wasn’t all some sort of dream.

  Cautiously, I open the box, finding the inside filled with some sort of soft white cloth. I carefully lift the cloth out of the box, to find that it is cushioning something inside it.

  My locket, complete with the unmarked purple price sticker. The same one I got in New York. I press the button on top to find the clock still ticking, apparently refreshed and waiting to be used. I smile as I put the chain over my head and rest the sphere against my chest.

  I suddenly begin to question how they even knew I would find the sphere, much less pick it as something I’d want thrown into the pot on my Fiddle Game. In fact, the more I think about it, the more questions that pop up regarding how everything played out, how everything came to be. Maybe I should just use the sphere now and take myself back to that day in New York when Griff told me I was being given my final test, force him to give me all the answers.

  Of course, that might not have even been the real Griff. That could have been a robot too, right?

  I look off at the far wall as I consider all the things that had happened since I met Griff in this very station long ago and am greeted with a familiar face. She doesn’t see me, but there she is. Chelle, the much more innocent, naïve, and inexperienced Chelle of a few months ago, sitting at the bench in the far corner of this very room, looking scared and confused.

  And then a man appears at her side, with that same sickly sweet smile on his face that brought me into his world in the first place. The same smile that I find appears on my face as I think about the adventures that little lost girl is about to have.

  I look back down at the sphere in my hands and consider going back again.

  But then I remember the most important thing I learned during my travels through time. You can’t change the past, only live through it. You can only move forward hoping to better the world from where you found it. You can’t change what’s happened because it’s all already been done. You just need to sit back and enjoy the ride.

  I look up again at that girl that used to be me as she stands and walks off with the man who would become her son, and wish her safe journeys, knowing that all will turn out just fine for her.

  They have for me.

  “Gwendolyn Rochelle!” a voice yells over the crowd. I look up to find the angry, yet worried, face of my mother as she runs in my direction.

  I stand slowly, cringing for the yelling that is about to come.

  “Gwen!” she says as she pulls me into her arms and holds me tightly. I see my father joining us quickly as well, a look of relief crossing his face as we make eye contact.

  My mom finally lessens her hold on me, but keeps her hands on my shoulders, as if us losing physical contact could cause me to disappear from her again.

  “Where have you been?” she asks breathlessly. “And what are these clothes? And look what’s happened to your hair! And the smell, have you been rolling around in—“

  “Sweetheart,” my dad says, pulling my mom off me to give me a hug as well. “I’m sorry I yelled at you earlier. That doesn’t make running away okay or anything, but I should have realized that you’re grown up now and have—“

  “Dad,” I say, interrupting him. “Don’t worry about it. I was wrong. I don’t even remember what got me so mad, but I know that I was wrong.”

  My dad beams at me before wrapping me up into another hug.

  “Are those handcuffs?” my mom says as she lifts up my right hand to get a closer look.

  About the Author

  Adam Oster lives in Eau Claire, WI with his wife and two kids. Together they explore the world, giving him a plethora of new ideas for stories.

  Learn more about Adam at http://www.fatmogul.com/

  Sign up to receive e-mail notifications about new book releases by Adam Oster at http://fatmogul.com/email/

  Feel free to e-mail this author at: adam@fatmogul.com

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