by Rae Agatha
“This is just unreal what’s happening. Un-real. I am getting more and more anxious about all of this.”
Rick took off his flannel shirt and held it in his hand.
“Where are you from?” Anna asked him.
“New York city.”
“Funny.”
“What?” He looked at her not understanding her comment at all.
“Funny, because you seem to be wearing quite warm clothes and summers are hot as hell in New York city.”
“Yesterday was a surprisingly cool night.”
“Okay.”
They entered the forest hoping to find a road that would get them back to the civilization. Rick kept thinking about Anna’s watch. 2013.
How the hell was that possible?
Chapter 2
Dan Salinger had been wandering around the wheat field for only God knows how long. The crops, so tall they were reaching his hands, were swinging lazily, pushed by an almost imperceptible, yet omnipresent wind, making the mercilessly scorching sun at least a bit bearable. The wheat was tingling his palms, a feeling at first quite pleasant, but overall irritating, so he finally put his hands into the pockets. The sky was clear and it wasn’t until he had gone out of the woods that he started to appreciate the shadow the trees had been giving him.
The last sane thing that he remembered was his bedroom where he went to see his wife after being away all day. It was quite late and Kate was already getting ready to go to sleep. He came to their bedroom, but when she saw him she only turned the night lamp off. He understood that and came in only to hug her; the gesture made her visibly uncomfortable. It seemed to Dan that since the surgery Kate was completely deprived of any needs for physical contact.(Only the surgery, come on Dan, you know it’s not only that.)
Delicately but firmly pushed away, he put the night lamp by his side of the bed off and walked downstairs to the living room. He prepared himself a drink, turned the TV on and stretched out on the sofa to read some newspapers he hadn’t had a chance to scan during the week. Looking through the economy section, he did not even notice when he fell asleep. Dan did not know how long he was sleeping, perhaps five minutes, perhaps eight hours (most probably he was still sleeping), but he woke up when the feeling of warmth was becoming unbearable. Once he opened his eyes, he realized he was in a forest. The air was very warm, it seemed like the middle of summer and, apart from all the surrealistic circumstances, that would have been a perfect day to have a nice cold beer and a barbeque party.
At first he thought it was a dream, but now, after at least a few hours, he was not so sure anymore. Yes, of course the feeling of time is quite specific in a dream, but he kind of had a feeling he ought to have woken up by now.
After he had realized where he was, he decided he needed to move, to start walking. Perhaps in order to find some other people, a highway or, who knows, someone to let him use his cell. Even a phone booth would do. At that thought he reached to his pocket and it turned out he did not have his wallet with him, so any pre-paid phone would have been useless anyway. It was also then it occurred to him that he was wearing the same clothes he had on when he came back home last night: an elegant sports jacket, a shirt under it, beige suede trousers and leather shoes. He left his wallet and cell phone on a chest of drawers in the bedroom when he came back home. Well, perhaps a phone booth, provided he was to find one, would at least allow him to make an emergency call, those did not require any payment, and he felt he really needed help. Dan decided he would try to call the police, maybe they could pick him up and take him home. It sounded like a good plan, but, think about it Dan, how will you describe leaving your home? Because you must have left it somehow in order to be helped to get back there. How will you explain a deep-sleep teleportation? It was true. Even if, by any chance, he would call help, how would he describe his location? No, first of all, he needed to know exactly where he was and how he got there.
The forest was very dense. Coniferous and broadleaved trees where mixed and there were countless bushes and tall grass. The air was filled with moist scent, characteristic for woods, and Dan had to walk carefully not to trip over tangled tree roots. Not knowing where exactly he was heading, and an excruciating headache he had been feeling since he woke up were not helping him realize where he was nor where he was going. He felt the hands of panic trying to grip his throat and it was truly an awful, overwhelming feeling. He really wanted to wake up.
At one point he thought that maybe there were animals living in the forest. God only knew where he was, there might have been all sorts of creatures; wolves, wild boars, moose, bears. Perhaps they were already observing him, getting ready to attack the moment he would lose his balance and fall over. Just the thought of that made him breathe heavily and walk faster.
Dan did not have a watch with him, so he figured he would control the time by looking at the sun, to know, at least vaguely, when it would be getting dark; it would have a been a real nightmare if he had to spend the night in those goddamn woods. To his amazement though, the sun seemed to have been in exactly the same position all the time. Maybe it was due to the illusion of time created in a dream that he thought it did not move. Dan did not know what to think; hardly did he know anything at this time, anyway.
After what seemed to be an eternity, he finally saw the forest end. The trees were not so dense anymore and there was definitely more sunlight ahead of him. Dan walked toward it fast, driven by the hope of finding someone, something, anything that would help him get back home. Or, at least, wake up. It meant the same thing, anyway. To his surprise, immediately after the forest ended, a field of wheat appeared, so huge it seemed to reach the horizon. Dan thought it was actually a good sign, after all the field had to belong to somebody and maybe there was a village nearby, or at least he could spot a farmer somewhere around who would tell him where he was and where he should be going.
The wheat was very dense and it was quite difficult to walk through it at a normal pace. Then again, Dan was now really tired and it seemed more and more tempting just to lie down and take some rest. He felt exhausted, hungry, thirsty and, irritated. For a second he thought that the basic needs for water and energy were the things that kept him sane, otherwise, at this point, he would most probably have a panic attack.
At first, Dan wanted to eat some grains, but they were all still greenish, too fresh to consume them. Finally, he sat on the ground and decided to get some rest. As he was lying among the wheat, which was unpleasantly scratching his back through the shirt, with his palm protecting his eyes from the sun, Dan was seriously considering going back to the woods in the search of a shelter and maybe some berries, when he heard two voices. He immediately stood up, and started looking for the people. There they were, a woman and a man, clumsily trying to walk through the tall and stiff wheat.
“Hey!” Dan shouted.
The couple stopped and looked directly at him. He started waving his arms. He was saved! He knew it!
Anna and Rick were both relieved when they saw a man calling them; they were not alone. They immediately started walking toward him.
“Do you think he lives here?” Anna asked.
“I don’t know, but God I hope so, maybe he knows how to find the highway.”
“And maybe he has some food or water.”
When they met a few seconds later, the man did not even bother to shake their hands, he just hugged them, overjoyed.
“What a nightmare, oh my God!” He finally said, still visibly happy.
“Yeah, we know!” Rick replied and reciprocated the hug.
“So, listen,” Dan said, “Do you have a mobile phone? I need to make a phone call, I’ve been here for some hours, I need to call my wife; she’s probably worried.”
“Oh, we’d love to help you, but we don’t have any phones,” Anna replied. “If we had, we would have used them, too.”
“Okay, then, maybe you have a phone at home? Do you live far away from this field?”
“What
are you talking about?” Rick asked. “We don’t live here. We have no idea where we are and how we got here. Don’t you live here?”
Dan was looking at them for some time, completely taken aback, waiting for them to burst out laughing. The couple, however, remained perfectly serious.
Chapter 3
Dan could not believe what he was hearing. The couple claimed they had found themselves in the woods in exactly the same way as he did. They woke up, it was as simple as that, and found themselves there. The initial relief which warmed his heart once he saw Anna and Rick, was gone; he was again confused and lost.
“So, we don’t know where we are or how we got here, or how to come back home, am I right?” He finally asked.
“Yes,” Anna replied.
Dan started laughing nervously and finally said: “Let’s get the hell out of this field, I’ve been wandering in this bloody cereal way too long.”
“But where should we go?” Anna asked.
“I think I can see a road ahead,” Rick said. He was squinting his eyes and covering his forehead with his palm to see better. “Let’s go there, if we start walking along it, we might finally see someone, maybe someone could give us a lift.”
“To go where exactly?” Dan said. He was looking in the same direction and had to agree the idea was good, however, he couldn’t help but wonder what they were going to do next.
“I have no idea, we’ll vote then,” Rick replied.
“Have you noticed that we’ve been standing here for some time, and no car has passed?” Anna said quietly, not sure if she was saying that to herself or to them. Both Dan and Rick looked at her but didn’t reply.
Everyone started walking, they were silent for quite a long time. The fields were difficult to walk through and Anna rolled down her pants as the wheat heads were itching her legs. Rick looked at the sky, the sun hadn’t moved a bit. How much time had passed since he woke up and met Anna?
“Anna, what time is it?” He asked her.
“It’s almost 9:00 p.m., I’ve checked it a few minutes ago,” she replied. “You’re thinking about the sun, aren’t you?”
He did not reply, only nodded his head. The sun was hanging almost vertically above them, however, Anna’s watch was working, so perhaps the time was moving forward after all. The time was moving, but the sun wasn’t. Who knew those two could function separately?
“What do you mean, thinking about the sun?” Dan asked.
“What’s your name?” Anna asked.
“Dan, sorry, I forgot to introduce myself,” he replied and they all shook their hands. “So, um, how long have you been here, Dan?” Anna
asked.
“I don’t know, like I said, a few hours, for sure. Why?”
“Anna’s been here for over eight hours now. I woke up in the middle of the glade nearly two hours ago. Perhaps you haven’t noticed, but,” Rick started explaining.
“But what?” Dan asked a bit nervously.
“But the sun hasn’t changed its position. I mean, eight hours, and the sun hasn’t moved at all. It’s –it’s not going down.”
“You’re joking.”
“I wish,” Anna replied. “I got here around 1 pm, according to my watch it’s almost 9:00 p.m., but feels like noon.”
“I mean, I’ve noticed the sun isn’t moving, I had no idea it’s been that long, though,” Dan said puzzled.
“When are you from, Dan?” Rick asked.
“London.”
“Not where, when?” Anna said.
“What do you mean? That’s a really weird question.”
“I’m pretty sure that weird is going to be on the top of the adjective list that we’re going to use in the nearest future,” Rick muttered.
“What day is it, Dan?” Anna repeated her question.
“It’s the seventh of May 2005.”
Anna nervously snorted, covered her mouth and looked away. Rick who was walking some steps ahead of them stopped and turned around.
“2005?”
“Yes. Tony Blair is the prime minister, again, John Paul II died, and people are waiting for Batman Begins…”
“Oh Jesus”, Rick sighed.
“What? What the hell?” Dan asked nervously.
“I’m from New York, Anna’s from Boston.
“Yeah, okay, so what?”
“The thing is I’m from 2013 and Rick’s from 2001,” Anna replied.
“What?! Are you fucking kidding me right now?”
“No, we’re not, I swear to God, this is what it is. Anna, show Dan your watch.”
Anna came up to Dan and stretched out her arm so he could study her watch and read the date it displayed.
“Maybe it’s just messed up, you know, not working? The batteries are weak or something?”
“How many watches with weak batteries that would actually push the time forward have you seen? Isn’t it usually that weak batteries slow the watches down? Think about it,” Rick replied.
“There’s one more proof,” Anna said and showed Dan her driving licence.
Dan had no idea what to say. He looked at Anna’s watch one more time, at the document, too, having completely no recognition of what was happening. He couldn’t comprehend it. 2001? 2013? What the hell were they talking about?
“What were you doing before you woke up here?” Rick asked. They started walking again.
“I was at home, lying on the sofa reading a newspaper. I-I remember I got home late, made myself a drink and wanted to catch up with what was going on around the world.”
They were all silent for a while.
“What’s going on? Where are we?” Dan finally asked.
“We know just as much as you do,” Anna replied. “We both woke up here today.”
“Together?”
“No, I found Rick when I was walking out of the woods.” Anna decided to roll her trousers up again, despite the irritating itchy feeling, she still preferred that to the discomfort to the heat she was experiencing again. She also untied the sweater and was now holding it in her hand.
“Why are you dressed like that? It’s spring time, isn’t it? And you look like you were getting ready for a blizzard. Or maybe you’re one of those people who feel constantly cold? My wife’s like that. She always sleeps wearing her socks,” Dan said, but Anna quickly interrupted.
“Apart from years, months are also inaccurate. I’m from February 2013. When I was still at home, what seemed like an eternity ago, it was snowing and I was sitting in a café, drinking hot coffee, enjoying a book.”
“I’m from July. New York. People are melting from the humidity and heatwave,” Rick interjected.
“But you are dressed quite warm,” Dan remarked.
“I fell asleep on a bench when I was at Battery Park, by the water. It was the middle of the night.”
“What were you doing at night in a park?” Anna asked.
“Thinking. I needed time to think,” Rick replied and cleared his throat.
“What about you, you look quite formal.” Anna said pointing at Dan.
“I got home from work about half an hour before I fell asleep.”
They kept on walking. Once the wheat finally ended, they crossed a wide strip of grass and found themselves on a wide, sandy road. On the other side of it there was another strip of grass and the forest continued. Obviously.
“Where the hell are we?” Dan sighed quietly, speaking to himself rather than the others.
“Some rural area, obviously.” Anna heard him and replied.
“Yes, I can see that, but rural area where exactly?”
“Or when?” Rick said.
Anna and Dan looked at him attentively.
“What do you mean?” Anna asked.
“I mean that anything is possible. We’re all from different places, different years, months. Who knows what year, what month it is here? Is it some kind of a compromise between all our times and dates? Or is it something completely different, like, I don’t know, 2050
? Or, maybe 1870? I mean – who knows where we are – who knows when we are, ”Rick said nervously and put his hands behind his head. “We might be anywhere. Anytime.”
They were all silent for a moment, each of them looking in a different direction.
“So, where are we going?” Dan asked.
“With the sun shining right above us all the time, we can’t even decide if we’re going east or west. I don’t know, left or right then,” Rick said and shrugged his shoulders.
“So is it left, or right?” Anna asked.
“Does anyone have a coin?” Dan asked.
“No, no coins, no straws,” Ricked answered. “We might just as well randomly go that direction,” he pointed to his right.
“Why there?” said Dan.
“Why not?” Rick replied.
“Okay, let’s go then. I only hope we finally get to drink and eat something. I’m starving and I hardly have any saliva left in my mouth,” Anna said.
“Jesus, the sun really isn’t moving,” Dan said looking at the sky.
“No, it’s not,” Anna replied.
“You know what? I’m not that much concerned about the sun not moving. I’ll be far more worried once it finally does,” Rick said.