by Rae Agatha
“Matylda,” Anna said softly and put her hand on the girl’s shoulder. “Your parents couldn’t have made a bigger mistake than letting you go,” she said and she meant it. Matylda looked at her and felt she was about to cry. She tried to fight it, but she finally burst in tears. For the first time in years, she felt she was letting go; the pain, the loneliness and the fear that she had made the wrong choices, the yearning for home and family, and the gigantic disappointment in Dorota. It all started pouring out from her. Anna hugged her tight; Rick and Dan put their hands on her shoulders; for the first time in her life she really felt she wasn’t alone.
***
While they were eating potatoes and drinking the tea, they kept on talking about themselves, about their lives, their problems, about why they wanted to go home, who they wanted to return to.
Rick told them about his life with Monica, how they reunited years ago and how they were now falling apart. Anna admitted she would have thought twice about starting the relationship with Brian, so far it had caused her a lot of stress and humiliation, and, apart from all the good things about it, she admitted there wasn’t a single day she wouldn’t have had doubts about her decision. Dan said that having his son was the bestthing that had ever happened to him and even though he had made a lot of mistakes in his life, then despite what his marriage looked like, and no matter what was the reason it happened in the first place, he had never regretted meeting Kate. Matylda admitted that she missed her parents, that things have not turned out as she had wanted, that deep inside she hoped they would have accepted her, made an exception, since she was their daughter, and there’s nothing more hurtful for a child than to be rejected by the parents.
Rick wanted to reunite with Monica, there was nothing else in the world he wanted more than to settle all misunderstandings with her, to make her feel safe again, to let the nightmare of the assault go, to leave it behind.
Dan couldn’t wait to hug his son again; he felt that first of all he wanted to go back to Johnny. He loved the boy with his whole heart and the mere thought of perhaps never seeing him again made his heart shrink, that little Johnny was the very essence of his life.
Anna wanted to go back home; she feel she was missing Brian, but on the other hand, she was afraid that going back home meant a probable confrontation with Tom, and she had to admit, she was afraid of that.
Matylda wanted to go back to settle things with Dorota. Everyone agreed that it was a bad relationship that Dorota didn’t care about Matylda as much as she should have, and that Matylda needed to leave her. Anna said that, in her opinion, Dorota wasn’t able to make any bigger steps in her life on her own, thus she kept using Matylda’s emotions and her attachment, to purse her own plans, because she felt more secure with her girlfriend than on her own. The scout-girl was listening to it all, and only kept on nodding. She knew they were right, and, frankly speaking, they weren’t saying anything to her she hadn’t already known. It felt good, though; she felt supported, it was something new for her.
Chapter 13
The storm seemed to be ending, the sky was a bit clearer, although still heavily overcast. The fire was burning out.
“It’s almost 1:00 p.m., we’ve been sitting here for about two hours,” Anna said as she glanced at her watch.
“Have you wondered what’s in the chests?” Rick asked.
They looked at him, but nobody said anything.
“How about checking it out? Maybe we can find something useful to us?” he continued.
“Okay, let’s go,” Dan said and got up.
“Wait,” Matylda said and got up. “I’ll open the shutters we won’t be able to see anything otherwise.”
She went to one of the glass windows, opened it and stepped out.
Rick smiled; that was how she got back inside before the storm started. Within moments, the shutters were open and Matylda came back inside through the main door. She was quite wet, even though the heavy rain was almost over; it was still intensely drizzling outside.
Opening the shutters did not help much, it was still quite dark in the hut, but it was possible to see things. Matylda opened all the windows to make sure the smoke from the fire didn’t stay inside. Finally, they all gathered inside the storage room with three big oak chests on the floor, all of them closed.
“Hey, Fire-eater, I think we’ll all need your help to open those,” Anna said.
All of them had padlocks on them. Matylda took out her Swiss Knife and knelt by the first chest. She was looking for the right tool in the set and finally she decided to give it a try with the tweezers. She inserted it into the padlock’s keyhole and started gently turning it left and right until it finally opened. Matylda walked around the room and unlocked the other two chests.
Anna opened hers and found some clothes in it. They were all dusty and smelled old. She started taking them out, one by one; found two warm coats, three white, long-sleeved, men shirts, and some high boots. There were three pairs of warm, sheepskin mittens, two woolen hats and a pair of home-made skates. Anna also found two thick, warm blankets and a deck of playing cards, which were so old they were yellow.
“It looks like summer is not endless in this area after all,” she said and showed everyone what she found.
In the chest Dan opened, there were three sets of bed coverings, two pillows, a quilt and a big, broken hourglass; the sand poured out of it and was covering the chest’s bottom.
“Check this out,” Rick said as he opened the third one. All of them walked toward it and saw two old-style rifles, and a box of ammunition. “Does anyone know what that is? Matylda?” He turned around and looked at her.
Matylda came closer and looked into the chest. “I’m no firearms expert, but I’d say it looks like a Springfield. Like a Springfield used at the beginning of the twentieth century. I remember reading about those in a library when I was looking for some information about World War I.”
“Can anyone use that thing?” Anna asked. They all looked at each other, but nobody said anything.
“So, basically, looks like there’s winter in these parts, that it happens, and that whoever used to live in this house had to either protect himself against something or, I don’t know, went hunting from time to time,” Dan said.
“But hunt for what? Have you seen any rabbits, foxes, pheasants? Any animals during the day?” Rick asked.
“No. Then again, we haven’t really seen any people either, right?” Dan replied.
“So, we’ve found some weapons, lots of winter clothes and accessories, a broken hourglass and some bed coverings. Not very helpful,” Anna said.
“That depends on what we’ll still have to deal with,” Rick pointed.
“Would any of you like some peaches?” Matylda asked.
***
They were all sitting on the floor in the storage room, some of them leaning on the chests, some on the wall, eating. It was 3:15 p.m. It kept on drizzling heavily outside, the sky was still quite cloudy and grey.
“You know what I’d like to do now?” Dan asked as he put away the peach stone. They all looked at him. “I’d like to drink a beer. I really miss it,” he smiled.
Rick smiled, too. “That would be pretty nice, I have to admit.”
“Yes, cold, dense, Guinness with creamy foam, my God, wouldn’t that be wonderful?” Dan sighed and closed his eyes. “Just don’t tell me you’d drink one of those American sorry excuses for beer,” he laughed looking at Rick.
“Don’t you think that under these circumstances, any cold beer would do?” Rick asked pretending he was a bit outraged.
“No, no, not at all. I’d rather have some more of that home-made mint tea,” Dan laughed.
“Beer would be nice, true, although you know what I miss most? Music. I’d love to listen to some music,” Anna said.
“We can sing something for you,” Rick laughed.
“Nah, thanks, no offence, but I’ll pass,” Anna laughed, too, “What do you miss, Matylda?”
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br /> Matylda thought hard for an answer, but nothing popped into her head. “I don’t know. A book maybe, I have no idea.”
It occurred to her she had never liked anything that much to miss it. No favorite CD, no favorite film, no favorite clothes. Not even favorite people, perhaps apart from Dorota, but now she wasn’t even sure if she would count her.
“Nah, surely there is something,” Rick said looking at her.
Matylda only shrugged. She had no answer.
“Although, you know, Mon usually gives me one of ‘those’ looks when I drink beer, she says it has too many calories,” Rick said.
Dan only puffed out and eye-rolled.
“Seriously, that it has too many calories and that I will soon look like a book, no pun intended, example of a couch potato, since I mostly sit by my computer at home and write. And the truth is I don’t even drink that much,” he was saying and laughing. “She tells me I am not getting any younger, that my metabolism will finally get even with me. She’s always telling me I should switch to wine.”
“You should get some exercise, it won’t be any problem then, her argument will be invalid,” Dan said.
“I swim a lot, Monica convinced me to jog with her, so we usually do, but I definitely prefer going to the swimming pool.”
“Your wife is a runner, too?” Anna asked finishing her peach.
“Yeah, you also?”
“No, Brian is getting ready to take part in the Boston marathon. I am not very fit, guess I might ask him to give me some advice what to do to be in better shape. Is Monica a marathoner?”
“No, she has never tried that, but, then again, she has never said she would want to. It’s strictly recreational for her, but she’s really good at it, she can run, like, really long distances now. I often joke she should be able to not walk, but even to run upstairs to her office considering all the work she has already put into her training and how fit she was.”
“And on which floor does she work?”
“87th.”
“Oh Jesus, that’s high,” Dan whistled. “But then again, it’s New York City, guess all the buildings there are that tall, huh?”
“No, she works in the World Trade Center, the North Tower, it’s the one with the antenna spire. I was at her office a few times, my God, the view is breathtaking,” he added biting the peach and shaking his head with disbelief to underscore the impression it had made on him.
Anna was listening to it all and got nauseous so fast, she dropped the unfinished fruit on the floor. Her blood pressure spiked so much she could hear the blood pulsing under her skull. Thump – thump – thump.
“Rick, your wife works in the World Trade Center tower? And you’re from 2001?”
At that point, Matylda looked first at her, then at Rick. She was observing the situation very attentively.
“Yes,” he looked at her, swallowed the bite, and got immediately anxious when he saw her face. “Why?”
“I – I’m sorry, I need to leave for a minute,” Anna said clearing her throat and stumbled from the room. She was breathing heavily and yet, at the same time felt she couldn’t catch her breath. She was dizzy, had a feeling that the whole world slowed down, that everything around her wasn’t real, that it was oneiric. Dan walked outside and saw her walking out of the house.
“What’s going on, Anna?” He asked, “Are you okay?”
She was already standing outside, leaning on the house’s wall. The cool, post-storm air was helping her to calm a bit.
“Dan, I know why we’re all here, it all makes sense now.”
“What are you talking about?” He was looking at her tensely.
Anna looked over her shoulder to make sure Rick wasn’t behind them.
“She’s going to die, Monica,” she said quietly.
“What are you saying?” Dan asked her again, frowning and feeling his pulse rising.
“The World Trade Center? 2001?” She said gazing at him intensively.
Dan was looking at her, focused so much, she spotted he wasn’t even blinking.
“Dan, that book, the Two-way Mirror, it’s about—” She felt her voice was breaking. Anna took another deep breath to get a grip. “It’s about a widower who cannot cope with the loss of his wife.”
“Oh my God,” Dan whispered and covered his mouth with his hand. “Holy Christ.”
Chapter 14
“He needs to know, Anna, you have to tell him,” Dan finally said.
“How am I supposed to do that? It’ll tear him to pieces,” she replied. Her eyes were now moist. She was breathing rapidly, trying to calm down, but the revelation she experienced was overwhelming.
“He has to know,” Dan said once more.
Anna nodded. Yes, she realized that, but she couldn’t find the courage to go inside, to tell him, to, basically, break his heart.
“Come on,” Dan said softly and helped her walk back to the house. He was petrified. What was there supposed to happen in all of their lives if Rick’s being there was, most probably, connected with a terrorist attack and his wife’s death. Jesus. As they were walking back into the storage room, he realized he was so nervous he couldn’t feel his legs, he basically had no idea how he managed to walk and move from point A to point B.
“What happened?” Rick asked when they both got back. He was still sitting on the floor Matylda was standing by the window, facing the room’s door. Dan held onto Anna’s hand even as she sat on the floor.
“What is it?”
Anna rubbed her face with her hand and looked at all of them. She swallowed loudly and took a deep breath.
“I think I know why we’re all here, I think I know why we’re from different years and what we all have in common,” she started but felt her voice was about to break. She cleared her throat, made a pause and continued. “I just want to be clear I do not remember any details, it’ been years.”
“What is it, tell us,” Rick said. He had very, very bad feelings about where this was going. He was looking at her tensely.
“Dan, you’re from London, 2005. Okay, listen to me. In July that year there were bombings in the London subway system.”
“What?” He whispered.
“Subway trains and a bus were attacked, people died, I don’t know how many, but some did, for sure. It was exactly one day after London was officially chosen to be the host city of the Olympics, but I don’t remember the date.”
“Which lines?” He asked tense.
“I don’t know, I’m sorry, from my perspective it was eight years ago, in a different country,” she said sobbing.
“Kate uses Circle Line Underground line every day.”
“I remember the attacks happened in the morning, when people were en route to work.”
Rick was sitting leaning on the wall, listening to everything in horror, waiting for his turn to find out what was about to happen to him in the future. Or to Monica.
“Matylda, in 2004 in March, a bomb exploded in the morning o a train in Madrid. I know many people died, it was a morning rush hour. I remember exactly that it was March 11th, because it was sort of a symbolic date to the world,” she said and looked at Rick. Their eyes met and Anna, in panic, looked away. What the hell is going on?! Rick thought.
“You think Dorota is in danger? Like Dan’s wife?”
“Yes, I think exactly that.”
“What about me? What is going to happen in my life?!” Rick asked nervously.
“On September 11th, 2001, two hijacked commercial planes crashed into both World Trade Center towers,” she said and saw Rick’s face expression began to change. He was looking at her supporting his head on his hand, the elbow leaning on his curled up knee. “The Towers - they, they collapsed. About three thousand people died, Rick,” she was looking at him tearfully, “including your wife, Monica.”
“What?!” He whispered and cleared his voice as for a second he wasn’t able to make a sound come out of his throat. “How do you know that? How can you be sure?”
“That book, the Two-way Mirror - it’s about a widower who cannot cope with his wife’s death,” she said. “I remember reading one of the interviews in which you say two-way mirror is a perfect metaphor for how you feel knowing your wife is still there, that she’s still with you, but you can no longer see her, that she’s invisible, but you feel her presence,” she added apologetically and sniffed.
“Oh my God.” Rick was breathing heavily, he clumsily got up, stepped on his injured foot and hissed from the pain, “Goddamn it!” He took his cane and left the room in a hurry. The moment he walked out of the hut, he threw up. The stomach contractions were so severe he had to support himself by putting his hand on the house’s wall to keep his balance. Once it was over, he clumsily walked a few steps away, squatted and hid his face in his palms.