by Jack Hunt
“I’m not going to shoot the next president.”
“Really? As it looks a helluva lot like that.”
“You have to trust me.”
“Trust? Who are you?”
He glanced again at his watch.
“I don’t have time to explain.”
He placed his eye back up to the scope of the rifle.
Through gritted teeth I spoke. “I said back away.”
Harry ignored me as he made some last-second adjustments on the rifle.
“You fire that gun, Alex, and it’s not just me you are killing.”
“You would say that.”
“Trust me, you don’t know what you’re doing here.”
“I know what you’re doing.”
He glanced at me one final time. His eyes drifted to his watch. I knew he was going to take the shot. I heard him inhale as his finger slid against the trigger.
I swallowed hard, clenched my teeth.
Then — an explosion.
Chapter 13
I stepped back at the recoil of my gun going off and let out a lungful of air. I wasn’t even aware I was holding my breath. I’d never shot someone before. I watched Harry slowly reach for his neck. Blood gushed between his fingers. The bullet had penetrated just above his right collarbone. At the distance between us, I couldn’t tell how big the hole was, only that he was covered in blood. He rolled over to one side. He stabbed at his watch spasmodically as if trying to do something but his fingers were covered in blood.
“I… I warned you,” I said, still pointing the gun at him. My hands trembled.
Barely able to string words together he spoke as he applied pressure to the wound. “I wasn’t going to kill Dempsey, Alex. I was here to save her.”
My brow knit together. “What?”
In that moment two things happened. I heard the sound of the crowd roar. I thought a game had started. I turned and brought the binoculars up to my eyes. My eyes drifted across the thousands of distraught faces until I settled in on the stage in the middle of the field. Men in suits were rushing around, weapons were drawn, and complete pandemonium was occurring. That’s when I saw Dempsey on the ground.
“Oh my god,” I said, realizing what I had done.
“Get in,” Harry stammered.
I was unable to comprehend the gravity of it all. “What?”
“You have less than a few minutes to do as I say or you…” He started coughing and blood came up.
I didn’t even think twice. I got into the back of the van, slammed the door closed. I assumed he was going to give me the keys to the van and tell me to drive him to the hospital or something. What he said next made no sense.
“Put this watch on.”
He began tugging at the back of it.
“Wh…?”
“I don’t have time to explain, Alex. Do it.”
He slumped down a little and I tried to help him up but he waved me off.
“There’s no time. You need to go back and stop this.”
“What are you on about?”
“I’m from the future.”
I shuffled back from him slightly, my eyes scanning his face. I knew what I had seen through the window. I remembered what I had witnessed the day my father died and I had my suspicions but to hear it… There were no words that could accurately define what was going through my head right then. Belief. Denial.
“Put the watch on.”
I had no clue what the hell he was talking about but I tore the watch from his wrist and put it on.
He pointed. “Year, month, day and time. Set it and then hit this button. Two days should do it. It will take you back.”
“Back?”
“Whatever you do, avoid yourself and me at all costs. You have forty-eight hours to stop what you have done, otherwise we all suffer.”
“I don’t understand.”
He coughed up more blood and I could see his skin had become pale and sickly.
“Before you press it. Find somewhere solid outside of the vehicle.”
“What the hell are you on about?”
He grabbed a hold of me.
“Time travel is real. There’s no time to explain. Go now.”
“Why can’t you?”
He pointed to the gunshot wound.
“Right.” Dumb question.
He was still coughing up blood as I backed out of the vehicle. My gun was still in my hand, my bag over my shoulder. I glanced down at the watch that had a blood smear on it. I wiped it. The screen pulsated pale blue like a neon sign.
“Go,” he said again through blood-soaked teeth. None of this seemed real. I gazed down at the blood on my shirt, and all over my hands. A new state of panic overtook me. I backed away from the van and had taken a few steps when I heard the same gruff voice shout out.
“Hey!”
My head jerked sideways and across the roof I saw four men. Two of them were wearing FBI jackets. All of them were rushing with weapons drawn towards me. Panic gripped me like someone choking my throat. My eyes widened in horror.
“Drop the weapon.”
“I didn’t do anything.”
“Drop it,” I heard them shout. They were thirty feet from me when I tapped in the year, month, day and time into the watch. Forty-eight hours. I glanced up for just a moment hesitating to press the button. Then I hit it.
As if I had stepped into the eye of a storm, I felt all of reality around me fold in on itself. Anything that wasn’t bolted down, leaves, dust, stone and metal, became as light as air. Amid the circle of wind, I briefly saw the men in the distance shield their eyes. What were they seeing? Then, as if being dropped from a great height, I felt my stomach lurch.
Then there was darkness.
Chapter 14
When I opened my eyes, I blinked hard. I was still on the roof, however the white van wasn’t there and neither were the four men. My eyes bulged. In fact, there were only three vehicles in sight. A light rain fell. I breathed slowly trying to get my bearings. It felt as if I had just got off a roller coaster. I staggered to my feet and blinked hard. I looked around me and cast my eyes in the direction of the stadium. It was empty. Not a single person was there.
“What the hell?”
Scared out of my mind, I looked down and noticed I still had blood on me, and the gun in my hand. I tucked it into the bag and glanced at the watch. The screen had changed to a regular-looking watch. I tapped it once and it began to glow and the time and date flashed on the screen. When I removed my finger it returned to the screen showing two hands glowing but turning like a regular clock.
Had I? No, it was impossible.
“Hey kid, you okay?”
I turned to see someone who looked like a professor. He was well-dressed in a shirt, grey suit and pants and was holding a black briefcase. He saw the blood and must have thought it was mine.
“Are you bleeding?”
“Yeah, I, um, I must have cut myself… what day is it?”
“It’s Friday,” he shot back.
“Friday? Has Dempsey visited?”
“No, that’s this Sunday.” He paused and frowned. “Are you sure you’re okay?”
I walked past him in a daze, then broke into a jog. I think I heard him mutter something about drugs. With each level I went down, I noticed the parking structure held fewer vehicles than I remembered. This was unbelievable. I couldn’t get my head around it.
When I burst out of the structure into the area where I had parked my mother’s car, it was gone. My eyes darted around soaking in the reality of my situation. I needed to get home. I need to see for myself if this was real and not just some dream. I wondered for a moment if the men at the parking structure had shot me. Perhaps I was in a coma, and this was all some deep dream state?
Without a vehicle to get me back home, what should have taken me ten minutes by car, would now take me half an hour by foot and that was with me running the entire way. According to the watch it was Friday morning,
a little after ten.
Knowing that Eric would be in class and the only person who might believe me, I decided to drop by the university.
While en route I thought about what I had done on Friday. I’d been fired from my job on Thursday. There was meant to be a party that evening at Kelly’s. My heart was pounding in my chest as I tried to remember what Harry had told me.
Whatever you do, avoid yourself and me at all costs. You have forty-eight hours to stop what you have done, otherwise we all suffer.
What did he mean by we all suffer? What would happen if I bumped into myself? Would I blink out of existence?
I knew that I had texted Eric while he was in a class that Friday. But when did I do that? I had no idea how this worked. If I changed the past, how would that affect the rest of the timeline? Eric wouldn’t know I was from the future. If I met him at the university and then I texted him later, would he mention it to me by text and send my past self into confusion? I had to be careful. Be smart and avoid changing anything that would screw up the future.
When I arrived on the Sacramento State campus, the place was a hive of activity. With over thirty-one thousand students and staff on any given day it was always busy with people milling around while others rushed to class. I moved through the crowd like a ghost wondering if I looked different to anyone. I caught my reflection in a window. I kept my bloody hands in my pockets until I could get into a washroom. The moment I entered Alpine Hall I threaded my way through the mass of people. The men’s washrooms were on the ground floor. I entered them. Inside some guy was smoking a joint. He turned and looked freaked out but then relaxed when he saw I wasn’t a teacher. He blew the smoke out the window. I went into one of the cubicles until I heard him go out. Washing my hands, the water turned a deep red. I looked at myself in the mirror and thought back to Harry. He could have killed me but he didn’t. I remembered seeing the handgun tucked in his waist. Even after he was shot he could have returned fire. I had got it all wrong. Who was he? Why was he there to save the next president? And if he was there to save her, who was there to kill her?
I pulled at the paper towels and dried off my hands before leaving the washroom. Outside I started walking in the direction of Eric’s criminal justice class. After a year of attending the same classes, I knew where he would be. I just had no idea what I was going to tell him. My mind could barely comprehend it. A campus notice echoed over the speakers and I was again reminded of what day it was.
“Mr. Flynn?” a familiar voice called out.
My head was down and I was doing my best to not make eye contact with anyone. I had no idea what the effects were of having gone back in time. I knew very little about how it worked. I turned to find myself face-to-face with Rolf Aiken, the associate dean. I swallowed hard and gave a slight smile.
“What are you doing on campus?”
“I have to meet with someone.”
“You never came by my office after I gave you the letter.”
I shook my head again trying not to make eye contact. I felt as nervous as hell. I figured someone would realize but the fact was, no one had. I blended in because to everyone else I looked the same. I was the same.
“No, I decided I didn’t want to get into it.”
He pulled me aside so we were out the way of the stampede of traffic.
“Mr. Flynn. To be honest, I thought you would have taken the letter as a warning and turned the situation around.”
“Yeah, I guess we can’t all make right decisions.”
“You know, I knew your father for over twenty years. I understand that you went through a lot with his death.”
I glanced at the watch to check on the time.
“If you ever need someone to talk to about it. My door is always open, Alex.”
He used my first name. It was very uncommon for any of the teachers to do so. It was always Mr. Flynn this, Mr. Flynn that.
“I appreciate that. I really need to get going.”
He nodded as I turned and walked off into the crowd. I felt my heart begin to relax a little. When I finally made it to the classroom, I peeked in through a small window and saw a group of about thirty students looking at Mr. Reid. I looked up and down the hall for a second and then knocked on the window. Like synchronized swimmers, the entire class turned their heads at the same time just as I gestured to Eric. He went a deep shade of red. I figured he would ask to be excused and that would be it. Instead, Mr. Reid made his way up to the door. He opened it partially.
“Mr. Flynn. I do believe you are no longer my student.”
“I need to speak with Eric Warden.”
“Of course, when he’s done.”
“But that’s another thirty minutes.”
“That it is,” he said about to close the door.
“It’s really important. It’s about his parents.”
“Oh?”
“There’s been an accident.”
It was a complete lie but I had to come up with something.
“Is that so?” He cast a glance down the hall. “How is it then that I have not heard from the office?”
“They are busy with some kid. I told them I would tell you.”
He wasn’t buying it. If there had been trouble a call would have been made to the office and someone from the faculty would phone or come down to get him.
“And what may I ask has happened?”
“Look, I don’t really want to discuss it. It’s very upsetting.”
I delivered my best acting chops and clenched my jaw. Mr. Reid was the kind of man who hated anyone interrupting his class. He snorted, turned and with one finger gestured to Eric.
“Two minutes.”
“Right.”
As soon as Eric was outside he was full of questions.
“What the hell are you doing here? And what’s this about my parents?”
“Just keep it down.”
I shouldered my way into the nearest men’s bathroom. The moment Eric entered I closed the door and locked it. I then began pacing up and down trying to figure out how to explain this to him. Even more so, how to prove that I wasn’t out of my friggin’ mind.
“There’s no easy way to say this.” I took a deep breath and leaned against the wall. “I’m from the future.”
His face went from dead serious to bursting out laughing.
“Shit, dude, I knew you were a few sandwiches short of a picnic but getting me out of a class to tell me you are from the future. Oh, that is one for the books.”
I remained completely straight-faced.
His laughter slowly turned to a faint chuckle.
“Get the hell out of here. I’m going back to my class.”
He turned to head out.
“Eric. Have I ever been one to lie to you?”
“Well, there was that one time when you wanted me to double date—”
“Eric!” I snapped him out of what would have turned into a long spiel about the time I asked a girl out but she would only go out with me if I got her friend a date. The problem was she was a heifer if I had ever seen one. I ended up telling Eric that she was super-hot. Which of course was a complete lie. The look on his face when he saw her was priceless.
Eric turned back around. “Okay, I have to admit it’s a little out of character.” He paused for a second. “Hold on, is it the first of April?”
“No, it’s November.”
“Okay then, if you are from the future. Are cars flying?
“No, I didn’t come from years ahead. I’m from Sunday.”
“Two days? That’s all?”
I palmed my forehead. I knew this was going to be hard but I didn’t think it would be this difficult. That’s when it dawned on me. I took out my phone.
“Are you going to phone yourself to prove it?”
“No.”
I looked at the time of when I texted him. “In about ten minutes you are going to receive a text message from me.”
“You or past you?”
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br /> “Well, it’s not exactly past me. It’s present me but, yeah… Just answer it like you would. Don’t ask or respond as if I have already seen you today.”
“How can I know that it’s not you texting me from the bathroom?”
I turned around the phone and showed him the text messages.
“See the date and time.”
He screwed his face up and took a hold of the phone, then handed it back. His gaze met mine and I knew he was intrigued. That was all I was hoping for. I just needed to hook him. I knew his response of skepticism was normal. Hell, I would have acted the same way.
Eric wagged his finger at me. “I have got to say, this is by far the best prank you have ever pulled.”
He backed up to the door and unlocked it and continued wagging his finger at me. As the door hissed close, I went over to the sink and splashed cold water on my face. I gripped the sides of the basin and stared into the mirror. I needed him to believe me. If I was going to stop my earlier self from shooting Harry, I was going to need as much help as I could get.
I kept an eye on the clock and waited in that bathroom. Five minutes, ten minutes passed and then fifteen. When the door to the bathroom opened again he walked in slowly, a look of surprise on his face.
“Let me see that phone again.”
I handed it to him and he compared it to his. “I just phoned your home phone number and you picked up.”
“What did I say?”
“You didn’t say anything, as I hung up. This is crazy, dude. You’ve got a lot of explaining. I’m not entirely sure that I believe this but hell, I’ve heard of crazier shit than this.”
“Can you skip your next class?”
He nodded. “Right, let’s go.”
We left the bathroom and went to a local coffeehouse on campus. There were about six people seated when we entered. We took a booth that overlooked a section of the university. Outside students sat on the grass, some reading while others smoked.
Eric stared at me from across the table like a lab experiment. I spent the next ten minutes bringing him up to date on what had taken place. I nursed a cup of steaming hot coffee while Eric sat there with a look of astonishment on his face.