We Are All Strangers (9 page)

The thing was that I was thinking about my Grandma. About how I needed to find a way to say goodbye to her. About how I needed to cope with the fact that within a matter of days – possibly hours – I’d need to say goodbye to her.

I clutched my pocket watch that was hidden deep inside of my jean pocket. My mother eyed me suspiciously but remained silent. “I am,” I said. “I am, Mom.”

We arrived at the hospital half an hour later. As my father pulled into the parking spot, my mother turned around in the passenger seat to face both me and my sister. “I didn’t want you to see her this way,” she said, and I could see the tears trying to escape out of the corners of her eyes. “But I can’t change that now. Just please,” she pleaded, “Don’t try to fix anything.”

She spoke to both my sister and me, but I knew that her words were aimed at me. Kristina’s powers were beginning to come through, but she was nowhere near as good a Time Jumper as I was.

She believed that the Association of Jumpers would come for her if she did something wrong, and they would; they never turned down the chance to capture problem Jumpers. But while fear stopped Kristina from following her heart, fear only pushed me further. It made me more desperate, and there was nothing deadlier than a desperate person.

I could extend my time here. I could give myself another hour or two with my grandmother. But it would upset the balance. It would alter life from here on out – it wouldn’t go unnoticed by the Association of Jumpers.

I was sure that they’d be here by morning to take me.

But I wasn’t so sure that it mattered enough to stop me.

“Are you girls ready?” My father asked, unbuckling his seat belt.

We followed his lead, no one uttering a word.

As we walked through the crowded parking lot, I could feel my heart pounding against my chest. I wanted to turn and run, to force myself into thinking this was all a terrible dream; that this wasn’t actually happening because surely, I couldn’t be saying goodbye to my grandmother. Not like this. But this was real.

There was no escaping the truth any longer.

The automatic doors opened as we neared the entrance. The white halls gleamed under the florescent lighting. “Can I help you?” a woman behind the help desk asked.

“We’re just here to see my mother,” my mom replied. “She’s on the third floor – room 304.”

“Have you been here before?”

“Yes.” My mother pulled me in front of her. “But she hasn’t.”

“May I have your ID?” she asked, extending her hand.

I rummaged through my duffel bag, which I’d refused to take off on the way here, and pulled out my ID. “Here you go.” I tried to offer up a friendly smile, but I couldn’t do it. My lips pulled closed in a tight line.

“Can you stand before the camera please?” The woman handed me my ID and instructed for me to move to the side. I nodded and stared into the small black orb. “Here you are.”

The woman handed me a rectangular visitors badge with my photo on it. I waited while she printed badges for the rest of my family, before moving closer to the elevator. “Are you ready?” my mother asked.

“Not really,” I said, honestly. “But I don’t think I’ll ever be ready.”

“No one is ever ready to say goodbye, Soph.” She tucked a lose strand of my hair behind my ear, and leaned in to plant a gentle kiss on my forehead. “But it’s time.”

And it was time. For what? That remained to be seen.

As the elevator doors opened up, my father led us inside. He pressed the “3” button on the panel and leaned against the elevator wall until the doors opened back up.

Hesitantly, I followed behind him, unsure of where I was going.

The third floor was quiet, and it smelled like moth balls. Lovely. From what I knew of my grandmother, she was probably annoyed to be stuck here.

“Come on,” he threw his arm around me, nuzzling my head against his chest. “It’s going to be okay, Sophie. I promise.”

I wished that he wouldn’t say that.

He couldn’t promise me anything – not right now.

We walked inside of her room and found her sitting up in bed. Her gray curls, the ones I’d remembered from the last time I saw her, had been shaved off. The tall, healthy woman from my memories? She was gone. She’d fasted away over time, all while I lived my life in Florida, completely oblivious.

My heart race increased, and I felt as though I was about to pass out.

“Sophie!” She cried out. “My precious Sophie, oh, how I’ve missed you, kiddo.”

The corners of my lips tugged up into a smile at the words I’d remembered her reciting when I was a child. She always used to call me her precious Sophie. A stray tear slid down my cheek. Oh, gosh. Not now. I couldn’t afford to break now.

“Come here!” She threw her arms open. “I’m so happy you came!”

Slowly, I made my way to her bed and allowed her to wrap me up in her arms. I didn’t want to hurt her. But I wanted to throw my arms around her and never let go.

“Oh, how you’ve grown.” She grinned, gripping my cheeks.

I tried to speak, but the words kept getting caught in my throat.

“What, did you think I was going to let this disease beat me down?” she joked. “I’m going to fight until the very end, kiddo. I’m not going down that easily.”

I inched away from her and shoved my hand inside of my pocket. My mother glared at me. Don’t, she mouthed.

Ignoring her, I pulled the pocket watch out of my pocket and opened it up in my palms. “Grandma,” I choked out. “Can you do me a favor?”

“Anything for my precious Sophie,” she replied.

“No, Sophie.” My mother cut in. “Don’t do this, please.”

I’d missed too much to walk away feeling as though I had enough time to say goodbye. Visiting hours would be up in less than an hour. I needed to do something. “Can you place your palms on top of the watch?”

She laughed and did as I asked. “Is this some sort of magic trick?” She joked, keeping her tone light.

“Something like that,” I said, offering a small smile.

A white light seeped out of the pocket watch and surged through my veins. I kept my eyes focused on the clock over my grandmother’s bed, and watched as it shattered.

“Sophie,” my mother cried out, placing her palm over her mouth. “No!”

“You always were a fan of magic tricks,” my grandmother said, completely oblivious to what was going on.

I’d reset the clocks, giving myself at least a full hour with her now. It wasn’t much, but I didn’t want to attract the attention of the Association of Jumpers. Not while I was in my grandmother’s hospital room.

“You seem sad, dear.” She pressed a finger to my lips. It was only then that I’d noticed the breathing tube hooked up to her nose. “What’s wrong, my precious Sophie?”

“I don’t want to lose you,” I said.

“Oh, kiddo.” She waved her hands at me. “You’ll never lose me.”

“Grandma, you’re dying,” I said, barley able to choke out the words.

“That’s just how life works, Sophie. No one lives forever,” she said. “And I certainly want to live forever, even if I could.”

I sat down beside her on the bed, grabbing her hands between mine. My family watched on quietly, allowing me my time with her. “I just wish we had more time.” I sighed. “I can’t say goodbye to you, grams. I don’t want to.”

“Sophie, I need you to listen to me, and I need you to listen to me good.” She leaned in closer and smiled. “I said that I was going to fight until the end, and I am, but it isn’t up to me now. I’ve accepted what will come next. I’ve delayed it as long as possible, but it’s time, my dear.”

She pulled her hands away and leaned back on the bed.

I focused my attention on the pocket watch that lay in my open palms.

It crackled with power, and I knew then that I’d done something wrong. “Sophie,” my mother hissed from beside the door. “You need to fix the balance before they notice.”

Clocks throughout the hallway flashed different times. Walls became blurry and pixilated. People – nurses, doctors, visitors – became nothing more than shadows. All a consequence of me altering time. Soon enough, it would all be gone.

In order to extend time, something needs to be erased.

And sometimes, it was people that needed to be erased.

“What’s going on?” my grandmother asked, pulling off her bifocals to wipe her lenses. She probably assumed that she was seeing incorrectly. If only.

My mother threw her palms over mine and ordered me to revert everything back to normal. “I can’t,” I protested. “If I do this, I’ll only have minutes to say goodbye.”

“If you don’t, you’ll destroy everything,” she countered. “Sophie, if you don’t fix this, they’ll come here soon, and they’ll take you away from us – that is assuming we don’t get sucked away in the warp.”

Taking one last glance at my grandmother, who lay smiling, I reluctantly wrapped my hands around my mothers and allowed the power to crawl back through my veins.

Time Jumping tore at my insides – sending my heart into a frenzy and my stomach into a nervous wreck. Side effects of using so much power.

The clocks in the halls return to normal – as did the wall and the people.

Everything returned to normal.

Except for my grandmother.

“I love you,” she said. “You know that, right?”

I broke. Tears trickled down my cheeks, and all I wanted to do was crawl into a corner and cry until I couldn’t cry any longer. “I love you, too,” I responded. “I can’t lose you, though, grams.”

“You have to, Sophie.” Her breaths softened and according to the monitor beside her bed, her heart rate was beginning to drop. “I’ll still be with you in your memories. But it is time for me to go now.”

I leaned down and pressed a kiss against her cheek. “Are you sure?” I asked.

“I’m sure,” she said, her voice low.

Nodding, I moved back, giving the rest of my family time to say goodbye. A nurse came rushing in, and escorted us out of the room. “I’m sorry, but it’s time.”

It’s time
.

We stood at her window and watched as they tried to revive her, but she was gone. “I just wanted more time with her,” I said, gripping my pocket watch. “That was it.”

“Sophie,” my mother wrapped her arms around me and pulled me against her chest. “Time isn’t ours to control.”

No, it was only ours to lose.

D
eath was quiet. It lingered around us constantly, moving from person to person, quietly, carefully. It could bury itself deep within someone, slowing seeping throughout their body for years, weakening the heart, and every other organ, until there was no life left.

And sometimes it moved quickly, spreading like a wildfire through the least suspecting. One minute, everything was fine. The next, it was all gone.

And even though I could see it – how, and when, someone will die - I was unable to stop it. Not that I hadn't tried, because I had. Numerous times, in fact. But it always ended the same way.

Death was relentless.

Once it had its sights set on you that was it.

So imagine my horror when I noticed the red glow illuminating my boyfriend’s body.

I was leaning against my locker, listening as Avery went on about her new flavor of the week, Jason, when Liam strolled up beside me. “Hey,” he smiled. “Where’ve you been all weekend? I tried calling you?”

I glanced over at him quickly, trying to ignore the glow surrounding him. His eyes once a vibrant shade of green, were now faded and full of pain. His formerly tan skin was now chalk-white and covered in goose bumps. “What’s wrong?” I asked, gently wrapping my hand around his wrist. “Are you sick?”

“Emma,” he said quizzically. “What’s up with you? You look as if you’ve seen a ghost.”

The red light illuminating his body was faint now, but as the day progressed, it would only grow brighter, slowly sucking the life out of his body. “Liam, something’s wrong.”

Noticing I’d long since stopped listening to her, Avery flicked me on my shoulder. “Earth to Emma,” she joked, lifting her elbow atop my shoulder.  “What’s up with you today?”

“Me?” I scoffed. “Look at Liam. He’s clearly sick.”

Avery stared at me as if I’d lost my marbles. “Em, did you fall and hit your head by any chance?”

I shook my head no. “I’m not insane, Avery. Look at him – his eyes, his skin. He’s clearly sick.”

Liam ran his hand through his unruly, brown locks. “Emma, maybe we should take you to the nurse. Maybe your mom can come get you, and then you can go home and relax.”

“Yeah, I think that’s a good idea.” Avery replied.

Before I could protest, she was skipping down the hall, slipping between the hordes of students, until stopping in front of the heavy red door at the opposite end of the hall.

“Liam,” he glanced at me hesitantly, clearly debating whether or not to stay with his girlfriend, who was clearly experiencing a mental breakdown.

I’d lost family members. I’d lost class mates. I’d even lost teachers. And while I’d managed to accept that I couldn’t change their fate. I couldn’t allow myself to give up on Liam. At seventeen-years-old, he still had a lifetime in front of him - a lifetime to grow, to fall in love (even if it wasn’t with me), to start a family; to be happy. To die like this, young, and without reason - I couldn’t live with myself if I didn’t at least
try
to help him.

I knew that helping him would only buy me time – a day or two at the most, but it was better than nothing. Except that helping him would require telling him the truth.

If he didn’t think I was experiencing a mental breakdown yet, he would soon enough.

“Liam, you’re dying,” the words slipped out before I could stop them. I fidgeted with my hands, forcing my eyes to meet the white marble floor. “Don’t walk away,” I pleaded, noticing that he had begun to inch away from me.

“Em, look, I think maybe it’s best if we don’t talk for a while, okay?” he reached out as if to tuck my hair behind my ear, but he paused, catching himself. “Clearly something’s up with you, and frankly, I’m not sure what to do.”

“Did you not hear a word I just said?” I shrieked. “You’re dying, Liam.”

“And how the hell would you possibly know that, Em?” He crossed his arms, pressing his right shoulder against a locker a few feet away from mine. “Because honestly? You sound like a freaking lunatic right now.”