I'm Nine Again

[22/01/2008 – 16:58]

Grey had prepared a safe house in case something unpredictable happened. Something like a huge gunfight in the streets. Something like a speed boat getaway. Something like hundreds of police checkpoints in and out of the city. Harry was, of course, told about all of this, keeping in Greys tradition of not telling us anything.

The house was a dilapidated concrete construct in a suburb just to the north of the CBD. The paint was peeling off the walls inside and outside. A cushioned couch sitting on the front porch with an overgrown hedge made the residence look like the local halfway house. The inside reeked of years' worth of cigarette smoke and substance abuse.

"Well," Harry said as he first stepped into the house, "This isn't luxury by any measure of the word, but funnily enough, not the worst place I've stayed."

"What's the worst place?" I asked, pushing past him and dropping my belongings on the floor by the outdated archway into the lounge room.

"The bunker of a Columbian drug lord," he replied nonchalantly.

"As a guest?" Alice asked, also dropping her belongings in the same pile near mine and taking her place on the torn sunk in couch, huddled up in front of the bar like counter into the kitchen.

"They fed me," he replied.

We stopped perusing the matter after his comment. June, Anthony, and Julia made their way into the house, standing awkwardly in the hallway.

"I have to point out the obvious," Julia said, "But this timeline is not the same as the timeline we come from is it?" she asked.

I reached into my pockets and pulled out my smartphone, twirling it around in my fingers and shaking my head. She sighed and walked into the loungeroom, dropping her bag on the floor with a resounding thud.

"Do you think that Bitcoin was invented?" Julia asked.

"That's still not for a few years yet is it?" I asked.

"2008," Julia said, "That's when Satoshi creates it, and it gets released in 2009."

"Really!?" I asked.

"Travis," June said stepping into the room, clinging onto Anthony's arm as she did.

"June," I said, "Why did you follow us?" I asked, "You just got your self involved in some really bad stuff."

"What about you Travis," she said, "What exactly is it that you're involved in? What was all of that out on the waters? How can you walk on water!?"

"Should we start calling you Jesus?" Anthony asked sarcastically.

"Just call me Sean," I said.

"And who is Sean?" Anthony asked, more curiously this time.

"I am," I said.

"After everything that has happened today," Anthony started, "I'm just going to assume that there are a lot of things that aren't going to make any sense."

"You assume correctly," Alice said, stretching herself out on the couch as I was about to sit down.

"Move," I said.

"And what do we call you Laura?" Anthony asked, "Because I'm sure that Tra- Sean here has been calling you something else this entire time."

"Alice," she said, "You can call me Alice."

Harry walked into the kitchen and started to make some sound with the pots and pans as he pulled an assortment of ingredients and crockery out of the shelves.

"I'll get some food started while you guys talk about whatever it is you need to talk about," Harry said, "You need to eat to keep your strength up."

I grabbed Alice's legs and pushed them off the couch to make some room for myself. She returned her legs to the couch after I had taken my spot and rested her legs up on my l.a.p. Anthony took a step forward into the room, June timidly following behind.

"Are you two," he started, "even Travis and Laura?" he asked.

"No," Alice said coldly.

We spent what seemed like the next hour explaining the situation. About how we were time travelers. About different factions and how there is a secret war being carried out by all these factions. June was on and off with tears as I explained how I'd one day woken up in the body of Travis, and how I'd later learned that Travis was murdered by his father in the original timeline. Anthony was the first to speak. "This is a lot to take in," he said.

"Sorry," I said, "But it's not like we could have woken up in the past and run around telling everyone that we're time travelers."

"So, you guys are the ones that would have told Mathew about the imminent market decline," Anthony said, "We all laughed at him and told him it wouldn't happen but sure enough, his predictions came true."

"Sort of the least we could do," I said, "After what we put them through."

"They left us for dead," Alice said, "Screw them."

"So, what is the plan?" June asked, "You guys are in what you call the past and you're trying to change the future, so what exactly are you trying to change?"

"The Arab spring would be a good start," I said.

"Yeah, if that Prey guy wasn't our biggest threat," Alice said, "Then stopping the Arab spring would probably be what we would work on."

"What's the Arab spring?" June asked.

"It was a pro-democracy movement," I said, "In the middle east and northern Africa. I'd class it as the most defining conflict of the 21st century."

"You would want to stop pro-democracy?" Anthony asked.

Julia chimed in, "You said you guys were from 2019 yes?" she asked, "So the repercussions of the Arab spring are still strong?"

"They probably won't go away for a long time," I said.

"I'll fill in what I know then," Julia said standing up and pulling a permanent marker out from her bag and drawing on the wall.

"Democracy is a good thing, no one is arguing about that. Even as a Russian I can see the benefits of democracy compared to how shattered it is in the Russia that I left."

"You're Russian?" June asked.

"I was raised for a few years in America as a child," she said, "If you were refereeing to my English."

June nodded and Julia turned back around to start drawing out her explanation on the walls.

"As I was saying, democracy is a good system, but it's not the best system and it's also not the system that would work in the middle east and northern Africa. In 2010, the people of Tunisia revolted against their government and succeeded in overthrowing the despotic regime."

"This is the part," Anthony said, "Where you start telling me about why this is a bad idea."

"The successful revolution in Tunisia spread throughout social media and countries all across the middle east started to rise up," Julia said continuing, "This lead to a power vacuum in the middle east that continued up until at least I came back in time."

"And us," I said, "The rise of extremist factions within Al Nusra Front bread the most extremist faction the world has ever seen. This Islamic State of Syria and the Levant."

"So, what does that mean?" Anthony asked.

"The future I'm from," I said, "And what's probably going to happen to this future as well, is that the entirety of the middle east has become a battleground. Millions of people have fled the area and from when I came here, there doesn't look like an end to the conflict."

"But surely America would have gotten involved," June said.

"They did," I replied, "America and Russia both got involved, only serving to exacerbate the problems."

"So you guys are going to change the Arab Spring?" Anthony asked.

Alice laughed, "Yeah, if we had time then sure."

"We are too busy fighting Prey," I said, "That man from earlier, is hunting me and I have no idea why. All I know is that me from a different timeline has a plan for us to save the world and hunting Prey is a part of that."

"So," Julia said, "My turn for questions, why am I here?"

"Grey said that we need you," Alice said, "In the original timeline, that same shootout happened in that same café, it's just that we weren't a part of it."

"What do you mean you weren't apart of it?" Julia asked.

"It was two other factions fighting over you," I said, "And from what Grey told us, it was imperative that none of those factions got to you."

"Well it's flattering to know that there are people fighting over me, but what for?"

"I'm assuming it would have something to do with your futuristic knowledge of aerospace software engineering," I said, "That would probably be a start."

"So, I don't actually have a choice then do I?" she asked, "All of these factions from the future are fighting and I have to be part of the fight?"

"Not really," I said, "If we let you leave now, then you'll only be picked up by another faction."

"Are you keeping me here against my will?" she asked.

"Not at the moment," I said, "It looks like you want to be here, but if you were to change your mind, then yeah, we'd probably have to keep you here against your will, but I don't want to look at it like that."

"Well it's not like I have any other options," Julia said, "But this is bullshit, I don't get a choice in all of this."

"We all have choices," Alice said, "There are just consequences to the choices we make."

"Are you trying to threaten me?" Julia asked.

"It's so strange," June said, "You guys are just kids, it's so weird to hear you talking about wars and factions."

"Sorry," I said, "I didn't want to drag you into this, but you just ran after me and followed me. It probably would have been better if you just stayed in the café while we all made our escape."

"But I needed answers," June said, "I needed to know where you were, and why you were doing what you were doing."

"I'm sorry, but I'm not Travis. I might be in his body, but I'm not your nephew."

"I know," she said, "I'm sorry."

We all heard the television switching on as we all looked to see Anthony flipping threw the channels until the news came on. There was no question about what the breaking news story was.

'Still reporting as the situation develops. What we know is that at around lunchtime this afternoon the streets of Melbourne were turned into a warzone as gunfight broke out across the CBD. 14 people are confirmed dead after a gunfight broke out in a café this afternoon. CCTV captured these two men running towards the café with guns drawn. We won't play the footage any further because it contains graphic content, but they were fired upon from within the café and a short gun battle ensued. Security footage from within the café which we won't be showing shows two teens with a bag full of guns shooting at the approaching men while kidnapping genius child Mei Liu, who has recently made a name for herself in the field of aerospace software engineering after a very public debate yesterday in Melbourne. The two teens are described as male and female between the age of 13-18 the male with short spiked hair and the female with long blond hair, last seen wearing it up in a hair tie. It is believed that Mei was the target for this violence which the police now are assuming now has something to do with local gang violence. Outside the café, more fighting broke out between two other groups, which police now say are unrelated to the teens inside. It is believed that as much as three different violent gangs participated in today's fighting and police have locked down most of the city and the surrounding suburbs as police seek to find members of these gangs who as still at large. Police are also seeking to speak to an Anthony Smith who was also in the café to assist them with their inquiries as well as a blond-haired woman in her 20's who was also with the man identified as Anthony Smith.'

"F.u.c.k," I said.

"14 dead?" Alice asked.

"The news report said the other factions were also fighting," I said.

"They have your name?" Julia said looking at Anthony, "So what are you going to do, are you going to assist them with their inquiries?"

"It figures that someone would recognize me," he said, "I take care of a lot of investment accounts for the police department."

In the middle of our conversation, the television screen showed sketches of all of us. Me, Alice, June, and photographs of Julia and Anthony.

"Wow," I said, "This has gone horribly."

"You guys are criminals," June said.

"You think so?" Alice asked sarcastically.

"Alice chill, it's not Junes fault," I said.

"She shouldn't even be here!" Alice said, "She followed you because you resemble her dead nephew!"

"Alice!" I said.

"She's right," Julia chimed in, "We should just kill them now."

"Okay, hold up, no one is killing anyone!" I said, "This is just stupid everyone needs to take a f.u.c.k.i.n.g step back."

"That's a bit far," Alice said, "But can't we just cut them loose here or something?" she asked, "We've got no reason to have them stick around and I'm sure they want to get out of here too, right?"

"Yeah smart idea," Anthony said, "Police are looking for me to assist them with inquiries and you want to hand me right over to them," he said, "What am I supposed to say? That time travelers from the future kidnapped me and my fiancé and told us about a secret underground war going on between other time travelers?"

"Enough guys!" I said.

"Maybe we could tie them up and keep them in a bas.e.m.e.nt," Julia said.

"Or we could not!" June said, surprisingly less timid that I'd ever seen here, "You guys need to stop looking at Anthony and I like trash. I'm sorry okay, I'm sorry we followed you. Yeah, we screwed up but we are here now and we have to figure out what to do going forward!"

She walked over to the wall and picked up one of the guns and held it by her side, "And there isn't going to be any killing us or locking us up in a bas.e.m.e.nt!" she yelled.

Julia stood up and pointed her gun at June, "Maybe, maybe not!"

I jumped off the couch and hopped in front of Julia, facing her with my back to June.

"GUYS ENOUGH! F.U.C.K.I.N.G CUT THIS SHIT OUT RIGHT NOW!" I yelled, "We are already in a pretty f.u.c.k.i.n.g precarious situation and we don't need that ever perceived conflict there is between us, exacerbate the situation to the point of shooting each other!"

"Tell her to put down the gun then!" Julia said with tears starting to develop in her eyes, "She picked up the gun first, so tell her to put it down."

"June," I said, "June put down the gun."

"Who is asking," she said, "Travis, or Sean?"

"You know for a fact that it's Sean," I said, "June I cared so much for you when we were all together in that house, even if you aren't my real aunt, it doesn't mean I don't care for you but again I'm sorry but I'm not Travis."

June dropped the gun by her feet and cried into Anthony's arms as I turned back to Julia. Her gun still raised.

"Are you still trying to shoot her or is that gun raised at me now?" I asked.

"It's not fair!" she said, "I tried to be strong, but I don't want to be apart of this?" I just wanted to be a famous aerospace software engineer and have my name memorialized in science forever! I've tried to be strong but it's not fair!"

"None of us wanted to be here," I said, "None of us wanted to come back in time and be thrust into this war. It just happened."

"I don't want your stupid aunt and her boyfriend to get us caught. I've been given this second chance to do something with my life, even if I don't get a choice right now, I don't want this second chance ruined by us getting caught because of these two."

"It won't be," I said.

"They're weak," Julia said.

Her gun was shaking in her hands now as it was pointed still at my c.h.e.s.t. Tears were falling from her eyes as she started to breathe sporadically.

"We're all weak," I said, "We'll get through this."

I stepped forward with my arms open. Her aim stiffened as she pointed the gun at my c.h.e.s.t again.

"Don't!" she said, "Stay away from me!"

I raised my arm over the gun and continued moving forward until I hugged her. She shook for a moment before dropping her gun and embracing my back.

"We're trapped," she said crying heavily, "I don't like being trapped!"

"We'll get out of this," I said, "We'll get out of this house and then we'll get out of this trap, but we have to fight. Unless we fight, we will remain trapped."

We stood there in the middle of the lounge room as she gripped onto me tightly, crying.

"Sorry for dragging you into this with us," I said to her, holding her tightly, "But I'm glad you're with us, and not with the other factions."

She pulled away and wiped the tears away from her face, "Okay," she said, "I'm sorry, it's my fault, I was acting like a child. We have a more important issue at hand right now."

She looked over my shoulders and I turned to see Harry holding some plates in his hands. "We have some food to consume," she said jokingly.

The situation in the room remained tense as we all silently ate some dinner. The light from the setting sun slowly fading in the windows.