I'm Nine Again

[25/01/2008 – 14:07]

The two old beaten up cars from 1992 and 1989, made their way down the long and dusty road through some outback roads just south of Canberra. In the front car sat Harry, Anthony, and Alice. Anthony's hair, a usually jet black had been bleached blonde, as was Alice's hair, a natural bright blonde, dyed a dark brunette. It seemed like a move out of a crappy old spy novel, but it worked. My hair was also a bleached blond now, although the bleach turned it white more than it did blonde. June swapped hair colors with Anthony, now sporting jet black, straight, long to the lumbar hair.

We got through the checkpoints out of Melbourne with next to no issue. Anthony was asked for ID but when he told the police at the checkpoint that he forgot it, they waved him through anyway.

"Don't forget your license next time," The policeman said, "It's a crime to operate a motor vehicle without carrying your license."

"Yeah, sorry officer!" Anthony said with a lower classed accent, "Kid just wouldn't shut up about spending the day fishing with his grandpa!"

Harry nodded at the officer from the passenger seat.

Julia was stuck in the boot of mine and June's car for the checkpoint. It would be hard to pass off an Asian girl with a slightly Russian accent as being part of our family as June and I drove through. They didn't ask for her license, because with our dyed hair, we looked nothing like who they were looking for. It was then I learned just how easy people are to fool. Just do what they aren't expecting, and you'll probably get away with it.

The cars slowly rolled to a stop in front of the dilapidated house that in a previous timeline was destroyed by the bushfires, but in this timeline, still stood at the end of the road. June looked at me with a perplexed look.

"That's not your base is it?" she asked, "It's definitely not how you described it."

"It's underground isn't it?" Julia asked.

"Julia is correct," I said, opening the door and stepping out as it was still barely crawling to a stop. I stretched out my arms and yawned as I stepped away from the car. Stretching my body to release all the tension in my neck from the long drive. I caught a glimpse of my self in the reflection of a broken window on the house. It still shocked me, getting used to seeing a bleached blonde Sean looking back at me in my reflections. More so white than blonde. It almost resembled the color of Preys' hair. Too closely. I put my middle finger up at my reflection, projection my thoughts of Prey into the face that stared back at me and walked around the back of the car.

"Can you open the boot June?" I asked, "I've got to unload the weapons."

I could only just barely see her reflection in the driver's side mirror, but what I did see was a grimace come across her face when I said, 'Weapons.' Alice was doing the same with the help of Harry in their car. Unloading all the gear that we'd taken to Melbourne. As we rounded the house, we could see a motorbike sitting by the side of the entrance to our underground base.

'That means' that Grey is here.'

Alice and I had spent so many years in this base. It wasn't a base for us. It was home. It was a large and sparsely populated home which was about to become greatly more populated. What was originally just us two. Now, if Grey was going to stick around this time, there would be seven of us.

I pulled open the metal door to the stairs that led below ground to the surprise of June and Anthony. Julia was less surprised by the sight, but traveling through time, it's not like there was much left in the world that could really surprise her.

Making our way down the stairs and entering the main area of the base, I spied Grey before anyone else. He sat at the table near the kitchen, surrounded by bottles of spirits, all empty except for the one that he was still drinking out of. Half a bottle of emptied scotch and swirling around in front of him half a glass of the same liquid. He looked up at me with a scowl across his face as everyone else followed me in. He lifted the glass to his lips and jolted his head backward, shotting the drink down, slamming the glass back on the table and looking back up at us.

"Hey Grey," I said, "It's been a while. We secured Julia Lysenko."

"I saw the reports in the news," Grey said, "You also secured your spot in Australia's most wanted fugitive list."

Everyone else who was walking into the room stood behind me, stepping back when sensing the tense atmosphere between myself and Grey. I wasn't even sure what the cause was, just that the empty bottles of alcohol and the blunt responses were aggressive and out of character from the Grey that I'd gotten to know over his sporadic visits to Alice and I over the years.

"Is there a problem here Grey?" I asked, "We all knew that this action was going to drastically change the future. We had no idea how this was going to turn out."

"Yeah, I couldn't have known that you would manage to f.u.c.k this up in a spectacular fashion!" Grey said with a bite.

"F.u.c.k this up?" I asked, "As if you were on the front line yourself calling the f.u.c.k.i.n.g shots!"

"Just as f.u.c.k.i.n.g stupid as the original Sean you are!"

"Well, you're the one carrying out whatever will he left us!" I yelled at him, "So if the original Sean was so f.u.c.k.i.n.g stupid then why are you seeing out his plan with blind faith!? In fact, yeah, we are stupid because we're following your plan with blind faith."

"I'm doing what I think is the only way to stop what's going to happen!" Grey yelled, "I have no option but to put my faith in you because you're the only f.u.c.k.i.n.g kid on the whole planet who can manipulate the very fabric of space and time!"

"Okay then Grey!" I yelled, the people behind me taking another step back, except for Alice to stepped forward to my side. "You told me in the first divergent that Lysenko was secured by the New World Order who I can only imagine, used her to make some major changes to this world, most likely involving whatever it is that we're traveling to the middle east for in less than a weeks' time. The difference here is that we have Julia Lysenko and you're Sean from the first divergent doesn't! As far as I'm concerned this is a mission success!"

Grey stood up and walked over to me. Towering over me and pointing across my shoulder, "And how the hell am I supposed to account for this?" he asked pointing at Anthony, "I have to live with him here!" He continued to step past myself and Alice and looked June harshly in the eyes and with a skip in his breath continued, "And this woman is supposed to be dead!"

"Convenient that!" I said, "You sending me on a mission without telling me that my aunty was going to be there."

"Because I knew you would try to save her life if you knew!" He said.

"Well you were right," Alice chimed in, "We did save her life, so what the f.u.c.k is that to you!?" she asked, "You wanted us to change the future and have a look. You're telling us that Julia was supposed to be taken by the NWO and that June was supposed to die, but here we have Dr Lysenko with us and June very much alive. We changed the future."

"Junes death was supposed to inspire Sean to get heavily involved with the factional warfare among many other consequences of her death," Grey said, "You're missing out on key events from the first divergent!"

"How about you stop making me try to live through the first divergent timeline!?" I asked, "How about you tell me what happened, without being so damn secretive and you tell me how Sean felt about them? You tell me how I reacted and why I reacted in the way I did. Just remember that this is the second divergent and I'm not your f.u.c.k.i.n.g Sean 1.0!"

"If we veer too far off the path of the first divergent then I won't have any knowledge of the future to be able to help you," Grey said.

"GOOD!" I yelled, "Last time I checked, the first divergent was f.u.c.k.e.d! Sean 1.0 f.u.c.k.e.d it up and we're here trying to fix it. The more you keep us on the same path as the first divergent the more you contribute to f.u.c.k.i.n.g it up for us!"

"YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND!" Grey yelled throwing his fist at me. Before it managed to hit me, I reversed time, stepping to the side and kicking his feet out from under him, collapsing easily with the drunken sway of an alcoholic.

"Are you kidding me?" I said, "You're really trying to hit me?"

Alice stepped forward as well, both of us standing over him, "What is your problem Grey?" she asked.

Grey lay flat on the ground, not making another sound but his eyes still staring out in front of him.

"He's completely drunk," Alice said.

Harry walked over and bent down to pick him up, "Okay kiddos, I've got this one. I'll get him to bed. You kids get settled in."

* * *

Grey didn't come out of his room for the rest of the night. He'd built the base to accommodate for more people originally, so Julia, June, and Anthony had no trouble finding rooms to sleep in. June and Anthony stayed in their room until dinner as Alice and I showed Julia around the base. Harry cleaned up the mess that Grey had left. It looked like he'd been back for at least two days, doing nothing but drinking. Harry took food to Grey when it was time for dinner, but the plate remained untouched outside the door to his room all night.

I had no idea what was going through his head or why he was so angry at me. I understand that we messed up but nothing to warrant his over the top reaction. June and Anthony went to bed early after dinner, and Alice, Julia and I stayed up late, talking about the future, and about Prey.

* * *

Anthony woke up, not knowing what the time was, and for a moment, not knowing where he was. It quickly all came back to him. Getting up and washing his face in the bathroom, he still had to take a moment to realize that his hair was a bleach blond. Close to being white. It was also a small shock waking up to a girl in his arms with jet black hair, remembering that June had dyed it with the rest of them.

Walking through the metal grunge of the underground base, Anthony made his way up the stairs and outside, just in time to see the sky over the mountains turning from a dark black to a light orange as the sun was rising over the horizon. He pulled out a cigarette and lit it, taking deep breaths of tobacco as he watched the sunrise until it was too bright for his eyes to watch any longer.

'What have I gotten myself into' he thought to himself. He was in way over his head. All his dreams and ambitions, gone in an instant. He was a fugitive, connected with a shooting in the Melbourne CBD. He thought to himself that he would never have a normal life again.

The cranking metal sounds of the door opening came from behind him. He turned to see Grey walking outside.

"We didn't get the chance to meet properly," Anthony said extending his hand. Grey walked over and pulled the cigarette out of Anthony's mouth and stamped it out on the ground.

"Don't be an idiot," Grey said, "You've got to quit that shit."

Anthony pulled his hand back to his side, "Nice to meet you too, I guess." He went to pull another cigarette out of his pocket and Grey grabbed the packet and threw it as far as he could.

"I get it," Anthony said, "For some reason, you have it out for me, but you really can't be taking my smokes and throwing them!"

"If you want to live then you'll stop today," Grey said.

"Who are you to dictate my life though?" Anthony asked.

"A time traveler from the future," Grey said, "And if you keep that shit up, you're going to die."

"We all have to go some time," Anthony responded nihilistically.

"You aren't going to be one of those people that smoke and die of cancer at 70," Grey said, "Try 40, that's what, less than a decade for you now isn't it?"

"I take it you know me in the future?" Anthony asked.

"It doesn't matter what I know," Grey said, "You don't need to be from the future to plan for it."

"So, what is your problem then?" Anthony asked, "You're angry that I'm here, and you also hate June for some reason. What about us in the future makes you hate us? We must have done something to you."

"June's dead," Grey said, "And as for you, you're an idiot who needs to stop feeling sorry for himself."

"Are you talking about future me or now me?" Anthony asked.

"Does it matter?"

"Junes alive, and we're both here. Clearly not something from your future so if you have a problem with us, well, me in the future, then can't you leave that in the past, or well, the future?"

Anthony still had one cigarette in his hand that he'd managed to take out before Grey threw his packet. He looked down at the cigarette and threw it away with the lighter that was in his hands as well.

"Me in the future and me now have been through different experiences, so therefore we're different people. The same goes for June and the same goes for the kids. Whatever they did in the future, that's not them now."

Grey let out an exasperated giggle, "Am I really being lectured by you?" he asked.

"Why not," Anthony said, "Looks like your grand plans for the future have changed, and they now include June and I. Instead of getting angry at things you can't change, look towards the future. That you can change."

Anthony walked back inside leaving Grey out to bask in the warmth of the morning sunlight. Grey walked over to the packet of cigarettes that he threw and picked one out of the packet, lighting it up with the lighter that Anthony threw on the ground. He took a deep breath of smoke as he warmed his back on the sunlight.

"God, I'm such an idiot."