by L. M. Brown
He had just reached the end of the texts, most of which he continued to ignore, when a new message arrived. He didn’t recognize the number and nearly disregarded it completely. When he changed his mind and opened the message he breathed a sigh of relief that he hadn’t hit the delete option.
There was no indication as to who the message had come from, but Scott had a feeling the djinn had sent it. He had never received a wedding invitation by text before, and when he tried to RSVP the message bounced back at him. It didn’t make any difference. He had every intention of being there and he immediately started making plans.
By tomorrow evening he intended to have Cameron back in his arms and hopefully in his life for good.
* * * *
The village Scott found himself in hadn’t even been on his list. If he’d been relying solely on Google, he’d never have made it there at all.
It was nearly noon by the time he arrived in the village square. He parked the car and set off at a brisk walk down the narrow footpath toward Cameron’s cottage. He could tell the place was empty before he reached the door. The front lawn looked as though the owner hadn’t mowed the grass all year. The windows were dirty and when he peered into the living room he could see the place was devoid of furniture. The cottage had clearly been empty for quite some time.
“Damn it,” Scott shouted. “Where the hell is he, if he isn’t here?”
The djinn remained silent once more.
Scott sat on the front step as he assessed his options. He could go to Cameron’s parents’ house, yet he felt a little uncomfortable at the idea of barging in on them right before their son got married. That he had spent most of the week planning how to gatecrash the wedding itself didn’t occur to him.
Deciding it would probably be better to go to the house, rather than the church, Scott made his way back across the village.
Cameron’s parents’ house at least seemed to be occupied and after hesitating on the step for several minutes Scott finally rang the bell.
The door swung open and a stranger stared at him in hopeful anticipation. “Are you the DJ?”
Scott shook his head and the stranger’s expression turned to one of disappointment. “Sorry.”
The man sighed in frustration. “Whatever you’re selling, come back another time. We’ve got a wedding in less than two hours, a missing DJ, and a groom who’s spent half the morning in a fit of depression.”
“Chris is depressed?” Scott asked without thinking. “That doesn’t sound like him.”
Even though he’d only met him the once, depressed wasn’t a word he’d have used to describe the young man.
“You know Chris?”
“Er, we’ve met once.” Scott hoped he didn’t ask where or when.
“Are you here for the wedding?”
“Yes, but I don’t want to intrude. I’m actually looking for Cameron. I thought he might be here since he’s the best man.”
Scott could tell from the narrowing of the man’s eyes he had said something wrong. A cold feeling settled in the pit of his stomach.
“I’m Eddie, Chris’ best man.”
“But I thought Cameron was…” Scott spied Chris in the hallway.
“Who are you?” Chris asked.
“He says he knows you,” Eddie replied before Scott could speak.
“I’m Scott Baxter.” Scott held out his hand. “We met briefly once. I guess you don’t remember me. I thought I’d stop by and say hello to Cameron if he’s around.”
Chris and Eddie exchanged a glance and Scott’s feeling of dread intensified.
“Who’s at the door?” a female voice called from the living room.
“It’s a friend of Cameron’s,” Chris replied. “Come in, Scott.”
Scott forced his feet to move and stepped over the threshold. “Is Cameron here?”
Chris shook his head. “You’d better come through here.”
Frozen in place, Scott couldn’t bring himself to take another step. “Where is he?”
Chris nudged him on the arm. “Come into the living room.”
Scott held his ground. “Just tell me where he is, please?”
Eddie finally broke the uneasy silence. “Cameron passed away over a year ago.”
The woman who had called out stepped into the hallway. Scott recognized her as Cameron and Chris’ mother immediately from the pictures he had seen in the cottage he had shared with Cameron.
It took a moment for the words to register and when they did, Scott didn’t believe them. “That’s impossible, I saw him less than a week ago.”
Another frustrating exchange passed between Chris and Eddie.
“I’m not crazy,” Scott insisted.
From the expressions on their faces, Chris and Eddie clearly thought otherwise. Chris’ mother’s reaction, however, caught them all by surprise. She ran forward and pulled Scott into her arms as though embracing a long-lost relative.
“Mum?” Chris asked hesitantly. “Do you know this guy?”
She nodded and guided Scott firmly into the living room. When Chris and Eddie tried to follow them she shooed them away. “Scott and I need to have a little chat.”
Scott had no idea what was going on, but he hoped Cameron’s mother had the answers to his questions.
“Are you all right?” she asked as she sat him down on the sofa. “I imagine you’ve had a bit of a shock.”
“A bit?” Scott rubbed his temples, hoping to fend off the oncoming headache. “I have no idea what’s going on.”
“Then let me explain. I’m Clare Kirk, Cameron and Christopher’s mother.”
Scott shook her hand and waited for her to shed some light on what had happened to Cameron.
“Do you believe in magic?”
“A week ago I’d have said no,” Scott admitted.
“And now?”
Scott examined his hands and as he did the glint of Clare’s ring caught his eye. He frowned, thinking the jewel-encrusted piece a little gaudy for the woman sitting beside him. It seemed out of place on her tiny hand and all of a sudden he knew. “You made the wish, didn’t you?”
Clare nodded. “I didn’t mean to, but the djinn came to me while you were in the hallway a few minutes ago and explained what had happened.”
“What did happen?”
Clare twisted the ring on her finger. “I found this ring in a junk shop a few weeks ago. The moment I picked it up time froze and the djinn appeared. He told me he could grant me a single wish, yet what I wanted most of all he couldn’t give me. He couldn’t bring Cameron back to us.” She choked back a sob and Scott reached out to take her hand. “I put the ring back on the shelf and left the shop. Yet when I arrived home it was there on my dressing table. I kept putting it away, but each time I did it reappeared. I even tried throwing it in the village pond, since it wouldn’t stay in the dustbin. I’d find it in my jewelry box, or in my purse. I never saw the djinn, but the ring kept finding its way back to me.”
Clare took the ring off and passed it to Scott. “Last Saturday I made a wish and I hadn’t even noticed the ring was with me at the time. Chris and I were talking about his wedding and about Cameron. I told him I hoped he and Jodie would be as happy as his father and I are. Then I said I wished Cameron could have had the chance to know the joy of being married to the love of his life, even for a single day.”
“And the djinn brought him back for that day?” Scott guessed. “But why couldn’t he bring him back permanently?”
“He can’t bring him back at all,” Clare reminded him.
“Then how did I spend a day with him this week?”
“Was it this week? Are you sure?”
Scott wasn’t. He hadn’t seen a newspaper or a calendar and the weather had been reminiscent of mid-winter rather than late spring. There had been no heavy snow since March.
“From what the djinn said, he created some sort of temporary world and put the two of you in it.”
“Can he do the same ag
ain?” Scott asked.
The djinn appeared before them to answer the question in person. “No, I can’t.”
This time Scott realized the world, or at least Clare, wasn’t frozen. She was as aware of their unexpected guest as him.
“Why not?” Scott demanded.
The djinn took his ring from Scott and put it on. “Temporary worlds are just that, temporary. The world I created for you was not a whole world, merely a small portion of this one. Nothing existed outside of the village, which is why your phone didn’t work while you were there.”
Scott patted the pocket containing his phone. “If that world was real, what happened to the pictures I took?”
“I removed them, of course,” the djinn told him. “I can’t be having proof of magic floating around like that.”
“They were all I had of him,” Scott snapped. “You let me believe I could spend the rest of my life with him, and then you took away everything, even my photos.”
“You retain your memories, just as I promised you would.”
“I want him back. Send me to the temporary world again. I don’t mind living in the village forever, not if it means being with Cameron.”
“You wouldn’t survive for long. There would be no food supplies coming in. There’s no hospital or fire station, nothing of the outside world at all. Most of the houses were shells, devoid of life, which is why no children were on the hillside with you and Cameron. Only those whose lives touched yours and Cameron’s that day existed in the world I placed you in. You might be able to live in a pocket for a day, but not forever. The illusion would be shattered for Cameron the day he went back to work.”
“He doesn’t work in the village?”
Clare shook her head. “No, he used to cook for a restaurant in a nearby town.”
“Can’t you make this pocket world bigger?” Scott asked the djinn.
“My powers are not as great as you might imagine. The world I created for you and Cameron stretched the very limit of my abilities.”
“Isn’t there anything you can do?” Scott’s eyes watered as he stared up at the djinn. “You took me from my life and put me into another world. Can’t you take him from his and bring him here?”
“I’m sorry, but in this world, here and now, Cameron is dead. I cannot give him back to you.”
Scott didn’t even realize he was crying until Clare pulled him into her arms and patted his back.
“Here,” the djinn said. He removed his ring and placed it on the table in front of Scott. “My wishes aren’t supposed to hurt anyone, so the least I can do is give you a wish of your own. Just one, so make it good.”
Scott didn’t even want to look at the ring. Like Clare before him, the one wish he wanted to make couldn’t be granted.
Finally, he pulled back from Clare and wiped his eyes. The djinn had gone. “I’m sorry, I don’t usually get all weepy like this.”
Clare hugged him quickly and dabbed at her own eyes. “Don’t worry about shedding a few tears. Goodness knows, I’ve cried buckets over him myself. I’m so glad to have met you. Tell me, did you enjoy your day with Cameron?”
“Very much. I came here hoping for more of them.”
“I’m sorry. You’re welcome to come to the wedding if you’d like. I think Cameron would have liked you to be there.”
Scott’s heart ached as he realized the plans they had made could never be fulfilled. “Cameron invited me to the wedding. He was supposed to be best man.”
“Yes, he was,” Clare agreed. “Chris and Jodie were meant to marry last year and Cameron was to be best man. Poor Chris is really missing his big brother today.”
“What happened?”
“There was an accident a couple of days before the wedding. There had been a lot of heavy snow and the roads had become hazardous. A motorist coming through the village lost control of his car and hit Cameron head on. He didn’t stand a chance, even if…”
“Even if what?” Scott prompted when it seemed Clare had become lost in her thoughts.
“I just remembered what Cameron was like those last few days.”
“What do you mean?”
Clare smiled. “He’d been walking around with this daft grin on his face and his head in the clouds. The whole family noticed the change in him and Chris was convinced he had a new man in his life. When I asked him if there was anything he wanted to tell me he simply smiled and wouldn’t say a thing.”
“Do you think maybe he remembered our day together?”
Clare shrugged and gave him a watery smile. “Maybe he did. I’d like to think he didn’t die without knowing what it’s like to be in love.”
Someone knocked on the living room door. “Mrs. Kirk, we need leave soon, are you ready?”
Clare jumped up and rushed to the mirror over the mantelpiece. “Goodness, look at the state of me. I need to go clean up. I can’t ruin Chris’ big day by showing up with panda eyes.”
Scott stood. “I should leave.”
“Aren’t you coming to the wedding?”
“I think I’ll take a walk round the village and maybe slip in the back if that’s okay?” Scott walked toward the door. He deliberately ignored the djinn’s ring. What use were wishes when Cameron was out of his reach forever?
Clare nodded and gave him a quick hug. “Thank you for making Cameron so happy, even if it was just for a little while.”
Scott suspected she knew he had no intention of going to the wedding, or of ever returning to this little village once he had left.
Chapter Six
Despite his intention to stay away from the wedding, Scott found himself in the church grounds, wandering amongst the graves. It took him a while to locate the one with Cameron’s name on. When he found the headstone he sank to his knees and brushed his fingers over the lettering. Somehow, that made everything real.
Scott didn’t talk to Cameron as he sat on the grass. He remembered their day together, reliving every detail in his mind. He cursed the cruelty of fate—and the djinn—for giving him the chance to connect with the other half of his soul, only to tear them apart forever.
The ceremony in the church got underway. Scott made no effort to join them. Everyone else might be there at the wedding, but for him, the day felt more like a funeral.
A glint of gold alerted him to the presence of the djinn. The ring sat on top of the headstone. He grabbed it and tossed the wretched thing across the cemetery.
“I don’t want your damned wish!” he shouted. “I want him back.”
The djinn didn’t appear or reply.
Scott left before the wedding party came out of the church. He got in his car and drove as fast as he could from the village. He’d return to the city and throw himself into his work. Maybe in a few years’ time he might even have forgotten Cameron altogether.
He didn’t believe the lies he told himself. There was something about Cameron that he knew he wouldn’t forget. The connection he had felt for his fake husband had been instant. He’d never imagined he could fall for someone quite so quickly, yet the thought of spending the rest of his life without him seemed to be unbearable.
If only he’d met Cameron sooner.
Scott slammed his foot on the brake and whispered a small prayer of thanks there was nothing on the road with him.
He spun the car round and drove back the way he had come. The wedding appeared to be over and the wedding party had left for the reception. Scott ran in the direction of where he had thrown the ring. He nearly didn’t see the djinn standing next to Cameron’s headstone.
“Changed your mind?” the djinn asked as he twirled the ring on his little finger.
Scott thought for a moment the djinn intended to disappear, taking his ring and Scott’s one chance at happiness with him.
With a flick of his wrist, the djinn tossed him the ring. Scott caught it one handed and held it tightly as he wished as hard as he could.
“You have to say the words out loud,” the djinn informed h
im.
“Can you grant this one?”
The djinn smiled. “It’s an easier one to pull off than Clare’s wish.”
Scott took a deep breath. “Then I wish for you to send me back in time to the week before Chris’ wedding last year, but before Cameron’s accident.”
The djinn bowed low. “Your wish is my command.”
Lightning flashed in the summer sky, blinding Scott momentarily. When his vision returned he found himself still in the cemetery, yet the ground was covered in snow and Cameron’s headstone had vanished. Had he really traveled back in time?
“Yes.” The djinn answered his unspoken question.
“So this isn’t some little pocket world like last time?”
“No, this is the real past.”
“Is there another me out there?” Scott tried to remember where he had been at this time the previous year. He had a vague feeling he might have been in Rome. Wherever he had been he knew he would have been buried in his work, without the vaguest notion that the other half of his soul was about to be lost to him forever.
“Unfortunately, yes,” the djinn confirmed. “Try not to bump into yourself if you can help it.”
“This is really weird.”
“Just remember that you, the other you, has to live your life exactly as you have until this point, else otherwise you’ll find yourself with a whole bunch of problems.”
“What sort of problems?”
The djinn gave him a warning glare. “Just don’t interfere with your own past. Find a new job, meet new friends, and make a fresh life for yourself and Cameron.”
“But what if I accidentally bump into myself?”
“Don’t.”
“But what if—?”
The djinn poked him hard in the chest. “You retain your knowledge of where you were between now and then. Stay away or risk losing Cameron all over again, and this time it will be forever.”
Scott rubbed his chest and nodded. He supposed sometimes it really was better not to ask. He’d miss his job, but he had the feeling maybe it was for the best. From what Cameron had told him, they hadn’t spent much time together during their six months of marriage. A more local job, instead of one that had him jetting all over the world, could be the best thing for them both.
