The Time Traveler

by Tej Pratap Singh

  “What?” asked Jenny.

  “Just stuff,” he replied.

  The sky had cleared for a while. Although it seemed certain it would rain again Jo took out his raincoat and slung it over his shoulder. Jenny turned his face towards her and kissed him softly.

  He looked at her, “Jen, what was that for?”

  “What? The kiss?” she asked.

  “Yeah,” he said smiling.

  “It was for believing in me,” said Jenny. “I just want you to know that no matter what I’ll always be there for you.”

  “Thanks, Jen. That means a lot to me,” he said.

  “Tell me one thing, will you forget me once you go back to your time? Will you leave me here alone?” she continued.

  “Come on, Jen, I’ll never forget you,” said Jo.

  “But you told me that you forget everything. That your entire memory is erased when you time jump,” she said.

  Jo stopped in his track and turned around to look at Jenny. He held her arm and pulled her closer to him. He held her like that for a moment looking deep into her bright green eyes. He could see his reflection in her eyes. By now his grip had got stronger, he whispered, “Who are you?”

  “What?” said Jenny surprised. “KC, what’s wrong with you? What are you saying?”

  He further tightened his grip around her arm.

  “What’s your real name and who are you?” he asked again.

  “For God’s sake, let me go. I have no idea what you are saying,” cried Jenny. “You are hurting me.”

  “Explain something to me, how the hell did you know that memory is lost when you jump time? I clearly remember not saying anything to that effect,” he said.

  “Yes you did, back in the coffee shop,” she explained.

  “No, I didn’t mention about the memory loss, Jen,” he said confidently. “I might have no clue of what’s going on, but, I sure am catching up fast. I am asking you for the last time. Just tell me the truth, will you.”

  Jenny broke down, tears rolling down her cheeks, “For God’s sake, trust me, I have no idea what you are saying. Please let go off my arm now, you’re hurting me.”

  He slowly released her. Jenny instantly pushed him back and took two steps back. He tripped over the sidewalk and fell down. She quickly opened her purse and frantically looked inside it for something.

  “Hey, Jen, are you looking for this?” he said getting up slowly.

  Jenny looked at him. He was holding a 9mm GLOCK attached with a silencer.

  “So, do you mind telling me what a college girl is doing with a pistol in her purse? Mind telling me how come from the moment I told you that my name is KC, you did not even once call me Jo. Don’t you think that’s strange considering that you have been calling me Jo for over a year now? Mind telling me, how come your father’s records are not to be found on any server in the country, and how is it that even Mike has never met your mum or dad even though he has been living here forever. How did you know about the memory loss when only I was told about it, that too in a time loop?,” he said moving closer to her, holding the pistol in his hands.

  Jenny stopped crying, she took a step closer to him. He pointed the pistol right between her eyes.

  “Stop,” he said, “one more step and I’ll shoot you.”

  “No, you will never shoot me,” she said.

  “Trust me, Jenny, I have a pretty good feeling that I am damn good with guns. And I can see it in your eyes that you damn well know it too. So, stop or I’m going to blow your head off,” he said.

  Jenny stopped.

  “Who are you?” he asked. “What do you want?”

  “Just keeping an eye on you, KC,” said Jenny smiling.

  “That doesn’t answer my question,” he replied. “You have ten seconds before I blow your head off, Jen. 1… 2… 3…, I don’t need you, Jen. I’ll figure it out either way, so why don’t you just tell me who are you, who sent you?”

  “That’s always been your problem, KC. You are overconfident, always believing yourself to be too smart. You think you can get out of any situation. Well, I was here to make sure you don’t so try getting out of this one,” said Jenny.

  “And… 10.”

  BANG!

  He shot her right between her eyes. Jenny fell to the ground. His arm was still pointing up. He closed his eyes. He couldn’t believe what he had just done. He thought of himself as someone who wouldn’t hurt a fly. It was almost as if he didn’t know who he was anymore. It took a minute before everything sunk in.

  He lowered his arm, looked down, she was lying dead on the ground. She was all he had and he had killed her. He had killed the person who meant the world to him. He bent down and held her hands in his hands and kissed them. He could feel her cold hands with his lips. As he gently placed her hand on the ground he realized she had something in her hand. It was a note. He put the pistol under his belt, got up and read the note. He recognized Jenny’s handwriting.

  It read:

  “I knew you would shoot me. You always said, “The situation is as bad as you let it be, and things are out of control only till the time you let them be.” So, I knew right from the start that it was only a matter of time before you would get control of the situation you’re in right now. It is time now for me to reveal everything about me, my name is Jenny Cent. I am your wife. I was born in 2935. As per your plan, I was to time jump one month after you to the year 2017, where I was to guide you till you found the time-com, J zero, and till you found about the time modulator without disclosing my identity. You had told me that shooting me was the only alternative. It had to happen in order to maintain and save the ‘contact time’. You had told me that whatever you did or whatever you might do was for a reason and that everything would be okay in the end. We will be together again at our ‘crossroads’, where we met first. I trust you Kenneth. And, I love you, I always have and I always will, till the end of time.

  I love you,

  Jenny.

  P.S.- Be strong. This is not the end; it is just the beginning.”

  He closed his eyes, as tears rolled down his cheeks. He bent down and hugged Jenny as tightly as he could. And then, he said to himself, this is not the end; this is the beginning. I’ll save you Jenny. I will bend time.

  Chapter 3

  Just a dollar

  It was Monday morning. KC reached his apartment. He entered from the window, quickly packed his essentials and went back out the window. He turned around and looked at his room, he was pretty sure that he was not going to come back any time soon. He felt his left pocket just to make sure once again that he had the time-com on him. He was relieved to find that it was still in his possession. He put on his raincoat, pulled his collars up, covered his head with a hat, and he started walking straight towards Pizza Den. On his way there he kept thinking about everything that had happened over the past three days. Despite his best attempts to piece everything together, he was not able make sense of anything. He felt he was missing a crucial piece of this jigsaw puzzle.

  He finally reached Pizza Den. He knew exactly what he was going to do once he entered the place; he slipped his hand inside the raincoat, tightly gripped his pistol and went in. Mr. Hastings was right there at his usual place, at the counter, making life hell for everybody from behind that counter. KC was in desperate need of money; he reran the plan in his mind quickly. I am going to walk straight up to him, put the pistol to his head and take the money from the cash drawer. Not all the money, but, only as much as he owes me as salary or the last three months’ salary, then I am going to run out of here as fast as I can.

  That was his plan. You can do it, he said to himself as he took a deep breath and started walking towards Hasting.

  * * *

  “Hey, Jo. Where have u been? I’ve been looking for you,” said Mr. Hastings smiling. “I have got something
for you.”

  KC said nothing. He has got something for me? Wondered KC.

  “What are you staring at?” said Hasting.

  “Nothing Mr. Hasting. What is it that you have for me?” he replied.

  Hastings bent down to take out something from behind the counter. KC quickly reached for his pistol. He was pretty sure by now that he could not trust anybody. Who knows if Hastings had a pistol hidden behind the counter. Hastings pulled out the package and looked up, he saw the pistol pointed at his head. Everyone around was shocked to witness this. A girl sitting at one of the tables screamed at the top of her voice and her friends soon followed.

  KC immediately turned towards her and yelled, “Hey, stop it, get out of here. Everybody, quick, out!”

  Within seconds the Den was empty. Few were already dialing 911. He knew he didn’t have much time; he had to get out of there and he needed to do it quickly.

  “Fuck! Jo, is that Mike’s? Have you lost your mind,” said Hastings terrified. “Look, here’s your package, everything you gave me is in it. Now move that gun away from me.”

  “What are you talking about? What package?” said KC confused. “I didn’t give you anything.”

  “Jo, this is not a time for jokes. Look, I swear I didn’t take anything out,” said Hastings sweating heavily. “Now, stop pointing this gun at my head, will you?”

  KC opened the package with one hand and peeped in. It was full of money and he could also see some sort of a note in there with the money.

  “Jo, trust me I didn’t take a single dollar from it. Just take it please and go,” cried Hasting.

  “What else did I give you?” he asked pressing his pistol against Hasting’s head.

  “This is it. I swear,” said Hastings

  “Did I say something to you when I gave you this package?” he asked.

  “What are you talking ‘bout? This is it,” said Hasting.

  He kept his pistol in his raincoat and pulled Hastings across the counter by his shirt collar.

  “Look, Jo, I don’t care what shit you are getting into, whether you are on drugs or you are smuggling arms,” said Hasting. “I would have never taken this money from you in the first place had I known that you are in some serious shit.”

  “When…, when did I give that to you?” he asked Hasting.

  “Dammit, Jo, you gave it to me on Friday,” replied Hastings gasping for air. “What the fuck is wrong with you? Just shoot me if you have to or get the hell out of here.”

  KC let go off Hastings and looked once again at the package. What was going on, he wondered. He could hear the police sirens now. He had to leave. He pulled out $200 from the package and gave it to Hasting, “Sorry that your customers had to leave because of me. This should more than make up for it.”

  He quickly slipped from the rear door before the police could get to him.

  What just happened here, wondered KC. Did Hastings just hand over all this money to me? Hastings said that I gave him the money. How could that have been possible?

  As per what had just happened, the understanding that KC had was that he had given Hastings the money on Friday. He could jump time he knew this by now. But how could he be at two places at the same time? Things were going fine until Friday midnight, then it was Friday all over again. But he remembered everything he did on Friday both the times around and he definitely didn’t remember giving Hastings any money.

  Hastings would never lie with a gun to his head, thought KC. That could only mean one thing; I was at two places at the same time. Now, how did I pull that off?

  The police sirens were getting louder and louder every second. He put the package inside his coat. He had to get to some place quite where he could think peacefully. He kept running till he was under a bridge. It was dark and filthy which meant that they were unlikely to look for him there, well, for a while at least. He was tired and frustrated. He sat down and looked all around, he was alone. Could things get any worse, he wondered. He missed Jenny a lot. He didn’t remember her as his wife but he felt that they had a connection. They clicked and now she was gone. He had no friends or family. Hell he didn’t even belong to this time. He covered his head with his raincoat, rested his head against the wall and closed his eyes. He was so tired that he dozed off before he knew it.

  “Wake up, Jo. Wake up.”

  He opened his eyes to see Mike.

  “Mike? How did you find me here?”

  “Grant me this much kid, I know this city like the back of my hand,” said Mike. “I know where people go when they don’t want to be found. And, Jo, I have known you long enough to know that you didn’t kill Jenny. I don’t care what everyone says but I know you, you are innocent. Look, Jo, I got connections, nobody can touch you, just turn yourself in and I promise you that I’ll get you out in no time. You can’t be running around like this all your life.”

  “Mike, there is just one problem,” he said.

  “What, kid? What is it?” asked Mike.

  “I killed Jenny. Mike, did you hear what I just said?”

  “Jo, have you lost it? You are incapable of killing even a fly. You couldn’t have,” protested Mike.

  “Mike, I thought the same about myself but I was wrong. Wrong about myself, wrong about my life, wrong about everything,” he explained.

  “What are you talking about, Jo?” said Mike in an irritated manner.

  “I am not Jo. My name is KC. I am not who you think I am,” explained KC. “And, right now you need to understand this very clearly, things have got very complicated. To begin with, Jenny was not from around here and…”

  “Jo, are you a spy?” interrupted Mike.

  “No, I’m not a spy. And, I’m still trying to figure out things. My name is KC, Mike, not Jo,” he said looking over Mike’s shoulder to ensure no one else was around.

  There was a flash of light. It was a police air patrol chopper. The cops had spotted them.

  “Dammit they have found us. The cops will be here soon,” said Mike. “You get out of here. I’ll stop ‘em.” He pulled KC towards him and gave him a tight hug. “I have lost one son, I am not about to lose another one. Now run as fast as you can, I’ll hold the cops back.”

  KC got up. Mike took out his 1940 vintage revolver with a silver moulded handgrip, gold polished exteriors, and a carved inscription on it. It had brilliant curves and it shined so bright that it could be seen from a mile away. It had been given to Mike by his father.

  “Well, sweetheart, looks like we are going down together,” said Mike kissing his revolver.

  KC turned around and looked at Mike, who was smiling back at him. The air patrol was right above them. KC was waiting for it to complete one circle so that he could run from under the first bridge to the next bridge. The air patrol would be back soon, that gave him only few seconds to make his move. He couldn’t carry his bag along with him, it was too heavy to run with, besides the slippery ground was already a challenge in itself.

  Mike was under a hail of fire, but that didn’t deter him. Every now and then he would get up and fire, careful so as to not kill any cop, but accurate enough to impose caution.

  The police helicopter moved away for few seconds. KC dropped his bag, he looked at Mike and shouted, “Mike, I’ll come back for you, I promise.”

  “Don’t worry about me, kid,” Mike shouted back. “This is not the end, this is just the beginning.”

  KC on hearing this stopped midway between the two bridges, he turned around and started running back towards Mike, presenting himself as a clear target, just what the cops were waiting for.

  “KC, what the hell are you doing? Go back or you will get yourself killed,” shouted Mike.

  The cops were no longer firing at Mike. KC was right in front of them. Mike had to stop them. He got out of his cover and yelled at the cops, “Hey! You good for nothing ro
tten cry-babies, come on take a shot at me before I blow your lights out for good!”

  “Mike, get down,” shouted KC.

  A bullet went right through Mike’s right shoulder and he fell down. KC grabbed Mike’s revolver and fired the last few slugs at the cops.

  “Jo, what the hell was that? What part of the plan did you not understand? Huh? I fire, you run, was it that difficult?” said Mike.

  “Mike! What was that you just said when I was about to… just there, when I was under that bridge,” said KC in a hurry. “You said, “This is the beginning not the end,” what was that? Where did you hear that?”

  “KC, now I know you are definitely not from around here. Every kid knows this in school,” said Mike. “This is what Washington said, “This is not the end this is the beginning,” the president of our country!”

  “Oh my God! How could I have missed that,” said KC sitting down next to Mike taking the $1 note that the strange guy had given him with Washington on it.

  “Bloody hell, I can’t believe this. It was with me the whole time,” he continued, “and that guy had told me to keep this note close.”

  “KC, this is not the time for puzzles. What are you taking about?” asked Mike in pain as he tried to stop the blood gushing out of his shoulder.

  KC took the one-dollar note out of his pocket and gave it to Mike.

  “Listen very carefully, Mike, the bullet has hit you in the shoulder, but you are a fighter, you’ll live,” he said looking straight in to Mike’s eyes. “The cops will be here any second, once they come here, tell them that I had you at gun point.”

  “What are you saying?” said Mike.

  “They will take me away, but, they will leave you” he explained. “Mike you keep this $1 with you at all times. I’ll come back, no matter where they take me. I will find you. Till that time you keep this one dollar with you. Guard it with your life. Everything depends on this.”

  Soon the cops were on them. They literary jumped on KC, punched him, and landed a couple of blows on his chest. KC looked at Mike as the cops were dragging him away. KC didn’t take his eyes off Mike even as the cops kept hitting him hard, blows after blows. It was as if he was trying to convince Mike with his eyes that he was serious about coming back for that one dollar bill.