by Jill Cooper
“It’s good to see you too, Molly.” I stroke her curly hair, which is very similar to my own and she lifts her head. I see a trail of blood under her nose and in the tissue she clutches in her fist.
It makes my heart skip a beat to see her distress, even though I know I only have a few minutes left to get set up. “You okay? What’s going on?” I usher her into my old bedroom and guide her over to the bed. Together, we sit.
Molly shakes her head she wipes her nose clean. Her splotchy cheeks signal she’s been crying. “Something weird is going on.”
“Okay.” I’m guarded and I sit on edge, while I wait for her to get started. “Weird how? You and Mike have another fight?”
“No, no.” Molly’s hands clench tight. I haven’t seen her this agitated in a long time. “We’re fine. Lara,” she places a hand on my shoulder as if she is the one that should be comforting me. “Your dad… This is going to sound crazy.”
“Just tell me, Molly.” Inside, I feel like I’m sitting on pins and needles.
Molly sighs and closes her eyes. She blurts it out as if it hurts to keep the secret in. A secret that’s desperate to come out. “I don’t think he’s supposed to be dead.”
The words she speaks are ones I never expected to hear, especially in this timeline. “What do you mean?” My voice hushes and there’s a slight tremble in its undertone.
Molly sighs and glances around the room as if she expects someone to interrupt us. “I know I just saw him a few days ago. I know it, then I had the memories. Like flashes? Of things I know I didn’t do. A funeral? When I asked mom about it, she got really upset. She said he’s been dead for three years, but I…”
Her face crumbles and Molly sobs. I want to help her so I rub her back, but I’m having trouble processing everything she told me. How is it possible in this altered timeline that Molly remembers things from the previous timeline? Except for me, that has never happened before, at least to my knowledge.
I grab her wrists to steady her and that’s when I once again notice the bloodied tissue in her hand.
The streak of dried blood beneath her nose.
The flashes she spoke of were memories-two timelines, merging into one. But how? Then it dawns on me, the thing that Rex had said to me long ago. Rewind had perfected time travel thanks to my mother’s brain scan. Time travel had been taken a step further because of my brain… And Molly…
She was next in line and after her…Cassidy.
It’s all linked together. We’re the answer.
“It’ll be okay,” I whisper because I’m not sure it’s true. I rub the back of her neck to calm her down, but also to check for a port. I sigh with relief. There’s nothing on the base of her neck. She’s still normal. She hadn’t been taken, so how come her memories from the altered past still exist?
“Am I crazy?” Molly gazes up at me with tearful, wide-eyes. My stomach churns to see her so upset. I wish there was a way to save her from this, but I don’t think one exists.
“You’re not crazy,” I say forcefully. “What I’m about to tell you, can’t leave this room. You’re right about everything. Dad isn’t supposed to be dead.”
“But,” Molly interrupts, “then why…Mom.” She points at the closed door as if Mom might be right there.
“She doesn’t remember, but I’m going to fix it. Whoever’s trying to destroy my family, tear us apart, I’m going to go find them, and then I’m going to stop them.” For good, but Molly doesn’t need all the details. She doesn’t need to know.
“Time travel?” Molly’s words are barely a whisper. “You’ll get caught. We’ll lose you too.”
“I have friends who can help. I’m not going to get caught, but I need to go now. I’m almost too late.” Ironic words spoken by a time traveler. “Wish me luck.”
“Good luck, Lara.” Molly kisses my cheek and being a good little soldier, hurries out of my room. She closes the door.
I setup on the other side of the bed with my duffle bag. Sitting with my legs crossed, I pull my bag open and pull out the newspaper clipping of my dad’s obituary. I focus on the date. I want to go back to three days before this date. Before Dad’s ‘suicide’. I can find Cassidy and stop her before she gets to him.
I know I can.
And Molly… Oh God, what if Molly has some natural time travel ability like I do? Mine was unlocked by stress, but what if Molly’s is being unlocked by something else? What if…
My breathing starts to change. I labor for air and my chest rises and falls. The date on the newspaper starts to change, as everything else on the page starts to pixelate in front of me. It swirls and comes alive like a 3D image, but it vibrates. Like on an old tube television, everything fluctuates like static.
The date is three days prior to Dad’s death just as I wanted, but the news article has changed. Instead of Dad’s face, I’m staring at my own where the headline reads: Local teen still missing.
I’m jumping backward into time, but into the wrong timeline.
I can’t stop it. There’s a whirlwind of emotion out of control in the center of my chest and as I try to pull it back, it swirls faster. I can’t see anything in front of me and then WHAM!
My body slams into a wall.
Chapter Eighteen
My face smashes against a brick wall. The pain radiates out my nose as my knees slump toward the ground. Someone grabs both my arms and twists them behind my back and with their knee, forces me back against the wall.
I groan and think of screaming at him, but I can’t find my voice as I try tugging my arms free. It’s no use, whoever it is is too strong.
“Knock it off, Crane.” Whoever this guy is, he snarls into my ear. “You think we don’t know what you’re up to?”
Roughly, he pulls me away from the wall and slams me down into a seat at what appears to be a cafeteria table. There’s a tray with a meager lunch and a carton of white milk. I’m not alone, either. In the tiny cafeteria, other people are eating and they’re all dressed as I am, in white scrubs.
Dad and Jax are at one table. And across from me…Rick.
His head is hanging down low as he spoons one pea at a time into his mouth, but I notice his eyes glancing up at me even though his body doesn’t move.
“Eat.” The big orderly hovering above me says. “If you don’t,” he leans down and whispers in my ear. “Rex will give me ten minutes alone with you this time.”
He walks away and my insides fill with fear. I jumped into the wrong timeline, but I’m not sure how to get back. I’m not even sure if I can while in a facility run by Rex. I rub the back of my neck and slowly pick up my fork. My hand is shaking so badly, I can’t hold it very long. Just as I’m about to drop it, Rick squeezes my hand tightly.
I glance up at him and I can’t help the tears forming in my eyes. “Rick?”
“We’re not supposed to talk or touch.” He wiggles in his seat as he leans in closer. “But you really seem to know it this time.” His finger strokes against my hand and it’s something I thought I’d never feel again.
He doesn’t seem angry like the last few times I saw him at the prison. Was it possible…
“Where are we? What is this place?” I whisper.
Rick shakes his head. “You’re the time traveler, what do you think it is?” He tilts his head to the side and I see the port just sticking out from the base of his neck.
Was Rex trying to make time travelers out of everyone?
“Why you?” My nose flares as I glance around the room. “Why my family?”
“Rex wants to hurt you, Lara. He wants to hurt you more than anything. Even more than he wants to control time travel.”
Revenge.
As the orderly makes his rounds, Rick lets go of my hand and goes back to eating his peas, but he glances up at me. His eyes tell me I need to do the same thing. So, I pick up my fork. I’m not interested in getting hurt again. I eat my peas before I move onto my bland chicken. If I’m here, for now, maybe I can find
out something useful that I can use in my own timeline when I get back.
Maybe. If I stay long enough.
After lunch, I watch as one at a time, everyone is taken out of the cafeteria. Dad and Jax both glance at me as they’re taken away. Then, when it’s Rick’s turn, he mouths to me, “Be careful” as if I’m always trying to push the envelope. As if he knows, I’m always trying to find a way out.
Sounds like me.
The orderly grabs my shoulders roughly. “Your turn, Crane.” He shoves my arms behind my back and handcuffs my wrists together so tightly, my skin is pinched.
I cringe. “The others didn’t get handcuffs.”
He forces me up and his laugh, full of cigarette breath, invades my personal space. “The others aren’t you, special case. C’mon.” He shoves me hard but keeps a hand on the base of my neck to guide me through the facility.
I study everything as we walk through the small cafeteria and over to the elevator. There are nurses walking the halls and another three clustered around what appears to be a nurses’ station. Two security guards stand at the elevator and using the mirrors above it, I can see two additional security guards moving to stand behind us.
I have my own detail. No one trusts me, and for good reason.
At the elevator, the security guard pushes the button for us and when the doors slide open, we move inside. “Have a nice night, Crane.”
The guards laugh and I guess I’m supposed to be humiliated, but I’m not.
I’m just angry.
We take the elevator up to the level of my cage.
That’s when I realize, that though this place might resemble my previous prison, it’s different. It’s bigger and better organized, with more security. There might not be a way out.
The guard pushes me down a corridor and I see a glass cage at the end of the hall. It’s lit up brightly and someone is inside. “Mr. Kincaid wanted you to see this.” The security guard stands beside me, my arms still handcuffed behind my back. He licks his lips as if he’s having a great time. “Go on. I want to see your face.”
Curious, even though I don’t want to give him the satisfaction, I step closer to the glass cage. Inside, there is a woman on her knees. Chains tether her to the floor. and with her are two ‘technicians’ for lack of a better word. They shove electrical batons into her sides and against the base of her neck.
When she throws her head back to scream, I recognize her face. “Cassidy,” I whisper without even meaning to.
“Pretty sweet, huh?” The security guard raises his eyebrows and his face flushes with pride. I want to hurt the jackass. “Mr. Kincaid is going to use her to destroy you. Once she’s ready.”
So, this is the place. This is the launching ground of Cassidy’s training, so one day she’d be ready to come for me.
I didn’t deliberately come here, but maybe my mind took me where I needed to be, in order to see this. To get ready.
In order to break Cassidy’s training, maybe first, I needed to witness how they had broken her. As I stare at her tear-streaked face, I wish I didn’t have to see it. She might not remember me and what we had done together, but I remembered her.
We had been friends and I had loved her. And now, my heart broke for her more than it was angry.
I had to save her. It was time to do what I did best.
Get angry and save the world.
Chapter Nineteen
There’s no running from your destiny, no matter how hard you try. I’ve learned that the hard way, and I’m still learning it. It’s a lesson that won’t stick. I let things like a normal life and the idea of a glamorous wedding get in the way, but maybe those things aren’t me.
Maybe I need to accept that.
I’d love nothing more than that life, but right now, I have to deal with the life I have. For now, I sit with my legs crossed on my bed and gaze out past the glass of my cage. The lights soften with a warm glow suitable for sleeping. Inside my cage, there’s only one book. A journal, but most of the pages are blank.
I’m surprised when I flip through the lined pages and find a few notes in the middle of the book.
Mom’s memory is wiped again.
Jax has no memory of her or you. Must be from another timeline.
Donovan is dead. My heart is broken.
Trust Rick. He only remembers you as his girlfriend. He doesn’t remember the betrayal. He doesn’t know how much you miss him.
How much I miss him. My heart pangs with grief for the Lara who wrote these notes. Why was she even trying to piece it together, trying to figure out what timeline everyone was from? Just to escape? Was escape even possible?
I flip to the back of the book and the last note stills my heart.
Where is Molly? What is Cameron doing to Molly?
“Molly?” I whisper her name aloud. She’s here?
“She’s not here.”
I glance up at the sound of Rick’s voice. He’s standing in his cell next to mine. I hurry over toward the plane of glass that separates us. “Where is she?”
Rick shakes his head. “No one knows for sure. We see her sometimes, but…Cameron’s experimenting on her. Thinks…says her brain waves are different. Way different. He won’t let you see her for long. We don’t think she’s doing well. Whatever he’s doing to her, well, it isn’t good.”
Cameron wouldn’t get away with this. He could hurt just about anyone, but Molly? She was just a kid.
“How old is she now?”
Rick startles as if the question is strange. “Ten.”
Ten. Still so young…
“I can tell from how you look at me you’re not her. I mean, you are, but you’re not my Lara. You’re one of the Laras with him. Donovan.” Rick sighs. “The rich boy.”
One of the Lara’s. How many different versions of me had he met?
“When did you jump in? How long have you been here?” Rick asks.
“Dinner time,” I admit sadly and I watch Rick’s face fall. “Where is here? Where are we?”
“Nowhere. That’s what Cameron calls it, he says it’s nowhere. I don’t know what he means by that.” Rick rubs the back of his neck and grimaces, as if it hurts.
“I’m going to find a way out for all of us. Find a way to send you back. So you can be…you can be with your Lara.” It hurts to say the words. Once upon a time, I wanted Rick and I to work out more than anything, but although I’m with Don, I know I have to make things right for him.
“I believe you. More than the others I’ve talked to.”
“Why?”
Rick shrugs as he walks back to his bed. “There’s a fire in your eyes I haven’t seen in a while. You mean it. The others, well, I think they gave up.”
He lies on his bed and I allow the desperation of his words to wash over me. I never gave up. Why would different versions of me give up? Was there something I had that the others didn’t?
“Lights out.” A voice far off in the distance says. With a snap, I’m left in total darkness and barely find my way back to my bed. I lie down and hope when I wake up, I’ll be back home, in my timeline. Maybe ready to jump backward to stop my dad from being murdered.
But I’m not. When I wake up, I’m still in the cage and find myself staring into a bowl of oatmeal with a side of Jell-O.
“Eat up.” Mom smiles at me before she leaves the cage and locks the glass door behind her.
I pick up my spoon and smash it against the wall of my cage. When I do that, the coils on the floor light up brightly. Well, that’s something new. I nearly smirk, but an intense jolt of pain radiates from my port and surges through my brain.
An intense burning, as if I’ve been lit on fire, gathers in waves behind my eyes. Groaning, I grab my temples and fall to the floor. The pain won’t stop and my legs kick in reaction as I try to wait it out, but instead it just grows more intense.
Footsteps stop at the cage. “Won’t you ever learn your lesson?” Cameron asks.
No. No, I refuse.
I’ll never stop fighting. Never give in. No matter what, even if it kills me.
****
The pain finally subsides and when it does, Cameron sends his orderlies in to collect me. There’s not much fight left in me and I’m limp as they force me up. My legs wobble and if not for the men hooking their arms through mine, I’d collapse.
My sneakers drag the ground as we make our way down a long hallway. “Have her fix Lara up. She’s of no use to me like this.”
No use to him. What use was I? What was Cameron really after? I wish I knew.
The orderlies took me through a locked door, into a small room lined with cabinets. Medical supplies. In the center were two hospital beds. One was already taken, but that person was rolled over toward the wall and I was unable to see their face.
“Strap her down.” The larger of the orderlies says as they toss me into the bed. Vomit rises in my mouth as they pin my arms to my side. My wrists and ankles are shoved into thick leather straps.
“She’ll be in to fix you up real soon. You lay there and don’t mutter a single word. If you do,” his lip curls as he gazes my body up and down, “we’ll get to know each other real well.”
I’m horrified at his words and it drowns my disdain for him. I bite my lip and hold my tongue. I count the seconds as they tick by until the door latches shut behind him. With a breath, I relax and that’s when I hear crying.
Crying. Coming from the other bed.
I glance over and see the person’s body is rocking back and forth with sobbing. The frame is small, so I think it’s a woman. I wonder who she is and why she’s crying so hard.
“It’ll be okay.” I struggle to roll over, but can’t. Still, I keep my eyes on her.
A little girl’s voice talks to me through the darkness. “It won’t be okay.” Molly. It’s Molly’s voice. I’m surprised that Cameron would let us be together. Molly’s voice shakes as she glances over at me. It kills me to see her so scared, to see her hurt. Her face is bruised and burned on the side, probably from the electrical current they force her to endure, I don’t know for what reason.
