Jump Through Time

by Tanya Gilford

  Chapter 1

  My name is Naomi Burke, I’m twenty-seven with a decent career in nursing. I work crazy shifts at a hospital here in Boston, Massachusetts but once in a while I get to spend time with my best friends from college. Tonight, is of those rare nights that all three of us girls get together and hang out. If only we knew how this night is about to end….

  “Come on Naomi, we were going to be late for our reservations.” Jody called from my living room as I put the final touches on my make-up.

  “I’m coming, jeez.” I state as I shut the bathroom light off and grab my blue denim jacket. I’m wearing a simple black tank-top dress, with a denim jacket and a pair of cute nude-colored open band heels. My brown hair is straightened and hanging around my shoulders. “You know I don’t get to go out often, so I want to look my best.”

  “You look good in anything you wear. You’re like the only person I have ever met that makes wearing scrubs look good.” My friend Anita scoffed.

  “Please, I look like a hot mess at work.” I protested as we left my condo and hailed a taxi. Living in a big city has its advantages, like easy access to public transportation, but it’s nothing like where I grew up. We make it to the restaurant in time for our reservation, which is a good thing since the waiting list to get into the place is a week-long. If you miss your reservation, you don’t get in until the next time.

  After dinner, Jody got the idea of going to a club. Three single ladies in their late twenties, out on the town for one night, and we decide to go to a local club. The music is so loud it’s almost deafening, this is worse than when I’m working in the Emergency department at work. I’m not that big of a drinker either, so seeing all the drunk people dancing and grinding against other dancers is a sight to see as a sober person. Jody and Anita are knocking back shots like pros, whereas I am actually concerned about alcohol poisoning, which is a thing. Plus, I need to work tomorrow night and I don’t want to be nursing a hangover while tending to patients.

  After an hour, I realize that I’m feeling overheated and am slowly developing a headache from the volume level of the speakers. I have politely declined to dance with two very intoxicated young men in the past hour twice. I move away from the bar and head towards a side door to get a breath of fresh air before going back into the club. I glance at my watch and not that it is almost midnight, meaning I need to plan on heading home in the next hour or so in order to get enough sleep before work. I push the door open expecting to be hit by the cold winter wind, but instead, something strange happened…

  I step into a house. I look around at the one-level house and realize where I am, but how is this possible? We haven’t lived here since I was in High School. Then I hear the shouting and begin to look around. I step out of my bedroom and into the living room, but the shouting is coming from the dining room. When I step into the doorway, I see it all unfold all over again. “I don’t love you anymore!” My mom shouted. “This is too much for me.”

  “How is me getting sick too much for you? I’m the one who needs to be poked and prodded at and have several tests ran like I’m a damn lab rat.” My dad retorted. “You are unbelievable Louise.”

  “There never is a right time to admit that you’re no longer in love with someone. I’ve been trying to figure out how to tell you for two years now.” My mom stated. “I’m sorry Ross, but it’s the truth. I’ve met someone and moving out west.”

  “So, you're just going to abandon Naomi?” He spat out.

  “She’s always been more attached to you. She’ll be better off without me.” She sighed.

  “And what happens if I don’t beat this? What happens to her then?” My dad asked. “Please Louise, don’t do this to our daughter.”

  “I’ve already made up my mind Ross, and my decision is final.” My mother grabbed the handle of her suitcase and headed to the door.

  “When did you become so cold and heartless Louise?” My father breathed out.

  She paused for a moment at the door, then turned to look at him. “That’s mean, Ross.”

  “But it’s the truth. I tell you that I have stage two cancer, and your answer is to not only leave me but to abandon your seven-year-old daughter as well. What happened to the woman I fell in love with all them years ago?” My father wondered. “So loving and full of life. I gave you everything I could, and this is the thanks I get from you.”

  “We’ve both changed Ross.” My mother stated as she pulled the door open and walked out.

  “Mommy!” I called. But it wasn’t me, it was the seven-year-old me. I was in the living room listening to everything and chased her out of the house. In the gravel driveway, she loaded the suitcase into the trunk of her car, closed it, then got into the driver’s seat and started the engine. By the time I made it to the car, she had already backout out and headed down the road towards the highway. When the mini version for myself turned around, she walked right through me. What the hell?

  Where am I and what is going on? I go into the house and call out to my father who is trying to console the mini-me. “Dad!” But he doesn’t seem to hear me. I need to figure out what happened. I must be dreaming, that’s it, this is just a nightmare and I’ll wake up soon. I slap myself in the face twice, but nothing happened. I look out the still open door and watch as cars pass by the house on the corner. I opened the door to the bar and ended up in the doorway of my old bedroom, so maybe if I go back through it, I’ll wake up in my condo. I turn and head to the bedroom, reach for the doorknob, turn it, and push it open…

  I blink in the blinding light as my eyes adjust to the sunlight. Now, where the hell am I? I look around and notice I’m in a cemetery. Why am I here? “Wait up guys.” I hear my voice call out. I turn around to see me as a preteen it looks like chasing after a group of my cousins.

  “Oh great, Naomi’s tagging along.” Gunther groans. God, I’ve always hated him.

  “She’s not that annoying.” His sister Rita stated with an eye roll.

  “She’s always following us.” Harold complained.

  “She’s an only child, what do you expect her to do? She doesn’t have many friends.” Shawna pointed out.

  “She’s a baby.” Gunther added.

  “She’s still adjusting. Uncle Ross doesn’t seem to be getting any better, and Aunt Louise left three years ago.” Rita reminded them. “She’s had a bad couple of years, and it’s possible they are only going to get worse for her.”

  “Is that what your mom said?” Shawna asked with her eyes wide. “My dad says Uncle Ross looks good considering he’s battling cancer for the second time.”

  “Shh, she is catching up.” Rita hissed.

  “Hey, guys where are you going?” Younger me asked the group.

  “To Uncle Ray’s house.” Harold states.

  We walk along a dirt trail that we know cuts through a good portion of town. Once the trail ends, we need to cut through the center of town, which is always so pretty to see. As we pass a shop, I notice a man sitting at a desk watching me. Me, me as in the adult version of me who can’t figure out what the hell is happening.

  I separate from the group of kids and try to push the door open, but it won’t budge. What the hell? Finally, a customer enters through the door, and I slip in behind them. Once the man at the counter finishes helping with the customer, I walk up to the desk. “Can you see me?” I ask him. He doesn’t answer me, but I can tell he is trying hard not to look at me. “Am I dead?” I wonder for the first time.

  “Not yet.” The man answered.

  “What does that mean?” I ask, but he walks away. “Hey, answer me.” I shout.

  “You need to think about why you are here.”

  “I wish I knew. I hate these memories.” I state. This o
ne is where we get caught walking around town by Aunt Rochelle and get into big trouble. Not my happiest memory of my childhood.

  “I cannot help you until you figure out some things for yourself.” The man responded.

  “That’s not helpful.” I groaned. I marched out of the store in anger. I may as well go catch up to the group of kids since I know what’s about to happen. But when I push the door open everything changes again…

  Chapter 2

  I step out into a field of some sort. I don’t recall ever being here, but as I walk around, I notice that it’s an orchard, not a wild field as I thought. I walk through the rows of apple trees trying to figure out what memory this is, but I can’t seem to recall it. Then I see someone who looks like me, though she appears to be a bit older than I am right now. She walking around with a little girl. “Mommy look.” The little girl calls out holding up a red apple.

  “That is a tasty-looking apple sweetheart.” The lady replies. She opens the apple picking bag up and the little girl carefully places the apple inside the bag.

  “Do you think daddy will like our apple pie treat?” The little girl asked.

  “Of course, he will. The best apple pies are the ones made with the most love.” The lady answers with a smile. They continue to walk through the apple orchard picking various apples and having fun. This can’t be right; I don’t know how to bake nor do I have plans to have a child at all. My career tends to take precedence in my life over everything else.

  I walk around following the pair trying to figure out if this is a memory from when I was little and that’s why the little girl looks familiar or what. They finish picking apples and head over to the sales counter. “We have one-half bushel.” The lady stated as she carefully set the bag on the scale. The clerk punched in some numbers and told the lady the price. She pulled out a card that had my name on it with a hyphenated last name. Holy shit, could this be my future I’m seeing?

  How could this be? If I’m not dead, ‘yet’ then what is going on? How am I supposed to figure out why I am here if nothing remains the same? I’ve relived two childhood memories that I am not fond of remembering, and now I’m looking at a future I really don’t want. My career makes raising a child hard. My coworkers are living examples of how much they miss in their kids' lives because they get called into work.

  I follow the pair to the parking lot where the older me places the bag of apples on the front seat, then closes the car up again. “Are you ready to go in the store to get some apple cider donuts?” She asks the little girl.

  “Ready.” She nodded excitedly. They walked off towards the farm stand store and I followed. When does following memories and people that look like me go from being curious to being creepy? The lady holds the door open for the little girl and lets the door swing shut behind them. I put my hands out to keep it from hitting me in the face and pushed it open the rest of the way, only for things to shift around me again. What sweet hell is going to happen next?

  I step through the doorway and enter the emergency department in a hospital. “We have a multiple car pileup coming in bond in five minutes. Three ambulances are arriving with critical patients, and two more are minor injuries.” My voice calls out to a group of nurses and residence. I take a peek to see if it’s me now or some sort of memory, but when I see the lab coat, I’m wearing I’m shocked. On one breast it reads ‘Nurse Naomi Burke’ then on the other side it says, ‘head nurse.’ I am not the head nurse.

  I can’t even apply for that position yet, and now I’m looking at myself with a coat that says I’m head nurse? This is a future I could get behind, more than the idea of having a child. The timer at the nurse’s station goes off and a group of nurses and residents head outside just as an ambulance pulls up. This is an organization at its peak. Now I know this isn’t real, because there is no way we’re that in sync with the ambulance personnel and running the emergency department successfully.

  I stand aside and watch the action unfold. The hustle and bustle of the emergency department is my favorite part of the job because the shift is so unpredictable. I’ve had so many various cases that no one would believe me if I told them about the cases. The first gurney with the trauma patient comes rolling in at a fast speed, the patient is awake and moaning in pain as she’s wheeled past me. The next gurney comes in just as quietly with an unconscious male bleeding from a head wound, which doesn’t look good. The third gurney comes rushing in with another man awake, cradling an arm that looks mangled and blood dripping from his head. After five minutes, another patient is brought in. It was a the little boy who is unconscious and that could be a really bad sign. The last gurney comes in with a man wake looking for his son and holding gauze to a head wound while the nurses are trying to keep the man calm and, on the gurney, as they wheel him past the room with his son in it.

  I look around to see myself rushing into the room with the child to check the vitals and pupils. “I want a full C.T. on this child. The EMT said he was conscious on the way into the hospital, but now he isn’t I want to know why.” I ordered before moving to the next room. The father is receiving minor stitches in his head while he continues to ask about his son. “Sir, my name is Naomi, and I am the head nurse here. I want to assure you that you and your son are in good hands. He is unconscious at the moment, though he was awake and aware on the way in. I have ordered a CT to ensure there is no trauma to his brain that caused him to fall asleep. I will have another nurse come in with further updates. Is there anyone I could call to help?”

  “My wife, she’s going to be so upset.” He muttered. “I didn’t even see that car coming. They hit us on his side and getting him out was a challenge for the firemen.”

  “Okay, we will get a call to your wife as soon as possible.” I assured him before heading out to go to the next room. In the next room, I check the vitals for the man nursing a mangled arm. “We need to do some stitches on your head and get an x-ray of your arm. Is there anything else that hurts?” I ask the man.

  “No, my helmet saved my life.” He muttered. “I’ll take my broken arm with road rash over death any day.”

  “Motorcycle?” I mused.

  “Yeah. The lady drove into the back end of that car like she wasn’t looking. I was behind her and ended up laying my bike down trying to swerve around the accident. I have no idea what she was doing or if she was having a medical episode, but she definitely caused the accident.” He recalled.

  “I will ensure to put this in the report for when the police come. For now, you are taking a trip to radiology.” I ordered with a nod to the nurse waiting for him. I watched as the image of myself continued to check on her patients and make her rounds for quite some time, insuring myself that this is the goal I am hoping to achieve at some point in my life, but I need to have a few more years of in the field work. I pushed open the door to stop outside, knowing I’m in for another shift, but hopefully it’s to me waking up from this crazy dream.

  Chapter 3

  “Come on Naomi!” Rita called as she trudged through the deep snow. I looked around until I figured what memory this was. I’m not sure what specific one this is, but I noticed I was trying to keep up as I sunk into the snow up to my knees. I look to be about 5- or 6-years old chasing after my cousins like I seemed to always do.

  “Coming.” I called back to her. I stopped and tugged on a rope, sliding a purple plastic sled behind me. Now, I remember when this was. This is the winter I was giving the purple plastic flexible flyer for Christmas. I loved this sled, I somehow managed to keep it good for almost four years until I crashed it into a tree. But this memory the sled is shiny new, which is how I know when this memory took place.

  We were heading to the top of a hill we all called ‘suicide hill.’ It’s a steep hill that has a trail that goes between two oak trees with the rest of the woods spreading out around. The bottom of the hill ended when you hit the pavement in the parking lot. I never got injured on this hill, but it was the thrill of the ride that
I remember most.

  I stayed there watching this memory unfold with joy in my heart mixed with a bit of sorrow. It’s been so long since I was this young, I almost forgot how free it felt. I stood there watching everyone sled for hours. Our faces were pink from the cold wind, but we kept playing on until my mom called us in. That’s right, this is a memory from before she abandoned me. I watched as the younger me and my cousins took one final slide down the hill like rockets, before going in for the night.

  A light started falling as I walked away, satisfied with the joyous feeling this memory is making me feel. I wandered around without feeling any of the cold, of the snow landing on me, which was odd. When I made it to the downtown region, I saw it again. The store that just doesn’t belong here. It has never and still doesn’t exist here in downtown Amesbury. I walk over and push on the door only for it not to budge again. Ugh, this is aggravating me, I need to talk to the man behind the counter.

  Finally, a patron from this universe enters, and I sneak in right behind them. I walk over to the counter looking for the man. When someone finally returns to the front desk, it’s a woman with purple hair. “Hello, Naomi. Have you found your answers?” The lady asked me.

  “I think I figured out what happened, and what’s happening, though I’m not sure how to make it stop.” I remarked. The lady smiled warmly at me as if waiting for me to say more. “Something happened that left me trapped in my head, though I don’t know what. I’m seeing past memories and future dreams that I am often torn between wanting to achieve. I’m not sure what the doors have to do with it, or why this is the only door I cannot open myself, but I do know when I go through a doorway the memory or dream changes. Now, how can I make it stop and get back to the real world?”

  “You cannot open the door to this store, for this is the only place you can enter without a time jump. To stop the time jump, you must find 10 items in the scenes these items are the only things you will be able to pick up, so you’ll know if it is correct. It’ll be one item that repeats in two scenes, you must bring me the item before a third time jump, or it’ll reset your number of items to zero. Once you find all 10 items, you will experience a time jump where you’ll be asked a riddle, and then giving a final choice.” The lady explained.