Nikki rose to her feet to get the watering can from where she’d left it resting on the stone wall. She jumped back, her heart suddenly pounding. Curtis stood looking back at her. Nikki watched as his image flickered in and out of solidity. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d felt afraid but now her skin tingled. She couldn’t help think—even as she realized the irony—that it felt like she was seeing a ghost.
“Curtis? How can you be here?”
Curtis took a step toward her. The same long, red hair and piercing green eyes. But within those eyes, no longer the anger she remembered. Definitely, not the peace she recalled from the time before he’d jumped into a new life again either. Instead, a sadness she’d never seen in his eyes before. Still, he said nothing.
“Curtis, tell me why you’re here. Can I help you? You can’t possibly be here.”
Nikki stood transfixed, waiting for him to answer. Instead, the light above crossed through him and he started to fade. Within moments, he disappeared just like last time, leaving Nikki alone in her garden.
~~~
Nikki strode into the food court, not surprised to find Henry and Jamie hunched over a table, each facing a plate loaded with food. If anything remained consistent between this realm and the other, it was that teenage boys remained perpetually starving. Of course, here they could also perpetually remain teenage boys. “We need to talk,” she said, approaching their table and pulling out a seat.
Henry and Jamie nodded and waited but, predictably, Henry didn’t entirely break his focus on his meatball sub and Jamie kept glancing at his tacos.
“Um, can it maybe wait a few seconds?” Jamie said. “Seriously starving.”
Nikki balled up a napkin and tossed it at his face. “You arrived starving, butthead. You’re the only person I’ve ever heard of who traveled to the afterlife with a jar of mayonnaise.”
Jamie shrugged. “A life without mayonnaise is not worth living. Didn’t somebody say that?”
Nikki glared at him. “There’s no way someone would be stupid enough to say that except you.”
Jamie grinned. “You can quote me on that, if you’d like.”
“Quote me on this.” Nikki reached across the table and smashed one of his tacos with her fist.
“Murderer!” Jamie said.
Henry slid his plate out of Nikki’s reach and took a hurried bite of his sub.
“Really?” Nikki said.
“It was getting cold,” Henry mumbled, his mouth full. He swallowed like a seal gulping down a fish.
Waiting for them to get serious was pointless, so Nikki just blurted it out. “I saw Curtis.”
Jamie frowned. “You mean Ian?”
“Not Ian. Curtis. Twice. The other day in the kitchen, then—”
“I totally knew something was up,” Jamie said. “For like just two seconds you weren’t bossy.”
Normally, Nikki would have risen to the challenge but this time she let it go. “I thought it had to be my imagination. But then I just saw him again.”
Henry stared at her, his eyes wide. “Where?”
“Just someplace I go.” Nikki waited but neither one of them pried for more information. Clearly, they felt the same way about keeping a private place.
“That’s not possible.” As soon as he said it, Jamie snatched up one of his remaining tacos and took a quick bite.
“Obviously, it is possible,” Nikki said. “Since it just happened.”
“I guess the question is, how is it possible?” Henry said.
“Exactly.” Nikki hadn’t yet told them about her stunt with the Ouija board. Actually, she’d never intended to. But now she felt like she had no choice. It seemed there had to be some sort of connection between her little bit of meddling and what she’d now experienced twice. “So, the other night I kind of did something that maybe I shouldn’t have.”
Jamie and Henry both took bites of food, then stared at her, chewing and waiting for her to continue. Even an impossible visit to this realm from someone who’d started a new life on Earth couldn’t tear them away from their chow.
“I kind of looked in on Curtis—I mean, Ian—at what turned out to be an opportune moment.”
Jamie leaned in across the table, eyes peering into hers. “Why were you spying on Ian?”
“I wasn’t spying on him. I just sort of visited.” Nikki couldn’t bring herself to tell them the real reason she’d been looking in on Ian lately. How recently, just a little, she’d found herself thinking about when she might start over. Checking on Ian had so far proved at least one thing—some people led happy lives. But that was just part of the issue for her. Obviously, many people led happy lives. But that also seemed very much related to who they managed to share those lives with.
Nikki forced herself to keep her eyes on Jamie. “I got bored. So, you know, I crossed over to see what was going on.”
Jamie regarded her skeptically. After all, before Henry came along, she hadn’t crossed over in years. “Okay, sure. So, what did you do?”
Nikki saw no point in beating around the bush. She sighed. “Ouija board.”
Jamie groaned, then burst out laughing.
“What?” Henry looked back and forth between them. “I don’t get it.”
Of course, Henry didn’t get it. In the scheme of things, he was still a newbie on this side. “Well, it’s just sort of…” For once, Nikki couldn’t think of the right words.
“Totally cheesy,” Jamie said. “Did you really do that?”
Nikki felt her face turn red. Jamie was right, of course—making contact through a Ouija board was such a cliché. “What can I say? Ian and some friends just happened to be messing around with a Ouija board. So, I said hi to Ian.”
“Did you tell him who you were?” Henry asked.
Nikki could see the wheels turning as he considered things.
“Yes,” she admitted. “But it’s not like Ian knows who I am.”
“But part of Ian is Curtis. How did he react?”
“Actually, he looked pretty stunned. Okay, I admit it—I didn’t expect that at all. Anyway, do you think it has something to do with what’s going on?”
Henry glanced back and forth between them. “It sounds like we better talk to Martha.”
“I totally knew you were going to say that.” Nikki had been hoping to avoid it but Henry was right, of course. That was the thing about Henry—he just had good instincts.
~~~
“How do we know she’s even here?” Henry asked, when Nikki knocked on Martha’s door.
“She’s always here, if you need her.”
“What if you don’t?”
“Then she’s not here, idiot.” Nikki turned and stared at him. “You’re just messing with me, aren’t you?”
Henry smiled back at her. The dimples killed her every time. “Yep, but I totally admire your consistency. Just so you know.”
Speaking of consistency, Martha opened the door and offered a warm smile. She always appeared delighted to see them, which amazed Nikki since the only time they knocked was when something went wrong.
“Hey, guys. Come on in.” Martha stepped back to let them pass.
How was it possible that she always seemed prepared for their visits? It had to be something to do with being in Service, like maybe there were actually three Marthas or something.
“Everything okay?” How Martha said it without irony was beyond Nikki. Obviously not, since they’d come to her door.
“Roadkill has an issue,” Henry said.
Nikki shot him a look but couldn’t help crack a smile. After all, she’d been the one to perpetuate the “River Rat” nickname Curtis had assigned to Henry. She also had to laugh about her own “Roadkill” nickname Henry had come up with for her. Okay, insensitive but still funny. It didn’t exactly bother Nikki anymore how she’d died, although she hadn’t ever completely gotten past the timing.
“Yes, I kind of got that feeling,” Martha said. “But, hey, that’s why I’
m here for you guys. I was just making some hot chocolate. Want some?” Suddenly, the aroma of chocolate with a touch of mint wafted from Martha’s kitchen. “Make yourselves comfortable and I’ll be right back.”
Nikki, Henry and Jamie settled onto Martha’s sofas, which had recently changed from white leather to plush burgundy. A fire crackled in Martha’s fireplace while outside her massive windows snow fell steadily. Obviously, Martha had been in wintry mood before they’d arrived. But had she actually been here at all? Or, when they knocked on Martha’s door, could they possibly visit some other realm entirely? Nikki had always wondered.
A moment later, Martha reappeared with a tray and four mugs, each topped with whipped cream. A nice touch, although Nikki also suspected Martha’s ritual of making them comfortable in a similar manner each time was her way of signaling that, whatever it was, it should be taken in perspective. That they should keep looking forward and try to remain on an even keel in the meantime.
Martha passed out the mugs. “So, what’s going on?”
“I saw Curtis,” Nikki said. “Not Ian. Curtis. Here. Twice.” Nikki expected Martha’s typically casual reaction to whatever news they’d come with. It pretty much always went that way.
Instead, Martha went pale. She looked shocked as she stared at Nikki. “Oh.”
Nikki had never once known Martha to be at a loss for words. “How is that possible?”
The color returned to Martha’s face as she recovered. Still, she took a sip of her hot chocolate before speaking. “Let me ask you this—did you make contact somehow?”
“Ouija board!” Jamie said.
Nikki glared at him. “Thanks so much. I owe you.”
Jamie shrugged while Henry’s eyes gleamed with amusement.
“Nikki, really?” Martha said.
Nikki’s face burned.
“Regardless, it doesn’t matter,” Martha said. “I’m sorry, but there’s something I wasn’t sure about sharing with you yet. However, all things considered, it doesn’t appear I have much of a choice. I’ve never lied to any of you and I’m not about to start.”
When Nikki had expected a firm reprimand, now she wished it could be as simple as getting her wrist slapped for crossing a line she shouldn’t have. Martha’s expression told her there were more weighty concerns at the moment.
“The fact is,” Martha said, “you’re seeing Curtis because that’s how you know him in this realm. Ian was Curtis before he became Ian, after all. So, it stands to reason that you’d see Ian as Curtis here. In a sense, you’ve been seeing Curtis’s spirit.”
“Hang on, that doesn’t make any sense,” Jamie said. “Why would we see his spirit here?”
“Or anywhere?” Henry added. “Curtis isn’t well…you know… he’s alive, as Ian. That just isn’t possible.”
Martha took a moment to make eye contact with each of them before continuing. “That’s true. At the moment. Honestly, I wasn’t sure, given how sensitive you all are, if any others among you might have a similar experience. My guess is that it was just a matter of time but Nikki just happened to create a connection. Either way, I wasn’t looking forward to telling you.”
They stared at Martha, waiting for her to continue. Obviously, good news wasn’t about to follow.
“The person you know as Ian—the same person you all knew as Curtis here—is going to Transition soon,” Martha said. “In three days, Earth time. Nikki, what you’ve been seeing is his spirit preparing for the change.”
Nikki kept her eyes on Martha, even as she fought back tears. “Please tell me that isn’t going to happen.”
Martha lowered her head and closed her eyes momentarily. “I’m sorry. I realize it’s both painful and confusing. Time here, as you know, is a fluid thing. We don’t experience it the same way as those we used to know. A month for us can be five years for them.”
“Believe me, I know.” Nikki tried not to think about how quickly she’d watched her own family suffer through unhappy lives, the time unspooling while she’d remained unable to help them. “But we’re talking about the future. How can you know?”
Martha nodded. “It all depends on your perspective. So far, it’s seemed the better choice not to confuse matters for your development by muddying the water even further. But, the fact is, to a degree the future has already happened. On another level, it’s always happening, as is the past. It’s all depends on our relationship to those events and how our timeline intersects with that of others.”
“Are we talking about quantum physics?” Henry asked.
“Sorry, not following,” Jamie said.
Nikki had never been much of a science person either, but evidently Henry had learned more in school than she had. But, of course, he’d gone to school decades later. “I don’t know much about that either,” she admitted.
“What Henry is saying is that, in his last life, scientists started to gain an understanding of how time really works as well as its relationship to space. For example, how a particle can be in two places at the same time. Or how, if you could manage to travel fast enough you could bend time. Some of it was based on scientific experience and some purely on theory. Not that it matters. Experiencing time as we do here is out of the question on the other side. All they can do—all they can ever keep doing—is to look for clues.”
“But you’re saying we can we can see the future,” Jamie said.
Martha turned to him. “Just occasionally. That can only happen when a Transitioning event will affect someone you’ve known in this realm. And you’ll only be able to see the future up to the moment of that event. So, for your group this is the first possible time. Hopefully, there won’t be many more instances of this as you all prepare to move forward. In fact, it’s considered to be a very unfortunate occurrence for your development.”
Nikki wondered who could possibly consider this more an “unfortunate occurrence” for them than for Curtis. There were times when she felt glad not knowing whoever it was Martha knew. She wasn’t entirely sure she could have restrained herself from slapping them.
“Can you see more of the future than us?” Henry said.
Henry’s expression told Nikki he was going on a hunch. Evidently, a good one because Martha nodded and said, “A little. Like everything else in this realm, it’s a matter of degrees. I can a see a bit more than you. Others I know can see more than I do. Before you object, just realize I’ve been here much longer than you. Hundreds of years, if we were to measure time using that term.”
Nikki didn’t care anymore. What did it matter how time worked—how this entire realm worked, for that matter—if life in the other realm remained continually unfair and cruel? In that moment, it didn’t matter to her how much more time Martha might have experienced or might be able to see. And who cared about the invisible people she knew who none of her group had met yet? Screw them, if they didn’t have the time or interest to talk to her directly.
“It’s not fair,” Nikki said. “Curtis is happy these days. He’s really happy!”
Martha looked down at the coffee table, where all of their hot chocolates had been forgotten. After a moment, she raised her eyes to meet Nikki’s again. “I realize it seems unfair but there’s so much we don’t know. Remember, in the big picture what we might see as tragedies are just small moments in time. And you know, either way, the person you knew as Curtis will be okay. Whether he ends up back here with us or somewhere else, he’ll still be fine.”
Nikki jumped to her feet. “Will he? How can you promise that when you only see so much yourself? You know it’s true, Martha!”
Nikki knew better than to accept that Curtis would be okay once again on this side. Sure, here you still thought, lived and breathed. You even had fun and got to spend time in your garden, library or favorite pond. You got to hang out with your friends and do pretty much whatever you wanted. But did that make you okay? No, it didn’t. It just made you safe for a while, then you had to try again. You had to change and grow. You ha
d to fall in love, hold a baby in your arms. You had to help children grow up. Eventually, you had to grow old and die. You had to pay that price if you truly wanted to experience life. That much Nikki knew and she’d almost been ready to take that risk. Almost.
As always, Martha remained calm, but this time Nikki saw confusion and pain in her eyes too. In that moment, Nikki knew Martha wanted the same thing, for Curtis, now Ian—to experience a long, happy and full human lifetime.
Nikki perched forward on the couch, looking back and forth between them. “How do we change this?”
Martha shook her head, almost imperceptibly. “I don’t see how you possibly could. What you just told me means that your world and Ian’s have already started to intersect.”
Nikki stared at her. “But it hasn’t happened yet, not in Ian’s world.”
“That’s true. In Ian’s physical experience the event hasn’t yet taken place.”
“Then we need to stop it from happening.” Nikki looked to Henry, then Jamie.
Martha noticed their exchange of eye contact. “I know what you’re thinking. But this isn’t like before with Henry’s sister. At least that time you were only attempting to alter the outcome of something currently happening. I would have to guess it’s nearly impossible for you to keep something from happening in someone else’s future.”
“You said ‘nearly’ impossible,” Henry said. “Not totally impossible.”
Martha thought for a moment. “That is what I said. To be honest, this is a first for me too. I’ve never tried myself, nor have I known anyone who has.”
Henry’s eyes briefly met Nikki’s. She’d seen that look in his eyes before.
7
Jump Forward
Nikki, Henry and Jamie drifted in the air as Ian trudged through pouring rain, backpack slung over his shoulder and the hood of his jacket pulled over his head. From above, he could have been anyone, just another student among hundreds making their way across the University of Washington campus.
Memories from a Different Future: Jump When Ready, Book 2 Page 5
