by Al K. Line
"Of course it is, what's the matter with you?"
"Me? I'm not the one that can't even dig a simple hole."
"At least I know where I am, when I am. There, it's done." Amanda got to her feet, admiring her handiwork.
Dale helped to kick the soil back into the hole then Amanda replaced the clumps of turf. She stamped down on it hard and kicked the excess soil around with her feet, spreading it so it looked fairly innocuous.
"Don't worry too much about that, we don't move in for another two months and the place is empty until then."
"So why are we doing it in the dark then?"
"Because, what if we got it wrong and somehow came to the wrong date? We can't be going around meeting ourselves, you know what would happen then. So don't look into the bushes."
"Oh, you and your paradoxes. That's rubbish. If we met ourselves then we'd just say hi, probably freak out quite a lot, then be on our way." Dale cast a glance into the bushes; he couldn't help himself.
"Well, maybe, but I'm not about to find out. If you're wrong then we could cause the entire history of everything to collapse in on itself, and I'm not being responsible for that."
"Okay, done. Ready?"
"Ready." Dale made a strange sound through pursed lips, looking like he was doing a bad impression of a goldfish, the pitch rising and rising, getting faster and faster.
"Will you stop doing that, it's so stupid. I've told you so many times already. Idiot," said Amanda crossly.
"What? Look, if I'm going to disappear and hurtle through the gaps in space and time then it's going to be dramatic all right? And for that you have to have some kind of cool sound as it happens, everyone knows that."
"Fine. You're going to always do this, aren't you?"
"I have so far, haven't I? Whooooooooooooooooooosh."
Dale and Amanda vanished. All that was left was a trowel that Amanda had rested against the tree and forgotten about.
It didn't matter, when she moved in she would find it and put it in the shed. Well, she already had, but that was in the future.
She thought about it as she saw it before she vanished. Time travel really was confusing — the best thing she'd found to do was absolutely just not think about it, it could seriously drive you nuts if you did.
Visitors
Present Day
Dale felt kind of deflated and could tell that Amanda felt the same way. It didn't feel right to be just sipping coffee in the living room when you'd just discovered that you'd sent a message back in time for yourself, or was it forward in time as they'd put it there in the past?
Surely something should be happening? Something epic, mind-boggling and totally weird should be going on right now. They certainly shouldn't just be sat on the sofa not really knowing what to do, staring at an empty tin of Quality Street on their Ercol coffee table. Amanda loved that table; Dale was amazed she hadn't rubbed it away to nothing but a pair of legs, the amount she polished it.
He knew just how out of sorts she was as under normal circumstances she would never allow a mud-covered tin to desecrate the surface of such a prized possession — she hadn't even noticed.
Dale got up and paced around the room, their new carpet still feeling luxurious under his feet after the bare boards they'd debated whether to strip and stain for so many months. In the end they'd gone for comfort over style; Dale was glad they had.
"Will you stop pacing about, you're making me dizzy. And nervous." Amanda stared at the tin, then tutted as she realized there was dirt on the table. She went out into the kitchen then returned almost at a jog with polish and two cloths, so eager was she to have found a task to occupy herself with. She busied herself cleaning.
"Look at this. It could have ruined it."
Dale watched while she cleaned the table then took everything, including the tin, into the kitchen, returning a few minutes later with a sparkling clean tin that she put back down. She resumed her staring; so did Dale.
Leaning forward suddenly, as if she had all the answers, Amanda prized off the lid — somehow she never struggled with them like Dale did — and pulled out the strange message, reading it, freckled face frowning in annoyance, before she put it back, mumbling about what a stupid message it was. She was a beautiful woman, almost thirty now, a year older than him, and her slender features always reminded him of an almond. She was going a lovely golden color from all the sunbathing — the summer actually doing what everyone wished it would: offering up beautiful days full of light and warmth, which was rather unusual for the normally eccentric British climate.
The light of the clear blue sky poured in through the expansive living room windows, encouraging them to catch up on chores out in their multi-colored garden.
"Shouldn't something be happening?" said Dale, finally sitting back down on the sofa next to Amanda. "And why the hell did I write such a cryptic note for us? Ugh, this is too weird, it can't really be true anyway, can it?"
"What other answer is there? Unless one of us is playing the worst joke ever on the other, then we really do learn how to travel in time at some point and come back and bury the tin and the note." Amanda looked at it again, shaking her head, hair shifting off a shoulder as she turned to him and said, "You aren't, are you? Playing a cruel joke?"
"Honestly, I'm not. And I know you aren't, so it must be true. But why such a weird message? Hexad. What the hell's that?"
"I don't know, but I guess the note is so strange as you have to write it. I think that's right." Amanda was lost in thought for a second, trying to get things straight in her head.
"What? Waddya mean?"
"Well, now we have the note, it means that at some point in the future we have to travel back in time and leave it for us, right?"
"Um, yeah, I guess. But I could write something that explained things a little better, couldn't I?"
Amanda shook her head. "No, you can't. Look, we dug up the tin this morning, read the note, yes?"
"Well, duh."
What's she getting at?
"So, it's happened. It means that this has happened, we just experienced it. So when you do write the note you have to write it exactly as it was written, as that's what we found."
"Ugh, this is making my brain hurt. But what if, whenever we do make the note, I write something different? Then we would have a better idea of what the hell is going on."
"But you don't, do you?"
"Why not?"
Amanda let out an exasperated sigh. "Dale, you don't because you didn't, won't. If you did then we would have read something different and not be having this conversation, so whatever you write in the future and we read is exactly this. So when you do it you have to write what is on the note. There's no other choice. It's already happened and obviously it leads to whatever allows us to eventually travel back and tell us this." Amanda waved the piece of paper about.
"My head hurts. Time travel is really confusing, and we haven't even done it yet."
"Not us, not yet, but we will. How cool is that?"
Dale got up, suddenly animated again. "Yeah, you're right. Totally freaking amazing. But when? And how?"
"I don't know, but it's going to be pretty exciting isn't it? Imagine, you and me off doing something totally mad. I bet our lives will never be the same again."
"You and me against the world eh?"
Dale sat back down, going over the morning in his head, trying to make sense of it all, finally realizing that you simply cannot make sense of such things — that way lies madness.
~~~
They sat in the living room for half an hour more, both expecting something to happen, something mind-bending and absolutely awe-inspiring. Nothing. The sun rose higher in the sky, the day got warmer, so Dale opened up a window, the scent of summer blowing in with a gentle breeze — nothing unusual happened at all.
It was a real anti-climax.
Dale's stomach gurgled loudly; he suddenly realized just how hungry he was. Maybe some breakfast would take their mi
nds off things? It was always like that after drinking a little too much on a Friday night.
"Breakfast?"
"Ooh, yes please? Can we have the works?"
"You got it baby? How many sausages?"
"Two please. And two toast, three bacon and two eggs."
"You are hungry," laughed Dale.
"I know, it must be the excitement. Hash browns too. Four."
"Which is it? Two or four?"
"No, hash brown too. And I want four. Please."
"Okay you got it."
Dale went off to make breakfast, thankful to have something to keep himself busy. He absolutely hated waiting around: if the postman was ten minutes late he got edgy. He couldn't imagine just hanging around all day, or maybe even for months or years, waiting for things to make more sense and for something to actually happen.
He turned on the oven and then busied himself getting everything ready. It was almost impossible to concentrate though; he simply couldn't get the word Hexad out of his mind.
Why the hell would I make this so hard for myself? Stupid.
"Dale! What are you doing?"
"Eh? What? Oh." Dale realized he was just about to put the sausages in the oven still in the pack. His mind really wasn't working properly. "Oops. Sorry."
"Yeah well, I don't want my sausages to taste of burned plastic, thank you very much. Here, let me do it." Amanda came over to help, taking the pack from Dale.
"Okay, you sort them out. I'll go get the eggs."
"Okay. Check that they've got water will you?"
"Sure, no problem." Dale went out into the garden and walked to the far corner where the chicken coop was, sited within a small penned area for the birds. They'd ended up with four, even though they originally only intended to get two, so it meant they ate eggs most days. After checking they were fine for water and feed Dale gathered up the eggs and made his way back to the house, birds calling to each other from hedges, the robin hopping about in front of him expectantly.
He saw the squirrel leaping from tree to tree and wondered if it would ever just bugger off so he wouldn't have to spend so much on feed all the time.
"Shit!" Dale dropped the eggs that were held in front of him in cupped hands, and began running back to the house. "Gotta get Amanda. This doesn't look good."
They lived in a small end of terrace, their first home together, bought for cash after Amanda's dad had died and left everything to her, her mum having passed away when she was young. The garden wrapped around the side and rear with a small area at the front from where Dale saw two very serious looking individuals marching down the street towards him — it was obvious they were coming to their home, why else would there be two men with the weirdest outfits on he'd ever seen and clearly not looking to try to sell them double glazing?
Dale ran into the kitchen as the men stopped at the gate to the front garden and discussed something. One of them looked at his wrist, then they both disappeared.
"Amanda, Amanda, we've got to go, things have got crazy finally, and—"
Damn, too late. Here we go then.
Amanda was staring at him wide-eyed. The two men were in the kitchen, one of them peering suspiciously at the hash browns on a tray ready to go in the oven, the other had her in a choke hold, his thin shirt so dark it was sucking the light out of the sunny kitchen. Both were covered head to toe in similar fabric and they had matching long black hair so straight it hung down their backs like a pair of ironing boards.
"We were early," said the man by the oven, turning a hash brown over in his hand, totally nonplussed.
"Hey, what the hell? You were just at the gate."
"Like I said, we were early, so we came back a little later."
"That's three Marshall, let's hope we have the right ones," said the man holding Amanda, staring at something Dale couldn't quite see. "Careful. Hold still." Amanda was struggling wildly, fear sheening her face with sweat.
"Look guys, I don't know what you—"
The man not holding Amanda reached out and put a hand onto Dale's arm.
Nothing made sense. The world began to fall away until nothing remained, not even emptiness. Dale experienced a feeling he'd never even known existed as his reality, what he took for granted, was revealed to be nothing but a lie, a thin layer that wrapped around the true nature of the Universe. It was as if everything that ever was and ever could be, in infinite possibilities, each layered on top of the other, but not on top, inside, part of the same thing, all happened at the same time — the whole history of everything past and future until the end of his life all happened at once and none of it made any sense whatsoever.
Timelines, that's what this is. Stuff that could happen, or has, or will. Ugh.
Dale blacked out as the world parted. He, Amanda, and the two men slipped between the cracks in time and disappeared.
Confusion
Time Unknown
"Is it them?"
"How would I know? I'm just following orders, just like you are. Mine."
"Yes sir. But what if it isn't them? What if it's the other them?"
"Well, there are countless 'thems' aren't there? Just like there are endless versions of you and me, but I don't know that it matters. Not for this reality anyway. The one we weave our way through."
"How do we know? When will we find out?"
"Soon. Won't be long now."
The men went quiet. All Dale could hear was the sound of his own heart stuttering, and Amanda's quiet whimpering next to him. He didn't speak, for some reason it just didn't seem like now was the time to say anything. He held his breath, worried that breathing would break something and he'd be lost to himself forever.
Briiiiiiiiiiiing, bring. Briiiiiiiiiiiiing, bring.
"Hello?..."
"Yes sir, I have them here..."
"Okay, I understand... Right away, back to where we got them?... Yes, I know."
Dale heard a click, like a phone flipping shut. What the hell was going on?
The man obviously in charge of the other spoke. "It's not them, not the right ones. Seems they already have it, they know. So we have to put them back."
"But, does it matter? Surely we have them now, that's the most important thing?"
"I have my orders. And come on, how many times do I have to go through this? It doesn't work like that. It's not the them we know, it's the ones that just got the message, not the ones that... you know?"
"So that's it? We're done?"
"For now, our Hexad is over. It's just them. You ready?"
"Ready."
Dale felt the world collapse around him once more, reality splitting open at the seams.
What the hell is happening?
~~~
Present Day
The hash browns were still on the tray, the sausages still had ten minutes to go according to the oven timer, and the fridge door was still open, beeping angrily as the cold air escaped. There was a pack of butter on the posh tiles Dale had balked at them buying, but was eventually convinced by Amanda that they were a worthwhile investment. How tiles could be an investment he still didn't know.
"You okay?" asked Dale, moving fast over to Amanda, hugging her tightly.
"Um, I think so. What on earth was that all about? Did we just do it? Time travel?" Amanda was decidedly not looking her usually well-manicured self. Her hair was messy, which was unheard of, she was sweaty, and she was physically shaking. Dale could feel it as he hugged her again.
He whispered in her ear, "Yup, we just did it. But god knows what that was all about. The wrong us? And who were those guys?"
Amanda lifted her head from his shoulder. "Looks like that wasn't the end to it. We have another visitor. Um, hello."
Dale felt his insides tighten as he released Amanda and turned. She had been greeting the man that was in their kitchen who was staring at the hash browns.
What's with these people and the bloody breakfast?
"I think we need to have a little chat," said t
he slender man in a rather stylish, definitely sixties-retro pinstripe suit, a fedora on his head that he took off to reveal shoulder length brown hair. He had eyes that seemed to take in more than physical appearance as he looked into Dale's soul and found it wanting.
"Um, cup of coffee?" offered Dale.
May as well be polite, might mean he doesn't just grab us and do something weird.
"Coffee? Oh my, I can't tell you how nice that would be. It's been ages. Sugar?" asked the man hopefully.
"Sure, want milk?"
"Oh no, absolutely not. It comes out of a cow's udder, you do know that, right?"
"Um, yeah."
Dale put the kettle on.
Introductions
Present Day
"You two have been rather naughty, you do know that, don't you?" The man sipped his coffee, face lighting up like he hadn't drunk it for years. "Ah, it's been years. Just the thing after a pint to clear the head."
Guess I was right.
"Naughty, what do you mean? Look, what's all this about? And we were just... well, taken by two men, then we were back here." Amanda was turning the oven off, sausages only half cooked. Breakfast would have to wait, if they ever managed to get it.
"Ah, so they got you already then? Doesn't surprise me."
"Who got us? What for? And how about we rewind this a bit. Who the hell are you?"
"Oh dear, I do apologize, where are my manners. I'm Tellan. And you are Dale and Amanda, I know that already."
"Okay Tellan, suppose you tell us just what the hell is going on? Why are you here? Who were those men? And would you mind telling us a little about this time travel thing we seem to be caught up in? Oh, and if people are out to try to kill us? You know, just the basics," said Dale sarcastically. He tried not to show it but basically he was scared witless and really wished he hadn't drunk so much that they'd come up with such a crazy conjecture in the first place. He rather fancied just having his breakfast and slobbing out in the garden if he was honest. Mow the lawn with the piece of junk he regretted buying just because it was cheap.
