This Is Where I Want To Be

192. Back In Time

Chris

While I traveled back to Earth, all the implications of what that hour had cost ran through my mind. What could have happened in that time to change a life? And who’s life? Hopefully, I saved one. All the side effects of what could have been. The problem was I didn’t think at that moment. I had just done it.

The tunnels were dark, but the flickering lights from the monitors showed me the way to go. It was deadly quiet as I stepped down the hall. A guy peeked out and stepped forward, saluting when he saw me. The men were calm and hard at work.

“Did Chris really just time travel?” One voice from the room came through in the stillness. I couldn’t place his accent.

“Bloody hell. We wouldn’t know what they’re capable of. The human race is a bunch of dickheads.” A British man said.

“Unless you burn your girlfriend like a cow. Wowie!” Another said in the most southern accent I had ever heard.

“Show me,” I said.

The soldier waiting on attention, went back into the room and sat down. The other men stiffened and moved around in their chairs uncomfortably, except for the southerner. His eyes looked me up and down. “Come, boys. Let’s take it back a bit.”

I scanned all the displays. One was dark. Michael and Marcus were on En-gannim.

“It really happened?” I asked.

“Yes, sir. We’ve been here the whole time. Nothing much but the meeting you had in her room. Then… you stepped back into the feed.”

“You’re the first guy that cheated and got your life back.”

“How did you know? Why is the feed working in the field… Nevermind… Jessy.”

I glanced over to the last screen. “Why are you staring at a black screen?”

“Carl was watching some woman causing trouble. Her feed stopped abruptly. We can’t seem to fix it. We’re waiting for Carl to come back. I’ve been trying everything I could.”

“What’d you want us to do?”

“Delete it. Forever!” The British man sat forward and placed his fingers on the keyboard. Louis and Juliet were still in the field. “Wait! Take me back to where I left. I need to know what he told her.”

***

“Louis, let me go.”

“Stop! You know you’re like this because of Michael it has nothing to do with Chris.”

“He slept with Selena, didn’t he! I’ll kill them both.”

Juliet manifested and pushed Louis off her. The corner of his mouth lifted in anticipation. They fought for a time. Louis was avoiding and dodging her. Not doing anything to hurt her. Until his knee forced her to the ground, burying her face in the grass.

“Does it matter if he did?” Louis sneered out.

“You know it does. He has to leave if he chose her. I won’t, I can’t.”

“I’m going to say something, but you can’t freak out.”

She moved desperately under him. “Can you not be so emotional right now. And calm down. You’re acting like a child.”

Juliet fought back fervently and put him on his ass. Louis had a way with her and knew just what buttons to push. “You don’t suck at this anymore.” He laughed, resting back on his hand.

“Tell me to calm down again. I dare you.” She pointed a finger down at him. Louis got up, and they stood there staring at each other. “Romero said there would be a price every time Chris went back.”

A price? So she was right. It wasn’t going to be that easy. I might have caused some cosmic rewrite.

“What did you expect! You’ve not been here to tell us everything. We weren’t with you to figure things out. Come on, Juliet. You have to be used to it by now. For f-sake, can’t you face the fact that we all have our own lives?”

“Yeah!? How well it turned out the last time, you guys wanted to live your own lives… And not as a family. Well, I hope it was worth it. We will never know what the price was… If something bad happens, it’s on you.”

“No, baby.” Louis’s voice softened, and he took a step toward her. “We just have to make a decision about what is most important. Every day. And work tirelessly to keep it going. You know that’s not what I meant.”

The first tear rolled down her cheek. She swiped it away in that flat-handed way of hers and cussed.

“How do you think I get out of bed every day?” Louis asked. Juliet let the sob she was holding back escape. “You have to face this here and now. Think about how you would genuinely feel if Chris turned away from you. If Marcus leaves. Or Michael.” Juliet pressed restless hands into the sockets of her eyes, thinking.

“See! No matter what I did. Or Chris. You will never stop loving us. For us, it’s choices. Over generations or days. For you… You can never run from who you are. And I can’t fully explain how you work. How your heart gives and gives and never tires. I’ve never come across it, baby. At some point, people grow up. Not you. You are the only person, alien, being that can love so… intensely. All the time.” Louis took another step closer and held out his hand. “And that is why I made the choice… when I asked you to marry me. I promised myself! Not you… in some ceremony. Or some paper. I promised myself. I will love you.” Juliet looked up at him, and he took another step closer. “Cherish you…” He put one hand on her cheek. “Comfort you. In good times and in bad! In sickness and health. For richer for poorer, for better for worse, and I was going to forsake all others! Keep myself only for you, Juliet. And not only while we live. Always!”

Tears rolled down her cheeks. I hated my inconstancy. How I didn’t know who I wanted to be as a person. I did resolve to give myself to her… but like that? Louis had shown me why it was the way it was in so many ways.

“I don’t want to pass you along again. And I won’t. You either come to me or start making some of your own choices… From now on, you choose whether you will walk away… You can go sleep with Michael.” Louis used a finger and pushed some of her hair behind an ear. “That’s all you can think about anyway.” She shook her head. He smiled. The next moment, she stepped into his person and wrapped her arms around him. Louis did the same and closed her in a tight grip. “Oh, baby. It will be okay. Nothing happened that will make any difference. And whatever did happen was for Chris. Not you. I swear… He will be all yours and soon. I promise.”

Her sobs deepened. Louis picked her up and threw her over his shoulder.

***

“Cut their feed. None of you watch Louis’s or Juliet’s feed for the next hour.”

“Yes, sir. We know the rules.”

I chuckled, hoping they did obey that one rule. “I’m leaving. I’ll tell Carl about the woman when I see him again… And I’ll be back. I’m not leaving Earth for a few days.”

Those walls were lined with secrets. Buckets of things no one should ever know. It was a problem for another day. I thought it was time to get rid of it all. Every last tube. I glanced at the monitors. Every last screen needed to go. We lived way too long to have it all recorded... On the other hand, maybe we should just not record it. It has saved our lives a few times.

Michael and Selena were talking. “What are they saying?”

The southerner pushed his headset backward, “Marcus gave’em an order. The two of th’m gonna go after that vault.”

“Good. One thing we can check off the list.”

Marcus and Kubra were busy in the conference room with all the generals. Men were coming and going, following orders.

“The book! I have to get it to….” I took out my own plate.

“Not necessary, sir. When Juliet came after you. Caleb went for the book.”

“You guys are really on the ball. Well done. And I will personally put a bullet in each head…”

“If we ever tell the missus.”

They all gestured by zipping their lips.

***

Lyla

The last stretch of the walk was tedious. We had walked from dark to dark, and my eyes were on the ground, focusing on where I would put down my next tread. Nevin had stopped abruptly and walked into what looked like a cave that seemed blacker than the outside world. After he opened the gate and came back out, he took Gigi out of her sling. He bent down and put her on the ground. I wanted to grab her, thinking she would run either into the tunnels or down the stretch of the valley before us. To my surprise, she had sat down. I frowned, “Weird.”

“What?”

“She usually bolts around like a woman on crack. Wired to the bone.” Gigi scratched behind her ear and looked up at me. She was smiling. “I thought she would alert the whole neighborhood.”

Nevin laughed. “Maybe she’s scared of the dark.”

We had walked for so long that day without stopping once to eat, and it was getting to me. I was tired and hesitant to take the next step, following Nevin into the abyss of what lay ahead.

“So, how far must we walk down this tunnel?” I pointed my flashlight at the round structure. It was nothing but cement and a flat surface on the bottom. “Why did they build it anyway?”

“Infected vamps can’t go out in the sun.”

I stopped and stared at him with apprehension. “Don’t worry. They’re long gone. Those that could get out. I let them go… None of them wanted to stay down here in these tunnels. Or go back to En-gannim.”

We walked past so many rooms and barred cages. Wide-open areas that had chains strategically placed on every wall. “What is this place? All these dungeons?”

“Hell, I suppose.” After a few bends and winds in the road, lights started flickering overhead as we passed, finding their way to a solid beam. They turned off as soon as we were a bit further along. Nevin put off his flashlight. Gigi had not left my side and walked as slowly as we were. Nevin’s pace slowed. He put a finger on his lips and motioned for me to stay there. He took off his backpack and passed it to me, leaving me at a bend where I could hide.

He squared his shoulders even more, and the hump he had exaggerated was nonexistent. Nevin cleared his throat in the room. “Sergeant.” I heard men scramble and chairs moving.

“At ease, boys. I want you to take a break. Give me an hour.”

More feet stomped, and four men sauntered off. In the distance, I could see the first permanent light shining. The men disappeared, and the ding of an elevator sounded down the corridor.

Nevin pointed his flashlight and put it on and off a few times. He closed the door behind us. Gigi went to lie down on the floor. It was so strange that I felt her whole personality had changed instantly.

I took a good look at each screen. Marcus on one. I stepped closer. I paused. Michael and Selena were in some strange sandy place. It was beautiful. Then I saw it. The Milky Way in the background of their scene. The moon was so close to them. I couldn’t look away. The prospects of other planets. Beautiful places only they got to see. Nevin patted me on the back. He pressed some buttons, and Louis and Juliet appeared on the monitor in a very precarious entanglement. His finger slammed the same button quickly. I snickered.

“They are so weird. Do these men watch everything?”

“The screen was off, wasn’t it.” He giggled. Nevin had a funny sense of humor.

“Chris was in some room talking to a woman. Signing to her. It had to be Agatha… Cindy came, and she and Chris hugged each other for a long time. I liked Cindy.

“What is that one for?” I asked.

Nevin rewound the feed. He sped it up till it went back in hours. Nevin and I appeared on the screen. I bent down to get a closer view. It was of the previous day. “What? They’re watching me?!” I wanted to smash the whole setup into bits. Nevin halted me, “It won’t matter. You don’t have the tube. And your feed is cut, isn’t it?”

“I can’t believe it. That’s why Carl and Caleb came to the farm. Why he kept me busy for so long. The audacity! You people. I can’t take it anymore!” I wanted to scream, thinking Carl had been sitting watching me take a shower and go to the toilet. How many constitutional rights were they breaking? “Is my feed off. Will they be able to see me again?”

Nevin shook his head. “So what do you want to do? We don’t have that much time.”

“It doesn’t matter.” I pulled out packs of Ziplock bags from my purse. Took one bucket and wanted to empty its contents.

“They will notice and what will happen then.”

“It doesn’t matter if they know. I will be gone. And they can feel how it feels.”

“Lyla, you’re not thinking clearly.”

“I have no choice. Dump it all. I want to empty this place and get out. Are you going to help me or not?”

He held out his hand, and I gave him a few bags. I rummaged through my purse and held out the key in my palm. He stared at it for a second and opened his own hand. “Before I put it down… Do you really want to see how she died?”

“Do you?”

Exasperated by it all, I pushed the key into his hand. “You could have just asked. I’m sure Jessy would have taken you himself.”

“Do you think I haven’t? He told me it wasn’t something I wanted to see. Many times warned me not to go down that road.”

Nevin helped me, and we filled all my gallon bags. Each with a bucket’s worth of black tubes. As I emptied the last one, he took it and pushed it into the backpack. He picked up the other bag and stepped out of the door. I wanted to follow him the way we came. “No. We’re not going out that way.”

“What?”

“Look, if you go that way. It will be a chase that you can’t fathom. If you go this way.” He pointed to the lit area with the elevator. “You will be somewhere they will never find you. Or think to look.”

“How will I get out?”

“How did you get in?”

“You’ll come for me?”

He paired our phones, took me by the arm, and led me out. “They will see me.”

“We will hide in this building for the night. I will get you clothes and a veil and after tomorrow... There is a place I can hide you.”

I smiled. It was the perfect disguise. “No one would even ask why, will they?”

“Not a soul.”

I wrapped my arms around his neck. “Thank you, Nevin.”

“If they find you. I won’t be able to help you… But never mind, that’s the worst-case scenario.” He patted my shoulder. “Now come. Let’s go.”

All the screens were still recording, but Nevin had given me even that feed he had dumped up till the last second. The rest I would have to live without.

***

We had made ourselves comfortable on the top floor of their so-called Science building. Gigi was sniffing around the deserted room, and by the time the images flashed quickly through the air, she had lain down and closed her eyes. I took a tube out of the five crucial bags and labeled it for four men and one for Juliet. Juliet’s was the least. I figured it was the best place to start. I swiped the first one through the air. Nevin sat forward, busy making me some oatmeal. Marcus and Juliet came into view. I gasped. “It’s where her feed stopped. After she left the house without a veil.”

“Shhh.”

Juliet and Marcus were having a lengthy discussion. Marcus almost begged her to marry him. “You got to be freaking kidding me. She was fifteen.”

“Shhh.”

Juliet flatly refused. Marcus and Liam exchanged words. They were talking about something that Marcus needed to do. Juliet’s feed couldn’t capture their conversation as soon as she stood beside her mother. I would have to get his feed to fill in the puzzle.

Then Juliet and her parents were around a table. Liam was stoic, and his usual friendly features were cold. Something was about to happen. Her mother dressed her in the most gorgeous gown I had ever seen. It was a lehenga masterpiece but without the veil. And just like Juliet said, it was more like a wedding dress than anything else. I glanced at Nevin. The feed went on. My blood boiled as the men stared at her. Insulted her. A tall, muscled man walked up to her. He challenged Marcus, kissing her hand, and almost lost his footing with how Juliet looked at him and licked her lips. Liam warned him. “Wait your turn, Lucius.” My head snapped to Nevin. “Willa’s Lucius. What a creep!”

Nevin nodded. My eyes quickly returned to the feed.

Marcus put her down for turning away from the man. Juliet was close to breaking. A tear rolled over my cheek. The bidding started, and I wanted to recoil. She stood on that stage like the animal she was. Lucius won the bid. My breathing accelerated. “Is he going to take her… Is that why they got out?”

“Shh.”

Lucius warned Marcus, and for three days, Juliet paced her room. She cried nonstop and stared at the roof the rest, thinking. I knew the signs of a desperate girl. The third morning, she picked up a knife and left the house running. More tears fell down my cheek. Juliet cried out as she cut her wrists. Her mouth strained as she pressed the blade into the next arm. The blood flowed out freely. There were voices in the background. Juliet had heard them. She ran for the edge of the gorge. I wanted to glance at Nevin. Ask him where he was. Why he wasn’t helping her. He touched my arm as the shot boomed through the air. Juliet hit the ground, leaving a blood trail behind her. “Don’t tell me it was Lucius.” Juliet’s eyes were closed, and her face changed. Marcus and Kubra sat down next to her. Marcus was crying. It didn’t look like he knew his cheeks were wet. Kubra was waiting patiently for instructions, wrapping her wrists.

“Tell me you got her out and that she didn’t marry him.” I willed Marcus.

They picked her up, and he dumped her in the boot. I felt the smile on my lips, relief that he would make her disappear. It was short-lived. They tied her up and gagged her, taping her mouth so tightly. She and Marcus were staring at each other as he closed the boot’s door on her. “What are they doing?”

Nevin patted my arm and handed me the bowl of gloop. I hungrily shoved spoonfuls into my mouth.

Kubra drove for a long time. “No! Not your father’s house.” Kubra didn’t stop in front of the stairs. They kept going down a barren lane and stopped at an entrance. The men carried her into a study. Kubra took over and moved around the room. First, he took a poker and put it on a stand. Kubra lifted her up and placed her on the chair. “I’m sorry.” He whispered. Only muffled noises were heard coming from Juliet. Her cries were desperate and non-coherent. The tears ran down her cheeks and over the tape. Kubra tied her to the chair and left the room. Marcus just stood there. Screams came from the door. Kubra was fighting with someone. If it was Qadir, I would have lost it. The door opened, and Liam came into view. “Help her,” I yelled. Liam leaned forward and slowly closed the door. My mouth closed in horror. Marcus turned around, picked up the poker, and stabbed her on her ass. I jumped off the ground, forgetting where we were or how much noise I was making. Juliet passed out, and Liam opened the door again. Soon after, Marcus fell to the floor.

I flung the tube through the air. “What happened?”

“He branded her.”

“I can see that. Why did Marcus pass out.”

He nudged at the bags lining the wall next to me. “You will soon find out. It’s a long story… And it leads you to the secret you are so desperate for… But enough for now. I need rest. I’ll take Gigi out before we sleep.”

***

The next day, Nevin took me by car through the compound. The veil on my head. I wasn’t wholly unfamiliar with how it felt to have a sari on, but the niqab was a little different. It took us a while to get to the outskirts. Juliet’s house came into view. There was no one there. The street was deserted. She was so full of life in that front yard when I saw her as a young girl. It was still well-kept. Nevin stopped the car and helped me carry everything into the house. Gigi relieved herself on the grass and faithfully came back to the heels of my feet. I shook my head. “What has gotten into you?”

“Don’t walk around without the veil. If you can, stay indoors. Get a feel of how small her world was before you judge her too severely.”

I reached around his neck and hugged him. “Thank You again. Could you bring me some food? Real food. I’m starving.”

“Yes. I will.” He smiled and left.

I didn’t waste any time. I started watching. It was going to be another long day and night.