Now and Then

Not for the first time in his life, John got the feeling he was being followed.

The rippling reflection of the moon in the canal glowed pale and eerie, his own echoing footsteps the only ones discernable and yet, he just knew there was someone there. Aunt Mimi was always warning John not to walk home on the canal path and instead stick to the busy and well lit streets, but he prefered the solitude and peace of the narrow lane next to the water, wending its way purposefully through the city, a more direct route home avoiding the rowdy drunks spilling out of pubs, swaying and slurring into his path. John was only fourteen but had been already been challenged to a number of fights by full-grown men.

When he walked the streets above, he would also quite often catch random people staring at him expectantly, as if he was a trained circus animal about to perform a trick. Liverpool was filled with strange people, he thought, unnerved as he quickened his pace and glanced over his shoulder. 

She wasn't doing a very good job of hiding herself, the woman. She must have been at least sixty, wild bushy hair speckled with grey and a long black trench coat that gave the impression of purposefully hiding whatever clothes she had on underneath. She was watching him in a state of aparent euphoria. When their eyes met, a hungry look flashed across her thin, pale face, a manic, intense look that immediately made John's mouth go dry.

"Hey, John." She smiled delightedly.

"Ummm hello." He replied uncertainly, completely thrown by her casual use of his name.

"Oh wow, okay. Ha. This is incredible, it's been so long! I was just wondering if you could..." 

What the old lady wanted John to do though, he never found out. Mid-sentence a weird popping sound emanated from behind the her and a hand reached out of the darkness covering her mouth.

"Mia we told you no, especially after last time at the concert. Your privilege is revoked." A second hand appeared, tearing a curious necklace from around Mia's neck that seemed to be glowing blue in the darkness. A second 'pop' reverberated around the canal walls, then Mia, and whoever the hands had belonged to were gone. John ran the rest of the way home, avoided Aunt Mimi's concerned questions and dived into bed trying to make sense of what he had seen but also knowing he was nowhere close to being able to reason out a single sane explanation.

-Two years later-

"Of course she's encouraging this, I depair with your mother." 

Aunt Mimi had come upstairs to John's room after hearing him tinkering around on his new guitar. He had only chanced bringing it back to the house that week. Believing Mimi was out at her sewing group, he had taken it from its hiding place under the bed and began composing a melody that had been buzzing around his head all day.

"There's no harm in it, I just enjoy playing, it makes me happy." John desperately hoped Mimi wasn't about to confiscate the instrument. At least now she knew about it and he wouldn't have to hide it anymore. Maybe he could now play whenever he fancied; as long as he was permitted to keep it that was.

Mimi surveyed her nephew's begging face with a defeated look on her own.

"The guitar's all very well, John, but you'll never make a living out of it." She sighed deeply, shook her head and left the room.

Doing a triumphant jig across the floor, John pulled up the sash window to let in some air. He had been desperately warm but hadn't dared to allow the sounds of his playing to drift out into the street, Mr Brown from next door would surely have informed his aunt of the existence of the guitar. As he savoured the cool breeze on his face, a flash of blue caught his eye. It was coming from the chain of a curious looking necklace worn by a teenager across the street. She was staring up into his window and looked positively thrilled to see him appear holding his guitar. Squinting slightly, he tried to work out if it was someone he knew from school, but his class was small and he was sure he didn't know her. There was a familiarity about her though. The dark bushy hair, the grin of happiness upon spotting him, the whole aura of intensity. He suddenly realised as his eyes fell again on the blue necklace and he slammed the window shut once more, drawing the curtains and stumbling backwards to sit on his bed. Why was she here? How did she know where he lived? What was that necklace? Had Mia handed it down to her daughter? And most of all, why? Why on earth was she sitting outside his house staring up into his window?

John didn't leave the house for the rest of the day and didn't dare open his curtains again. When he awoke the following morning, he cautiously pulled the drapes aside and peaked out into the street. The girl was gone, and he never saw her outside his house again.

-Nine years later-

"Five minutes to show time John," a runner yelled after him as he raced down the venue corridor to retrieve his box of plectrums, forgotten in the bathroom.

"Gotcha thanks!" He yelled back breathlessly. Diving into the room and grabbing the picks from the sink he glanced in the mirror and smoothed down his hair before turning and pushing open the door out of the bathroom far too violently and directly into the face of a young woman who had appeared behind it.

"Oh crumbs, I'm so sorry!" He reached out to catch the girl who had fallen back into the wall on the far side of the corridor.

Flustered, she pushed hair out of her face and adjusted a ridiculous looking dress. On the surface it looked like a dress any young lady would be wearing nowadays but it was made out of a perculiar material, the likes of which John had never seen before. It felt as if someone had seen a mini dress only in pictures and had tried to recreate it but with the completely incorrect material.

As the girl regained her composure and John stepped back he realised he knew her face. Always an awkward situation nowadays as he regularly struggled to remember where he knew people from. Everyone always hoped, or worse, expected him to remember them, he didn't stand a chance considering the hundreds of people he met over an average week in this crazy whirlwind life he inhabited now.

"Are you okay?" He asked and the girl seemed to come back to herself at his words.

"Yes, I'm fine, don't worry about it John." She smiled graciously, twirling her fingers around the chain of a unique yet familiar, and faintly blue necklace. With dawning comprehension and just as much horror John recognised her. This was the same girl from outside his bedroom window almost a decade ago. But no, it couldn't be; she was practically the same age as she had been back then.

"I was just wondering if I could have your autograph?" She swooned, holding out a piece of paper and pen, taking a step towards him. "I've been a fan of yours my whole life, ever since I heard... well, I mean you haven't written it yet but it's a masterpiece."

John was frozen. Trying to make sense of what she was saying.

"When I was eight my dad would play all your songs in the car, it's always been my happy place, listening to all those beautiful things you wrote."

John still wasn't taking the pen and paper the girl held outstretched to him. As silence fell, her expression grew uncertain and embarrassed.

"I didn't mean to freak you out, sorry John, but I came a long way to meet you."

"Mia, What are you doing? You were told not to come here. This is your last warning girl." A man in a suit strode towards the pair down the corridor. A suit that just like the dress, should've looked normal but gave the same uncanny valley feeling.

The man didn't pause and didnt acknoweldge John. Grabbing Mia's arm, he swept her away down the corridor and rounded a corner. As they disappeared from view, John finally found the impetus to unfreeze himself from the spot and follow. For a moment he thought he had lost them but rounding a third corner into a dead end corridor he glanced around a wall and spotted them, the man was talking in hushed tones and still hadn't let go of his captives arm.

"When we issued you your device you were given clear instructions on what you were allowed to do and you just keep flaunting that privilege. You do realise the agency will take it away of you don't stop visiting his timeline?"

Mia pouted and looked away from the suited man. 

"He only noticed me one time, outside his house. Tonight I could've been any ordinary fan from 1965."

"You are playing a dangerous game here. You have an actual reason to be granted the power to travel in time and instead you are letting yourself be distracted by trying to talk to a pop star? I don't understand where this recklessness is coming from." The suited man stared aggressively into Mia's face. When she offered no explanation he rolled his eyes and tightened his grip on her arm. With a distinctive popping sound the pair de-materialised and the corridor was empty, still and silent.

Opening the door back into the dressing room, John's three band-mates all wheeled around frantically.

"John you idiot where were you? We were about to send out the search party," Paul chastised. Before John could answer, George had pushed him out the door towards the stage with Ringo bringing up the rear.

Looking thoroughly relieved at their apperance the announcer hurried on stage, and to the backdrop of the fever-pitch screams of thousands of girls, made the proclamation they had all been waiting for.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, please give it up, for...The Beatles!"