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General

The tension was like there were a million sharp knives in the air, and you had to dodge getting cut by each one. We had been here before. We swore that it would never happen again. We promised each other that we would never talk, let alone see, each other again.

“Okay. One of us has to talk, and since I’ve always been the talkative one, it might as well be me. I thought that we weren’t going to see each other again.” I looked up from my hands and realized it was Chloe who was talking.

“Yeah, well, that’s what I thought, too. But here we are!”Leeya started. Allison decided to speak up.

“None of us wanted this. Maybe the other four of us wanted to see each other again. Not like this, but we wanted to. Okay, sure, you didn’t. But that doesn’t mean that this is our fault!”Allison yelled. Leeya crossed her arms and closed her eyes.

“You all need to shut up. All of our families are dead. Because of us. So how many years are we going back?”Liliona asked. A million thoughts raced in my head.

“8 years. None of us had met our husbands yet. We could still meet them, but just make sure that we don’t get them in the situation that we did before,”I suggested.

“I’m in. The woman who almost called me something that I will not repeat?”Chloe sneered. Chloe put her hand out to the side and grabbed mine.

“Fine. But this is never happening again. And if it does, then we’ll just have to deal with the grief. I hate this stuff,”Leeya said as she grabbed Chloe’s hand.

“I’m with the other three.” Liliona grabbed Leeya’s hand. “Allison?” Allison glared at all of us, but grabbed Liliona and I’s hands. 

“8 years. June 15, 2042. Wednesday, 7:30 in the morning. I’m going to make it so we can remember this time. Ready?”I asked,”3. 2… 1!” I felt the five of us rise up into the air and start spinning. When we were done spinning, I was standing in the middle of a room. 

I looked around. I was in my old apartment, when I lived by myself. Without Jason. All of the memories came rushing back to me. The good and the bad. I was shivering, it felt like there were little needles stabbing me all over. 

Still shivering, I walked out of the bedroom. I recognized everything, even that one stain on the carpet in the hallway from me spilling wine one night.

“Hello? Keelie? Are you here?” My eyes widened and I slipped into the bathroom. I didn’t know what to do, so I hid behind the shower curtain. I saw the person walk by the door, and it was...My mom? Then I remembered, this was the day that my mom had to go to the doctor’s office at 8:30 and wanted me to take her.

I got out from behind the shower curtain and washed my hands, to make it seem like I had just used the restroom. Sure enough, my mom came in.

“Hey, sweetie! Oh, is that a new top?”Mom asked. I smiled, she always knew when I had gotten something new. Of course, this time it would be new in 8 years.

“Yeah. I got it at New Nova. Is your appointment still at 8:30?”I said. I dried my hands off as Mom nodded and grabbed her phone, which was ringing.

“Hey, Kyle, what do you need?” It was Dad, who was probably just getting up and wanted to know where his tie was. I hit the nail on the head.

“Kyle! I told you, I put all of your ties in that organizer and put it in your closet...Yes, it is there! Just keep looking...There might be one in your car! I don’t know where...I’m with Keelie, she’s taking me to my appointment. Love you, bye.” Mom rolled her eyes and hung up the phone while I laughed.

“Sometimes I wonder what’s wrong with that man,”Mom stated. I laughed again as we walked out of the hallway and into the kitchen.

“Do you want a coffee?”I asked. Mom shook her head and showed me her Yeti that was already filled with water.

“Alright, I just have to get my coffee into my travel cup and then we can go,”I said. My mom nodded and watched me as I moved around the kitchen. Once I got my coffee ready and told Mom we could go, she still just sat there and looked at me.

“Mom? What’s wrong?”I asked. Mom was staring at me now, and I was getting worried.

“I know about your time traveling,”Mom said,”You came here because I died, your dad died, and the rest of us died. Your friends’ families died. I don’t want you to just keep coming back every time something goes wrong. Go forward. If you keep reliving everything, you’ll just get bored and your life will have gone to waste. Go forward and never come back. Okay?” I started shaking all over, and the next thing I knew, I was in Central Park, where the other four of my friends were, too.

We were all standing in a circle, around a big tree. The five of us looked at each other; I could tell that none of us had planned this.

“Mom,”we all said in unison. So all of our moms had planned this, to make us go forward. Back to the present.

“Are we going to do it?”Liliona asked. I nodded and grabbed Chloe and Allison’s hands. The rest of them joined, and the next thing we knew, we all were spinning again.

When we were done, we were in the same room that we had been the first time. I checked myself, to make sure there hadn’t been any bad time warps. I looked around at everyone else, and we were all good. Or so I thought. Leeya spoke.

“Ummm.... Where am I and who are all of you?”  


May 16, 2020 14:56

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2 comments

Michael Loss
01:44 May 26, 2020

Great ending! I would love to know what happens next!

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01:45 May 26, 2020

Thank you so much! Stay safe! -Brooke

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