What?

Ted leaned over and asked again, "Are you okay?" Marla wasn't sure what to say. It seemed like she had answered this exact same question, from the exact same person. For the life of her, she couldn't remember how she answered before. It troubled her as she thought about how she was supposed to answer. If she answered correctly, the path of her life would be smooth sailing. If she answered incorrectly, it could send her life trajectory spiraling into an abyss of devastation and despair. Marla looked at Ted as he was intensely gazing at her. She swallowed hard and asked, “Do I not seem okay?” “Well,. You’ve only been sitting there with a strange look on your face for 10 minutes now.” answered Ted. “I have the strangest feeling that we have been in this place before, in this time before, saying these exact things.” “Don’t you find that odd Ted?” Ted laid his head back on the cushion of his chair and began to shuffle his feet. “I’ve heard of this very thing before and it is not uncommon.” Ted sat straight up in his chair and took Marla by both of her hands. As Ted looked into her eyes, he said, “Everything is perfectly fine and there is nothing at all to be concerned about here.” “So it’s normal what I am feeling...that I am doing things in life that have been done before?””How can that be?”, asked Marla. Ted stood up and walked over to a black bookshelf, filled with books. The bookshelf was so tall, Ted had to retrieve a ladder to obtain the book that he desired on the top shelf. “I know that I have a book about this because I remember seeing it.” “What is the book about Ted?” Before Ted answered her, he rushed out of the room in quite a hurry. When he returned, he was pushing a step ladder with wheels. “I’ve got just what you need to read!”, he said excitedly as he climbed the steps to reach a book on the top shelf. “Oh! This has been here for quite some time”, said Ted as he pulled a huge book off of the shelf and blew some dust off. “Quite some time”, he said again. He climbed down the stairs with the book in his hand. “Now then”, he said as he walked over to a rusty colored armchair. Ted began flipping the pages as Marla walked to the window. “This whole situation is very disturbing to me, because even now, I feel as if these very occurrences have already taken place...somehow.” “I have definitely been here before, for this very same reason, at this very same time of day.” “Does this mean that I am having some type of mental breakdown Ted”, Marla asked worriedly. Just then, two big burly men burst into the room, snatched the book out of  Ted’s hand, and ran out of the room. Ted yelled, “STOP! THIEF!”, then gave chase. Marla was not too far behind Ted as they raced down the stairs at the end of a long hallway. By the time Ted reached the bottom of the stairwell, he had lost sight of the two burly men. “Did you see which way they went”, he asked Marla breathlessly. Marla turned to see them through the window, running across the street. “THERE THEY GO!, Marla shouted as both her and Ted ran toward the door. “What is so important about this book, that you would risk your life in order to get it back?”, panted Marla as they ran across the street. “These days, you can just access the internet and buy the very same one from Amazon inexpensively.” “You’re acting as if there is some kind of government secret or something that is hidden in that book.” Marla said. Ted looked back at her as they were running. “There is.”, said Ted as they ran on, “and I must get it back.” “The continuance of our civilization is dependent upon it.” No sooner had he finished his sentence, both Ted and Marla heard a car honking. As Ted looked back, he saw a car heading straight for Marla. The driver jammed the brakes of the car, sending the car into a skid, yet it did not stop in enough time before it hit Marla. Ted screamed, “NOOOO!”, as he ran back to Marla’s lifeless body lying in the road. “Someone call 911 and get an ambulance here right away!”, he yelled. The driver got out of the car and nervously walked toward Ted. Ted could tell right away that the driver had been drinking, for he smelled the alcohol on her breath as she stooped down over Marla’s body. “I didn’t see her, she came out of nowhere.”, the lady told Ted. “That’s a story that you will have to tell the police because they are on their way.”, Ted told her. The lady stood up and with her hands placed on each side of her face began speaking in a panicked tone. “No sir, you can’t call the police. It was only an accident. I didn’t mean for anyone to get hurt.” Ted lifted his head upon hearing a siren. The ambulance raced down the street and stopped quickly beside the area where Marla lay. As the paramedics were coming to the scene, the two burly men that had stolen Ted’s book jumped into the car of the lady who had hit Marla and sped away. “STOP! THIEF!”, the lady yelled as the passenger was slamming the car door shut. “Yeah, they don’t listen to that.”, said Ted as Marla was being placed on the stretcher. “The police will soon be here and have they really got a case today.” Ted stayed behind to talk with the police while Marla was being transported to the hospital. That day, the lady was arrested for DUI and charges were pending for the incident with Marla. Ted arrived at the hospital and inquired about Marla’s whereabouts. “At this time, your friend is resting”, said the nurse. “I am in the process of trying to contact any family members that she may have.”Look no further”, Ted told her. Marla is my sister and I have been caring for her since she was a teenager.” Both of our parents had been killed in a boating accident off the coast of Honolulu when pirates commandeered the vessel. In the struggle for the pirate’s pistol, it accidentally went off, firing a bullet into the hull of the boat, causing it to sink. Neither of our parents knew how to swim and quickly drowned at sea.” “That is so tragic!”, cried the nurse as she flipped through a patient’s chart. “The patient is undergoing a CT scan to see if there is any head trauma related to the accident.” As Ted turned to walk away, the nurse insisted that he follow her into what looked to be a conference room. As they both stepped inside, Ted noticed the two men that had stolen his book and he stopped suddenly. “What do you want,” Ted asked as he walked toward one of the men. The tallest of the two men picked the book up off of the table, turned, and walked toward Ted. “The information in this book is of great importance to you, yes?”, questioned the man. “It contains the information necessary to help my sister with a very unique condition.”, replied Ted. The tall man handed the book to Ted while mumbling something under his breath. Ted could not understand what the man had said, yet grinned at the man as the book was placed in his hand. Puzzled, the man asked, “Aren’t you going to ask us the reason we decided to bring your book back to you?” “I would assume that this particular piece of literature held no interest for you.”, remarked Ted. “On the contrary”, disputed the tall man. “We found some information that highly intrigued the both of us and simply wanted to share those things with you.” Now,Ted became very curious as to what information had these two strange men wanting to share anything with him. “If you’ll excuse me gentlemen, I have to be informed of my sister’s condition, as you both know, she was hit by a car.”, Ted cringed as he spoke to the gentlemen. Just then, a doctor came into the room. Ted, the two men, and the nurse stood up, looking surprised. “The doctor spoke quietly as he divulged information about Marla. “She has sustained a nasty concussion”, the doctor remarked. “We can’t rule out brain damage in the form of a temporary amnesia.” We will keep her overnight and if she continues to show progress, she will be discharged first think in the morning.”, the doctor said happily. Ted beamed as he reached out to shake the doctor’s hand. “This is such wonderful news to hear. When may I see her?”, asked Ted. “We are currently getting a room prepared for her and you may see her when she is settled in.””Now is a good time to get some things done and then you can come back if that works for you”, concluded the doctor. “Yes, thank you doctor for all you have done”, replied Ted as the doctor walks out of the door. “I suppose I can return my book to its proper place”, commented Ted. The tall man leaned toward Ted as he said, “There is something we think you should know.” Confused, Ted looks at the man strangely and inquires, “and just what is that?” The tall man whispered, “Marla is our sister too, according to the names that we found written on one of the pages in the back.” We’ve always questioned as to the location of any siblings if any, considering our father was in the Coast Guard and was away on leave a lot.” Ted stood perplexed at this new information that he was receiving from these two men, knowing that he couldn’t stand to hear anymore. He was already overwhelmed by the events of the day. Ted announced, “I’ve got to leave and take care of some business.””In the future, we will discuss what you have just shared with me.”, then Ted walked out of the room. Upon returning to the room with the bookshelf, Ted was very tired and felt drained. Who were these men?, wondered Ted. Were they even telling the truth?

The next day, Marla was released from the hospital and told to focus on resting for the next few days, not to become excited, be involved with too much activity. Marla kept asking Ted what his name was which made Ted feel very upset. It took quite a few days for Marla to start to slowly remember anything before the accident. What she did remember made her question everything that she had ever known. One day, both Marla and Ted were sitting on the couch looking out of the nearby window. Ted noticed that Marla was in a far-away gaze and he questioned, “Are you okay?” Marla sat quietly and did not even acknowledge Ted or his question. Ted leaned over and asked again, “Are you okay?” “What?” Marla gasped.