Missing in Time

Friday morning, April 9, 2021, two weeks since you went missing. My life has been rotting to its core since you left. No matter what I do or where I look there is no trace of you. Where have you gone? Why did you leave me? Will I ever see you again? These are only half the questions running through my brain since that afternoon I went to our lunch spot only to wait two hours for you to never show up. We always have lunch on Fridays to celebrate the upcoming weekend. The last time I actually talked to you was the night before around 8 p.m. to make sure we were still on for lunch. Nothing from our conversation made me think you weren’t going to show up. After waiting two hours I decided to go to your apartment to see what was going on, but you weren’t anywhere to be found. Your phone was still on the nightstand charging. It is as if you vanished into thin air.

Back to our favorite lunch spot alone makes me miss him. Nick was my best friend, but I always wanted more. I could never work up the courage to tell him my real feelings because I didn’t want to lose him. After I ordered, I sat there hoping and praying for a sign that he wasn’t gone and there was still a chance I could find him. As my food arrived, I noticed something off about the waitress. Once she finished serving my food, I asked her with curiosity “Is there something wrong Bri?”

“Once you finish your lunch meet me in the parking lot out back, give me at least fifteen minutes” she whispered. All I could do was nod at the eeriness of her tone. I finished what I could in five minutes flat so anxious to what Bri needed to tell me.

Finally, fifteen minutes passed, I left like normal and walked around the back to the parking lot. Bri was nowhere to be seen, when her car pulled up next to me “get in we can’t talk here!” I jump in hoping she’d start talking. Nothing but silence for around thirty minutes of nonstop driving.

“Where are we going?”

“Shhhh” putting a finger over her mouth “Almost there.” About ten more minutes of driving, we pull up to this wasteland of nothing but dirt and a small little shack. It looked as it could crumble with just one wrong move. “Hurry inside!”

Everything was dark and cold inside the shack. “Can we talk now?” I ask Bri even though I couldn’t really see where she was.

“Yes, let me start a fire quick.”

“Let me help I need to know what is going on!” Bri and I worked as fast as possible. “Now, tell me what this is all about” as we sit in front of the fire to warm.

“It’s about Nick!”

The moment I heard his name my heart skipped a beat. “What about him?”

“I know where he is, or more like when he is!”

“When he is? What is that supposed to mean?”

“It means he traveled to the future!” from the confused look on my face she handed me a small wooden box with a clock carved on top “he got me a message somehow to give you this.” I couldn’t open it fast enough to see what’s inside.

I touched the clock on top, just like that it clicked open. Inside the box was a note and what looked like a charm necklace. The note read “Ella, once you get this, I will have been gone for two weeks. I need help to get back and you are the only person that can do it!” My eyes start to water, tears starting to roll down my face “This necklace will guide you to me. I love you Ella I wish I told you that before all this and I hope it’s not too late!” My heart exploded at his confession, wishing I was in his arms at that moment. “One last thing, you need to go to the city of love, stand at the center under the Eiffel Tower at midnight, and focus on me the necklace will do the rest!”

Standing now, tears streaming down my face, I ask Bri “how did you get the box?”

“I got a package the day he disappeared, it had the box and a note. All it said is I couldn’t give you this until today because the only way for it to work is to make it to Paris by Saturday two weeks after he was gone. Here’s a round trip to Paris and a ticket for Nick on the way back!” She handed me the note from him and the tickets “I hope you find him Ella!”

“Why did you bring me all the way out here?”

“It explains it more in the note I got but, he told me not trust anyone. He also wanted me to warn you not wear the necklace until you are in position and ready to use it!”

“Thank you Bri, can you take me to the airport?”

“Yes, let’s go!”

We get to JFK International Airport around 3:30 p.m. I hug Bri and thank her for everything. My flight didn’t leave till 9 a.m. the next morning. I slept the whole flight and make it to Paris by around 10 p.m. I have a few hours to kill, and I am starving! After I ate the most delicious onion soup, croissants, and macarons I head to the Eiffel Tower. It is about 11:30 p.m. by the time I make it there. I find a bench on the north side of the Tower and wait.

11:58 p.m. I pull the beautiful charm necklace out of the box and put it on. The charm has a symbol of an hourglass with an infinity sign in the middle. Here goes nothing, with the little box in one hand and the charm in the other, I hold both to my heart walking directly under the Tower and focus on Nick. “I will find you Nick I promise!” I blink and now it’s daylight. “When am I?” I find the closest newspaper, Monday August 11th, 2025.

Four years into the future, wow how things change. The city is greener, as in all the building are cover in vines, moss, and beautiful colored flowers everywhere. As I admire the beautiful view, I see a glimpse of something familiar. The same symbol as on the charm. That’s it, that is where Nick has to be! I head straight for the building. As I arrive, I put the necklace back in the box so no one can take it. I am the only one that can open this box it will be safer inside. I feel so close to him, he is here, I can feel it. As I walk further and further into the building, I start to feel lightheaded and like I might pass out. I reach the end of the hall when everything goes black.

“Do not hurt her she is the only one that can get the necklace for us.”

“She’s not going to cooperate with us.” These voices don’t sound like anyone I know. “She’s only here for him” I squint my eyes open just enough to see who they are talking about. I see Nick tied to a chair unconscious. I slowly move my wrists around to see if I can get out of the rope. Sure enough, they didn’t tighten it enough to hold me. I just need to wait till these two leave to make my move. I continued to pretend I was out, so they didn’t bother me. Around an hour later they left the room, I made my move. I made it over to Nick and tried to wake him up, nothing. I notice a cup of water, grabbed it and threw it in his face.

“What the h….” he stared at me with those beautiful blues eyes that made my heart melt!

“Shhh,” I cupped my hand to his mouth “let’s get out of here!” I quickly got him untied and pulled him in for a hug. “I need to find my bag it has everything we need to get home in it!”

“I knew you would find me you amaze me more and more!” he dragged me behind him heading for the door “I know where they keep everything follow me.”

We reach a hallway full of doors and he run inside one disappearing for a moment and my bag in hand the next. “Alright now which door gets us out?”

“None of them! You need to hurry and put the necklace back on that’s the only way out!”

“I thought it only worked at certain times and places?”

“No, I needed you in Paris to find me in this time. Midnight was just the only time I didn’t think they would be out searching for you!”

“Give me the box lets go home.” As I finish latching the necklace, I grab hold of Nick and close my eyes. When I open them all four of us are in the dark of what is left of the building from before. “When are we? Where did you two bring us?”