Time Over and Again, Chapter 3

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A few days went by. Or, at least, what felt like a few days. Frankly, it could have been much longer, or even much shorter. Without the sun ever rising or setting, it was hard to tell how much time, if any at all, was passing. Len had been carrying Sasha for quite some time, but he had recently let her start walking on her own again.

They walked along a long stretch of rainbow-colored pavement, clouds rapidly changing shape above them. They spotted a broken-down car sitting beside the path and decided to take a rest by sitting on the trunk.

“How does your paw feel?” Len asked Sasha as he set her down.

“It feels fine now,” she said.

Len petted her as he stared off into the path’s distance. Without a chance to catch his breath, a nearly deafening siren blared throughout the land, and the weather suddenly shifted drastically just past the path. A wall of pouring rain, darkness, fog, and lightning now firmly slicing the path in half.

“What is that?” Len asked.

“I’m not sure, I’ve never seen it before.” She said.

Len scowled as he stared down the storm.

“My, god, Len! Where have you been!?” She yelled.

“I am sorry, really. I just lost track of time.”

“How do you lose track of time that easily? We’ve had this planned for weeks!”

“I just forgot, ok?”

She rolled her eyes. “Yeah. Of course, you did.”

“We should get going, right?” Len asked Sasha as he continued petting her.

“I dunno. The storm doesn’t seem to be going anywhere anytime soon, we could just wait here.”

“I do not think that is the best idea.”

“Do you wanna walk through all that?”

Len thought for a second.

“But what if we can find somewhere?” He posited.

“In there?” Sasha asked.

“Maybe.”

She sighed, and Len stopped petting her. He picked her up and set her down on the ground before starting to walk again.

“You can’t seriously want to go in there, can you?” Sasha asked.

“No, but we can stick to the wall’s edge.”

“I still don’t think that’s a great idea.”

“Well, what would you rather do?”

“We could wait.”

“We don’t know how long this thing could last. We need to leave now.”

“Why?”

“Where have you been?”

“I went home for a few days.”

“What is wrong with you?

“What?”

“And you never once thought to tell me?”

“I guess not.”

“Jesus, Len.”

“Because if we do not then things will never be… right. Come on, let’s just go!”

Len started marching off toward the perfectly flat wall of stormy weather that was dividing the two halves of the path, and so Sasha followed quickly behind him. They spent a good while marching on. The sounds of the storm raged beside them for hours, when just as suddenly as the storm had begun, the sounds stopped. The storm continued to slam the ground just past the divide, only now in utter silence.

Len and Sasha soon saw the path before them split off into two directions on its own, one side headed straight through the storm and to a large concrete tower with a lit window at the top, and the other off into the great distance, its end still not in sight.

With barely a moment of hesitation, Len began to head off into the storm, but Sasha started frantically barking at him.

“What are you doing, Len!?” She yelled.

“This could finally be our chance to find somebody else out here.”

“You don’t know how dangerous the storm could be!”

Len rolled his eyes. “We have been out here for… I don’t even know how long! I don’t even know why we’re here, but what if somebody there can help?”

“And if not?”

“Then nothing changes at all!”

Len turned around and walked straight through the storm wall, and as soon as he did, black mist began to rise into the air all around him, creating a vaguely transparent sheet separating him entirely from the path. He ran back to the wall, but he could no longer pass through. Sasha was barking at him, though he could not hear any sounds from beyond the barrier.

“You never listen to me,” she said.

“I know.”

“Do you think I’m stupid?”

“No! I just—"

Lightning crashed just feet away from where Len was standing. He stared at Sasha on the other side of the barrier. He looked back at the tower, then back to Sasha, who had placed her paw onto the barrier. He motioned his hand to the tower, but she only raised her paw higher. He shook his head, then turned around and started walking off toward the tower.

Following the path grew more difficult with each step. His foot would sink a bit deeper into the mud and dirt each time. The rain grew faster, harder, and sharper. The temperature dropped. After only a few minutes, Len’s entire body was in incredible pain. But he marched on regardless. The rain sliced at his arms. Eventually, he could no longer tell whether it was blood or rain trailing down his arms and legs. Still, he pressed forward.

The storm refused to let up, battering him with intense winds, rain, and ear-piercing thunder, but finally, he made it to the tower’s door. He tried knocking, but there was no answer. Unwilling to wait any longer, he started slamming his body against the door trying to knock it down, but it was no use. He could feel his strength was in rapid decline and knew he’d never be able to get inside before he’d collapse.

“Please call me back… it’s been days.”

The message ended there. He wanted to listen again, and he wanted to call. But he couldn’t do it. He just stared at the screen, rereading her name over and over again.

Len fell to the ground in front of the door, slowly covering himself up into the fetal position, nestled into the doorframe as much as he could, hoping it would protect him enough from the storm. He pulled his shirt over his head and his arms inside his sleeves, burying his head inside of his arms.

He lay there for a while, quickly losing track of time. After what seemed like hours, or perhaps minutes, a loud creaking noise came from behind him. He rolled over into the mud and rain to see what had happened; standing before him was an incredibly wrinkled old man in an equally wrinkled brown robe.

“Sorry for the wait,” he said. “I am very old and it takes quite a long time to get downstairs from the observatory at the top of the tower. Please, do come inside, it is very dangerous out here.”

Len struggled to crawl in the tower’s door, the old man waiting a bit before finally giving him a bit of support to set his battered body upon the couch. Inside, candles lit the circular room, decorated with many old paintings of different types of foods. The couch seemed very new and was extremely comfortable, as though it had barely been used.

The environment provided only a brief distraction, however, before the pain set in again. Len’s arms were covered in a series of deep slashes and cuts, his clothing torn and his torso and legs just as shredded. He was short on breath, the searing pain of his shredded flesh pulsating with each passing moment. He could feel the blood streaming down the sides of his body and soaking the couch beneath him.

“You are very hurt,” the old man said. “Please, rest here for a while.”

“M—m—my friend… she’s out there… I need to… to…” Len tried to speak, but he struggled to get the air he needed into his lungs.

“Rest, please. We can discuss this soon enough.”

Len tried to resist, but quickly he felt himself drifting away.

“This isn’t right! You’re supposed to tell me these sorts of—

Len gasped for air as he drifted into consciousness for a brief moment.

“I don’t think I can do this anymore.”

“What do you mean?”

“What do you think I mean, Len?”

Len sprang into a sitting position. His body was now covered in bandages, but it still burned to move. He looked around the room but could not find the old man anywhere. He could still hear the storm slamming against the tower just outside. As he stood up, his body shivered and he nearly fell over. He steadied himself against the side of the couch and stumbled over to the spiral stairs leading to the top of the tower.

As he climbed the stairs, desperately clinging to the railing, he noticed that the walls were aligned with pictures of gourmet dishes. His brain fizzed as he watched them and he decided to ignore them on his way up. Once he reached the top, he saw the old man staring off into the distance through a window.

“Did you rest well?” The old man asked.

“Not at all.” Len said.

“That does make sense. Please, sit. You should not be walking around so much.”

Len took a seat. The room was a mess, full of torn up papers, old books, rusted silverware and even an old, frayed car tire. A small fire burned in a fireplace just at the edge of the room.

“Where am I? Who are you?” Len asked.

The old man sighed and sat across from Len.

“Do you know where you are?”

Len shook his head in befuddlement. “Um… no. That is why I asked you.”

The old man chuckled. “Yes, of course”

Len was not any less confused. He just stared at the old man a bit longer.

“I know what troubles you. It troubles us all, eventually,” the old man said.

“What do you mean?”

“You wish to know where you are going, yes?”

“Sort of, yeah.”

“Hmm. That is not the right question. Tell me, where have you been?”

Len looked down. His head started to hurt. “I don’t know.”

“Think. How did you get here?”

“And the miles?”

“I don’t know…”

The old man stood up and walked over to Len, grasping his hands and holding them to the chair, staring straight into his eyes.

“Look at me, Len,” he said. “Do not look away. Look at me and dig deep within yourself.”

“I don’t understand.”

“Just breathe. Breathe and look…”

The old man put his hand on Len’s forehead and held it tightly. Len stared into the old man’s eyes. He tried to focus his thoughts on himself, his past, and his present. His thoughts were blurry, but they were growing clearer.

“What do you see?” the old man asked.

“I… I see… an apartment… I see…”

The alarm was blaring on his phone, but he finally woke up.

“Oh, crap!” he rolled over and checked his phone. Some new messages were waiting for him, but before he had a chance to read them, he heard somebody banging on his door. He sat up quickly and ran over to answer the door, but before he opened it ran back into his room to put on a nicer pair of pants. He ran back over and opened the door.

“This is it, Len. I can’t keep dealing with this. Why do you always do this, huh?”

“I—I’m sorry. I was asleep, and I—”

“Enough, Len! Enough. We need to have a serious conversation about… everything.”

“I don’t—”

“Save it,” she said as she sat down on his couch. “Please just sit down, Len. You know as well as I do we can’t just keep pushing this and pushing it.”

Len nodded, and he finally sat down across from her.

“Ok… you’re right. We need to talk, Sasha. Let’s just get it out of the way.”

Click here to read Time Over and Again, Chapter 4: New Car