Traveler

I never thought I would run into him here of all places, a tiny old diner in the middle of New York. The man I had been following across the world, seeking answers from. He knew I was after him as well, leaving little breadcrumbs wherever he went. Yet as soon as I got close he would disappear, gone to another part of the world, or another time. And I would begin searching all over again. Now there he was, sat across the room from me, drinking a strawberry milkshake. His face was half covered like it always was, this time shaded by his baseball cap, only revealing the bottom portion. But I could still make out his one tell, the small “S” shaped scar etched into his chin.

I steadied my shaking hands and wiped my sweaty palms on my jeans. Finally it was my chance to confront the man who cursed me all those years ago. I slid off the barstool and took a step toward him - then everything went black.

Knock, Knock

“Excuse me, Miss.” The voice speaking to me was muffled. I slowly opened my eyes to find myself laying down in a luxurious room, decorated with deep wooden panels that had small leaflets in gold all around them. I looked around the room and noticed how small it was, just large enough to fit the bed I lay in. Everything seemed to be rocking gently, which made me feel more disoriented than I already was. How did I get here, when just a moment ago I was in a diner?

“Miss, is everything alright? Your guest is awaiting you in the dining car. He asked me to check on you.”, the voice said again.

I sat there trying to grasp my bearings and understand what this stranger was saying…dining car…I bolted upright as it dawned on me. I was on a train. I wiped back the thick opulent drapes and pulled the window open. The fresh air was cold on my face but revitalized me instantly. I stuck my head out the window and saw the lights of the train twinkling in the lake beside it as it sped past. I looked toward the front of the train but it was too dark to tell if it was running on steam or electricity. I bounced off the bed and unlatched the door, to see the usher waiting patiently on the other side.

His eyes grew wide as he took in the outfit I was wearing. My tight blue jeans were ripped at the knees and tucked into the front of them was a large oversized Led Zepplin t-shirt. I immediately felt embarrassed by the state of myself and even more ashamed of the question I was about to ask.

“Good evening sir, would you be able to tell me what year it is?” I gave him the sweetest smile I could conjure up, hoping he thought I was stupid and not crazy.

We stood there in silence for a moment until he finally cleared his throat and said, “Nineteen twenty Miss. If you plan on joining your guest, I would like to remind you our dining car has a dress code.” He turned and began walking down the corridor. Not staying any longer than he had to, in case I had another outlandish question.

One hundred years. Before I awoke, I was in 2020, and now I stood on this foreign train one hundred years in the past.

I felt the pulse of my heartbeat throughout my whole body. I went back into my room and gently shut the door, leaning against it, deciding if I should head to the dining car or not. I looked above the bed and saw a trunk sitting on the shelf. Engraved on the leather was “I.A.W” - my initials. The luggage was heavier than I imagined it to be as I pulled it down onto the bed. I popped open the heavy metal clasp and saw that it was full of fine clothes fitting for the 1920s. Laying on top of all of them was a sealed envelope reading “Ingrid” in beautiful cursive. When I turned the envelope over I instantly recognized the crescent moon wax seal and ripped it open. The letter inside contained one line.

“Ingrid, my darling, join me for dinner, I will wait all evening if I must. - E.” Elias always had a flair for the dramatic. It was hard to know if that is what drew me to him, or if I was just looking for companionship.

Being a time traveller can be lonely. I wasn’t born with this power like most of the other travellers had been. I was cursed with these powers at a young age, but they didn’t take full effect until my 25th birthday. As the clock struck midnight on that fateful day, my life changed forever. I watched as all my friends and family aged and lived out their happy normal lives, then died. All the while I stayed the same, never changing. Struggling to figure out how to find meaning in this curse.

Elias helped save me in my lowest moments. He was there as I watched the world change around me, and we navigated it together. Chasing each other across times and around the world. I loved him and he loved me. But while I found a passion in going back in time and documenting events for future generations. He would like to mess around with the past; bringing nothing but confusion and hurt to those who found themselves close to him. Myself included.

I changed out of my modern clothing and slipped into a deep emerald green dress with a drop waist and high neckline. It was covered in crystal beads that glimmered in the dim lighting of my room. I paired it with long black gloves and gold slippers that matched the gold headband I fastened in my hair.

On my way to the dining car, I thought of the last time Elias and I were together. It could have been a year ago, or 10. Time was hard to track when it was constantly changing around you. The year was 1889 and we went to the opening of the Eiffel tower. It was marvellous to see, and I documented everything meticulously. Meanwhile, Elias spent his time taunting the local children with a plastic toy car. It was then I saw how different we both were, and although we had this shared ability, it was not worth it to stay with him. I had tried so many times to get him to take this thing we both had serious, but it was clear we were on different paths.

My stomach turned as the door slid open and I saw him across the car. He looked up at me with deep brown eyes and smiled. He looked the same, as he always did. The only difference was his signature beard was shorter than I had ever seen it.

“Ingrid!” He stood and kissed each of my cheeks as I reached the table. “I was worried you wouldn’t come.”

“I don’t recall having a choice. What was I to do, jump off the train?” The air hung heavy with tension as I spoke, so I let out a large fake laugh to ease some of it. We both took our seats, and as he stared at me, I buried myself in the menu to avoid his gaze. I couldn’t tell which instinct I should pay more attention to, the boiling of my blood, or the butterflies in my stomach.

“Why did you bring me here?! I was so close to finally talking to the man who did this to me.” I released the anger building up in me, “he was right there!” My voice began to shake, and I pushed back the burning tears that blurred my vision.

“Ingrid,” he reached for my hand, but I yanked it away, “I didn’t know, I just, I-I needed to see you.” I kept my gaze down, he didn’t need to know that I had been waiting for him to say those words. When I left him that day, I waited for him to come after me, and he never did.

“Why now?” Was all I could manage to get out.

“Please, look at me.” He begged.

I slowly lifted my eyes to meet his and was surprised to see the tears in my eyes were reflected back in his. In all these years, I had only seen him cry once when his mother tragically died. He reached for my hand again and this time I let him take it.

“I’m sorry, for everything. I know that I was an idiot, and foolish.” He seemed nervous as he talked, “These past few years apart have been brutal. I wanted to bring us together so many times, but I was scared you would just run away again. I love you, Ingrid, I don’t want us to be apart.”

His vulnerability was incredibly attractive and although we had a lot of work to do I instantly forgave him. We had too much shared history to turn away, and if I was being honest with myself, and him, I was lonely.

“Okay, let’s try this again.” The moment those words left my lips he practically leapt across the table and kissed me. We spent the next few hours talking and telling each other about all the places we have been since we were last apart. After many drinks, we slowly made our way back to his cabin.

I plopped down drunkenly on his bed, staring out the window at the dark night passing us by.

“What do you think it’ll take for me to get to the bottom of my curse.” I crawled over to where he sat on the edge of the bed, “it seems like every time I get near him, the universe intervenes and I’m pulled away.”

“Don’t go on about that again.” He rolled his eyes and stood up, unbuttoning his dress shirt.

“What does that mean? I am not allowed to care about who changed my life.”

“No, you can care, I suppose…I just don’t see the point. What is done is done, and besides, why do you think of it as a curse? My family always looked at it as a blessing.”

His words took me by surprise and I suddenly felt much more sober than a moment before.

“You think this is a blessing?” I scoffed. “This life in which I had to watch everyone I love die. A life where I had to lie about who I was to….everyone. I haven’t had one normal day in the past, what, two hundred years now?” I began shouting. “You may think of this as an idyllic perfect life because you don’t have to lose anything. This was a mistake, I should go.”

I made my way towards the door, but Elias stopped in front of me, not allowing me to pass. “Ingrid, I have lost people too. Yes, it may not have been of old age, but it didn’t hurt any less.” I tried to push my way past him, I didn’t want to hear about how his pain equalled mine. How could it? He grabbed my shoulders and pushed me backwards till I hit the hard wall, and he was inches in front of me.

“We only have each other now, can’t you see that? We are in this together just like the way it always was meant to be.” He said as he looked down at me.

I couldn’t understand what he was saying, what could he have meant by always meant to be? I stared into his eyes trying to find the meaning behind those words.

He was an attractive man in a conventional kind of way. My gaze travelled from his piercing eyes to his perfect hairline, down the bridge of his straight nose, to the plump curve of his lips. With his short beard I could make out his strong jawline, and as my eyes reached the tip of his chin - I saw it.

The “s” shaped scar carved into his skin, that was just barely covered by his stubble.

Fear, anger, and confusion all rushed through my body at once. I looked into his eyes again and he knew that I saw it.

“Ingrid–don’t–I can..” was the last thing I heard him say as I shut my eyes. I let my body and mind take me away from that train, and away from him. When I opened my eyes again, I was back in New York, standing outside the diner.