The Time is Now

Morning always conjured up dread for Terre. It was the moment where she paused in front of the large window in her kitchen that overlooked the skyline of Viridian. The spread of vivid hues across the sky would always manage to assuage her somber mood. But that morning the colors were muted grays reflecting against the throng of skyscrapers as the sun loomed behind thick blossoming clouds.

The dark-haired woman’s full lips settled into a frown as she stared into the cup of tea she had in hand. The warmth that radiated through the sage colored porcelain felt strangely comforting against her skin. The tawny liquid rippled as she tucked a long strand of hair behind her earring clad ear. Terre slowly put down the mug against the marble countertop. Her mind was a mess, as usual. It was hard not to feel down with the onset of another day. Another day of routine, one she could not break away from.

Wake up, get dressed, walk the dog, make tea, pack lunch, go to work for eight hours, drive home, walk the dog, make dinner, try to enjoy whatever time was left before sleeping for the night only to wake up and restart it all over again. It was always worse when Aster wasn’t there. His presence was missed and whenever her eyes peeled open in the mornings, her mind would sigh in grief, beginning the impending countdown.

Sometimes she snapped out of her funk while walking her dog. The reddish brown spitz breed was sprawled out on the carpet in the sitting room. Its eyes were trained on her, foxlike face placed atop its small paws, knowing too that the days were composed of the same routine. It was mundane and quite depressing the days Terre had to work, but there was nothing she could do. Most of the time she was still encased in the dreary mood upon stepping foot at her job. It was always better when she was the one opening the shop though. It was when she could sigh at herself in the mirror in the bathroom as she fixed up her unruly wigs hairs and finally gathered herself for the day.

She was lonely. That was for sure. Aster couldn’t be her everything and perhaps it was her fault she was so shit at creating relationships with others. She was shy– no she suffered from anxieties that stunted her social skills. But it wasn’t even that as she was just fine socially with Aster. It had been three years and the new setting of Viridian was no longer an excuse as she was even friendless back in her home state of New Carolines.

Nothing could save her.

-

The black book lay in the seat of the passenger taxi atop of what appeared to be a decorative box of some sort. Terre had stood in her heeled boots confused at the unusual display. It wasn’t common for items to be forgotten in passenger taxis. The pedestrian warning system always kicked in when something was wrong, or something had been left behind. But it was strange, as if the two items that sat in the first seat were almost waiting for her.

Terre stepped forward before slipping inside. She adjusted the self-driving car’s route to scenic on the touch screen, not minding if she were cutting it close to opening time. The store would always be there, despite her strict efforts of being on time, neither of her coworkers were ever punctual anyway.

Her deep brown fingers ran over the textured surface of the notebook. It was one used in the old world before digital format took over everything. She recognized the book and brand from the ones her grandmother had used back in the early twenty first century. Her mother had kept them all, and she had run across them stored in the attic as a teen and kept them to read during her college years. The ivory pages had been filled front to back with cacography of journal entries and sketches. Her grandmother had been an artist, and her writing was messy, hard to read, but what lay in the pages were deeply personal and even so many years later were full of relatable situations and wisdom.

Terre’s finger traced the rounded corner of the book before she undid the elastic closure. Opening the cover unveiled the flyleaf page and revealed neat script:

There is no need to return. Read what secrets are inside. Keep the money. It’s all yours.

It left a bad taste in her mouth. Terre reached over to uncover the box sitting atop the black seat. Her eyes widened as she saw stacks of old-world money placed into the box. There were clumps of hundred-dollar bills banded together. They were crisp and colorful donning a new money fragrance she had smelled before in banks as a young girl before the transfer to cryptocurrency. Old world money was still used in Viridian and around the world, but it was rare.

What the hell was she supposed to do with all that money? She flipped through the thin pages of the notebook, eyes scanning through words unable to put them together upon onset of panic. Perhaps it was a joke? Or maybe even some sort of conspiracy to set her up for a crime? It was unsettling and quite disturbing. Or maybe she was just overreacting, and it was just a gracious gesture from someone who was generous.

Terre tried to desert it in the taxi, though without avail as the pedestrian warning system droned on in its robotic voice that she had left something behind. Frustrated she grabbed up the book and box of money, the autonomous vehicle closed the door behind her and took off to search for its next victim.

--

“There’s no car with that plate in the system.” The uniform clad woman looked over at Terre who stood in front of the desk at the Civille Police Station.

The information about the taxi was in front of her, and tangible, the proof right there on the screen of her phone. She was speechless and flabbergasted, after a moment her words came back to her as she whispered, “What does that mean?”

The police officer gave a small shrug before responding. “Could be several things, either a system error or glitch is showing the wrong information. It could be a glitch where the car was scheduled for charging and was taken off the road after you got out, or… it could be that the car doesn’t exist.”

“What…” Terre trailed off. It made no sense. Technical glitches were slim to none those days and were corrected within seconds. It had been twenty minutes since she had stepped into the station and managed to get an actual human to speak to rather than a customer service bot. “What do I do with the money?”

The officer shrugged before giving a sympathetic smile. “Whoever left it behind says it’s all yours.”

-

“Perhaps I could buy myself a year’s subscription of a friendly companion,” Terre murmured as she sat on the living rooms sofa. Her dog was snuggled up against her, she twirled a congratulatory glass of rose wine in a stemless wine glass before taking a sip.

“Terre!” Aster’s projected face was horrified in that way of his when he thought Terre was being ludicrous.

“I’m just being facetious, honey.” Though deep down inside she was not. She was lonely and the only thing that would fill that unhappiness was the addition of a human connection that was not her husband.

She had called out of work without a second thought before going to the police station. Had deposited the money after, which had surprisingly been twenty thousand dollars, before buying a nice bottle of wine and walking home despite the sky threatened to open up at any moment. Her dog hadn’t greeted her, instead she found him balled up on their bed in the master bedroom looking at her in confusion. She had begun reading through the notebook after informing Aster of what happened in a text. Finally, on his lunch break he had gotten back to her with a hologram call.

“Are you though?” A brown eyebrow lifted, Aster ran his hands through his dirty blond hair, face contorting into suspicion.

Terre shook her head.

Aster didn’t know how it felt to be friendless. Even at that moment he was two hours away in Pyrrole City. He always told her that he was alone too whenever they were apart, but despite that, he was always surrounded by a team because of the nature of his job. Unlike her, where she had in laws, but no one else since all of her family was in New Carolines which was over fourteen hours away. She wasn’t really close to any of Aster’s family, unfortunately.

The contents of the notebook were written in the same neat script in the flyleaf. They were journal entries dated around a couple of months ago, leading up to what Terre presumed was written that morning. The anonymous person wrote about their life in Viridian. It seemed as if it were a journal of many, just like her grandmother who kept journals from college until her late twenties when she had gotten too busy to recount her days. It was interesting; the person wrote about their feelings of loneliness and wish to make connections with others, but that it was a struggle in such a digitalized age where robots frequented. They wrote about their struggles with anxiety and agoraphobia. It hit Terre hard as she read through the entries. It was almost as if the person was herself, a past version of herself, nonetheless.

The last entry addressed the reader:

This is my last entry. Maybe this will help someone, maybe it won’t be anything but a form of entertainment, or nothing at all. It gives a glimpse into my life. It is an indirect cry for help. A wish that I hope will become fulfilled and hopefully you’ll make the connection. Maybe I’ll see you today, tomorrow, weeks, months or years from now, but I will be waiting. Whatever you do, please put the money to good use. Godspeed my friend.

Aster had told her it was up to her how the money was spent, but Terre knew deep down inside her husband was insinuating that she should spend the money in a wise manner. Terre had invested in therapy, paid off debit, and had refrained from buying a rent-a-friend companion whenever she got lonely or whenever Aster was out with his friends or away for his job. It was hard, and there was longing as she watched as others interacted platonically. She watched them with envy as there was sadness inside her heart. It seemed as if she would never get to share experiences with a friend. It was a sad realization that she had never shared those experiences growing up past her middle school years. She had shared happy times with family members, and somehow had gotten blessed with meeting Aster. It wasn’t enough. She didn’t know if deep down inside she would ever be happy until she realized that within the pages of the notebook that there was a reoccurring setting at a specific time of day encompassed in ivory pages.

-

Terre adjusted the bag on her shoulder, her heels tapped against the cobblestone of the garden area. New Viridian waterfront was stretched out before her. In the distance she saw a woman sitting on a bench facing the lake, seemingly content. From where she could see there was a smile on the woman’s face. She was a bit older, yet still young and Terre felt nervous as she gave out a shaky breath before taking a step forward. This was it. It was time.