Time Will Tell

Chapter 3

As Cheyenne's eyes landed on the man in front of her, she wore a worried and perplexed expression. In an effort to identify a specific instance when she had first met this man, she made an effort to review every recollection in her thoughts. The longer she looked at the man's face, the more a yearning sprang from within her that screamed recognition. She tried to talk but her mouth was agape and she couldn't. She merely stared at him in bewilderment, since her brain and body didn't appear to be communicating.

"I found you... I have finally found you..." She freaked out and aggressively shoved the man by the shoulders while shrieking as he moved forward, perhaps in an effort to embrace her.

"What are you doing? I don't know you! I'm gonna call the cops!" Her voice raised and she pointed an accusatory finger toward the man's face.

His expression is terrified as he pulls himself back and fixed his composure, apologizing for the act.

"No, please don't! I'm so sorry. I know I wasn't supposed to do that because it'd freak you out. I'm really really sorry, I shouldn't have done that. I should've known better. You're 18, you don't know me at this point."

He spoke with a little bit of trembling and sounded so overjoyed that he might start crying at any moment. In order to confirm that everything that was happening at the time was true, he ran his palm down his face. He then cast another glance toward Cheyenne.

"I'm really sorry, but this-you are freaking me out," Cheyenne stepped back and peered around them, finding a few people she might be able to call for assistance if something were to happen to her.

"I did not practice a stupid speech, I didn't know it was gonna happen to me like it did to you," he added further, causing the crease on Cheyenne's forehead to multiply, evidently displaying her confusion.

"At this time you're probably gonna hear me like I'm some stupid man trying to trick you at something, but please, hear me out. My name is Kane..." he took a long pause, waiting for a hopeful response that Cheyenne might recognize him. But, she didn't. It broke his heart, but he continued.

"Kane. Kane Adler. I come from the year 2005-"

Due to Cheyenne's interruption by snorting and trying so hard to suppress a laugh at the information he had just given her, the man, known only as Kane, was unable to complete his sentence.

"Hear me out, please... I'm from the year 2005. I met you in 2003. I mean, oh god... how do I say this? In 2003, I met the future you, the 23-year-old you. In your time in 2023, I'd be in my forties, with a wife and two children... that's what you told me..." Kane paused for a beat, making sure to inhale the air he needed and spoke yet again, "And I... I killed myself... in 2023. And you came, traveled to my time in 2003 to save me."

Cheyenne's face had taken on a comically bewildered expression by the time he had finished explaining, and it lingered there for a short while.

"Wait, are you? Oh my god. Are you on drugs or something?" The question was the only thing at the time that Cheyenne could comprehend.

Kane sighed and laughed before turning to stare at the sky and back at Cheyenne.

"You know what's funny? That's the exact same thing I said to you when you were convincing me in the '03."

"So, you're saying... that... the future me, came to your time in 2003 to save you from... killing yourself... and somehow, two years later, you're the one who's now in my time in 2018?"

"Yeah!" In an exuberant gesture, Kane pointed at Cheyenne to show that what she was saying was accurate.

"You're saying that the future me time traveled and somehow, now, it's you who's time traveled in my time?"

"Exactly."

"That's... stupid, and impossible. What did you expect me to do? Hug you and congratulate you on your success in time traveling? Is this like uh- a joke? Wait, are you a like a YouTuber or something? Is this like uh- a prank? Somebody's going to jump out these bushes any time now..." Cheyenne peered about with the anticipation that what she was seeing was a part of a video experiment and that it would all soon come to light.

"As a matter of fact, I'm an actor. A celebrity. I did Palm Tree Haven..."

"What's that?"

"A movie I starred in. That's it. Do you not know me in this time? I played several characters in movies, do you not recognize me?"

Cheyenne has just lost it due to the increasing level of confusion on her face.

"What's The Palm Tree Haven? Look... I don't know a Kane Adler, let alone a Palm Tree Haven movie, I don't know where these delusions are coming from. But I am not gonna be a victim of this scheme."

All of this culminated in Kane's realization of what was taking place.

"Oh shit... That's it. It was your future that traveled to the past. That's why another one of you existed at that time. Supposedly, the other me doesn't exist at this time because I myself traveled in this time. So, if I'm here in my 2005 self, I wouldn't be existing because I wouldn't be achieving anything because duh! I traveled. Not like how you did."

"Hey!" Aera's voice being heard. Unfathomable relief filled Cheyenne's chest. She nearly wanted to give Aera a kiss for saving her from the odd Kane in time.

She spun herself and saw Aera in her car, peeping her head through the window, a questioning look casting on her face as she looks at Cheyenne and back at Kane.

Cheyenne quickly began to move in the direction of Aera's passenger door after giving a slight head shake that suggested she was panicking.

"Cheyenne wait! I can prove to you I'm telling you the truth"

Cheyenne frantically flees for the door as Kane's remarks are met with silence. This gives Aera the impression that she was rushing to leave the area.

But something Kane mentioned stopped her from going any further before she could even try to open the door.

"Your mother's name is Melissa Elliot. She died of cancer when you were just 13, and from this time, it would've been five years ago. If you remember, which I doubt you do... but I'm gonna say this anyway. When you were three, you were in a playground with your mother, and a woman along with a man approached you two... and she gave you both a warning..."

It struck her. Cheyenne was utterly stopped in her tracks, and as she stood still beside Aera's car door, tears were trying to escape the corners of her eyes. She inhaled deeply, as though she might pass out at any moment.

Her mind suddenly became overrun with images of her mother's face. And one thing she recollected was the reminder her mother left her every time she walked outside to play with her uncles and aunties.

Aera's loud car horn, which gradually increased in volume from low to loud in Cheyenne's ears, jolted her back to reality, causing her to blink. Some tears started to fall down her cheeks. Her breathing gradually becoming laborious.

"Cheyenne, please get in the car. And you! You creepy freak! Get away from her or I'll call the cops!"

On Cheyenne, it appeared as though reality was vanishing just as the Titanic ship's hulk was lowering beneath the waves. She immediately grabs the handle and opens the door, locking herself inside the comfort of Aera's car.

She sat on the passenger seat, practically hugging herself in disbelief as the unanticipated memories rushed into her head. She was having trouble processing things.

Who was the person?

How did he come to know her and her mother?