Cosmic Chaos!

Tune in to Radio 17.

Days were passing by really quick. It had been a while since the biggest and craziest day of my life. Nothing could make me forget about what happened that day. But at least right now I was safer. It had been a while since I had met Jessica and Joshua, the cutest couple I had ever seen. I had been living with them for a month now. Well not exactly like that. In the first weeks I had to stay at Jessica’s apartment. She was a really hard-working person and made me feel very comfortable during the time I stayed there with her. But I couldn’t stay and profit from her for a long time, it was kind of embarrassing to be honest. They both were being nice to me, and I didn’t pay for anything. Jessica gave me her clothes to wear but I felt that I should do more and more.

So, after the first week, Jessica talked to her manager to see if she could find a job for me at the coffee barestaurant where she worked. And luckily for me, her boss was a great man. She actually didn’t tell him anything about my current situation, but she told him that I was an old friend of hers and that I needed a little help. She told him I had been suffering for a while with family problems and I didn’t have anyone by my side. He understood the situation and appreciated the sincerity and gave me a job as a waitress. Well, I couldn’t be luckier, could I? I had just found two great people who were trying really hard to help me rebuild my life, and what's even weirder, they actually believed every single word I said. EVERY SINGLE ONE.

However, I started working at “DAILY DOSE” as a waitress. It was quite hard, as I had never worked like this before. I told you before how much of a really fancy girl I was, with fancy clothes and fancy cars, fancy family and fancy friends. Never had I thought that I'd work in a coffee shop to survive. But I had to be humble, and work hard to keep that job. I had nothing left besides the job and my friends, Jessica and Joshua.

In the next weeks, I had to find a place to stay. Joshua promised me that he would talk to the old lady who owns a couple of apartments in the building and see if she could find something for me. And he did. I was a little bit unfortunate in this case to be honest. She didn’t have any apartments left to rent out. Joshua kept telling me she was a really nice old woman but actually she didn’t give that first impression about her. She seemed like those old, angry ladies, usually in their 70’s, very stressed about everything and not ready to die. But Joshua kept pushing that Ms. Jones was a great lady, and that I had to give her a bit of time, as she didn’t trust anyone at first, but if you gain her trust, she can become a great support and encouragement.

But at that moment, to me, she remained the same old lady. Maybe I was wrong, or I was the one who gave her a bit of an arrogant vibe, due to the fact that I was always around luxury and I was still getting used to my new life. To be honest, I was wrong, but I’ll tell you about it later.

So, I had no place to crash besides Jessica’s apartment. And I wasn’t wanting to leave because she had any problem with me being around her apartment, she loved to have some company in her apartment, but I felt like I was a worm on her back. I didn’t want to profit anymore. They had made me feel as if I was their old friend and they supported me quite a lot. Moreover, her apartment was a little bit small and I was feeling like I was using her only empty space.

But the next event that would occur would be one of the most romantic events I had seen. I finished my shift that day and Joshua told me that he wanted to talk to me about something. Jessica had just started her shift so she was working at that moment while we remained a little off to the side of the café, so that she couldn’t see us right away. And to my surprise, Joshua started saying:

- “Look Martha, I have been thinking about this for a while. First time I met Jessica I had neither known she was near my apartment nor had I seen her at this coffee place. And to my luck, she is that one girl that makes me feel good about everything. Every moment I spend with her, it is a moment I never forget. I want to propose to her moving in together in the same place. My apartment is really big, it could fit two or a big family. I want to start my life with her and I want to propose to her today. I have planned everything. I need you to distract her for a couple of moments until the surprise is ready...”

I was at a loss for words, I didn’t know what to say...

- “Wow… Joshua, that is so cute! I’m happy for you guys, and I hope you are happy together for eternity. Of course I will help you, let me know what else I should do…”

- “Not much, Martha, I want you to take her to the storage area or something so she is not around for at least 10-15 minutes, or at least until my friends come and prepare everything. I have told the manager and he was really happy about it. He is gonna film it all. Honestly, I am really nervous right now you have no idea…”

- “No, no, no don’t be nervous, everything is gonna be as perfect as you want it,” I replied.

So, I had to what I had to. I told Jessica to come with me to storage as if our boss had told us to get some stuff from there together. I distracted her a bit by talking about the events at work today, and she didn’t catch on to a single thing. As we were walking back to the front of the coffee shop, the lights went out. She thought something happened and got really anxious. But that anxiety would turn in a matter of seconds to one of the happiest moments in her life. As we walked in, we saw candles, heart-shaped balloons, roses everywhere, a group of musicians serenading in the background and in the middle of it, there he was, Joshua… Everything became silent as Joshua started to speak:

- “Dear Jessica, it has been a while since we first met. And I will never forget that day, your nervous face at the beginning and the smiling face at the end, how cute and how pure of a girl you are. Since that day, you have made me the happiest man in the world. Today I would love to return you the favor by making you the happiest woman in the world... Jessica, do you want to move in together with me? I want to see your face around me every morning and night, every good and bad moment, I want to spend it with you.. What do you say?”

At the moment she said yes, everyone started screaming and cheering and most of us started crying too. I was one of them. I had seen many proposals, but never I had seen such an honest and cute proposal, and it wasn’t even an engagement proposal, it was just to move in together. I couldn’t even imagine what Joshua would do for any future proposals. The surprises would be bigger than this one. That is how much he loved Jessica and how much she loved him. We celebrated all night with music, dancing and having so much fun. At the end of the night, Jessicca and Joshua came straight to me, as they wanted to tell me something.

Joshua started saying:

- “Martha, we both want to give you a gift together. Look…”

They were some keys in the hands of Joshua.

“We want you to move next to us, now that we are close friends together, Jesicca and I wanted you to move into Jesicca’s apartment so you could be close to us every day. We don’t want to give the apartment to no one besides you.”

And again, I was in tears and couldn’t say any other word. They both hugged me and I will never forget that moment.

- “Well, I should have made you a gift as you both just moved together...” I replied in tears.

- “Hahahahaha, no need for gifts…We are happy that you are around us,” Joshua replied happily as we were celebrating and dancing together.

That night was very long and for the next couple of weeks I stayed in my own apartment, with my two best neighbors close to me.

Christmas came, and I was celebrating once again the Christmas of 2016. Two times, same year. Who would have thought? But still I hadn’t figured out what to do. I had only one clue, and it was the radio boy. I had still hadn’t gone there as I was rebuilding my life. But I had to go there to figure out what was going on. That radio boy, in station 17, near the Blue Bridge, was the only clue I had. No one else could help, and also it was a small percent chance that I could find him there. But believe me, when you think all odds are against you, remember, you are bigger than your odds.

Joshua had talked to a friend of his to take me to station 17. He knew where the building was. So he drove me there and told me to call him when I was done. Oh, I forgot to tell you, I bought an Iphone 5. Those Iphones worked really well in 2016 to be honest, not in 2021. In 2021 those Iphones will be outdated. So I had a cool Iphone 5. Well, it was not the same as the 12 I had in 2021, but It worked perfect to be honest. Anyway, there I was, at the front door of the station 17. I was about to open the last door of hope I had, with the only hope I could find that particular boy who would help me figure out what was going on or at least help me figure out how did I end up here. I really hoped he was there.

As I first walked in, I went to the reception. There was a girl, so no chance she is the one who could help. I was trying to act a little cool and to not seem kinda weird or suspicious. So when she asked me what I was looking for, I replied:

- “I am looking for the person who works here on the radio, the one who speaks every day on the radio… I have a proposal about a good episode we could do together.”

- ”Okay, write your personal information here and what you do as a job and what would you like to talk about.” she replied.

I was screwed. I had only my first name as Martha so I had to think of a last name. Well, the first one that came to my mind was Johnson, the second most common last name in the entire U.S. I had to lie about my job too, I couldn’t just tell her I worked as a waitress, she wouldn’t take me serious whatsoever. So, I said to her I was a student of medicine and we were a group of students who wanted to talk about cardiac problems as we had just done a survey, which was about the updates of medicine and heart problems. I had to lie to at least have a chance to meet this person. I couldn’t do anything else.

But I felt really anxious at one moment when she asked me:

- “Can you show me your ID?”

Shit, I had no ID whatsoever. So I told her that I had forgotten my ID. She said that she needed the ID to organize and schedule an official meeting and not waste the time of the radio boy. I had to come up with another big lie.

- “Oh, no, I have forgotten my ID, let me call my friend. I must have forgotten it in his car. Let me call him.”

I faked the call and told her he would come soon to give me the ID. But I also told her that I didn’t have much time either, with the hope that she would believe me and I would meet the right person there. If not, I was going to be in big trouble. So she told me to wait 15 minutes until he finished the afternoon episode. And so he did.

He was a tall boy, I assumed Latino, in his twenties. He offered to me to his office and talk about it.

- “Hello, I am Luis Garcia, the person who owns this radio station. You must be Martha Johnson. My secretary told me you wanted to talk about some medicine updates with me and if we could do an episode on that. I am really interested in young people doing research. So please continue, tell me what this is about.” he said really calmly.

Well I wanted to get some information out of him before I told my entire story so I asked:

- “Hello, it is a pleasure to meet you. They told me you are really interested in science, right. That is why I came here to talk to you.”

- “Yes, I myself graduated with a degree in quantum physics and I also do radio as a hobby of mine. I bought this radio station when I just started university, and now It has developed so much and improved that I will keep continue working on it besides my job as a researcher in quantum physics. I am actually 24 right now, so I have much to learn still and I am doing both of my passions at the same time.”

I thought, he had to be the one. Quantum physics, as much as I was informed, was about space, time travel, well, stuff like this. So he had to be the one. I hope he had some information that the world was gonna end somehow in five years, and I had also hoped that he could also figure out what brought me here and what happened.

As he kept talking, the more I was convinced that he was the one particular person that I heard talking on the radio on that specific day. And to be honest, the first thing that convinced me, was his voice. it sounded so familiar, just as that day. I didn’t want to lie no more. I told him that I lied to get a meeting with him, to tell him something important. As I was explaining my story all over again from the beginning, his face went quickly from smiling to serious. And he was just listening, with no reply whatsoever. I don’t know if he was believing what I had just said or he thought I was just a crazy girl, but I presume, he somewhat believed me or otherwise he would have kicked me out already. When I finished my story, there was a moment of pause, and it was really weird for me, as I wasn’t getting any response, nor was he giving me any sign. He was there, on his desk, serious and thinking about something. He got his pack of cigarettes, lighted one of them up and started talking:

- “So, you are telling me the world is going to end in 5 years and you know about it? That’s actually quite interesting, because…”

And that was the moment I got shocked.

- “Because we have done some research with one of my professors and his son, who is my best friend, and we did some calculations and predicted that an asteroid, AC-303, will pass by Earth near 2021, very close to Earth but with no chance of hitting the Earth. It has a 0.02% chance of hitting our surface. So you are telling me, that the AC-303, is going to hit Earth in 2021, and our calculations are wrong? Definitely this is a situation worth discussing..”

I also told him that I had no ID, so he told his secretary not to ask me for the ID and I was welcome to come to the station anytime.

- “So Martha or Casey as you want it...”

- “Martha, please.”

- “Okay Martha, I believe you. The problem here is that I can’t explain neither the fact on how you got here nor the asteroid hitting the Earth problem. I need you to keep this information secret. I am going to call my professor and his son. This is something that we have to work on as a group. Meanwhile you don’t tell anyone, anything, okay?”

- “Well, only two people know, and I have told you why…”

- ”Okay Martha, but tell them not to tell anyone as we figure out this situation. This is going to be one of the biggest projects I have ever worked on and also probably one of the biggest the world has ever seen. We need to be as silent as possible about this until we figure out what to do.”

I had nothing else to do besides to confirm what he said.

We kept talking for hours there, and he explained his research papers and how the project for AC-303 started and all the calculations that were made, as he was trying to find out how this asteroid was going to end up on Earth. He couldn’t really figure out why his trajectory projected that the asteroid wouldn’t hit the Earth anytime soon. He had to analyze every single detail, scientifically, and there I was, just listening, but to be honest I wasn’t understanding anything besides the fact that somehow, I teleported to 2016 as an electro-magnetic field had opened in the lake and I was traveling with some speed that somehow worked together with the magnetic field caused by the asteroid in the area there, which, as he explained, seemed very electro-magnetically silent, but the asteroid somehow created an energy that made this field activate. Well, that would all be replicated five years later. But Luis, Luis was one of the most genius people I had ever seen. He kept talking for hours, and I kept listening, on how I ended up here, and how to fix all this somehow, for my sake and humanity’s.