Future Lost

2

Years of moving from one foster home to another prevented me from forming lasting relationships for most of my life, but Zahra and Paige have become true friends over the last six months. Zahra and I didn’t get along at first, and I had no clue what to make of Paige and her relentless cheerfulness and energy. Now I can’t imagine not having them in my life, especially since they’re some of the only people who understand what I’ve been through.

One year ago, I was recruited by Aether Corporation for their time-travel experiment, Project Chronos. That’s where I met my boyfriend, Adam, and our friend Chris, along with two others on our team, Trent and Zoe. The five of us traveled thirty years into the future for twenty-four hours, only to discover four of us would be murdered after we returned to the present. Adam and I were able to change our fate, and I killed the real murderer—Lynne Marshall, an Aether employee who ran Project Chronos—but we weren’t able to save Trent and Zoe. I’ve been haunted by their deaths ever since, although I’ve gotten better at coping with it. I’ve learned to focus my anger and control my panic attacks through therapy, kickboxing, and shooting at the gun range with Zahra and Paige. I met the two of them when Aether kidnapped me, Adam, and Chris six months ago and forced us to return to the future to track down the time travelers they’d replaced us with. Team Echo consisted of Zahra and Paige, along with Ken, a young chemist, and Jeremy, the son of Aether’s CEO. Ken and Chris were killed during the mission, so we returned to the future two more times to save their lives. In the process, we saw different visions of what our destinies could be and how much worse things could get for us.

Adam and I discovered that Jeremy was behind all the murders and the changes in the timeline, in an attempt to make himself more powerful in the future and get back at his father. I killed Jeremy to stop him, and then Adam and I destroyed the accelerator, preventing Aether from sending anyone to the future ever again.

In the past six months, Aether has left us alone, and we’ve all tried to move on, even though it’s impossible. At least for me.

No one should know their own fate. A person’s future should remain a mystery. Destiny should be a secret. But I’ve seen my future. Multiple times. Four different timelines, with four different lives I might lead. Sometimes I’m happy. Sometimes I’m in prison. Sometimes I’m dead.

Each time I see the future, things change—usually for the worse. There’s no way for me to know which timeline my actions will lead to anymore. I live each day second-guessing every choice, wondering which future I’m bringing about. I boomerang between confident about my fate to frozen with indecision, worried I’ll do or say something that will send this timeline into disaster.

No one should live this way, but I don’t have a choice. I’ve seen too much…and I remember it all.

At 7:02 p.m., I check the table for the tenth time, making sure everything is in its place. Chips and guacamole. Plates. Silverware. I’ve never hosted a get-together at my apartment before, even an informal one like tonight’s, and part of me feels like I’m pretending to be a grown-up, like a kid playing dress-up in Mamá’s clothes. I’m almost nineteen, but I’m still figuring out this adulting thing.

The doorbell rings while I’m adjusting the napkins. Adam’s little brown mutt of a dog, Max, starts barking and wagging his tail while I open the door. Chris stands on the other side wearing jeans and a gray T-shirt. He’s black, with a shaved head, warm brown eyes, and muscular arms that show he’s still working out regularly, even with a six-month-old baby.

He grabs me in a quick, loose hug. “Hey, Elena. Am I the first one here?”

“Yep.” I step back to let him in. “Where’s Shawnda?”

“She wanted to make it, but Michael is sick so she’s home with him. She sent these brownies along though.”

“Thanks.” We head into the kitchen, and I grab him a soda from the fridge. “How’s married life these days?”

“It’s pretty damn good, actually.” He cracks open his soda and takes a chug. “I never thought I’d be a stay-at-home dad, but I’m really digging it, at least while Shawnda’s in nursing school.”

Chris’s son, Michael, is the reason Chris went to the future originally. When he learned his girlfriend (now wife) Shawnda was pregnant, he wanted to provide his kid with a better life than the one he had growing up. In each future we visited, his son’s fate depended on whether Chris was around or not. In some timelines Michael went to Harvard and became a lawyer, while in others he ended up in prison. Chris is determined to make sure his son’s life ends up on the right path, whatever it takes.

I can’t imagine being a parent at our age, but I’m also oddly jealous. In one of the futures we visited, I met my daughter, Ava, but she won’t be born for almost twelve more years. I’m impatient for it, even though I’m not ready to be a mom yet. I only spent a few minutes with her, but she filled me with purpose and a path for my future that I refuse to stray from. Now every decision I make, every action I take, I do with the knowledge it may one day lead to her. But I’ve seen how fragile the timeline is too. If I take one wrong step, she might be erased from existence forever. I won’t let that happen.

Chris bends down to pet Max. “Shawnda’s mom is helping out a lot with Michael, so I think I’ll be able to take classes again next semester and finish up my engineering degree.”