Chapter 5: Restless
1577 Words
My eyes open and I sit up in bed.
I awake from sleep once more.
I was on a sofa this time, in a completely different house, with a TV switched on just a few feet from me.
I felt light-headed.
My throat was dry and rather itchy.
The space behind my eyes ached.
I inspect myself; no fractures, no missing limbs, nothing seemed wrong with me.
I look at my wrist, the "watch" was still wrapped around it. The blue square of light had now a red triangle steadily blinking, signifying something I did not recognize.
What did this device do? And where the hell am I? Back in time again? Forward?
I sit on the edge of the sofa and clasp rub my temples. The TV in front of me was playing an episode of Three's Company.
I look around.
The place looks deserted but decorated quite well. The floor beneath my shoes was made from wood and gleamed with a newly waxed look...
What happened to Fels?
Immediately, images of the hellscape We saw earlier flooded my mind.
I subconsciously shiver.
I look at the "watch" again.
No more red triangle, just a baby blue screen.
A sound rang out.
The sound of someone knocking on a door.
I take a look around.
I had no idea where the front door was.
The knocking continued. The would-be visitor was getting annoyed.
"I know you're in there!" A familiar voice yelled out from beyond. "Open up!"
I stand up in an effort to find the door.
The knocking abruptly ceases.
There was a loud noise followed by a loud crash and the sound of metal falling on the floor.
I look to my left and see Fels walk past the fridge.
"Good. You're still Jonathan. That's a good start..." Fels says, her eyes briefly scanning me.
"Where are We?"
"Your place. Your original place before you died." Fels replies. "Anything seem familiar to you?"
I shake my head.
"Hm. Your memories did take a toll..." She says as she crossed her arms. "At least your body's still the same."
"What exactly did these do?" I ask about the watches.
"Keeps your body intact during travel. Nifty thing from where I come from."
"Where you come from...?" I repeat that last sentence.
"Yeah. Earth. Duh."
I shake my head.
"So where are we now?"
"Don't you mean when?" Fels says with a small smile. "I kid, I kid...But seriously, We did go back."
"How far?"
"A few months...three to be exact. Goldilocks time, just right mein freund..." Fels says with a broken tone of German.
"You remember anything else?" Fels asks. "I wanna make sure that I didn't fry you up there...So what do you remember?"
"A hellscape...A place called Mount Jebediah and I was hurtled through time."
She nods and takes a seat on the couch.
"Good...Good, good, good, that's a very good start." She crosses her right leg over her left knee.
"Now what?"
"Now...We relax...and maybe watch Three's Company. ...I want Pizza, do you want pizza, cuz I want pizza.." She says, half-rambling.
"Wait. Relax?" I ask.
"Yeah." She replies, her eyes not leaving the screen.
"Why? We gotta stop it now."
"Can't. Too early."
"And I presume, we couldn't do anything on that mountain because we were too late?"
"Yep." She replies. "Now, we've got more than enough time on our hands...So do whatever first." Fels tells me, raising her dirty sneakers on the nearby coffee table.
"Just don't go out of this place. I don't want to risk another Fast-forward...." Fels says with a tone of seriousness I did not recognize ever since I met her.
I nod and sigh. The migraine was killing me. The stress and info overload of my situation were overwhelming.
I needed to lie down...
"Your room's on the far side. That way." She points to her left, toward a plain white door.
I begin to walk towards it when Fel asks me another question.
"Hey. during The Ritual, did you see anything noteworthy?"
"What do you mean?" I ask her.
"Visions. Weird things you never saw, stuff like that."
"This entire damn thing, whatever this all is, is a bunch of weird things I've never seen..." I reply with a wry grin. "I think I just need to rest."
Fels nods. Her face was entirely different.
Her eyes, though still wide, seem to pierce my soul.
"That's it? Nothing else?" She asks again.
I shake my head. "I just feel like shit."
I didn't feel like discussing the strange things I saw earlier...Something about Fels scared me...
She looks at me with unblinking eyes for about a few seconds, then she spoke.
"Okay. You rest up. I'll be here...and I'll be getting Pizza." She says, resting her back on the couch. Her (seemingly) naive & cryptic personality returned.
I stood there staring at the young woman, a sense of terror gripped me for some reason. Something wasn't right.
"Go on! Off to bed you loon..." She tells me.
I nod, shoot her a small grin and walk to what was supposed to be my room.
Maybe sleep would kill this odd sensation of terror...
________________________________________________________________________
Sleep was impossible.
I lay there on the bed, tired yet awake.
My mind raced. My back was tensed up and was beginning to ache.
It was a surreal feeling.
Practically a minute ago, I was atop a mountain overlooking chaos and now I was in bed, laying in relaxing darkness...
I didn't know how to describe whatever this all was...
A gift, a curse, a damned aberration...Maybe it was just a dream. Maybe I was asleep somewhere, dreaming all of this up.
But everything seemed too real, too vivid...
And I knew, despite not being completely me, that it was all real.
I was awake. Too awake for my own good...And I wasn't going to be sleeping anytime soon.
I sit up in bed, put my shirt back on, and step out of my room.
The cool light of the fluorescent bulbs greeted me, sending a small migraine shooting into my head.
The smell of cheese & garlic lingered in the air and my stomach growled.
Fels was on the couch, eating and watching some sort of nature documentary.
Her shoes were atop the small table in front of her, in the center of the table was an open box of pizza.
Fels sees me walk into the living room and taps the space of the sofa beside her.
I walk over without a word and sit down, leaning the back of my head on the sofa, my eyes looking towards the ceiling.
"Couldn't sleep?" She asks me as she took another bite of the slice in her hand.
I nod in silence.
We were both silent for a while.
I stared at the TV with a strange feeling inside my head.
Fels cleared her throat and broke the ice.
"You want answers?" She asks.
"What do you think...?" I tell her.
"I think...You need to eat...then maybe, I'll answer you."
She had a point. I did feel hungry.
I reach for a slice and help myself.
The pizza was good, a bit cold but good.
"The watches we just used keeps our bodies intact whenever we slip through time via The Ritual." Fels just casually says. "The Watch keeps You in that body, that Jonathan guy, and it keeps me from dying."
I turn my head to her and place the slice on the table.
"...keeps you from dying?" I ask.
"Yep. This body is my own by the way, I didn't hitchhike into a meat suit like what you did." Fels replies.
"So why did I h****k one?"
Fels shrugs. "The effects of The Ritual is entirely random whenever pulled off. You can end up in your own body afterward, or into the body of somebody else entirely, hell you could end up in an animal..." She explains. "In your case...Well, here you are."
"And what is 'The Ritual'?" I ask her.
"Ancient spell for opening rifts in SpaceTime..." Fels tells me.
I nod as if this was casual common knowledge that was easy to comprehend...but then again in my situation, I didn't really care anymore...if sounded insane, it probably was...
"That thing's been used several times before by different people and cultures. Sometimes they benefit from it but most of the time they die from it." Fels continues. "Opening breaches in Time can open portals to other worlds, usually the f****d up ones containing creatures and god-like beings..."
"Sounds like you've seen this stuff happen before..." I tell her as I finished up my slice.
She shakes her head. "Just your case...the rest I've read before in books and stuff."
"My case?"
"Yeah. Killing the world and all."
"So I did bring the end?"
"Yep."
"How..?"
"That...I don't know." Fels admits. "All I know that someone utilized The Ritual and caused it to happen...and you're involved."
"So what do we do now? Wait until something happens?"
"We wait until you regain your memories...Let it catch up with you." Fels tells me. "You moved too quickly, memories need to catch up. Once you remember everything, then we can act."
"Why are you helping me? Who are you exactly?" I ask her, the question was nagging me.
"Why? Can't a stranger help another stranger?" She says with a grin.
"Personally? No. Strangers usually have ulterior motives..." I tell her.
"Have I been lying to you though?" She asks.
"Honestly, I don't know. All of this feels like some sort of fever dream and I'm just going through the motions." I tell her.
"Well, it feels real, right?"
"Yeah."
"Then it is...And deep down, you know it's real."
Fels reaches for the box again and eats it in silence.
I stare at the TV, staring emptily at the screen.
I felt restless. I felt tired yet oddly invigorated.
I wanted to know more, I needed to know more...
But Fels, whoever the f**k this woman is, was a cryptic wall.
Something told me that I had to trust her...
Yet another part of me knew that I had to fear her...
I grabbed another slice of pizza and tried to ignore this sense of dread.
I knew this was only the beginning...
- Writer
