Chapter 5: Chasing the Memories

March 12th, 1936

“Rick? Did you remember anything else?”

Rick opened his eyes.

Here he was-somehow in the 1930’s, but really in a time coma, with a woman whose name wasn’t Mary, with two people he now remembered as scientists trying to kill him.

“I-I’m slowly trying to remember more and more…” he said quietly as he sat there with Mary in the bakery.

“Rick!”

Rick looked up to see his little sister peeking at him from behind the counter, a mischievous smile on her face. Then she ran into the back. The boy jumped up.

“We have to follow her!” he exclaimed, jumping over the counter and running into the back. Mary ran after him.

“Wait!” he yelled after her, running out of the back of the store.

He skidded to a stop as he soon came face to face with the two people he now remembered to be Harry and Emille. Rick took a step backwards as Emille, the woman with the blonde hair, smiled at him, pointing a gun at his face.

“Finally. We’ve got you.”

BANG!!

Rick thought it was all over, but he suddenly saw Mary standing in front of him as she moved faster than the eye could see and somehow deflected the bullet.

“Follow your sister Rick! I’ll hold them off!”

“But-how!”

“GO!!”

With that, the teenager started to run. He had no idea what was going on, or who Mary was, or how she had been able to deflect the bullet, but he could feel the truth in what the mysterious woman had said earlier.

That he was in danger.

Up ahead, he could see his little sister in the pink standing on a dock up ahead. Rick ran faster as he could still hear the gunshots behind him. He ran onto the dock, and then suddenly felt himself falling as the dock underneath him gave way.

SPLOOSH!

Rick felt himself immersed in the cold murky depths, and for a moment, he started to panic.

But then he opened his eyes and realized that it wasn’t as dark as he thought. Feeling like his lungs were about to explode, he kicked himself to the surface and then took in a deep breath of fresh air. Then he swam to the dock and pulled himself out.

It was then that he realized that his clothes had changed.

And so had his surroundings.

Rick looked down at himself to see that he was now wearing some very high waisted slacks and suspenders.

Had he made it to the 1940’s?

Rick looked around, sopping wet, feeling a strange familiarity to the place.

He was on a beach with a lighthouse, and for some reason, he felt like he had been here before… Slowly, he walked up to the blue and white lighthouse and stepped inside.

He remembered now…

He had come here with his family one summer. They had taken a trip up north and seen some sites…

Rick heard the echoing laughter of a little girl, causing him to turn around.

Mary was standing there, in a blue 1940’s style dress, seeming to be a little out of breath.

“Are you ok Rick?” she asked, taking in a breath of air.

“Yeah… How did-how did you deflect that bullet?” he asked quietly. Mary stared at him as if she was trying to decide what she could tell him.

“I have powers too.” she finally told him.

“But how did you get-.”

“You’ll find out eventually. But for now, we need to get you to your next memories. Are your surroundings starting to look a bit more familiar?”

“...Yeah… I came here once with my family on vacation.”

“Ok. Good. Hold on-I’m still a little bit out of breath. It’s a little exhausting being in your mind…”

As she said this, she sat down on a bucket and took in several deep breaths. Rick eyed her a bit suspiciously.

“So wait… if this is my mind… does that mean you’re just part of my mind?” This, for some reason, made the woman laugh.

“Oh no. I’m definitely real.”

“Then… I don’t understand… What are you?” Rick asked. Mary paused.

“Well… I suppose… Ok. I’ll just say this: since I’m a time traveler, I have access to… certain… instruments I guess? Instruments that are not from your current time. Since you’re important to the time stream, I brought one of those instruments back with me so I could project myself into your mind. There is one little catch though…”

Rick folded his arms.

He knew it.

There’s always a catch.

“And what’s the catch?”

Mary smiled.

“Well, if you die, I die. That’s the catch.”

“Wait what?”

“Yep. So please be careful. I really don’t feel like dying today.”

Rick couldn’t believe this.

“But then-why are you risking your life for me?” he asked incredulously.  

“Cause it’s my job.”

“That’s really it?”

“Well, and you also save my life in the future, so, basically, if you don’t survive this, I’m going to die anyway… so… yeah.”

All this time stuff was starting to make Rick’s head hurt.

“Well let’s see what’s at the top of this lighthouse!” she exclaimed cheerfully as if she hadn’t just been talking about life or death scenarios. Rick sighed and followed her up the stairs.

Halfway up the stairs, she stopped and turned around.

“By the way, let me help you dry off.” she said with a flick of her hand.

Suddenly, Rick felt his clothes and hair dry off within a matter of seconds. Mary then continued on as if it was no big deal as the boy was left to gawk.

“How the heck did you do that?!” he yelled, not sure why this was harder to accept than the fact that she had just deflected a few bullets a little earlier.

“I told you. I also have powers.”

“You’re being very vague with a lot of things.”

“Sorry Rick, I really don’t mean to be so mysterious. Time stuff can just get really weird, and I want to be sure I don’t mess anything up. Although… being mysterious is rather fun.”

Rick narrowed his eyes as the two of them finally made it to the top of the lighthouse.

“Do you notice anything weird about this place? Anything that’s not supposed to be here?” she asked. Rick looked around.

“Well, I don’t remember that door being there before.”

When he had come here with his family, there had definitely been no door leading to the outside balcony right there.

“Awesome! Let’s see what lies behind it shall we?” she said happily, walking up to the door and opening it. She pulled Rick in after her, and suddenly, the two of them were standing in a quaint little suburb where the houses were in many different pastel colors with very well kept up lawns and shrubbery. He looked down to see that he was in a white t-shirt and jeans.

“So uh… Are we in the fifties now?” he asked, looking over to the woman who was with him.

“Finally! My hair is back to normal! This a very good sign Rick. I usually don’t like ponytails, but I guess I can’t complain.” Mary said, running her fingers through her very long black hair with bangs. She was now in an a-line skirt and blouse complete with saddle shoes. Rick looked around.

“This… kind of looks like my neighborhood…” he said hesitantly. “Just… a little different.”

“Ok.”

Rick started walking down the street and up to the house that kind of looked like the right one. Slowly, he opened the door.

“Uh… this doesn’t really look like my house anymore…” he said hesitantly as he came face to face with a hallway completely filled with doors. Mary gasped.

“The doors!! You’ve made it to the doors! If we find the right one, you can wake up!”

“But I don’t remember everything yet.”

“I’m sure that won’t be too much of a problem. Come on!”

Mary pulled him along as they went through the hallway, where some of the doors were warped, or too small, or odd shapes…

“What are all these doors?” he asked.

“Some of the deepest recesses of your mind. Some are memories, some are personality traits, I think… Some of them I’m not really sure.”

Suddenly, the two of them jumped as they heard a gunshot. They whirled around to see Harry and Emille there, dressed like a couple of 50’s greasers.

“How did they find you already?!” Mary gasped, pulling Rick into a random door. Rick had no choice but to let her drag him along. The two of them ran through a classic fifties kitchen, and then through another door, where a five year old version of Rick was throwing a tantrum on the floor.

The two of them continued to run through some of Rick’s memories until they suddenly found themselves in a dimly lit hospital hallway. Mary skidded to a stop as Rick looked around.

“Uh… I don’t remember this place even remotely… he said as a light flickered. Mary seemed a bit scared as she looked around.

“Oh no… This… this must be because I’m here… your timeline… this… this hasn’t happened to you yet…” As soon as she said this, the world seemed to tilt, and the two of them slid into the wall. At the end of the hallway, the figures of Harry and Emille stood, waiting for them. Rick blinked as a version of himself ran past him and Mary, a terrified look on his face. He ran to an elevator and slammed the button multiple times.

“Please… please no Cadi… You can make it… Just wait for me to get there… Pleeease.” he sobbed. The elevator seemed to be taking too long, so he ran to the stairwell and then disappeared.

Before Rick could see anything else, Mary pulled him through another door, and they were suddenly standing in what appeared to be his room. He looked around in confusion.

“But-what-.”

“I’m sorry Rick. You shouldn’t have seen that.” Mary said, her face paled. “Just… don’t think about that.”

“What do you mean don’t think about that?!” Rick suddenly exploded, feeling sick to his stomach. “What happens to my sister in the future?! What happens to Cadi?”

Mary bit her lip and turned away from him.

“I can’t tell you that.” she whispered. “I-you shouldn’t have seen that. You’re not supposed to know anything about your future. I messed up.”

“But-Mary-if something happens to her-and I know about it-can’t I change it?” Mary simply shook her head.

“You don’t understand. Things have to happen a certain way. If I show you things with your future and you try to change things, it could alter history. And that wouldn’t be good for anyone.”

Rick felt his eyes burning with tears.

“Please Mary… I can’t-I’m her bigger brother. If something happens to her…”

Mary didn’t respond.