Chapter 18: Rick's Memories

March 12th, 1986

Rick’s memories were starting to really worry him now.

Before, when his memories would come back, it was only alluding that something was going to happen.

Now he remembered that something did happen.

An officer had died, and he and Cadi had blacked out. Somehow, he knew that this wasn’t what had caused his time coma.

So what could have possibly happened?

He and Mary were currently walking silently through a snow covered forest. She had given him some time to think and get more of his memories back, but now, he just wanted so badly to ask her more questions. Like why was the snow so significant? What was going to happen when he woke up? Had they ever gotten away from those scientists?

“You ok Rick? You seem a bit down.”

“Well… the memories just seem a little… bleak right now…”

“What’s the last thing you remembered?”

“When… that officer… died…”

“Oh…”

The two of them walked in silence for a couple more minutes.

“Mary, can I… ask you something else? Please?”

“...I guess that depends…”

Rick bit his lip.

“Is… Is everything… ok? In my future?”

“I can’t tell you that.”

“Mary… please.”

Mary stopped walking, her back turned towards him.

“Honestly Rick, I don’t know.”

“But I thought you said-.”

“I told you some things are in flux. Why do you think I’m here? I’m here to make sure you have a future. I’m here to make sure we all have a future.”

“But…”

Mary turned to him, a worried look on her face.

“Well… nevermind…”

Rick sighed as they continued walking.

When he looked up, he halted in surprise.

“Is-is that a door?” he asked.

“The doors again!!” Mary exclaimed, running forward and peeking inside. “Don’t worry-I think this one is ok for you to look in.”

Rick cocked his head.

“Your hair suddenly changed.”

Mary reached up to touch her hair, to find it flat and straight again.

“Looks like we might be done with decades. Your outfit has changed.”

Rick looked down to see that he was in normal clothes. He was in some sort of brown shirt and jacket that he didn’t remember, and his jeans had a few rips in them now. His converse were dirtier than he remembered too.

And somehow he knew.

Somehow he knew that this was what he was wearing when he had gone into his coma.

“Mary-I-.”

He stopped when he saw what his companion was wearing.

She was wearing a shirt of a night sky, but it was moving, almost like the material on her clothes were some sort of screen. A shooting star shot across her chest, and a planet slowly rotated while a satellite also went across.  

“Um…” she said, standing there awkwardly with her outer space shirt and seemingly normal jeans. “So… this is a shirt from the future…”

Rick also noticed she was wearing a little charm bracelet that had five charms on it.

A clock, a sword, a ballerina slipper, a compass, and a hot air balloon.

He wandered what they all meant.

“So what’s in this door?” he asked. At this, Mary started to laugh.

“Look inside and see.”

Rick peeked inside to see a smaller version of himself getting punched in the face by a girl that was smaller than him.

“What?! I don’t remember this!!” he exclaimed, blushing a bit in embarrassment as he watched himself run away to his mom, bawling.

Mary simply laughed.

“Look! There’s another door up here! Let me check it first-make sure that it’s ok.”

Rick waited impatiently as he let her look in.

“Oooh! Rick! You have to check this one out!”

Rick looked inside and stared.

It was him.

When he was a baby.

His parents looked really young, and it looked like he was still a newborn.

“This is really weird.” he muttered as he closed the door. Mary was already running over to the next door in the middle of the trees and snow.

“Oh my gosh. Look at that awkward thirteen year old trying to pick up a girl.” she said, shaking her head.

Not the moment with Erika Hudson!!

“H-Hey! Don’t look at that!” he exclaimed, running to pull her out. It was too late as she closed the door behind her, laughing hysterically.

“Oh man! I’m going to have to use that one against you when I get back.”

Rick scowled and followed her to the next door. Mary looked silently inside, and then smiled.

“This one is ok too.”

“Come on Mr. Ballie! Time to get in the rocket ship!!” a little six year old Cadi exclaimed.

Well Rick knew what was going to be happening here.

The incident with the bowling ball.

He shook his head as he watched it happen. How Cadi was attempting to pick up the bowling ball while Rick was looking for something under the couch.

And then she dropped it.

On his computer.

Even though she had done a horrible thing, he couldn’t help but feel bad as he watched himself yell at her. As she started to cry when his parents came in to calm him down. Cadi had been reprimanded of course, and it still amazed him to know that the very laptop that he had watched break was now fully functional again.

“Rick-you have to see this next one. It’s real cute.” Mary told him, pulling him out the door and into another one.

It was a scene of him and his little sister building a fort. She was only three or four at the time, with her little black pigtails and round tummy poking out of her little shirt. He was probably twelve or thirteen, and at the time, he had been obsessed with some tv show that he couldn’t remember.

The two of them had fallen asleep in the fort they had made, and his mom had come and taken a picture of them.

Rick’s heart started to feel heavy as Mary dragged him to another door. When she pulled him into the next one, he simply stood and stared.

He was looking at the memory of when Cadi was born.

He remembered this.

He remembered sitting on that couch and being handed his little sister, and being unsure of what to do with her. She had looked up at him and held on to his finger tightly with her little finger. He had been amazed at how little she was. He was only nine at the time, but he remembered wanting to be the best big brother he could be.

Rick felt himself getting emotional as he watched this memory.

“Oh my gosh. I can’t get over how cute this is!” Mary exclaimed, putting her hands to her cheeks. She turned when she heard Rick sniffling.

“Are-are you crying?” she asked.

Rick didn’t even try to hide it or deny it as the tears fell down his face.

“I-I’m sorry…” he told her, turning away and running out of the door and into the snow. He ran to a tree and sat down next to it, putting his face in his hands. He listened to the crunch of the snow as Mary slowly approached him.

“Did-did I make you upset?” she asked. “I-I’m sorry-I didn’t think…”

“Mary-I need to know what’s going to happen to my sister.” he told her, his lip trembling. Mary stared at him and then sat down next to him, fiddling with her bracelet.

“Ok. Look.” she said, holding out her wrist. “Do you see this little sword charm? Your sister gave this to me. As long as it is still on my bracelet, that means she’ll be alright.”

Rick wiped his tears away and looked down at the little sword.

Was she telling the truth?

And if so, why would his sister give her a sword charm?

He wanted so badly to believe her. He wanted to badly to know that his sister was going to be fine.

“What happens if the sword charm isn’t there?” he asked. Mary’s smile faltered a bit when he said this.

“Well, I’m going to do my best to make sure that doesn’t happen.” she told him resolutely. “If you want, you can take some time. I’ll keep looking through the doors until I find the right one.”

“Ok.”

Rick waited there in the snow, continuing to think about his situation and all the mysteries that surrounded his companion Mary. A few minutes later, she came back, looking a bit grim.

“I found a door that you need to see.” she told him without a smile on her face. Rick swallowed and stood up.

“What door is it?” he asked. Silently, Mary turned and led him to a faded red door that stood out amidst the white snow.

“I’m warning you now Rick. They aren’t happy memories.” she told him. “But they are the rest of your memories. You’ll remember everything that happened to get you here.”

Rick stood in front of the door, feeling a bit scared of what he was going to see.

Bracing himself, he put his hand on the doorknob and opened the door.