When You Meet Yourself (Zero Gravity #1)

The alleyway between Aurora Orphanage and the Thinking Cup Cafe was always a place of mystery. But when Zeev Amsey accidentally comes out of the wormhole to early, Aerowyn sees too much and begins to

No one saw it. Nothing changed except the young girl was now traveling faster than the speed of light. Aerowyn, the orphaned teen, vanished into the infinite folds of the universe, zipping through 5761 days, through billions of events that could alter the future of the whole world with one single word, until finally, after less than ten seconds of spinning through blue and purple swirls and stars, they emerge from the tunnel into an alley. Aero falls helplessly on the dirty concrete ground while Zeev lands steadily on his feet. Aero’s white-blond hair was tangled and sticking out in every possible direction and Zeev stared down at her with his intimidating clear blue eyes and slick-back jet-black hair. Neither said anything, they just looked at each other, trying to comprehend what was happening.

Zeev started to walk away to continue his mission but Aero said, “What just happened?!”

        Zeev stopped with his back to her as she stood up. “I was hoping you would not ask me that.” His fierce and monotonous British accent gave Aero a sense of discomfort.

        “What’d you expect me to say?” She crossed her arms over the ratty old t-shirt with a band from the 60s on it. “Oh, ok bye! Thanks for dropping me off!”

        He turned back to face her and in a calmer and more versatile tone, he said, “I cannot tell you, but in 4 hours, meet me right here.” He pointed at the ground as if to say she had to be right in that exact spot. “Unless you want to stay here.”

        “Where is here?” Aero tilted her head and raised an eyebrow.

        Turning away again, Zeev muttered, “You will figure it out eventually.”

        Aero batted her eyelashes and rolled her eyes as if to blink away what he had said. She stood in that spot for a moment while Zeev walked towards the main street. When she looked at her surroundings she said, echoing off the walls, “Did we even go anywhere?”

        “You will see.” He yelled back over his shoulder and she grinned at his accent. She began to follow him and then something clicked inside his head. He spun around and Aero almost ran into him. “Wait! Actually, hold that thought. You can’t talk to anyone. If you do, you might… mess something up.”

        “Mess what up? Seriously, who are you and where are we? This is New York City, isn’t it?”

        “Yes but…” He pressed his lips together and took a quick breath preparing himself for this dreadful situation he had fought so hard to avoid. He was a few years older than the sixteen-year-old orphan standing in front of him, but she had a maturity that made her seem closer to his age. He took a frustrated breath and looked her in the eye then said, “We are in 2001.”

        Aero’s jaw dropped and she had no words. Before she could find her response, Zeev continued, “If you tell anyone you are from the future or give anything away that might make someone suspect you are, you will probably seize to exist and me, and my mission, will be exposed causing me to seize to exist or, even worse, lose my title as head of the TTAU.”

        All Aero could say was, “What!”

        Zeev put his hands on his head while he tried to figure out what he was going to do.

        “Why are we in 2001! How are we in 2001…” When Aerowyn realized what year it was, she gathers her thoughts and says, “Wait, what month?”

        Why does she need to know everything! Zeev thought. I can’t tell her the truth. If he told her the truth, she would try to stop him from his mission, and he couldn’t let her do that. “August.”

        Her jaw dropped again, and she says, “Hold on, I was born in August 2001, what day is it?”

        Seriously?! He thought. He spat out a number hoping it didn’t have any significance. “The 13th.”

        And yet again, her mouth fell open and she blurted out everything at the speed of light. “That means that I’m going to be born tomorrow, my mom is going to die, my dad is going to die in the 9/11 attack, and I’m going to be put in the foster system!”

        Shoot. She is going to try to stop her mom from dying but can’t because it was a month ago. He thinks for a moment and sees another flaw in his lie. But she can save her father… He decided to tell her another lie. “I am sorry, I meant November 13th.”

        Aero crossed her arms as if not believing him. “Please don’t make me feel like a child because I’m not. I’m not going to trust anything you say.” She started to pass him into the busy street, but he grabbed her shoulder.

        “Fine. But do not dare talk to anyone about who you are.”

        She glared at him from his side keeping a straight face and frown. “No promises.” With that she pulls from his firm grip and stepped out of the shadow of the buildings into the sunlit sidewalk of West St. Just a few blocks from the World Trade Center.

    Zeev chased her out, but she had already disappeared into the crowded roads of New York City. He looked right and left and then right again but she was just gone. Zeev was absolutely furious and he immediately began to think up everything that could go wrong. If the TTAU, Time Travel Associates of the Universe, saw that more than one person appeared in 2001, he would lose his position, his reputation for the most completed missions without failure, which was 246; his life would be over.

        The only chance Zeev had at keeping his title was if he stopped the Time Rebel that was doing exactly what Aero wanted to do. Save someone they love.

        Time Rebels were the TTAU’s biggest enemy and the main reason for the foundation of the corporation. These people got their hands on the time device created by a scientist in 2498, Dr. Aureole Thompson, and changed hundreds of events in the timeline. Thompson gathered ten people she trusted to fix these paradoxes and another twenty to get the time devices out of the public's’ reach. Scientists and engineers began developing new devices to track the changes before they could alter everyone’s memories of how the world’s history is. After 50 years, all of the original changes to the timeline were restored, but with each one they repaired, another five came up. Aureole founded TTAU in 2553 and Aureole’s daughter, Janiah, took over after her mother passed in 2555. Zeev Amsey joined the TTAU in 2569 after watching everything they had done and accomplished on the 4D TV’s all of his life. After 3 years of training and apprenticeship, he became an agent. 5 more years later, he had moved up through the ranks and become head of the 20th and 21st century department, which was his favorite time period.

        Zeev went on hundreds of missions, solo and with a team, like the JFK assassination three times, Martin Luther King Jr's “I have a Dream” speech a dozen times over, Apollo 11 twice, the Galveston Hurricane, and this particular mission was something far more arduous than anything he had ever done, and he insisted on doing it alone. Preventing a terrorist from stopping another terrorist; a Time Rebel from changing one of the most important events in the history of the United States.

9- 11.

The reason for changes in the economy, security, and ideas of not only the United States, but the world. If 9-11 were to have never happened, everything would be different.

Zeev rushed through the people walking on West St. and spotted Aero on the street corner on West and Vesey St.

“Excuse me, can you-. Ma’am do you know what-. Sir what is the d-.” Standing there in her old tee and ripped jeans with black boots she probably seemed like a beggar. “Oh, for God’s sake! Could somebody just tell me what the date is!”

From behind her, a woman answered, “September 11.” 9-11. She thought. I can save my dad. She looked up at the rising sun with the twin towers behind them across the street from her.

Aero whipped around and said, “Thank you so m-“ something cut her off. She knew this woman. It was none other than the owner of the orphan’s home she lived in, Ms. Aurora. In a panic, she ended her sentence. “So much ma’am.” And she rushed in the other direction, away from Ms. Aurora, back towards Zeev.

“What do you think you are doing!” Zeev said softly when she was close enough.

“What are you doing? Obviously you’re here for 9-11, but are you trying to stop it from happening, or what?”

Smart girl, Zeev thought. “Again, I cannot tell you.”

She crossed her arms again, “Fine, then, I’ll just go around and tell everyone about what is going to happen in like, what is it, two hours?!”

“I don’t think so!” He grabbed her wrist and pulled her back into the alley. He started pacing back and forth in front of her and her eyes grew as she stood in front of him in a silent shock. “Ok, I am an agent from the future, now, there is no reason you should know when I am from, so do not ask. I am on a mission to prevent someone from stopping 9-11 from happening.”

If her eyes could get bigger, they did. “So, you want to make sure thousands of people die? Including my father who is the only family I have left in this timeline!”

“Look, um, I just realized I don’t know your name…”

“Aerowyn Thompson.” He lifted an eyebrow when he recognized the name. Thompson. “Aero for short.” She held out her hand for him and he shook it as well.

“Amsey. Zeev Amsey. Now, Aero, you need to believe me in that you cannot change time. If you do, it will only end it a more catastrophic conclusion.”

“Well, Zeev, if you let me save my father, I’ll let you make sure the worst terror attack in US history takes place!”

“You cannot do that.”

“Oh really? Why not? Because my dad worked in the North Tower and all I have to do is tell him to get as far away from the towers as he can if he wants to live!”

“Yeah, like anyone would believe a teenager that looks homeless!”

Aero took offense to that and stumbled backwards with her eyes narrowed and a tear began to fall, but she blinked it away.

“I’m sorry, I should not have said that…”

“No, you’re right,” She looked down at her feet and tried to stay calm.

“I am also right about the fact that you cannot save your father.” He put his hands on her shoulders and she looked up at him as he was about four inches taller than her. “If you save him, you will not go on to do what you are meant to do.”

“Which is? I’m an orphan without any money or anything that might allow me to get a good job!”

I can’t tell her. Tell her that she is the root of the development of traveling through time. “Do you trust me?”

“Should I? You say you’re from the future and you sort of seem like a terrorist.”

“Please do not call me a terrorist! If anything, I am the opposite of that.” He pulled out his TTAU badge. It was the typical crest shaped badge with a 20 and a 21 and Amsey below the numbers all written in white over the galaxy background. “Does this make you trust me?”

“Nothing will make me trust you. I don’t allow myself to trust many people.”

“Well, you need to,” he said. He became tied between telling her the truth and lying again. He combined the two instead and said, “because if you save your father, I will not exist.”

For what seemed like the hundredth time in less than an hour, Aero’s mouth formed an “o”. “Are you saying that you're my like, grandson or something?”

“Not exactly…” No, her granddaughter just happened to be his boss, Aureole. How did her last name travel through a dozen generations? Because Aero never marries her true love, but that is a fact that even Zeev does not know. “If I tell you, something might happen. Just believe me! You cannot save your father.”

“So, I just have to grow up an orphan and trust that you know what you’re talking about?”

“Yes.” He put his badge away before anyone else saw it and told her to follow him. They continued down West St. towards the World Trade Center. Zeev pressed the button on the pole to cross the street and Aero looked around at everything surround her. This was the city she grew up in, but before it was destroyed rebuilt. The sign for them to cross turned green and they rushed across the road along with a dozen other people. Aero looked up at the towers again as she began to wonder, how can someone let that happen if they have the power to stop it? She looked over at the other buildings surrounding the towers. A Verizon Store, US Post Office, Wells Fargo Co. All of these buildings and workers were going to experience a catastrophic attack in less than a day and didn’t even know that they could die today.

“Now, I am about to save time, you can either get out of NYC until noon when I complete this mission, or you can stay with me and be quiet.”

“I’m not going to leave this city until my dad knows.”

“Look, Aero, if you tell your father about the attacks, he will not survive anyways. Time has a way of putting things back on track whether it is through the TTAU or on its own.”

“Exactly, so if my father lives, I will still go on to do whatever it is you say I am supposed to do!”

         “Fine! Go ahead and mess with the timeline! But do not come crying to me when you are in the TTAU jail for suspected association with Time Rebels!”

         “Oh yeah? I’ll tell them that you brought me here in the first place and you will lose your title as ‘Head of the 20th century’!” She put her fingers up like quotation marks.

         “20th and 21st! If it was only the 20th, I would not be here right now!” He took a breath and said, “Aero, if I do not complete this mission, I will be fired anyways, maybe even worse, so please, just let it go.”

         Aero changed the subject. “What made you want to join the TTUA�"”

         “TTAU.”

         “Yeah, that, what made you want to join in the first place?”

         As they stood on the corner of West and Vesey, Aero made Zeev think about something he had shoved aside all of his career. Was it because he loved history? Was it the pressure he could feel from his poor parents? Or was it because he wanted to save himself from being trapped in the dystopian America where Canada, Mexico and the USA were all under one government? All he could say was that he didn’t know.

         “If you don’t know why you are working for someone, why do you work for them? If you will get fired for one small mistake, it’s clearly not a very nice company.”

   “That is the thing, it’s not a company. The TTAU saves the entire universe. That is why universe is in the name,” Zeev decided he had wasted too much time trying to stop this naive girl. “Ok, I need to continue my mission, then you can nag me, a complete stranger, about whatever you want on the way out of this timeline.”

   “Fine.” Aero said as he crossed the street towards the towers, and she followed.

   The two entered the South tower and Zeev headed straight for the elevators. Zeev pressed the up button and they stood in silence not paying any attention to the fact that they were surrounded by soon to be destruction. The elevator dinged and the doors opened. Zeev went in first and pressed the 110th floor button. The top floor.

Although it was the 10th and not the 11th, Aero could not push the thought that in two hours the floor she was standing on, wouldn’t even exist. She began to think about whether she should tell anyone as they ascended upwards. They won’t believe me anyways. He is right. I look like a crazy homeless beggar. Aero hated thinking this way, but she knew it was true and she had ignored the horrible truth all her life. What did he mean when he said she is meant to do something great? What did he mean when he answered “Not exactly” to her question?

The number counting up to 110 was at 57 and, since they were alone, Aero asked, “What exactly is your mission?”

“Again, you do not need to know that.”

“Yes, I do if you want me to keep my mouth shut.” She gave him that you know I will do it look and he gritted his teeth.

“There is a man from the 26th century that has…” He hesitated. She would either flip out or not believe him if he told her.

“Yes? He has what?”

“Can you just trust me, so I do not have to compromise my entire mission?”

“I’d like to at least know what’s going on!”

“Fine, he has powers.” Zeev regretted it as soon as the ‘p’ was on his lips. “He is going to use them to guide the planes into the water rather than the towers.”

“What about the people on the planes? They would die anyways.”

“This man does not care about anyone other than his ‘true love’ who is going to die in the North Tower.”

“By the way you said that, I get you don’t believe in true love?”

“No. You cannot just fall in love the moment you meet someone and then claim you will be happy forever.”

“That’s not what true love is. True love is passion and the heart finally being fulfilled.”

“Ok Miss Love Expert. Have you ever been in love?”

“Well, no…”

“Then how can you claim you know what true love is?”

“I’m not claiming to know what it is because I don’t. Now, back on topic. What do you mean he has ‘powers’?” Zeev glared at her as he wondered if he could ever be as persistent as her.

“Let me just explain it like this. He is like a magnet. If he is on top of the tower, the plane will go away from him like when two south ends of magnets push away from each other.” (I’m gonna change this explanation cuz it sounds weird any suggestions?)

“That totally makes sense!” Aero said sarcastically.

“Actually it does, because in the far future, technology and science develops greatly and this man injected a magnetic serum into his blood, got hold of the time device created by your granddaughter, time travels here to save his wife who was kidnapped a year prior, taken to 1996, she started a life here and is going to die today in the attack.”

“So, you are just going to let her die and him suffer? Why didn’t he go to 1996 and take her back to your time?”

He stuttered, which wasn’t normal for him. “It does not work like that. Like I said, time is a delicate thing and some years are just not possible to change in any way. And yes, I am going to let her die because if she does not, she could tell someone something she should not, and an even larger paradox will form, and it might even create an alternate timeline.”

“Gosh, time is complicated,” Aero said looking back up at the numbers. 106. 107. 108. 109. 110. Ding. And the doors opened.

Zeev and Aero stepped out of the elevator and he led her to the staircase which went to the roof. They ascended even further then reached the rooftop door which was locked and Zeev turned to make sure no one was near then pulled out his badge, scanned it on the keypad and a small click told them the door was open. Zeev checked for others again before opening the door.

They emerged into the morning sun and Aero looked around at the flat concrete area with fence surrounding them in a perfect square.

Then, she saw the man. The ‘Time Rebel’ that Zeev claimed was about to change the course of the entire world. Zeev stayed in front of her hoping the enemy wouldn’t question her.

The man, facing away from them over the edge of the tower, had dirty blond hair styled in a mullet which made Aero grin as she had always found mullets to be ugly. He was dressed in a simple black suit but there was a rip in the right sleeve of the jacket.

“TTAU, put your hands where I can see them!” Zeev shouted as he pulled a small gun from inside of his jacket.

Without turning around, he said, “Zeev Carey. Nice to see you again.”

“I repeat! Put your hands up!” Zeev didn’t even flinch at the sound of his given name. He had changed it the day he turned 18 so he didn’t have to carry on the reputation of his parents.

The man slowly turned around and Zeev kept his gun aimed straight at him. The grin on the man’s face when he saw Aero gave her a weary feeling.

“Put your hands up!” Zeev repeated.

“You’re not as smart as you think you are, Carey.” This made Zeev grit his teeth more than he had when explaining the mission to Aero. The man kept switching his gaze between the two.

“Don’t call me that, Graham!”

“Oh? You don’t like your name do you?”

“My name is Zeev Amsey.” The gun was still pointing straight at Graham. Then, Aero had an epiphany. If Zeev fires his gun, the bullet won’t kill the man. The magnetic force will send it right back at Zeev!

She started to tell Zeev not to shoot, but Graham said, “Who’s your girlfriend, Zeev? I didn’t think you’d stoop so low.” He studied her from head to toe. Everything about her was low compared to Zeev.

“She is not my girlfriend.” He might as well have spat saying the word. He hadn’t ever been in love let alone have a girlfriend so truly he didn’t know anything about true love either. “Put your hands up!”

“Zeev, Zeev, Zeev.” Graham said walking towards them.

“Stay where you are!” Zeev would have already shot him, but something was stopping him. He couldn’t bring himself to pull the trigger. Aero wanted so badly to tell him not to, but she was still tongue tied.

Graham continued to walk towards them. “Oh, Zeev, you know the reason I am doing this, right?” Of course, he did. “Your mother is going to die if I don’t save her.”

Mother? Aero screamed inside her head. Does that mean this is his father?

“My mother lived a great life until you came into our lives!”

“No! She lived a great life until that monster took her from us!” Graham pointed with his right hand at nothing as if to say whoever kidnapped her was there with them.

“There is no us.” Zeev said without changing his tone. There was a short moment of silence after he said this, and Aero decided this was her chance.

“May I say something?” Both Zeev and Graham looked at her and narrowed their eyes.

“Zeev’s street stray speaks!” Graham said laughing.

Aero scowled at him and then looked at Zeev who still had his gun aimed at his step-father. “If you fire that gun, the bullet will go straight back at you.”

“Smart girl,” Graham said crossing his arms over his ‘magnetic’ chest while Zeev tried to comprehend what Aero had said.

   “In fact, yes I am and I’m also not a ‘street stray’. I may be an orphan, but I don’t live on the streets.” She gave him a disgusted glare and Zeev looked at Graham to see his reaction.

“Orphan, huh? Wow Zeev, you sure know how to pick ‘em!” Graham said sarcastically.

Zeev defended Aero by giving away the information he had tried so hard to avoid. “She is not just an orphan. She is Aureole’s grandmother.” He just blurted it without any thought and Graham’s mouth fell as far as the towers were going to if Zeev completed his mission.

“How… How is that even possible!?”

“Because she is going to be the best scientist and engineer in the America’s history.” Zeev looked back at Aero and Graham realized this was his chance to win this ‘battle’.

He rushed toward them and tried to grab the gun from Zeev’s grip, but Zeev saw him before he could and pulled the trigger. Just as Aero had suspected, the bullet flew it the opposite direction of Graham, but did not hit Zeev nor did it hit Aero. It flew through the air into the air behind Zeev without hitting anything until it arched over the buildings and landed somewhere of which they never knew where. Graham and Zeev stared at each other, both still having a hand on the gun, Zeev’s finger still on the trigger and Graham’s palm blocking the muzzle. Aero had covered her mouth as if to block her fourth dropped jaw of the day. She couldn’t tell if she was shocked by the free-flying bullet, the fact that her granddaughter was Zeev’s boss or that she was supposed to be the best scientist in history.

They all stood in silence as the gunshot echoed against the buildings of New York City, until Graham scowled at Zeev. “You are the worst son a man could have.”

“Good. Because I am not your son.” Zeev said yanking the gun from Graham’s grasp who wrinkled his nose again.

   Graham looked down at his wrist which lit up when he turned it to face him. The time, date, and a bunch of buttons appeared inside of his skin. 8:16 am. “There is exactly 30 minutes until the first plane, American Airlines flight 11 will begin the destruction in the North Tower and approximately 17 minutes later United Airlines flight 175 headed for L.A. will strike the very ground we stand on now. But only if you try to stop me.” He looked at Aero now. “I gather that your father dies in this devastating attack, yes?”

   She kept a poker face though she was breaking on the inside and he continued on with the very thing she had thought about since the moment she found out when they were. “So, why aren’t you trying to track him down to save him?”

   She thought for a moment then looked at Zeev who was still holding the gun, but it was just hanging at his side in his hand. “Because I trust that time has a reason for everything that happens.” Zeev grinned and Aero continued. “I also trust that Zeev knows what he is talking about.”

   Graham said, “Well, if you have no want to save you father, then why exactly are you here?” He began to reach for something in his jacket but Zeev was quicker to get his ‘something’ from his own jacket. As soon as Graham saw it, he put his hands up.

   Aero didn’t answer the question because before she could, Zeev was aiming a different gun at his step-father. Why hadn’t Zeev used this one originally? Did he really not realize that magnets affected metal bullets? Whatever this gun was, its scared Graham enough to surrender. Zeev rushed at Graham with the gun aimed at him and pulled a chain out of his coat. Zeev pulled Graham’s hands down behind him and held the chain between his hands, pressed a button and laser cuffs surrounded Graham’s wrists. Aero saw a half grin on Graham’s face and began to say something, but it was already too late.

Graham bent his knee and thrust it backwards into Zeev’s shin. Zeev held his grip on the chain of the cuffs but Graham was determined to get out of it. He had done this before.

Aero began to run towards them just as something inside of her began to grow. Fear. Not for herself and not for the thousands of people awaiting their deaths below her. But for Zeev. She felt something in that moment; something extraordinary. More extraordinary than being in 2001. What was this feeling? Hate? Pain? She didn’t know. She ran towards them, pushing away these feelings. Then, out of nowhere, something thundered around them.

Graham did not seem surprised by this unexpected event, but neither Zeev nor Aero knew what it had been. Graham used the distraction to his advantage once again by leaping up and pulling his arms forward like a jump rope, along with Zeev who stumbled down but came right back to his feet only to be trapped by his mother’s ‘lover’ with the laser cuffs just an inch from his throat. It was a trick. Graham did not fear the laser gun or cuffs. In fact, they were exactly what he wanted so he could complete his own mission. The cuffs were designed to keep prisoners from fidgeting with them or moving around too much while agents did their jobs. But the metal chain of the cuffs reacted immediately to the magnetic force surging through Graham’s veins. Rather than move closer to his wrists when he moved, they moved farther giving Graham enough room to slide his hands right out and grasp the chain between them. He wrapped his arm around his step-son and held the fiery blue and red ring to his neck.

Aero and Zeev made eye contact for one moment and in that moment, Zeev made a face that can only be described as Go, Run! Aero did not run. She stayed. She slowly walked towards the two with the wind blowing through her icy white hair and her legs shaking as if it were as cold as her hair.

“Aero run!” Zeev said as if it would save her. With 20 minutes until the attack would begin, Aero didn’t have a chance. But Zeev only wanted her to get away so she wouldn’t see whatever came next. As soon as Zeev opened his mouth, Graham moved it even closer. Zeev has his hands-on Graham’s arm which was still wrapped tightly around him. Aero still did not run.

“Graham don’t do this-” Aero began but Graham overpowered her voice.

“I have to save her!” He yelled through is gritted teeth.

“Time will find a way to put itself back on track.” Graham hesitated and his guard fell for just a couple seconds.

Zeev took this moment to pull Graham over his shoulder and flipped him onto the ground(how the heck doyou explain that better!?!) and a pair of normal cuffs around his wrists though they were still being pushed away. Graham laid face down on the ground with Zeev holding him down then knocked him out. Aero continued towards them and stood next to Zeev.

“What now?” She asked unsure what to do.

“I take him to the TTAU, and you go back to 2017.” They just stood there staring at each other for a while trying to gather their feelings. All of a sudden, without warning, Zeev opened the wormhole and dragged Graham’s unconscious body into it. Before Aero could say anything, Zeev and Graham disappeared into thin air.  

Aero just stood on the rooftop of the World Trade Center in shock of what Zeev had done. She began to run towards the stairs so she could find her father, but then she realized she would never make it in time. Any minute now, the plane would come out of nowhere and her father would be gone. She didn't have a clock. She couldn’t get to her dad. She couldn’t contact Zeev.

   Then, to Aero’s rescue came Zeev, right back out of the swirling purples and blues. He held out his hand for her to follow him in, but she was hesitant.

    “I know what you are thinking, Aero.”

   “Do you, now? Do you really?” She looked to the north and there it was. Off in the distance the death machine headed straight towards the towers.

   “Aero, it’s too late. I know you want to save your father-”

   “And I know you want to save your mother.”

   For the first time in the eight years he had been working for the TTAU, a tear fell down his cheek. He was still holding the wormhole open until she had said that. Then he opened a different universal passageway but this one was red, orange and yellow.

   “Come with me then.” He held his hand out once again and she glanced at the plane one last time. She remembered so many statistics she had read online about this ridiculous disaster. 494 mph. 220 meters a second. Four and a half football fields She guessed it was was about 30 seconds before the devastation would begin.

   The moment her palm touches his, Zeev pulled Aero along into the fiery colored circle. They were inside of the traverse for half a second then they were in the middle of a private office on the south side of the tower on the 105th floor. Aero’s jaw dropped and she rushed towards the man sitting at the desk without thinking.

   “What the hell!” her father yelled leaping up from his chair. “Who are you-”

   “Mr. Thompson don’t freak out,” Zeev began. “This is your daughter.”   

   “What?” Mr. Thompson surveyed her as he walked around the desk, but they didn’t have time to answer his questions.

   “Hi daddy,” Aero said for the first time in her life. “It’s me, Aerowyn.”

   “H-How?” He barely had the words to speak. Aero decided this was her chance to do what she had only ever done in her dreams.

She wrapped her arms around him and said, “I love you.”

“I...I don’t understa-”

   “I know, but I had to meet you.” Aero turned to Zeev who shook his head slightly. If she told him anything, a paradox could still form.

   “I love you too…” She pulled away and looked into his hazel eyes. Just as he had imagined. Just like hers.

   Even though she didn’t want to leave him, she knew Zeev was going to see his mother, so she held her father’s hand as she walked away, sliding her right hand from his as she gripped Zeev’s with her left Then, she disappeared from her father’s office leaving him to wonder, How, why, what? Her father would be trapped above the crash in less than 15 seconds with nothing he could do to escape.

   They entered the passage again then came out in another office. This one on the north side of the 96th floor. Dead in the center of the crash. A dark-haired woman stood at the window, watching the plane.

   “Mother?”

She didn’t even turn to see who it was. “Hello, Zeev.” She knew his voice. The plane was less than 10 seconds from impact. “You can’t save me.”

“I know I can’t, I just wanted to see you one last time.”

“I know.” She turned around and smiled when she saw Aero standing next to her son. She already knew Aero, she didn’t ask a single question about her. She just smiled and said, “I love you, Zeev.” And she held out her arms for him to come hug her. Tears welled up in his eyes and he watched the plane get closer. 5 seconds. “Now, go!”

He pulled away and as he ran back to Aero he said, “I love you, too, Mum!” With that, he opened the time wormhole just as the glass behind his mother shattered. He turned away and pulled Aero in with him.

   As they floated through the infinite tunnel, Aero said, “I’m sorry.”

   “I’m sorry.” Zeev said back to her. It wasn’t only him that lost someone, but Aero had already had sixteen years to grieve her father. Zeev had been searching for his mother for three years until he figured out where and when she was. By the time he had found her, it was already too late to take her back to the future, their present.

   “So, what now?” Aero asked him as he wiped away his tears with his sleeve.

   He looked around at the fading pictures that showed where they were. “I don’t know.”

   “You have to go back to the future, but do I really have to go to the present?”

   He pondered her question. They were passing through 2012. 5 more until they would reach her present. “Where else would you want to go?”

   She bit her lip. These feelings...What are they? She thought. She answered without fear, “With you.”

   He half grinned and said, “You know that will change the timeline.”

   “Screw the timeline, like you said,” she smiled. “ Time has a way of putting things back on track.”

   He took her hand again and they passed 2017. Aero watched dozens of events pass by. Her birthday party the day before she had left almost made her go back after seeing all the other little kids who loved her so much. Her best friend, Estella, Ms. Aurora, the little twins, Gavin and Garrett, the triplets, Elliot, Naya, and Ella and a dozen other kids that looked up to Aero for her strength and fearlessness. When she couldn’t watch any more, she looked away and met Zeev’s gaze.

   They had 600 years to travel through which would take a long time at the speed they were going, and Zeev could have sped it up, but neither minded it.

Author's Note

I am currently working on the second of my short story series/collection.