Fables and Bedtime Stories

He called himself a Displaced. 

Our story started at the end and ended at the beginning, but for a brief golden time in the middle I could've sworn everything was perfect.

I was a lonely child, I never had many friends growing up. I made up wild stories and adventures and forced my dad to pretend that he was a dragon while I saved my mother, the fair maiden, from his evil grasp. Daddy always played along with me, at least when he had the time. Mother played along as well, though it always took a little extra begging to get her to go along with it.

The kids at school saw me as strange and anti-social. Only CiCi ever paid much attention to me. But that was because I would follow her around like a puppy. And when we hit middle school CiCi dumped me for her other friends, I was after all just the weird boy with a girl name.

School after that became a lonely dismal place that I dreaded returning to.

He first showed up right after my high school graduation. His features were normal enough, handsome but not strikingly so. But he had this shine about him that made it hard for me to take my eyes off him. His eyes met mine and he ran to me, hurriedly wrapping his arms around me. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry" He mumbled. "I'm sorry I couldn't be there, Aubrey. I'm sorry I didn't save you."

I didn't have a chance to ask any questions because one second he was hugging me as though he'd never let me go and the next he was just gone. No one else seemed to notice him or his sudden disappearance.

Questions ran rampant through my mind. How did he know my name? What didn't he save me from? What was his name? Was he even real?

I didn't see him again for a while, but one morning I woke up and he was sitting in my kitchen reading a newspaper. "2015," He said. "Hmmm that makes you what? Nineteen right now?"

"What are you doing in my kitchen? How did you get in? I'm calling the police."

"Please don't. It's kind of a pain to be arrested."

"Why shouldn't I? You broke into my house!"

"Apartment, Aubrey, this is an apartment. You don't have the money to rent a room in a house." He said absently. "Judging by your reactions you don't know me yet. Allow me to introduce myself, I'm Fable."

"That's great. Now get out of my apartment."

"Okay." And he faded away in front of my eyes. 

What. The. Hell.

Our first few meetings were a little strange. Having someone jump in and out of my life like he did was a new experience for me. But eventually I grew to almost expect him to randomly pop up throughout my day. I even made my meals for two people and hid away the leftovers for his inevitable appearances.

"So...what are you?" I asked him one day as he was in the process of completely obliterating a sandwich.

"I'm a Displaced."

"That is horrible grammar."

He grinned. "I'm not the one who made up the name?"

"Then who did?"

He shrugged and continued inhaling the sandwich. "Basically." He said around a massive bite. "I don't have a timeline of my own, so I slip in and out of other people's timelines."

"Can you control it?"

"Sometimes." He paused to chew and swallow, a fact for which I was immensely grateful. "It takes a lot of energy to Jump from time to time but it takes more to stay in one time so I usually just let myself 'float' I guess."

"Is that why you just decimated that sandwich?"

"The ever-perceptive Aubrey strikes again." He started fading out of view and before I knew it he was gone.

"Of course he leaves before he has to do the dishes." I groaned.

I made it a habit to quiz him every time he showed up. And he always answered my questions without fail. The one thing I couldn't get over was how could he be real? People can't just jump around in time when they feel like it. And how could he visit the future if the future was always changing?

"So explain it to me again."

"To answer your question: I'm not real. I just exist like the others..."

"You've met them?"

"Once or twice. None of us are 'real'. We just existed one day for some reason. No one knows why or how. We just live our lives as best we can."

"Well what about the future? How can you visit that?"

He shrugged. "I don't know the logistics. It just happens. There's no real reason for it."

"There's no constant at all?"

Something flashed in Fable's frosty blue eyes, "There is one. But...well, it won't be there for very long."

"Why not enjoy it while you can?"

"I will." He said vaguely.

I don't know if we were friends or lovers. I just know that Fable and I were tied together by something. He would appear in my life and we would talk and then he would be gone again. He never stayed for very long, a few hours at the very most.

Then one day he kissed me. I didn't know how to react. One minute Fable was there, looking conflicted. Then next he was kissing me chastely. And then he was gone.

It was a confusing appearance for me, but I never once asked him why he did it. And he never once did it again.

As our meetings went on, I began to notice that Fable knew less and less about me. He wouldn't answer when I asked him why. But I think we both knew why. I still enjoyed when he popped up in my life with his ne'er-do-well smile.

And then one day he showed up in my living room and he didn't know me. "I'm Fable." He offered. "Please don't call the police? It's a pain to be arrested."

"Fable...it's me."

His dark brows drew together in thought. "I don't think I've met you yet."

"I'm...I'm...Aubrey." I said around a sudden lump in my throat. I had grown used to Fable knowing me more than I knew him. And now that the roles were reversed I wanted to cry. It was something like heartbreak to see his eyes so devoid of any emotion towards me.

But how could it be heartbreak when we weren't even lovers?

He faded out of view after a few awkward moments of silence and I tried to grab him as though I could physically keep him there with me. But he was gone already gone beyond my grasp.

The last time I saw him it was the middle of the night and raining. "Aubrey right?"

"Yeah."

He stared out the window watching the rain run down the pane. "I don't know you very well, yet. But I saw something today..." He trailed off watching the rain again. "I just wanted to say goodbye."

"What? Fable...I - what did you see?"

I saw a few tears gather in his eyes. "You won't be seeing me again after this."

"Why not?"

"You know I can't tell you." He said quietly a few tears falling from his eyes to the ground. "And if I did, it wouldn't change anything. I just - goodbye. I look forward to getting to know you, Aubrey Conners." And he faded out of view leaving me to watch the rain run down the glass.

I already knew what he must've seen for him to want to say goodbye so badly. And that day at graduation, his words made sense. Oddly though, I was at peace with whatever was going to happen to me. 

My eyes drifted shut, blocking out the world around me. A tear dropped from my eye, mourning the loss of my displaced man.

Author's Note

Reviews and thoughts are always appreciated.

Reviews

[Cindrella]

touching...........

[selkietales]

Oh my goodness! I love it! This was a really great idea and so sweet, my heart totally melted for them

[RachelReaper]

This is brilliant! You don't understand the first opening lines until you read the story all the way through, but then it all falls into place and makes sense, this was truly an amazing idea and I'm glad I got to read it, excellent!