4 Chapter Four

2013

Graham watched as his new found companion scoped out the bottom of his jeep.

"So, what exactly are you looking for?" he asked.

"Um..." Scratching at something Graham couldn't see, Michael quickly rose to his feet. "This."

He looked at the silver disc within Michael's hand. With the flashing red light it wasn't hard to guess what it was.

"A tracker?" Looking around at the empty parking lot nothing moved. All lights in the rooms that were occupied were off, and no one stirred this early. "How? Who? I don't get it, who's tracking us?"

He watched as Michael took the device and smashed it under his shoe until the light flickered and stopped.

"Well, while you were sleeping I had a visitor, so I know exactly what to do for the moment. She was the one who stated that it's possible a device was stuck on my car when we were at Green Peter, because one was placed on her mom's car as well."

"So I'm guessing your visitor was the little girl, Brianna?"

"Precisely. Now we can make our way where we need to go, and this guy won't be able to follow. My guess is that he followed us here and we need to move fast to stay one step ahead of him."

Getting the clue, Graham headed to the passenger side door just as his companion released the alarm.

As he watched Michael buckle in, he asked. "So, I'm going to guess that if this guy would've followed us to my old apartment it would have been bad."

Starting the engine, Michael stated. "I think so. Somehow I am led to believe that we may not be the only ones after your mother."

"So basically, we need to find her first."

"Precisely." Michael said, as he pulled the car out of the parking lot, and made his way to their destination.

***

As he reached the apartment, Michael could see it was more of a makeshift into an apartment than an actual building meant for the purpose. The building was two story, made back sometime in the 70's as a spacious house. From the look of it, whoever owned the place converted it into an apartment in hopes to generate extra income. Although he wasn't sure if that was the case now, considering Michael watched in awe as the building fluctuated and rippled as though it was nothing more than a giant mirage. Opening the door to the front he looked, and inspected the layout. Stairs led to the upper quarters where there were two doors right across from each other, the same had applied to the downstairs, as well. Walking inside with the boy behind him, he watched as light green paint peeled from the walls, floated for a few seconds, and made its way to the floor. Even with it rippling in time he could see the place was run down and looked as though it wasn't safe to ever have any occupants.

Making his way down the small hallway he noticed areas where the green paint had peeled, it looked as though it hadn't been touched and the paint remained, as if it never happened. Touching the wall, he pressed gently as the sheetrock underneath his fingers flexed and rippled like water.

"Interesting" He thought.

"Hey." Graham called out, quickly breaking him from his trance. "This is my old place."

Turning toward the teen he watched as the boy opened the tattered door and walked into the housing unit closest to them. Following behind him, he walked inside.

The door opened into a tiny living room, with a broken down two seat sofa, small coffee table, and T.V., there was nothing decorating the walls. No style to the place at all, it looked as though Alice didn't have money to afford to make her home more accommodating for her son. He followed as Graham made his way down the hallway, and into the room closest to the living room.

Opening the door he said. "This was my mom's room." He made his way inside.

The room was just as unfashionable as the living room, nothing decorated the walls and the only thing that occupied the room was a full size bed and five drawer dresser. Unsure of how any of this was going to help at the moment, he went ahead and made his way around, leaving Graham in his mother's room to jog his memory. The other room in the residence had a twin bed made out with a dinosaur comforter as well as a five drawer dresser placed neatly off to the corner. A few toys stood out underneath the bed but nothing expensive or worth saving. Heading back down the hall he made his way into the kitchen opening the cabinets and inspecting the area. It looked like Alice didn't have a whole lot of utensils or dishes to eat with. Opening the bottom cabinets he noticed she only had three pans to her name.

"Wow." He thought. "How the hell did she survive? If Graham was ten, how did she not get tired of this living arrangement after ten years? Jesus."

Making his way to the refrigerator he opened the door. The light didn't come on but he could feel the cool air emanating from the device. Grabbing the half gallon of milk he looked at the expiration date. It read October 11, 2005. Shaking it, he could hear the contents. From the date, whatever was left inside should have solidified. Opening the container he expected a foul smell to make its way through his nose, nothing. The milk smelled as fresh as the day it was bought.

"Wait a minute."

Bravely he took a drink. It wasn't spoiled. Before he could inspect anything else in the fridge, he heard Graham in the other room.

"Michael, come here."

Placing the milk in the fridge, he headed back into Alice's room, where the boy stood in front of her closet holding a framed picture.

"What is it, did you find a clue?"

"Maybe." Holding up a picture, Michael made his way over to him.

It was a drawing of Spiderman, and it looked as though a young child had colored it. The picture was placed neatly in an oak frame, where small particles of dust had collected over the glass. Not enough to show it had been sitting for as long as it was.

Confused, Michael asked. "Ok, so how is this a clue?"

Turning the small frame, Graham said. "I remember this. Actually I have two separate memories of this very picture."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, when I opened the closet, the picture was sitting upright and, looking at Spiderman, I remember asking my mom what happened to the picture because it wasn't hanging on the fridge." Gazing at the photo like he was in a stupor, the boy continued. "But as I grabbed it I had another memory, of it hanging on the fridge and, I came home from school one day, and, as I opened the fridge my cup of milk fell from the door ruining the picture. We ended up throwing it away." Looking up, the boy silenced himself and waited for Michael to assess the situation.

"Huh, interesting." He stated. "Um….. You know what else is interesting, I opened your fridge and it's still running."

Puzzled, Graham said. "Really?"

He made his way to the door and out into the kitchen.

Following, Michael said. "Yea, but that's not the weirdest thing." As the boy opened the fridge, Michael finished. "Check out the date on the milk."

"Holy shit, 2005."

Making his way to him, Michael reached for the milk and opened the container. "Smell it. Better yet, taste it."

Complying the boy took a swallow. "It's not spoiled."

"Not at all." Making his way into the living room he sat on the tattered sofa. "So I have a theory as to what is happening here….sort of."

As the boy placed the contents back, Michael watched as he made his way into the living room, crossed his legs and sat attentively on the floor.

"Enlighten me."

"Well, what I was thinking was because this is where you resided, and what I'm going to guess, from your earlier statement is that your mom left from here." Pointing toward Alice's bedroom, he continued. "Actually from her room. So I think that she has made no other major change so far, but what she did with you, so this place is caught in some form of time void."

Confused the boy asked. "What does that mean exactly?"

"What I believe it means is." He smiled. "We can fix this. This place, it is our key to finding your mother. I'm not sure how yet, but it is."

"Well if you don't know in what way, then how are we are going to figure it out?"

"Ok, let me explain what I am putting together so far." Sitting upright he started. "Your mother was at this very destination when she created two time lines, placing this building in the time void. Like it exists, and doesn't, all at the same time. But if you look at the milk, it should have expired in the year 2005, and it hasn't. That leads me to believe that this building is connected through time to her time. Understand?"

Shaking his head, he replied. "Not at all."

"Well…" Michael continued. "Okay, according to Brianna, she did state that this apartment is a key…" Shaking his finger, he recalled. "When your mother remembers where it's at. I think what that means is, when she created the alternate timeline she may have created herself alternate memories. So in a sense she has to try and remember this place, kinda like you did with the picture. What made you remember the two different memories anyway?"

"Well when I saw it, it was like I just remembered my mom saying she placed it somewhere to keep it safe, but I specifically remember asking about the picture. When I grabbed it I recalled the picture being ruined by milk."

Standing up Michael gained a moment of clarity. "Wait a minute. Holy shit." He began to pace.

He eyed Graham as he got up and paced with him. "What, what is it?"

"Well, I think I know the reason you have those two separate memories." He smiled at the boy as he stared at him confused. Continuing he said. "You have two separate memories because your mom changed the outcome of the picture. So you remember from the time before she changed it, when it got ruined, to the time when she changed it and it was placed neatly above her closet. I believe that has something to do with your ability, just like how you kept yourself alive after she accidentally would've erased you."

The boy's eye's widened. "So I have two separate memories?" Shaking his head, he asked. "So what does that mean?"

"Well…." Sitting once again, his excitement grew. "Brianna also said you have clues, I believe this was one of them. When looking at the picture, you had the most recent memory of it, being your mom placed it away. When touching it you had a memory from the original timeline it streamed from of when you ruined it. She managed to procure a small alternate timeline with the picture and you can pick up on it. So somehow you can pick up or intercept her movements."

"Okay, and how am I supposed to do that?"

"I believe this is something we are going to have to work on." Thinking back, he recited what he could remember from the small girl. "Brianna also stated that your mother would be looking for a ten year old you, and you don't look like her, so she is going to be hesitant. She said once we run into your mother, we have only the one opportunity if she jumps from that point in time, that's it. What I'm going to guess at this moment, is that at some point in time your mother will make an appearance here at this place, that also explains why we needed to lose the tracker, the odds of the guy following us and getting to her would've been too great to chance." Shifting in his seat he eyed the boy and finished. "What I believe to be one of our most likely scenarios is, when your mother does make an appearance here, she will do so in the year 2005…, but because it's stuck in this void we will have access to her year, and that will be our best possible chance at interception."

"I have a question." Graham said.

"Shoot."

"Well, I'm not with my mother and she is possibly creating other time lines from her traveling, I remember the picture because I was here….I guess on both instances….but how can I remember something I'm not present for?"

"On that, I don't think you necessarily have to be present, it will be when we venture here your memories or hers should linger and possibly incite. I'm not sure but I believe that may be one of your gifts…, kinda like your connection to your mother. Also I think what we may have to do is leave little notes or something…here…something that when your mother does remember and comes here she may be at the right moment in time to get the message."

"Why don't we just wait here for her to show up?"

"We can't do that either. Remember someone is tracking us, we don't know what kind of gifts he has, but according to Brianna he has all gifts and stops them as well. If we wait here we are like sitting ducks for him to find. We have to keep on the move and find a place where we can utilize what abilities you have."

"Where can we go to do that? I mean…. Do you at least have a destination in mind?"

Smiling Michael said. "Actually I have the perfect spot…, but first grab the picture you left in the room…, does your mom wear makeup?"

Puzzled the boy answered. "I think so why?"

Making his way to the bathroom he said. "Well…, I think we're going to leave her a little note."