1 Chapter One: In This Instant
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Waking up and being awake tend to be two different
things. One must decide which direction they want to
take in life when faced at such a cross road.
It was the first day of the new school year at Abraham
Maslow High School. There was that usual kind of
anxiety that you'd get on the first day in the psyches of
the students. There was excitement for a new year, a
new chance. But, also angst over the fact that a new year
had begun in the first place. After a long summer break
the last thing that anyone wanted to do was go back to
school. But alas, that day had come.
Among the masses was a young man. Craig Marshall.
He certainly felt this shock to the system. He walked
through the halls quite aimlessly. As though he was
searching for someone to call him over and allow him to
join them.
The cause was due to getting into it with his group of
"friends" last year. He had gotten into a fist fight that
resulted in a five day suspension. But, perhaps more
importantly to the young high schooler, a loss of friends
was the negative effect. To make matters worse, his
girlfriend left him shortly thereafter.
Of course, this was not uncommon in high school to
be in a fight a lose your friends. But none of this is ever
easy. To be a young man and to suddenly lose your
group feels like a loss. A loss of identity. It was
something that everyone was dealing with on some level.
However, he was forced to have to face it head on. It
was as though a train got off the rail and was hurling
towards him.
Now, Craig was all alone. Last year, he just wandered
the halls by himself to make it to the summer. However,
this year Craig was bent on not having to suffer in that
manner.
And that was where club day came in.
At lunch on the first day of school every year there
were rows of clubs that were desperately looking for
new members to join. All kinds of clubs were there,
seeking fresh bait. The agricultural club, the mathletes,
the debate team, the anime club, the music club, so on a
so forth. The typical type of clubs that you'd expect
from a high school.
Nothing was truly catching Craig's eyes until he saw a
sign that read TIME TRAVLER'S HELPER. It caught
his attention enough that he considered it worthy of
further investigation.
He walked towards the table where he found two young
ladies standing right out front. Amy Blanche and
Leanna Walsh, both sophomores just like him. Craig
couldn't help but be at once drawn to them. Leanna was
short, extremely cute with her pony tail filled with silky
black hair. Her skin reflected light at a near perfect
level.
Amy had an interesting kind of energy. She was a
fiery type. But her hair was jet black and curled at the
end in way that no other girl could pull off. Her eyes
were mixed with green and blue and her body language
screamed "Don't fuck with me." All together she looked
like a fighter with no worthy opponent. Amy ran the
club with a strong, firm, ruling fist as she started it in her
freshman year. And Leanna as her best friend was along
for the ride.
"Time Traveler's helper?" Craig said, still trying to
understand the reasoning behind the name.
"Yeah, can you not read proper English?" Amy asked
in a biting way, catching Craig quite of guard.
"It's not that. But, the title is just intriguing. It makes
me want to know more."
"Well, what info are you looking for exactly?"
"I just want to know what the club is about."
"Isn't it in the title?"
"There isn't any more info?"
"Like I asked, what info are you looking for exactly?"
"Ummm…."
"Amy! Be polite!" Leanna commanded.
Amy looked at Leanna with annoyed face, as if she had
done something wrong and was about to be
punished. But she didn't have enough power over to
properly do it so all she could do was give her a mean
look.
"She means well. Just lacks basic training. "Work in
progress."
"It's all good. "I like how real she is."
"And I love how you two are speaking about me as if I
am not standing right here, specifically some douche
who doesn't even know me." Amy said, butting into the
slight flirting that was taking place.
Leanna then smiled at Craig and handed him one of
their business cards. It was blue and had a time machine
that looked like the one from Dr. Who on it as Craig
inspected it. He was impressed by their attempt at
professionalism.
"This looks cool." Craig said as he stared at business
cards. He had read in a book that you need to look at a
business card for the person who handed it out to be
validated. So, he was making a real effort to do this and
didn't notice Amy's confused look on his face.
"We'd love for you to join our club." Leanna said to
Craig. "You don't seem like a creeper."
"That's the nicest thing that anyone's said to me in
months." Craig said as a somewhat poor attempt at a
joke. Though, Leanna humored him and laughed
along. "Is there anything that I need to do to
signup? "When's the first meeting?"
"All you have to do is show up."
"And not on some bullshit schedule of your own. " Amy
snapped. "And please, actually show up at the scheduled
time."
"I think I can manage that."
"If that's the case, then we will see you there, 3pm
sharp. You've got the room number on that business
card. You know what to do."
"What should I expect?"
"Quit jumping ahead. Why don't you show up and pay
attention once you arrive?"
"It'll be worthwhile, I promise." Leanna assured.
"I'll just have to take your word for it."
"You say that as if you have a choice in matter. "Clearly
I am withholding info."
"And that should make it all the sweeter when I find out
just what you're hiding."
And just like that Craig was building his group of
friends from the ground up. And two attractive young
women no less. Craig walked away with a feeling of
accomplishment and some extra confidence. In just one
day the rest of his high school life was going to
begin. He could finally put this past ordeal behind him.
Or so he thought.
Craig lived around the school and would walk to and
from it daily. Nothing out of the ordinary there. He had
been able to avoid his old "friends" consistently since
that day had occurred. But, today wasn't going to be just
one of those consistent days. He realized that as soon as
he got to the end of the street.
Joe Kadine and Mark Freeman were the two young
men that Craig spotted at the end of the street. At one
point, all three of these young men were extremely close
to one another. But after the events that took place,
Craig was of course ousted.
The events that took place are quite simple in all
reality. One day Joe was fucking around with Craig,
knocking a drink that he had purchased down. Craig
was not one to be pushed around and threw Joe's own
drink in his face. This all of course sounds very
juvenile. But, that's what high school boys do best.
The next day Joe and Mark cornered Craig in the
bathroom in a rather lame way. Craig went to take his
morning piss as usual when Joe and Mark walked
in. Joe said to Craig that what he did yesterday was a
bitch move. Craig disagreed and left the bathroom. This
was not good enough for Joe and he ended up slapping
Craig in the face. Craig then started to punch Joe and
Mark ended up sucker punching Craig resulting in Craig
having a huge bump on his head.
All the boys were suspended for five days. But Craig
was the one that lost the most. Some of the people in the
group already wanted him out. But this allowed for him
to be completely pushed out with no resistance. He no
longer had any sense of belonging anymore and
wandered the halls like a lone wolf, only lacking the
self-confidence of a lone wolf.
The pain that this caused Craig was hard to
describe. It was confusion, disbelief, anger, and sadness
all thrown in together in a blender of memories. He just
couldn't believe that such a thing could happen. It all
seemed to harsh.
And now, the two people who caused him this
indescribable pain were right in front of him.
Craig really didn't have an alternative route to take
home. He had to take this one on head on. As he got
closer he could tell that Joe and Mark recognized him
and were caught off guard by his presence. What was
going to happen? Part two? Reconciliation?
Yeah, right.
Craig finally stopped right in front of Joe and Mark as
the three of them stood there, completely silent. Craig
thought to himself about what needed to happen.
"Should I just walk away? "Should I flip them off?
"Yo." Joe said in a fake friendly way.
"Hey." Craig said.
"Haven't seen you in a minute." Mark joined in.
"Been busy."
"With what?"
"I tell my plans to people that I care about."
That crack was a moment that Craig had always wanted
to have ever since their little situation took place. Joe
and Mark were taken aback by Craig's sudden boldness
and candidness.
"Just trying to be nice."
"Well, your niceness wears thin."
"Those are fighting words bro." Joe butted in.
"You want to do something about it then, bro?" Craig
boldly said. He was ready to fight, even if it meant that
he'd get his ass kicked.
Just as tensions grew, the three of them saw Rachel
Kemp come towards them. Rachel is a part of the group
that Craig had been ousted from. She was considered to
be the most beautiful girl in their grade as well. Long,
dark hair. Nice, luscious lips. Great, curvy hips. And a
face that appeared to had been designed by Leonardo Da
Vinci and painted by Michael Angelo himself to
boot. Not to mention that she was a cheerleader. So
indeed, she had that outfit on. She was pretty much the
whole package.
"Are you fucking serious?" Rachel asked in a scolding
manner. "Again?"
"He started it!" Mark said as if he were still in
elementary school.
"I was just trying to walk by them and not get mixed up
in the filth." Brent said, wanting to get one last dig in
there.
"You fucking…"
"Joe! That's enough! Do you two realize just how
immature you sound. And Mark, look at you. You
shouldn't be here right now. You should be at football
practice Mr. 0.14"
Mark stood in perhaps the largest amount of
embarrassment that Craig had witnessed. Even worse
than that one time that George Clark pantsed him in gym
class. It was as if Mark was trying to rewind back to a
time where that information about him was not out in the
open like it had become.
"Rachel!"
"Sorry, it's the truth. Now, you should go home and
study so that maybe you can at least play baseball in the
spring huh? And Joe, why don't you help your little
buddy catch up, huh?"
Mark and Joe walked away with their heads held as low
as Craig had ever seen them. Rachel was smiling at the
fact that she was able to put those two in their place
without much effort. Craig glanced at her in disbelief as
Rachel had just so happened to be turning her glance
towards him as well.
"Those fools." Rachel said like she just had a Clint
Eastwood moment.
"It's whatever."
"No, not whatever. They think that they are so clever
and funny. "They are just fucking idiots who are not
going to amount to anything after we get out of
here. Most of the people that I hang out with are going
to be shit after graduation."
You could feel that at least in some small way that
Rachel was in fact directing those words to
herself. Craig could feel some of the self-hatred that was
harboring vibrate off of her otherwise beautiful self. It
allowed him to further connect with her though as she
was reflecting his own self-hatred.
"I know it's been a while, but I remembered you being
pretty damn good at science." Craig said to comfort
her. "So, you got skills at least. I'm sure that you will
find a way."
"That's right, you were always pretty sweet. Aloof. But,
sweet. "I wish that we didn't lose touch over something
as trivial as all of that bullshit."
"You're telling me. I went the rest of the year without
any friends."
"Well, you don't have to now."
Rachel walked up to Craig and began to write her
number on Craig's arm, completely surprising him. She
even put a little heart at the end of it. Craig did his best
not to be seen swooning.
"That's my new number. Give me a call when you have
a good idea of what we could do together. I might say
yes."
And with that Rachel walked away. For a girl that was
14 going on 15, she was awfully advanced at the art of
making a guy want her i.e. the art of seduction. Her
looks already took care of a good percentage of that. But
her way with words sent her to another level setting up a
criteria that most high school girls couldn't meet.
Craig thought over the possibilities as he finally
reached his home. He lived with his mom, dad, and
three sisters. But he really didn't care for them. And
quite frankly, they didn't really care for him. It's not that
he didn't love them and that they didn't love him. There
was some kind of love to be found. Although, it
certainly was not openly expressed. Craig said hi to
mom and went straight to his room. For
homework? Nope. Video game time.
Video games brought Craig a lot of joy of course. But
mostly importantly, it allowed for him to have a proper
escape from an existence that he found to be shitty. He
could race a NASCAR car, throw a football as Russell
Wilson, or just shoot down the enemy with ease using an
AK-47. Here, he didn't have think about just how shitty
his life was. Or just how shitty it was going to become
in the future.
That was quickly changing though. Craig began to
think about Amy and Leanna. How nice they were to
him. The hope that they represented. He could finally
start to make some new friends. And along with Rachel
he perhaps now had three romantic interests. Those
prospects were what excited him the most as he kicked
Zombie ass. It was as if the light that made Craig shine
that was once extinguished was reignited and began to
slowly shine it's bright light.
The next day, Craig zipped through all of his
classes. He just wanted to get to that club. He couldn't
stop thinking about it. It allowed him to be able to make
it through the day without falling asleep on his desk once
in class or thinking about how much things just
sucked. Something that he was more than accustomed to
at this point. He even scarfed down his lunch at a faster
rate than normal.
'
It was 2:55pm and Craig practically ran to the club
room. How many people would be there? Would most
of them be girls? Are they giving food? These were
questions that were going through Craig's head as he
opened the door to find that it was just Leanna sitting
there with a nice smile on her face.
"Hey!" Leanna said in a somewhat overly friendly
way. The club room had that empty restaurant feel to it. That was to be sure.
"Hey". Craig replied, not having much if any
confidence in what was in front of him at all.
"Amy is just running a little late. But, no worries! We
can talk!"
"Sounds like a good time." Craig said, wishing that he
had said something cooler.
"So, I don't think that I saw you here last year. Who do
you hang out with?"
"Well, I had a group of friends. "But, there was a fight
and things kind of just went away after that."
"Wait, were you that dude that was fighting those two
guys last year at the end of the second floor?"
"Yup."
"Holy shit dude. "I remember that so well. "You were crying."
"I was NOT crying."
"It sure looked that way to me."
"It was just a bit of an adrenaline filled deal."
"I bet. So, you've just been a lone wolf ever since then?"
"You can say that."
"Do you ever get lonely?"
"No, not really."
"Oh."
"You sound like you're disappointed with my
answer. Do you want me to get lonely?"
"No, not at all. I was just wondering what it must be like
to have that happen."
"It has its issues. But, I got video games, so it isn't too
bad. And besides, nothing lasts forever."
"True."
'
"How long have you known Amy?"
"Too long." Leanna said half-jokingly. Emphasis on the
half.
"What do you mean by that?"
"We've been friends for a long time. So, we've been through a lot together."
"Care to share?"
"I wouldn't want to show all my cards right away, now would I?"
"Good hand."
Craig and Leanna stare into each other's eyes and smile for a moment. The connection between
the two is so clear. And innocent as well. Leanna feels like a girl that had been plucked from
Craig's dreams. His slight manic pixie dream girl come to life.
Just as Craig wanders into day dream world, Amy storms through the door in a surprisingly
thunderous way. For a pretty small girl in frame, Amy carried a lot of vibrato. Enough to break
Craig out of the chambers of his mind to what was happening right before his eyes.
"Apologies for being late." Amy says as she inspects the room and only sees Craig and
Leanna. An expression of disappointment comes across her face that says more than necessary.
"I think that this might be everyone Amy." Leanna said in a comforting way, going for letting
Amy down easy.
"Really?" Craig blurted out without any regard.
"It's not that bad." Leanna assured. "Three's company!" Amy could not help but look at Leanna
as if she was crazy and she wanted to throw her out of the window for it.
"We can just begin, okay?" Amy said in a way that showed her ego bruises.
As Amy approached the front of the club room to proceed with the day's activities, two students
suddenly busted into the room. Both were 15 years old, one young man, another was a young
lady. Ryan Wood and Claire Reese were the two students in question. Ryan looked straight
from the old television show the O.C. Claire had lush read her and innocent blue eyes. Her
figure was by far the most physically mature in the room.
"Sorry!" Claire shouted out. "Are we interrupting something?"
"Why are you shouting?" Ryan asked.
"I'm just filled up with a lot of energy right now Ryan, okay?" Claire responded in an annoyed
manner. Everyone in the room was immediately fixated on these two now.
"So, is this the Time Traveler's helper club? "Or whatever title it was."
"Yes!" Amy said, disregarding the diss. Seeing that there were now two people who were
interested in joining the club soothed her ever so fragile ego just a little bit.
"Cool!" Ryan let out. "I normally have nothing but cynicism regarding clubs. "Like, I have no
school spirit. "But the name was so ridiculous that I had to come and see this shit for myself."
"Nevertheless, glad that you two are here! "Now, if you two could just so kindly take a seat, we
can officially begin."
Craig found it interesting just how nice Amy was being
to Ryan and Claire. It could be due to the fact that
hardly anyone showed up. Maybe Amy was beginning
to realize the positives of having a pleasing
personality. She really began to lay on think and nearly
became a totally different person.
"I think that I'm just going to jump right into it. Time
Traveler's Helper. I know the newbies in the room may
be thinking "just what the hell is the purpose of all of
this?" Well, we are here to reach higher levels of depth
within ourselves. We are here to interact with our future
selves."
Just like that, Craig got that "what the fuck?" look on
his. In reality, that was exactly what he was
thinking. He did not expect Amy to start off by saying
something so outlandish.
"What do you mean by "interacting with our future
selves?" "
"It's said in the phrase. I thought that I was pretty clear."
"Okay… How is that going to work?"
"Don't be so rigid Craig. Your future self is in fact
ALWAYS attempting communication with you."
"Actual verbal communication? Like, it's actually trying
to have a conversation with me?"
"Precisely."
"Right…"
"Look, it's simple. Your future self is communicating to
you through subtle ways. Deja Vu, weird synchronicity,
chance encounters, number repeating themselves, cold
chills when you enter a room."
"OOOHH!" Claire blurted out. "I had a cold chill when
I came in! Does that mean that my future self was
talking to me?"
"Maybe. But the A.C is also on. Anyway, your future
self is always looking for ways to pierce through to your
heart. But vibrationally speaking, most people are not
up to the task of letting the power messages that their
future self holds in.
"And why is that?" Craig asked, butting back into the
original course of the conversation.
"Most, if not all people have their conscious wants and
their subconscious wants. When these two are aligned,
it's actually quite beautiful. However, most people
usually have clashing desires and that is where the
problem is. Because of all of this, our messages end up
being lost in translation. And we aren't able to possess
the power that our future selves provide."
All Craig could do is stare at Amy. "What the hell is
this bitch talking about?" Craig asked himself. He
really couldn't understand how things had taken a turn to
the weird. He just wanted to be in a normal group of
friends with normal cute girls. He didn't believe that he
was asking for much, if anything at all.
Craig began to look around to see what the others
thought of this. He looked at Leanna and saw a big
smiling face. Clearly, she was hip to what was
happening and was into it. Craig then turned over to
Ryan and Claire to see what was good with them. To his
surprised, Ryan and Claire were quite intrigued with
what Amy was saying. Their eyes were completely
glued to her as if she was the only person that was alive.
"How does this work?" Claire asked as Craig gave
himself a rather powerful face palm.
"It's actually not that complex." Amy began to
explain. "We are going to be communicating to
our future selves through text. The thing is though, it
will be up to us if we are going to be receiving the text or
not."
"Are you talking about the vibrational stuff?" Ryan
asked.
"Yes. You must be on the right frequency or else this
will be all for not."
The first meeting with on a little longer with some
mundane questions. At its conclusion there was
however, an excitement in the air. Ryan and Claire in
particular were extremely excited about the possibility of
communicating with their future selves. It was as if they
had found some sort of missing link of joy.
"To finish up, here's how you can start the process of
communicating with your future self. Visualization. Lay
down next to your phone and visualize talking to the
person that you want to become in ten years. You will
then be laying the much-needed ground work to get this
started."
Everyone left in excitement over what could come out
of this. Leanna has this self-assured look on her
face. Ryan can't hide the big smile that's filled with
childhood wonderment. He had always dreamed over
time travel. Claire was just over joyed and couldn't stop
giggling. Amy was simply pleased with herself. The
thought "job well done" crossed her mind. As for
Craig? Nothing but skepticism flowed through his
veins. As Amy was beginning to leave, Craig had to
stop her to privately question her about all this. To see
what was truly behind the veil.
"We need to talk." Craig said to Amy in a dominant
way. This caught her off guard and got her slightly
attracted to Craig's masculine action.
"Okay, what is it?" Amy replied in a somewhat sexually
suggestive manner. Craig might had played along, but
he was genuinely concerned about what was taking
place.
"Is any of this shit actually true? Or are you just taking
us all for a ride? What are you really trying to do? And
be honest."
"What do you mean by that?"
"None of this makes a lick of sense. I mean, texts from
our future selves? Where the fuck did you get that
from? A tarot card reading?"
"Of course it doesn't make any sense to you. Look at
you, you're coming from such a low place of
judgment. You should be embracing this. You should
be embracing the unknown."
"Then tell me, where did this come from? What drove
you into this line of work? Why is this your passion?"
Amy looked Craig in the eyes in an ultra-serious
manner, shaking Craig for a second. Did he trigger
something? Was she just about to deliver the ultimate
bitch slap?
"Last year I got a text from my future self about Debra
Bates. It said that she was going to die in a car crash. At
first, I was honestly worse than you. I couldn't believe
such nonsense. I'm a lady of science ya know? So, I
ignored it and ran away from it. But, the more that I ran
away from it, the more death flags around Debra that I
noticed. It became more and more obvious to me that
there was something to these texts. Then, on the day that
she was supposed to die, I was walking and saw her in a
car. I just had this gut feeling that was going happen
right then and there. I had to test it out. If I was right, I
saved a life. So, I walked up to the driver of the car and
started talking to them to distract them. Just as that
happened, a track trailer hit another car, that car spun
and got creamed. If Debra's driver had kept on going,
they could have gotten crushed. And just like that,
Debra's life was saved."
Craig takes everything that Amy says in with great
compassion. He truly is overwhelmed that such a thing
can happen. Texting your future self? Who would have
been able to pontificate that this would possible?
"But, why?"
"Sometimes fate calls your name I guess?"
"I just don't know…"
"Just do the visualization tonight. You'll get something,
I know you will. Just put that cell phone next to you and
see who you want to be in the next five years. Just
breathe and believe. That's the key. It's not that
believing is seeing. It's that breathing is seeing."
And with that, Amy left as Craig thought s over what
Amy's told him. Is this all true? Is any of this even
worth finding out? Who is this girl? As he thought
about her he thought about the cuteness of her smile
when she was talking about this in front of the club. Her
passion on this rang true. That was clear as day.
Could it be that it was worth giving a shot? On his home
to further think about all of this, Craig heard a familiar
voice call his name out.
"Craig!" That familiar bubbly voice was Rachel. A
voice that turned just about any boy going through
puberty's head. But, Craig's head turned like an Owl's
once he heard her call him name. She was once again
wearing her cheerleader outfit, so Craig had to work
double hard to hold his excitement down.
"Oh, hey!"
"I didn't know that you were a part of a club. Which one
do you go to?"
"Ugh. You're gonna laugh at me if I say."
"Come on now, why would I do that? Have I ever just
straight up laughed at you?"
"Well, there's a first time for everything."
"Just tell me already!"
"Okay… It's the Time Traveler's Helper club, okay?"
Rachel stared at Craig, smiling, looking for the signs
that he was joking. When she inspected his face and saw
nothing but sincerity, she realized that he did in fact join
the Time Traveler's Helper club. She then began to walk
as he thought what he said over. Really hoping that he
didn't reveal himself too much.
"Oh. "That is quite interesting."
"You think that I'm weird for joining it huh?"
"No, no, no. Not at all. Just unexpected. Hell, it's unexpected that you'd join any club at all."
"Yeah, I know what you mean. But I had little options
after last year. I kinda just needed to get something
going."
"I would have pegged you for football or something."
"Getting a concussion before my 18th birthday? Nah,
I'm good."
"I suppose that is as good of a reason if any to stay
away."
"Good enough for me."
Craig and Rachel continued to walk down the street,
talking and flirting. Inside, Craig was so happy that
Rachel still wanted to continue some kind of relationship
with him. He had thought that everyone from that group
wanted nothing to do with him. But Rachel? She
showed a true keen interest in him that made him feel as
though he was worth something.
"Do you still take all the green M&Ms out? Craig asked
in a somewhat biting way.
"Yeah, so what?"
"Just checking. Glad to hear that the quirk still exist."
"Oh?" And do you think that you are quirkless mister?"
"Hmmm. Not sure. I'm sure that I have a few. They are
just well hidden."
"How about how when we'd go to subway you'd get
ALL the toppings."
"How is that a quirk?"
"Who the hell gets all the toppings at Subway."
"I guess you're looking at him."
Rachel giggled as they arrived at her street. She looked
Craig right in the eyes and felt a great feeling of what
seemed to be love. Rachel didn't know what it was, but
she was just into Craig. Maybe it was his innocence
despite all that's happened to him. But, he was just
different than any other guy that she's met.
"This is it."
"Always fun."
"Look, the first football game of the year is this
Friday. You should come."
"I don't know. I mean, I've got some serious NASCAR
races to play online planned for Friday night. And as
you could imagine, that takes up quite a bit of time."
"Just come, there's going to be a party after at Stacey
Welch's house. You can come with me."
Those were the magic words. Going to a party with
Rachel? Nuff said.
"Fuck it. I'll come."
"Perfect! I got to go. But, I can't wait!"
Rachel hugged Craig right before she began walking
towards her home. Craig just stood there for a moment
as he watched her hair sway from one side to another
and her ass sway in the opposite direction. Rachel truly
was a beauty to behold. And Craig couldn't believe that
the stars had aligned for him to go out with Rachel. That
his luck had finally turned around.
Later the night, Craig found himself in bed with a
decision that needed to be made. Should he actually try
the visualization? What was the point of it? Was Amy
just some crazy bitch that he had gotten mixed up
with? How he did feel about Amy? More importantly,
how did he feel about Leanna?
Eventually Craig thought to himself that if he to look
crazy, that looking crazy in the comfort of his own
bedroom wouldn't be all too bad. So, he decided to just
go ahead and give it a shot. What was the worst that
could happen?
Craig slowly closed his eyes and begins to create an
image of who he wants to be in ten years. He sees
himself a taller, smugger looking, more muscular,
wearing an Armani suit James Bond style, with a Rolex
watch. When older Craig spoke, his voice had become
quite deep as well. To Craig all of this was modest of
course. If you are you going to dream, dream big
right? Craig had conjured up an image of himself was as
a true badass.
Craig sunk further and further into his visualization,
seeing himself with kinds of beautiful women, in sports
cars, ocean side mansions. But then, suddenly
everything went quiet a dark. This freaked Craig out
because it wasn't of his own doing. It all of a sudden just
happened. Then a voice came through.
"Craig." Future Craig said.
"What the fuck was that all about?" Craig asked.
"Just had to shut down a few things in order to have a
proper conversation."
"The hell do you want to talk?"
"We can discuss what happened last year"
Craig suddenly stopped in his tracks. He was completely
caught off guard by this question.
"What do you mean?" Craig asked, trying to hide how
uncomfortable he was with the question.
"You understand precisely what I mean." Older Craig
replied, not coddling Craig for a second. That
fight? What was that all about? Why did it happen?"
"I don't know."
"Yeah you do. Did you do something to aggravate
them? "Or are you just that unlikeable?"
"Fuck you."
"And look at you now. Basically friendless. That poor
girl Rachel is just taking pity on you. Leanna and Amy
are just using you. You are just a pawn. And the sad
thing is that you think that you are in the catbird's
seat. Silly delusions"
"SHUT THE FUCK UP!"
"You are floundering. Don't you think that it's time to
stop? Why are you not willing to change?"
"I'm fucking doing my best!"
And just like that, Craig ends the visualization in a cold
sweat. Craig looks like he has been hit by an iron and
then saw a ghost. He picked up his cell phone and stares
at it as if he will get a text by doing just that. After a few
moments, he dropped the cell phone and stared out of his
window, wondering just what the hell he had just went
through. Wondering if he truly had no control over what
just happened. Or if he was the puppet master and he is
just going crazy. He digested all of this as he fell asleep,
trying to forget all of this.
The next day in Mr. Phelps' Geometry class, Craig
could hardly keep his eyes open. It wasn't that he was
bored. He was hardly able to sleep last night. His mind
just couldn't help but race on all through the night. He
couldn't let go of that shaking feeling that someway,
somehow, his world had changed.
As Craig decided to try and jot down some notes he
suddenly received a text. Not connecting it to the
conversation that he had with his future self last night,
Craig hid himself away from Mr. Phelps to check out
what the text had to say. His pupils began to dilate as
soon as he reads what's on his cell phone screen.
"Is this 15-year-old Craig Marshall?"
Taken aback by the weird question, Craig decided to go
ahead and engage in this text conversation. Still not
connecting two and two together for whatever reason.
"Yes." Craig replied. "And just who the hell are you?"
"It's you in ten years. "We can now communicate
through text like you clearly were looking for."
Craig ceased breathing for a few seconds after reading
that text. The bewilderment that he got from this text
was second to none. He had thought that Amy was just a
quirky cute girl. But now, he was texting his twenty
five-year-old self.
"Yo, Craig." Said Nathan Chetz, a classmate of
Craig's. "Are you okay man? It looks like you just saw
the anti-Christ."
"Huh? Oh. I'm fine bro. Thanks."
Craig composed himself a bit and looked at the text one
more time. Could this be the real deal? Was it a
prank? After signing up for the club he left his cell
phone number. Amy and Leanna didn't give him theirs
just yet. Perhaps it was just a prank. Either way, he
didn't to test out the validity of this.
"How do I know that you truly my future self?"
"I know that you think Mari Kallen is hot, but you are afraid of what the other guys will say to you if you were to ask her out. She clearly has hotter friends. But, you lack the self confidence to ask any of them out. Or self-esteem. "Could be both"
Craig in that instant becomes a believer. He can't help
but stare at his cell phone screen. Right in the middle of
class he was going through a scientific phenomenon.
While everyone was failing regarding solving a
rudimentary geometry equation, Craig was speaking to
someone in a different world line.
"You have now been able to unlock your third
eye." Twenty five-year-old Craig explains. "You are
now filled with the five dimensions of consciousness."
"What do you mean by five dimensions of
consciousness?"
"There are five dimensions in this universe. Most beings
do not have connection to them. With that said
connection conversations like this and any kind of
bending of space and time is possible."
"What did I do to trigger it?"
"You transcended your body when you connected with
me."
"Are you saying that I astral projected?"
"Not exactly, but in a way. You were about to exist
outside of your physical form for the first time."
"So, what does this all add up to?
"You now have a purpose that you have to fulfill. It is
going to be your sole goal for the next few months. "And
failure to do so will cause catastrophic changes to the
universe as you know it, and to your future of course."
Craig tried desperately to not stop his heart as he read
his future self's last text. How did he go from just a
normal guy to now having the fate of the universe in his
hands? Why was this happening to him? And why did
he not have a choice in the matter? These were all
questions that were spinning around in his head.
"What do I have to do?" Craig texted back as he
anxiously waited for a response.
"There is a female student in your grade that is going to
commit suicide." Craig's future self replied as Craig's
jaw practically dropped to the ground. " You need to
find her and stop her. "Her death will cause major
ripple effects in your world line."
Craig stares at the text and then picks his head up as he
looks around the classroom, looking at just about each
girl. "Who the fuck could it be?" He thought to
himself. And he had no idea where to begin.
"Who is this girl?" Craig asked with great urgency.
"Unfortunately, this is information that I do not
have. All that's been given to me has already
been said."
"Well, it's not that helpful to be perfectly honest."
"You will have to put on your detective hat and locate
this girl. You have no choice. If you don't the universe
as it is now will be over. This conversation is
over. Until next time."
And just like that, their conversation was over, leaving
Craig feeling the emptiest of emptiness. Just what the
hell was he supposed to do? Suck in an impossible
situation, especially for a 15 year old young man.
He joined this club to get some friends and maybe date
some cute girls. Now he has to save someone's life and
potentially save the Universe.
Go Figure huh?
