1 An Escape To The Future

An Escape To The Future

Thick gray clouds were roaming above our heads, covering the usual bright blue sky, as heavy rain poured down. It was so heavy that it could wash away the thickest of dust and smoke within the span of a couple of seconds. The downpour was not only affecting my ability to see her from where I was, but it was also interrupting her work life.

I shook my head helplessly as I pulled my baseball cap down, and made sure that the hood was securely covering the sides of my face. I rubbed my wet hands together and blew some air on them after bringing them closer to my lips. I was trying to provide them some warmth as the splashes of the cold water had turned them somewhat pale. But whatever was going on with me, my prying eyes never left the silhouette of her figure.

'Should I go and tell her everything right away?' The thought echoed through the folds of my mind. 'But how will she react? What if she doesn't like it? What if she gets offended by it?' I wanted to do it, but I lacked the courage to follow the cries of my heart. It wasn't an easy task.

'I shouldn't.' I shook the thoughts off. There was no point of thinking the same thing over and over again, especially when I knew what the outcome of it would probably be.

It was better for me to keep a close eye on her from a safe distance. The less she knew about my presence around her, the better it was. At least it was better for her that way. I, on the other hand, should focus on keeping the not-so-silent pleas of my heart at a bay. If not, then there were too many things which were going to go down the drain, including our lives.

You must be wondering what I was doing there, lurking in the shadows, keeping an eye on a lady, who was just sitting at the far end of the park under one of the sheds? That lady was not your everyday woman. She was the love of my life, the only girl who had managed to make a home within the four walls of my heart. But the questions still remained. What was I doing spying on her like this?

Let me answer your questions!

I had to make sure that wherever she was, she was okay. She was doing fine, and most importantly, she was within the reach of my eyes. And stalking her like a complete stranger was the only way of doing it. At least it was the only way of doing it without bringing it to her attention.

I prayed to the heavens above, not once or twice, but many times every day. I prayed for her safety with the hopes that things would stay the same for both of us. After all, she meant the world to me.

"Excuse me?" A soft voice interrupted my thoughts, forcing me to shift my attention to the woman who was standing close to me.

She possessed a small and frail figure, and was looking up at me with her eyes blinking non-stop.

"Yes?" I didn't know her, yet I pulled my baseball cap down a little more so that there was no way she would be able to catch much of my face.

"I think this belongs to you." She said in return as she extended her other hand towards me.

My eyes snapped towards the black men's wallet, which looked more than familiar to me, holding out for me while making sure that my wallet was not sticking out in the rain.

"T-thank you." I stuttered a little as I mumbled out a thank you. I didn't waste much time in taking back what was mine.

"You should be careful with your belongings, Sir. You never know what kind of people are around you." She chided. "And I suggest that you go inside the cafe. What in the world are you doing out here without an umbrella." The woman, who looked slightly older than her, continued as she pointed towards the cafe behind me.

Why would I go inside there when she was out there in the rain? It made no sense to me. Just like how it made no sense for me to carry an umbrella when she was out there without one. How could I make things easier for myself when she was struggling with some? Wouldn't that only make me selfish? Yes, it would. It clearly would.

"Thank you." I mumbled once again, this time with a slight bow of my covered head. I wanted her to leave me on my own so that I could go back to gazing at her. "I am waiting for someone." I continued, telling her the first excuse which came to my mind.

"You can wait for whoever is in there as well." She gave me a skeptical look before walking past me. I merely shrugged to myself as I saw her continuing her way to the

I remembered telling her to take her umbrella with her, but she refused to listen to me with the excuse that the clouds didn't look like they would shower droplets of water anytime soon.

If only she would have listened to me!

I sighed to myself as my eyes found their way back to her silhouette. If she would have listened to me, she would have found her way to her destination without getting a single drop of water on her own clothes. What irked me more was how she hadn't bothered to wear her trench coat even after I had asked her to.

Why was she so stubborn? Why did she have to make things hard for her own self when she had me? I was willing to be the beacon which would light her path and guide her through dark days. If only she would let me.

She was headstrong! She was too headstrong for her own good. But I was in no place to complain about it for it was one of the many reasons why I was so in love with her. It was what attracted me towards her in the first place.

Actually, no! It wasn't really the first thing. You see, there was one more thing which attracted me towards her. It was the reason why I was here in the first place. But, that story was for another.

I pulled my baseball cap down once again. I knew I was being paranoid, but it was better to be paranoid than being caught stalking your own fiancé, especially if it was one of her work colleagues. I couldn't risk it for my own good, and for our sakes.

My feet began to move forward as I decided to cross the road off. It was too hard for me to keep an eye on her from so far away. It was better if I was somewhere near her, not too near though. That would make things hard for me. I didn't like it hard.

"Finally." A sigh of relief left my lips as the clouds began to clear off a little with the downpour coming to a stop. I shook my head as I stared up at the sky. 'You better not rain again, at least not before she is within the confinements of her office.' I thought to myself as I glared at the Sun which was peeking out from behind a group of light gray clouds. 'You better stay out for a little while longer.'

I had only crossed the road when I saw her stepping out of the shed. Her honey brown eyes wandered around for a little while before she continued on with her journey. This only made me stay put in my place.

It wasn't because we were too poor to afford a car, or to even pay for taxis that she was walking all the way to her office. We did own a car, one which we bought a couple of years ago when we decided to get an apartment for ourselves and live together. It was because she preferred walking to her office. Also, it was only a block away from our apartment. It would have taken her only twenty minutes to arrive there if it wasn't for the rain.

"I will see you soon, my love." I mumbled to myself when I saw her silhouette disappearing around the corner. I wanted to follow her all the way to her office, but I decided against it this time. The damp, black hoodie, which was now sticking to my under shirt, was drawing too much attention to me combined with the fact that I was not carrying an umbrella even in this weather.

With these thoughts in my mind, I began to retreat my steps. I was looking forward to seeing her when she returned home, or more precisely on her way back to our little apartment, our home sweet home.

-------------

"It was a hard day." I mumbled to myself as I slumped into my swiveling chair. The rain only made things hard for me. Though it wasn't my first heist in the rain, I wasn't able to see her smiling face like I usually got to. It was something I looked forward to every time I got ready to follow her out. I was like her shadow, only she had no idea about this shadow.

"Let's get this done." I spoke up once again as my eyes came to a stop on the blank screen of my laptop. I was lucky to get the chance to work from home. This made things slightly easier for me. But along with this ease, came a hell lot of responsibility.

I still clearly remembered the day I was able to get a yes from my boss, and the yes came with one condition. I was not supposed to skip a single day of work, just like how I was supposed to submit everything on time. If I was to go against any of these two terms, my contract with them would be left void with me getting kicked out of the job.

I had my doubts about it for I was pretty good at what I did, but I wasn't willing to try my luck. What kind of person in their right sense of mind would give up working as an IT expert for one of the leading IT companies of the country? I would not!

I knew my skills were much better than just making sure that nobody was able to even take a sneak peek inside the company's green vault, but the number of zeros in my paycheck made it all worth it. I needed money to give her the life she deserved before things would go crazy and turn both of her lives upside down, especially hers.

I could bring myself in her life, but I couldn't bring the green bills or my wealth along with me.

As I waited for all the systems in my laptop to get started, my eyes trailed off to the small photo frame which was resting on the right corner of my study desk. It was supporting her picture which I took way back when we were in college. It had taken me a long while to get her to say yes to my proposal, but she did say it in the end, making all of those countless worrying nights worth the trouble.

How could I not be happy when it was her saying yes to me!

My lips couldn't help but curl up in a smile when my eyes came to rest on her curled up lips. Her teeth were on display, showing off her braces with all those colorful bands. She was genuinely happy on that day; after all she managed to get her dream job.

Rose had always wanted to help mankind, one way or another. That was the reason why my Rose had thought of getting into research. She was hoping that it would provide her the right tools for developing an alternate source of fuel for humans. But what she did was much more than finding it, or more precisely what she was about to do in the future.

Based on my information, or the research I did on her, four months later from the current day, she was going to become the hero of not only this nation, but for the entire world. There was one catch though. She still had no clue about it, and it was going to take her at least another week to find about it all.

It was one of the reasons why my occasional follow ups were becoming a daily routine. I didn't want to miss any chance to enjoy the time we had together. I wanted to cherish every last moment I had left with her.

"Oh, Rose! If only you knew how much you meant to me." I muttered to myself as my eyes continued to stay glued to her smiling face.

"Good morning, Mr. Blue." A robotic voice greeted me, using the code name I used for programming. It was the system which I had generated some time back for protecting the files on my laptop and phone. "It's a good bright day, isn't it?" The system continued as it waited for me to reply.

"Shut it, Yellow." I groaned in annoyance. There was a reason I named the system Yellow when I was rewriting it. It was Rose's favorite color. She loved yellow, and I loved it when she wore anything yellow. She looked as bright as a warm, sunny day.

"Log into the company's back end server." I instructed it as I began to shift my focus temporarily to my work. I had to get a couple of things finished before it would be Rose's time to return back home. I had to leave half an hour before that so that I could watch over her as she would walk back home once again.

-----------

"I missed you so much." I mumbled as I threw my arms around her. "Why did you take so long to come back to me today?" I asked her, my tone was filled with worry. I had to wait ten minutes more than usual outside the building where she worked before I saw her walking out., though I wasn't going to share that part with her.

"Something came up on my end, darling. Why are you so worried?" Rose replied back to me as she threw her arm around my neck.

I took a couple of deep breaths in, no because I was trying to calm myself, but because I was trying to supply my lungs the air which they were deprived of as I made a dash up the emergency staircase while Rose took the elevator to reach up to our floor. Having a gym in our own apartment was coming to be useful to me, and my body.

"What was more important than me? You know how much I hate not having you around me." I mumbled next to her ear as my arms refused to leave her.

"The fact that the Earth is about to get affected by an energy crisis with a shift in the tectonic plates." She replied back to me which only made me frown.

"What do you mean?" I unwillingly let go of her as a number of questions were buzzing through my mind. This was not supposed to be happening for another week at least. That was what I knew. That was how things have proceeded in the future. What was going wrong here?

The more I thought about it, the crazier I was becoming. Then, it struck me. What I knew about the future was something based on the information provided to the people by their respective governments. It could have been any time before that when it came to the knowledge of government officials and the respective department of each country.

"No, no, no." I shook my head helplessly as my mind registered it. "This cannot be happening." I mumbled to myself as I saw the worried look on her face.

"What's wrong, Ed? Are you okay?" I felt her hands sliding down my shoulders as she rubbed the sides of my arms. The frown on her forehead seemed to be only deepening with each passing second as she waited for my reply.

"I cannot lose you, not this time." I mumbled as my hands found their way to her face. "Please, Rose. Don't leave me." I added as my thumbs ran across her smooth cheeks back and forth.

"Ed? Have you lost your mind? I am not going anywhere." She shook her head as she pulled me towards the couch "What are you talking about?" She asked me as she pulled me down to sit next to her.

"You are going to leave me sooner or later. You will for sure. You are going to help us all in coming out of this problem before you disappear into thin air." In my worried state of mind, I continued with my rambling. The words seemed to be flowing out of my mouth without any trouble. What was supposed to stay inside refused to do so. All of it kept coming out, every last thing which I had promised myself to keep inside, at least for a little longer.

"What are you talking about, Edward?" It was the first time in my life that Rose was yelling at me. She didn't even raise her voice for once at me when I had pursued her like crazy back in college. So, it did come to me as a shock.

I took a deep breath in before I forced it out, attempting to keep the last bit of my sanity to myself.

------------

Minutes later,

"What the hell?" Rose was glaring daggers at me as she spoke these words. She was sitting across me now on a chair unlike before.

The moment I saw the aggrieved look on her face, I knew that I had indeed messed up big time. But I had no other choice except for laying it all on the table before her. I had shared my deepest secret with her, it was now her turn to do as she pleased and make the right choice for herself.

I had to tell her how I wasn't someone from her time. I had to tell her how I had to travel some forty-five years back in the past just so I could find my way to her. I had to tell her how I had fallen for her the moment I found out about her existence, especially how she had saved our race by providing us with an alternate source of fuel.

"You have to be kidding me, right?" To me it looked like she was still having a hard time following it all, but she couldn't be blamed for it. I was not blaming her for being confused. It was all my fault for being not clear enough.

"I wish I was, but I am not." I shrugged my shoulders as I replied to her meekly. "It is nothing but the truth."

"So, you are saying that after forty-five years into the future, we will be able to travel back in time." Her delicate eyebrows shot up as she questioned me.

"No, I was the one who made it possible for my own selfish gains." I scratched the back of my head as I answered her. It was clearly not something to be proud of.

"And you want me to believe all of this?" She scoffed.

"It's up to you." I shook my head. "But I am telling you the truth. One week later from today, every government is going to share this news with the people. This is going to be followed by a huge wave of energy crises. It will be big enough to send us all back to the dark ages. The people in power will try to form an alliance with other people in power. They are going to put their best researchers and form a team. You will be on that team." I took a pause and drew in a deep breath.

"The good part is that you will be the one leading the team from our country. The bad part is that it will be you who is going to find a solution for us all within the span of four months with the project you are already working on. What is worse than that is the fact that you will go missing after it will be all solved." I stared right into her eyes as I said the last part.

"The worst part is that it will be the people in-charge who will be behind your disappearance."

"Why should I believe you?" Though she looked like she was sticking to her earlier words of not believing anything I had shared with her, the change in her tone made it obvious that she was swinging in the other direction, or at least she had started to.

"Because I love you." I muttered out as my lips slowly curled up in a smile. "I have loved since the day I found about the girl who blessed humanity with an alternate source of power. You have no idea right now, Rose, but it will be you who's going to save us all." The smile on my face only seemed to widen up as I continued to stare into her honey brown eyes.

"I didn't come back forty-five years into the past because I could stop you from doing it all. I am selfish, but not this much. I came back to know the girl who was behind it all. I came back to save that girl, Rose. I came to save you from a conspiracy which will be coming your way after you have shared your everything with them." I got up from the couch and made my way towards her.

Getting down on my knees before her, I clasped her hands in between mine. "All they did was give you the credit for finding it. They didn't wait another second before snatching you away from your friends and family. They snatched the life you deserved to live away from you. Let me help you, Rose. Let me take you away from all of this crap and those people once you have done what you need to." Bringing her hands closer to my face, I pressed my lips against her palms, placing a kiss on either of them.

"Please, Rose. Not for my sake, but let me do it for your sake." I mumbled as I buried my face into her open palms. Her silence was nagging at my heart, making my vision blurry as tears filled my eyes.

----------

Four months later,

"I cannot believe that I let you talk me into this craziness." She was glaring at me, but there was a foolish smile resting on my lips.

"I promise you that you won't regret this." I mumbled as my fingers reached for the big red button before me.