The same hole

The light was bright enough, it slipped through her closed eyelids. She tried to open her eyes only to be shocked by a familiar voice.

"You are finally awake I see."

"You!" It was the lady in the white cloak.

"How was your trip?"

"Horrible." She spat angrily, she was wide awake and alert.

"That's unfortunate."

"Why couldn't I do anything?" She stood up from the cloud couch. "I could only stand there and Reese didn't even..."

"He was protecting you."

"Why would give me such power but let me be useless when I could have stopped it from it ever..."

"That is not allowed." She deadpanned.

"What?!" She gulped irately. "Why would let me.." Her hands rolled into tight fists at her sides.

"Travel in time?"

"Yes, wasn't it to..."

"Even he understood that both of you couldn't do anything, Sarah."

The silence was loud.

"You can't change anything that already happened, you would throw the universal order into chaos."

Sarah looked astonished by the new piece of information.

"Take a seat and let's talk."

She did as she was told.

"Look, it's really hard to explain but this is what is important," she came forward and held Sarah's trembling hands.

"What did you see?"

"I saw two boys get abused."

"You only heard it."

"It doesn't make it any better."

"It doesn't but I asked what you saw and not what you heard."

"They were happy before he came and then it happened."

"Who was happy?"

"Him... Reese and his family."

"Who came?"

"Todd, Catalina's husband."

"Go on."

"And his mother didn't do anything to help."

"Oh, Sarah you are falling into the same hole."

"I don't understand you." She was trying her best. Her anger rose again. After everything she had been through during their voyage, she was stressed.

"Remember Jonah?"

"Jonah?" She was taken aback "how do you know him?" Her anger waned all over again.

"I know a lot of things." From her tone, Sarah could tell she was smiling under her cloak. 

"What about him?"

"What did you learn from his life?" She took a quick pause and seemed to take a deep breath "and his death?"

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After a year in the orphanage with Sarah and a therapist's help, Jonah started school again and turned out the boy was a genius. The school administration had thought they would have to bump him down two grades but the Jonah proved otherwise. 

To Sarah, it wasn't much of a surprise she noticed the now sixteen-year-old found solace in books. He came in and swept out the competition. He was an asset to his school. The respectful blue-eyed brunette with an impeccable academic record stole the hearts of the town inhabitants. And his back story made him all the more adored. 

The second year after he started school again. He won a particularly high profile spelling bee and received visitors. They included those who were 'dead to him'; his estranged father, his grandfather from his mother's side and grandmothers from both sides. And they had one hell of an explanation to give.