My Past Comes To Eat Me

Typical.

I was watching the live broadcast of the 'Gladiator Game' when my dream chariot race towards a shimmering green light in the distance. The face of an old man came into perspective, this time his hands were glowing green. Then I realized that it was not an old man, it was the old man.

He looked towards me with a smile. Even though he had grey hair and a wrinkled face, he seemed to look young and old, as if he was existing in another reality at the same time. He must have found my gawking face funny because he laughed.

"...'tis time you come, lad. I have been stuck in these bonds for quite a millennia. Unless you want to continue that treacherous life of yours," he whispered with a smirk.

"Beware! My disciples decide to test you. Stay vigilant and alert if you value your life. They seem to sense your presence and find you revolting. They will come out of their way and challenge you," declared the old man, "And if they find you, you stand no chance against them and accomplishing your goal. Find a way to reach me, and you have hope for a happy life. I await you, hero, near the Gates of Shadow."

"Ah! Perhaps... if I show you what actually happened during the accelerator explosion." He swept his hand and my vision spiraled.

My vision morphed into a cityscape. A city which I recognized almost immediately. My eyes turned misty and misery and guilt began to well up inside me.

The feeling of knowing, that, not only this city but the whole world would blow up in an explosion worse than a hydrogen bomb made my heart weigh a thousand times heavier.

I was standing in the heart of Phoenix, the capital of Arizona. Crowds of people walked around enjoying a winter Sunday. Little did many of them know that it would become their last Sunday.

The weather was cloudy as if nature was warning the people of the upcoming danger. I saw two adults and a kid about six years old walking on the footpath near a mall, and my vision tunneled. That kid was 'me' from the past. Trying to remember that old forgotten memory was so hard, like trying to remember the first thing you learned in kindergarten. The details were murky to me.

I watched myself from the past fighting with my dad. I floated next to them like a ghost to listen to their conversation.

Little David shouted, "Dad, you told me that we will be renting a video tonight."

"Ah! But cupcake, Daddy has got lots of work to do," replied my father in a calm voice trying to mask his anxiousness.

"Gah! It's a Sunday, Daddy," Little David retorted.

"Just stay here, child," my father said in a serious voice averting further questions, "I will leave you at the care of Mr. Thompson. He will be your guardian until I and June return."

"But you never told me that you were going anywhere." Little Dave bellowed.

My father turned and stared angrily at little Dave and then, his face morphed into a worried look. He never could stay angry with me. He looked at little David aka 'Me from the Past' worriedly and then at my mum. All this time my mom was listening to the conversation sitting silently, her eyes turning misty as the conversation heated up.

"Just listen, child. Your father and I know best," she replied, her voice cracking with emotion.

Little Dave sighed and then with tears said, "Fine. Just this one time...only one time."

I hopped into the car and we drove towards Mr. Thompson's House. They dropped me near Mr. Thompson's house and as the car sped through the lane, I bid them farewell...perhaps not knowing it was the last.

Now, the ghost me followed my mum and dad as they drove through the lanes until they reached the Sonoran Desert, the desert that covers the southwest of Arizona and the southeast of California. How I recognized it so easily, you ask? The answer is that my parents always came here. They came here for vacation and on holidays. In fact, there was no other place I knew as well as the Sonoran Desert.

They switched cars from the entrance and entered the Sonoran desert. They raced towards the center of the desert. As we drove towards the inner part of the desert, I started to notice stranger things. There were buildings in the distance and since the buildings were made of glass, I took a quick glance at the equipment, astonishingly, all were complicated systems... But why did my parents not let me go with them? Wouldn't it be awesome if you told your friends that your parents were scientists working on a project...then why did they hid this from me? What secrets were they hiding? These thoughts started bouncing back and forth in my head as I followed them.

It seems that those buildings were actually high-tech research labs. I was amazed at seeing the numerous scientists there, working on a project. I did not have the leisure time to register all that. As soon as my mum and dad entered the lab, they entered a hidden elevator. By now, my mind was a soup of anger and excitement. With my ghostly skills, I flew towards the elevator. We entered an underground pavilion.

The scientists looked like there were scrutinizing a new element...a new blue-colored element. That element looked a lot like fire except that it was blue...blue fire?

"Reinhard, is the sample ready? It's been too long since you've been fiddling with that sample," rasped my father in a harsh tone.

When Reinhard turned, his face felt familiar to me. I tried to grasp my memory but my brain couldn't decipher the person. My mind went blank trying to think about him even though I knew that he was just at the brink of my memory.

Then my connection to the dream started to go haywire. The old man's distorted face came back. He spoke something but I couldn't hear what he was talking about. The vision shattered and I jolted awake.

"...will have to observe him for some time. His health is critical," acknowledged a young man's voice.

"He has to go. Ursus can guide him, that is the only way he will survive," retorted Chris. Only then, did they seem to know that I was awake.

'David,' Chris screamed, "Don't move an inch."

"But, why?" I mumbled, breathing heavily.

The young man scowled, "You are weak, lad. You need some energy before you hear the good news and the bad news."