Time and Time Again
-O-
DISCLAIMER: I am not connected to Emmerdale and its characters, which belong to ITV
-O-
It was cold out. Aaron hunched his shoulders against the biting wind as he traipsed through the woods, hood up to protect him from the chill breeze. He could hear the leaves rustling in the trees above him; and some of those leaves were beginning to fall in the autumnal air. How easy it would be to just lie down beneath one of the trees and let the cold evening air envelope him, cover him with dead leaves and let the cold air gnaw away at his bones until he ceased to exist. But, that's not what Jackson would have wanted! Jackson; the only man he had ever loved. Aaron did not know what he was doing here; he had just started walking from the village and suddenly found himself in this place. His mind had been racing; Jackson was still there in his thoughts, even now, months after the tragic day that he had lost everything.
He had reached a small clearing and he stopped. He knew this place, yet there was an old, ramshackle shed right in the middle of the space which he had never seen before. How did it get here? As he approached the shed slowly, a surreal feeling came over him, he put his hand out to touch the old, rusty handle on the door of the shed; but he withdrew it quickly...he was sure the handle was vibrating! How could that be?
As Aaron stood there, he became aware of a faint humming, an unearthly sound which did not belong with the sound of the rustling leaves. He was about to turn and leave, but his curiosity got the better of him and he grasped the handle again. He now had confirmation that it was indeed vibrating. He pulled the door, but it seemed shut tight. So, then he pushed and suddenly fell headlong through the doorway and into a large room which was bathed in light! Aaron blinked and shook his head. How could this be the inside of the shed? A console, with a bank of instruments, sat in the centre of the room; with a strange, circular glass object slowly rising and falling in the middle. But, the weirdest thing of all was the elderly man standing at the console. The long grey hair put him in mind of his late grandfather, Shadrach, but this man was much more smartly attired than his old relative ever was! The old man looked up in surprise at Aaron's sudden appearance.
"What the...?" Aaron gasped.
The old man looked Aaron up and down, "That's not right! I set a course for Metabelius Three! You're from Earth, aren't you?"
"What are you on about?" Aaron looked directly at the man, "Who are you? Where am I?"
"You're on board my ship, young man!" replied the stranger.
"Ship?" Aaron still looked shell-shocked, "What do you mean...ship?"
"You haven't answered my question yet! Are we on Earth?"
Aaron was losing his patience, "This is doing my head in! Are you mad?"
The old man looked irritated, "Young man! Are you incapable of answering a simple question? Never mind, you've already answered it! Only a human could behave in such a way! This is definitely Earth! How did you get in here?"
"Through the door!" Aaron said, wondering why the man was asking such a daft question! "You still haven't told me where I am!"
"Yes I have! You're on board my ship!"
"But this is an old shed!" Aaron felt like pinching himself; he was sure that he was dreaming or had sustained a blow to the head.
"Ah!" the old man replied, as if he had just solved a riddle, "It may look like an old shed from the outside, but that's just the chameleon circuit. It blends in with its surroundings, you see!" He spoke in a matter-of-fact way, as if Aaron should comprehend without a problem!
"Look, whoever you are; are you going to tell me where I am?" Aaron looked increasingly annoyed.
"I've told you, on board..."
"...Your ship! Yeah, I've heard that one before! What ship, where does it go?"
"Anywhere and everywhere!" the old man spoke with pride, "I have all of space and time at my disposal!"
"Time? You travel through time?" Aaron stood with his mouth open.
The old man chuckled, "That's the trouble with Earth people; the concept of time travel is so alien to them."
"Look!" Aaron was getting bored with the conversation now, "I don't know why you've parked yourself here in these woods to play out your weird fantasies, but I've had enough! I'm off!"
Aaron made for the door but it was shut tight. He pushed and pulled, but it would not budge.
He turned to look at the old man again, "You can't keep me here; there's laws against this sort of thing, you know!"
The old man chortled, "My dear young man! I'm not keeping you here! But, if you were to walk through those doors now, even if you could, you'd be vaporised in an instant!"
"What do you mean?" Aaron scratched his head.
"We're in a time-warp!" the old man explained, "You'll have to wait until we land again!"
"Land? But I was walking through the woods! You're some sort of crank!"
The old man looked insulted, "Young man, I assure you I'm not a 'crank', as you so delicately put it! We're travelling through space and time."
Aaron could see that the old man believed every word he was saying and he had an idea, so he decided to humour him. "OK, prove it!"
"What?"
"If what you say is true, you could take me back to the year 2010, couldn't you?"
"Yes, but why then?"
"Never mind, can you do it...or not?"
The old man began fiddling with the controls on the console, "Yes, I can land back where we just came from; in a different time. Is that what you want?"
"Can I pick a date?" Aaron asked, still not believing a word of it.
"What date do you have in mind?" the old man felt that he was getting through to Aaron.
"Let me see...October it was; I think it was the 6th!" Aaron screwed up his eyes in concentration, "Yeah, 6th October, 2010!"
The old man once more set to work, adjusting his instruments. Aaron stifled a laugh; it really looked as if this silly old sod believed in his own outrageous story!
Aaron felt a slight vibration and then the old man flicked a switch to open the door. "There you are!" he said, triumphantly, "Back where we were, but on 6th October, 2010!"
Aaron walked through the door to be greeted by bright sunshine! When he had entered the shed, it had been dark; but now, it was broad daylight. He rubbed his eyes in disbelief and, as he did so, he heard a strange whirring sound behind him. He turned to look again at the old shed; but it had vanished!
"Livesy!" he scolded himself, "You really need to take more water with it!"
Aaron trudged back towards home. The events of the past hour or so kept running through his mind. He thought about the strange old man, "There's more out than there are in!" he thought to himself, "There really are some weird people around..."
As Aaron entered the village, he stopped dead in his tracks. There, outside Dale Head, was Jackson's van! The very same van that he had seen smashed to smithereens! Aaron did a double-take; surely the old man was not for real! Surely he had not been transported back to the past! He walked up the path to Dale Head in a trance; he had to see if his beloved Jackson was still alive!
He opened the door of Dale Head with trepidation, his heart pounding, his mouth dry. He almost collapsed when he saw Jackson crouching underneath the sink in the kitchen; everything was the same as the last time he had called on his boyfriend in this place on that fateful day.
Jackson looked up and spoke to the young mechanic, "Back again?" he said with a little smile. Jackson rose to his feet to face Aaron, "It's only half an hour since you left; you haven't changed your mind about tonight already, have you?"
"What?" Aaron stood, open-mouthed; he still did not believe what was happening.
"Tonight?" Jackson had a quizzical look on his face, "Our night out?"
Aaron tried to pull himself together. He looked at the gorgeous vision in front of him; had he really been sent back to 6th October, 2010? It was looking for all the world like he had! "What's the date?" he asked.
Jackson looked at Aaron and raised one eyebrow, "Why? Double-booked in your diary, am I?"
Aaron, still unable to comprehend what was happening, suddenly threw his arms around Jackson and hugged him close; almost crushing the breath out of Jackson's body!
"Hey! What's come over you?" Jackson said, shocked at the sudden display of affection.
Aaron pulled back to stare into Jackson's eyes; still holding onto him. He realised that the strange old man had been telling the truth all along! Somehow, miraculously, he had been given a second chance! He made up his mind, there and then, not to screw up again! "Oh Jackson! I love you! Really, I do! I've been an idiot!"
Jackson eyed him suspiciously, "You're not just saying this are you? Don't say it because I told you that I love you and you think you have to say it back!"
Aaron's tears began to run down his cheeks, "No, Jackson, I'm not just saying it! You once told me that I'd know when it happened..."
"I don't remember saying that..."
Aaron thought about it; if he really had been pushed back in time then Jackson had not said that yet! He looked steadily into the big brown eyes that he loved with all his heart, "I know!" he said, enigmatically, "But all that matters right now is that I know how I feel and I've got to tell you! I love you, Jackson!"
Jackson was moved. He had never known Aaron lay his heart on the line before and it touched him deeply. He knew that Aaron was the love of his life and he had believed that the young mechanic did not love him back. Now he knew differently as he stared into those beautiful blue eyes; they held a truth; a simple honesty that could not be denied.
They moved together and kissed; their first kiss as two people who knew that they were in love with each other.
As they broke apart, Aaron continued to stare into Jackson's eyes, which were also now moist with the emotion of the moment.
"Let's not go out tonight," Aaron whispered, "Paddy and Marlon are going out on the town; we can have the place to ourselves...to talk; privately. I don't want you driving your van; not tonight!"
"Why not?" asked Jackson.
"Don't ask!" Aaron put his finger to Jackson's lips, "Just trust me on this one, OK?"