I hope I haven't kept everyone waiting too long for a new chapter, but we all know you can't rush the creative process. While this did take a while, I did take the time to do a couple of edits on some of the past chapters. Chapter 2 and 5, specifically. This is a single-chapter story I decided to try and write. A follower suggested that I try another story featuring two time travelers, and this is what I got. I hope you enjoy it.
It was funny how she decided on this spot. Then again, a date should have something personal to make it that much more special. Like a certain song playing that only you and your friends would laugh about, leaving everyone else confused, or a certain movie that you're attached to and know every single line of it. This was both adorable and heartfelt.
As he sat on the bench near the playground, he could hear the people talking. It seemed a certain rumor was popping up again. "Rumor" wasn't exactly the right word for it, however. This was more of an urban legend that's apparently persisted for years.
"The Ghost Children of Sesame Park", people have taken to calling it. They say that some mornings, you can find bare feet tracks on the walkways from the wet morning grass, or find them trailing in the sand where the playground's set. No one knows who leaves them, as most of these tracks seem to end without any conceivable way of doing so. Some late night joggers have also reported hearing the voices of children coming from the empty playground, but finding nothing when they investigate. There is also the random articles of clothing left in random places; a pair of jeans in a bush, or a shirt left near the playground. Those are usually attributed to the homeless, however.
He listened to the various mothers talking about the legend, and all he can do is smile. He's heard the rumors before, and every time it's brought up, he has to laugh at himself. He knows what makes the tracks and what voices they're hearing. He should know; After all, they're all his doing.
Not entirely his doing, and not on purpose either. The tracks have long been trampled over, but he guesses that he, she or the both of them have been here recently on a travel. He never did keep track of the dates whenever he came here, as there was no way to tell what day it was in the park, only what time it was. Because of that, it was impossible to know how old either of them were when they were here the previous night. Or early morning. It was that hard to tell, he's been here so many times, both normally and as a traveler.
It was sometime after his 8th birthday. He had known himself to be a time traveler since he was five, and he had been quite accustomed to it at this point. It was no surprise to him whenever he felt that same light headed feeling at any point in the day that meant he'd be going somewhere. What was a surprise to him, however, was that he'd be standing in the middle of the park, staring into the face of a girl. A girl not only the same age as him, but as naked as he was. A very abrupt lesson on the anatomy of boys and girls was made that day.
Through this bonding moment, they struck up something of a relationship, almost always seeing each other when they traveled. He'd either find himself at her home, scrambling to find some clothes, or she'd suddenly appear in his room, excited to meet him.
And then there was Sesame Park. This was the place they would come to whenever they both traveled. Here, they would run to the closest place out of sight of anyone who might pass. Their favorite place to hide in was the gigantic turtle shell at the edge of the playground. It provided ideal shelter from the outside and made for a convenient secret base the two of them would share messages in. It was in this park they made many a fond memory. Their first meeting, their first kiss, and the first feel of a maturing teenager. He always gloated about getting that far with a girl to his friends, but none of them believed him. He didn't care what they thought. He was happy enough to have that memory than their jealousy.
One day, at his house, she made the suggestion. "I wanna meet for real!" She said. They were both 18 and in the thralls of intimacy when this suddenly came out. He had never given thought to the idea of finding each other. He was quite happy with getting to travel and knowing 9 times out of 10 that he'd be seeing her. But, as the idea continued to stew in his head, the better it sounded. As soon as he agreed, she had already set a date. Surprising to hear she already knew when to meet and where, he thought she had always had it in mind.
Now at age 20, the fated day was finally here. He thought to bring flowers, but he wasn't out to impress her. They already knew each other quite well, after all. It was enough to be able to see each other without the need to hide or find clothes. He wondered to himself just what they would do for their date. A nice lunch? Fun at the downtown arcade? A hearty dinner ending with a night of romance in a private hotel room? The possibilities were endless. But just as his thoughts began to run away with him, the sensation of his shoulder being poked broke him out of his imagination. And his seat.
As he sprung up, his head darted left to right. Whoever that was, he couldn't see them. He then had the idea to look behind him. Still no one, until he looked down. There stood a girl, dressed in shorts, a bright blue shirt, an accompanying short-sleeved jacket and flip-flops. A big smile decorated her face. "Hey, Benny!"
"Huh?" Ben blinked a couple of times. It took a moment to register who was talking to him. "Wendy?"
"Jeez, do I look that different with my hair done?" Wendy had her hair in one long braid, which Ben had to admit that he couldn't remember a time when she had her hair in such a way.
"Okay. That's real funny." Ben placed his hands at his hips. "Did you travel here and told the present you it'd be a fun idea to prank me?"
"Why would I get dressed up like this for a prank?" She seemed very confused. "Besides, the only traveling I did was in my mom's van."
"What?"
"This is the date we agreed on, right? To meet up."
"What?!"
"Shall we get on with our date?"
"WHAT?!"
For a few minutes after that discovery, Ben had to be led by Wendy's hand out of the park and into the nearest diner where they promptly took a booth. He was unresponsive and dead-eyed, until Wendy decided to smack her hand across his face. "Snap out of it, would you?"
"Sorry." Ben finally responded. "I'm still getting over the fact you're actually a little girl. How old are you, even?"
"Thirteen."
"Great. Just great." He burrowed his face into his hands.
"What are you mad about?" She propped her head on her hands. "This is awesome. I didn't think you'd grow up to look so handsome."
"Well, I admit it's not for lack of trying..." Ben was weak to compliments, but he immediately caught himself. "That's not the point! How did you even know when we were supposed to meet? I agreed on that when we were both 18!"
"She wrote it down for me. Duh!" She answered. "It's not my fault you never asked what year I was born."
Ben slammed his face into the table. How, in all the years they knew each other, did he never bother to ask what year she was born? It felt like so long ago that he'd seen her this young, and now if he wanted anything normal with her, he'd have to wait a very long time. She, in the meantime, looked like she was having the time of her life. He did have to admit, that if things were the other way around, he'd be just as excited to see her as a beautiful woman. Not that he doesn't know already that she grows up to look amazing. Speaking of which...
"Did older you ever mention anything about this date?" He decided to ask.
"She only mentioned when it would be." Wendy was enjoying her soda. "She told me that knowing too much of the future would just make life boring. Didn't you ever talk to your older self when you were little?"
"I have, but only up to my high school years." Ben sighed. "Anything else was either family related or you." He had a thought. "When was the last time you saw me, anyway?"
"Last week. You fell in my aunt's jacuzzi."
"Oh yeah, I remember that. You told her I was a friend from school who came over while she was away shopping." Ben laughed. "I never traveled there before. I was scared she was going to come closer and find out I wasn't wearing bathing trunks."
"She wouldn't stop bugging me about you. She kept asking if you were my boyfriend after you left."
"So what'd you tell her?"
"I put up an act and told her I was too embarrassed to talk about it. That got her off my back."
"That's good. I'm sure it would be hard to explain to her that you and me time travel." Another thought crossed Ben's mind. "What about your folks?"
"What do you mean?"
"No parent just drops off their barely teenage daughter to meet with a stranger. What'd you tell them?"
"That I was meeting with a friend from school."
"And they just let you be?" An idea like this baffled Ben.
"Well, when you can survive being dropped in places you don't know buck naked, your parents tend to believe that you can take care of yourself." Wendy stretched her arms. "Didn't your parents cut you some slack after learning about your time traveling?"
"My dad insisted I learn how to make a campfire just in case I wound up in the woods. Mom stopped him when she brought up that if I disappeared before putting the fire out, it would start a wildfire. So far, the worst place I've been to has been the neighbor's house in the middle of the night."
"How was that the worst?"
"They have a big dog. And he wasn't friendly." He sighed. He didn't bother to ask her what her worst experience was. He already knew: When she was 15, she found herself on the freeway and nearly got hit by a car. Not only did she have to carefully get away from the speeding vehicles, she also couldn't afford to trust anyone who stopped to see if she needed help. She hid until she went back, where he was waiting, having just traveled to her house. He held her for the longest time, understanding at that point what kind of danger he could be in. "Hey." He said finally.
"What?"
"Is this really okay? I mean, with you being younger than me."
Wendy seemed to be thinking the idea over in her head. "Is it okay with you?" She finally asked.
"It's certainly not what I had in mind when you told me about meeting in the first place. I thought we'd be able to have a normal relationship. One where we didn't need to depend on traveling to see each other."
"Who says we can't?"
"The laws of a good percent of the world. You want me arrested?" He raised his voice.
"Hey, my folks taught me about stranger danger after I got back the first time." Wendy replied sharply. "You're not a stranger to me, anyway. I'll tell them that you're the boy who keeps dropping in."
"You told them about me?"
"They always want me telling them what I saw. I couldn't lie to them about you." She played with her braid. "I met a boy who could do the same thing as me. Why would I keep quiet about that?"
"They didn't flip out after a boy saw you naked?" Ben joked.
"No. Why?"
"Nevermind." He answered nervously. Of course she wouldn't care too much about something like that. Her parents had likely accepted the fact that she'd always go without her clothes, so the event probably didn't rattle them too much. This fact did register as a positive that Ben would have to keep in mind. Maybe introducing himself formerly to her parents wouldn't turn out so bad after all. But that would have to wait for later. For now, their lunch was finished, and they had the rest of the day to spend together. But what would he do now that his date wasn't what he thought it would be? "So...what do you wanna do now? Can't exactly call this a date, so we don't have too many options."
"How about...we go to the arcade?" Wendy had the biggest smile on her face. "Is that an option?"
"Yeah, that's fine. That's actually a place I wanted to take you, whatever age you might have turned out."
The arcade was only a couple blocks away. It was quite the popular little location, as Ben remembered it from back when he was a little boy. During the walk there, Wendy insisted that Ben hold her hand. He was hesitant, but tried to make the best of it.
Many of the machines in the arcade required some form of physical activity, which wasn't exactly Ben's strong suit. His preference steered towards either the seated racing games or the fighting games. Competition was always a matter of importance to him, time traveling affliction be damned.
"See anything you want to play? I'll pay for change if you don't have anything." Ben suggested as they stood just off of the entrance.
"I see a couple of things. But I have a different idea." Wendy answered.
"What's that?"
"How about you win me something from one of the claw machines? That's what a guy does for a girl on a date, doesn't he?"
"This isn't a date!" He shouted. He got a couple of looks from passersby, mostly from the fact that he was loud. "We can't call this a date if you're not even close to eighteen."
"But you know me when I'm that old!" She responded in kind.
"But you're not that old right now, are you?"
"So what?" Wendy crossed her arms. "That shouldn't change anything, should it?"
"It doesn't..." Ben's speed winded down. "It shouldn't...but do you think anyone else is gonna think that we're dating because we time travel? If people saw us kissing like boyfriend and girlfriend, they're going to see me as someone dangerous."
"But you're not dangerous! You're the sweetest guy I know!"
"Exactly! But what about everyone else?"
"I don't care about everyone else!" She waved her arms about. "I lo..." She was suddenly cut short, and Ben was left staring as her clothes dropped to the floor. Acting on instinct, he scooped the clothes up in his arms and ran to the nearest restroom.
Sitting in one of the stalls, Ben was mentally beating himself up over what just happened. He couldn't believe he just got into such an argument. The whole time, he was panicked about what people would think about him walking around with a love struck girl. Now, here he was, sitting in a bathroom stall, holding said girl's clothes. If he wasn't panicked then, he was certainly in full panic mode now.
"What am I gonna do now?" He wondered aloud. How would he explain to anyone if they saw him at this moment? He tried his best to keep his mind calm, reminding himself that if he got too worked up, he'd wind up traveling as well. If that happened, there really would be trouble! Taking in deep breaths, he mulled over his options. If there was a way he could get Wendy's clothes out of the place without them being seen, he could get back to his car and wait for her to come back. One fact that he and Wendy always remembered is that no matter where they were when they disappeared, they'd always come back to wherever their items or someone who could help was. His car was a private enough place that he wouldn't have to worry about anyone seeing them. That part of the plan was clear, how to get there was another question entirely.
Since he couldn't find any methods in the stall he was in, he tried his luck to see if there was anything he could use and opened the stall door. Nobody else was in the bathroom, much to his relief, and it didn't sound like anyone was coming in. How much time he had to figure something out before someone could walk in, he couldn't answer, so he still had to work fast. One option that came to him was hiding her clothes in the trash. But she was mad enough at him as it was, and stuffing her clothes in the trash would just make things worse. The trash can was a no. He frantically looked around for another place, since he couldn't risk going outside, when he spotted something in one of the other stalls. In the largest stall was the baby changing table, left open by the last person who used it. An idea struck him: If he can fit her clothes flatly on the table and be able to close it, that would buy him enough time to find something to conceal and carry her clothes.
Handling the clothes gently, he pressed them as flat as he could. He thanked the fact she wore flip flops today, since those would be flat enough to fit. He quickly folded the table up and clicked it shut against the wall. He waited a couple of seconds to make sure the clothes wouldn't fall out, then left as soon as he was assured they wouldn't with a relieved sigh. The clerk at the counter didn't ask why Ben needed a bag, which suited him just fine. It was big enough that not only could he fit the clothes in the bag, but he could also tie up the top so no one could look in it. Walking out from the bathroom, he started to remember how angry Wendy was before she vanished. He knew he had to do something in case she was still upset with him when she came back. He stopped in front of the machines, and had an idea.
The parking garage was a shorter distance from the arcade than from the park, so it wasn't that much of a walk. Holding the bag of Wendy's clothes in one hand and a giant stuffed rabbit in his other arm did make the journey a little difficult, however. This was fine as far as Ben was concerned. He certainly deserved this. He hoped this was enough, and that Wendy still liked cute things like the stuffed animal he got. He also began to become concerned with the fact that it was getting close to sundown, and she still had yet to show up.
Once he came up to his car, he noticed something different from how he left it. In the rear driver-side window, he could see a pair of bare legs laying across the backseat. Wendy had apparently come back inside his car and was keeping out of sight. She was face down, and the windows were up, so she didn't hear him coming at all. He placed her bag on top of the car and knocked on the window. Wendy immediately sprang up and covered herself with her arms, but then looked like she was relieved to see him, if only briefly, before she looked down with a look that spelled guilt.
Ben opened the driver's door. "You haven't been here too long, have you?" He asked as he stuck his head into the car. Wendy shook her head. "Here. Your clothes are in there." He brought the bag down and tossed it into the backseat. "Also...this is for you." She finally noticed the rabbit he was carrying.
Her face changed to one of surprise as she grabbed the rabbit and held it close. "Why...?"
"You said you wanted me to win you something, didn't you?" Ben settled into the driver's seat. "Figured I'd do something to say sorry for the way I acted."
"You're not mad at me?"
"You nearly gave me a heart attack, but I'm not mad. I was just...too worked up about how we looked to other people, and I took that out on you. I should've just let it go and try to enjoy the day, but I couldn't. I was still trying to get over my disappointment that you weren't closer to my age."
"So you do hate it. That I'm still a little girl." She said, her voice breaking slightly.
"Yeah, it's a real bummer." He admitted. "But you know something?"
"What?"
"We already know you grow up to be a beautiful woman. I saw you grow as I did, and I enjoyed every moment of that. The way I see it, I already know what you're like as an adult, so I have something to look forward to." Ben breathed deep. "If you don't mind, we could hang out more. No date stuff, obviously, but we can still go see a movie or something. Would that be okay?"
"Yeah..." She answered. "I can deal with that."
"Great. Now put your clothes on and come up front."
Wendy looked down at herself and blushed. She quickly got dressed and climbed into the passenger seat. "What now, Ben?"
"What movie do you wanna see? I think we can still catch the matinee prices."
"There's one thing I wanna see. That new action flick!"
"Good choice. It is rated ages 13 and up." Ben joked, only to see Wendy grousing. "What? I can't get one joke in?"
"Maybe I should call the cops." Wendy turned her head away. "Your jokes are so bad, it's illegal."
"Sorry. Would you forgive me?"
"Only if you get me a jumbo soda and popcorn." She grinned.
"But that's like ten bucks for the set, you little..." He grumbled. "Fine."
"Thank you. Also..." She leaned up to him and kissed him on the cheek. "Thanks...for staying."
"Of course." Ben replied, rubbing his cheek and starting the car. "The best things are worth waiting for."
I think I did well, getting all the elements together and making something good. Next time, I think I'll be touching up on the "Five Souls" story, so you can look forward to that. As always, any questions or comments are welcome through the reviews.
