JACOB

A man slowly approaches me with a look of satisfaction. There's something familiar about him even though we've never met before. He's tall and broad shouldered. He has large hands like my father's. His eyes are unsettling, inspecting me as if he knows who I am. There's something in his face that also reminds me of my father. He looks tired.

And, for some reason, I feel nervous.

"Hello, Jacob," he says in a commanding voice.

I eye him suspiciously. "Uh... Hi."

"Do you know who I am?"

"Mr. Boothe?"

He smiles, slowly nodding his head. "Yes."

A gunshot rings from somewhere inside the house. It makes me jump. "What was that?"

"It's nothing," he states calmly.

I narrow my eyes. Cale told me that Mr. Boothe is a good guy. He said that I'm not a prisoner, I'm not held against my will. But when I look at Mr. Boothe, I don't feel safe. I don't feel like a guest. It occurs to me that Cale could have been lying. I mean, does a good guy really need to say that he's a 'good guy'?

"You don't need to be afraid. I'm not going to hurt you," Mr. Boothe says in a surprisingly comforting tone.

I shake my head, trying to calm my breath. "I'm not... I'm not afraid."

"Jacob," he says slowly. He kneels down so we are at eye level. Looking into his eyes makes me feel uncomfortable, but he draws me in with his question.

"Do you know why you are here?"

Silence hangs between us when I do not respond.

"Then allow me to tell you..."

The car comes to a stop.

Mom and Dad are in another argument.

"Nancy, you are the dumbest person in the world," Dad says under his breath.

"Excuse me?" Mom retaliates. "What did you say?"

"I said: you're stupid!"

I look outside of the window. All of my classmates are getting dropped off by their parents on their first day of kindergarten like me. Unlike them, though, I'm not especially excited about it. Why do they get to have happy Moms and Dads? Why aren't their parents fighting like mine are?

They get hugs and kisses from their Moms and Dads. I get a scary fight.

"We were late getting here because of you. He's going to be late to his first day of school because of you."

"Shut up, Daniel."

I quietly press the big red button on my seat belt. It zips across me with a loud click. I look at Mom and Dad and then to my school.

"Mom?" I ask.

"You don't have an ounce of intelligence in your entire body, do you? I mean, how stupid do you have to be to forget where you put your phone?"

"Just shut up, Daniel! I don't want to hear it."

"Can I go outside now?" I ask.

"You never do anything right-"

"Oh, I forgot! You're so perfect! You never do anything wrong, do you?"

When they do not answer, I unlock the door and push it open. I take a few steps before I turn back to them.

"Bye, Mom. Bye, Dad."

They are still fighting. When they don't say anything back, I turn away and walk towards my class.

Mr. Boothe tells me about a memory. A memory of when he was thirteen years old, when he went on a family trip with his parents and they told him they were getting a divorce.

Images of the Willis Tower flash in front of my eyes. I see my parents, their faces are locked in sadness. My father's eyes are pained, but when he says divorce I feel the weight of the word all over again. I see Amber as she holds me in the supply closet. She says that everything is going to be okay. As the earthquake tears through the building, she says: Everything is going to be alright.

"I was completely alone," he relates. "A freak disaster and there was no one to help me... But in all of the chaos, I realized that I was the one who caused the earthquake."

He was the one who caused the earthquake?

"That was the day my powers manifested, Jacob," he says just above a whisper. "It came with a cost, though... Both of my parents were killed."

My mouth is still open. I lick my lips because they are dry. "This happened to you when you were thirteen?" I say quietly.

"It sounds familiar, doesn't it?"

"Yes," I nod in amazement. "All of it... but how?"

He stands up again, taking a deep breath as he does. "Because my parents were your parents. My life is your life."

"How is that possible?"

"I'm you... thirty years from now."

His words hang dryly in the air, unable to go anywhere else. I'm completely confused. Everything he says is familiar because it basically happened to me, but the reason why is ridiculous.

"You're from the future?" I ask skeptically.

"Yes."

"And... you've traveled back in time."

He smiles and nods his head. He knows I don't believe him.

I hear his words, but they don't make any sense. He looks so certain but I can't help but think: Time Travel is something out of a movie. It's not real life. "Do you expect me to believe this?"

"Is it really that hard to believe? Everything I've said is true, isn't it?"

"Yeah, sort of," I say hesitantly. I'm still unconvinced. "But you said that I have powers. I don't have powers."

He smirks. "Are you sure about that?"

As much as I want to nod my head, I can't. Am I sure? I don't know anymore.

"You're special, Jacob. You just don't know it yet."

I shake my head. "I've never been special."

"I know," he says understandably. "I know that feeling of invisibility. That feeling of being forgotten. Do you remember the moment your father told you they were getting a divorce?"

I cringe. I hate that moment.

"That was the moment I realized that my parents never cared about me. They never wanted me, they never loved me. All of the smiles that day, the nicknames, the fake sense of happiness. It was a lie."

My shoulders fall back. He knows exactly how I feel. Is that enough evidence to make me believe his story? Even if I do believe him, he was the one who caused the earthquake when he was my age; that means I was the one who caused the earthquake yesterday.

"But... I can't destroy a building with my mind," I say out loud.

He gives me an amused smirk. "You're stronger than you think."

"I want to believe you," I whisper, "but Time Travel isn't real. It's from comic books and movies..."

"I sent my men to the morgue, not to Willis Tower. If I wasn't from the future, how else could I know where to find you?"

I shake my head. "I don't know."

Mr. Boothe takes a seat next to me on the couch. "I know this must be hard for you to understand, you've been through a lot. But I'm telling you the truth and I need you to believe me."

"Why?"

"Because unless you change your life now, you are going kill millions of people."

"What?"

"You're going to abuse your power-"

"No..."

"Believe it, Jacob." He sighs heavily. "You become a villain."

A villain?

"But," I say out loud, "that means... you're the villain."

"Yes. I was... But I've been here a long time and I've learned a lot. I've repented and I've thought about how to right my wrongs." He places his hand on my shoulder, "And this is the way to do it. This is my purpose." He pauses. "I can help you become the hero that you truly deserve to be."

"But-"

"Jacob. You are the only one who can change everything."

"Don't move!"

I turn my head to see Sarah. She has her gun aimed at Mr. Boothe. What is she doing here?

"Don't move, Boothe, I mean it-"

A gunshot rings throughout the house. I jump in fright. Mr. Boothe lowers his hand, smoke slowly rises from the barrel of his pistol. "I thought Cale got rid of her," he growls under his breath. "She's really getting on my nerves."

She grunts in pain. I look back to her. Sarah leans against the wall and slides down to the floor, holding onto her shoulder. The gun hangs loosely at her side. She looks too weak to defend herself.

I turn to Mr. Boothe. "What... what the hell was that?" I stammer.

Mr. Boothe looks at me. "In order for this to work, Jacob, we need to have complete anonymity."

"But you shot her!"

He dismisses my comment and walks over to where she lays.

"What are you doing?"

"She's a necessary casualty."

How can he say that he's a good guy? How can he justify this?

I watch in horror as he approaches her with his gun drawn.

"What are you doing?" I yell again. "You can't kill her!"

Sarah glances at me weakly. Her eyes roll back before her head falls to the side.

"Look at her!" I point frantically. "She's fainting. She needs help."

"You don't understand, Jacob," he responds coldly. "I'm doing this to protect us."

To protect us? How is killing Sarah going to protect us? I don't understand. He said that he isn't a villain anymore. He told me that he wants to help me from turning into a villain... but this isn't how it works, this isn't what a hero does. It doesn't matter if his intentions are good. Killing is wrong.

I don't want to become the villain. I don't want to turn into him.

I won't become him.

"You can't kill her!" I yell.

Just as I finish my sentence, an overwhelming surge explodes out of me. I don't feel any pain, but it's so powerful I scream to release the pressure. It's the feeling I had when Amber and I were trapped in the closet, and the result is the same. The entire mansion shakes.

I sit still as it quickly passes through. Was that me?

Mr. Boothe turns. "Do you believe me now?"

I feel cold.

I look at my hands. I can't stop shaking. A tingling sensation rushes through my entire body and leaves me feeling lightheaded. Slowly, I stand up. My legs are weak, but I force myself through it. "What... what was that?"

His eyes pick at me. "You know what that was."

Power, I think.

I breathe in slowly as the feeling slowly returns to my fingers.

Mr. Boothe turns around and points his gun at Sarah again.

"Stop!" I yell again. I push my hands in front of myself.

"You're gonna try and stop me?" he states calmly. "You don't know what you're doing."

"I... I know that you shouldn't kill her... that's what I know."

"What are you going to do? Destroy the house? Kill everyone inside?"

I shake my head. I have no idea what I'm doing, but I have to stop him. "Why do you have to kill her?"

"People like us... we don't get second chances with people like her. If I let her go, she'll pursue us. I need to kill her."

"You can't!" I scream. The sensation returns but this time it's stronger. It's the same feeling, as if something is trying to burst out of me. I open my hands and release it.

The walls crack. The mansion trembles. I fall to my knees, completely exhausted. The room spins as I try to catch my breath. I'm still lightheaded from the first one.

Mr. Boothe shakes his head. "You couldn't possibly understand right now..."

I look up. "Please, don't do it."

The door behind him opens. Is that Amber? I think to myself.

"But you will. Everything I'm doing is for you."

"Don't do it," I plea.

"I'm sorry, but this needs to be done."

Another gun shot.

My mouth hangs open in shock.

Mr. Boothe drops his pistol. He stumbles backwards.

Amber stands in the doorway with a pistol of her own.

My hands shake. My mind goes blank.

Mr. Boothe falls onto his hands and knees.

We look into each others eyes, our piercing blue eyes. It is at that moment I realize why he looks so familiar, why he reminds me so much of my father. He has the same look of sadness, a pain so deep it defines him.

"Jacob," he mutters softly. "This doesn't change anything. You... you still have a choice... Don't become the villain."

He grimaces and hangs his head. Slowly, he grabs his stomach. He coughs as blood slowly drops through his fingers onto the tiled flooring. When he collapses, I don't have anything to say. I remain on the floor, trying to process everything that has happened, completely dumbfounded.

I'm in the back of my Dad's truck, looking up at the night sky. I'm between them underneath a big blanket. Mom reaches down and pulls the blanket closer to my nose before she snuggles closer to me.

"Mom," I say with an embarrassed sigh. "Not so close."

"But your my favorite son."

I chuckle. "I'm your only son."

"All the more reason to snuggle!"

Dad laughs as he puts his big hand on my head. He messes up my hair.

I look at him and smile. I like this moment. I'm happy.

Dad says that once a year he and Mom want to take me on a family vacation. This is the second one. It's not particularly exciting, but this moment is good. It doesn't happen often, but every once in a while, Mom and Dad will stop fighting long enough to enjoy something. They're doing it now. They aren't fighting.

"Did you see that one, Jay?" Dad whispers.

I look up as a shooting star flies across the black canvas. "Whoa."

"That was cool, wasn't it?" Mom says to me.

"Yeah."

A cold breeze whips the blanket off of us. Shivering, I put my hands together and rub them for some heat. Mom quickly recovers the blanket and puts it back over us. Without thinking, I take both of their hands into mine and put them together.

Dad takes a deep breath and pulls his hand away, instead putting it over my shoulders. Mom clears her throat and readjusts her seat.

My eyes feel like lead. It's late and I'm tired.

"Good night," I say quietly.

"Good night," they say back.

"Jacob," Amber says to me.

I snap out of my daze. "What?"

"Are you okay?"

Too much has happened. I can hardly process my own thoughts.

"It's okay," she says softly, giving me a hug. "Everything is going to be fine. I'm here now."

Instinctively, I hug her back. And I don't let go. Amber always knows how to make me feel safe. She always seems to be one who protects me. It seems like it's been forever since we've seen each other. I know it's only been a day but, in all of the commotion, I forgot how much I miss her.

She steps back and gives me a reassuring smile. "I'm gonna go check on Sarah. I'll be back to check on you."

I nod my head as she leaves.

"Hey," she whispers to her. "Are you okay?"

Sarah stirs.

Amber lightly slaps her in the face. "Hey, you okay?"

Her eyes snap open, surprised by the rude awakening. She looks around and sees Mr. Boothe on the floor. "What happened?"

"I... I killed him," Amber replies. "But how are you feeling?"

"I'll live," she responds, grabbing her shoulder again.

"I know you told me not to do anything..."

Sarah shakes her head. "You did the right thing... I guess that's twice you've saved my life."

Amber smiles happily. "Let's just call it even. So what are you going to do now?"

Sarah sighs and pulls out her cell phone. She dials a number. "Dispatch. This is Agent Sarah White," she says. "We need a team down at the Boothe Mansion, ASAP."

Amber takes a long breath to mentally compose herself. She looks at me. She smiles to let me know that it's over. After the earthquake, my parent's death, after being kidnapped, the nightmare is over. And I believe her.

It's finally done.