Chapter 48 – Tough Decisions
Andy just wanted to hear how they could possibly make the right choices quickly with no consequences. How do you die, exactly?" Andy asked for a second time, hoping that Arthur would answer. He wanted to know if he or Kayce would die. As much as he wanted to despise his companion, he has come too actually like her.
"Alice told me I would help you make things right and then die and it wouldn't be until my visitors were ready to restore time. I have to help you right time and we all have to make a couple visits first before it is fully restored. Each of you have to make some tough decisions in order to make things right."
"Yes, but how do you exactly die?" Andy pressed.
Arthur sighed and then answered, "I have been avoiding the vampires for most of my life. I have been successful, but it has taken its toll on me. I stopped traveling through time and space when I was in my late 30s and settled down in a home with a little assistance, I assume from Alice, and it wasn't until I was old and frail that I saw her again. You see, I never receive visitors, so when my nurse announced a visitor that alarmed me. I almost ran, but I felt like my life was practically over and I stayed and waited for whomever showed up, come what may. Alice was there, looking the same as when we were back in the asylum. She was very beautiful, you know. She told me she had a vision that involved me and that I was to help you two and that I would die as a result. My time travel was painful, but I did it anyway. At first it was to see places and experience things I may never have before." He smiled when he saw the amazement in Kayce's eyes. "I have seen the pyramids of Egypt, The Leaning Tower of Pisa, Stonehenge, The Great Wall of China, The Colosseum, The Grand Canyon and Machu Picchu. I figured I would see the world and its wonders while escaping from vampires and the asylum. I didn't start to realize that my time travel was slowly killing me. By the time I was in my late 30s I settled down and stopped using my ability, until now. When time stopped, just as Alice had predicted, I went back in time to visit myself and to give myself a warning. I went to the future to see if you were able to fix things on your own and saw that was not the case. Using my ability like this is draining me and when we restore time, it will take my life." When he saw the scared look on his visitor's faces, he waved them off. "I'm old; it's my time to go. I'm ready for the next great journey. I have to use all of my power to restore the entire planet with you and that exertion will kill me. I have lived a long and fulfilling life. Do not worry for me. Now, you both have decisions to make.
"Decisions?" Kayce inquired. "What kind of decisions?"
Arthur stared at Kayce for a few heartbeats and then said, "Well, you my dear keep traveling to another dimension. I suppose you have loved ones there, your parents perhaps?"
It was as if he could see through the veil of strength she put out there for the world to see and saw the scared, confused girl she really was where her parents were concerned. "Yes, how did you know?" Her eyebrows furrowed and she felt as if she were under a microscope.
"I have been to the future, a future with a different outcome. You and your companion were unable to make things right and you killed her, Andy. You resisted her blood for months, but eventually your starvation won out. You both left a letter in the case that anyone ever unfroze to know your story. It is all chronicled here." Arthur leaned forward and moved his food tray that was stashed on the roll-away table. Underneath was a letter that appeared to be a few pages in length. With quivering hands he handed over the letter. The letter was written in Andy's handwriting. Kayce stood up and walked over to Andy and peered over his arm to read the letter. Andy had finished the first page and she reached her hand out and kept him from removing the page while she tried to finish more quickly. She nodded and Andy flipped the page. By the time they were done reading, they both held similar looks of feeling sick. Sick that they couldn't fix what they had done and that he had killed her savagely in his starved state.
"All of the information you have just read, you supplied me. If I do not intervene and help you all will be lost for everyone. Kayce, you have the opportunity to bring your parents to this dimension and Andy, you have to decide if you want to go back through time and not become a vampire."
"But my parents know nothing of my ability or vampires or anything supernatural. How can I explain it all, turn their lives upside down and have them understand?" Kayce said with a hurt look in her eyes. Her shoulders were tense and her stomach was turning.
"I'm giving you the opportunity to think about it, weigh your options and make a decision," Arthur said softly, moving his gaze to Andy.
"Andy, you need to decide if you want to go back in time to before you were turned into a vampire and prevent it from ever happening. I know from your letter that you miss your mother and friends. You can change that and avoid the vampires from finding you like I did."
"How can I go back and do that? We can travel through time in the present, but not go backward in time," Andy argued.
"You can't do that alone, but I can and I will help you if that is what you want," Arthur said. Andy appeared stunned by his words, shifting his stance uncomfortably. "It's a lot to take in, I understand, but this is important. Let me explain some things to better help you make your decisions." Arthur pointed to the little dresser located at the opposite side of the room. "Can you please get my clothes so I can get out of this hospital gown?" Kayce smiled and stood up quickly, making her way to the dresser and opened up the top drawer with a loud squeak. She pulled out a pair of trousers with suspenders and a cotton long-sleeved shirt and a bowler cap. She made her way back to the bed and set the clothing down on Arthur's lap.
He had begun to undress slowly. Once his gown was pulled away from his chest and arms, Kayce turned around to give the elderly man some semblance of privacy. To Kayce's surprise, Andy made his way over to Arthur and he helped him dress.
"That's better. I feel like a new man already. The reason I had Alice bring you here is that the two of you meeting has stopped time itself." He shifted his gaze between the two and plowed right on through with his point. "How many times have you encountered one another?"
Kayce and Andy looked at each other and Andy answered. "At least three times, maybe more if you count after time has stopped." They both looked away from each other in separate directions feeling guilty.
"You both need to stay as far away from each other as possible. This means FOREVER. The next time, time will stop and I won't be here to help you restart it."
Kayce's mouth had gotten all cottony and felt like it took her forever to finally speak. "So...is it just us being in the same room causing this or is it us using our powers?"
Arthur smiled when he realized she was catching on. "I believe that it is when you use your powers together in the same space. When you both use your powers it ripples the fabric of time, if you will, and when you both use your powers in the same place at the same time, it makes that ripple even bigger and makes it harder to return back to normal." Arthur just waited for a verbal response and then kept right on talking. "I believe it is counterproductive for you to be in the same space using your abilities. We need to act quickly if we are going to fix this."
"So, I have to decide to bring my parents here or not." Arthur nodded his head. He offered his hands, reaching out to Kayce and Andy. Kayce noticed that he never flinched when he touched Andy's extremely cold, marble-like flesh.
"Let's take a stroll down our first path." Andy gingerly held on, just looking at the veins and thin skin covering his bones. He wondered if he could go back and be a regular human after all of the things he has done and seen. He wasn't a good man when he was human. He led a pretty scandalous life. Getting to know Kayce better and seeing her as a person and not as a sexual object or a bite to eat really put things into perspective for him. He actually felt bad for all of the things he did.
Arthur interrupted Andy's inner thoughts. "So, shall we go?" They disappeared and landed in an animated world. They could hear birds chirping and smell the scent of pine and honeysuckle. They could feel the mud squish under their feet as they took their first steps. They had landed in the park near Kayce's house. She recognized it immediately. They turned and headed East.
Kayce walked up to her front door and took a deep breath. It was daylight out and it definitely wasn't Halloween anymore. She wasn't sure what the exact date was. Her palms became sweaty and she wiped them on her jeans right before she opened up the front door. She could hear her parents inside the house talking. She turned to her companions and whispered, "That's weird, my parents should be at work."
Mrs. Evans' keen hearing alerted her that the front door was opened from the nearly inaudible squeak. "Kayce, is that you?" her mother called out frantically. Before Kayce could answer, her mother had almost tackled her as she threw her arms around her. "Oh my God, Kayce, it's you, it's really you. You finally have come home." Kayce's father came running into the entry hall and joined in on the hug. Her mother held her out at arm's length and just looked at Kayce with puffy eyes. "Kayce, what did you do with your hair?"
Arthur cleared his throat and her parents finally looked at the two men standing just behind their daughter. "Honey, what is the meaning of this? Who are these people?"
Kayce was at a loss for words at the moment. She knew she needed to tell them everything, but found it more difficult than she realized. "Mom, Dad we need to talk." She gestured for her parents and her companions to convene in the living room. After everyone seemed comfortable, she spoke up, "Mom, Dad these are my friends Andy and Arthur. Andy, Arthur these are my parents, Mr. and Mrs. Evans." Arthur smiled and thought Kayce was the spitting image of her mother. He noticed her father wiping his eyes under his glasses, removing tears of joy that his beloved daughter had finally made it home safe and sound.
"Where have you been?" her mother said angrily. She had fire in her eyes as she stared her daughter down. "We have been so worried."
"It's a long story, actually," Kayce said sheepishly.
"Was your leaving some act of teenage rebellion? Do you really hate it here that much?" Kayce felt a boulder-sized lump in her throat. "The last time we saw you was on Halloween and that was a month ago," her dad offered. Kayce closed her eyes and shook her head. It was so strange how time seems to move so much slower than in that other time.
Kayce decided to just say it. "Mom, Dad have you ever seen my do anything strange as a kid?" She saw a light in both her parents' eyes that stated they knew exactly what she had meant and they did witness something.
Her mother was dumbfounded. "What do you mean by strange?" She abruptly changed the subject appearing uncomfortable to air the family's dirty laundry in front of strangers. "Would any of you care for a cup of coffee?" Kayce and Andy declined.
"Yes, please." Arthur answered. "It has been so long since I had a decent cup of coffee." Kayce's mom stood up and busied herself with the task of brewing a pot of coffee in the kitchen. After about 10 minutes of an awkward silence she came back into the living room with a tray that held three steaming mugs of coffee with creamer and sugar. It was then that she seemed ready to participate in the conversation.
"Well sweetheart, you did do some strange...unexplainable things as a toddler. You would just appear out of nowhere after we had put you down for a nap and you'd suddenly be sitting in the center of the kitchen floor," her dad offered.
Arthur smiled. "Did you ever do anything to prevent her from traveling?" Her parents frowned simultaneously. "We encouraged her to say in her room and go to sleep. She was the type that wanted to please us, so after a few weeks she just stopped getting out of bed," her mother said.
"So, you both thought I was just crawling out of bed and sneaking around?" Kayce asked her parents. Her father nodded in confirmation. The truth was out there the whole time and they just thought she was getting out of bed, it's funny how people can see something and not believe it, making up any explanation to assuage their fears of the unknown.
Kayce sighed, "Mom, Dad, I'm able to travel through time and space. I'm a time traveler."
Kayce's mother blinked rapidly before she composed herself enough to speak. "Baby, I don't understand. There is no such thing as time travel." She held her coffee mug in her hands, sipping her scorching hot coffee, not even blinking at how hot the cup had been.
"Mom, I'm not lying to you."
"Well honey, have you ever thought about not being a time traveler," her dad asked with a hint of hope.
Kayce rolled her eyes in exasperation. "Your daughter has a gift, Mr. and Mrs. Evans," Arthur said.
"You'll just have to show them," Andy said coldly.
Kayce knew he was right and stood up. She waited until her parents set their coffee mugs down on the coffee table. She then reached out and took their hands into hers and thought about leaving their home. The family stood in the parking lot at her parent's work. Her mom dropped her hand in shock. "Mom, I disappeared months ago and landed in another dimension. I am a married woman and have a son. Time there moves much faster there than it does here. I may seem like I was gone only a month, but in that other time, years have gone by. My hair, how white it has become, is a result of traveling through time." Kayce touched her mother's shoulder and still held her father's hand. They had traveled back to their home. Her mother stepped away from Kayce after she recognized where they were. Kayce's mother appeared shell-shocked and afraid but not surprised.
"Mrs. Evans, Kayce wants to take you to her dimension so you can be a happy family, but we don't have a lot of time. We need to act fast," Arthur said with a serious tone. Kayce's mother sat down on her sofa awkwardly, nearly falling over onto the floor.
"Kayce, your mother and I...this is so much to take in. We need time to think about this and discuss it. You just came home after being missing a month and now you spring on us that we need to pack up everything and travel through time to stay with you...you are married and have a child. It's so much to absorb."
Kayce scrubbed her face with her hands after her eyes began to tear up. "I know how crazy this sounds, but I wouldn't be here doing it like this if I had another choice." She looked over to her mother and saw her wringing her hands over and over in a nervous gesture.
"Let's go," Andy said as he stood up appearing agitated. Arthur placed his hand on Kayce's shoulder as a comfort and to let her know that Andy was right, it really was time to go.
"Mr. and Mrs. Evans we have another stop on our journey. When we return, Kayce needs a decision as to whether or not you will go with her. And if you choose not to, you won't see her again. Traveling through time has its consequences and she can't risk going back and forth any longer." Arthur left that bit of information up in the air as he stood up. Andy was already at the front door waiting.
Kayce's parents appeared dumbfounded because Andy had just been standing up in front of the sofa a moment ago. "He was just standing here one moment and over there the next," her mother said weakly. Kayce set her gaze on Andy and glared at him. He smirked and shrugged his shoulders simultaneously.
She turned her attention back on her parents and then Kayce hugged them, "I'll be back, I promise. We need an answer then and whatever you decide, I will accept." Kayce gave them both a half-smile and then helped Arthur to the front door. They all exited like normal people and then disappeared after shutting the door behind them.
