Thursday, August 11, 1998, 12:34 P.M.
Well, this is my first day back, and I'm glad to be home. I hate that hospital. I hate the doctors, I hate the nurses, I hate the anesthesiologist. I hate them all. It was just a fracture, and a concussion, for Pete sake. They were treating me like I was going to die. Which I personally don't think I was ever going to do. Or even come close to doing. But a lot has happened in that time, and I suppose I should write it all down here, since this is the first chance I got. If it weren't for that bloody Kane Tomlin, everything would have been fine.
But he was there that fateful day, and it was almost unavoidable. I still am not sure what happened, but I'll put it down as best I can.
Me and Taryn were walking down the street toward one of our favorite parks. Quietly, we were discussing what the gypsy had told us. We couldn't make heads or tails out of it. One thing we were afraid of though, was Taryn's life.
"I'm afraid I'm going to be the one to die, Mike." She said, holding her arm around my waist for comfort. Her head was dropped against my shoulder, and she was quietly weeping. I kissed the top of her head, and gave her a half hug with the arm I had around her waist.
"If I can help it all, you aren't going to die. I will make sure you live," I told her, hoping I could make good on that promise.
"But if one of us is going to die, and I live, then you will be the one to die, and I don't want to live without you. I don't know what I would do without you. I love you too much."
I couldn't think of anything to say. Tears were beginning to well in my eyes. We had only one hope. I decided to give as much light as possible to the situation.
"What about the Chosen Time, huh? Remember that? She told us that one of us would die until the Chosen Time came around. Then, we would both live. Our spirits would be at rest, remember?" She nodded. "Well, what if this is the Chosen Time? What if we are the ones to defeat the whatever she called him?"
She looked, tears sluicing lines through her makeup. "What if we aren't? What if, despite everything we try, and everything we do, one of us still dies? What if it's you? I would go crazy. Absolutely crazy." She dropped back into incoherent sobbing, and put her head back against my shoulder. We started crossing the street at the crosswalk.
"It isn't going to happen. I'll take care of you. Nothing will happen to you. I promise." She hit me on the arm.
"You big dummy! Don't you get it? I'm not worried about me dying! I'm worried about you! Why can't you see that?" More sobbing. I felt terrible for saying what I had. Sometimes, my mouth just runs off with me. I bowed my and kept walking. She let go of my waist and bent down.
"Now look what you made me do," she said. "One of my contacts fell out." I stopped, and turned to help her look for it, andÉ andÉ
Okay, this is where things start going hazy. I remember looking. I remember going to my knees in the crosswalk, watching for cars, (thankfully it was a slow afternoon- there weren't many) and looking on the ground for her contact lens.
I remember crawling off in one direction, still looking, and then hearing the sharp squeal of tires coming around a corner. I looked up, and there was a green Saturn zooming around the corner heading at us top speed. The driver didn't see us.
More specifically, he didn't see Taryn.
I don't remember what happened after that. The next thing I remember, I'm waking up in a hospital bed, and its three days later. People have been in and out, and some of them, like my parents, and Taryn's, have told me what's happened, but I don't remember any of it happening. I was told that the driver has been arrested, and put in jail for Driving under the Influence, and for Grand Theft Auto. His name was Kane Tomlin.
I had suffered a broken hip, and a serious concussion, and had been kept under watch for three days, in the intensive care section. There had been a couple times, I was told that they weren't sure I was not going to slip into a coma, but I didn't, and I awoke with a pounding headache, and a sore hip.
I was finally told what happened, and I could believe it when I heard. But I guess the dream I had in one of the next few nights just confirms it. I was told on Monday, the 18th of July. I had the dream on Wednesday, the 20th.
The Saturn had come barreling around the corner, and hadn't seen Taryn. He was coming closer, and not slowing. There were maybe three or four other people on the street at the time, so I guess what I have been told is the truth. Not that I would ever doubt the person who told me. I would never have doubted her in a million years.
They said I had just sat there in that crouched position, like a deer caught in headlights. Taryn wasn't moving either, and there was an identical expression of horror on our faces. The car came closer. Some of the people tell me they started to hear a ticking. One of them even said that it reminded him of a book he had once read, Insomnia, by Stephen King. The main character heard a ticking just before his wife died. He called it the deathwatch.
I was told that I stood frozen, and then something happened. Something came to me. None of the witnesses know how to describe it. One person said it was an angel, another said it was a ghost. A third said it was a light, like in that movie, where John Travolta gets the weird powers.
Either way, they all agree that I was hit with some sort of power, and I jumped up, ran across the road, and pushed Taryn out of the way.
The Saturn sped into the spot where she had been just seconds before, and clipped my hip. I was told that I rolled a couple of times, and hit my head hard on the curb of the street. One of the witnesses called the hospital, and another took down the license number of the Saturn.
I was taken to the hospital where they performed an emergency surgery on my leg, and a couple stitches into other parts of my body that had been cut open when I hit the ground, and then put me in intensive care.
I don't doubt the story. Taryn told it to me. My parents were there, along with two other people I didn't know. Mom said they were two of the people on the street at the time. As soon as I heard it, I knew it for the truth. Something inside me just told me it was. I smiled up at Trayn when she was done.
"Told you not to worry. How could you have doubted me?" My voice was cracked and dry, but the words got themselves out. She smiled back, and kissed my forehead.
"My little beef 'n cheddar boy," she whispered as she stroked my cheek. I didn't mind so much this time.
I had a dream the following Wednesday, and If Taryn had the same one, she never told me, and I never asked. But it took place not in the past, but in the future.
I was walking along a sidewalk, looking up at the skyscrapers, and watching the holo-ads when something caught my eye. A television show was on one of them, and I do believe it was the Price is Right. Alive and well in this day and age. I was impressed.
"Tallen Fyle, come on down! You're the next contestant on the Price is Right," the announcer was saying.
The Cambot swung around the audience, and finally centered on Tallen. She came running down the aisle, and I was suddenly struck with how beautiful she was. I wanted to laugh, or cry, or something. I don't know. She came up to the contestant's row and waved at the cambot.
The host, definitely not Bob Barker, asked her how she was doing.
She was fine, and could she say hi to someone?
That would not be a problem.
She looked at the cambot again and spoke. "I want to thank Michael Cook, for making this all possible. You were right, that was the Chosen Time. We are safe forever now. The Random failed." Then, the holo-vid flipped off, and the street and sky was suddenly empty.
There was no one around. It was like I was back in the Gypsy's tent. The guitar chords started up again, and when the vocals kicked in, they were different.
"Ooo-oo-oo-OOO, It won't be done. Ooo-oo-oo-OOO, It won't be done. Ooo-oo-oo-OOO, It won't be doooooooone no moooooooreÉ."
Then I awoke, with the words still ringing in my head. I awoke to find my mom and Taryn sitting beside me, just watching me sleep. I was filled with love for both of them at that instant, and I smiled up at them. They smiled back, and told me to get some rest.
I closed my eyes, and slept.
The End
PART 4
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