Interference (Chapter 2)

Monday, May 1st, 2088

Dear Journal,

This sounds utterly cheesy, but today, I met someone... there was this guy who transferred from another school, and he is, well, very attractive. He has these incredible, intense, dark blue eyes and black hair and he has a great build and... he's just beautiful. But I know, looks most certainly aren't everything.
And I have every reason to be suspicious of him, considering what he asked me, but to what he said, I simply could not say no.
He asked me out. Just like that! He asked me to go out for coffee on Saturday. I couldn't believe it. He said he'd talk to me by cam (web camera) before.
Those eyes were taking me in, mesmerizing, begging me, compelling me to say yes. I just could not say no to that. And he seems nice enough. All I know is that my best friend since middle school was very excited for me. She's usually skeptical of guys, especially like those ones, but she'd had him in a few of her classes, and definitely approved.
We jumped around excitedly like we would have when we'd first met, like I'd just been asked to my first dance. We got some strange looks from the other students. Childish behavior was usually not accepted by 18-24 year olds, not even college freshman. That kind of thing was supposed to be left in middle school. Or at least not displayed in public.
I'm definitely excited, but now that I'm home, and really writing all this down, I wonder... should I be doing this? What kind of guy is he? Maybe I can just talk to my friend... she should know.
I must have had him in a few of my classes to have this happen. I'm very flattered, though.
Oh man, but my gut is telling me to do otherwise. Maybe I shouldn't go. Maybe I should just stay home on Saturday.
But it would totally kill to tell him no... I had to though, I had to tell hiim that I couldn't do this. There's just this weird feeling I have...
Maybe it's just me being paranoid.
I know I prayed about this, though most people would find that very silly. Or stupid. My friend respects it because I've believed since I was a child. I fear for saying that I believe in college, or anywhere in public, however. The way some of the few, like myself, are refuted every second and ridiculed. Most are very hesitant.
The boldest ones might even be "jailed", or at least retrained so they don't speak what they believe as truth anymore, but only what the general public thinks.
I don't think that's the way things should be... but I'm only one person, what can I do?
People say one person can do a lot. Maybe if I just tried harder... well, there are different matters at hand now. I shouldn't go to this on Saturday... but look, he's messaging me now...
"Hey Michelle."
He's smiling. His eyes look much brighter when he smiles. He just seems to light up.
"Hey, Alexander..."
"Want to talk about Saturday?"
My heart is racing.
"W-Well, I think we're set for that. Why don't we... just talk?"
"Sure. I'd love to talk to you."
I have to go on Saturday. There’s just no way to say no...

Troy

I turned off the mePad awkwardly, still holding the girl I’d interfered with, wondering what I should do now.
April 31, 2088 had been my aim to land. I wanted to catch her before she met “him”. I wonder, would it have been strange to see us both if she did? She probably would... I’d have to prevent her from going on Saturday. It was strange to think of my parents as 18-year-olds who were crazy for each other.
Daddy dearest had just been released into the world to carry out the schemes of his own father. And he did so with flying colors.
Now I couldn’t save her. My machine was very “busted”, it wouldn’t even compact or turn on. The girl’s seemed to be worse off, however... I wish I knew her name. Her words were things I have always been afraid of expressing myself. Her words, I had to take them, because they were deserved. Even by the me that would exist in the future, if I existed in the future.
I knew I should hold them forever, never forget them, her venomous speech. Just so I’d know… I didn’t want to hear those words, though I knew they were 100% true.
There was nothing I could do about what was happening now, though. What was going to happen to my mother.
At least I knew HE can’t track me.
The girl stirred in my arms, and I wished I had set her down.
She aimed a fist toward my face, very awake for how sick she’d been earlier. I set her down quickly. Good thing she missed, though I should have let her...
“Alright, I’ve had ENOUGH of you. Get out. I told you if you wanted to help me, leave me alone. Got it?”
I nodded. She seemed... better. I hope she wouldn’t feel too horrible later... I should make sure she’s alright. The time machine manual that had fallen out of her coat said that TMIS could last a few hours at its worst...
“Go. Now.”
I lifted my machine, as bulky as it was in full form, and started walking away.
“Wait... what is your name? If... you don’t mind.”
“Why, your machine working and you want to report me? Well...”
“No, no... nevermind.”
“Kainni. Now leave.”
“Alright, alright, leaving...”
I began carrying the machine away from her, vaguely wondering where we were, and why that name sounded familiar.
She had green eyes. Emerald green eyes.

I thought about that memory again, that smiley little girl. I don’t remember much about my childhood back then, but I did know that I moved. My father had been promoted for designing and developing some important, secret device for the government.
The places I lived before moving to the mansion were very unclear to me. We had lived in big cities, and during those times were the only time I ever remembered going to school with other kids, but I hardly remember those times.
It was strange how the things I’d like to remember were very cloudy in my mind, and the things I wished to forget overshadowed everything else. I wanted to know more about that little park we were in, about that beautiful sunny day, like this one would be, if the clouds weren’t coming in, and the sun wasn’t setting. And I wanted to know more about the girl.
My mother was desperate, mesmerized falling into her fate, just in the future, and I couldn’t do a thing...
I set machine down, about sixty or so yards away from Kainni now. I looked back, thinking about this girl. She resembled a flame, fiery and seemed to be a person who wouldn’t let things stand in her way.
She had her back turned to me still, her arms crossed. Up close, I’d noticed she had sharp, but feminine features, and was pale. Her hair was most likely a natural mahogany color, but it now had touches of red-violet highlights and the tips of her choppily cut layers, and bangs, as well as a few streaks, were dyed black. At the longest point, it hit just below her shoulders. The layers flew out away from her face, some also framing it.
Her clothing was somewhat simple, dark gray cargos and a black top, as well as a bluish gray jacket with similar cargo pockets on the sleeves and side, button down, with the collar of a blazer, though more sharply drawn. She wore a plain black choker, and black combat boots.
She ducked behind her machine now, and I assumed she stepped inside. I then inferred that her machine wasn’t working at all, when she let out frustrated shouts with language I’d rather not repeat.
Once again she stepped out, kicking the machine, like it might do something for it. I sighed, swallowing, and sitting behind my own time machine, pulling out the journal, wondering if there was a way to get back on the course to where I had been going... it all felt much more hopeless now. There had to be something...


Kainni

That demented monster by blood picked me up.
Kick.
I’m stuck in some unknown time.
Clink.
My machine has been turned into an absolute piece of crap.
Kick, KICK, CLINK, BANG, KICK CLINK BANG...
I know putting a dent in this thing isn’t going to help my case at all, but I want out of here. Maybe if I just hit it hard enough... maybe it would start working...
Oh, who am I kidding?
He ruined everything. And now I’m stuck here in this time, the only one I know of from my time being my potential worst enemy. Maybe I was feeling guilty earlier, but I didn’t like feeling guilty, I hated feeling miserable, I hated pitying myself, so that leaves me with this.
KICKCLINK,KICKCLINK.
Still no dents. I turned away from the machine, not genuinely wanting to destroy this thing anymore than it already was.
I might as well try to figure out where I was before the sun goes down... it seemed the sky was darkening already from cloud cover. I headed in the opposite direction of the Abbort, and aimed for wherever I would end up.
I was in a forest, though seemingly thick, probably had to cut off somewhere...
Though the place was very natural, something my mother would have been proud of, I knew it couldn’t be it. I couldn’t be THAT far back in time... well, I did think my machine could go back centuries, but...
I shuddered at the thought. I never realized how incredibly dependent on technology we are.
I wandered through the forest, and when I started noticing disappointing and disturbing plastic and glass bottles on the ground, I knew we had to be back at least 90 years. Nobody would be caught doing that where I lived. Especially not with my mother around...
I internally winced at the thought of my mother. Like she was here, like I was hearing her go on and on about how we need to preserve nature, not damage it... hearing her go on and on about not doing exactly this, about how she missed visiting national nature parks and how her business was taking off.
Going on and on about us. Making sacrifices for us. Doing housework when we fell short even though she told us her expressive dislike of it. Helping me with my homework. Talking to me when I had issues, wise and lighthearted so much of the time.
Telling my dad and me that she loved us.
I swallowed, trying to keep walking forward. I couldn’t help what was going on with her right now... but... I... I would figured it out.
I had to.
The litter was the first sign.
Second, was whooshing noise coming from not too far away. I cautiously headed toward the sound. The sky had turned dark from the clouds. Soon enough it would be night.
And there it was. A belt of pavement, with dangerous vehicles racing down it.
Holograms and replicas could never imitate what automobiles, formerly and usually and simply called, cars, were truly like. They are nothing like the real thing.
I didn’t know a lot about historical vehicles, but what I did know, is that they were... are? dangerous works.
I knew somewhere in my mind, the statistics of how many people were killed in car accidents, and they were not good at all. Neither was the sever usage of fossil fuels. We know had efficient fuels, water, air, to power hover cars. Accidents were not eliminated, but things went down so much... and now that they are made out of much more resistant materials, we’re much safer.
The case was not so in this time.
Ninety years at the very least. But judging by the smoke omitting from some of the more massive, frightful vehicles (I have no idea why such things would be called SEMI-trucks, hinting that they may be just a small part of something, yet that is absolutely not the case!), there must be a severe amount of fossil fuels being used and abused right now.
I jumped when I heard thunder crack in the sky. I’d never seen a storm like this, even though it technically hadn’t even started.
The sky was dark, and the clouds were rolling... it was amazing.
Lightning lit up some probably not very distant corners. Thunder sounded again. I stood, facing the sky, thinking it might be dangerous to be out here at this time.
I didn’t care. The bright light flashing in the sky, the roaring cracks ripping through it, distracted me from everything else.
Rain began to pour down. It was nothing like I’d ever seen or felt before... good thing my digibooks were compacted in my jacket. They could have been damaged.
I don’t care now, though. This was such an experience.


Troy

The sky darkened, seeming to more rapid than earlier. And then...CRAACK. Thunder boomed and lightning flashed. I hurriedly packed my mother’s “journal” away, wrapping it in an auto-bandage, just in case, before storing it my pocket. Soon after, rain poured down on me.
I’d never been in a storm like this. They’re so... intense. Rain pouring down like tears and the thunder angry like a screaming voice and the lightning flashing like a blow.
I slumped down against my machine, already soaked as I landed on the dampened ground. I wondered if the lightning would be attracted to it if the machine was somewhat functional, with its signals and all.
Probably not. Even though it is metal, it’s not very tall, and the lightning seemed to be cloud to cloud... I wonder why thunderstorms were like this. So loud and emotional.
Kainni...
I turned around, seeing her gone. How did I not notice? I scrambled to my feet, heading in the direction of her machine. I assumed she’d be able to take care of herself, but I didn’t like the thought of her being in this storm on her own like she probably was...
“Destroying somebody else, I really should have known it!...
You will fail and you’ll be the nothing you always deserved to be...
I hate you. I hate your family. I hate how you’re secretly destroying the world with your thoughts and your pushing and brainwashing, and your presence, and how you ruined this for me! How you ruined my life, my family and so many others...
Leave me alone and I’ll be fine... Alright, I’ve had ENOUGH of you. Get out. I told you if you wanted to help me, leave me alone...”
Kainni.
I thought about all she’d said, playing it over and over in my head... I should just leave her alone, like she said. She doesn’t want me here, I shouldn’t be here... we shouldn’t be in this place.
I should be gone by now.
Mom should have been safe by now.
Kainni...
“...go back a hundred years or something...”
“...Promise?”
“I promise.”
There, that little girl showed up again.
She kept on coming to my mind and I didn’t know why. I sprinted, stumbling, slipping sometimes, through the muddying forest, searching for Kainni. I knew she wanted me to go, but I just felt this urge to keep pursuing her. I was dead sure she didn’t need me. And she hated me, like many others in the world should do, and didn’t want any contact from me.
Yet my legs continued to propel forward, scanning the dark forest for her location.
The fight in the sky grew louder, and I ran faster, causing myself to slip much more often. I kept getting up in spite of it.
I wondered why. Why I kept moving like this, when there was no point for anything anymore. All appeared to be lost. Truly, there was no point in going any farther. I could wait in this place to see if the lightning would come down to meet me. There were many ways I could follow through with the lesser important task in my original mission. But something inside made me want to move. And I wasn’t going to abandon this just yet.
There had to be at least one more chance...
The forest began to clear, and there were bottles appearing on the ground. And there she was. If water and fire could ever be united without destroying a flame, Kainni would be it in human form.
Her jacket was now tied around her waist, revealing the studded bracelets on each of her wrists, and she was spinning in tune with the storm, becoming one with the rain. Her eyes were gently shut, she was soaking wet, and soaking up the atmosphere. Strange, how she seemed to fit in here, the dangerous storm her setting.
The cars kept on passing us by, going faster as they were desperate to get home, the people seemed, and I assumed this made their journeys even more treacherous.
I glanced over at Kainni again, and she opened her eyes for a moment. I had been spotted. I had the feeling she would be angry at me again, after having told me to leave her alone, and me obviously interrupting a moment for her. I stood cautiously at the end of this segment of forest, having made no hints of a motive to go any farther than where I was, barely hidden by the now spread out trees.
She momentarily glared, though she was lacking the edge she’d had earlier. She still seemed caught up in the storm, soon resuming her fascination with it after swiftly removing her gaze from me. Yet now instead of moving, she stood still, staring at the sky as lightning tore another section of sky and thunder grumbled throughout, each brighter and louder, rain pouring harder.
I suppose storms could be beautiful to some, but I’d never be able to appreciate them like her.
I brought my eyes back to the road, watching as a car slowly and carefully moved toward the side of the road, pausing. Directly where Kainni was.
The window rolled down, and someone tried to shout over the storm... asking a question of her?
I felt nervous about this, and began to make a move forward. She tilted her head toward me subtly for a second, giving me one of her sharp looks. I stayed back, but continued to watch, moving along the tree line horizontally, trying to come as close to them as possible without actually revealing myself.
“...I said, do you need a ride or something?” the voice shouted. It was a male, probably around my own age, or not much older.
“No, thank you, but could you tell me where the nearest city is?”
“What are you, crazy? I could just take you there if you want...”
“Who do you think you are, I’m not crazy, you’re crazy for driving out in this rain!”
I edged closer to them...
“Look, you’ve got nothin’ to worry about, I’m not some creeper, I’m only 17, and I’m not gonna tell your parents where you are or anything.”
He thinks she ran away? Well, I suppose that makes sense... she must have looked somewhat obscure out here like she had been...
“Hey, that muddy kid over there your boyfriend?”
“Oh heck no, I mean... well...”
Stumbling and slipping up the hill, where the guy now moved closer to the passenger side of the car, after dropping an object, taking her arm when she was close enough. As she stood there, now steady, her face turned somewhat sinister for a fleeting second, as she stepped closer to the car. She spoke and I didn’t know what she was saying, but I caught, “Yeah, I want_, er, wanna go to the city...”
He said something that I couldn’t hear again, and she nodded, shooting another look at me, him doing the same.
I had the feeling I was being conspired against, yet stupidly, I continued forward.
The boy smirked and glared at me simultaneously, and I was sure he had ulterior motives.
I stood there as Kainni hurried inside and the guy gave me an obscene gesture while she shouted “Sucker!” out the window of the car... she was getting away, and leaving me stuck here.
I guess we looked like runaways, young, homeless, desperate, different. I didn’t care what I looked like. I stared at the ground, and at the angry sky, about ready to use my backup plan, when another car came toward the side of the rode, skidding and swerving, and heading my way...
I ran from it as quickly as I could, grateful that I didn’t have to witness a car on car accident, and narrowly avoiding being crushed.
The girl driving immediately started to try and to pull herself out and shouted swears, frustrated. She came out of the car, slamming her door frustratingly as she came to observe how far deep her tires had gotten in. She wouldn’t have had so much of a problem, if it wasn’t pouring rain out. Kainni had struggled to climb up the side of the ditch with it being so slippery... I supposed tires didn’t do a good job of keeping up like that either. She swore like Kainni had done earlier with her time machine.
“Hey! What are you doing over there?” she shouted.
I’d been spotted a third time.
“Oh my... oh, crap, I’m sorry, I almost hit you, didn’t I?”
I cautiously headed toward her.
“N-No, it... I’m fine.”
“Oh man... I’m really sorry.” She muttered something under her breath, swears about some guy. I noticed, that as she started coming down, she was on a cellular phone, but she wasn’t talking on it... she was... texting, was it?
And the guy had been texting before picking up Kainni...
This girl switched gears swiftly. “Hey, did you see that guy over here earlier? He stopped on the side of the road and I couldn’t catch up with him and... man, you’re messed up. Do you wanna ride into town or something? Where do you live? Um well, I mean... if you live som_, I mean...”
“It’s not a problem. Who was this guy you were talking about?”
“Oh nothing, um, let me to try to get my car out...”
What did people usually do back the_, well, now, when their cars got stuck in a ditch like this one?
“Maybe you should... call to get it... towed, or something.”
Towed. That was the word.
“No, well... my phone’s dying anyway, I’ve been in a ditch before, I can get us out. Just... why don’t you get in the car, I’ll worry about this.”
I nodded, and followed her in, cautiously. She turned off the cellphone, perhaps figuring out that her previous actions were not very wise moves. In the light that came on as the door opened, I noticed her face’s color was smeared, as though she had on too much makeup on, revealing a purplish mark on her cheek. The light turned off. I felt uneasy, and I knew better than to ask or comment.
Auto-bandages could usually fix those sorts of things, and I almost offered ones, before I realized, like how Kainni was a perfect actress, that I was no longer in my former present. That I had to cover up that I was from the future. Especially with this stranger.
The tires dug in farther for a little while, the car noisy as the girl attempted to pull herself out of the ditch, and when they were out, the car slid back a little. She kept pushing farther out. The car narrowly managed being hit by another as she got it back on the road.
She mumbled something under her breath, then glanced subtly at me. “Um, sorry for being all... um, well, I dunno. I was just kinda upset about something. And my car getting into a ditch again. My name’s Terra. What’s yours?”
Hm, I realized this situation was slightly awkward, but I didn’t really seem to grasp that concept.
Should I tell her my name? It wasn’t as though my name was all that strange or... even familiar for back then, now...
“Troy. Nice to meet you, Terra.”
“Nice to meet you, too.”
I stared straight ahead, listening to the rhythmic thumping of the black things sliding across the... wind... windshield?
“What are those black swiper things?” I asked, before I could stop myself. I was curious, and it was utterly trivial but it just slipped out of me.
“Um... windshield wipers? You seriously don’t know what those are?” Terra said, with a nervously unserious tone toward the end of her sentence.
“Oh, w-well of course I did, I just... I’m kind of... well, you know, out of it, and I forgot what they were called.”
I knew I didn’t sound convincing at all. Somehow the gene that made the Abbort men good at lying had conveniently or inconveniently evaded me.
Yet the answer seemed to satisfy Terra. “Ah, I get it,” she said, sighing slightly, frustratingly but as though she understood. However, I did not understand.
What did she get now?
I prevented myself from asking this time, thinking that answer wasn’t something I’d like to hear.
The rain poured down in sheets on the windshield, its wipers moving it back and forth, clear and unclear... it could have become dizzying. I was feeling kind of tired...
“Mind if I ask where you’re from? You live... uh... in the city, right?”
“Huh? Oh... um... sort of.”
“Kinda figured. Well, I guess I could take you to my mom’s place for the night...”
“Oh no, you don’t have to...”
“Nah, it’s not a problem. She’s probably asleep by now and as long you’re not Shane, um, I mean, if you’re just a friend and you stay away from my room.”
“Not a problem. Who’s Shane?” I asked, gently. If he was who I thought he was...
Immediately, her mood seemed to change, confirming my suspicions.
“Oh... no one... he IS a ‘no one’... ah, whatever, he’s my a—hole soon to be ex-boyfriend... Mom doesn’t like him...”
“Ah,” I replied. That made sense. I looked at the blooming bruise on her cheek, and thought of the guy picking up Kainni, seemingly caring at taking at taking a random, perhaps runaway girl from the side of a road, yet I knew there had to be some motive... I felt a dark feeling creep into my gut. She could be in danger. And I already didn’t like this guy...
“Well, enough about me, how about you. If you don’t mind me asking, what were you doing out there? I mean, it’s 9 o’clock now...”
“Just... I dunno, wandering.”
“Well, yeah I guess, since you’re ‘out of it’ and all. Don’t worry, I won’t tell my mom or anything. Hardly talk to her anyway.”
Terra paused thoughtfully, as the highway gave way to bright lights on the horizon, business buildings, stores, houses, many homes... the city was beautiful in its own right like this, distorted by the rain on the windshield, clear again... though the storm was beginning to calm down.
It was a nice-looking town, but could hardly be called a city... it probably did not have over 100,000 people in it...
“So, you do ‘live’ around here, right?”
She asked this as thought it was probably a sensitive subject, hesitant to branch onto it. I suppose it should be. Now that I thought about it, I didn’t really have a place to stay...
“Yes, yes, I do,” I replied, as crisply as possible, although I know the lie was not convincing once again. She still didn’t seem to notice.
“Huh... I just realized, we don’t have any guys clothes’ at my mom’s ho_, oh wait...” Terra trailed off, rethinking what she’d said. “Well, nevermind that. Maybe we should stop by Wal*Mart or something...”
“No, I’ll be good with these.”
My clothes were caked with mud, but I had already messed up her cars’ seats, and it seemed like I was taking advantage of her kindness if she did anymore for me... she’d already offered me a place to sleep for the night...
“I’m not letting you just go in with those clothes on, I’ll get you something, don’t worry about it.”
It seemed like she also wanted a place to stop, pulling out a smaller purse from within her purse, containing that skin-tone makeup that had smeared off earlier. Her eye makeup had smeared earlier as well...
I looked up at the streets. Wal*Mart... chain department store. Used to carry everything. Very popular back then... now.
Though the streets and the old lights and dangerous cars were fascinating, and my panic and anger for Kainni and what could possibly be going on with her kept coming up in my mind, but I had a desperate need to know... what time was I in?
I scanned her purse for a calendar of some sort, perhaps an old-fashioned planner. I forced myself to look away when we arrived at the department store. Even at this hour, there were cars in the lot. Not many, but some.
“Store’s gonna close soon,” Terra said, as she parked, turning on her light and applying the makeup as gently as she could, with the large amount she did. The angry mark had seemed to grow from earlier. She winced as she applied it. I looked away.
“I’ll be right back. Stay right here, ‘kay?”
“No worries.”
“Alright, good.”
Terra looked me over, trying to figure out clothing sizes I guess, before she stored her makeup and headed out of the car toward the brightly-lit store.
The parking lot’s lights were quite bright as well. But I was getting terribly exhausted now... I had no idea why, but I was. So I closed my eyes, almost immediately dozing off, immediately beginning to drift into a far more distant time...