The Story Of Daniel

/t w e n t y - f i v e/

Chapter 25

Two Years Before

People say that you fall in love in the most unsuspected ways. Daniel never imagined that the beautiful Sarah Smith would ever love him. But he was wrong.

Sarah had always been distant when it came to Daniel. She was one of the people at school that was considered 'popular'- if you went by society's judgmental social classes- and Daniel always assumed that they never talked because he was a 'nerd', and 'popular' people cannot infatuate with 'nerds'. Never in a thousand life times would Daniel think that Sarah didn't talk to him because she had a crush on him.

But here they were, walking hand in hand through the park; the beautiful popular girl and the awkward nerd. It had been three months since the night of the party where Sarah had unexpectedly kissed Daniel. Since then, they had grown so close that they were rarely seen apart. Sarah claimed that she was making up for lost time that she could have been with Daniel for. But there was something else, something she wasn't telling Daniel.

They sat on the dock, legs dangling over the side, still holding hands. They sat in comfortable silence; Sarah staring into the distance and Daniel staring at her with a worried look. "What's wrong?" he asked. "Why won't you tell me?"

Sarah looked into his eyes for a moment, and then sighed. "I'll tell you one day. I promise." There were tears building up in her eyes and Daniel decided not to pry. It was obvious that the secret was hurting her, there was no need to bring it up. At the same time, he just wanted her to tell him everything. That way, he could take all the pain away. She didn't deserve to be in pain. "Hey," she said. "Are you okay?"

I love you, he wanted to say. But didn't. "I'm fine," he finally answered, squeezing her hand reassuringly. "Everything is just fine." He smiled for good measure.

Sarah gave a smile too. Although hers was more sad. It had a deeper meaning and Daniel wondered what she was thinking about.

Now

Daniel woke up from his sleep, worried. Amelia had jumped out of his window yesterday. He got up so he could go talk to his parents about what to do next. On his way out the door, something caught his eye. He spun around and walked back into the room. What he had seen was his wall, but it didn't look the same as it did yesterday. There were pictures tacked to it. They were all dated. But some of them had dates from the future on them. Today was June first, but the pictures on his wall were dated from days months into the future. Most of them showed Daniel in random places; at the beach, in a forest, at the Grand Canyon- wait what? Daniel had never been to the Grand Canyon. But the picture said otherwise, and it definitely did not look photo shopped. Another picture, dated June second, showed Daniel, Amelia, and some girl Daniel didn't know. He heard a creak as someone slowly pushed open his bedroom door and his parents walked in. "What... what is this?" he looked at the wall with the pictures on it

"Daniel, we have something we need to tell you," his mother sat down on the edge of the bed and patted the seat next to her. After Daniel sat down, she dove right in. She told him everything.

***

Over the next few days Daniel got back into the rhythm of his life that he was forced to relive over and over again, like a song on repeat. It was hard to get into your mind that it was over a year later than the date that you remember last.

It's October 3, 2022, Daniel repeated in his mind over and over that day, not June, October. The weather seemed to be on his side, it was hard to think it was June when the weather was so cold. The sky was gray but it never rained and the wind blew fiercely. Maybe the weather wasn't on his side after all. After Daniel got home from a busy day of work at McDonald's, he decided to go make a few stops through town. Instead of getting off the bus when it neared the street his apartment was on, Daniel stayed boarded. He got off a few blocks later and walked to a small brick building. The grayness of the sky made the building look gloomy, matching Daniel's mood. Once inside, it no longer seemed sad and gray though, it looked cheery, kind of optimistic.