Why Me? (Book 1 of Time Memory) #Wattys2015

16 - Behind The Mask

EARL

I woke up, sweating, hitting my head to something hard. Good start. I was sort of in a glass container. I tried to break the glass to escape but it won't even get a crack.

"Nice to see you're awake Mr. Hurricane."

"Lepython. But I killed you."

"Had a nice dream?"

"That was a dream?"

"Not exactly. You remember our friend Mr. Fly? The one who stung you and Ylona? He had a chemical inside him that whenever he stings people, that person would be in a dream state, but would be awake all the time."

"So that was fake. Where is she?"

"Right over there." He pointed to my left. I saw Ylona, alive and sleeping.

"What did you do to her?"

"Her? Nothing. We just injected her with the stuff you put in tranquilizers. We didn't want to hear her annoying scream."

"You bastard. I'm gonna kill you!!" I reached for my keys but they weren't there.

"You should watch your language Earl. After all, I have your keys and I have Ylona's life in my hands."

"Who are you? Behind that mask, who are you?"

"You know who I am."

"No I don't."

"Yes you do! You know exactly who I am! My secrets, my name, my life. Everything!"

"How could I know it if-"

"You know it because I'm you!" He then removed his mask and it was true. He was me. He was older than me. He was from the future. He looked different than me but I'm sure of it. All of this. Its my fault. I don't understand. Why would I do all this?

"Why? Why would you do this?"

"Because they killed her! They killed Ylona."

"Who did?"

"The robbers. They killed her when they broke into our house. Thats why I came back here, to make this world feel what I felt."

"Huh..."

"What?!"

"I'm not you. I will never be you."

"Oh you will. The others did." And then he left.

There we go again with the others. What do they mean by that? They're like saying that we're the same person. Then I remembered what Lepython said in the dream, that most of this already happened. What if that was true? Blue and Red also said that if we time traveled six years back, our past selves will be replaced by us. If that was true, that would explain my dream about Ylona and why it was different. Maybe I changed the future or something, and what I dreamt about is the past. Anyway, instead of just standing here, I thought of ways that would get me out of here. The glass container would open and close a little bit. Maybe it was glitching or something. But I realized something. The opening and closing responds to my breathing. When I was arguing with Lepython, I must have been breathing so fast to notice what the container was doing. Now that I'm a little bit calm, I begin to notice it. Is try to hold my breath and it was working. The glass was opening slowly but it was hard. I can barely hold my breath for that long. When the glass opened just enough for me to fit through, I did. And as I went out, I breathe again. And my shirt got stuck. Great. But since theres no breathing pattern to follow inside, the container won't open anymore. I just ripped a part of my shirt, grabbed my keys, my gloves and I ran to Ylona.

"Ylona!" I screamed.

"Hang on I'll get you out if there."

I used my sword the open the glass container. I grabbed her and pulled her out of there.

"Ylona! Ylona, wake up!"

"Huh?" She said, finally awake.

"Are you ok?"

"Earl? ut you're---"

"Explain your dream to me later. Okay? Mine wasn't that good too. For now, lets get out of while we still can."

"Ok. But I don't understand. Why did you hurt me?" She stood up and stopped me from running.

"Look, whatever happpened in that dream---"

"I'm not talking about the dream. I'm talking about when you scared and hurt me before you injected me!"

"I'll explain later, okay? That wasn't me. But I'm sure that we will make him pay."

"Well who is it? Why did I see your face?"

"Because Lepython is-"

"Well, hello Earl." A television lit up and it showed me.

"What? Earl? How are you there?"

"Because I'm him and he's me."

"You're crazy."

"I'm afraid its true, love. I'm from the future. 10 years from your present."

"Why are you doing this?!"

"Because Ms. Gold, I want to make the world pay for what they've done! Killing the people who killed her will be insufficient. I want to make the human race exctinct before I ever met her to rid myself of the depression that I felt."

"And who is she?"

"You're her." I said.

"Some robbers killed her when they broke into our house! Thats why they will suffer! They will suffer because of what they did to me." Older me said.

"Still, that's wrong. Thats not what she would want." I said.

"Don't you dare talk about what she would want, you know nothing about her!"

"Actually, I do! I know that you love her! You know what? I was right. I will never be you. You're a killer."

"We'll see, Earl. We'll see."
And then the TV shut off.

"What are you gonna do?" Ylona asked.

"I'm gonna kill him. I'm gonna kill myself."

"But what did he mean by our house?"

"I think it means that we get married. Thats why he called you Mrs. Hurricane the first time. You still want to talk about going out if you whats gonna happen to you?"

"Of course. You're not him. I know it." And then she hugged me.