Another Timeline Without You

Chapter 5

5

It had started raining after Lyn left, but our dear Penny was still in shambles. Who left me that letter? How do they know about Von? These questions reeled in her mind for hours, yet when she kept reading it, the less sense it made.

This is torture! She'd say, over and over again. Of course, it was only mental torture. Her brain was practically fried from trying to recognize the handwriting.

She thought maybe it was printed, but there was a lot of evidence of it being handwritten, such as smudges on some of the words, a few random pen mistakes on the borders, and a few more.

After what seemed like a whole day of retracing memories from "Life One", as she liked naming her lives by number, she finally decided to search it up. Golden Gates Park. The park that was once home to hundreds of corpses, from multiple different wars.

In fact, she was once buried there. If she could dig herself up, she'd see mostly ash, and most probably a few bones. Perhaps she'd see a skull–her favorite part of the skeleton anatomy.

After scrolling through Google and Reddit, she found a post about Golden Gates "Park". It was the most recent one, even though it was posted nine years ago, in 2015. The pictures posted were blurry, but clear enough to see that the park was barely holding on.

The lamp posts were all withered and broken, the benches were missing a few planks, and the park was just overall deserted. Not a single sign of life. It had seemed as though the souls of the people who were buried there were restoring it to its former glory–as a cemetery.

Of course, this was posted nine years ago. Penny didn't really want to go there, as most of the people she met were buried there as well, including Lyn.

She remembered how multiple bodies would be thrown in a single hole. The memory of her dear friend, Lyn, being thrown into a deep, dark hole, with other rotting corpses, scares her.

She hated that memory. The wars were absolutely brutal. I'm going to have to face it, though. I need answers. Past is past, Penny. You can do this. She argued with herself. It was in the past, after all. There's no need to think of death, especially when she needs to know more about the truth. The truth that might finally reunite her with her love.

And settling on that thought, she started to pack her bag. All necessities like flashlights, batteries, water, snacks, a first-aid kit, went straight in.

Once she was sure that she had everything she needed, she grabbed her house keys from the blue "key" bowl, and headed outside towards her bike. I'm not risking a scratch on the car dad bought for me, she thought. Though it's a bit ironic to say her mother bought it, since her brother was the one who went to the car dealership (using their mother's money, of course).

As she drove, the bright, crescent moon followed her. Hm. She was always being followed, but of course, she wouldn't know that.

The night sky was full of stars. Some even have coloration in them. Some were a white-ish blue, some yellow, and some red. She wanted to stare at the stars for a moment longer, but the green traffic light made that wish vanish, and she kept on driving.

Golden Gates Park was near. About 860 meters left. She looked to her left, and was greeted by the withered ivory fences that went on for what seemed like–forever.

Her car slowed down, she turned the signal light on, and swerved to her left. The 'park' looked more miserable than it did nine years ago. I wonder why they abandoned it..? That is a question she will never get to answer, sadly.

Almost everything in there was destroyed. All the trees were dead and dry–they were basically ash at this point. It looked as if it was being haunted by death itself.

Death...Something she never truly encountered. I wonder if this time would be different...