Time travel.
It has been a curious topic ever since I watched superman flying the opposite way the world spun to go back in time and save Lois Lane from that landslide. How powerful would a man or woman be if they could go back in time and changed things for the better? The notion that one could alter time and space to their will was just so profound that it had always been shrugged off as fiction.
Laser guns were fictitious at one point, though. Some animals were folklore until evidence of their existence was found so who's to say that Time Travelling was only a myth?
No one knew, nobody even had the slightest idea about time travelling, except Althea.
The first time I met Althea was when I was nothing more than a 10-year old kid playing alone in our garden. I could remember everything about that day and I don't usually even remember what I ate for breakfast.
May 11, 1999. I had just finished my ballet class. Bernard had taken me home under my father's orders to prepare for the ceremony between David's family and mine. David was just a regular kid then, a simple boy that had a crush on me; of course I didn't know that then, all I thought was he was being nice.
What I also didn't know then, was why I felt the need to get out of the house. I just needed it. I need to feel the sun on my skin. I thought that maybe I could find caterpillars for Paul later; I loved teasing him because he was scared of the little things with lots of tiny legs.
"Miss Jade, where are you going? You still need to shower for the ceremony!"
"Later!" I giggled before darting out of my room with only my underwear on. I run like thunder through the house until I exit out the back and into the large garden. The patch of dirt where Ahiya, Dihya and I would dig was found on the rightmost part of the garden but for some reason, I wanted to go to the back where Mama grew the large flower bushes.
My tiny legs carry me slowly towards the edge of the garden and that's when I hear it; a rustling in the leaves. Loud and violent like something was caught in the vines. A tiny, high-pitched scream rips from my throat and I turn to run back into the house, thinking that the blob monster from goosebumps had finally found me.
"Wait! Wait!" A voice calls out, making me stop in my tracks. "I won't hurt you. Please." I look back at the bush and try to see who was inside.
"Are you a monster?"
"No. I'm not a monster."
"A monster would lie and say they're not a monster."
"No, I promise!"
I stop and fully turn towards the bush, ready to run if this blob monster attacks.
"Show yourself."
"I-- I can't."
"Why not?"
"It's-- I can't."
"Step out from there or I'll scream for my Mama!" There's a sudden rustling in the leaves and I jump back in fear but stand my ground, fighting the urge to run.
"Okay, okay. I'll come out. Just... take it easy."
I cross my arms like Mama does when she's mad at Dada and wait for the girl to show herself.
The first thing I see are her feet as they stepped out from behind the bush then her legs, she struggles for a moment when her torso is caught on a vine but she eventually manages to get free. She stand in front of me with on hand covering the apex of her legs and the other arm covering her boobs.
Whoever this woman was.
Whatever she was doing in my garden.
She was naked as the day she was born.
"H-hi." She says with a nervous smile but I couldn't speak though. I couldn't even think. Because despite the scratches on her skin and the mess of hair on her head, this woman was the most beautiful I had ever met.
"Who-- who are you?" I asked nervously but this time it wasn't a fearful feeling. I was just nervo and for some reason I wanted her to like me.
"My name is Althea. Althea Guevarra. You are?"
"Dada said not to give my name to strangers. Especially naked strangers." I answer nervously and watch as the woman licks her lips then nods.
