Faded

You know that feeling you get just before you're about to die? How you feel when you realise the person you loved, wants to kill you because it's too painful to love you? I always knew. I just never knew it would hurt so much. When they look you in the eye and you see a tear roll down their cheek, and then they collapse to the ground shaking with tears flooding down their face as they continually say "I love you so much, it hurts, I can't do it". When you sit there on the floor with them, with your hands tied in front of you, and you realise this is your destiny, their destiny.

Ten years ago this happened. I know what you're thinking. Why are you telling me this? Why do I care? Because ten years ago I made a vow to never leave her: my beautiful, golden, shining wife. I now teach at St. Jo and I go by the name, as a university teacher, Mrs. Willow. I inherited my last name from my gorgeous wife Daisy Fern Willow.

Now enough about my awesome love life. Let me get you up to speed.

Have you ever watched the Jurassic Park series and thought that's not possible?' It defies every single law of science? Well probably not, because this century is all like cooooooooooool... We don't care about scientific breakthroughs. Anyway back to topic. Until recently you would have been right but unfortunately, I have to tell you things have changed.

Your tense is developing enough technology that it is starting to get close to being able to bring things back that shouldn't exist now. Things from the past. Not the good parts, like snow cones. The bad parts, and by bad parts I don't mean the 80's hairstyles. I mean they plan on going back to times where dinosaurs existed and bringing them to the present. When they do this it will hit headline news and spread from there. They will try to say it's for studying purposes but they really want to use them as weapons for the military, but that doesn't stop people from being suspicious of the real cause. Soon "missing" signs will start going up for those few suspicious people. I know what you're going to ask next. How do I know this? Well I'm from the future and I decided no matter how much you guys are destroying the present you still deserve a second chance. So do you believe me now?

I tried to warn them but only one person listened, so I decided to give him a safe future. I took him to the future. Yeah, I know, how dare I?' Things like this always go wrong in the movies. Well this is no movie this is my day - to - day life and he deserved a reward. He had tried to warn everyone, but no one had listened, so I took him in as a brother and promised I would show him the place he used to call home when it was all over.

Today my wife and I walk with Lachlan, the present is now the past, and there is no one around. "He thinks you're lying to him about this being his so called home", Daisy whispers in my ear. A minute later Lachlan turns around rock in hand and throws it at me; it goes to the middle of my stomach and then drops. He starts to stutter," "What's happening to you?" I tell him to come closer, then gently whisper in his ear, "I'm fading, I've been here too many times". "Why didn't you tell me". I would have stayed with you guys. No you can't leave me". He sobs into my half-fading chest. "I've lost everything. I can't lose you too". I gently remind him he has Daisy and then fade away completely, a figment of the past.

I always thought I wouldn't have a funeral but watching, as someone from the past, I realised they did care. Daisy stood there crying over my coffin, with a fearful Lachlan hugging her. The last thing I heard before I disappeared from all tenses was two people sobbing "I loved her".

I looked around near the cliff where we were holding Rosie's funeral and saw someone's face. Was that Rosie? No it couldn't be. She was dead. That's why we were here. There it was again, that face, was it really her? "Daisy" she stopped in front of me now. It was her, it was Rosie. I collapsed onto the ground. Lachlan ran up behind me and landed a massive kiss on Rosie's lips not just a brotherly one, one which I had tried on Rosie several times but she had been reluctant. My whole world started swaying. She was kissing back. How long had this been going on "Ros..." I couldn't finish the name I had said so many times. She ran over to me and tried to help me up but I just shrugged her off. What was happening? First I thought I had lost her and then I got her back but she was in love with the brother I had hugged so many times and told him it was ok that we would get through this. No it was too much. I couldn't deal with this I wouldn't deal with this. So I got up and I ran. I ran away. I ran away, from Rosie's funeral, away from Lachlan and Rosie themselves.

It had only been a day since I had left Lachlan and Rosie but it felt like a month. I watched the autumn coloured leaves hit the ground and turn brown as they became a figment of the past. It's funny how little things like the leaves becoming part of the past can look beautiful but make you feel so dark. For the next hour I just sat there looking at the leaves as I thought about everything that had happened yesterday. "Daisy". I heard my name being called. Was that Rosie? Had she found me? "Daisy", she repeated it again. How had she found me, and what did she want with me now? "Daisy please let me explain". It was a man's voice. One I knew way too well. One that I had comforted when he was worried he had lost Rosie. "Lachlan". I dared to breathe his name, no matter how much it hurt to admit he had found me. It didn't mean I needed to turn away from him completely.

"Is Rosie with you because I won't talk to you if she is?" I said. "She doesn't even know I'm here I told her I just needed to think things over". Had he left her or had it been the other way around? Maybe she had come to her senses. "Come on I need to show you something" I followed him to where our favourite tree used to be. Now there was just a giant hole. I started to say "Where is the tree?" until he said "There's no time to explain, just jump in". Soon I was walking in a tunnel ducking my head down constantly until I saw what I feared most. The portal to the past had been moved. It explained why the leaves were turning brown so quickly. "Come on , we need to hurry. I need to show you something." he said. He sounded worried, almost scared. I followed , fearing what I would find when I crossed that portal. I never expected what I saw when I crossed...,

Soon pictures of Lachlan and Rosie were surrounding me, of them laughing, hugging, holding hands. Laughing in the supermarkets together, Rosie pushing Lachlan around in a trolley. Rosie kissing Lachlan, Lachlan kissing Rosie and soon darker pictures started showing. Of Rosie crying on Lachlan's shoulder of Rosie on her knees out in a field screaming with tears running down her face, Rosie throwing punches at Lachlan as she screamed, and soon pictures of me and Rosie together started showing us doing the same things happening . Only the darker ones weren't shown.

We both stood there, surrounded by these pictures, until Lachlan said: "This will be Rosie's future if she's with me. Dark but happy only sometimes we share special moments but she will always have the shadow from when she disappeared. If she is with you she won't have that shadow. You're her second half, her future, her destiny. That was proven a long time ago" I thought it over and finally said "Why me? Why not you?"

"Because I'm leaving" he said simply "Where?" I tried to ask "To where I was born".

"The past" he said.