Finding Finn Reed

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Every endeavor in saving Finn had failed miserably. It all ended with Finn dying. No matter what I did, no matter how many times I tried, I'd be greeted with disappointment. Eventually, I began to expect it coming, and it began to bother me less. Nonetheless, my body began to hurt with each time hop. It began to concern me, but I ignored it, thinking it was just a minor side effect. Atticus, however, began to notice it right away, and decided to address me about it. 

"We need to talk" Atticus said. I was in the kitchen, making tea. "About what?" I asked, setting the tea bags down and walking over to Atticus. "I haven't been completely honest with you about time hopping" he said in a deliberate tone. My attention was suddenly focused on Atticus, who was standing by the dining table. My concern grew exponentially with apprehension. I walked over to Atticus, and stood behind him. "Atticus, what aren't you telling me?" Atticus sighed, and turned around so as to face me. "You've been feeling tired, almost like you can't function correctly, am I right?" he asked, his eyes wandering into space. I began to think about it, and he was right. With each time I hopped back, my body felt worse and worse. "It's probably because I'm just pushing myself too hard, I'm fine." I knew I wasn't fine, but I didn't want to give up like that, not when I was so close. "You're dying" Atticus said. Suddenly my body shifted uncomfortably with his words. You're dying. 

"I'm not following" I said. "You've been time hopping at an unrealistic rate, there are limits, and you're close to reaching yours." I wasn't following his words, in fact I was pushing them away. "So what will happen when I've reached that limit?" I asked, anxiety began to fill up my body. Atticus sighed, and placed his hands on my shoulders, looking at me dead in the eye. "You'll die." A surge of chills spliced down my back, cold sweats began to accumulate. "I don't believe you" I said, my eyes looking away from his, "You would have told me about it." "I didn't think you'd be hopping so much, Melanie. Listen, you need to stop time hopping" Atticus said, his grip tightening around my shoulders. His words began to aggravate me, causing me to lash out at him. "No! If you think I'm going to just stop when I've gotten so close to saving Finn, you're absolutely insane" I shouted, releasing myself from his grip.  

Atticus looked at me with annoyance and said, "Are you even listening? You're going to die if you keep time hopping, do you really want that?" I shook my head, trying to block out Atticus's words. "If it means saving Finn, then I really don't ca-", "Don't finish that sentence" Atticus interrupted, "You do care, because then the burdens on him. Stop acting so selfish." My hands began to shake, the cold sweat now dripping off of my face. "He said he loved me" I said, my voice choking up. Atticus sighed, "I know, I was there, but that's not an excuse to risk your life like that. I'm beginning to think you need to start letting go." A sudden feeling of anger took over. "So what? You're not going to help me anymore?" I shouted. "Not if it means you dying" he replied, "I can't have that on my conscience." I clenched my fists, and began to pace back and forth. I didn't know what to think, I felt betrayed. "You're my friend" he said. I suddenly stopped pacing, and looked at Atticus. "I just can't help you slowly kill yourself." His face looked grim. I realized I had been acting on selfish desires, and I wasn't taking others into consideration. The cold sweats subsided, and the shaking went away. "I'm sorry" I whispered, sadness beginning to fill my body.

Atticus came up to me, and hugged me. "Don't do this to yourself" he whispered in my ear. "I met you three months ago, and I don't want to see you disappear like that." Atticus's words flowed gracefully, his voice was soft. "I'll take a break from going back" I said, "I'll regain my strength." Atticus sighed with relief. "Thank you" he said, pulling himself away from me. "So what now?" I asked, "What do we do?" Atticus thought for a while before answering. "Lets leave" he said. Atticus's words had surprised me. "Leave? Where?" I asked, my mind perplexed at the mere thought of leaving like that. The last time someone asked to leave, it didn't end well. "Lets take a break from here" he said, "I'm not sure where, but lets just leave." The idea had stumped me for a while, but I agreed. It wasn't healthy to remain in Intemilly. I had to venture out, and clear my mind of any griefs or anxieties. "You have any idea where you wanna start?" I asked, my eyes looking at Atticus's. "Sceethe," he replied, "My home town. It's nice out there, no clouds or rain." Picturing a world without any snow or rain was euphoric. Leaving Intemilly was starting to sound like a better idea. "Alright then, let's go" I said, my voice filled with hope. Atticus smiled, knowing that I wouldn't time hop for a while had relieved him of stress. I was reluctant at first, not being able to go back and save Finn. But knowing that I would die in the process, Atticus was right. It would just be a burden on Finn's shoulders, and I wasn't ready to give him such a burden.

Atticus said we wouldn't be staying long, just for a couple weeks. He said it was enough time to clear my mind, and regain my strength. I packed a couple essentials; some clothes, a journal, and a camera. I decided that since I was about to see the sun, and feel the suns warmth, I might as well document it. We decided to take a train, since it was the easiest and fastest way to get to Sceethe. The trip to the train station took about an hour on foot. "Have you ever been on a train?" Atticus asked. "No, never" I replied, "Have you?" "All the time, you'll be fine" he smiled as we boarded the train. We walked along the narrow hall, and made our way into the compartment. For most of the time, I stared out into the window, and watched the surroundings that had passed us. "We should be there in a day or so" Atticus said, breaking my concentration. "That's pretty lengthy, couldn't we have flown?" I asked. "No, Sceethe doesn't have any airports, it's a really small town but it's beautiful" Atticus said, staring at me and smiling. "Fair enough" I said, looking out the window once more. "Does that bother you?" he asked. "No, it's fine." We didn't speak for the entire ride, when night came, I fell asleep. 

"Melanie" Atticus said, "Wake up the trains stopped." I woke up feeling groggy. We got our things, and exited the train. I couldn't believe what I had saw. My skin had felt something I had never felt before. Warmth. A giant, yellow star stood high above the sky. It was the sun. Atticus kept walking forward, however I stayed behind, shocked from what I had felt and seen. I had muttered something under my breath in which Atticus turned around, and faced me. "What'd you say?" he asked. The sun shone bright on my face, causing my eyes to squint. The hairs on my arms rose from the suns rays. My body had never felt anything like it before, It felt enraptured. "I've never felt anything like it," I said, "I just want to stay like this a little longer." Atticus chuckled, and stood there with me in the sun. I shut my eyes, and greeted the sun with open arms. "You remembered the suns pattern" Atticus said. My eyes opened, and looked at Atticus. "It was you, you wrote those notes" I smiled. "Come on, I've got a summer house, just a couple miles from here" Atticus said. I smiled, and we began to walk.

As we walked, I began to reminisce once again. My mind wandered off to many things, mainly the last year of my life. How I met Finn, How I met Atticus, but mostly how I was able to time hop. Such an extraordinary ability at my disposal. There was so much more I wanted to know about Time Hopping, just the mere thought of it got me excited. Leaving Intemilly for a while, having some time for myself, I felt free. I felt alive.