The Other Me

Chapter Four

Chapter 4

“Now do you see?” Rosaline shrieked. “Now do you see what I have to live with? Because I was so bloody-selfish, so bloody-stupid. By saving one man, I killed thirty-one teenagers! I tried to get rid of my guilt, but then ended up receiving more. I realise now that time is so dangerous. If I step on a butterfly now, I could wipe out the human race!” She had stopped crying. Now she was just plain angry. “So what do I do now? Do I not save Nat and those teenagers. Or do I save them, but then cause a nuclear holocaust?”

I just sat there numbly. Nat. Nat was going to die. Because of me. No. I won’t let that happen. I was going to stop the explosion, even if Rosaline tried to stop me.

I also couldn’t help but think that Rosaline might be being a little over dramatic about this. I mean a nuclear holocaust? Really?

“B-But surely if he already made the plan, it was going to happen. It was just us who got in the way.” I rambled in a strangled voice, not really knowing what I was talking about. “We can’t let her die Rosaline. If it causes something else; well then we’ll just have to stop that too.” I tried to read her expression. I think I detected defeat, though I was sure there wasn’t that much to defeat in the first place.

“Somehow I knew you would agree with me,” she sighed. “Okay fine, I’m in. We’re going to save them.”

“That’s great,” I breathed with relief. “But for the record… I meant to get rid of that teddy bear years ago… but you know… I just forgot it was there…”

“Sure,” replied Rosaline sarcastically. “Sure.”

 *                              *                                     *

“How do I look?” Rosaline had borrowed a t-shirt and a pair of jeans and some large dark sunglasses, which shielded most of her face. One of my old baseball caps was perched on her head and her hair was all twisted underneath it. I, on the other hand was wearing my awful blue school uniform and my hair hung lankly by my shoulders.

It was early the next morning, and we were getting ready to go to school. We had conspired till about 2 o’clock in the morning. We had dressed accordingly, in order to look as different from each other as humanely possible. The plan was to get inside the school. To anyone who questioned Rosaline, I would tell them she was my older cousin who wanted to see the school, as she was thinking of applying next year. Of course, the only person this lie wouldn’t work out with; would be with Nat.

 She already knew that I only have younger cousins (I complain about them all the time.) And also, she knew all about the twitchy eyes and the fingers; therefore lying to her is completely out. So it looked like we would have to avoid her like the plague. I was sure she would understand. But to what she would understand, I had no idea yet.

The night before, Rosaline had explained everything to me about the ‘accident’. Before she had travelled back in time to warn me, she had completely investigated it first, by scouring the internet and newspaper articles; she had even visited the school again and had asked questions there as well.

 It was going to happen in a week’s time, on a spring Tuesday. In one of the science labs, there will be an ‘accidental’ gas leak from all of the gas taps used for experiments. In other words, the principal is going to turn on all the taps. He will do this about 9am (boy, had Rosaline been busy) and then at 9:30, a chemistry practical class will take place. Nat’s class. Someone will light a match, in order to use their Bunsen burner. And then they all die.

Of course, when Rosaline had discovered that the explosion, it had happened in the worst way ever. In her world, it had already happened. Nine years before. She only realised it had actually taken place; was when she tried to call the 26 year old Nat (unsurprisingly we were still best friends) but of course, there was no answer. She was already gone.