Strings Of Time

XV

(Elise's POV)

In a single moment everything came back to me. Everything that I've been keeping inside was bottled up in a large clear vial of infested emotions. It was like I was watching my life in backwards, then forward, then backwards again, until it stopped in this very moment. It could have been a continuum of something more magical but time permitted it to stop... and I can't even do anything about it.

Alex Mathews took her last breath in front of me.

This narration was the first step of knowing the truth that the universe has granted me.

A week after the festival, Mr. Mathews was very reluctant to talk to me. I was just watching him breeze through papers after papers. He kept on scratching his head as he rubs his thumb with his pointer finger. He exhales like an old man with a bothersome history of trauma. The silence was earie and I can't help but wonder if he will ever say something that would make me feel less worried. On the brighter side, I was never happier than to see Alex with her glowing appearance. Though her eyes couldn't see the shade of my smile, I could always count on her warm embrace in the morning light. I must admit, I'm a foolish girl for falling for someone who's not in my time or better yet... with the same gender. But Alex Mathews was different, more different from what I felt for Christopher. This was gentler, more loving, more passionate that any other romance in this world. Like destiny, that feeling of being with that person made sense with father time.

But fate started to be untrustworthy. The past was catching up with the present and I didn't even realized it till the very end.

Mr. Mathews snatched a peek at me then went on to sign some papers for me to deliver to a friend of his, "Elise..." he finally spoke.

I looked at him casually, hoping to conceal my excitement of him calling out my name. "Yes, Mr. Mathews?"

He cleared his throat as he composed himself before he speaks, "I uh... um, I want you to take a break for a while."

My eyebrows met in confusion as my heart sunk with the next word he would say, "W-what do you mean, sir? A-are you firing me?"

Mr. Mathews sighed as he massaged his temples. He stood up from his desk and walked towards me. He sat next to me on the couch and looked at me with empty eyes. I was afraid to look at him. He played with his growing beard as he scrunched his eyebrows, "Elise, this is just temporary until I figure things out."

I finally had the guts to look at him with teary eyes, "But... what is there to out figure out? If this is about Alex—"

Mr. Mathews held my trembling hands, "—No, Elise, no. This isn't about Alex. N-now, you must understand that there are things that I cannot explain right at this very moment." He sighed again and stood up. He walked back and forth trying to think carefully what he wanted to say next. He then stopped and faced me, his eyes were wide. "Who are you?" he asked in a whispering tone.

"Pardon?"

At this point, he brushed his hair up like a mad man as he blinks his eyes, "Don't make me ask you again. Who are you?"

I slowly stood up with my chest pounding like a wild beast, "Mr. Mathews... I don't understand. W-what are you talking about?"

He suddenly, lashed out and grabbed both my arms, shaking the answer out of me, "How do you know Christopher Carlisle?" he shook me again with raging eyes and a crimson face, "Answer me!!"

"I don't... I don't know..." The tremors of my body was beginning to take a hold of my words. Tears flooded my eyes and I was scared for my life. When Mr. Mathews saw my tears, he suddenly went back to his senses and finally let my arms go.