lost in time

The Contrast

I walked along side Adrian, my hand still in his. A strange feeling enveloped me and I knew it had something to do with our intertwined fingers. I stopped abruptly, causing Adrian to look at me.

"Hey, is something wrong? " He asked me, giving me a small smile.

I looked at our intertwined fingers, trying to find the right words to describe my nemesis. But before I could say something, upfront a vehicle honked. I saw Trey sitting behind the wheel looking impatiently at Adrian.

"Do I have to wait till Christmas till you trod your ass in the car? " Trey shouted.

Beside me, Adrian chuckled and and pulled me towards the vehicle.

He was about to open the back door for me when I said
"Don't"

Adrian looked at me questioningly.

"I can open the door myself Adrian" I said looking at him.

He looked at me confused but then didn't question me and moved ahead to take the passenger seat.

"No one told me she is coming" Trey snarled at Adrian pointing his head in my direction.

"Trey, behave" Adrian said in a voice which implied he had to say that a lot.

I rolled my eyes, too tired to reply. Instead, I took this opportunity to look outside and observe.

"Where are we going?" I asked Adrian already knowing who was going to reply instead.

"To jump off a cliff" Trey muttered sarcastically keeping his eyes on the road.

"Great, I get to see you die! " I fist bumped in the air.

Adrian laughed. His laughter as clear as running water. I saw Trey look at him, a very quick glance. But it caught my eye.

"Not if I push you off first" Trey relied to my comment.

"I would like to see you try" I said, rolling my eyes.

"Oh no, you wouldn't"

"Oh yes, I would"

"I can take you down in a heartbeat, you're a girl '' He shrugged, as if that explained everything.

"Excuse me?" I said. I couldn't believe my ears. 2015 and yet the feminine gender has to hear this.

"You're excused " Trey said. Stopping the car and getting out of it before I could say anything.

"ughhhhh!" I screamed in frustration, and got out of the car.
We had parked in front of a hardware store. Zeke's Hardware, a huge red name plate read.

"What are we doing here?" I asked Adrian who had stopped beside me, while Trey ran up ahead.

"Buying supplies for my mom, she wants to redo the entire backyard for some whose-got-the-best-backyard-contest" Adrian snickered, giving me one of his small smiles.

"Ohh. Let's go then. " I said more out of curiosity than excitement.

Adrian lead me to the back of the store where Trey was talking to an old man in overalls.

I looked around. There were few swing sets lying here and there, some bizarre shaped sculptures, and plenty of paint buckets. I walked over to one of the sculptures, a female, in Greek attire and long wavy hair. I immediately knew who she was. Athena, the Greek goddess of wisdom. We had one back home, in the UTOPIA section of history and warfare.

No one believed in the capital G, God anymore. The sickness had created such widespread havoc for so many years that people lost faith in themselves let alone any faith in some supernatural being. But Athena's statue was still there for some reason. After close down time, Jared and I used to go and snoop around a bit. He was least interested in the warfare section, but he still came for my sake. That was when we had discovered her statue and Jared's computer skills had found about her in no time. We had a good laugh that day.

I let out a sigh and focused on the present setting,  Andrew was laughing at something Trey said. Trey in turn, beamed at his brother's smiling face. There was something about this sort of intimacy that was painful to watch.

Suddenly Adrian doubled over and fell to the ground. His chest wheezing in the attempt to breathe. Trey instinctively bent over to catch him.

" Arian!" Trey shouted.

" Where's your inhaler?" He asked nervous fingers running through his hair.

Adrian in response shaked his head. "On my..stud..study table"  He said barely audible.

"Dammit Adrian! Why are you so careless?" Trey roared in angered.

"Nicole!" Trey screamed, acknowledging my presence for the first.

"Go start the car and get it back here. I'll help Adrian up "

I grabbed the vehicle keys from his hands and ran towards the car. Joan already giving the information I need to handle the vehicle.

I brought the engine to life and drove to the back of the hardware shop. I jumped out of my seat and quickly helped Trey get Adrian in the car. Trey took the car keys from me, and made me sit next to Adrian.

"Rub his back up and down, I'm taking us to the hospital " Trey ordered me . I did as I was told. My training prepared me to follow instructions correctly and to give them when necessary.

"No" Adrian said still wheezing , in attempt to breathe.

"Take me back home, my inhaler..is..is there" Adrian said clearly in pain.

"No. I'm taking you to the hospital" Trey said starting the engine.

"Please..."  Adrian begged him.

Trey closed his eyes. Mentally debating, but then gave up.

"Fine. Let's get you there." Trey sighed.

I continued rubbing Adrian's back, his muscles seemed to relax a bit.

"Thanks" He said looking at me.

This guy is barely able to breathe and he is thanking me?. The Hamilton boys are impossible.

"Not at all" I said shaking my head, genuinely pleased.

"Lay down" Trey said looking at us in the rear view mirror. His jaw muscles tightened.

I brought my attention back to rubbing Adrian's muscles.

Trey got us in record time to the Hamilton residence. He quickly moved out of his seat and opened the door to get Adrian out. He slung Adrian's shoulder over one head, just as I was about to do the same

"I'll take it from here." Trey said coldly.

I took a step back and nodded my head, not fazed by his actions. I watched them go, Adrian slumped halfway over Trey. Both of them were so different. One could draw a sharp line contrasting their personalities.

Nicole? Where are you?

I heard Jared's voice through Joan in my head.

Living area, now.

I told him telepathically.

There was something wrong with Adrian Hamilton, and I was going to find out.

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From your fellow time travellers
Nehagholap and Radoniser