𝚆𝙰𝙸𝙳𝙼𝙰𝙽𝙽𝚂 𝙷𝙴𝙸𝙻 ,, magnus nielsen

chapter eleven|back from the dead

Chapter Eleven

back from the dead

"Aleksander. Aleksander Kohler."

"That can't be right. You're a lot older. You have a wife, and your son is on trial for murder."

The dark-haired boy looked at me in confusion. "what are you talking about."

Magnus looked around the woods. "Okay seriously, where are the cameras? We've been Punk'd, right? Great. You can all come out now."

"Magnus, I don't think he's joking." I said, taking in the boy's attire. It wasn't from our decade, that's for sure. My breathing was quickening. "Aleksander, what year is it?"

"1986" The dark-haired boy spoke as if it were obvious

"1986?" I whispered hoarsely, running my fingers through my brown hair, now riddled with leaves and small twigs

Magnus, catching on quickly, was by my side in a an instant. "Hey, kitten, you're alright, okay? Annaliese look at me. Breathe."

I reached out and latched on to the boy's wrists, quick to bury my face in his thick fleece lined jacket.

"Is she okay?" Aleksander asked quietly as Magnus wrapped his arms around me, murmuring reassurances.

"She'll be alright. She's just having a small panic attack." Magnus reassured the other boy

"Is there something the to of you aren't telling me?"

"If we told you we were from 2019, would you believe us?" I said quietly, almost choking on the words

"Probably not, no. But is that where all the stuff about my son was coming from? Trial for murder?"

"Buddy, you might want to sit down while we explain." Magnus said, gently pulling away from my grip

And then we explained. Staring with the day Heidi was killed. The day things stopped being normal. Right up to the cave and our apparent journey through time.

Aleksander laughed uncomfortably "This makes no sense."

I scoffed "You're telling us. We have no idea how we got here." Unless the weed I smoked with Magnus that morning was laced with something, there was no way we were making this up. If I had told my parents, they'd have me put away in a mental institution and claim some sort of post-grief psychosis.

"What the hell." Magnus said under his breath, massaging his forehead. "What is happening here?"

Aleksander looked like he was about to say something when the pressing darkness of night was interrupted by blaring red and blue lights, cutting through the night like a knife, sirens pressing in on all sides. For the second time that week, it was like time was stopping. So much for this being a town where nothing ever happened.

Aleksander scrambled to his feet and we followed closely behind, panic seeping into my bones. Magnus gripped my hand firmly, almost as if he was afraid to let go. I was afraid to let go. This week, my life had taken a turn for the worst. A turn for the overly dramatic, if you will.

What we were about to see was going to make sure our lives were never normal again.

We followed Aleksander out of the woods and up the road, to where the police cars had stalled. I saw a man who bore a strong resemblance to my grandfather talking to a group of kids huddled together. When I took in the faces of the kids, my jaw dropped.

"Magnus, look. That's your dad. And that's my dad and Zacharias." I said quietly, pointing towards the group of distraught teenagers.

Magnus' grip on my hand tightened "That's impossible. There's no way."

Shaking my head, I pointed to an election poster inside a bus shelter. It was date marked in the corner. 1986. Somehow, we had time travelled.

"What the hell is going on?" Aleksander queried

While my grandfather talked to the group of kids, a stretcher was wheeled out of the forest. It stopped in front of the kids and one of the ambulance attendants pulled back the sheet draped over the body.

My heart sank to the floor. I felt like I had been drenched in water. Ice cold water. The shock hit me like a truck when I fully registered just who was on that stretcher.

All these years and I finally have some sort of closure.

"Magnus... that's Uncle Zacharias. Exactly as I last saw him." I said quietly as my shaky legs finally gave out. "How is he here! What happened in the cave!?"

The hot tears streamed down my face, the only comfort being Magnus' arms wrapped around me.

When I turned around, Aleksander had vanished.

___

Meanwhile in 1986, Claudette Landers stood next to her boyfriend, her entire form shaking. At Beck's insistence, the group had called Mr. Kruspe, who was a Sergeant in the local police department. Zacharias, who had deep-seated daddy issues, was struggling to keep his composure. His father was not going to be impressed, and the boy was still shaken up from seeing his identification papers on the dead man.

"When can I leave? I just want to go home." Claudette said, voice soft

"In a minute, Claudette. I just need you to confirm that the body the paramedics found is the same one that you guys found." Sergeant Kruspe said, frowning at his sons. "I expected better from you, Beck."

"Dad, we had nothing to do with this!" Beck protested

"Dude, drop it." Ulrich said "There's no way they're going to believe us."

Zacharias huffed "Well, he might believe Beck."

Scoffing, Beck turned his head in the direction of his house, waiting for when his father would finally allow him back in the house, when this inane questioning was over. None of the kids had anything to do with it, so why his brother was getting the blame was a mystery to Beck. As far as he knew, nobody in town had veer seen the dead man before.

Lea Broch was walking towards the end of the road, her parents close behind. The blonde offered the Kruspe boy a sad smile, pulling her baby pink sweater tighter around her body.

Behind him, Ulrich heard Claudette's cries as the sheet was pulled back from the dead man's face. "That's him." Zacharias confirmed, prompting the paramedics to pull the sheet back over the head.

For both parties in both time periods, life would never be normal again.