Relative Strangers (Book 2) No Man Is An Island

24. Faith

The second Matt and E removed their stinking Elizabethan clothes, they were desperate to wash themselves, to remove the smell of the sewer from their body.
E allowed Matt to go first, before jumping in the shower after him.
Once they were both clean, they felt immediately better.
The pair then changed into the 60's outfits they had already picked out, which were a lot comfier than what they had previously been wearing.
E then opened an anomaly onto the coordinates of the place they had just been.

"It's so weird to see it like this, when we were here hundreds of years ago, just minutes ago" admitted Matt, as they stepped onto the street.
"Yes, it is a little strange. I don't normally see a place in a different time period, only moments later" replied E.
"Just an hour ago we were walking around in medieval clothes, and now look at us"
"Well, I'm not a fan of this pink colour, or the skirt, but it is better than the stupid Elizabethan dress I was wearing"
"It didn't look comfy"
"It wasn't"
"Well, you never have to wear it again"
"I hope not".

"Anyway, you'd better lead the way, and take us to the documents" instructed Matt.
E nodded and pressed a few buttons on her watch, "This way".
"You know, that watch really is amazing" commented Matt.
"I know. But watches in the present are pretty good to, they can connect to your bank, count your steps, call people, and send texts. Technology has come a long way in the last decade" admitted E.
"It certainly has... E, I don't want you to be too disappointed if the documents aren't where we left them. 2 world wars have happened since then for starters, so it is unlikely that they've been undisturbed all this time" said Matt softly.

"I have to believe that they are still there. I have to have faith" insisted E.
"I'm just trying to prepare you for what we might find. I don't want you to be too upset if they aren't there" replied Matt.
"I don't need you to prepare me for anything, I can take care of myself and my own emotions... But I have faith that our mission was a success"
"How can you be so sure, when the odds are stacked against us?"
"I've always had faith in myself. No one else has my back, so I have to rely on myself. If I was constantly doubting myself, or believing that I was going to fail, I never would have got anywhere"
"Well, I hope for your sake that this worked then".

"Well, at least the street is still here" commented E, when they arrived in the right place.
"Yes, but the hole we went down isn't" pointed Matt.
"That's not a problem, as I was fully expecting it to be covered up" admitted E.
"Then how are we going to get back into the sewer?".
E smiled and raised the device she had used earlier to make a hole in the ground.
She pulled Matt into an empty alley, and placed the device on the ground.
E then removed more rope from her bag and tied one end to a nearby street lamp.
"I thought we left the rope in the Elizabethan era, since we didn't leave the sewer the way we entered?" Questioned Matt.
"I have more than one piece of rope Matt" replied E, as she rolled her eyes.

E placed the rest of the rope beside her hole creating device, and stood centimeters away from it.
"Tell me you're not just going to fall as the ground disappears beneath your feet?" Asked Matt.
E shrugged, "Maybe".
"Why don't we just climb down once the hole has been made?" Suggested Matt.
"That's what you are going to do, but I don't want my HM (hole maker) to smash against the bottom of the sewer, so I'm going to have to catch it as we fall" replied E.
"That's a terrible idea"
"Which is why I'm not making you do it with me".

"E, wait, let's think about this for a minute" insisted Matt.
E ignored him, took a hold of the rope and pressed the correct button on her HM.
The ground suddenly vanished beneath her feet and she fell down, reaching for her HM at the same time.
She successfully caught it with one hand, while her other was holding onto the rope.
As E looked down the hole she had just made, she noticed how low down it was, and she was grateful that she hadn't fallen at that way.
She quickly made her way down the rope, so that Matt could follow.

"You're not going to leave a big hole in the street are you?" Quizzed Matt.
"Don't be dim" replied E as she pointed her HM at the ceiling and closed the hole.
"There, all done. That was easy" she continued, placing the HM back into her bag.
"Right, now comes the hard bit" sighed Matt.
"Yeah. Follow me" mumbled E as she looked down at her watch.
Matt removed the torch from his pocket, that E had placed in there before they left, and illuminated the dark tunnel around them.
"I still don't like this" he grumbled.
"Try and look on the bright side, at least the smell isn't quite as bad as last time" replied E.
"Hmm" mumbled Matt.

Several minutes later they came across the same door as before, all though this one looked very different, hundreds of years later.
After opening the door and finding the exact spot on the floor, E placed her HM onto it.
"Are you ready?" Asked Matt.
E shook her head, "Not really, no".
Matt squeezed her hand, "We just need to have faith right".
E nodded and commanded her HM to remove the same section of the floor as before.
As the floor disappeared E looked inside and felt her heart skip a beat when she saw the cloth she had placed in there earlier.
She then carefully removed it, revealing the parchment beneath.
"It's still here" she squealed.

"Don't get your hopes up just yet. Is the writing still readable?" Questioned Matt.
Too scared to touch the paper, E just looked closer at it, before nodding her head.
"It is. It is! We did it!" E announced happily.
She turned and threw her arms around Matt, hugging him tight.
"We did it" she whispered.
"Yes, yes we did" Matt whispered back.