It had been three days since I had seen the video. In these three days I had seen it over and over again till my mind had memorized the movements of his lips in each word he said, his breathing, the sound of his giggle but most of all his unblinking stare which drew me in like the ocean calling a wave back to itself.
Every time I would return to work or to do something else, his image would come into mind and leave me feeling alone and unfinished. I felt restless and breathless, I mean he was there, right in front of me, just a screen away but I couldn’t touch him or feel the warmth of his breath or see him be alive. It was suffocating, to see him, to hear his voice…to be so close to him and yet so, so far. There was only one thing I could do, and that was to go back to a time when he was awake.
The HSM’s had figured out time travel and many people went forward and backward in time to prepare better for meetings or complete assignments or make up the semester’s attendance or not cheat on their loved one, in some cases realize that their partner has been infidel and so go back in time and cheat on them before they are cheated by them and back and forth, again and again. Time which had enslaved homo sapiens was the HSM’s most liked plaything. But no HSM had ever travelled a distance of more than ten years. Time travel though accessible and available had several rules that all HSM’s were taught in school and ironically some went back in time to learn it again.
TIME TRAVEL DICTATES THAT
1) Time Travel permits the travel of one person per time travel vehicle
2) The currencies of the past and future cannot be exchanged through time travel, any bill from the past or future date will be rejected by World State Banks.
3) The use of time travel for activities deemed illegal by the World State Courts is strictly prohibited and is punishable with twenty-year imprisonment (without access to time travel; smartypants) and/or fine of 3000 SherMichaels
4) All rules given by the World State time travel department are to be followed strictly to avoid accidents and crowding in time zones.
5) Every time traveler is responsible for the maintenance of their own Time Travel Vehicle
6) The distance of ten-year time travel has been successfully completed by HSM’s, travelling further than ten years in future or past will be at the HSM’s own risk and not advised by the World State time travel department
7) Time affects only the span between birth and death. The inter uterine state is not affected by time and hence, the time of birth remains unchanged. Women who are 6 months or more into their pregnancy are not allowed to travel time.
8) The time of birth is calculated as the base time and death time is decided by the base time
9) Time travel does not affect aging, age remains unchanged whether you go forwards or backwards in time
10) If you cannot go beyond a certain distance in the future, it signifies that you have reached your death date
And finally, the most important rule of time travel:
Time travel cannot enable the bringing of the dead back to life or the prevention of death. Death is truth, the only truth, unavoidable and unerasable. All measures taken to prevent the death of the person at the designated time and date will be futile.
Time travel had been found, but only within a distance of ten years and I had to go back almost 1000 years.
“you’ve got to be joking! Carmen you cannot go back a thousand years, I don’t even think the time travel vehicle is equipped to travel such distance” James screamed in my face as I told her what I was planning to do
“don’t be so overdramatic James, I mean, what’s the harm in trying?”
“What’s the harm in trying? Are you seriously kidding me? it’s like…it’s like attempting to travel to the sun in a Hyundai, a second-hand Hyundai!”
“it’s not that dangerous”
“ya coz it’s more dangerous than that!”
“Jamessy”
“Don’t Jamessy me Carmen, you know you could die doing this, and I’m not letting you do it.”
“James, do you remember how you felt when you met Janine for the first time? That’s how I feel with Michael”
Janine and James were a spirit couple. HSM’s had discovered that when God made the soul, it was too huge to be contained in only one body and hence he divided each soul into three and placed two parts of it in two different bodies and kept the third one with him in heaven. Finding your spirit couple was the highest aim of the HSM’s existence, nothing surpassed it. According to some beliefs, when spirit couple kissed each other, they would breathe life into each other and that was the point at which the flesh existence turned into a soulful living.
“No! Carmen, No, oh dear lord, No. Michael cannot be your spirit other, look at the time distance between you too, you were not even born on the same day I mean you were born on the 29th of August and he was born on…” she flipped through the Homo sapiens files on the CompMac to get Michael’s details
“29th August” I said, not needing to look at the screen
“Oh my god! but it can’t be”
“But it is James, it is! Why do you not understand? Okay, imagine you found out that Janine lived thousand years ago, would you not travel back in time just to be with her?”
“I would” a voice came from behind us and we turned around to find Janine standing at the doorway
“Hi Janine” I said as she came in
“Hi Carmen, hello James” she said giving James a little peck on the lips. I looked at James and Janine. When they were together there was something different, what the hell, I felt more alive all of a sudden when Janine came in and joined James.
“Carmen’s right James, I know it is risky, but the magic of union is worth all the risks in the world, you know that James, don’t you?” Janine continued
“you’re right but…”
“No buts James. Wow! Is that him Carmen? Is that Michael” Janine squealed looking at the screen “he’s soooooo handsome, he’s more beautiful than a HSM for crying out loud”
“Ahm” James cleared her throat
“of course, not as pretty as you love!” Janine said, caressing James cheek
“Ya right!” she grumbled and Janine enveloped her in a tight cuddle. “And Carmen” she said looking at me over Janine’s shoulders “If you really want to go back a thousand years to be with Michael, I won’t stop you. Anyways it’s almost midnight, we’ll figure out all the details and requirements tomorrow …”
“that’s true” Janine interrupted “No time travelling tonight, this is a very intricate process and we’ll have to carefully figure out everything in detail”
“okay, that’s cool!” I said making my way to my bedroom “goodnight J&J”
“goodnight Carmen. Sweet Michael Dreams”
YOU ARE READING
While He was Awake
FanfictionTravelling back in time to meet and be with him...but it's not what I thought it would be, more importantly he's not what I thought him to be. If I had known him the way he really was, would I still travel back to be with him? Absofuckinloutely...
