Portals

Portals

Icy blue water swirled around me as I tried to determine which way was up. I finally saw some light and swam towards it. Breathing in the fresh air, I wondered how I was even alive. Usually hitting water from hundreds of feet above would break bones, but I hardly felt any pain after the incident, which was why I was here. I looked up at where I just dropped from. The spinning purple time portal was just closing. I finally remembered where I was: my backyard pool, three years ago. I was 14 and it was almost my 15th birthday. I had two days to stop my party, or at least a few guests from showing up. Today was Thursday. I was at fashion club until five pm and my parents were at work until eight. I had about six hours until anyone was home, so I got to work.
I rummaged through my closet, but then remembered all this stuff would be too small for me. I went to my parents’ room and found an old t-shirt of my mom’s and some jeans. I threw my wet clothes in the dryer and went back to my room. I didn’t realize how much different it was three years ago. I looked over my walls, sketches of people, animals and other objects hung by tacks above my bed. Pink and blue stuffed animals littered my bed and a huge dinosaur pillow stood at the head. I was so immature back then. There wasn’t a computer at my desk or any scattered homework papers buried under soda cans. Things had definitely changed in 3 years, but I would be mentally blind to the changes in two days. I couldn’t let that happen. Well, it already did happen, but I’m sick of it. I’m sick of everyday things that pass by and whole weeks that mesh together until I wonder where the last three years of my life have gone. No; it has to stop.
I sat down at my desk and got out my old school directory. James, James, James, Bradley James. I finally found it and wrote down the number and address listed next to his name. I sifted through a few more drawers until I found my old money stash. Taking a few dollars I walked out to the kitchen. Thursday; grocery shopping day; which meant there probably wasn’t much to eat. I found a slightly bruised apple and took a bite. I had gotten the new rotten fruit vaccine recently, so I would be fine. After cleaning up and making sure I didn’t leave any trace of myself behind, I left the house. There was nobody at the nearby bus stop, so I sat down on the old wooden bench. I forgot it used to be wooden; it would be replaced by a metal one in a few months.
The bus showed up; 2:30 as always. It was never late, until the driver died two years from now. I smiled at him as I put money in the machine. I knew what was going to happen in three years to so many people, but it was against the rules completely to make any hint of anything. There were tons of restrictions made right after the government discovered a formula to go through time. It was a hefty fine and there was a long waiting list to use the portal, but I had waited for this for so long. You even had to have a good reason to use the portal; mine was definitely good enough.
The bus was still bumpy and slow, that was one thing that wouldn’t change for a long time probably. I tried to think what I was going to do. Should I just tell him to not go near the neighborhood this weekend? Or do I need to threaten him? I wasn’t sure at all of what I had to do. My only reason for going back to this time was to prevent him from going to my party. I couldn’t do anything drastic or else it may have serious results in my current time.
So there I was. In front of James Bradley’s house, completely unsure of what was going to happen next. I felt so dumb. I was from three years into the future and yet I had no idea what was going to happen in thirty seconds. All I knew was that in two days he would ruin me; robbing me of the rest of my life. Still, what was I going to do? I thought of kidnapping him and keep him away from my party until Sunday morning, but people would notice, and of course I was supposed to follow the rules.
After what seemed like hours, I got up the nerve to knock on his door. It was made of wood, not yet metal. An older woman came to the door, wearing a horrific looking floral dress.
“Can I help you?” Her voice was hoarse and she smelled of smoke. It was then I noticed the cigarette placed perfectly between her right index and middle finger as her hand rested easily on her hip; accentuating the level of annoyance she was obviously feeling.
“I’m here to see Bradley James.” I stated as firmly as possible although I was shaking nervously. I shouldn’t be nervous. I was nearly 18 and he was still 15, what could happen? Then I froze as I realized he could recognize me. I tried to remember if I had any classes with him or if I ever saw him in the halls. Hopefully my face changed a little in three years.
“Brad! Door!” The old hag interrupted my worrisome thoughts before turning to leave. I was left standing in the doorway, alone, waiting for the younger version of the man I hated.
Bradley James soon hopped down the stairs. He stalked over to the door, leaning against the frame with his arms crossed. His eyes only half opened as his mouth spread into a cheeky grin. He couldn’t even look the part of an almost decent creature.
A few seconds passed. I felt as though all the air in my lungs left and it was impossible to fill them again. I hadn’t seen him in three years, and still all the events of that night came flooding back to me in an overwhelming wave of pain; my backyard with all my friends as we celebrated another year of my life, him showing up with all his friends and things getting a tad crazy. He had gotten the wrong idea all too quickly. I thought it was my fault. I thought I caused him to want to do it. I thought it was my fault he shoved me into the shed; it was my doing he held me down as he robbed me of any shred of purity I had. I must have deserved the pain it brought me as he gripped my arms, holding them down, while he got his sick pleasure. I thought I deserved to have my screams muffled by his hand because I must have done something wrong.
It took me a while to notice his confused look, as my vision had become blurry. I breathed deeply, thinking it would help, but it only caused me to choke back on my sobs. He was a criminal, a thief, a rapist. My tears soon turned angry when I finally discovered that I was not guilty of anything, I was only the victim. I glared at him through the water. He seemed shocked at my sudden mood swings and he obviously had no idea what to do. I didn’t either, so we were both shocked at what I did.
I quickly grabbed him by the neck and dragged him out of his own house. Looking back I made sure his mother didn’t notice he was gone, as I tried to make him shut up. In an attempt to get my point across, I threw him down on the grass. He sat up on his elbows, looking at me in shock. I had no idea what I was doing. Only rage fueled me further and I could barely stop myself.
“This Saturday, don’t leave your house.” I enunciated as much as possible to make sure he understood me and never averted my eyes. In fear, he moved his head up and down several times. That was enough for me. I could tell he wasn’t going to do anything, probably not for a few more weeks.
I returned home by bus around 4:00 and ran inside. I got my clothes out of the dryer and threw them on. Only an hour before my younger self got home. I put everything in my room back to place and took a final look around. I saw a picture posted on the wall of me and a few friends. I seemed so happy in the photo; not a care in the world. I was wearing jeans and a dumb shirt with a unicorn on it. I smiled a little at my poor fashion sense back then. My smile disappeared slowly as my head turned to look into a mirror on the wall. Darker hair, black jeans, dirty shirt and too much eye liner stuck out at me. What had happened? I couldn’t even remember when I had started dressing like this. When I stopped hanging out with friends or joining clubs was all a blur to me. I rummaged through my closet to see the dumb unicorn shirt hanging in the back. I took it off the hanger and held it up in the mirror. No way was it going to fit me now, but I still wanted it. One little shirt couldn’t change much in time so I didn’t worry.
I went out the back door near the pool and looked up. The portal was just opening like it always does, so I closed my eyes. When I got back to present time I realized my eye liner was gone, and same with my dirty shirt. I was wearing a normal t-shirt and a cute scarf.
I had gotten my life back.