The Arrival

The Arrival

The door slams and before my ears can even seem to recognize the sound, my freshly glazed eyes are met with a sting from a fluorescent light swinging above my head, clicked on by the hand of a stranger now across from me. I lift my hands to block the light, yet the handcuffs linked to the table pull them down in denial. My face stays low, staring at the metal table before me. A chuckle comes from the stranger, “So what’s his problem again?” A slight murmur as if by a bee seems to come from the stranger’s ear. “The future, shit, now I’m babysitting lunatics” says the stranger. I hear him sit. He’s dressed strange, his eyes are covered and his hair is unnaturally slicked back, his complexion is not welcoming.

“Please sir,” I begin to plead. A hand is raised to silence me, “You think you can spoon feed me B.S., get on with where the girl is or you’ll be thirsting for hell in a few”. I begin to sweat, closing my eyes I hold back tears, how do I explain to this man I have traveled here, unknowingly, practically accidentally?! “Please sir,” I begin again, not a muscle flinches as if every part of this room is controlled by him alone. “I sought to traverse across time; I never thought I could travel to times that had not existed yet?” My voice quavers; sweat trickles as I talk faster. “I believe I come from the past, I sought to go further back, to save a loved one”. Pitifully tears run down my cheeks. I look at the stranger, and my gaze meets eyes for the first time, familiar eyes, sunken into an aged skull. His voice echoes with dread "I told you it wouldn't work".