Good Things (Part Two)

He stepped back through the portal to his own time and shrugged off his jacket. Some dust flew off as his hand caressed the wool. The portal faded away, shrinking back into non-existence just as quickly as it appeared. It was a peaceful laboratory. I say laboratory. It was more like a garage. Yes. Garage is a more accurate description.

“Did it work?” A voice was heard to be saying. He looked up and saw a young woman there. Blonde, smaller than him, but beautiful for all intents and purposes.

“It has to doesn’t it?” He says in response. “Otherwise this reality wouldn’t exist?”

The woman nods and laughs in agreement.

“True”.

He walks past her and helps turn off the rest of the equipment. The woman looks at him and sighs.

“Answer me something?”

He looks up at her and nods.

“The date…was set to before we met…”

“So?”

“Why did you go back to that particular date?”

He stops and looks at her. She does deserve an explanation. He thinks about what to say and sighs before answering.

“Have you ever been at a point in your life where everything just gets to you? And I don’t just mean work, coursework, whatever, I mean EVERYTHING?”

The woman shakes her head.

“Well, on that date it did. And I went on a downward spiral. One that I nearly didn’t recover from”.

The woman nods but looks confused.

“How did you recover?”

He pauses and smiles at her.

“You just watched me do it…silly…”

The woman realises. She chuckles.

“I was going to say! Because that’s nearly 6 months before WE met and got together”.

“I know. I just needed to hear it was all going to be ok. By the one person who could truly understand what happened and know how it was going to turn out”.

“So it’s got nothing to do with the paradox surrounding it then?”

“Well…that too”.

They look at each other and smile. He walks up to her. They embrace.

“Truth is, you saved me. Back when we met I was…scarred. Scarred, scared and lost. I was trying to fit in with everyone and I was failing. But then I met you. And that all changed. There were times at the start where you annoyed me…upset me even…but ultimately you saved me. So I owe you everything. And I mean everything”.

The woman smiles. They kiss for a few moments. They then look to the machine that transported him back to the past.

“What are we going to do with this?”

“I’ll turn it off. We shouldn’t use it again. If the Government get hold of it then we’ll be in trouble!”

“Ok. I’ll put some dinner on. Carbonara?”

“Sounds great…”

They smile as she leaves the room. He looks at the machine and wonders for a moment. The places he could go. The people he could meet. But he was right. It was dangerous. What he did was dangerous enough. He’d better not risk it. He walked over to the main console and tried to turn the machine off. But it wouldn’t. It wouldn’t switch off. He tried again and again. Still nothing. He looked confused.

“What the hell?”

He checked the connections to make sure everything was in place. Everything was fine.

“Why is this not working?!”

“Because I’m here…”

He looked to the other end of the room and saw an old man standing there.

“Who are you? What are you doing here?!”

The man emerged from the shadowy corner. He looked strangely familiar. He realises who it is.

“I’m you…from the future…”