Healing soul (Turning Back The Clock)

  City 001, the capitol city on Terra, a planet formally known as Earth.

  This may be a new style city, Thought Chester, but it still has the same old problems. Chester was watching the news, there was the usual report on the cities, the ring station’s power output and the state of diplomatic relations between the cities, and then the internal affairs came on. Gang wars on and around 001’s rim had spilled further into the city and law enforcers were trying to block all paths leading into the richer areas.

  There was also a report on a man who apparently shot his wife, a male prostitute and himself, after he had written things on his wall in the two’s blood, things like ‘I couldn’t turn back time’ and ‘all people can do in this world is hate’. Chester gazed out of the window of his apartment at the spinning magnetic rings of the ring station, the strange machine that was discovered when an insane scientist went missing, they had found him dead in the basement of his house, with the plans and a model of the ring station, it had been powering everything in the basement.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~:::::::::::::::::--------------:::::::::::::::::::~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

    A man walked down a corridor, adjusting his tie, he seamed hot, flustered, and jumpy. He was carrying a briefcase and smoking a cigarette. He opened the door to an office and sat at the desk, stubbing out his cigarette, he opened the briefcase and removed the camouflage of clutter. He removed a belt and tied it tightly around his upper left arm, then removed a syringe filled with a slightly glowing green liquid called G4O9, a synthetic drug that combines the effects of Heroine, LSD and cocaine but x20.

 

   The man’s veins were standing out against his skin, like a roadway mapping out his arm, as he manoeuvred the needle towards one of these roads, and breached it’s roof, depressing the plunger on the syringe the man flooded his blood system with the intoxicating drug, and slumped in his chair as the effects took hold of him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~:::::::::::::::::--------------:::::::::::::::::::~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  Chester jerked back into the land of the living. He had fallen asleep in his chair and had had one of his visions, a man injecting himself with G4O9. He had these visions whenever he fell asleep, they were visions of what was happening around him in this so called civilised city, he had seen many things since he had gained this curse, he had seen people committing suicide, he had seen rapes, people catching their partners with someone else, drugs, gang wars, drive-bys, murders, the whole lot. He became afraid of what he would see, afraid to sleep, afraid to doze, afraid to even close his eyes but he had had to, he had to sleep sometime, and he had slept last night and had not had a normal vision but had seen an opportunity, an opportunity to save people, to stop the things he saw happening.

  He had called the few friends he had left; the date was set, set for tomorrow night. Tomorrow he would save people, tomorrow he would do what the man on TV couldn’t do…he would turn back time. Chester was preparing, he was setting things up on the roof, he had the paint, he had marked where to paint, he had instruments, not for him, for his friends, and he knew what he had to do.

  It was 7:00 in the morning; Chester had slept and had only seen what he was to do that night. He got up, dressed and left his apartment, locking all the locks and heading off down the corridor towards work, he worked at the ring station, he wasn’t important but he did get paid well, he was one of over a hundred engineers that worked on the ring system of 001. He wouldn’t be missed, he wasn’t sure people even knew he was there half the time.

  He walked into his boss’ office and sat across from him

  “Yes Mr Bennington?” he said

  “I…don’t think I’ll be able to make it tomorrow sir” said Chester

  “Why is that Mr Bennington?”

  “I’m doing something with friends tonight and I don’t think I’ll be in any state to get to work afterwards”

  “Alright, I’d say you’ve earned a holiday Mr Bennington, you’ve done a lot of good work around here”

  “I...You’ve noticed?” asked Chester, surprised

  “Yes, now go Mr Bennington”

  “Yes sir, thank you sir”

  Chester left his boss’ office surprised; he hadn’t thought anyone had seen his work, let alone thought it was good. He made his way to his cubical; he needed to write up everything that needed writing up and catalogue everything the others needed to do in his absence. He sat in his chair and stared at the screen

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~:::::::::::::::::--------------:::::::::::::::::::~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  “You’re nothing!! Get that? Nothing!! You’re worthless!!” screamed a man at a girl cowering on the floor

  “Yes Daddy, I get it, I’m nothing, I’m nothing” Sobbed the girl, tears running down her already bruised cheeks

  The man slapped her face with the back of his hand, she fell to the floor, and he grabbed her hair and pulled her up to his face

  “Don’t you forget it” he spat into her face

  He dropped her and stormed out of her room, slamming and locking the door behind him. The girl sank back down onto the floor, sobbing and crying. She got out a pad of paper and a pen and wrote on every piece of paper in the fresh pad ‘I’m Nothing’, she just sat there and wrote ‘I’m Nothing’ over and over again until she ran out of paper.

 

  She stuck the paper up on her walls and stared at them before rage bubbled up and exploded inside her, she ran across her room and slammed her fist into the mirror. It shattered in a hail of crystal shards. She grabbed a large piece of glass from the remains and slit her hands, gripping the glass shard tightly in one hand the yanking it down sharply with her other, the blood dripping down the glass as she dropped it onto the floor. She proceeded to wipe her blood over every one of the 300 pieces of paper stuck to her walls, smearing red over ‘I’m Nothing’ over and over again until her wounds began to heal, then she got the largest piece of glass she could find and brought the sharpest edge to rest on her wrist, she tensed her hand, griped the glass and pressed down, about to…

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~:::::::::::::::::--------------:::::::::::::::::::~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  “Bennington? Bennington! Wake up!” said a voice, a hand shaking his shoulder

Chester jerked out of his vision, frowning, could things be that bad in the city? So bad that a 14 year old girl would slit her wrist to escape her father? That shouldn’t happen, not in the civilised city of 001, not anywhere. He looked around to see who had woken him up, it was a co-worker, no one he knew, he probably walked past and decided to wake him up

  “Thanks” said Chester to this nameless nobody

  “It’s OK” said the nobody and then he walked off

  Chester got back to his apartment at about 9:15 after getting some food for the night’s meal, most likely his last meal, and found the others already there; Joe, Brad, Rob and Mike all of those who would come, all of those who didn’t think him mad.

   “Hey guys, how are you?” Chester said “You hungry? I got Chinese?”

  “Hey Chester, yeah Chinese is good for me” replied Mike, the others saying similar things

  They all sat and ate together, ate their last meal together, and discussed what they were about to do, wondering if it was a good thing to do, yes it would heal the city and it’s people, but Chester might not come back, and what would happen to the rest of them?

  “OK guys, it…it’s t…time” said Joe, not altogether comfortable with the idea but willing to go through with it for what would come of it

  The five of them made there way to the roof, to where Chester had set things up last night. They each took a large paintbrush, apart for Chester, who stood in the middle of the marked out area, and began an eight-pointed star, a star of Isis. The four painted the four starting lines, creating a kind if noughts and crosses board effect, framing Chester in the centre square, they then began to paint inward pointing arrows, creating the points of the star.

  They then went to stand at their instruments, positioned at the point where the arrows would be if they were pointing outward instead of inwards. They began to play the music that Chester had copied for them from his vision, Joe on the mixing deck, Mike on Emcee, Rob on drums and Brad on guitar. As they played Chester began to do his part, he drew a knife from inside his belt and slit his palms then, gripping the knife best as he could, he drove the knife into the centre of the square with as much force as he could muster, it smashed into the roof materiel and buried itself hilt deep into the roof. Chester then used the blood on his hands to write what he had seen himself write in his vision.

  The blood writing and the star glowed an unearthly blue-green and wispy tendrils unearthed themselves along the lines of the star and picked Chester up off the ground

~~”So, you’re the one”~~ the tendrils said directly into Chester’s mind

  What happened next surprised the four others, still playing the song. Chester was picked up…and thrown off of the building and they couldn’t scream, couldn’t help or do anything but continue to play the song.

  Chester fell, he fell faster and faster and continued to speed up, hitting terminal velocity, as he wondered whether hitting the ground would hurt or not. He didn’t have long to wait to find out. He crashed into a car he knew would be there, punching into it with as much force as a 10 Ton freight train, popping it’s windows and crumpling it in with an effect like imploding.

  Chester decided that it did hurt. It hurt a hell of a lot, and then there was only darkness as he died and separated from his body…and was suddenly everywhere at once.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~:::::::::::::::::--------------:::::::::::::::::::~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  A woman was walking up a hallway; she didn’t notice the white mist hanging in the air, she was too busy trying to get her key out of her pocket with arms full with bags of groceries. She managed to free the key from the confines of her pocket and open the door and step in. she dropped the groceries when she saw what was before her, he husband was in bed, and her best friend was lying naked beside him.

  The shattering of bottles roused both of them; they turned to see the woman standing in the doorway. The woman promptly hurled anything and everything close to hand at the two in the bed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~:::::::::::::::::--------------:::::::::::::::::::~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  The white car sped down the street, one of the back windows wound down as they sped towards their target, the barricade out of the slums of 001. The car sped along the barricade, things flying out of the open window. Unfortunately for the law enforcers the things turned out to be grenades, which blew chunks of the barricade to rubble as well as the law enforcers.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~:::::::::::::::::--------------:::::::::::::::::::~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

  Chester saw all this as his spirit spread through the city, he spread all the way, covering every inch of the city and grabbed everything. He started to pull the city towards his corpse and as he did, time reversed. The barricade came back up and the law enforcers were re-assembled. The groceries jumped back into the woman’s arms as the closed the door and retreated backwards down the hall, jamming the key back into her pocket. He saw the blood flow back into the girl and the mirror re-assemble itself from glittering shards back into a solid slab as the girl ran backwards away from it.

   He saw the G4O9 flow back into the needle and the man put it away, leaving the room backwards into the corridor. He saw the bullet leave the man’s brain and the blood words leave the walls as the bullets flew out of the prostitute and the woman as the gun was holstered and the man stalked back out of the room and out into the street. He also saw himself leave the car and fly back up the building onto the roof as his essence was contracted back into his body and the rewind slow down.

  He was suddenly lying on the floor in the middle of the Isis star with the others crowding around him

  “Did it work?” asked Mike

  “What happened?” asked Joe

  “Yes, god yes. It worked, it work better than we expected” An out of breath Chester told them, smiling “I undid it all, I undid all the suffering, all the pain, all the rage, I undid it and stopped it. They know what happened, they know what they did, they know not to repeat their mistakes, they have been granted a second chance”

  It was morning, the sun spread through the streets of 001, heating, lighting and allowing the population to know their fatal mistakes, giving them a chance to avert those mistakes

 Everything that lives will make mistakes, it is only fair that they are given a chance to learn from them.