A Change in History

Amaris walked into her office. She disliked parties and the noise that went with them. If she had her way there’d be no celebrating the discovery. Her navy pants weren’t fitting right and she walked across s the room to her desk. Slowly she looked over at her calendar. If I screw this up, I may not be able to try again for a very long time. Amaris needed some answers and she knew how to get them. Carefully, she let a few candles and scribbled a question on a piece of paper. She let the paper catch fire and burn, please work!

Across time and space two people, a teenager and a woman disappeared and reappeared in an office that was much different that the room they’d just left.

“What happened?” the girl gasped.

“I have no idea, are you alright Amaris?”

“Yes.”

“Yes, I’m fine.” Trisha Moore turned and to her surprise saw two people. There was the Amaris she knew, young intelligent, mature, and kind. Than there was a young woman, 25 at least, sophisticated, obviously smart, and quite stunning. A sparkle caught her eye and her eyes diverted to the young woman’s neck where a crystal hung upon a silver chain.

“Amaris? How can this be?”

“What are you talking about?” The young Amaris asked.

“Hello Mrs. Moore, I must say I am surprised to see you,” the elder replied.

“YOUR me?” The younger one choked.

“About ten years in the future give or take. What I don’t understand is why you’re here Mrs. Moore? I only summoned my younger self.”

“Summoned?” The older Amaris paid no attention; she was too shocked at seeing her former mentor.

“Giver of Magic, I suggest you get over to my side of the world!” A woman appeared as a hologram or at least that’s what the visitors thought.

“What is it, Amaris?”

“Sorry to disturb your peace but why did two of you show up?”

“Mrs. Moore, doesn’t she look an awful lot like…”

“Are you me?” Trisha inquired the other woman. They could have passed for twins.

“Yes.”

“Guess you didn’t age much,” the younger Amaris joked.

“Tell me Amaris, what day is it in your time?” the elder asked.

“May 26, 2004, the Wednesday before my… our 16th birthday.”

“Oh, that explains a lot,” the elder muttered. She glanced over at the picture that stood on a table behind the desk. “This was taken on that day, remember?” She asked the second Mrs. Moore.

“Yes, Amaris whatever it is you’re thinking, stop. You can’t change the past.”

“Your right, I can’t, but they can. Tell me, Mrs. Moore, do you recognize the outfit your other self is wearing?”

“Yes, I am going to wear it on Saturday.”

“And what about this?” She asked. She moved her hands and the other something appeared in them.

“Yes, it a bracelet.”

“Why do you think you still have the bracelet?”
“I don’t know.”

“Maybe, I do,” the younger Amaris inserted. She stood next to Mrs. Moore, obviously confused, but determined. “Perhaps, this bracelet is a gift, that you just never managed to give.”

“Amaris, that’s ridiculous. I’m giving the bracelet away this Saturday.”

“AMARIS!”
“What?” Came two responses.

“Older one.”

“Oh.”

“Amaris, I know where you’re going with this and I suggest you end it.” While the two future versions bickered, the originals tried to figure out what was going on.

“You get the feeling that this is just a dream?”

“No, but I have no idea how we got here.”

“Magic brought you here, “the elder Amaris interrupted. Amaris and Trisha eyes both grew wide.

“What? Cat got your tongue? You know magic Trisha, you’re just not aware of it,” the other Trisha replied.

“Oh yea, so that how does my future self know magic?”

“Simple, I had to be able to protect you somehow after the acc…nevermind.”

“And you tell me I break the rules?” The older Amaris mumbled.

Amaris opened her eyes to find herself seated across from Mrs. Moore. They both looked around searching for the office. Amaris looked towards Mrs. Moore and decided that the woman she’d just met was not going to be her mentor’s future self.

“So,” Trisha began.

“We’re back.”

“Amaris, perhaps we shouldn’t tell anyone about this.”

“Oh I completely agree, but you gotta admit, it was kinda cool.”

“Oh yes, it was thrilling!” Trisha sarcastically replied. She slipped her hand into her pocket and found a note. Slowly she drew it out and unfolded it. “Hey, look at this!” At the top of the letterhead it read:

Dr. Amaris Tide

“Way cool, I’m a doctor!” Amaris exclaimed. Trisha read that note and than handed it over to Amaris.

“You wrote it, so tell me what it means.”

“Okay…” Amaris began to read:

Dear Mrs. Moore,

I’m so sorry, please, don’t go anywhere on Saturday. I love you and I don’t want anything bad to happen…

“It just fades off.”

“So what do you mean?”

“Does it look like I’m a mind reader? I have no idea! I guess something bad is…” Amaris faded off. Slowly everything started to fall into place and when she came to the only conclusion she cried out. “Oh my God!”

“What?”

“You said you were going to wear that outfit on Saturday, and you were giving that bracelet away on Saturday…”

“So?”

“You don’t get it? You hadn’t aged meaning, you well, you weren’t really alive,” Amaris whispered.

“Right, I’m going to die on Saturday. Now I’ve heard everything.” Than the room went black.

“Where are we?” Trisha asked.

“How am I supposed to know?”

“Well, do you see your self?” Amaris looked around the darkened room. I know this room.

“Yes, but I’m the same age as I am now.”

“No, you’re not. Look at the calendar, its September, hey it’s my birthday!”

“Goody for you, something’s just not right.”

“What do you mean?”

“I…”The girl in the bed shot up, hyperventilating and tears streaming down her face. She picked up her cell phone not noticing her visitors.

“You…she can’t see us?”

“I guess not.”

“Alyssa, please come and get me…please, I know its late…you don’t understand I need to go…put Megan on…Hi Meg…please…thank you.” The phone clicked off.

“Okay, got any ideas?”
“Yes,” Amaris replied. She slipped her into Trisha’s and than went to take her other self’s hand. As the fingers touched, the setting changed.

“Now where are we?” Amaris looked around and saw they were defiantly outside. She felt the hairs on her neck stand up. Amaris looked down at the ground and chocked on a scream. “What is it? Amaris?”

Amaris could not bring herself to answer. Her eyes were frozen on what she saw before her. Trisha looked down and felt her heart skip a few beats. She tightened her grip on Amaris hand and Amaris snapped out of her daze.

“Amaris get us out of here,” Trisha sobbed. Amaris looked over as a car pulled up. She watched herself get out of the car and walked to the front of the headstone. She stepped in front of her other self and looked into her soul.

An image flashed through her head. A gun and than black, followed by a knife and than white. She tightened her grip on Trisha’s hand and than grabbed her own. The two appeared in their own time. Amaris immediately let go of her mentor’s hand and buried her head in her arms. Trisha was worried by the gesture and went to comfort her.

“Amaris what is it? What’s wrong?”

“She…I…death…it all ended. She was going to…end…”Amaris, was sobbing to hard to say anything else. Trisha sat there comforting the teenager and trying to find solace in her own mind. I really am going to die, in just a few days. How can this be? What could possibly happen? I’m perfectly healthy, how…

The office appeared again and so did their future. Trisha looked at the older Amaris with sadness, but glared at her future self. The two looked at the younger Amaris and tried to find words. Amaris looked up and immediately turned on herself.

“What the HELL did you have to show us that for? Everyone dies eventually but I never want to know when!”

“Chill, how can you stand next to her? She’s going to lie to you!”

“WHAT?” Gasped both Trishas.

“Don’t look so surprised, her recent vision is but a memory that I can make sense of. Amaris, she’ll tell you it was an accident and that is was just her time, but now I know the truth.”

“You have no idea what you’re talking about!” The future Trisha snapped. “RETURN TO YOUR OWN TIME!” And with that, Trisha returned but the younger Amaris remained. She would go through, but first she wanted answers.

“What did you do that for?”

“Amaris, they can’t know their fate. She has to make her own choice, you can’t changed the way things happened.”

“THINGS? We’re not talking about objects we are talking about LIVES! You gave me the chance to live, why didn’t you tell me? At the very least you deserved revenge and I would have gotten it,” she declared.

“NO, you’d have died. I was trying to protect you!” The young Amaris had heard enough and went though the time portal. She saw her mentor pacing back and forth like an anxious parent.

“What happened?”

“I wanted an answer, so I waited.”

“That’s eavesdropping and not nice,” Mrs. Moore light scolded.

“How is it eavesdropping? I was in the conversation!”
“Your future self, not you, as your punishment you can run down the hall and bring back my coffee mug.” Amaris rolled her eyes before talking off down the hall. Trisha breathed a sigh of relief and turned to her second message from the future.

Dear Past self,

I am your immediate future. On Saturday you will drive to Amaris’ secret party and take her out for a drive. You will die, and she will only be mildly hurt. Seconds before you die you’ll make a choice, one that could change the future you saw, but you already know which one I made. I care a lot about Amaris and I know you do too.

If you were to give her the bracelet today the above might be prevented. You’d obviously have to remain at home on Saturday, but it’d be worth it. I don’t know if this will change anything, but it can’t hurt. Regardless of whether you give her the bracelet today, tell her that you care about her. Other wise, she’ll end up as the future you witnessed. It was too late for me to tell her, but you still have that chance and choice. Take care-

Your future self

Trisha placed the letter back into her pocket and sighed deeply. She saw Amaris reenter the room with the mug and smiled. What choice would there be? Maybe, I should take the advice. What could it hurt?

“Come on Amaris, let’s get going otherwise you’ll miss the bus home,” Trisha suggested. Amaris looked towards the clock and nodded. She slipped the camera strap around her neck very carefully. She didn’t want anything to happen to those pictures, they might be the only ones. The two walked down the hall and out to the parking lot hand in hand. They reached Trisha’s car and she reached inside it to grab the small box. She handed it to Amaris.

“What’s this?”

“It’s your birthday on Saturday, right?”

“Yes.”
“Well, 16 is important, so I got you something.” Amaris beamed and removed the ribbon and lid from the box. Lying on a cushioned pillow was a silver bracelet with a charm. Amaris picked it up and examined it closer to find it was engraved.

DREAM

“It’s beautiful!!!! Oh, thank you so much!” She exclaimed throwing her arms around Mrs. Moore and hugging her.

“I’m glad you like it, I was hoping you would.” Amaris smiled and rested her head upon Trisha’s shoulder. “Amaris?”

“Yes,”

“I love you, happy birthday.”

“I love too, thank you for the best present ever.”

Amaris walked into her office. She disliked these parties and really didn’t want a huge celebration for a discovery. Her navy pants just didn’t seem to fit right as she moved slowly over to her desk. She sat in her chair and spun it around. The view out her window was spectacular which is probably why she asked for that office. In front of her, on a table stood two picture frames. A sudden feeling of de ja vu swept over her as she stared at them.

“At least now there are two photos,” a voice said from behind her. Amaris spun around and quickly stood up.

“I didn’t hear you come in.”

“So I noticed. Don’t worry, the Professor told me you’d be here. Running away from your own party, Dr. Amaris?”

“Something like that, but than again aren’t you running away from the party, Mrs. Moore?” She laughed. Trisha walked over to the table and glanced from the pictures to the girl.

“I always wondered if you’d look the same as you did the first time,” she remarked.

“Do you ever get the feeling that is was just a dream?”

“Sometimes, I try not to think about it. At least we got a second picture.”

“Yep,” Amaris answered. She brushed the hair off her face and the bracelet jingled.

“You still wear it?”

“Of course!”
“Isn’t the style a bit out of date?”

“I could care less. This bracelet goes everywhere with me!”

“Well you did say it was the best present ever,” Trisha reminded.

“Well, it was the best present I could see and stuff.”

“So that what was the best, best present?”

“Well the fact that you cared definitely made it up there,” Amaris replied.

“You know I thought you’d grow out of that mystery, but some things never change.” Trisha hugged Amaris tightly as if trying to protect her, but knowing that eventually she’d have to let go.