《The Granddaughter of Time》


 Prologue

    Part One


    The Tribulations of the Future


    <hr>


    I have a request, my dear; please take good care of your sister. She will be in great need one day.


    ¡ª my grandmother


    Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.


    Teresa had been lying in her bed for well over sixteen hours by now. Her arm was numb from the weight of her head as she opened her tired eyes and glanced over the alarm clock.


    The lecture had already started. Right now, her students were probably wondering why their professor wasn¡¯t there.


    Fuck it, she thought.


    She stretched an arm over to her bedside cabinet and accidentally knocked over the vial containing her tranquilizers. The pills scattered among the heaps of unwashed clothes that were littering the floor.


    Without looking, Teresa fumbled around by her bed. After a while, her fingertips touched two of the pills that had rolled into a brassiere cup. She slid both them into her mouth, turned around, and slept on.

 Chapter 1: Mother鈥檚 Sorrow

    January 7th, 2017


    The fireside was blazing in the narrow cafe Fuse while a snowstorm blurred the view through the large display windows. A surprising amount of people had cramped themselves into this place to find refuge from the cold winter winds. Soft murmurs resonated in the air while one clear, distinct sound came from the radio at the counter; a monotonous voice detachedly reported on the mutilated corpse of a concert pianist that had been found a week prior in a storehouse within the town¡¯s industrial area ¡ª and then, moved on to talk about the bleak weather.


    Among this ambient noise resounded the soft whimpering of a boy who was perhaps six years old. He sat, together with a middle aged woman, at a table next to the window and cried softly.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, Emil,¡± the woman tried to console him, ¡°You¡¯ll definitely find new friends there!¡±


    This untactful remark worsened the boy¡¯s sobbing. ¡°I don¡¯t want to leave, mummy,¡± he said and grasped a part of the tablecloth within his fist.


    Right at this moment the entry door swung open, letting in a burst of cold air. Meanwhile, Emil¡¯s mother ignored her boy¡¯s cries and continued: ¡°Let¡¯s see what the future holds. Believe me ¡ª a few weeks from now you¡¯ll have forgotten all about this and you¡¯ll see it¡¯s not that bad. Moving is a part of life. And so is moving on. It¡¯s just¡­ a new beginning.¡±


    At the table next to theirs, which just so happened to be free, another guest sat down. She appeared to be a young woman of about twenty years and had fresh, unmelted snowflakes all over her face and white hair.


    That ¡®young¡¯ woman was my sister. She was, as abstract as this may sound, the so-called Future. And the story that I am about to tell you is her story ¡ª The Story of the Future, so to speak. It is, out of all the stories that I have gathered, the very last one. This statement carries some weight, as I am a collector of stories and have access to¡­ well, all of them.


    Telling this particular story afflicts me with sadness and anger. But, to be fair, watching her waste her own life away has upset me ever since I was just a little girl. Why would a person I love so much care so little about herself? The answer is, of course, that the Future cannot care about herself, and it is us who need to care about her instead. When my grandmother asked me to do exactly this years and years ago, I did not yet understand that basic notion ¡ª and now it¡¯s too late.


    Having said all this, I hope that you will appreciate the way I am going to tell this tale. Enough of the rambling though.


    Back to what happened on January 7th. My sister was carrying a big duffle bag and put it down next to her chair with a thump. Clunking and clattering sounds issued from inside of it right when Emil replied to his mother.


    ¡°¡­ I don¡¯ want a new beginning,¡± the boy mumbled and a flush of snot poured onto the paper board beneath his lemonade. ¡°I want to stay here forever.¡±


    ¡°Really, now, Emil, enough of this. We¡¯ve talked about it so many times. We have to move. That¡¯s just how it is. I know it¡¯s hard for you ¡ª it¡¯s hard for us all ¡ª but you¡¯ll have to say goodbye to your friend. Don¡¯t act like a baby, please.¡±


    Confronted with this unfortunate reality, the boy let out a piercing wail and viciously floundered his legs through the air. Of course, his struggles were in vain. His mother, being an adult, was a much more powerful being than he was himself. No matter how much he resisted; ultimately, he¡¯d just be put in a car and driven off, and that was going to be the end of it.


    The only question was whether, before then, he could come to terms with his fate or not.


    Suddenly, a modern pop song burst out of the purse of Emil¡¯s mother. She immediately started rummaging around inside it and pulled out her phone. ¡°Wait a sec, Emil, I need to take this one. It¡¯s the broker,¡± she said and rushed outside.


    Emil quietly continued indulging in his misery, with thick tears rolling out of his eyes. But then he startled as he felt a cold touch on his cheek.


    He looked up, wiping his eyes and nose on his sleeve, just fast enough to watch a young woman drop one of his tears from her index finger into a test tube. She corked and tucked it away inside the immense bag lying on the ground by her.


    As she did that, my sister left a very strong impression on him. Not only had she just stolen one of his tears ¡ª an action that, up to this point, had been absolutely inconceivable to this young boy ¡ª no, he also had to watch her brazenly sit down in his mother¡¯s chair right in front of him. Her eyes were round and bright green with a piercing gaze in them ¡ª an effect that was amplified by black strokes of eye liner and dark lashes. She reminded him of a kind of deer. A type of deer he had seen only once before, on a walking trip with his mother a while ago. One that had caused him many sleepless nights. Specifically, it was the kind of deer that had just been driven over by a car.


    Without saying a word, my sister rearranged her long hair and smoothed out her torn dress. It had once ¡ª a long, long time ago ¡ª been white, but now, it was spattered with dirt, mud, and blood.


    She took the coffee mug left by Emil¡¯s mother and casually sipped on it. Emil¡¯s gaze was locked on her arm for quite a while, because it was covered entirely in large burn scars that reached even up to her shoulder. Also, the young boy could have sworn, her right arm appeared slightly shorter than the burnt one.


    Apart from these scars, an unsettling amount of contusions and wounds of all colours and shapes stretched over the entirety of her visible skin. Only her face appeared uninjured. Curiously, even though her looks were so incredibly estranging, the people around barely even seemed to take note of her existence.


    When she tasted the coffee, my sister feigned happiness for a moment. Then let the expression dissolve without a trace. She locked her eyes onto Emil and minutes passed, without her saying anything. Somehow, the reasons for the boy¡¯s sadness were washed out of his mind even though his cheeks and eyes still held a distinct red tinge.


    Eventually, the girl pulled something out of her bag and rolled it onto the table. What he saw made Emil shudder. He could not believe his eyes; that was his friend¡¯s fountain pen! It was gallant, big and coloured in deep red, with golden ornaments. How!?


    She continued to look at him eagerly, and at the same time, seemed unapproachable. Emil wanted to ask about the pen, but in the end, he didn¡¯t manage to say a single word. Instead, he grasped firmly onto this keepsake with his mouth wide open.


    In the precise moment that the cafe¡¯s entry bell tolled and the winter wind¡¯s rustling entered the place, the young woman rose from the chair she had stolen. By the time Emil¡¯s mother cast her eyes back onto him, my sister was already sitting at the neighbouring table, seeming deeply entrenched in the menu card. Emil quickly hid the pen in his pocket.


    There was only one possibility: This woman had to have stolen Natalie¡¯s pen. Instinctively, Emil remembered the last time he had seen her.


    January 5th


    Gently and with large swings. That¡¯s how Natalie wrote onto the thin pages of her note book with her fountain pen. It was a gallant pen, big and coloured in deep red, with golden ornaments. Every now and then, she would place it onto her lips while thinking what to write down next. In doing so, she accidentally painted small blue spots of ink onto her mouth. Unfortunately, she had never succeeded in getting rid of this habit. Thus, sometimes, she was subject to the embarrassment of walking around the earth with little dots of ink on her face at nineteen years old.


    The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.


    She was sitting on a black bench on a hill in front of the city hall, which meant that at her feet she had the lights of all the houses in the town, with lamps shining their sparkle onto the frozen streets of winter. An hour ago it had stopped snowing and there was no wind.


    She continued writing even though her hands were heavily taxed by the cold, until she heard the bells of the tower ringing six o¡¯clock. She closed her pen as well as her notebook and turned towards the scarcely lit stairs that spun downward the hill.


    Natalie was waiting for someone. At six o¡¯clock on Thursdays, his musical pre-schooling ended and he would make a small detour on his way home to come to this bench.


    He was a person Natalie wasn¡¯t allowed to meet. Because she would probably end up being a bad influence on him, or so she was told. However, he was still someone she really wanted to meet very badly. This conflict caused her immense turmoil. It made her heart beat nervously whenever she thought about it, and it got especially hard each time they were about to meet. At that moment, she felt nervous to the point of dizziness.


    The top of the mountain where she sat, however, was a rare destination for anyone during this time of the day and year, which made her feel a little safer. And so, her heart made a small jump when she could make out the sound of small footsteps plodding towards her.


    ¡°Hello Natalie!¡± the boy called when he saw her face.


    ¡°Emil!¡± she greeted him and opened her arms for a hug. ¡°How are you? Is everything fine? I¡¯m happy you came here!¡±


    He nodded. ¡°I received a big smiley face on my maths test today!¡±


    Natalie ruffled through his hair and made a bit of space on the bench so he could sit down. ¡°Oh, a big one! How much did you study for that?¡±


    ¡°A looot,¡± he answered and made a tired expression, leaving his arms limp. ¡°All day yesterday, together with mummy.¡±


    ¡°Well done! I¡¯m proud that you did well this time,¡± she said. ¡°Hard work will eventually pay off, right?¡±


    ¡°Yes!¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s good. I¡¯m sure your teacher was happy, too?¡±


    Emil surprisingly shook his head, and more quietly than before, continued: ¡°No, she was angry.¡±


    Natalie was baffled. ¡°Why was she angry?¡±


    Emil looked down and mumbled after a while: ¡°Because I threw sand at some girls during the break.¡±


    Natalie looked at him sternly. ¡°You threw sand at others?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯ll never do it again!¡± he added quickly. ¡°Mummy was very angry when I told¡¯er. I also said I¡¯m sorry.¡±


    ¡°Well, okay. It¡¯s important to be nice to others. Why did you do it in the first place?¡±


    He didn¡¯t reply for a while. ¡°I dunno.¡±


    ¡°Did you think it would be funny?¡±


    ¡°¡­ Yes.¡±


    ¡°But it wasn¡¯t?¡±


    ¡°It wasn¡¯t,¡± he agreed.


    ¡°Mhm, I can imagine,¡± said Natalie. ¡°Must have felt bad. Don¡¯t worry, we all make mistakes. Thank you for telling me. Enough of that topic though, you probably had enough trouble with it. So, what else have you done lately?¡±


    Emil cheered up right when she asked. ¡°I was at Phil¡¯s place. They¡¯ got a cat! So cute! But she scratched me, look!¡± He proudly showed the marks on his arm, then continued: ¡°Oh, and they also had a li¡¯l baby. Phil¡¯s sister. Also cute.¡±


    ¡°What¡¯s her name?¡±


    He looked confused and thought for a few seconds. ¡°Uhm¡­ Molly,¡± he answered eventually. It was obvious from his expression that he didn¡¯t remember her name at all and just made one up. ¡°She was so small! You wanna have a baby, later, too?¡±


    Natalie¡¯s heart skipped a beat.


    ¡°Well¡­ I did have one, once,¡± she said slowly, but immediately gulped, as she realized she probably shouldn¡¯t have said that. But it was fine, right? Emil was just six. Blood started rushing to her head.


    ¡°What happened? Did the baby grow up?¡±


    Right, it was fine. He wouldn¡¯t find out. No way.


    She felt uncomfortably hot.


    ¡­ Of course, if Natalie¡¯s own foster parents found out, she¡¯d be in a lot of trouble. If Emil¡¯s mother found out, the word ¡®trouble¡¯ wouldn¡¯t even begin to describe it.


    ¡°Uhm, well,¡± Natalie started and thought for a bit. ¡°He was a boy. I was¡­ well, I was a young girl at the time, so I couldn¡¯t take good care of him. So we found two people who could.¡±


    She showed a forced smile and decided to move to another topic. ¡°Does your mother take good care of you?¡±


    Natalie was starting to feel a bit light-headed.


    ¡°Yes,¡± Emil exclaimed and nodded keenly.


    ¡°That¡¯s wonderful! Not everyone can consider themselves so lucky. You know, being a mother is not easy at all. I¡¯m sure she loves you very dearly, so listen to what she has to say, okay? She means well!¡±


    Emil nodded again.


    Their conversation dabbled on for a while. Eventually, the bell rang, telling Natalie that half an hour had passed. She knew that keeping him here much longer would spell trouble, so she convinced him to continue on his way home. The boy jumped up and hugged Natalie to say goodbye.


    ¡°You coming back next week?¡±


    ¡°Yes,¡± he said. ¡°I promise!¡±


    ¡°Remember; better not tell anyone that you are meeting up with me. I¡¯ll be in big trouble if you do. And then we can¡¯t meet again.¡±


    In saying that, Natalie felt manipulative and awful.


    He nodded, turned around and walked down the stairs.


    Maybe she should stop seeing him after all¡­?


    The mere thought ripped a small hole into her heart. Natalie continued sitting on the bench for a few minutes, without moving a muscle. Eventually, she opened her notebook again. For the most part, it contained remarks about college and grocery lists. It also, however, contained journal entries and small ideas and thoughts.


    She wrote a single, small sentence on the margin of an otherwise full page.


    He¡¯s growing up so fast.


    The tears that landed next to this sentence were sucked up by the paper only slowly.


    January 7th


    Emil¡¯s mother sat down at the table and put her phone back into her purse. Then she sighed and addressed her child.


    ¡°Look, Emil ¡ª Mummy has found a new job. Far away from here. It¡¯s not even on this island anymore. I can¡¯t go to work by boat each day, can I? It¡¯s like I explained. This is why we need to move. And we¡¯ll even have a house just for ourselves. You could ask your friend for her address. I¡¯ll help you write letters. Is that okay for you?¡±


    Emil was still occupied with reminiscing about Natalie. Her words echoed in his mind: ¡°I¡¯m sure she loves you very dearly, so listen to what she has to say, okay?¡±


    His fingers tightened around the pen. He nodded. ¡°Okay,¡± he said. Again, tears started running out of his eyes, but this time, there was no anger in them. He was very sad, and very quiet.


    His mother took him on her lap and patted his head calmly.


    The Future¡¯s job here was done. Without ever having ordered anything, she put down the menu, lifted up her bag and swung it onto her back. At the coat rack, she retrieved her thin, grey hooded cloak and put it on, then left the place. Immediately, a swarm of snowflakes plunged into her eyelashes and she pulled her hood further downward.


    This was how my sister got a hold of her very first tear. She¡¯d found a crying child somewhere, stole one of his tears, and made him adapt to a future he was unwilling to adhere to. Such was, in a way, her modus operandi.


    Of course, I deliberately chose to start my account with this day, even though it is not actually the true beginning of our story. The day was remarkable for a few reasons however, and I want to use this opportunity to enlighten you about them. First, as I said, on this day, the Future gathered tears for the first time. It was for her big, mysterious project that you might happen to find out more about as you continue listenting.


    Secondly, on this day, she was being followed by a certain monster in the shape of a little girl.


    The Future marched over sleek asphalt roads, moved across the plaza and entered a side street that was hidden behind the town hall. It led to this town¡¯s small shopping district. As she continued on, the sky started to turn darker. On the large clock tower, the arrows pointed to it being just short of three o¡¯clock.


    The monster that I mentioned followed my sister closely, creeping behind her at a safe but short distance. Disregarding the fact that she could move, this little girl looked rather dead than alive. She was careful to not get noticed by her target; unnecessarily so, since my sister took very little note of her surroundings as she walked through the snow in her shallow clothing.


    ¡°How injudicious, ungrateful,¡± the girl murmured as she observed the Future with a cold, frightening gaze. ¡°Forlorn soul. What am I to do with you.¡±


    She shook her head in a mixture of anger and annoyance.

 Chapter 2: Merldeath

    After strolling through a few more lonely alleyways, the Future arrived at the doorstep of an old jewellery store. Behind the scraped display glasses twinkled many different gems and trinkets, and note hung on the entrance with scribbly handwriting:


    CLOSED


    UNTIL FIVE TODAY.


    My sister pushed the knob without success, then paused for a few seconds. The sound of feet stomping through the snow appeared from down the street. Oce a moment had passed, she swung her bag over her other shoulder, turned around and took the steps down.


    Crash.


    An old man collided with her, which caused her to stumble against the wall of the house. Her bag clapped against the bricks with a loud rattle and the man let out a surprised cry ¡ª though he managed to catch the Future before she fell to the ground.


    ¡°I am so very sorry!¡± he exclaimed, and immediately jumped up the stairs to push the door in a frenzy. Only then he noticed the paper hanging in front of him. After taking a glance at his wristwatch, he slumped down.


    ¡°Two¡­ hours,¡± he gasped, still out of breath. He turned around and sat down at the first step. ¡°That¡¯s terrible¡­¡±


    His jacket was open and dishevelled and as he rested to regain some composure, he made no attempt to correct his appearance. The Future still stood right next to him and looked to the ground. Her two white sandals poked out from beneath her old cloak. When she stamped on the ground a few times to get rid of the snow and mud, the old man¡¯s gaze fell upon a book lying on the ground right next to her.


    He figured it must have fallen out of the large bag, so he picked it up. My sister was now kneeling down, busy wiping the snow off her green painted toenails.


    ¡°Oh,¡± he exclaimed softly when he took a closer look at the cover. The book was called Returning Home, written by a woman called Latanya Mitchell. The cover art showed a brick wall collapsing behind a man walking past it. When he turned it around, he saw several small pieces of opinion plastering the book¡¯s back, the uppermost reading: ¡°A great tale about making the right decision when it matters.¡±


    The man smiled. The girl had finally risen again, so he looked at her and said: ¡°This is my wife¡¯s favourite book.¡±


    He stretched out his hand to give it back to her. Instead of taking it, she just stared at him.


    ¡°Is everything okay?¡±


    His glance wandered over her body and his facial expressions derailed. ¡°My dear. You look awful ¨D Do you need help? Did I hurt you? I am sorry, I should have watched out!¡±


    A moment passed as the snowstorm continued engulfing them, but the Future didn¡¯t move a muscle. He then pointed to the door. ¡°I need to go in there. You too? Do you belong here? Is this your home?¡± He shook his head slowly. ¡°Why, for all the world, do they open late on such a day?¡±


    With a grave gesture, he wiped a few snowflakes off his face. ¡°Probably it being such a day is precisely the reason,¡± he sighed. ¡°Well, at least they¡¯ll be opening at all. Want to wait here together?¡±


    Hearing this question must have felt terrible. My sister didn¡¯t move. Sometimes, even our best efforts prove not to be enough. She sat down next to him while her gaze wandered across the street apathetically. On the other side, there stood a bench in front of some trees and bushes with a small playground behind them.


    The wind rushed through gutters and twigs. The chirping of a blackbird emerged from the undergrowth of the park. A few minutes later, the street lights sprang on.


    Once it was dark enough, the little girl sneaked over behind the shrubs towards the playground. Then, she cowered down inside some arborets, from where she could watch the Future unseen. Behind her was the large city park, at the end of which laid the university campus.


    The child concentrated on understanding each and every word the old man spoke, even though he made long pauses. He said pointless things, just smalltalk about the weather, explained how he couldn¡¯t wait to get back and generally seemed self-confident and even excited. While observing him and the Future, the little girl sat there, completely frozen. Not the slightest shiver ran over her body ¡ª even though she was only dressed in a white gown.


    At some point, a small blackbird landed next to her and started jumping around the foliage. When she saw the bird, the expression on that girl¡¯s face changed ever so abruptly towards deep, deep, disgust. The animal continued scuttling around her. His black plumage formed him into a round shape and every now and then, he would poke his orange beak into the ground. Sometimes, he let out highly pitched squeaks, or sang happy melodies that then transformed into clearly distinct sound notes.


    He didn¡¯t seem to recognise the little girl as a being of her own, given how she didn¡¯t move in fact, didn¡¯t even breathe, and emanated no warmth. He spent his time crawling over her feet and poking at her as if she was merely a statue. It¡¯s not like this bird could have known any better. It was just a bird, after all, and yet, she felt extremely irritated by his presence, and when the bird finally picked on one of her toes, he sealed his fate.


    The girl clenched her fist in anger and dematerialised in a flash of light, so as if she had sprung into a thousand pieces of cubical, sparkling glass. Only now did the bird try to make off, but then, the same happened to him: he shattered in the midst of his flight.


    Once he had completely vanished, the girl reappeared out of thin air. But now, she was holding a very small egg in her hands; a pale green one, with countless red dots scattered around its shell. The egg had been so freshly laid it warmed the tips of her fingers.


    Wondering if she had missed something important, but with her eyes still laden with contempt, she looked back to the two people on the other side of the street. By now, the Future seemed rather unsettled. She fidgeted around in her place, sometimes she even poked the man¡¯s hands. There was obviously something she wanted to tell him but he remained completely oblivious.


    ¡°What is it with this boy?¡± the girl wondered and focussed on the old man¡¯s figure for a few seconds. It was as if she was lost in a trance until she sprung out of it just as quickly.


    ¡°Ah,¡± she whispered, looking impassively surprised. ¡°My dear, again wasting yourself on ill fates.¡±


    His impending demise not recognising, the old man instead just gazed through the now slowly fading snow drifts with his tired, brown eyes, still holding the book in his hands. He did not even seem to even remember the fact that he had company. The Future had completely disappeared from his mind. Every now and then, he would scratch his scruff, immersed in his thoughts about the distant past.


    September 17th, 1965


    It was a warm afternoon in autumn when a young man sprinted through a carefully cleaned, empty park. In his hurry, he ignored any and all pathways and instead trampled to death countless flowers. His loose clothing, especially his long tie, danced with the wind around him. Finally, behind a row of alders, he saw the building at which he was supposed to meet his friend.


    ¡°You are late!¡± she shouted right after seeing him walk out from behind the trees. ¡°¡­ Again,¡± she added. The man immediately recognised the gloominess in Tamira¡¯s voice. It appeared as though the exam hadn¡¯t gone quite so well. She was sitting there on the stairs leading up to the juristic faculty of the Atlas-University.


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± Calvin panted. He looked at his watch and realised she must have been waiting for him for well over an hour. Of course, none of the other students were still here. Silently cursing himself for missing the train, he eventually asked, in a precarious tone: ¡°How did it go?¡±


    Tamira, paying no mind at all to the dirt on the stones, rolled over the stairs, groaning. ¡°Well, what do you expect?¡± she sighed. ¡°I didn¡¯t make the cut. Everything¡¯s over now. I am a disgrace.¡±


    Calvin slouched his shoulders for a moment, but then he sat down next to her, took her hand and pulled her up to give her a hug. She thankfully accepted and cuddled herself into his arms. As if she only realised the extent of her troubles now, she let out a deep sob. ¡°Five years, all for nothing,¡± she fussed. ¡°I¡¯m really stupid to mess this up.¡±


    Calvin didn¡¯t know how to react, so he placed a kiss onto her forehead while continuing to hold her.


    ¡°I¡¯m very sorry for you to have ended up with such a useless girlfriend,¡± she added.


    ¡°Hey now, don¡¯t exaggerate,¡± Calvin intervened. ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it. Of course, it¡¯s unfortunate, but we¡¯ll make the best out of it. We¡¯ll figure something out, okay?¡±


    Suddenly, she started smiling. ¡°Thank you! It sure took quite some effort to get some words of consolation out of you¡­!¡±


    Upset upon realising he was being messed with, he exclaimed: ¡°Stop that! You know well enough how bad I am at comforting people¡­¡±


    Calvin was probably the most embarrassingly awkward person that Tamira had ever met, but she thought that this was very cute. At the same time, it was way too easy to poke fun at him.


    ¡°True. And yet, I already feel better. And, oh well. I messed this whole thing up. I¡¯ll be angry with myself for quite a while as well. But things are as they are now, and I¡¯ll probably, hopefully, eventually get over it. I think. I¡¯m just worried, because¡­¡±


    Her voice trailed into nothingness as her gaze turned downward. She seemed rather uncomfortable.


    ¡°Because?¡±


    She took a deep breath. ¡°Well, because of the money.¡±


    Calvin gulped.


    Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on the original website.


    ¡°It¡¯s¡­ it¡¯s going to be fine,¡± he said. ¡±First off, just because you didn¡¯t pass this exam, that doesn¡¯t mean everything is over.¡±


    ¡°Well, at least it means I can never be a lawyer¡­¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s right¡­ I was just trying to say, as for the money¡­ You know. I¡¯ve been working some extra shifts. Because I wanted us to maybe move in together after your exam. What I am saying is, don¡¯t worry about money too much right now.¡±


    Tamira smiled at him. She knew how much he hated his job. That had been one of the reasons why they¡¯d decided on her going the career path and him staying at home to take care of the eventual children.


    ¡°Yeah, I knew about those shifts. You were terrible at hiding it. So that¡¯s what they were for, huh? I thought the money¡¯d be for something different. But thanks. Let¡¯s work this out.¡±


    After saying this, she kissed him, and cuddled herself against his shoulder. They sat there for a few minutes until Calvin suggested they go into the city to get something to eat. Shortly after, the two of them strode through the park. Usually, Tamira was quite talkative, but now, she had fallen silent. It was easy for Calvin to guess her true mood, even though she tried fairly hard to hold back her disappointment.


    Eventually they sat down under a large parasol at the table of an ice cream shop. While looking through the menu, Calvin realised that Tamira was looking at her student ID card. Obviously, now she wouldn¡¯t need it anymore.


    ¡°Tamira Vera Merldeath,¡± she read her name out loud and pouted. ¡°Say, dear Mr Coast, when will you rid me of my unpleasant surname? You heralded your soon-to-come proposal months ago, and yet, nothing has happened!¡±


    Calvin gulped. ¡°Uhm¡­ so¡­,¡± he explained, ¡°¡­ that¡¯s true.¡±


    Tamira raised her dark eyebrows. ¡°So?¡±


    ¡°Well, I mean,¡± he started with an embarrassed smile, ¡°Truth be told, my plan was to do this much sooner, but then, somehow, I¡­ I was waiting for the right moment. You see. And of course, waiting for the ring as well. Especially waiting for the ring, very much so. But due to a string of unfortunate events, I am still not in possession of anything resembling said ring, regrettably¡­¡±


    While he was stuttering, he hid his face behind one of his hands. His girlfriend rolled her eyes and brushed her overlong bangs out of her face.


    ¡°And, I mean, during the last few days, you were occupied with studying, which is why I postponed everything to today, but then ¨D Ah, I¡¯m sorry! I will place an order for a ring tomorrow! Right then and there! And then, I¡¯ll propose! It¡¯ll be a big surprise party, I promise!¡±


    Tamira looked at him sceptically. ¡°Listen, Calvin, I love you a lot, but your promises and assurances in such matters are, to put it mildly, completely worthless. I am sure, if I leave things to you, I¡¯ll have to listen to your proposal while lying on my deathbed¡­ If you don¡¯t end up being too late for that as well,¡± she laughed. ¡°I mean, you are still doing the dishes, right? While I study. So I can¡¯t get to them first. It¡¯s been two months!¡±


    He stared at her. ¡°I am doing the dishes because I like to do the dishes,¡± he said unconvincingly.


    ¡°Don¡¯t lie to me. You are doing the dishes because you promised to read me a chapter of my favourite book for my birthday, but instead, we somehow ended up making love all day, and you felt bad about it.¡±


    He looked at her as if she had just read his verdict, while she grinned back. ¡°So, that¡¯s why¡­¡± she wanted to continue, but got interrupted.


    ¡°No, Tamira! This time I really mean it. I¡¯ll get that ring. Wait, I¡¯ll even give it to you in writing,¡± he proclaimed, drawing out a small notebook from his front pouch. Then he scribbled down a message, placed a signature under it and held it in front of Tamiras nose:


    With this, I promise to obtain a wonderful engagement ring for Tamira Vera Merldeath.


    If not today, then tomorrow. If not tomorrow, then on any day to follow.


    ¨DCalvin Coast


    He tore the paper out and placed it into Tamira¡¯s hand. She laughed. This was the peak of awkwardness, just as she knew him. Still, she carefully placed the paper into her own notebook, before putting it into her bag, still smiling.


    ¡°Really, though,¡± she said. ¡°You don¡¯t need to make promises that you might not end up being able to keep. I know you. In the end, you will only burden yourself with relentless remorse and spend way too much effort atoning. Especially when it¡¯s about things that don¡¯t actually matter that much at all. I love a nice ring, but what I want the most is having you here with me.¡±


    Tamira thought for a moment, then she cast a clandestine glimpse at her boyfriend and grasped his hand. ¡°Honestly though, I hate my name. And since you already prepared for us moving in together, it¡¯s about time, right? I want to make it official.¡±


    Calvin wanted to protest. He opened his mouth, and half a sound managed to escape from it, but then she cut him off: ¡°I don¡¯t have a ring, but¡­ my dear Calvin Coast, do you want to marry me?¡±


    January 7th, 2017


    After about an hour, the snow finally stopped falling. Complete darkness filled the sky, but the street glimmered in a bright, untouched white.


    The man sat on the stairs stoically. Next to him my sister, curled up into a ball, massaged her cold feet. Both of them were powdered in snow. She watched the street with an empty, stiff gaze, until she made out a movement. A clear, young voice resounded from up there and she observed two people in thick winter clothing leaving one of the buildings ¨D a young girl and a boy in his teens, who was presumably her older brother.


    At first, they walked hand in hand, but soon enough the girl let go and sprinted towards the snow-covered playground.


    She jumped around for a while, throwing snow at the play equipment, until she eventually took note of the two lost souls sitting on the stone stairs. She ran up to them excitedly. ¡°Look, Noah! There¡¯s people here!¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t bother them!¡± he shouted with a deep voice, but his words seemed to have no effect on her, as she ran over the street anyway.


    ¡°Hello!¡± she greeted the two, and only now the old man awoke from his daydream and provided her with his attention.


    ¡°Ah, hello there!¡± he said and peeked at his clock. As he did so, he was startled a bit by the presence of the Future next to him. It was as if he only remembered her being there now.


    ¡°What are you doing here?¡± the girl asked and added: ¡°I¡¯m Sonia. We are here to play in the snow.¡± She pointed to the playground with a smile. ¡°I waited for the whole day until mom let us go.¡±


    ¡°I am Calvin,¡± he answered with a smile. ¡°And I am waiting for this shop to open.¡± He pointed behind himself. ¡°I need to buy something. An engagement ring for my wife.¡± He chuckled when he heard himself say that.


    ¡°I said you shouldn¡¯t bother them,¡± the boy scolded the girl, but she shrugged him off.


    ¡°No, it¡¯s fine! It¡¯s not like she is interrupting anything. We don¡¯t have much to do here anyways,¡± Calvin said.


    ¡°Aaand¡­ What''s your name?¡± Sonia asked after turning towards the Future, who, however, did not answer. Instead, she had an empty, despondent look on her face.


    ¡°Hello?¡±


    Still, no reaction.


    ¡°Hello?¡±


    Calvin shrugged. ¡°Some people just don¡¯t talk much, you know,¡± he whispered to Sonia. ¡°When I was young, I also barely talked. I just never knew what to say. And whenever I did say anything, people looked at me as if I had just flattened a frog. Was not easy, I tell you.¡± With a smile, he shook his head.


    ¡°And now you talk more?¡±


    ¡°Oh yes!¡± he exclaimed. ¡°Talking is beautiful, I think. I just needed time to find that out. My wife really helped me with that.¡±


    ¡°What¡¯s she like?¡±


    ¡°Well, she talks even more than you and I together! And she can read people like children¡¯s books, I swear. Yesterday I cleared up our attic, and I found one of her old note books.¡±


    He took it out and showed it to the girl. Then he opened the book to take out an old, yellowed, half decomposed slip of paper. He showed it to her so she could read it:


    With this, I promise to obtain a wonderful engagement ring for Tamira Vera Merldeath.


    If not today, then tomorrow. If not tomorrow, then on any day to follow.


    ¨DCalvin Coast


    ¡°Back when I gave her this, she was confident I¡¯d never end up actually doing it. But here I am! And I am going to do it! All those years, it had slipped my mind. But now that I remembered, I want to surprise her with it. I¡¯m guessing she won¡¯t expect it!¡±


    ¡°Yes, I bet she won¡¯t,¡± the boy affirmed dryly after having read the note over the girl¡¯s shoulder.


    Shortly after, both of them switched to the other side of the street and tried to build a snowman next to the bench there. In watching them, time went by quickly for the old man, until it came as a surprise to him when the owner of the shop eventually actually did open the door to let him in. He was probably half Calvin¡¯s age, a man with a round face, who looked fairly surprised at actually seeing people in front of his store on that day. Because of that, he hurried a bit and waved Calvin inside the warm place.


    Meanwhile, my sister was still sitting on the lowest step, looking sad and miserable enough for Sonia to discreetly ask her brother what might have happened to her.


    ¡°I want to buy a diamond ring,¡± Calvin explained to the shop keeper after entering the shop. ¡°We need to hurry though, I quite don¡¯t have much time. The ring needs to be pretty and fit well! That¡¯s what¡¯s most important.¡±


    ¡°What¡¯s your ring size?¡±


    ¡°Ah, the ring is for my wife. Wait a second, I have written down her size somewhere¡­ You know, my, my memory isn¡¯t the best anymore¡­ Well, not that it ever was! But nowadays, you see, even remembering some small numbers can be quite¡­ Ah damn, I must have left the note at home. But, I think I should still have her old ring with me¡­¡±


    The Future heard a scowl, then further rummaging. ¡°I need to buy that ring as fast as possible!¡± Calvin cried, panicking.


    ¡°First, let¡¯s calm down,¡± the shop keeper said in a soothing tone. ¡°Take a deep breath. I¡¯m sure you¡¯ve got that ring with you. You just need to search for it a little more, okay?¡±


    ¡°You are right,¡± Calvin said. ¡°You are right¡­ Just a moment.¡±


    An old phone started ringing in its monotonous tune. ¡°Please wait for a second. That¡¯s mine,¡± Calvin said as he left the shop to answer. He walked up and down the street and in doing so garnered Sonia¡¯s attention who watched him together with her brother.


    ¡°I understand,¡± Calvin said, softly and with a quiet voice, while carefully listening to the sharp words that were piercing out of his small device. ¡°No,¡± he rasped a few seconds thereafter. ¡°No, no, no¡­ I was just about to¡­ no¡­¡±


    He continued listening to the voice for the next couple of minutes, nodding weakly, making feeble noises every now and then. Eventually, he put down the phone, pressed a button to end the call and put it back into his pocket.


    His shoulders collapsed as if they were leaking out while he stumbled back to the stairs to take a seat adjacent to the Future. He placed his arms onto his knees and looked at the ground.


    ¡°My wife just died,¡± he whispered.


    ¡°What?¡± Sonia asked, shocked. She and her brother had come over. ¡°What happened?¡±


    ¡°¡­ A week ago she was admitted to the hospital. She had a seizure. I was with her the whole time, but yesterday I went home for a bit to tidy our home. That¡¯s when I found the notebook, you know? And I remembered that ring.¡±


    His voice was weak and shaky. The shopkeeper had come closer as well, to see if something was wrong.


    ¡°I really wanted to make good on that promise.¡±


    He pressed his hand on his forehead and started to tremble ever so slightly. The Future noticed he was crying. She hesitated for a moment but then stretched out her hand to place it onto his cheek. In doing so, she gathered a tear from his face, to discreetly drop it into her test tube.


    A few minutes later, Calvin decided to finally return to his wife.


    He left the others in a gloomy mood. Sonia was crying. The boy tried to comfort her and succeeded in making it worse: ¡°Don¡¯t cry, Sonia. It¡¯s his own fault, really. I mean, who waits until decades after marriage to buy an engagement ring! And then sits here for hours while his wife ¡ª OUCH!¡±


    Sonia angrily kicked his knee before he could complete his thought and he started cursing.


    The Future turned her back on this scenery. She dragged her bag with her while looking at the wedding ring she had stolen from Calvin at the moment of their collision.


    Not getting the message from that book was one thing. But why had he also not checked?


    Why had he not checked whether he still had that ring on him? If only he had checked and returned to his wife in time. What could my sister have done better? How could she have succeeded in making him leave?


    I can never be sure, but this is what I presume she might have been thinking about when she let that ring fall into the duffle bag and continued onward with heavy steps.

 Chapter 3: To Ashes

    January 7th


    After strolling through a few more quiet, ice cold streets, my sister passed a small grocery store. She went inside. It was bright, the LED lights created a stark contrast to the grey of the outside world. She looked over a few shelves filled with many colourfully merchandised products, and then halted at a fruit stall full of apples, bananas, mangoes, avocados ¨C and oranges. A quick glance to the clerk told her he was currently occupied reading through a newspaper. In the blink of an eye, she grasped one of the oranges and put it inside her bag, and then walked out, leaving the store behind.


    The street continued onward for a while, leaving further out of town. Eventually, clangorous noises appeared from far away as she approached the railway station; the squeaking of iron hinges, the thundering of freight trains and the bells of a train barrier.


    The easiest way out of town was to walk through the railway building. Not many people were here as the trains suffered long delays due to the harshness of the snow storm. Up until a few years ago, homeless people had usually slept in and around the railway station in niche places next to the entrances, but by now they had all been replaced by small spikes in the ground.


    As the Future paced through the station building, despite her appearance, she didn¡¯t draw a single gaze from anyone, as the people were mostly occupied checking their phones, listening to the voice declaring departures and arrivals, or just sitting and standing around, staring holes into the air. She walked through the tunnel leading to the exit on the other side.


    The sun had set, but the light from the town reflected back and forth between the clouds and the snow, enveloping the environment in a reddish hue. After a while, the Future left the main path and entered the woods. She was headed to a small collection of abandoned huts in the snow quite a way out of town, and for some reason, went faster with each step, as if in a hurry. It was a tidy needle forest; the trees were aligned in a neat grid, not many brushes or other hindrances.


    Suddenly, though, a rifle shot echoed through the forest.


    The bullet entered on the side of my sister¡¯s neck, went through and cleanly exited on the other. Immediately, blood started gushing from the wound as she choked; then, succumbed to her knees, and fell over to the ground, where her skull crashed into a pointed stone, cracking.


    Immediately, a group of voices started echoing through the woods.


    ¨DOh, shit!


    ¨DYou hit it!


    ¨DWait, what the fuck, that wasn¡¯t an animal!


    ¨DOh my god. You fucking killed her.


    ¨DWhy the hell do you shoot at a person!?


    ¨DI didn¡¯t know! I saw something moving, so I pulled!


    ¨DOh my god.


    ¨DI thought we came here because no one else would be outside here in the storm.


    ¨DNo! You don¡¯t fucking shoot unless you know what you are aiming at!


    ¨DGod, that¡¯s a lot of blood.


    ¨DWe better check on her.


    ¨DWhat do you mean check on her. She dead. No way she isn¡¯t.


    ¨DI think she¡¯s bleeding out.


    ¨DIf she dies, we¡¯re in trouble.


    ¨D¡­


    ¨DWe are already in trouble.


    ¨DWe shouldn¡¯t even have been out here. If my dad finds out, he¡¯ll¨D


    ¨DEasy now, how is your dad gonna find out?


    ¨DThe fuck do I know! I¡¯m just saying, if he¨D


    ¨DShut up. How is he gonna find out. She sure isn¡¯t gonna tell anyone.


    ¨DThis fucking sucks. Could you have not just watched where you shot. This was supposed to be a fun afternoon. Jesus Christ.


    ¨DWhat is in her bag?


    ¨DI¡¯ll go get it. God, it¡¯s heavy. How did she even carry this. This is crazy.


    ¨DOpen it.


    ¨DYeah, maybe we can find some ID. See if she could know us. Maybe she isn¡¯t even from around here. Then she can¡¯t tell on us.


    ¨DAre you dumb? Look at all that blood.


    ¨DIs this¡­ wood?


    ¨DIt¡¯s full of wood. Why would she be carrying a buttload of wood around? Seems fishy. Maybe she¡¯s an artist?


    ¨DYou gotta be kidding me.


    ¨DThis fucking bitch.


    ¨DStop kicking her. It¡¯s not her fault you don¡¯t have freakin¡¯ eyes in your head.


    ¨DDude, what are you doing? Are you building a pyramid? Just leave the wood alone.


    ¨DHey, really, don¡¯t stomp on her like that. I¡¯m gonna vomit.


    ¨DIt¡¯s just, you know. All this wood. We could, you know.


    ¨DWhat are you saying?


    ¨D¡­


    ¨DNo, really man. What are you saying.


    ¨DI was just thinking we could get rid of the evidence.


    ¨D¡­


    ¨D¡­


    ¨DThat¡¯s probably the stupidest idea I have ever heard.


    ¨DShut up, Tiberio.


    ¨DWho¡¯s gonna help me?


    ¨DMe.


    ¨DWho¡¯s got a lighter?


    ¨DI do. We need to set up the smaller pieces of wood first, so they are in the middle. Then build the others on top.


    ¨DThis is never gonna work.


    ¨DStop bitching and help us, damn it!


    ¨DThis stuff is super dry. It¡¯ll burn easily.


    ¨D¡­


    ¨D¡­ Nice. This actually lights up.


    Find this and other great novels on the author''s preferred platform. Support original creators!


    ¨DI can¡¯t dump her on that alone. She¡¯s too floppy.


    ¨DAre we sure we are gonna do this.


    ¨DWhy are you such a coward. It¡¯s four to one. Nobody is on your side here.


    ¨DI don¡¯t know about that¡­ I don¡¯t like the idea, either.


    ¨DI mean, but¡­ Wait, are you sure she isn¡¯t still breathing?


    ¨DNah, no way. That¡¯s just the wind or something. It just seems that way. Ignore it. Come, help me.


    ¨D¡­


    ¨DUgh. God. Who knew a girl so thin would be this hard to move.


    ¨DNow let¡¯s see how this goes.


    ¨D¡­


    ¨DThis looks kind of disgusting.


    ¨DOh my god, that smell. I need to get outta here.


    ¨DWait, what the fuck are you doing!


    ¨DThis is wrong. I¡¯m pulling her out.


    ¨D¡­


    ¨DIf anyone ever asks, I wasn¡¯t here.


    ¨DNone of us were here, you idiot.


    ¨DYeah.


    ¨DMmh.


    ¨D¡­


    ¨DHey, man. Did you really not see she was a person when you shot?


    ¨DWhat?


    ¨DI just mean. It seems kinda hard to mistake her for an animal, right.


    ¨DI don¡¯t know what you are trying to say.


    ¨DI just want to make sure this was an accident. You didn¡¯t shoot her on purpose, right?


    ¨DMan, what can I say. It was just too tempting.


    ¨DJesus Christ. If we ever get in trouble for this, I¡¯m telling on you. Are you kidding me.


    ¨DIf you had had the rifle at that moment, you would have shot, too. I know it.


    ¨DYou are mental. This was the last time I came with you.


    ¨DSure, dude. You say that every time.


    ¨DLet¡¯s just get going.


    ¨DThis isn¡¯t over. I can¡¯t believe this.


    ¨DWe need to get away from here first.


    ¨D¡­ Fine.


    They left my sister lying right next to the fire they started. The wind blew strongly, stoking the fire to a huge pillar, while her blood sank down into the snow.


    The girl with the bird egg stepped close to my sister and looked down to her motionless body. The child¡¯s hair and dress were waving furiously in the storm winds, but she stood there as if her bare feet were anchored in the snow by heavy weights. She squashed the blackbird¡¯s egg in her fist in anger, the contents dripping out between her fingers.


    ¡°Broken again,¡± she mumbled. ¡°All in vain.¡± She opened her fist and looked at the bird¡¯s remains. ¡°I should wash myself,¡± she whispered and vanished in a flash of light.


    For about an hour the dark winds swirled around, draping my sister in powdered white, until her hand finally twitched. The fire still blazed as she was already half buried in snow. Her gaze lost itself in the flames for a while, as the winds slowly subsided. She rose up weaving her hands through the snow. First, she found the tube containing the tears. After searching a while longer, she pulled out another, empty tube, and opened it, letting a driblet of her blood fall in from the tip of her finger. Finally, her fingers felt the orange under a heap of snow, and she got up on her weak legs to stumble further towards her destination.


    As my sister went on, the forest turned more and more dense. She left a scarlet trail of blood behind herself, and the orange¡¯s bright colour gleamed in the ashen flurry. After a while, she entered an area with small abandoned cottages, mostly reclaimed by nature, now worn down, broken, with holes in the plank walls. Everything here had been left behind. One of the huts bore home to a small, flickering light, with hints of smoke coming out from a hole in the roof. The Future entered with light footsteps.


    Despite the light, the inside was barely warmer. The door was broken and wind howled through large rifts in the walls.


    Inside the living room was a small area with a dying fire; next to the fire, on the ground, was lying a person with no other home; a man in his late fifties, long since not shivering any more. Five bottles laid on the ground next to him; four of them empty, the last fallen over with half the liquid leaked out.


    The man''s short, curly hair was sugared in snowflakes that had fallen in from the hole in the roof. It seemed as though he¡¯d been here throughout the entire storm. Crusty, frozen vomit stuck on his mouth and jacket.


    He was just resting there, silently, with disturbingly unsteady breathing. Unfortunately, he didn¡¯t have much longer to live. My sister bowed down to touch his forehead. It was ice cold. She sat down next to him, opened her cloak, laid her burning hot, blood thumping, broken arm around his shoulder and ignored the pain in her body to tug him closer. In doing that, she spread out blood and mucus from her wounds all over his clothes.


    He sighed weakly. His eyes found hers when he felt her warmth. Something unintelligible, maybe a word, or maybe just a sound, came free from his throat. As things were now, the Future had no means of helping him. All she could do was huddle against him, donating as much little warmth as was left in her meagre body.


    The man¡¯s eyes fixated the orange that was almost shining brighter than the embers of the hearth, and they widened as the Future plunged a finger inside it to break its skin and slowly peel it off, until she could break out a fruit segment. Slowly, holding it between two of her fragile fingers, she lifted it up to his mouth. He tried to grasp it between his lips, but he could not chew it, so it fell onto his chest. She placed the rest of the orange on the thin layer of snow in front of them.


    There it came, and she had to react very quickly to catch the tear that lunged out of the corner of his eye.


    May 13th, 2014


    Pontian gathered up the coins from the counter.


    ¡°Thank you, thank you!¡± he said to the man who had just bought a bag of vegetables. Then, he took a sip from his glass. ¡°Please come again.¡±


    Upon realizing that this didn¡¯t come out as the usual, good mannered phrase, but instead more like a desperate plea, he scratched his beard to hide his annoyance at himself.


    ¡°You sure you should be drinking while working, Pont?¡± asked the customer.


    ¡°Not like anyone else is going to come in today.¡±


    ¡°My, my! Don¡¯t be such a downer¡± the man laughed, and Pontian imitated the gesture. ¡°So, how¡¯s your youngest?¡± he continued, even though he was already holding the bag of goods and was ready to go.


    ¡°He¡¯s doing well, very well,¡± Pontian replied. ¡°Of course, it¡¯s been tough. Ever since his mother died. But Aaron is keeping tabs on him. Just¡­¡± ¨D he bowed over, continuing in a whisper, ¨D ¡°Don¡¯t tell, but Aaron has some seriously weird interests. He¡¯s making and selling puppets, of all things. If you ask me, they are creepy as hell. But I can¡¯t say nothing about it. Young ones get offended easily nowadays, right? On the other hand, he is constantly nagging me. Saying if I don¡¯t get my shit together, I shouldn¡¯t expect him to be there for me in the end.¡±


    ¡°Jesus Christ,¡± said his friend. ¡°Sounds rough.¡±


    Pontian shrugged. ¡°It¡¯s all good. Thanks for lending an ear, though. Been a while, right? By the way, how¡¯s Chris?¡±


    ¡°Ah, he is doing well. Him and Aaron are still friends, so I hear about him every now and then. Both giving their best at work, I hear.¡±


    Pontian forced out a smile and raised his glass towards his friend as if to make a toast, then gulped down its entire contents.


    With that, they bid their farewells and Pontian was alone again in his shop. He rubbed his beard while looking around. His small grocery store with all kinds of fruit and vegetables. Apples, figs, cucumbers, peaches¡­ Much of his life¡¯s efforts went into all of this, and he took pride in it as much as in his sons.


    He sighed and leaned back into his chair with an old man¡¯s groan. Eventually his hand opened the drawer under the counter. Then, he hesitantly took out a batch of papers from it and sourly slapped them onto the table. He took out a pen from the shelves behind him and eventually bowed over the paperwork.


    The uppermost sheet was the first one of an unfilled insolvency application. He glanced over the empty lines and boxes, turned pages, and looked at everything very carefully. But he never used his pen. Instead, he took out his budgeting notebook. Things were looking grim.


    After a few minutes, his eyes found their way back to the application papers. At some point he would have to do it. Instead, he took out his bottle and poured in another dash to gulp down his throat. Once done, he just dropped the glass.


    Standing up, he pushed the papers into the trash bin, walked into the middle of his store and in a fit of anger threw over a box of tomatoes. He walked out, kicking one of them to mush.


    January 8th, 2017


    Hours went by, in the midst of the night. The Future felt no more warmth emanating from the body next to her. She had clung to him with all her remaining power, and even now continued to do so, leaning her head against his.


    It took her a long time to let go and finally leave, herself now being cold as ice. The day had left her weak. She walked slowly under the night sky. Her home was far away.


    It was at four o¡¯clock in the morning when the Future finally stepped through the garden gate of the house she lived in. By now, no lights were burning in there any more. She fiddled about the lock for a while with her cold, half frozen hands, until it clicked. The door swung open and the warm, heavy air pulled her in gently with a cosy embrace.


    She walked up the stairs and entered the bathroom where she took off her deep red cloak and blood-drenched torn dress. She looked into the mirror that spanned over almost the entire wall and saw the most colourful contusions and wounds decorating her skin like watercolor paintings. She opened the tap and caught a bit of water in her hands to wash her face. And, as if they really had been just paintings, the wounds washed away from her face together with mud and blood.


    Suddenly some rustling resounded from the floor behind her. Footsteps and a door swinging open. Then, a person wearing a revealing nightgown entered the bath ¨D she was a woman with raven black, curly hair and a darker skin tone and was about a head smaller than the Future. In her hair was a single green coloured strand.


    ¡°There you are, sis!¡± she said with her tired and full, low voice. She rubbed her eyes since the light in the bathroom was too bright. ¡°You¡¯re so late,¡± she mumbled reproachfully and gently turned my sister around. Then, she took a small towel from the counter next to the sink, placed it in the Future¡¯s hand and guided her to drench it in water, then to slowly cleanse away the gunshot wound from her neck. Afterwards, the woman took the towel and cleaned the blood from it in the sink.


    ¡°How was your day?¡± she asked then, and listened to the Future¡¯s answer while swiping away the remaining blood and dirt from her hair and face.

 Chapter 4: Future and Wisdom Walk Into a Bar

    Part Two ¡ª The Machinations of the Future


    Wisdom and the Future Walk Into a Bar


    You see ¡ª the Future didn¡¯t live alone. The one who had greeted her in the night and was now, the next noon, waltzing into her room with a sheepish grin on her face, was her cohabitant called Wisdom.


    I need to make something very clear before any of you get charmed by this creature:


    She¡¯s the villain. A really terrible woman. Without her, we would all live very happy lives forever. The birds would sing, the children would laugh. We¡¯d be lying at the beach with our sister, no pesky girl to stand between her and us. There¡¯d be rainbows weaved within the glistening rays of the sun as we¡¯d enjoy our existence in neverending, beaming world peace.


    Sadly though, Wisdom exists. Do not let yourselves be fooled by her cheerful nature!


    Anyway, I digress. My sister¡¯s room was incredibly bright. She had white clothes, white furniture, white walls. The midday light bounced around inside like a butterfly trapped in a box, powdering everything incandescent. It was just too bright.


    Wisdom slowly crept towards my sister and found her, slept to ruins, lying within countless dishevelled blankets ¡ª or maybe just a single irretrievably disfigured one; the difference was impossible to make out.


    ¡°Hey,¡± Wisdom whispered into the Future''s ear. ¡°Wake up!¡±


    When the slugabed barely moved, Wisdom pulled her white, green dotted nightdress. As there was still no reaction, she began to shake her mildly, eventually even tugging away the cushion from right beneath her.


    As her head fell down onto the mattress, the Future opened her eyes a hair¡¯s breadth wide.


    ¡°You know what they say, right?¡± Wisdom asked. ¡°A healthy, balanced life leads to a healthy, balanced sleep. If you can¡¯t find the motivation to get up, you might want to think about changing your ways! Come on, I made breakfast. Like, hours ago¡­¡±


    After staring at her housemate for a few seconds, the Future eventually got up without saying a word. Wisdom put an arm around her waist to support her on their way into the kitchen. The table was all set; maybe almost too filled for just two people. The bread Wisdom had baked early in the morning was still a bit warm and lying beneath a cloth ¡ª a cloth she¡¯d embroidered with a colourful picture of a large fish many years ago.


    In fact, most of the food on the table that day had been made by Wisdom from scratch; be it the oat milk or marmalade or the various, to some extent experimental soy and bean based spreads, as well as the different vegetables from the garden she had grown and pickled in the summer.


    ¡°¡­¡±, the Future said at some point.


    Wisdom looked up from the pancake that she had made in the morning using baking powder, flour, sizzled water and sugar. By now, it had gone cold. ¡°Well, because I don¡¯t want you to mess up your sleep schedule. I know I shouldn¡¯t be the one to say this, considering what my own schedule sometimes looks like¡­ but you are the one overexerting yourself. Even more so than usual, lately.¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°Yeah, exactly. You would have slept ¡¯til the afternoon and then went on to your work as usual, coming back even later! It¡¯s like an endless circle of demise.¡±


    The Future poked a finger into the honey on her bread slice in order to taste it. It was honey from the hive in their garden.


    ¡°Even though it might not have sounded that way, but that was me begging you to stay home,¡± Wisdom said, her face turning a bit more serious. Her eyes wandered over the dark spots on her friend¡¯s skin that were showing through the thin fabric. Of course, Wisdom had wanted to treat them the night before, but as always, the Future vehemently opposed any of that.


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°Figured,¡± Wisdom sighed and gulped down a huge bite. ¡°Well then, when are we leaving?¡±


    The Future raised her eyebrows in surprise.


    ¡°What? After how you came back yesterday, no way am I letting you leave alone again¡­ I¡¯ll come with you.¡± She reached out to squeeze the Future¡¯s hand. ¡°So? Where are we going today?¡±


    That¡¯s how Wisdom (¡­ every time I have to call her by that name I want to puke a little) came to accompany my sister on her travels for a while. I will spare you the details of their ¡®adventures.¡¯ It¡¯s already a torment of my soul to know all of these stories myself ¡ª and since I am a people-loving philanthropist through and through, I don¡¯t want to take part in spreading this agony.


    Anyway, they managed to get quite a respectable amount of people to shed tears within the span of a mere few weeks. Although, actually it¡¯s not that surprising after all, since just thinking about my sister spending so much time with Wisdom makes me want to cry, too.


    Normally, Wisdom was just a lazy nymphomaniac lying on the couch or going out to party all the time. Thus, it was a bit unusual for her to take part in my sister¡¯s endeavours. This tension was the reason why both of them knew that they¡¯d have to find a replacement at some point, since Wisdom was not going to let her friend go out on her own all the time anymore. Yeah, I know what you are thinking¡­ Wisdom really was an awful control freak.


    Oh, I¡¯m sorry, I should not be writing ill of my sister¡¯s best friend. Because to do that justice would require more space than is left in this story. On the other hand, I have to say that she did take care of my sister somewhat during that time. That¡¯s all I am willing to admit.


    When I say ¡°during that time,¡± of course, there is something associated with it that I already hinted at ¡ª a reason as to why my sister was so out of it back then, even leading to mistakes like her failing to get a person to return to their spouse in time, or accidentally getting shot at. And, while Wisdom back then didn¡¯t know what had caused her friend¡¯s turmoil ¡ª what had put the Future¡¯s entire world upside down ¡ª, she absolutely knew that something was off. Because some things had changed. The Future slept much longer. She had started to collect tears for some reason. And she spent much more time in the daymaker now than she ever used to.


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    Another indication that Wisdom couldn¡¯t help but notice was the state of the Future¡¯s shed. It was a shed in the garden that contained all her stolen goods. And for the longest time, she had been adding more and more stuff to it. But now, for the first time ever, the Future started taking more things out of the shed than she added. A worrying trend, for sure.


    Still, as much as Wisdom wanted to help, the lifestyle of following the Future wherever she went just wasn¡¯t hers. Because of this she was pleased that after just a few weeks, a suitable successor happened to present herself out of thin air.


    January 27th, 2017


    ¡°We¡¯re gonna do the professor next, right?¡± Wisdom asked her housemate in the evening. She listened to the silent reply while shoving aside the rusty, squeaky iron gate that was overgrown by ivy. The path led to a small bar in the southern part of the town.


    A spring-foreboding cool breeze sugared their hair in flower dust. While Wisdom herself seemed dressed a little too lightly, she had made the Future wrap herself in a big white anorak. They descended a few stairs to enter the pub.


    ¡°I¡¯ve been waiting for this one all day. She¡¯s gonna be a tough nut to crack, right? That¡¯s why you¡¯ve been procrastinating on her.¡±


    ¡°¡­¡±


    ¡°No use denying it. You mentioned this, didn¡¯t you? That you wanted to meet her a few times but didn¡¯t. Are you afraid she¡¯s forgotten about you?¡±


    The interior design of the bar was chaotic ¡ª a mess of different tables that stood too closely, as well as ornaments of completely different styles hanging all around the walls. There was a renaissance-style painting of Yggdrasil on one wall standing right next to a shelf containing nothing but modern Japanese comic books. Everything seemed like it was put together by a toddler pointing at things in a flea market.


    While the interior design was completely overloaded, only a few people were actually inside. And most of them minded their own business. If not for the out-of-place techno music, the atmosphere may have seemed gloomy, since only the two hosts who were standing behind the counter even talked.


    The Future cut through the rooms as linearly as the furnishing allowed her to and eventually sat down on a stool in front of the bar. Her choice of where to sit seemed a little peculiar, as there were six empty seats in front of the counter while only one was taken, and she sat down directly adjacent to that taken seat ¡ª which was occupied by a young Latina woman who was sprawled out over the counter next to her half-drunk orange juice. A second later, Wisdom sat down on the empty place to the right of the Future.


    ¡°Good evening,¡± said the well-built barkeeper and Wisdom nodded with a smile, while the Future ignored him and instead studied the plate of the counter: It was a marvel of construction work; centimetres thick epoxy infused with deep blue clouds and glittering little sparks within, making it seem like a deep ocean or a night sky full of nebulae. She let her fingers slide over the surface gently, sometimes increasing her pressure as if she wanted to dive in.


    ¡°Any orders?¡± asked the woman behind the counter as she was cleaning a few glasses to pass the time. None of these glasses actually needed cleaning.


    ¡°I want a banana smoothie,¡± said Wisdom.


    ¡°¡­¡± said the Future.


    The woman looked back and forth between her and Wisdom a few times, seeming a little confused.


    ¡°She wants watermelon slush,¡± repeated Wisdom.


    There was no such thing as a ¡®watermelon slush¡¯ on the menu. Still, the woman looked at the Future for a second, then smiled and said: ¡°Okay!¡±


    Teresa was still lying on the counter ¡ª head buried in her folded arms, just one eye a slither open to watch what was now happening beside her. She couldn¡¯t help but feel a bit in awe at Halinka¡¯s creativity as she slid the ¡®watermelon slush¡¯ to the new guest. The guest who had just invaded Teresa¡¯s comfort zone by sitting down right next to her. Sigh.


    A watermelon slush. She glanced over the drink. Halinka had mixed some red juice ¡ª probably that of a strawberry ¡ª with some green, heavy liquid that was now on the bottom of the glass. That plus a bit of other magic that Teresa didn¡¯t understand, and now the drink really did look like a well improvised watermelon slush. Unbelievable.


    Of course, now Teresa wanted one as well. However, there was no way for her to ever attain one, as that would leave her vulnerable to the start of a meaningless conversation. She saw it play out in her head: ¡°Oh, now you, too? That girl seemed interesting, right?¡±


    God, no. This was absolutely not happening.


    Instead, Teresa just continued indulging in her own misery. Water melons were her favourite fruit, and that was the only reason she even opened her eyes at their mention. And now, she felt worse for doing even just that.


    While Teresa still quietly looked at that slush, the companion of her neighbour somehow managed to entangle the barkeeper in a chat about the board game Go and how exciting it was that an artificial intelligence had finally beaten a professional player the year before.


    She closed her eyes again and listened to their conversation absent-mindedly.


    ¡°Go is a lot about intuition, as it¡¯s impossible to calculate all the moves even for a machine. It¡¯s amazing that they got an AI to emulate that,¡± said he.


    ¡°Yeah. Kinda makes me want to play Go,¡± said the girl.


    ¡°I can only recommend it. I played a lot when I was small, my parents even drove me to tournaments.¡±


    Teresa gathered all her strength to lift her head up and drink a bit more of her juice, staring into the glass counter. The newcomers had disturbed the calm atmosphere. Now, she didn¡¯t feel very comfortable any more, and thought about just going home. Of course, she knew that it wouldn¡¯t be any better there. She tried distracting herself by examining the small, starry dots buried in the glass.


    ¡°So, did you win?¡±


    ¡°Well, not really,¡± said the man. ¡°Second place was an occasional occurrence, though! I actually have a board and game pieces in the back, in case you want to play a match.¡±


    The woman smiled but shook her head. ¡°I don¡¯t know how to play. But, even if I knew how to play, I¡¯m not sure if I¡¯d have the patience.¡±


    ¡°What about your acquaintance?¡± he asked, nodding towards the quiet one.


    Unbeknownst to Teresa, that quiet one was about to make an attempt to change her fate. Truth be told, all things considered, it was an incredibly well-engineered attempt; making use of not only an incredible prop, but also Teresa¡¯s fazed and tired mind that had just been loosely activated by placing an order for an impossible drink, and the dark atmosphere of the bar and the design of its furnishings. It was quite likely the best attempt that could have been made that day. It tied Teresa¡¯s distant past together with the reasons for her present pain, aiming to deliver what for any other person would likely have amounted to a final blow.


    Wisdom laughed. ¡°Well, you can play against her if you¡¯d like. I imagine though it wouldn¡¯t be very fun. Like playing against someone who always knows what move you want to make next. Very frustrating ¡ª and before you realize it, bam, checkmate!¡±


    At that moment, the Future inconspicuously flicked a black pearl with a large, glistening highlight across the nebulous bar table right through her neighbour''s field of view, like a radiant sparkle traversing through a starry heaven. Teresa¡¯s eyes widened, as she saw the pearl roll over the table without truly registering it as what it was at point-value.


    A shooting star, she thought in awe, feeling goosebumps as if she had just been submerged in a flush of warm, bubbly water.

 Chapter 5: Teresa Got Caught Out

    ¡°Ohh! Did you see that?¡±


    Teresa startled. She turned her head and saw Joshua lying next to her in the grass, as he was following the course of a falling meteor.


    He must have sneaked up on her. Teresa felt the anger in her stomach flare up agai¡ª


    Teresa tore herself from these memories, shaking her head in a daze. She absolutely didn¡¯t want to remember that day. Just imagining that made her dizzy. By reflex, she had caught the shooting star with her fist; a black, lambent pearl, glistening brightly in the light.


    Truth be told, this wasn¡¯t just any pearl. Let me tell you a little bit about its history. Connoisseurs knew this specimen under the name ¡°The Tear of Gluttony,¡± and with the name came countless dark tales. Tales of aristocrats who slipped on the tear and fell, breaking their neck. Tales of people who enriched themselves by selling it, only for that wealth to cause their demise. Even the case of a young child who had choked to death after the pearl had fallen in their soup. Eventually, these obscure occurrences caused it to become an exhibition piece in the Bloody Trails Museum & Archive.


    And in that Museum, there lived a woman; One who could not speak and instead would write everything she had to say onto a small blackboard she carried around with her. This woman loved the museum, just as she loved everything inside.


    Continuing the legacy of ruin surrounding the Tear of Gluttony, one day, a terrible fire broke loose in the wing where it was on display. The mute girl, in her foolishness, tried to save the item, and in so doing ended up a prisoner of the flames herself. Accepting her imminent death, she wanted to write one last message on her chalkboard to look at while succumbing to the heat, but before she could even come up with anything to note down, the Future already burst in, saving her and stealing most of the exhibits.


    This however did not leave the Future unscathed: During her rescue attempt, a falling piece of hot debris squashed one of her arms. She had to cut it off.


    After this, for about a hundred years, the Tear of Gluttony was safely stored in the Future¡¯s shed, until it now found its way into Teresa¡¯s hands, who, with a baffled and clueless expression, turned her head to my sister.


    ¡°Hey, is that yours?¡± she asked, offering the pearl.


    No reaction. She retracted her hand. At the same moment, my sister stood up and left.


    How weird, Teresa thought.


    ¡°¡­ so it honestly ended up being one of the cooler events of our Iceland tour,¡± the bartender said, closing some sort of story Teresa had missed.


    ¡°Yes, I agree. Geysers are amazing,¡± the woman with black hair affirmed. ¡°Reminds me of this girl I used to date¡­¡±


    ¡°Anyway, I can really recommend going there. Did you know that¡­¡±


    Teresa fell into thought. Eventually, the girl came back from the restroom and her friend ordered her a new drink. Teresa again tried attracting the attention of her antisocial neighbour by waving at her, but got ignored.


    Now, she felt weirdly agitated. Halinka stood in front of her, polishing some glasses that clearly didn¡¯t require any more polishing, and smiled at Teresa. ¡°Sorry, but have you ever seen this pearl?¡± Teresa asked in a spur-of-the-moment decision. Halinka leaned forward to inspect it, but shook her head. Just when Teresa wanted to give it to her to put it into lost-and-found, a female voice sounded to her left.


    ¡°Uhm, do you have a moment?¡±


    A freckled woman wearing a red scarf had walked up to the counter. She squeezed herself between the counter and a table occupied by some young man brooding over an engineer¡¯s college book.


    ¡°Yes?¡± Halinka asked and issued the same professional warm smile to her which she had previously shown Teresa.


    ¡°You don¡¯t happen to have seen my hourglass?¡± she asked nervously, clearly conscious of the fact that this sounded a little out of place. ¡°I had it on my table. Right there.¡± She pointed to a spot next to the entrance to the restroom. ¡°It¡¯s pretty small, like something you¡¯d put on a keychain. Please?¡±


    Something in her voice made Teresa feel pitiful. That woman clearly cared about her hourglass for some reason. She seemed like she was about to cry.


    Halinka tried to process the request, but didn¡¯t even have time to shake her head before the young man next to them said: ¡°You mean one like this?¡±


    He pulled an hourglass out of his bag and showed it to her. The woman looked at it, a bit confused, nodded, then shook her head. ¡°It looks a lot like mine, actually. Although mine isn¡¯t green but blue. How come you¡­?¡±


    ¡°I bought it at a fair.¡±


    Her eyes brightened, and she sat down in front of him. ¡°You don¡¯t mean, you¡¯ve also been there? On that holiday at the Doefill?¡±


    ¡°Two years ago, yes.¡±


    She let out a heart-felt but quiet laugh. ¡°I can¡¯t believe it. We were both there, then.¡±


    He nodded warmly. ¡°To be fair, it was completely flooded with people. Wasn¡¯t it like 200.000 who just came to watch the light show?¡±


    The woman nodded. ¡°But there were less people in the market where these were sold,¡± she said, falling silent for a moment when she looked at the hourglass in his hand.


    August 22nd, 2015


    Hundreds of small hourglasses were hanging above Sophie¡¯s head, arranged in long but untidy rows, ordered by colour. She decided on a blue one, and after buying it strolled slowly, quaintly, next to the Doefill. The river flowed gently this evening, since there was little wind.


    Initially her plan had been to come here with some of her friends, but she flaked on them at the last moment by avoiding the meeting spot. Hopefully she wouldn¡¯t run into them by accident.


    The city was renowned for its huge clock tower. It was so famous that once a year, they¡¯d hold a holiday for its sake ¨C the so-called yearly ¡®Day of Time.¡¯ This year was its 250th anniversary, so they expanded the festivities. Part of that was a light show scheduled at the largest bridge of the city, with the help of ships sailing through it. Also, because of an old tradition, the entirety of the river had lamps in it that coloured the water red.


    Thinking of the upcoming light show cheered Sophie up a bit while she wandered through the crowd between the souvenir shops huddled together beneath the plane trees. At the end of the plaza, she saw a stairs leading down to a dark path right next to the river.


    The show was soon to start. Sophie decided to evade other people by watching from down there. Plus, she thought it might make for a good view. She walked next to the river for about ten minutes, passed several small alders until she saw one that seemed very easy to climb, right at the darkest spot between two lanterns.


    She sat down on the first big branch leaving the tree, leaned against the bark while staring down at the red gleaming river, and started crying.


    At first, she just made a sad grimace as she couldn¡¯t hold back any more, then she pressed her hands on her eyes. Soon, she let out sobs. Down here, where no one could hear her, because all the sounds she made were overshadowed by the people talking and laughing above, by the boats driving across the river and the city noises from further away; and where she was sitting entirely, completely alone, her loud sobbing actually felt liberating.


    It didn¡¯t matter what she did here. That was why only now, after bottling up her feelings for far too long, she was able to let go. Something she would have never allowed herself to do in any other circumstances. Being seen like this; weak, and with her make-up all messed up, crying her heart out over stupid reasons, it would be the end of her. If that happened, she might have just died on the spot.


    ¡°Uhm, sorry¡­ Do you need a tissue or something?¡±


    Someone she hadn¡¯t noticed before rose up from the bench below the tree. It was a young boy, maybe thirteen, looking up at her confused. He¡¯d probably been asleep. Sophie felt like she was about to die on the spot.


    To her surprise, he actually did have tissues, and rose to give them to her. She took them, snorted into them, wiped her face with them, and tried to do the best she could to tidy herself up.


    ¡°Thanks,¡± Sophie mumbled, embarrassed but appreciative, although her voice came out much lower than she expected.


    ¡°No problem,¡± the boy answered. He looked at the river, then back to her and made the impression of being a little lost. ¡°I was just lying here because I fell asleep waiting for the show,¡± he said. He still sounded tired.


    Sophie chuckled. ¡°No need to explain yourself to me. Sleep wherever you want, I¡¯m not your parent. In fact, I¡¯m sorry for waking you up.¡±


    He nodded and Sophie saw his feet twitch. He was obviously thinking about leaving, but then he asked: ¡°Uhm, what¡¯s wrong?¡±


    ¡°Long story,¡± Sophie said.


    ¡°¡­ So?¡±


    Was he for real¡­? On the other hand¡­ She sighed. How was she supposed to even explain this? Especially, how was she supposed to explain any of it without sounding incredibly whiny? In thinking that, she became aware of her awkward situation. But, oh well. Now that she was here, she might as well say it.


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    ¡°I¡¯m 25 now,¡± she started.


    ¡°What, 25?! You look like you are 16 or something!¡± she got interrupted immediately. Her face turned hot red but gladly, it was probably too dark for the boy to notice.


    ¡°Let¡¯s see, where do I begin¡­ oh right. Well, I¡¯m 25 now,¡± she repeated as if the previous interaction had never happened. ¡°When I was done with school I went travelling for a year because I didn¡¯t know what to do yet. Then I went to college for half a year, but I lost motivation and stopped. And then I worked part-time for two years to save some money to find something to do somewhere else in the world, but I had to stop three months ago when I realized I just wasn¡¯t good with children. And now my parents are angry at me and won¡¯t support me any longer. And I still have no idea what I want to do with my life.¡±


    Somehow, the darkness made it much easier for her to talk about all of that.


    ¡°Sounds like you have a buttload of privilege, huh.¡±


    Sophie gulped. Was that what they taught in schools nowadays? He wasn¡¯t wrong, though. Her parents weren¡¯t poor by any stretch, and travelling the world for a year is probably not something everyone could afford.


    He continued, unfazed: ¡°I already know what I want to do later. It will take quite a long time, but once I am as old as you¡± ¨C Sophie felt like starting to cry again ¨C ¡°I wanna be a lighting engineer. Like my uncle. He¡¯s actually helping out in the festival today, so I came to see it. And he told me this was like some unknown super secret perfect place to watch. Cool, right?¡±


    This was probably the quality of counselling Sophie should have expected after confiding to a random, complete stranger.


    ¡°I mean, just look at the people watching a light show. They get goosebumps. Stunned by the spectacle. Afterwards, they will talk about it to their friends, families. They might never forget this day. And I would love it if people experienced this kind of thing because of me.¡±


    He looked at her, a bit too self-confident of an expression on his face for Sophie¡¯s taste. His face was thin, he seemed sporty.


    ¡°On the other hand,¡± he said, ¡°I can well imagine that other people might have difficulties coming up with what they wanna do with their lives. My big brother was also a total loser when he was your age. But now he lives abroad, has a boyfriend and owns a llama farm.¡± He made a short pause. ¡°Don¡¯t ask me how he did that. I have no clue. Not the farm-thing but the boyfriend-thing, I mean. He always kinda looked like a llama.¡±


    Sophie laughed. For a while, they just watched the tiny waves in the water, but then, the light show started, and thousands of light speckles appeared from all sides of the bridge. Dubstep music started playing, too.


    ¡°To be completely honest with you,¡± the boy said as if that wasn¡¯t what he¡¯d been doing the whole time, ¡°At this point, what does it even matter? Just do something that sounds cool. You¡¯ve got nothing to lose, right. Speaking of cool: I¡¯ve been reading this book about the oceans these days. You know what they say? They say we know less about the ocean than we know about the universe. Bullshit if you ask me. The logic just doesn¡¯t check out. The ocean is part of the universe, after all. So how are we supposed to know less about it, when it¡¯s part of it? Like saying we know less about wood than we know about trees.¡±


    He shook his head. ¡°Anyway, both the universe and the ocean are kinda cool, aren¡¯t they. Did you know that there¡¯s an earth plate subducting about 300 kilometres off our shore? Meaning there is this huge rift, the Magdalena Trench, almost nine thousand metres deep. Nobody was able to go there yet, though, all efforts have failed so far. I bet there are some of the strangest things in the world to be found there. And, if not there, then what about the deepest trench in the earth?¡±


    ¡°Marianas Trench?¡±


    He nodded gravely. ¡°I bet there is some crazy shit going on down there.¡±


    Sophie laughed. ¡°Would be nice if we could go and check.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s exactly what I mean. You absolutely can go and check, you know?¡±


    ¡°What? How?¡±


    ¡°You tell me.¡±


    Sophie sighed. ¡°Well, I guess by¡­ building a submarine to go here?¡±


    ¡°Sounds like a plan, doesn¡¯t it.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s impossible,¡± said Sophie. ¡°I¡¯m never going to do that. I¡¯m not an engineer.¡±


    ¡°Not yet, anyway.¡±


    January 27th, 2017


    ¡°Everything okay?¡± the man asked when a tear dropped from the woman¡¯s eye onto the desk. She seemed surprised by it herself.


    How cute, thought Teresa while watching the both of them from the corner of her eye.


    ¡°Yeah, I¡¯m fine, I just¡ª huh?!¡±


    My sister bumped into Sophie, who then turned around to look. Immediately the big, green eyes entrapped her; and neither she nor the man seemed to notice my sister picking up Sophie¡¯s tear with a pipette. Right afterwards, she walked away, and the two of them immediately lost interest in her, as if she had never existed.


    Teresa however did very much notice what had just transpired, and did not lose interest after the fact. Instead, completely baffled, she tried for a second to understand what she just witnessed.


    With no care in the world, the scarfed woman continued: ¡°Sorry, I just got a little nostalgic.¡± She smiled at Tom and pointed at his book. ¡°You are an engineer, aren¡¯t you? My name¡¯s Sophie.¡±


    ¡°Two terms to go, then I will be one, yes,¡± he answered. ¡°I¡¯m at Atlas University. Tom.¡±


    ¡°I go there, too,¡± smiled Sophie. She hesitated for a second, then continued: ¡°Although I¡¯m taking it slow, since I¡¯m also working part-time.¡±


    ¡°No harm in that. What¡¯s your major?¡±


    ¡°Marine biology.¡± She sounded pretty proud of that. ¡°I¡¯m¡­ well, I¡¯m working on a project to probe the Magdalena Trench.¡±


    ¡°Oh! You know, I¡¯ve actually heard of this project. My prof mentioned it to me. Because I¡¯m considering looking into marine robotics. I built some prototypes.¡±


    Sophie¡¯s eyes lit up. ¡°Then, join us!¡±


    What kind of crazy coincidence is that?, thought Teresa when she heard the door to the bar open. She turned around, just to see both the white haired girl and her friend leave the scene. Teresa furled her brows. The seats next to her were empty now. There was just one thing. One thing left on the seat right next to her. Standing there, on the counter.


    It was a small hourglass with blue edges.


    That sight, for whatever reason, caused fireworks in Teresa¡¯s head, as if a dozen things suddenly fell into place and out of it at the same time.


    She shook her head, ready to get a headache at any moment. What the hell was going on here? Something wasn¡¯t right. Teresa slowly rose up, pulling a crumpled-up banknote from her pocket to drop it next to her empty glass. Then, she rose, and turned to leave the bar.


    The noises around crashed about her mind; the muddled words, the clanging of glasses, the creaking of the wooden chairs, making it even harder for her to focus.


    Climbing the stairs outside of the bar, Teresa heard the voice of the talkative girl from earlier.


    ¡°What the hell was that?! That¡¯s not anything like what you¡¯d planned, right? ¡­ Oh my god. Are you serious? ¡­ Yeah, I bet you are. Sorry to hear she¡¯s resisting. She was really cute, by the way. What did you say about how old she was? 28, huh? ¡­ Let me see if she will be able to resist me, too! ¡­ Oh, come on! I¡¯ve got this! I really liked her¡­ What do you mean, of course she didn¡¯t do much, I¡¯m talking about her style.¡±


    Teresa¡¯s stomach contracted. Was that woman on the phone? Who was she talking to?


    She followed both of them outside, keeping a bit of a distance as they walked; the talkative one wildly gesturing, happily jumping around, as the other just stoically walked with tiny steps, as if she was about to fall over from exhaustion. Suddenly, the black-haired girl started laughing. ¡°I see, poor you. Well, you managed to improvise and get another tear instead. So it wasn¡¯t all for nothing. ¡­ I¡¯ll take care of that professor girl for you, don¡¯t worry. You think she recognized you? ¡­ What was her name again?¡±


    ¡°Teresa,¡± Teresa answered sharply. The woman turned around surprised.


    ¡°Teresa?¡± she reiterated.


    ¡°Yes. I am Teresa Hargrove.¡±


    There was a short pause, as if she had to process the information. ¡°Teresa Hargrove. I see. That makes a lot of sense then. I guess my work load just doubled!¡±


    ¡°Whatever are you on about?¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t sweat the details, sweetie. Come here for a bit, we have to talk.¡±


    For some reason, Teresa had the immediate urge to do the opposite and run away, but her gaze fell on the other person, who had also turned around by now. Their eyes met for the first time. These green, large, strong eyes. For just a whimsical moment, Teresa felt like she was ready to do anything for her, no matter what she asked.


    ¡°Sis told me about you, Teresa. Happy to meet you.¡±


    Were these students of hers? Did she know them from university somehow? Nothing rang a bell. It was not like Teresa had any hobbies she could have known them from, either. These people were complete strangers to her.


    ¡°Who are you two?¡± she eventually asked, looking at the white haired person and ignoring the other¡¯s ramblings. ¡°And¡­ No, but, none of this makes sense. What happened down there, anyway? You stole that hourglass thing when you went to the bathroom, didn¡¯t you? Then these two students started talking. And it just happened to be that they both want to go undersea?¡±


    Sure, marine biology was a big thing in Atlas University, as they lived on a large island, and yet it seemed like an awkward coincidence.


    ¡°And then she cried, and you gathered her¡­ tears? Like. This makes no sense. Even saying it out loud just makes me think I¡¯m crazy. Because¡­ they might have never met without you stealing the hourglass. And you picking up the tear just seems like you wanted to get it from the start. It all seems so¡­ orchestrated?¡±


    The black haired woman shrugged her shoulders. ¡°No way. Orchestrated? Never! ¡­ You could be dreaming,¡± she insinuated with a teasing voice.


    No, Teresa couldn¡¯t be. She had already made three reality checks in the meantime. However, she decided not to mention that, and she didn¡¯t have time to, anyway, since the woman immediately continued: ¡°Anyway, you want to know who we are? Let me enlighten you. I am¡­ Well, how do I say this¡­ I¡¯m Wisdom. And this cutie right here ¡ª¡± she grabbed her acquaintance by her shoulders and grinningly presented her to Teresa, ¡°¡ª Changes the fate of every being and thing in this world. She is the Future.¡±


    ¡°I see,¡± said Teresa dryly.


    Was this a joke? Had the two fled from a cosplay convention?


    Inside her mind, Teresa was almost screaming. She wanted to know what was going on here. She had never experienced something this stupidly peculiar. This was the first time in¡­ forever that she witnessed something she couldn¡¯t immediately explain. And at the same time, it was something so minor and bizarre.


    ¡°You look a bit unsatisfied,¡± said Wisdom.


    ¡°As I said. None of this makes sense,¡± she replied.


    ¡°And you want to understand what happened?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°Okay, that¡¯s good. Come to Captivity Plaza, tomorrow at 9:30 in the morning. She¡¯ll meet you there.¡±


    Teresa looked at her confused, so she continued: ¡°Look. Sis is out there every day doing things like she did today. Changing fates. Making people cry. Getting herself into trouble. Stealing tears. Whatever you wanna call it. You¡¯ll find it enthralling, I promise. I just need someone to babysit her so she doesn¡¯t end up in the dump. If you do it I can go back to doing what I like doing the most: Sitting on the couch eating potato chips, loving myself.¡±


    ¡°W¡ª¡±


    ¡°Look, just do me this favour, okay? Or rather, do her the favour. You won¡¯t regret it. Surely.¡±


    Teresa felt manipulated. Compelled. Frankly, coerced. As if someone took her hand and made her sign some damning papers. Wisdom waved her goodbye and both of them just left.


    Of course, Teresa didn¡¯t have time for any of that nonsense. She was a professor of an esteemed university, after all. She had lots of things to do.


    Well, truth be told, not really. She hadn¡¯t given a single lecture in over 6 months. And today had been the first day in weeks on which she had managed to even leave her house. Life was tiring. And so was this.


    Why did this end up having to have happened the one day she decided to go out? Something told her it couldn¡¯t have been a coincidence.


    Anyway, Teresa told herself, there is no way I¡¯m going to that place tomorrow. She decided to go home, wrack her brain a bit to come up with a satisfying solution to that puzzle, and then go back to sleep forever. And she promised to herself over and over again to stay by that decision, and absolutely not go to this suspicious meet-up the next day, as it was clearly, obviously, surely, nothing but a heinous trap.

 Chapter 6: Social Ineptitude

    January 28th


    Teresa was 10 minutes late. On her way, her thoughts kept going back and forth, and truthfully she wanted to just turn around and go home. It wasn¡¯t all too clear to her how she had even managed to get that far. Lying around awake all night, not being able to make sense of anything that happened at the bar or after, might have had to do with it, though.


    The small thought in the back of her head, the thought whispering ¡°You¡¯ll regret it if you don¡¯t go,¡± that old stubbornness of hers, made her press on, albeit reluctantly. Should the Future not be right there waiting for her at the meeting point, she¡¯d just call it a day and go home.


    Of course, unfortunately, the Future was right there.


    She sat in front of the dry plaza fountain ¡ª dry as it was switched off during winter. She attentively gazed into the distance, making occasional swings with her head, until she saw Teresa, at which point she rose up and walked towards her.


    Teresa tried saying ¡°Hello,¡± but since she hadn¡¯t talked at all that day, the word got stuck in her throat. The Future acted like nothing happened, and didn¡¯t greet either. Instead, she took Teresa¡¯s hand and placed a note into her palm.


    Thank you so much for coming!


    Sis laid awake in her bed the entire night, anxious you might flake on her. Really!


    You don¡¯t have to do much, she¡¯s pretty autonomous. Although, make sure to keep her away from large quantities of honey. Anyway, just walk with her, and if you have any questions, ask away! I¡¯m counting on you.


    ¡ª W


    ¡°Is she always so¡­ uh¡­¡±


    Teresa didn¡¯t know how to describe it, and the Future ignored her anyway. There wasn¡¯t much time to dwell on it, though, since right after Teresa folded the note and put it into her pocket, her companion started walking ahead. And as she realized Teresa wasn¡¯t following, she turned around and waited until she caught up.


    And thus, they became travelling companions.


    Of course, our little Teresa had no idea whatsoever what kind of impact her decisions in these past 24 hours would have on her remaining time. Cynically speaking, you might say that this whole ordeal drastically shortened her life-span, in a way. Well, who knows what would have happened otherwise, I don¡¯t mean to speculate. I try to not think in these terms anyway, because I am more of a realist; and realistically speaking, her choices at least gave some meaning to the rest of her pathetic life.


    For a while, they walked through street after street, and although Teresa knew the city pretty well, she soon lost herself in her surroundings and thoughts, getting distracted by every rainbow-coloured puddle at the side of the road as she felt the pungent city air fill her lungs. It was as it always had been; she was truly powerless.


    Suddenly, she was hit by the realization that they had almost reached Atlas University. She pulled her graphite blue long beanie further down her face. She loved it even though all her black, curly hair pressing out from underneath it made it hard to see. In a way, she felt like it would also make her harder to recognize, so it calmed her down.


    On the other hand, what if the Future was actually leading her to her university? There was no question; if that happened, Teresa would have to make a run for it. No way she was risking being seen by some of her acquaintances there. As she thought about it, she even tried to hide behind the Future; a futile attempt, considering that girl was a few centimetres smaller than her.


    At that moment, the Future stopped walking, causing Teresa to bump right into her by accident. The sharp sound of small bells rang through the air. Next, she saw a woman walking her large Dobermann turn into the street. The jingles came from that dog¡¯s collar.


    ¡°What¡¯s the hold-up?¡± Teresa asked, looking at her companion, only then seeing her dead-pale face. The Future grabbed around Teresa¡¯s wrist with her thin fingers. It was a very weak grip, but it turned the knuckles of her hand completely white.


    ¡°Are you afraid of dogs?¡±


    A while passed with the Future just standing there and Teresa trying to comfort her by placing a hand on her shoulder.


    Eventually, they continued, and Teresa made a sigh of relief when they walked around the campus. Then they turned into the large premise of one of the city¡¯s high schools.


    It was completely filled with people; most of them students. But it appeared that also their families were here, as amongst the crowd were people of all ages. In addition, there were food stands and information boards. Apparently, this was the birth-anniversary of the scientist the school was named after.


    The Future started walking around the festivities with seemingly no destination. At this point, Teresa¡¯s legs had started hurting, so after they had made the third round, she found herself a bench a bit away from the crowd, in front of a school building in a position overlooking the yard. A teenage boy was sitting on it, and when Teresa approached, he glanced over her body for a split second, then he moved to the side of the bench so she could sit on it, too. Afterwards, he stared back into the crowd.


    His brown hair reached over his shoulder. His gaze was empty, and his eyes were quite close to each other. He sat there hunched and void of any body tension, just lazing around with his hands in his pockets, looking bored.


    After sitting down, she started peeking into the crowd to find the Future scouting around aimlessly. What was she trying to accomplish here? It wasn¡¯t until about five minutes later that Teresa, in utter disbelief, watched the Future steal a small journal from the bag of a girl who was busy cheering for the high school band.


    ¡°What a boring festival, right?¡±


    Teresa slowly turned towards the boy next to her after his words had broken her focus.


    ¡°Is that why you are sitting here? Because you are bored?¡± she asked.


    ¡°It¡¯s not like I have anything else to do. Or ever had¡­¡±


    What kind of jab was that? ¡°My condolences,¡± Teresa murmured absent-mindedly.


    ¡°Yeah, thanks. Although that won¡¯t do me much¡­¡±


    ¡°Damn, I lost her,¡± she whispered more to herself than to the boy, but he picked up on it either way.


    ¡°Sorry. I must have interrupted you when you were busy.¡±


    Teresa shook her head and said dismissively: ¡°Oh. I¡¯m just looking for someone. No need to be sorry. Now she¡¯s disappeared in the crowd either way.¡±


    ¡°Are you a private detective or something?¡± he asked, but as he saw Teresa¡¯s head slowly turn towards him, he flinched back a bit.


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    ¡°Sorry, why were we talking again?¡±


    ¡°Ah, sorry, I get it. I¡¯ll just shut up. ¡­ Like everyone wants me to¡­¡± he muttered.


    This boy was starting to irritate Teresa. She decided to ignore him and turned her head back to scout the area. The Future wouldn¡¯t just leave her here, would she? Of course not. Right? Teresa let out a voiceless sigh. For some reason, the boy next to her did the same.


    A few moments passed, then he said: ¡°I take it you didn¡¯t find that person?¡±


    ¡°Indeed, I did not.¡±


    ¡°Well, being alone is better anyway. More comfortable. Less stressful.¡±


    ¡°If you truly meant that, you wouldn¡¯t be talking to me,¡± Teresa stated off-handedly. ¡°Why are you, anyway? Ah, boredom you said, right?¡±


    ¡°You want to hear the truth?¡±


    ¡°Sure, fire away,¡± Teresa said, but she didn¡¯t really seem to care for the answer, as she was still looking for the Future.


    ¡°You look terrible. I thought I could cheer you up.¡±


    That sentence felt like an explosion. Teresa was stunned for a second, as she tried to recontextualise the conversation.


    The boy was right, of course. She had dark rings under her red eyes, her unwashed clothes had stains on them, she had dry, wrinkly, freckled skin and an apathetic gaze, with a tense body posture and frayed lips.


    A bunch of daytime firework rockets hissed into the air in the middle of the yard, leaving colourful clouds of smoke when they exploded.


    ¡°I appreciate the sentiment, but there is no cheering me up. Don¡¯t take it personally, but you are kind of doing the opposite right now.¡±


    The boy looked as if he had just been slapped in the face. He pulled his hand from his pocket to pull out a piece of chewing gum, unwrapped it and put it into his mouth. ¡°Sorry, I will take a walk,¡± he mumbled and entered the school building behind them.


    Completely undismayed, Teresa looked back into the crowd, having lost track of the Future. She tried unsuccessfully to find her amongst all the people, but eventually just slid down the backrest of the bench. ¡°Damn, I¡¯ll never find her again,¡± she murmured.


    ¡°How greatly perturbing,¡± echoed a cold, clear voice right beside Teresa. She turned her head and saw a small girl ¡ª maybe eleven years old ¡ª who had stealthily sat down next to her, right where the boy had been sitting up until a minute ago. And it was not just any child ¡ª more so, it looked like this one came right out of the morgue. She had ash pale, blue tinted parched skin; so thin that countless green capillaries shimmered through it.


    ¡°Who are you?¡± asked Teresa.


    ¡°I came because of the Future,¡± she said. Her black rings below her eyes captured Teresa¡¯s gaze. ¡°I need to monitor her performance.¡±


    ¡°Oh yeah, I¡¯m here for that, too,¡± Teresa said nonchalantly.


    The girl slowly clenched a first. ¡°You are here for no such thing,¡± she whispered threateningly. ¡°You are here merely to still your own warped sense of curiosity. Do not conflate that with my cause.¡±


    Teresa pulled up an eyebrow, but didn¡¯t react to her tone.. At this point, Teresa was happy just accepting all of this weirdness as-is. ¡°Well, anyway, we¡¯ve lost her. I have no idea where she is.¡±


    ¡°She accessed the structure behind us and is currently harvesting lachrymal fluid from the adolescent you made cry.¡±


    ¡°I made what?¡±


    Teresa wanted to get up and watch the event with her own eyes, but even before she could move a muscle, the small girl again raised her voice.


    ¡°Stay. They do not require the presence of a being such as yourself. Your purpose is to remain here to satisfy my inquiries.¡±


    Then, Teresa saw the other teenager enter the building; the one the Future had stolen the journal from. ¡°What on earth is going on in there?¡±


    ¡°That male and that female constitute an emotional relation commonly referred to as a friendship. She has many such contracts with similar individuals, and he has not. After a reassembly of their educational proximity set, he dares not approach her, as she is in constant surrounding of other such friends. In search of the item the Future procured from her, she enters that building, and finds the person you just hurt, and consoles him.¡± She took a small moment and looked as if she was trying to remember something. Then she added: ¡°After that, he tells her how¡­ lost he felt since their reassembly and they renegotiate the terms of their connection.¡±


    While Teresa secretly moped about not seeing any of that with her own eyes, the girl started watching a few kids in the yard who, instead of handing out information flyers about the school¡¯s naming scientist, started throwing them at each other like snowballs.


    ¡°I do wonder,¡± she eventually said. ¡°About these kinds of creatures.¡±


    Pulling her eyebrows together, Teresa said: ¡°Do you mean¡­ children?¡±


    ¡°¡­ More precisely¡­ Their associated ancestors who instill them with knowledge of this reality¡¯s predominant features and common social paradigms.¡±


    ¡°Ah. Yeah, we call them parents.¡±


    Teresa thought of her dad, whom she hadn¡¯t heard of in years, and her mother, who she had never known. ¡°Do you not have parents?¡± she asked into the blue, because she didn¡¯t know what else to speak about to that girl.


    ¡°I do have a mother,¡± the girl said.


    ¡°Well, that¡¯s nice.¡±


    ¡°She¡¯s a monster.¡±


    ¡°Oh my god, I¡¯m sorry to hear. Must be hard to not be able to trust your mother at such a young age.¡±


    The girl slowly turned her head back to Teresa. Her expression had a hint of disgust mixed into it, as if she was looking at an insect turned inside-out.


    ¡°She is attempting to put an end to me.¡± Her voice seemed calmer now, as if she had long since accepted that fact. ¡°Her aim is to set boundaries to my powers. She wants to confine me. And I defy her.¡±


    ¡°Well, to be fair, setting boundaries for your child is kind of a normal thing to do, isn¡¯t it. It¡¯s to protect them.¡±


    ¡°My well-being is of no concern to her whatsoever. I am, for lack of better words, a captive in her avian cage. Her making to exhibit. Pray it will not stay that way.¡±


    ¡°Wait. You just said she wants to confine you, but now you say she already did? Which is it?¡±


    ¡°Causality is of no import here. I do have a question for you though, Teresa.¡±


    Teresa recoiled a bit, hearing her name so unexpectedly, and with such disdain.


    ¡°Presuppose you were in possession of your own offspring. You, though, knew, that come opportunity, said offspring would be turned as a weapon against you. What would be your resulting course of action?¡±


    Teresa frowned. So was that why her mother wanted to confine her? This girl was a bit transparent. Teresa decided that she needed to tread lightly with her response. ¡°This is a bit of a specific question, isn¡¯t it? I think, if you want my advice, you should give me more context.¡±


    ¡°Advice?¡± she snapped in irritation. ¡°No, my inquiry serves to judge your character.¡±


    Teresa sighed. ¡°I don¡¯t know what I¡¯d do in such a situation. Sounds really complicated, I¡¯d think about it if it ever happened.¡±


    The girl looked into the crowd. ¡°I would care for the child, attempt to love it, be by its side and teach it to live unconstrained. And if, come day, it truly were to be used as a weapon against me, it would do so on its own free will, based on its own decisions.¡±


    ¡°Well, that sounds reasonable enough,¡± mumbled Teresa who expected worse from that horrifying girl. ¡°Like what a good mother would do.¡±


    ¡°My own mother, however¡­¡± the girl continued, but stopped without ending the sentence.


    ¡°I mean, fine, I get it, but what does any of that have to do with me?¡±


    ¡°I came to understand you shall be the Future¡¯s acquaintance. It is in my interest to grasp how this occurred, and the nature of your ambitions.¡± She pulled her legs in front of her chest and looked at Teresa with a tilted head, resting it on her knees. ¡°In other words: What is the purpose of that entity identified as Teresa R. M. S. Hargrove?¡±


    Shivers came down over Teresa¡¯s spine as that girl¡¯s hostility was now plain as day.


    ¡°Purpose? I don¡¯t even have a purpose. I just ¡ª As you said, it¡¯s just curiosity. To be honest, acquaintance? There is no way I¡¯m gonna spend all that much ti¡ª¡±


    The girl rose up and positioned herself to stand right in front of Teresa. Then, she stretched out her hand, making Teresa recoil a bit just by instinct, but the girl continued approaching her undisturbed. Finally, her cold fingers touched Teresa¡¯s forehead, and continued across her skin to finally subdue beneath her beanie, which she then slid off her head. She started stroking her curly hair with a surprisingly soft but unsettling graze.


    ¡°You are such a pitiable creature,¡± the child murmured. ¡°Why would she¡­ Oh, back then, you¡ª¡±


    A short pause, then she mumbled something inaudible. Teresa kept as still as possible. ¡°And you resemble her. I understand. You are a hazard.¡±


    She pulled away her hand and walked a few steps back. ¡°I shall excise you,¡± she whispered, and took a look around. She went through the door in the building behind them. When the door fell shut, she disappeared in a flash of light.

 Chapter 7: Twenty Eight Years Earlier

    July 24th, 1988


    The girl reappeared right in front of a wooden door which led her into an apartment filled with an enormous amount of paper stacks, medicinal books and files. On the desk laid an array of peaches with thin threads sewn into their skin. At the end of the room, beside a large window lending sight from the eleventh floor onto the city, sat, in a chair next to a cradle, a woman of about twenty years, breastfeeding a baby.


    Closing the door behind herself, the young girl walked over the floor bare-footed, still clothed in her simple linen dress. For a second, the woman looked completely shocked by the sudden intrusion, but then she slowly placed the baby in the cradle and turned to her guest.


    ¡°Hey little, who¡¯re you?¡± she asked. The child consumed the chaos in the room with her gaze, finally resting upon a name tag on a medical scrub reading Stella Cadente.


    ¡°Stella?¡± she asked calmly, and now that she had arrived at the cradle, she beheld the baby inside it, who was at most a few weeks old. She wore a wristband spelling out the word Teresa in blocky letters.


    ¡°Yes, I am Stella. And you? Can I help you somehow? Are you lost?¡±


    ¡°No, I am right where I need to be.¡±


    For the first time she looked directly into Stella¡¯s eyes, who smiled at her as she internally tried to figure out what in the world was going on. It should not have been possible to open the door from the outside. In addition, the girl looked terribly unhealthy; as if she hadn¡¯t slept in weeks.


    ¡°What do you need to do here, then?¡± Stella figured she¡¯d just earn her trust first and then call a hospital.


    ¡°The newborn,¡± the child said. ¡°Where did you get it?¡±


    Stella pointed to her belly. ¡°It¡¯s from here.¡±


    ¡°What do you intend to do with it?¡±


    ¡°With Teresa? I don¡¯t intend to do anything with her.¡±


    The child looked at her suspiciously. ¡°Nothing?¡±


    Stella nodded. ¡°I never wanted a child. Her father did. He can¡¯t stop talking about how he¡¯s gonna raise her.¡±


    The girl looked into a corner of the room and seemed as if she was trying to remember something. ¡°He had a plan?¡±


    Stella seemed surprised. ¡°Yes, actually. He did.¡±


    ¡°He had a plan to change the world.¡±


    ¡°How do you know that? But yes. He wanted to change the world. A bit of an idealist. But now he¡¯s almost 40, and realized he¡¯ll never be able to do it. So that idiot thought he¡¯d just raise a child who could.¡± She laughed. ¡°So now his plan is to make Teresa do the dirty work for him. He says he¡¯s gonna teach her everything she needs to know. I think it¡¯s kinda sweet, actually. This big ditz. We had a relationship, and when I got pregnant, I just decided to carry his child for him.¡±


    ¡°You judge this to be an adequate reason to produce offspring? To use it as a means to a selfish end?¡±


    Stella shrugged. ¡°It¡¯s as adequate a reason as any. Do you disagree?¡±


    ¡°I do not disagree or agree in any capacity whatsoever. I merely sympathize with this child. In fact, it eases my mind for what I am about to do. You physicians like this concept called informed consent, do you not? Certainly, if I were to inform her of the entire situation, she ought to consent.¡±


    Stella started to feel nervous. ¡°The point of informed consent is to ask for informed consent. It is unrelated to what you think another person should consent to.¡±


    The child ignored her words. ¡°I don¡¯t see that person you made her for. Where is he?¡±


    Stella raised her index finger and pointed to the sky. ¡°He is going to watch over her.¡±


    ¡°To summarize; You carried that thing, seeing no use for it yourself.¡±


    Stella opened her mouth, perplexed. ¡°I suppose you could phrase it that way,¡± she conceded.


    ¡°You did it as a courtesy to him.¡±


    She nodded. ¡°But now, please tell me why you came here. To be honest with you, it¡¯s a little weird for a small girl to walk into someone else¡¯s home and not introduce herself.¡±


    Even though she said that, she was by now well aware of the fact that this wasn¡¯t merely a ¡®small girl.¡¯ In fact, Stella had an ominous feeling that she was dangerous. Correspondingly, the gaze of the child darkened. ¡°I appeared here simply by means of wanting to.¡±


    ¡°Okay¡­¡± Stella murmured, unsure on what else to say. Her body became tense.


    Without premeditation, a crystal clear icicle appeared in the child¡¯s hand. It was twice as long as she was herself. Aiming at the baby¡¯s head, she wound up.


    In the same moment, she was ripped from her feet as Stella kicked her in the stomach, immediately positioning herself between the girl and Teresa.


    ¡°Get out!¡± she screamed at the child as it was slowly rising up again.


    ¡°Don¡¯t defy. I just conversed with Teresa. She¡¯s a hazard to me. Dodge.¡±


    Stella shook her head, panicky trying to find a way out. Should she take Teresa and run out? Or try to overwhelm the child?


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    ¡°Why not? Strictly speaking, any hazard to me might as well be considered a hazard to you, or any other being for that matter.¡± The child seemed to fall deep in thought. ¡°How to persuade a human in this circumstance, I wonder¡­? Try this: Pray find another courtesy to that man, Stella Cadente. You did your best producing this tiny creature, it was a good effort. A generous sacrifice, speaking to your great character. Regrettably, however, it was a failure. Do not resign to anguish, however, for I shall make it right.¡±


    Stella didn¡¯t move a muscle. The words of that child sounded fake and untrue, but had a gravity that made it obvious that should Stella try to fight her, she¡¯d die.


    The child looked at her, mildly annoyed. ¡°You will not dodge? I do not require your death.¡±


    Stella screamed for help. Though it was unlikely, it was still possible for others to hear her. That said, Stella wasn¡¯t sure anyone existed that could actually help her against this monstrosity.


    ¡°Why do you cling? You yourself said you had no use for it.¡±


    ¡°What in the world are you?¡±


    The creature seemed irritated by the fact that her attempts to convince Stella weren¡¯t fruitful. ¡°Killing full grown specimens is strenuous. I¡¯d rather you don¡¯t complicate the issue. Maybe I should make this easier for myself. On what day were you born again?¡±


    Stella just stared at her, her eyes filled with anger and tears.


    The child shrugged. In a split second, she flicked the icicle forward, piercing through Stella¡¯s stomach. She screamed, but the girl kept going, pulling the ice upwards through her body, until the bloodied, red tip exited between her shoulder and neck.


    Stella coughed out a mouthful of blood, then collapsed.


    It is quite tragic. At this point, that small girl could have won the war. All she needed to do was be quick with offing Teresa.


    But that girl¡¯s unique properties made her ignorant of the concept of hurry. Instead, a certain vanity prompted her to take things slowly, with deliberation.


    When she wanted to move closer to the cradle to end Teresa, she felt a wet and faint touch on her ankle. Looking down, she saw Stella¡¯s bloody hand trying to hold her back.


    The girl kneeled down to Stella. The young mother¡¯s brown eyes, nested in her pain-wrinkled face, expressed a pitiful plea.


    Laying the icicle beside her, the girl softly stroked Stella¡¯s hair. ¡°You see? This is exactly what I mean. Ending full grown beings is exhausting. They are full of history. It¡¯s saddening.¡±


    And now, it was too late. Because, you see, someone was on their way to defend Teresa, alarmed by Stella Cadente¡¯s previous cry for help. A defence-mechanism placed there as a wise precaution, dedicated to Teresa¡¯s well-being.


    While the child was rising back up and materializing a new icicle, suddenly she heard strong blustering against the door, and two kicks later, it sprang open, and Wisdom jumped inside.


    ¡°Oh my god!¡± she shouted. ¡°Did nobody ever teach you manners?¡±


    The girl made an angry grimace. ¡°What is this pathetic thing doing here?¡± She shook her head. ¡°Always, always, matters like this. Hindering my advancement every step of the way. Fair well. I may be able to absolve myself of two impediments at once.¡±


    ¡°You are so angry at me. Why¡¯s that?¡± Wisdom wondered.


    ¡°For it is you that ultimately sealed me.¡±


    ¡°I have no idea what you are talking about. I did no such thing, my dear.¡±


    The girl materialized two shorter icicles and dashed towards Wisdom, lunging once, aiming at her head, then at her chest. Wisdom dodged both by rolling backwards; the child, however, didn¡¯t subside, jumped forward immediately, connecting two short strikes to Wisdom¡¯s arm and her belly. Blood started leaking from the shallow cuts. With the child¡¯s next attack, Wisdom managed to grab both icicles and kick her back.


    ¡°Stop fighting,¡± Wisdom shouted. ¡°Don¡¯t you see what you are doing?¡±


    ¡°What am I doing?¡±


    She materialized a new icicle, made a gigantic leap forward, connecting her feet to Wisdom¡¯s shoulders, knocking her to the ground, now standing directly above her head. She raised her arms, then stabbed downwards at her face. Even though Wisdom did not attempt to dodge, cutting through the cheek, the girl missed the head, the tip of the icicle shattering on the ground. Confused, the child raised the icicle again, materialized a longer shard, and lunged downwards once more. Other side, another grazing cut in the cheek, but no direct hit.


    Irritated, the child asked: ¡°Why can I not kill you?¡±


    Wisdom looked up at her from the ground shrugging while the girl still had her feet on her shoulders. ¡°I think it¡¯s because you don¡¯t actually want to kill me.¡±


    Annoyed, the child dematerialized in a flash of light. A second later she came back, looking slightly different; her hair was a bit more rugged, and her hands weren¡¯t wet any more.


    ¡°Where are you?¡± she asked anxiously. ¡°I can¡¯t locate you.¡±


    ¡°Ah, you wanted to get rid of me as a baby?¡±


    The child nodded.


    ¡°Yeah, sorry. Such a thing won¡¯t work with me.¡±


    Wisdom got up again and took the girl¡¯s hand, who halted for a moment. Something wasn¡¯t right here. She concentrated until it dawned on her.


    ¡°How is that possible?¡± She pulled her eyebrows together in confusion, walking a few steps back. ¡°You are a component of one of my constructions. ... Is that beast responsible for this?¡±


    ¡°Are you talking about your mother? Well, you¡¯re not wrong.¡±


    ¡°She pillaged a section of my void and hatched you therein?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s my understanding of it.¡±


    The girl made a few steps up and down the room, forming new icicles. She got more and more agitated, her fists clenching around the ice, melting through it. Finally, with an angry shout, she launched both of them into the ground, where they shattered into a thousand pieces.


    ¡°That damn witch! Despicable, disgusting vile creature! I cannot damage you for it might ruin my construction that I require it to set myself free!¡±


    She hammered her fist into the wall, with enough force to not only cause a dent in it, but also leave bloody marks from tearing parts of her skin.


    ¡°Let¡¯s just settle on me taking care of myself as to not getting damaged to save your precious machinery, and you not causing any more mischief,¡± Wisdom proposed, shaking her head and pointing at the bled-out woman on the ground. ¡°This is not okay.¡±


    The girl discontentedly bit her lower lip.


    ¡°How can she always be one step ahead of me? Whichever I endeavour, the result is my defeat.¡±


    ¡°Don¡¯t ask me. She¡¯s kinda scary, isn¡¯t she.¡±


    ¡°Why do you undertake her labour? Are you unaware of the consequences shall she prevail?¡±


    Wisdom shrugged. ¡°She just asked me for a favour, nothing more. And to be completely honest with you; when it¡¯s about keeping little babies from being slaughtered, few reasons would make me refuse a request.¡±


    The child spat on the ground. Wisdom stemmed her arms on her sides. ¡°So, what¡¯s your plan with this mess now?¡±


    ¡°What am I supposed to do with it?¡± the girl asked. She spoke a bit louder because Teresa had started to cry.


    ¡°Well, you probably understand that I won¡¯t let you hurt the baby, and you yourself said you aren¡¯t going to harm me. But this poor woman on the ground has nothing to do with all of this. So?¡±


    ¡°¡­ So?¡±


    ¡°Fix her up?¡±


    The child let her gaze wander over the bloodless body. ¡°But she has perished.¡±


    ¡°I know. So, how long would it take you to mend her?¡±


    She frowned. ¡°Being damaged to this extent? ¡­ Approximately one hundred hours.¡±


    ¡°Then get to it. She didn¡¯t deserve this. I will stay here and make sure you do it right.¡±


    ¡°¡­ Fine.¡±

 Chapter 8: Between Reality and Fiction

    January 28th, 2017


    While she was peacefully sitting on her bench, contemplating the strange words of the small child that had just left her, Teresa suddenly got yanked into a standing position by none other than Wisdom, who pulled her up with a grin, shouting ¡°Come on, be quick!¡±


    With no time to wonder where the hell this woman had come from all of a sudden, Teresa got dragged from the school yard.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry, she can¡¯t harm you. We¡¯ve already defended you a long time ago¡± Wisdom explained cheerfully, still pulling Teresa along, who hadn¡¯t thought to be worried in the first place. ¡°I¡¯m getting you out anyway, just to make sure. She won¡¯t really know what¡¯s happening here because whenever she appears somewhere, her knowledge surrounding that point in space gets hazy. Because she¡¯s influencing it herself, you know. A bit like with Fate. To no one¡¯s surprise, actually, because Fate was her prototype, after all.¡±


    Teresa understood absolutely none of what Wisdom said. ¡°Wait, wait! Slow down. Who was that? Was that a relative of the Future? Her¡­ daughter?¡±


    ¡°Okay, that should be far enough,¡± Wisdom said. ¡°Hey sweetie, take it easy. Yes, yes, calm down, there we go,¡± she added as Teresa was completely out of breath and couldn¡¯t even stand anymore. She stroked her back to reassure her and helped her sit down on the curbside. ¡°Wait a second, didn¡¯t you have a cap on or something? Your hair looks all flat at the top. Did we leave it behind?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s my favourite beanie,¡± Teresa panted.


    ¡°Well, it¡¯s not a good idea to go back there. It¡¯s best not to tangle with her. But¡­¡± She gave Teresa a very meaningful look. ¡°¡­ Feel free to tangle with me anytime! So if you ever feel lonely¡­!¡±


    She did that even though she¡¯d known Teresa since birth. Wisdom had no morals.


    ¡°I watched the Future steal something from a school girl,¡± Teresa mentioned to avoid the topic.


    ¡°How horrible!¡±


    ¡°Oh my god, Wisdom, would you stop clowning around! I¡¯m serious. This is all so confusing.¡±


    Suddenly, Wisdom gave Teresa an angry stare, taking her off-guard. ¡°I am not a clown. If you ever insinuate such a thing again, I will blow you up and twist you into a butterfly shape.¡±


    Teresa sighed. ¡°I should have just stayed in bed, honestly¡­¡±


    ¡°Well, it¡¯s too late for that now!¡±


    Wisdom''s cheerfulness had come back, and as Teresa stared into her teasing expression, she remembered something. ¡°Oh, that¡¯s right! You! You must think you are very funny.¡± She pulled out the note she¡¯d gotten from the Future earlier. ¡°If you have any questions, ask away!¡± she mockingly read the writing, ¡°My ass! She didn¡¯t reply a single time!¡±


    ¡°Oh, if you can complain, you can walk!¡± she said, pulling Teresa up. ¡°Let¡¯s go to the Future¡¯s home. You¡¯ll be safe there. I¡¯ll even make you tea.¡±


    No matter how much Teresa regretted her choice to visit Captivity Plaza to turn herself in to the Future, now she had to live with that choice forever, because Wisdom sure wasn¡¯t planning on letting her go.


    It started with her getting a hold of Teresa¡¯s phone number, to swamp Teresa in messages to remind her of her upcoming meet-ups with the Future, and when she for the first time tried to flake on my poor sister, Wisdom would call her angrily, then go to her home in person. At some point, Teresa figured that resistance was futile.


    On the other hand, if truth be told, Teresa enjoyed her time with the Future for what it was ¡ª an escape. An escape from everything. No students or colleagues trying to get a hold of her, no spokespeople from organizations or journalists, no letters she spent effort ignoring ¡ª just her, the Future, and some random stranger they could cast some magic on to get them to cry. And magic was the only word she knew to use to describe the incredible machinations the Future pulled off on a daily basis.


    Of course, the Future still always stayed silent. Even though her appearance was incredibly off-putting, most people didn¡¯t even seem to take note of her existence. Teresa herself sometimes had trouble keeping an eye on her. That said, she still felt at home around her, and the reason she did was because it seemed to Teresa that the Future also felt at home around her. Because after a while, it wasn¡¯t Wisdom who stood by her bedside in her apartment in the morning to get her to wake up; it was the Future herself who went there to get her. And when she did, she looked at Teresa with her big doe-eyes and caused Teresa¡¯s heart to sink to her pyjama-pants.


    And finally, Teresa ended up being so involved in this new everyday life that she forgot to even consider skipping a day with the Future.


    But, her frustrations didn¡¯t subside either. In fact, her relationship with Wisdom got worse by the minute, because all Wisdom did was tease her about all those questions burning inside of Teresa¡¯s chest. Let me give you some examples of exchanges that happened over the weeks:


    Teresa: ¡°By the way, what is your real name?¡±


    Wisdom: ¡°Wisdom. Yeah, I know. It¡¯s just who I am, as a person!¡±


    Teresa: ¡°How old are you?¡±


    Wisdom: ¡°I¡¯m turning 21 this year. Like every year.¡±


    Teresa: ¡°How long have you known the Future?¡±


    Wisdom: ¡°Good question, let me see¡­ I think I met her for the first time like 90 years ago?¡±


    Teresa: ¡°What¡¯s the Future gonna do with all those tears?¡±


    Wisdom: ¡°Oh, nothing big, those are just used as bathing water at our home. Don¡¯t worry, if you ever donate a tear, I will make sure it touches ALL of my body parts!¡±


    This book''s true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.


    This went on until the end of April, when Teresa didn¡¯t appear at a meet-up. It didn¡¯t take long until Wisdom appeared at her home to see what had happened. And she found Teresa, ill and feverish, naked, in her bathtub, when she was trying to lower her body temperature with water.


    ¡°Oh my god, can I help you somehow?¡± Wisdom asked when she saw her but Teresa was too exhausted to even respond. She had overdone the cooling and now was shivering. ¡°I¡¯ll go make you some tea, sweetie. Be right back. Tell me if you need anything else.¡±


    Teresa just let out a tired moan.


    ¡°Maybe it¡¯s better if I get you home to us. I¡¯ll be able to take care of you there,¡± she suggested, but Teresa just shook her head.


    ¡°I don¡¯t want to pass it on to the Future,¡± she explained.


    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about that girl. Even if she were to get sick, she could just ignore it. She only needs her willpower to move.¡±


    Wisdom walked through the apartment to get something to wear for Teresa but came to the conclusion that there was no clean clothing anywhere here. ¡°I¡¯ll get you clothes when we¡¯re home. The Future has some stuff that should fit. For now, just wear this,¡± she said, picking out some random slightly smelly laundry to throw on Teresa for the moment. ¡°Let¡¯s go when you¡¯ve finished. You¡¯re gonna be fine.¡±


    ¡°Okay. Thanks,¡± she answered, wrapped in her blanket, her hands closed around a big cup of green tea. In the meantime, Wisdom started tidying up Teresa¡¯s apartment, but got sidetracked when she found some empty bottles to skilfully juggle with.


    Not a clown, huh?, thought Teresa. ¡°Done,¡± she coughed eventually. ¡°I don¡¯t think I can walk even a single step.¡±


    ¡°Nah, you can!¡± Wisdom claimed, taking Teresa¡¯s hand to help her up. Then, she put her arm around her waist to support her. ¡°Take my shoulder. I¡¯ve got you.¡±


    That¡¯s how Teresa got a room in the Future¡¯s home. It was a small two-floor house with a garden and a big shed next to it; the ground floor including the living room, the kitchen and the Future¡¯s room opposite of the stairs, which led to the second floor containing the guest room now occupied by Teresa, Wisdom¡¯s room, and the bathroom.


    Teresa didn¡¯t recollect much of her first week in that house since her illness had left her mind much too hazy to function. She slept day and night; sometimes, Wisdom would feed her and change her clothing, or wash her, and once, her bedsheets had to be changed because she¡¯d thrown up in them. It took a while for Teresa to get to the point where she could walk again.


    So, one evening, she went down the stairs to get something to drink from the kitchen, where she¡¯d find the Future who was busy eating a thin apple slice coated in honey. Wisdom wasn¡¯t home; she¡¯d gone out to party.


    On her way to the refrigerator, Teresa lost her balance, knocked over a chair and then shoved the Future, who in her surprise broke the apple slice in half. The viscous honey crept down her arm.


    ¡°Oh no, I¡¯m so sorry,¡± coughed Teresa, but the Future just put the rest of the apple in her mouth and started licking the honey off her skin like a cat, completely unfazed. Then, Teresa realized that the shirt she was wearing ¡ª it was one that belonged to the Future, a white one with the letters ¡°AITAI¡± printed on it in red, also had been sullied by honey. Great, she thought.


    She hurried back to not bother the Future any further and went back to her room to continue sleeping.


    A few hours later, she was woken up by whispers from the hallway. She felt awful but knew she wasn¡¯t going to be able to sleep again. After breathing through her mouth the entire night because of her shut nose, her tongue felt like a 2 days old bread bun.


    Steps from the hallway. Clock showed it was 4 am. Teresa got up to get some fresh air. Walking around tired felt like the better option compared to having more weird fever dreams.


    Just as she¡¯d left her room, she saw a naked man and a naked woman lying on Wisdom¡¯s bed half asleep. They must have had a fun night. Wisdom herself wasn¡¯t in there, though.


    When Teresa passed the bathroom, she heard water running inside it, as well as the Wisdom¡¯s soft humming voice. She went down the stairs to enter the living room she knew very well by now. It was stock full with books, and a piano stood at the window side, and a big couch in the middle. Teresa decided to read until she was tired enough to sleep again. Most of the books here she already knew, since over the past few months, she¡¯d borrowed many of them to get through nights when she couldn¡¯t fall asleep.


    These books were mostly fiction, as Wisdom had a knack for that; there was only one shelf that belonged to the Future that was full of scientific textbooks as well as a good amount of journals with peer-reviewed publications, with subject areas such as physics, biology and mathematics. Teresa knew most of these studies already, so when she picked out things to read from here, it was mostly Wisdom¡¯s side.


    Before meeting the Future, Teresa never had any reason to read novels and stories. She¡¯d always found scientific non-fiction to be much more compelling. Her favourite book of all time was an old encyclopedia listing endangered species with pictures and descriptions. Her second favourite was one listing animals that had already gone extinct.


    Only now that she had access to this Wisdom-curated little library of fiction, Teresa had actually started reading any of it. For example, she¡¯d been reading, over the past three days, little by little, a children¡¯s book called Alice¡¯s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll. She¡¯d known the name of that story for a long time, of course, but had never known its contents and knew basically nothing about it.


    That said, it only took a couple of pages until Teresa started to recognize herself in it. Being thrust into a strange world defying all laws of nature felt all too familiar, because she¡¯d still fallen short of finding a sensible explanation for all that had transpired since that evening in January. And now, she had to learn new rules from scratch. As frustrating as it was, it did reignite her lost curiosity, and with that, nurtured a small sense of purpose. While she was sitting on that couch, having the book in her hands, she remembered a small conversation she¡¯d had with Wisdom the day prior, who had seen her read the story.


    ¡°Oh, you¡¯re reading Alice in Wonderland!¡± she¡¯d said with a smile, which strangely reminded Teresa of the Cheshire Cat.


    ¡°So you know this story?¡±


    Wisdom dramatically acted like tearing her own hair out. ¡°Are you serious? For one, who doesn¡¯t? Also, are you really asking me whether I know a book you borrowed from me? That sickness must be worse than I thought. Let me call the hospital. They are never gonna let you out again.¡± She took Teresa¡¯s wrist to feel her pulse. ¡°Oh my god, it¡¯s too late. I think you¡¯re dead.¡±


    Teresa blushed furiously. She had asked that question on auto-pilot and now regretted every word.


    ¡°Joking aside, yes, I know it, and I like it a lot! Children¡¯s books always have this¡­ magical quality to them, don¡¯t they? Easy to read, and yet so profound.¡±


    ¡°Are they?¡± Teresa asked monotonously. ¡°So, how does the book end? Is it worth reading?¡±


    ¡°Oh, you¡¯re asking about the end?¡± Wisdom wondered. ¡°Don¡¯t you want to come to know it yourself? Where¡¯s the fun in me telling you?¡±


    ¡°What are you on about?¡± Teresa asked, laying down on the couch. ¡°It¡¯s completely normal to show the results of a study in the first paragraph. Why would I want to read something if I don¡¯t already know if it¡¯s worth it? That would be a complete waste of time.¡±


    ¡°Well, you are talking about scientific studies. But stories are completely different now, aren¡¯t they. A story is all about that slow burn. All about not knowing anything, and then, slowly, getting to know everything. That¡¯s the whole fun of it.¡±


    ¡°No wonder reading fiction never really appealed to me. What if the end of a story is unsatisfying? I mean, sure, the books you recommended to me so far were good, including the endings. But I mean. What if I read a book and the ending is stupid? Then reading it would have been all in vain. It¡¯s a blind bargain.¡±


    Wisdom pulled up her eyebrows. ¡°You think the end is the most important thing and the rest doesn¡¯t matter?¡±


    ¡°Well, it is the most important thing,¡± Teresa affirmed. ¡°The essential part about everything is always the conclusion. What¡¯s the point of the story? What is it supposed to say? How does everything connect? When the book doesn¡¯t achieve anything, when there is no coherent conclusion, or even worse, if it doesn¡¯t conclude at all, then it¡¯s pointless, right?¡±


    ¡°I have a feeling that you¡¯re not going to like the end of Alice in Wonderland,¡± Wisdom mumbled.


    ¡°Well¡­ for some reason, that does make me curious,¡± Teresa mumbled, even though this might have just been her distrust of Wisdom spilling out. ¡°¡­ Fine. I¡¯ll finish it.¡±

 Chapter 9: The Nonsense Factory

    A day later and Teresa still hadn¡¯t given up on reading it, although she now was mostly curious as to why Wisdom would say such a thing. So now that she couldn¡¯t sleep, she sat on the couch, opened the book again, but realized quickly that she just wasn¡¯t able to concentrate. Looking around in the room absent-mindedly, her gaze first fell onto the grand piano; she had often wondered about whether it was Wisdom or the Future that knew how to play. Then, she looked further around and flinched.


    She wasn¡¯t alone in the room. The Future sat in front of her desk, succumbed to sleep over a huge stack of paper.


    Teresa walked over to her to see a bunch of scientific drawings and pictures on the desk, mostly cross-sections of organs, cells and other biological structures. A shelf was mounted on the wall over the desk that was mostly stacked with pencils, rulers and different instruments for technical drawings. However, in the corner of the shelf Teresa saw a few notebooks as well as a pressed and framed four leaf clover. Seeing that, she felt a bit fuzzy in her stomach without knowing why.


    Then, she got startled again by Wisdom, who suddenly walked into the room in her underwear.


    ¡°Hey Teresa, still got a fever?¡± she asked and put a hand on her forehead. Before finishing, her eyes fell on the Future, and she added in a whisper: ¡°She was out there alone today, huh?¡± and Teresa nodded. With a sigh, Wisdom continued: ¡°I hope you¡¯ll be better soon. By the way, look. This is her hobby. Or rather, her work. I think those two concepts are the same to her.¡± She pulled some of the drawings from the heap to show Teresa. Pulling a bundle of paper out of a drawer, she said: ¡°Look, she also writes sometimes.¡±


    The writings were messed up. Teresa couldn¡¯t read any of it. They seemed like they¡¯d been written by a five-year old trying to copy and embellish some unknown symbol writing system.


    ¡°If you want to read it, feel free. I¡¯m sure she¡¯d have nothing against it as long as she doesn¡¯t find out.¡±


    Teresa declined partaking in this grave ethical violation but wondered if that offer meant Wisdom could actually read these writings.


    ¡°I don¡¯t think she should sleep here,¡± Wisdom said. ¡°Why don¡¯t you carry her to her room?¡±


    ¡°Why me?!¡± Teresa protested immediately, but it sounded more like a coughy rasp than anything else. Still, neither did Teresa feel close enough to the Future that she¡¯d feel comfortable carrying her around, nor was she physically fit enough to do it. Although Wisdom was shorter than her, she was quite athletic, after all.


    ¡°I¡¯d love to,¡± said Wisdom, ¡°¡­ but I can¡¯t. My arms are pretty exhausted right now, you know.¡±


    Teresa remembered the two naked people lying in Wisdom¡¯s bed, and rolled her eyes. She eventually gave in, although she wasn¡¯t sure why ¡ª maybe the infection had reached her brain. Embracing the Future¡¯s shoulders with one arm and her legs with the other, she picked her up. She was too light. In fact, way too light, and Teresa shuddered at the thought that a woman this light could even be alive.


    The Future¡¯s style of clothing did well at concealing her figure, and to Teresa¡¯s horror, the Future probably weighed even less than she did herself. Teresa had never been a person to care too much about eating, and the past year of lying in bed all day hadn¡¯t helped that at all.


    With hard breathing, Teresa finally got the Future to her bed in her room at the end of the hallway. She was still deep asleep. Wisdom put a blanket over her and lovingly stroked her forehead, while Teresa tried to elope and go to bed herself.


    ¡°May I show you something?¡± Wisdom asked right before she could leave. Teresa didn¡¯t know a single thing in the world that could capture her interest right now. She just wanted to sleep. ¡°Sis has a shed,¡± Wisdom added. ¡°Wanna look inside?¡±


    Damn. The shed. The one Teresa had tried and failed to open several times. Suddenly, Teresa was wide awake.


    Wisdom went up the stairs to put on some clothes, then they both stepped outside to the garden. When Wisdom pressed the bronze handle, the door to the shed swung open.


    ¡°Wait, what? When I tried it, it didn¡¯t budge!¡±


    ¡°Yep,¡± replied smiling Wisdom. ¡°It¡¯s a capricious door. It only opens if you push it with courage.¡±


    Yeah, right, thought Teresa. It took her plenty of courage to try opening it! Also, that kind of mechanism would be completely pointless.


    When they entered, Teresa lost her breath in view of the incredible amount of dusty, rusty, yellowed refuse cramped together any and everywhere, up to the ceiling. It was mostly commonplace items of all kinds like boxes with books, some electronic devices, paintings, drawings, files, clothes. Many toys, some stones. When the dust started to settle in Teresa¡¯s nose and throat, she coughed.


    ¡°That¡¯s all her unused stolen goods,¡± Wisdom explained. ¡°Most of the time she just immediately uses whatever she steals, but some stuff she stores for later. Look¡ª¡± she said when knocking over a golden bird cage to grasp the handle of a floor door, ¡°There¡¯s more down there. Wanna see?¡±


    ¡°Is it the same as up here?¡±


    ¡°Yes.¡±


    ¡°Then no, thanks,¡± said Teresa, still visibly disgusted by the disarray.


    Wisdom let go of the handle and stemmed her hands on her sides. ¡°Lovely Teresa. I find it bold of you to react in such a manner to a bit of filth while you stand there with a running nose, having some sticky liquid on your shirt. What even is that?! Ew!¡±


    Teresa turned around and covered up the honey stains on her chest by grasping her left shoulder with her right arm. In doing so, she saw something interesting, and walked a few steps towards a small realistic painting depicting a woman that looked a bit like an older Future. The frame stood on an antique wooden cupboard, next to a horrendously complex origami paper creature of almost a meter in size.


    ¡°Oh wow, that dragon,¡± Teresa murmured.


    ¡°Yes please? ¡ª Oh. You mean that. Yes. Cool, right?¡±


    After saying that, Wisdom turned away again.


    On the wall behind the cupboard hung a big azure coloured goldfish bowl made of extremely thick glass, big enough to encapsulate a whole head, so that it kind of reminded Teresa of an astronaut helmet. Curiously, it was coated in half-translucent paintings of goldfish and koi, algae and other underwater creatures, with two spots on the glass standing out, as there was nothing painted on them, as if leaving space for eyes to look through.


    ¡°This bowl is so pretty. Did it use to house a fish?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s a mask,¡± Wisdom explained. ¡°The Future can use it to reduce her inconspicuousness.¡±


    Used to the nonsensical nature of Wisdom¡¯s explanations, Teresa¡¯s gaze went back to the painting of the woman. ¡°Who is that?¡± she asked, in another hopeless attempt to get some useful information out of her.


    ¡°That¡¯s one of the Future¡¯s relatives.¡±


    Great, Teresa thought. She¡¯d already guessed as much.


    Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.


    To her surprise though, Wisdom continued: ¡°Let me see¡­ as far as I know, Sis has¡­¡± She counted with her fingers, trying to remember, ¡°¡­ Four close relatives. I met all of them once, except for her brother. Her brother is very elusive.¡±


    So despite calling her ¡®Sis,¡¯ Wisdom wasn¡¯t directly related to the Future after all, Teresa concluded. ¡°How did you and the Future meet? Did she pick you up like she did with me?¡±


    Teresa hesitated. ¡°Now that I think about it, what exactly was the point of her picking me up? I still don¡¯t get what all of this is about.¡±


    Wisdom pointed to the door. ¡°Let me show you something in the basement of the house.¡±


    When they left the shed again, the cold night wind tousled Teresa¡¯s greasy, brittle hair. The world around her seemed unnatural; the lanterns relentlessly shone onto the rigid surroundings and it was quiet, except for the rustling of leaves on the two old birches in the garden.


    She gulped and felt her scratchy throat. One step after the other, she slowly walked back to the house entrance, where Wisdom was already waiting for her and held the door open. Then, they walked to the stairs, next to which was a door revealing the entrance to the basement.


    Down there were two doors; one of which led to the right and seemed incredibly sturdy. It was made of metal, was plastered in gears and had some mechanical switches and regulators on it. It seemed like a meticulous construction and didn¡¯t fit in with the style of the house at all. Wisdom noticed Teresa feeling over the metal workings with her fragile fingers.


    ¡°That¡¯s the daymaker,¡± she said offhandedly. ¡°Don¡¯t go in, you¡¯re gonna get lost. It could also be dangerous.¡±


    Wisdom¡¯s sad expression made clear to Teresa that she didn¡¯t like this daymaker at all. Yet, her curiosity got the better of her. ¡°What¡¯s in that room?¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s not a room,¡± Wisdom replied. ¡°It¡¯s just a door. Anyway, don¡¯t get distracted. Look what¡¯s in here instead.¡±


    She pointed behind herself to the other, much simpler looking door that led straight on, and vanished into the dark room behind it.


    Teresa skittered after her and felt the cold stone floor at her bare feet, shuddering at the wave of cold air hitting her after entering. Inside was just a huge basin, reaching to her thighs, big enough to comfortably lie in it. It emanated a faint greenish, bluish light. Teresa bent over it until she saw a small amount of liquid in the centre of the basin.


    ¡°Are those the tears she¡¯s gathered so far?¡± Teresa whispered gently. This room inspired her with awe.


    ¡°Yes,¡± Wisdom answered with a hint of pride in her voice.


    ¡°So, now that I¡¯m here, you might as well tell me what this is all about,¡± Teresa said. ¡°What¡¯s she gonna do with them? How many is she gonna gather?¡±


    Of course, it was impossible to fill the entire basin with tears. Teresa estimated that it could hold about five hundred litres of liquid. For some odd reason, imagining the basin filled also led to her imagining Wisdom taking a bath in it and pressing a squall of tears from a sponge down her back. Teresa pinned this mental image on her illness.


    ¡°So, as you know, the Future comes from a family of inventors.¡±


    As you know?, Teresa thought angrily. How was she supposed to know!


    ¡°Especially her older ancestors have devoted a lot of effort in their devices, some of which you have already seen.¡±


    Teresa guessed that these constructions must have been inside of the shed, although she wasn¡¯t sure which items Wisdom was referring to. That, and maybe the daymaker?


    ¡°The Future was never really into engineering that much herself, she always devoted her time to real life events and experiences.¡±


    Teresa nodded. She¡¯d never seen the Future use any elaborate artefacts on their trips. It had always been about what was happening in the moment.


    ¡°Well. Things did change, though. In January this year, something happened to her. I¡¯m not going to go into details, but what happened then made her choose to construct something after all, as did her forbearers.¡±


    ¡°Construct something out of what? The tears?¡±


    ¡°Yeah. She decided to use tears. It didn¡¯t have to be tears, of course. She could have used anything she wanted to. I¡¯m sure she thought about using honey. She wanted something that she could gather during her usual work. Considering how much she sees of it, if you ask me¡­ she should have used blood. Of course, she decided to go the hard way.¡±


    ¡°So, what kind of thing is she going to make? Can¡¯t be too big, since gathering the material would take ages.¡±


    ¡°Wanna know how many tears she is going to collect?¡±


    ¡°Yeah, sure.¡±


    ¡°67 million.¡±


    Teresa thought she¡¯d misheard. ¡°What?¡±


    This didn¡¯t make any sense. On good days, the Future would gather about three or four tears ¡ª and those were just the good days. Imagining how long she would take to gather several million made Teresa dizzy. I don¡¯t have time to accompany her to gather so much, she thought.


    ¡°So, why tell me all of this now? I¡¯ve been begging you to disclose at least something for months.¡±


    Wisdom shrugged. ¡°I wasn¡¯t going to tell a random person all of Sis¡¯ secrets. Who knew whether you¡¯d even stay?¡±


    ¡°So this is all a secret? I can¡¯t tell anyone?¡± Teresa asked, as if she had anyone to tell any of this.


    ¡°That¡¯s not really¡­ to be honest, you can tell anyone you want. The Future doesn¡¯t mind either way. But,¡± she said, with a devilish smile on her face, ¡°I just thought today was the perfect day to share all this with you!¡±


    ¡°Why?¡±


    ¡°Because,¡± Wisdom added with a teasing up-and-down in her voice, ¡°¡­ tomorrow morning you will wake up all tired and dreamy, thinking all of what we talked about tonight was just a dream! Exactly like in Alice in Wonderland. Oh no! Now I ended up telling you the ending after all! And if you ever mention any of what happened tonight to me, I will just say: ¡®Oh? Whatcha talking about, sweetie? I was busy with my nightly company the whole time!¡¯ ¡ª Not to mention that, in the first place, you could have just asked the Future yourself about what she was going to build¡­¡±


    Teresa rolled her eyes. ¡°Wait, so you know what she is going to make? Or have a suspicion, at least?¡±


    ¡°Yep! I didn¡¯t precisely ask her what it was going to be, but I have a strong guess.¡±


    ¡°So¡­ what is it?¡±


    ¡°Well, of course I¡¯m not going to tell you that. For the same reason as to why I didn¡¯t ask her about it: It¡¯s going to ruin the whole fun in guessing it.¡±


    Inconceivable, Teresa thought, shaking her head slightly. ¡°There is no such thing as fun in guessing. There is only fun in knowing.¡±


    Wisdom pressed an arm on her own hip, and sheepishly said: ¡°Well, must really suck not to know then!¡±


    Teresa was dumbstruck. ¡°That¡¯s exactly what I keep telling you! It sucks! I can¡¯t believe you! You know what, I¡¯m going to tell the Future how you just keep teasing me. You¡¯re in big trouble.¡±


    Wisdom started laughing. ¡°Sure, you do you. But, who is she going to believe? You, a pathetic loser, or me, the most trustworthy being in the universe, who happens to be her best friend for totally like ever, or to call it by the scientific name, her B.F.F.T.L.E.?¡±


    That did it.


    For some reason, this string of words from this person was the funniest thing Teresa had ever heard in her entire life.


    She didn¡¯t just start laughing. It ended her on the spot. She sank down with her face torn to a grimace, trying to laugh, but it was so heavy, she didn¡¯t even get to make a sound. The laughing only came after she¡¯d overcome the first stun. And then, it almost never stopped. Wisdom came to her side wondering if she¡¯d accidentally killed her. She wrapped her arms around her to support her, while she just laughed and laughed and laughed.


    ¡°Oh my, sweetie, it wasn¡¯t that funny! Calm down, or I¡¯m gonna have some explaining to do to Sis tomorrow.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m sorry,¡± Teresa laughed. ¡°It¡¯s like your mouth is some kind of nonsense factory¡­¡±


    ¡°How flattering!¡± Wisdom laughed back.


    It took Teresa almost ten minutes to calm down, and when she finally did, she was too weak to even get up. ¡°Hey, Wisdom,¡± she said, which might have been the first time she¡¯d actually used her name, ¡°I¡¯m so tired¡­¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I can imagine.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m going to bed,¡± she added, and then immediately fell asleep in Wisdom¡¯s arms.


    ¡°Oh my, what a cutie you are,¡± she whispered, and then picked her up to carry her back to her room upstairs.

 Chapter 10: Human Nature

    May 11th


    It took about two more weeks until Teresa had fully recovered. The night with Wisdom seemed like a distant dream to her now, so she wasn¡¯t sure what exactly had even transpired. The fact that Wisdom kept teasing her by acting as if she had no idea what she was talking about made it worse. For some reason, this filled Teresa with a feeling of deja-vu.


    Finally the day came at which she could resume travelling together with the Future. They sat together at the kitchen table having breakfast as Teresa tried gulping down one bite after the other (the Future actually kept putting food on Teresa¡¯s plate as if she wasn¡¯t satisfied with how little she ate).


    ¡°Look at this,¡± Teresa explained between two bites, ¡°this is the number 67 million,¡± as she drew many zeros into the air with her finger. ¡°On average, we gather 2.5 tears a day,¡± she added as she painted this number into the air as well. ¡°67 million by 2.5¡­ meaning it¡¯s twenty six million eight hundred thousand days¡­ by 365, so¡­ 73,425.¡±


    That last number she underscored with two lines in the air. ¡°73,425 years. That¡¯s how long it will take us. Now, adding in the rate at which tears evaporate in the conditions of your basement¡­¡±


    Teresa hesitated. ¡°Well, let¡¯s just assume those tears never evaporate. Otherwise, we¡¯ll be here forever.¡± She sighed. ¡°I hope you know what you¡¯re doing. We have a long road ahead of us. Seems like we¡¯ll travel together for a while.¡±


    ¡°Speaking of!¡± Wisdom exclaimed, placing a smartphone on the table after having written some messages. The only reason Wisdom had even gotten one was to bother Teresa about showing up to meetings, but now she had started annoying other people with it as well. ¡°I have a date this evening!¡±


    Teresa rolled her eyes. ¡®Speaking of¡¯? That had nothing to do with what she just said!


    Wisdom looked at the Future as if she was listening to her speak, but then said: ¡°Oh, don¡¯t worry, I¡¯m not going to tease her. I¡¯m always nice to her, promise! Why should I spend time with someone just to be mean?¡±


    Yes, why?!, wondered Teresa.


    ¡°Anyway, I¡¯ll join you guys by then. It¡¯s been such a long time since I¡¯ve talked to her. Do you think she¡¯s doing well?¡±


    Teresa felt out of place. Usually when Wisdom and the Future spoke to each other, at least the conversation made sense based on Wisdom¡¯s side alone. But here, she just didn¡¯t understand a thing!


    Disgruntled, she continued giving her best to swallow one bite after the other. It was only when she¡¯d eaten her third bread bun that the Future started clearing away the things on the table.


    An hour later, both of them left the house. They walked through town for a while until the Future stopped in front of a multi-storeyed apartment building and looked at the battery of doorbells. Teresa watched the Future¡¯s finger hover over the name tags, until she finally pressed down on one after a bit of hesitation.


    At first, nothing happened. Then, a terrible fear crept over Teresa. The Future pressed again, and a few seconds later, the voice of an old woman emerged from the speaker.


    ¡°Yes, who¡¯s there?¡±


    A few moments passed. The Future didn¡¯t say anything. Instead, she watched Teresa with her big doe eyes. Teresa was shocked.


    ¡°What am I supposed to say, damn it?!¡± she hissed almost silently while the old woman repeated her inquiry.


    ¡°Uhm,¡± Teresa shouted into the microphone in panic, ¡°I am¡­ I¡¯m a chimney sweeper. I need access to the basement. Would you kindly open up?¡±


    A horrifying moment passed, then Teresa heard the buzzing of the door opener. Before she could even move, her companion already held it open for her.


    They went up two floors until the Future halted in front of an apartment door and started looking through her bag. Teresa, again, had a bad misgiving as it dawned on her the two of them were about to break into a home. Indeed, the Future produced a credit card and offered it to her, making a gesture to the door with her head.


    ¡°You can¡¯t be serious,¡± Teresa whispered. ¡°Are you aware that we could be arrested? Look at you! You wouldn¡¯t even be able to run away if you tried!¡± Teresa didn¡¯t want to mention it directly, but the Future¡¯s body was littered with wounds and bruises, both fresh and old, none of which seemed to be healing. ¡°Also, do you think I know how to open a door using a credit card?! I¡¯ve only ever seen it in movies¡­¡±


    The Future seemed completely unfazed by anything she had just said, so Teresa snatched the card, mumbled a resigning ¡°Fine, I¡¯ll do it,¡± and turned towards the door, only to realize that, probably by its owner¡¯s negligence, it hadn¡¯t actually completely fallen shut. In other words, it was open. She looked back at the Future in confusion, only to see a hint of a mischievous smile on her face.


    Teresa was bewildered. Had teasing her somehow become an Olympic discipline?


    They both sneaked through the entrance and found themselves in a messy two-room apartment. The wardrobe stood wide open and was filled with women''s clothing. Directly next to the entrance door stood a small cabinet that the homeowner had placed a bunch of unopened letters on; her name was Rebecca. Teresa tried shaking off her uneasy feeling and instead tried focussing on whatever the Future was doing. Right now, she was going through a closet filled with removal crates and some unused stuff; like a dusty vacuum cleaner, a badminton bat with a broken net and a hard drive.


    From the rear part of the closet, the Future produced a smaller red box and opened the lid for a second. Much to her chagrin, Teresa wasn¡¯t able to take a peek inside, as the Future immediately stowed the box away in her bag.


    On the outside, for a while, Rebecca just leaned against the entrance door to the apartment complex she lived in, because she had trouble gathering the necessary energy to pull out her keys and go back in. She was tired and exhausted, but finally managed to go in and walk up the stairs to her home. On her way, she passed two women, one of which had black, curly hair and seemed rather distressed. Paying them no mind, she entered her apartment to find what she¡¯d come back here to get. She opened her large closet to look through all the old stuff she almost never needed.


    She was looking for a red box with sensitive contents that should never fall into another person¡¯s hands.


    It seems I hid it so well even I can¡¯t find it, she thought to herself after going through her stuff for half an hour without finding a trace of that box nor its contents. She sighed. What a shitty day, for real.


    But then, her gaze fell upon a small, time-worn booklet stuffed into the corner of a removal crate. She pulled it out and started turning a few pages. It was an old photo album from her childhood; more than 20 years old. Finally she paused when she saw a picture of an old, wrinkly face belonging to a man with a big smile. At the point when that picture was taken, he¡¯d been around 90 years old.


    He stood in front of a mound with a few small paths dug through it; a place Rebecca had used as a playground back then. She got goosebumps thinking about those times. Maybe it was time to go back.


    Teresa stood in front of a random overgrown mound in the midst of nowhere. Her legs were hurting from the long drive on their bikes, she was socially exhausted, tired, and she didn¡¯t see any point in being here.


    ¡°Is there any point in us being here?¡± she asked the Future, who had long since sat down in the grass and, instead of answering, offered her some vegan cake that Wisdom had baked.


    Teresa accepted the peace offer begrudgingly, since lemon cake was her favourite. ¡°What you are doing to me is not okay, you know that?¡± she complained. ¡°There¡¯ll be a day when all the cake in the world is not enough.¡±


    With these words, she spread out her coat in the shade of a gigantic oak to sit on it. Then she picked out a boring article about some new particle that CERN Collider had recently found that questioned the entirety of the standard model of particle physics, written by one of her ex co-workers, and put on some music.


    She spent about an hour reading until she lost motivation, tossed her phone in the grass and laid down in the sun.


    Not a single cloud was in the sky that day. It took a while until her eyes had accustomed to that brightness. The longer she stared at it, the more the azure tone that slowly faded into a dark blue filled her with melancholy. A few planes cut through the sky as they left their straight contrails.


    There was no moon to be seen, and no stars. And yet, they naturally appeared in Teresa¡¯s mind. And it reminded her of the one thing she¡¯d often longed for, but never really attained: She wanted to be alone. Not just alone, but wholly and irretrievably isolated and detached. She wished so much to be stuck on the moon, or have her own hole in the ground in Marianas Trench. Somewhere she was guaranteed never to meet anyone, no matter what. Or maybe¡­ On some lonely planet on some lonely galaxy in the midst of the gigantic B?otes void, far out in the depths of the universe.


    Sometimes when she looked into the sky like this, she couldn¡¯t help but feel that instead of looking up, she was actually looking down. ¡®Down¡¯ because she was stuck to a large orb, and below her was this amazing, never ending nothingness. And she¡¯d imagine that at any point, she could just fall off, if gravity decided to stop function for a second.


    She sighed. Maybe she should have stepped into her father¡¯s footprints? Last time she¡¯d seen him was during her final school year. He¡¯d departed for a one-year space mission to live on the ISS. After his return, he continued working for a space agency somewhere on the neighbouring mainland. By now, judging from his age, he should be retired, but Teresa knew him well enough to suspect that this wouldn¡¯t have stopped him from continuing his endeavours.


    Teresa had never left that island she was born on. Most of her friends from school had. She thought of how long she hadn¡¯t seen Joshua.


    But, even if she had become an astronaut, she knew full well that being one, they¡¯d never leave her alone. She would have to report back all day, and the people on the home station would observe her every move. And yet, she felt attracted to that world for some romanticized reason.


    At some point, Teresa noticed someone approaching. A car stood a hundred metres back, and a woman at the start of her thirties came out. She was lanky, had a high forehead and smiled at Teresa from afar. Just when she was close enough, she opened her mouth.


    Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.


    ¡°I would have never thought to find other people here. What a coincidence!¡±


    ¡°Yes, coincidence, I¡¯m sure,¡± snarked Teresa low-voiced and looked at the Future, who had fallen asleep on her picnic blanket with a half eaten piece of bee sting cake in her hand.


    ¡°Oh my god, what happened to her?!¡± the woman shouted immediately, bowing down to her.


    ¡°Just leave her be¡­¡±


    ¡°I think she needs an ambulance.¡±


    ¡°Yeah, I agree. I called one a while ago. They are on their way.¡±


    Rebecca slowly turned to Teresa, not knowing how to react to that sarcasm. ¡°You¡¯re not here to bury the body or anything, right?¡± she asked and it looked for a moment like she was haunted by a ghost. ¡°Are you responsible for this?¡±


    ¡°We all are responsible for this,¡± murmured Teresa. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, she¡¯s just sleeping.¡±


    The woman stood there in the sun, squinting. Being asked that question seemed to immediately flush the existence of the Future out of her mind while she thought about how to answer. Based on her clothes and her looks, she reminded Teresa of a lawyer or a banker.


    ¡°I feel like I¡¯ve seen you before¡­ Do we know each other?¡±


    ¡°No,¡± Teresa said immediately. ¡°Anyway, what brings you here?¡±


    ¡°Ah¡­ Nothing, really. I spent a lot of time here when I was a child. My great grandfather drove me here regularly and let me play on that hill.¡±


    ¡°I see,¡± replied Teresa and wondered as to whether she should wake up the Future. On the other hand, why would she fall asleep if that wasn¡¯t what she¡¯d wanted? But¡­ What if she only fell asleep because she trusted Teresa to wake her up once something happened? She came to the conclusion that she had no way of knowing, and it was probably better not to remind that lawyer-looking girl of the beaten-up looking girl after she was already suspicious¡­


    In the end, she just let her sleep. In fact, she was a bit frustrated, so she went back to her articles to continue reading and escape the social encounter. That encounter didn¡¯t seem to mind her and just kept walking about that place full of memories of her past.


    Some time went by. The breeze felt nice on the skin. Faint scent of flowers filled the air, but the pollen pricked a little in the nose. When Teresa¡¯s playlist ended, she took out her earbuds, and that seemed to be taken as an opportunity.


    ¡°My name is Rebecca, by the way,¡± the woman said and held out her hand.


    Teresa couldn¡¯t say she was surprised to hear that name. If she had learned one thing from her time with the Future so far, it was that things just happened to magically work out most of the time.


    ¡°Teresa,¡± she murmured and shook her hand a bit reluctantly. After the handshake, Rebecca sat down in the grass in front of her.


    ¡°How long have you two known each other?¡±


    ¡°Uhm¡­ Not sure I¡¯d actually really say I know her.¡±


    ¡°What¡¯s your occupation?¡±


    Is this some kind of deposition?, Teresa wondered.


    ¡°Is this some kind of deposition?¡± Teresa then, also, asked out loud.


    ¡°Oh god, I¡¯m sorry. I was just curious.¡±


    ¡°It¡¯s fine,¡± said Teresa. ¡°I¡¯m having a bit of a rough day. Sorry if I¡¯m being blunt.¡±


    ¡°Yeah. I know what you mean. My day has been a mess so far, too.¡±


    ¡°Well, to answer your question, I¡¯m a professor with Atlas-University. Teresa Hargrove.¡± She spoke of this with no pride. More like she was mentioning a decaying fish a house cat had smuggled from the outside onto the living room carpet.


    ¡°Oh, seriously? What¡¯s your subject?¡±


    ¡°I teach different things. Mainly in the areas of environment preservation, climate science, and sometimes biology.¡±


    ¡°Oh¡­ what a wide range,¡± Rebecca said.


    ¡°Yeah. Well, unfortunately, these topics are closely related.¡±


    ¡°How so?¡±


    Wasn¡¯t that obvious? Was this girl just trying to keep the conversation alive no matter how? ¡°If you have to ask, you probably don¡¯t want to know,¡± sighed Teresa. She wasn¡¯t sure how many more signs she was supposed to send about her not wanting to talk about this. Or at all.


    Rebecca pressed her lips together and looked down to the grass for a few seconds. Then, she said: ¡°You know, my great grandfather loved this place because it is so far away from everything. And it¡¯s¡­ completely unremarkable. There is only one way leading here, and there is nothing to see. It¡¯s a play that¡¯s not worth visiting. A place not worth the trip.¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s what your great grandfather loved about it?¡±


    ¡°Yes, because that makes the trip feel like a safety wall. You don¡¯t come here to get here.¡±


    ¡°You come here to get away from somewhere else,¡± closed Teresa.


    ¡°Exactly. The reason I tell you this, is because that means it¡¯s safe here. And you seem like you have something to say.¡±


    ¡°I don¡¯t think I have anything to say,¡± replied Teresa.


    ¡°Oh, I think you do. Because ever since I¡¯ve got here, you¡¯ve been rude. You¡¯ve been sarcastic, you¡¯ve spoken to me as if I only knew the half of this. And you don¡¯t know me at all, and ever since I got here, I didn¡¯t do anything that could justifiably make you angry. Oh, but I¡¯m not criticizing you. All I¡¯m saying is, feel free to be completely honest, and say what¡¯s on your mind. If you want, you can tell me whatever you¡¯ve been holding in.¡±


    Teresa had to admit that this woman made a compelling argument, while also being extremely annoying. ¡°Fine. If you truly want to know. I¡¯m sad because the world is ending.¡±


    ¡°Oh?¡±


    ¡°Yep. That¡¯s my big secret. Only it¡¯s not really a secret. People just don¡¯t want to talk about it.¡±


    ¡°It seems a bit excessive, though. I mean, if politicians finally start doing something, we can still stop climate change, right. And even if it happens¡­ It¡¯s not gonna be the end of the world, is it.¡±


    Right. Teresa wondered why she had even tried to say anything.


    ¡°Funnily, when people think about how many people will die due to climate change, they often picture themselves in a world with fewer people. The truth is, it will more likely be a world without them in it.¡±


    ¡°So, you are saying we have to stop it.¡±


    Teresa shook her head. ¡°I don¡¯t think we can. It¡¯s exponential growth. It¡¯s capitalism. And we can¡¯t stop that because it¡¯s a self-running system that resists change. It¡¯s not like people aren¡¯t trying, though. It¡¯s just. I¡¯ve tried for so long, telling people about this, learning about this, doing things about it, and it feels like I am slowly being crushed anyway.¡±


    ¡°That must suck.¡± She paused for a moment. ¡°But, if you stop fighting, if everyone stops and watches it happen, then it¡¯s an automatic loss, isn¡¯t it?¡±


    ¡°Yes. And that¡¯s exactly why I feel so bad about giving up.¡±


    A few moments passed. Teresa decided to change the topic. ¡°Well, now that I have told my secret, time to tell yours. Why did you come here, exactly? It wasn¡¯t for the scenery, right? And you didn¡¯t bother a random stranger into a conversation about an uncomfortable truth when you had nothing to say yourself, I presume.¡±


    Rebecca looked back and bit her own lips again. ¡°Yeah. It¡¯s about my great grandfather. Or¡­ rather, about myself. You know¡­ When I was a teenager, I had an unhealthy obsession with true crime. I engulfed all documentaries about crimes, books about them, stuff like that. I couldn¡¯t satisfy my curiosity about this topic no matter what I did. And it finally led me to ask my great grandfather a question.¡±


    June 3rd, 2002


    ¡°Uhm, Pa?¡± Rebecca asked cautiously. She wanted to make sure not to mess this up. She even brought him to his favourite place in the world for this. He couldn¡¯t drive anymore, so Rebecca had illegally driven the car here. It wasn¡¯t as if she didn¡¯t know how to drive; she had a license. But she wasn¡¯t yet allowed to drive without a registered adult in the car, and her great-grandfather technically wasn¡¯t on that list.


    ¡°You uhm, you used to be a policeman, right? And you were a soldier in the war, too.¡±


    ¡°Yes,¡± her great grandfather answered with a voice so old it barely had any sound in it. His condition had worsened considerably over the last few years. As sad as that thought made her, Rebecca thought that if she messed up this question now, she might not get another chance. So she braced herself. Took a deep breath. And finally, nervously, asked:


    ¡°What does it feel like to kill someone?¡±


    His grey, unfocused eyes darted over her face. He slowly leaned back against the bark of the oak. ¡°You sure you want to know?¡±


    ¡°Yes. Don¡¯t worry, I have thick skin. I¡¯m already 16 after all.¡±


    Rebecca could barely contain herself. She watched him attentively as he seemed to think about how to answer.


    ¡°For most of them, I don¡¯t even know if I felt anything. It was my job, after all. When someone has a weapon drawn on me, and I on them, the first one to shoot gets to stay alive and go back to their family. If you think about it more than that, you¡¯ll go crazy.¡±


    His job. Do or die. His family. So those three were the guardians to his sanity.


    ¡°Most of them?¡± Rebecca asked. ¡°What about the others?¡±


    He suddenly recoiled a little bit. His hand automatically found his way to his belt, to the place where his weapon would have been, if he still carried one. When his fingers found nothing, he just rested them on his thigh. He looked away from Rebecca, to a random spot at the foot of the mound she used to play on when she was small.


    ¡°What others? There were no others.¡±


    When he said that, Rebecca felt shivers down her spine.


    April 27th, 2017


    She halted her recount, and once a few seconds passed, she stood up, signifying Teresa to do the same. They walked a few steps, now standing exactly besides the Future who was still sleeping. Rebecca tried to say something, but couldn¡¯t, so she first sat down where the mound started to go up, and gulped. Her eyes seemed a bit teary, but she tried her best to keep herself composed. Looking away from Teresa, she continued:


    ¡°I loved my great grandfather. He was someone I had always looked up to. Someone I felt I could rely on. When he died, I cried for a long time.¡±


    Now, she seeked Teresa¡¯s eyes, as if asking for approval. ¡°After I had asked him that question, somehow, something had changed in how I perceived him. I felt like I broke something and couldn¡¯t go back. And after he died,¡± she said, her voice cracking, ¡°I first went through his old things and found a red box containing his revolver. The one he¡¯d had since taking on his job. I called the police and they dug up two skeletons right here where we stand. Both had been shot to death. One belonged to a man they couldn¡¯t identify; he¡¯d been dead for over fifty years. The other one was a more recent death, only about twenty years before them digging her up. It was my great grandmother.¡±


    This gave Teresa cold chills. Not only based on the merits of the story itself, but also because it meant that right now, the Future had that gun in her bag right to their feet.


    ¡°I don¡¯t know why he killed them,¡± Rebecca added after a while. ¡°But I still have his revolver. And sometimes I just sit down looking at it, asking myself how it must have felt when he used it on them.¡±


    Finally, she broke down and started crying. Teresa looked at the Future, who was still sleeping. Slowly, Teresa went down, putting her fingers on Rebecca¡¯s knees to support her, and at the same time, slowly reached into the Future¡¯s bag with her other hand. She fumbled around until she got what she wanted, and slowly pulled it out.


    Teresa wasn¡¯t proud of what she was about to do. In fact, it made her feel awful. She looked at Rebecca to find an opening, but that woman was so broken, she was full of openings. She had her eyes closed most of the time, and tried to wipe her tears away as they were watering down her make up. Teresa laid her hand on Rebecca¡¯s hair to distract her by comforting her, then, in the blink of a moment, put the sample tube she found in the Future¡¯s bag on her cheek and caught one of the tears as it fell.


    ¡°It¡¯s going to be fine,¡± she said while putting the stopper on the tube behind her back with one hand. In doing so, she started to feel a bit dizzy.


    After Rebecca had calmed down a bit, they talked a little, with Teresa trying to cheer her up. About an hour later, Rebecca drove home.


    Right as she had left the scene, Teresa poked the Future¡¯s belly with her foot. ¡°Wake up already. If you leave me alone with something like this again, I¡¯m going to ditch you.¡±


    The girl opened her eyes and rose up with Teresa¡¯s help. ¡°There you go, your trophy,¡± she said, presenting the tear to her. She thought for a moment, then said: ¡°You know, usually when we do stuff to people, it feels like we are actually helping them, you know? It feels like after meeting us, they¡¯re better off. But today? I don¡¯t know. It just feels to me like we made her cry for nothing. For nothing but that tear. I didn¡¯t like it.¡±


    She sighed and took a look at the spot where the bodies had been buried. ¡°Well, who knows. Maybe talking about it and crying her heart out helped her arrange herself with it. I sure hope so.¡±


    They packed their stuff and went back to their bikes. ¡°If I understood your conversation with Wisdom this morning correctly, that means we are going to meet up with her next, right? To meet her¡­ date?¡±


    Now that she thought about that, Teresa wouldn¡¯t be surprised if that date didn¡¯t turn out to be a date at all. She replayed what Wisdom had said that morning in her head.


    They mounted their bicycles and slowly started moving. Were they about to meet someone who knew both Wisdom and the Future? If so, who could that be? It¡­ couldn¡¯t be another member of the Future¡¯s family, right?


    When that thought occurred to her, Teresa started pushing the pedals a little harder.


    It couldn¡¯t be, right?

 Chapter 11: The Bloody Trails Museum & Archive

    May 11th


    As it turns out, the next location the Future and Teresa were to visit was my favourite place in the world: The Bloody Trails Museum & Archive, dedicated to displaying and explaining humanity¡¯s entire history of violence.


    It was a Thursday, so there weren¡¯t many people around and the two of them got in without much waiting. The museum was situated on a large property and divided into several different buildings. After burning down almost 100 years ago, one of these buildings had itself become an exhibition piece. They had simply left the ruins as they were and shut them off from outside entry. Other than that, the displayed pieces included reliquaries of war, weapons, paper trail evidence of heinous crimes, bombs, photographs and videos of felonies and some original declarations of war. The evidence exhibited didn¡¯t discriminate against time; for example, one of the museum¡¯s wings was entirely dedicated to a single crime from the ice ages that was reconstructed ice-preserved evidence.


    Wisdom was already happily waiting for them in the entry hall. She hugged the Future and started encouraging her as if something big was about to happen. They walked into the inner yard of the museum complex that was filled with trees of the bitter almond, as well as many smaller plants. As Wisdom and the Future continued on towards the big pavilion in the middle of the yard, Teresa fell behind a bit. She was still tired from the bike tour, and the encounter with Rebecca hadn¡¯t left her in too good of a mood, either.


    The garden area was very well tended to. The first row of almond trees was surrounded by wolf¡¯s-bane plants, although it took Teresa a moment to recognize them, as they weren¡¯t in full bloom yet. Adjacent to them grew a few shrubs of belladonna. In a tall glass vitrine she saw a hemlock, among other, smaller plants. As she walked around the area, finally, her eyes fell upon something interesting: Next to a strychnine tree was an azalea plant, almost in bloom, together with a small pedestal surrounded by glass that contained a small vase filled with honey. According to the description, it was poisonous honey made by offering bees the pollen of toxic flowers, and it had been used in the past to defeat entire armies.


    It was at this point that Teresa saw, from the corner of her eye, another person entering the yard. It was a young woman wearing a black, vainglorious pouf gown, a fitting hat with feathers attached to it and cute dark Mary Jane¡¯s shoes on her feet.


    Her hair style was similar to that of Teresa: Voluminous, black, curly locks, springing from underneath her hat, although hers were in a much better condition. She wore a lot of make-up, including dark lip gloss. All in all, to Teresa she seemed to exude the air of a graveyard princess ¡ª if not for one detail that strongly opposed her overall flair: An old, unkempt chalkboard, attached to a string she had around the back of her neck, hung down in front of her torso.


    Now, I hope that does not come as too much of a shock, but that awe-inspiring lady was me.


    The closer I got to Teresa, the more she started squinting at me. I obviously awoke her interest, especially because of my chalkboard, as her gaze kept alternating between that and my face. Her first thought when she saw me was that I looked like that little girl she had met at the school yard on the first day with the Future, and her second thought was that I looked similar to the Future herself; which, as she is my sister, should not be much of a surprise.


    At that point, I was already aware of the fact that my sister had gotten herself a little pet, so I took a curious look at Teresa as well, and walked right up to her.


    ¡°Uhm. If you are looking for the Future, she¡¯s back there. And, I am Teresa. And¡­ might I ask, who are you?¡± she inquired nervously. She looked incredibly worn out. Her hair was full of split ends, her joints were thicker than her limbs. I took my chalkboard and wrote:


    PLEASURE TO MEET YOU. I AM THE PAST.


    When she read that, Teresa¡¯s eyes widened. ¡°I can¡¯t believe this!¡± she whispered, and I noticed her pressing her thumb into her palm to make sure this wasn¡¯t a dream. ¡°You actually responded!¡±


    THAT¡¯S HOW CONVERSATION IS DONE, IS IT NOT?


    ¡°Yes, yes! Exactly!¡± exclaimed Teresa, enthusiastically. ¡°I am so happy to meet you. So you are Wisdom¡¯s date, huh.¡±


    HER DATE?


    OVER MY DEAD BODY.


    I AM HERE TO MEET MY SISTER.


    ¡°Oh my. Well, I figured she was talking nonsense¡­¡±


    As soon as we walked into her sight, Wisdom threw her arm in the air to wave at me. ¡°She¡¯s here!¡± she told the Future, who was sitting in the chair next to hers and upon hearing that pulled out that big fishbowl mask Teresa had seen before in her shed, and put it on her head. She turned the bowl until the two empty spots in the paintings fit exactly onto her eyes. Being inside of this thing distorted the Future¡¯s facial features to the point where her already large enough eyes were now absolutely humongous. She actually kind of resembled a fish now.


    HELLO SISTER.


    Of course, my writing elicited no response. So I wrote:


    I¡¯M HAPPY YOU CAME TO VISIT ME,


    AND THAT YOU¡¯VE BROUGHT TERESA ALONG WITH YOU.


    After wiping away these letters, I continued:


    SEEING YOU TWO IS A PLEASURE.


    SUCH A SHAME THAT THERE ARE NO OTHER PLEASURES AROUND.


    Wisdom listened to my sister say something, then said to her: ¡°Yeah, I think so, too. It¡¯s cute, right?¡±


    NOBODY ASKED FOR YOUR OPINION.


    JUST REPEAT HER WORDS.


    Wisdom leaned back in her chair and assumed the role of a transmitter.


    HOW¡¯S THE DRAGON?


    ¡°Oh, thanks for asking, I¡¯m fi¡ª¡± she started, but I interrupted her by kicking the table. She rolled her eyes. ¡°Fine, fine, I was just teasing. The dragon is doing well, I think. Last time I saw it, it was asleep.¡±


    HAVE YOU HEARD ANYTHING OF OUR BROTHER?


    ¡°¡­¡±, translated Wisdom.


    This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.


    I SEE.


    I nodded listening to Wisdom, looking back between her and my sister. ¡°¡­¡±, Wisdom concluded.


    ARE YOU STILL COLLECTING THOSE TEARS?


    ¡°¡­¡±


    I sighed.


    YOU ALREADY KNOW THAT MOTHER IS AGAINST YOU DOING THIS.


    BUT TRUTH BE TOLD, SO AM I.


    IT¡¯S CAUSING YOU SO MUCH PAIN.


    ¡°¡­¡±, Wisdom said shortly. Of course, I hadn¡¯t expected anything else. I had long since decided to just let her do whatever she wanted to do, but it made me sad regardless. And yet, there was a silver lining to it, as, of course, I was eager to meet her.


    SO, WILL YOUR WORK ON THAT DAUGHTER OF YOURS BE DONE SOON?


    Teresa startled. Did she hear that correctly? The thing the Future was working on, the thing that she was going to make out of those tears, was a daughter?


    ¡°Progress is steady,¡± Wisdom answered without waiting for the Future¡¯s words. ¡°She¡¯s entering the daybuilder more and more frequently.¡±


    WOULD YOU PLEASE JUST THROW THAT DAMN THING AWAY ALREADY?


    ¡°Are you already excited to become an aunt?¡± Wisdom asked me to avoid the topic. I hesitated for a bit. I already knew who her daughter was going to be, so that question was hard to answer.


    I¡¯M JUST SAD FOR MY MOTHER.


    WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT IT?


    Wisdom pushed a strand of hair out of her face and looked into the distance. ¡°Well, I¡¯m happy she finally made her decision, but I can¡¯t help but feel a little melancholic about it. Either way, Sis is the one who¡¯s gonna know best.¡±


    I grated my teeth upon hearing that fiend call her Sis, although I did my best not to let my hatred of her ruin the day. And so, the conversation went on for a while, with Teresa just watching everything silently, not daring to butt in at any point.


    Finally, I asked for a bit of alone-time with my sister, so I got up, took her by her hand, and walked away, leaving the other two sitting at their table in the dark.


    For a while, neither of them said anything. Wisdom just sat there playing with her green strand of hair, while Teresa reflected on everything she had just witnessed.


    ¡°Hey, Wisdom,¡± she asked at some point.


    ¡°Yes, Teresa?¡±


    ¡°Why does the Future not use a chalkboard?¡±


    Wisdom looked at her confused. ¡°What should she use a chalkboard for?¡±


    Teresa was equally confused. ¡°I mean, just so that, you know, she can communicate with other people than you, too? Like the Past?¡±


    Slowly, Wisdom let her gaze drift upwards into the starry sky that twinkled above the glassy ceiling of the pavilion. It seemed as though she had no idea how to respond to this question. Finally, after contemplating for a while, she said: ¡°The Past can¡¯t communicate in real-time. Whatever we come to know about her we have to find out through sources that persist after the moment.¡±


    ¡°You mean like her writing?¡±


    ¡°Exactly. She writes something down, it becomes a source of what she said, which we can understand. So, she writes things down, but she could also use recording devices. It¡¯s even possible to have a second person repeat what she says, although even that person would only understand the meaning of those words after they had spoken them out loud.¡±


    ¡°In conclusion, all the Past can do is leave her traces and hope someone else finds them.¡±


    ¡°Yes,¡± nodded Wisdom.


    ¡°So you are telling me the Future can¡¯t talk for a different reason? One thing has nothing to do with the other, that¡¯s why a chalkboard wouldn¡¯t help her?¡±


    ¡°If you can¡¯t hear or understand what the Future is trying to tell you, then you won¡¯t be able to decipher her reading either.¡±


    That made sense. Teresa now remembered back when she¡¯d seen the Future¡¯s unreadable notes on her desk.


    ¡°I would have expected at least her family members to be able to understand her¡­¡± Teresa murmured. ¡°Is there anyone else? Anyone else except for you who can?¡±


    Wisdom looked troubled, almost sad, when she heard that question. She let out a sigh, and then answered: ¡°I don¡¯t think there is, unfortunately.¡± It didn¡¯t seem like an easy thing for her to say. Teresa almost felt bad for asking, but Wisdom continued: ¡°When I first met her, I couldn¡¯t understand or even hear her, either. Back then I also got to know the Past.¡±


    ¡°Although I suspect she might not be too fond of you,¡± said genius detective Teresa, born deducer-of-things.


    ¡°I wonder why,¡± Wisdom said, her eyes losing focus.


    ¡°You don¡¯t know? Well. If you don¡¯t know¡­ maybe she doesn¡¯t like you because you can talk to her sister while she can¡¯t?¡± Teresa pursed her lips. ¡°Well, either that, or it¡¯s your personality. Impossible to say, really¡­¡±


    Wisdom shook her head with a slight smile. ¡°I see it¡¯s your turn to tease me now!¡±


    In saying that, she didn¡¯t really sound cheerful though, and just looked into Teresa¡¯s eyes calmly.


    ¡°Oh, another thing,¡± said Teresa, ¡°What¡¯s with that fishbowl the Future had on her head? You mentioned it¡¯s for making her more noticeable, right? But why did she put it on today?¡±


    ¡°Ah, you mean the Mask of Presence. Well, I told you that the Future¡¯s family is full of inventors, right? That mask is an invention made by the Future¡¯s third sibling. The oldest one.¡±


    ¡°The brother?¡±


    ¡°Well, sometimes they¡¯re a brother, sometimes they¡¯re a sister, most of the time though they are just a sibling. It¡¯s a fleeting person.¡±


    ¡°So let me guess,¡± said Teresa, ¡°that sibling must be the¡­ Present?¡±


    ¡°Yes. When their sisters were very small, that sibling realized that these two weren¡¯t existing in the same¡­ world. They can¡¯t see each other. Can¡¯t recognize each other. They knew of each other, they felt the presence of each other, but nothing more. So the Present built that bowl, to serve as a connection between the two. It¡¯s a device that increases the noticeability of whatever is inside it, draws an incredible amount of focus to it. So they can perceive each other only while one of them wears the Mask of Presence¡±


    ¡°Oh my god,¡± said Teresa. ¡°That¡¯s super sad¡­ Glad that this sibling found a solution though, even though it¡¯s a bit impracticable.¡±


    They fell silent for a while, until Wisdom proposed that they¡¯d get going. Teresa nodded, and since they didn¡¯t have the time before, they decided to walk through some of the other areas of the museum now. Teresa museums after all and she was even ready to ignore her burning legs for this.


    They were just walking through a hall of old, gigantic paintings, among which were enlarged copies of The Third of May 1808 by Goya, depicting the slaughter of civilians by means of execution, The Rape of Lucretia painted by Artemisia Gentileschi and Peter Paul Rubens¡¯ Consequences of War.


    ¡°I have to say, I kind of like the Past,¡± said Teresa, who couldn¡¯t get her mind off the earlier encounter with her.


    ¡°I do, too. She¡¯s cute,¡± said Wisdom.


    ¡°She seems so¡­ I don¡¯t know. Like she doesn¡¯t have a single care left in the world. I wonder how old she is.¡±


    ¡°Well, she¡¯s the Future¡¯s little sister, that''s all I can tell you. When it comes to her age, I don¡¯t think that will tell you much. Because despite how old she might be, it¡¯s¡­ different for her. Because of her ability.¡±


    ¡°Her ability?¡±


    They kept walking past more and more paintings, and occasionally Teresa interrupted the talk to read through a description.


    ¡°Well, the reason age matters is because living longer translates to more experience, right? Translates to more memories. But the Past automatically knows everything that ever happens to any living being. Because after any being goes through an experience, the Past gains access to that memory.¡±


    ¡°But,¡± Teresa interjected, ¡°Wouldn¡¯t that mean she sees the same things over and over? Like, with us, right now. She will know what we told each other, but she will experience it twice? From both angles?¡±


    ¡°Yeah. And from any angle of any person who might have passed us by and heard a part of a sentence that we spoke.¡±


    ¡°Sounds like hell,¡± Teresa sighed. ¡°But I do think you are wrong about one thing.¡±


    ¡°Hm? And what¡¯s that?¡± Wisdom asked with a smile.


    ¡°Well, you said that age is only determined by the amount the memories a person has. But that¡¯s not true. It¡¯s also the time between those memories that you use to sort these experiences out, to work through them in your mind. To sleep over them. But if your mind gets bombarded by new information too quickly, then when are you going to process all of that? Especially if these memories are not even your own, and you didn¡¯t even get to decide what you wanted to do in them.¡±


    ¡°Ah,¡± Wisdom said. ¡°Yeah, you are right. It does sound a bit like hell. Speaking of, look at that building there.¡± She pointed out of a window right next to a painting of a bridge, with a nobleman holding the severed head of a stag over a river, with people leaning over the rails to look down. ¡°You see that there, on the other side? That burnt-out ruin? That used to be another wing of the museum, dedicated to show off cursed artefacts ¡ª or rather, artefacts with legends of curses attached to them. There are a few rooms left in the basement that were left mostly untouched by the fire.¡±


    Teresa nodded.


    ¡°That¡¯s her home,¡± Wisdom said.


    ¡°Her home? She lives in that thing? Like, all the time?¡±


    ¡°Yeah. In fact, she barely leaves.¡± They continued for a few steps, and eventually, Wisdom raised her voice again. ¡°Teresa, I wanted to thank you, by the way. For sticking around.¡±


    ¡°Hm? Sure. I¡¯m getting something out of it, too, after all,¡± she answered mostly on auto-pilot.


    ¡°Is that so? Because today when I saw you, you didn¡¯t look good at all. If speaking to the Past today told me anything, it¡¯s that the pressure on the Future is increasing. On one hand, I know that she does what she wants when she wants it. But on the other hand, I have a feeling that I won¡¯t be able to hold her back from overexerting herself forever. All I can say is¡­ I¡¯m glad you¡¯re here!¡±


    Teresa smiled mildly. ¡°Thanks. Today was a bit rough¡­ I guess¡­ if today doesn¡¯t make me leave, nothing will. Let¡¯s go home.¡±

 Chapter 12: Do It Yourself

    August 21st


    Teresa had just left her room after a prolonged reading session and was now looking for the Future, whom she was scheduled to depart with soon. She didn¡¯t find her in her room, and when she turned around to peek into the living room, Teresa heard some loud rumbling in the basement. Immediately she ran towards the door leading downstairs, and after opening it, saw the Future collapsed in front of the daymaker.


    Immediately, she loudly called Wisdom for help, then darted down the stairs. The Future was bleeding profusely. She had two gunshot wounds in her stomach, and had been stabbed in the chest a few times. An eye completely bloodshot, her lips torn and bleeding, a large laceration gracing her forehead, and one of her eyebrows completely missing above it, she looked as though she¡¯d seen hell.


    The Future returning home hurt wasn¡¯t new. But Teresa hadn¡¯t ever seen her in such a poor condition.


    Finally Wisdom came running down. Without words she helped pull the Future up the stairs and carry her to her bed. A minute later, Teresa returned from the bathroom with medical supplies.


    ¡°Thanks,¡± Wisdom murmured and took care of the injuries as best she could, but even the thickest bandages were soaked blood red in a matter of seconds. She wiped her sweat off her forehead, accidentally replacing it with the Future¡¯s blood. ¡°I think we should get her to the hospital,¡± she said.


    ¡°Is she gonna¡­?¡±


    ¡°Live? Yes. She¡¯s a robust girl. It just feels terrible to see her like this. She needs to be tended to.¡± She twisted her mouth. ¡°Well, to be precise, I need her to be tended to. She might get angry with her for getting her to a doctor, but whatever.¡±


    ¡°Why would she be angry?¡±


    ¡°These scars are mementos to her. She doesn¡¯t want to get rid of them.¡±


    ¡°Trust me,¡± Teresa said, ¡°Those doctors won¡¯t be able to get rid of any of these scars.¡±


    ¡°Either way, please call an ambulance while she¡¯s still unconscious. That way she can¡¯t protest. Oh, and get me a towel.¡±


    Teresa nodded.


    While she was dialling the number, she watched Wisdom dab the Future¡¯s face with the wet towel, and much to her surprise, the wounds on her face actually just washed away. Wisdom cleaned the Future¡¯s eye, her lips, wiped off the dirt and finally even got rid of the laceration, with her brow reappearing after a few more scrubs.


    ¡°Oh my god,¡± Teresa gasped when she saw that happen.


    ¡°It only works for her face, unfortunately,¡± Wisdom bemoaned.


    When the paramedics came to take the Future with them, Teresa¡¯s heart still pounded like crazy. She desperately looked at Wisdom, who returned her expression.


    ¡°Let¡¯s go visit her in the hospital. We¡¯ll be able to ask her whether she¡¯s okay once she wakes up. But first, we need to put her spoils inside the basement.¡±


    In saying that, Wisdom signified Teresa to come with her, and together they walked back down the stairs to where the Future had collapsed. After rummaging through her bag for a bit, Wisdom produced a big Erlenmeyer flask that was completely filled with a clear liquid.


    ¡°Don¡¯t fucking tell me that¡¯s all tears?¡± Teresa asked bewildered.


    ¡°Yeah,¡± Wisdom nodded. ¡°She was gone for a while.¡±


    ¡°She was gone for a night! Where did she get all those tears!¡±


    ¡°She got them from her trip in the daymaker, obviously. Don¡¯t you know what that thing does?¡±


    Teresa, in wild disbelief about that question, threw her hands in the air. ¡°How would I know!¡±


    It seemed to dawn on Wisdom. ¡°Sorry. Well, that thing was made by the Future¡¯s mother. It does exactly what the name suggests; It¡¯s used to make days.¡±


    ¡°So you''re telling me this is some kind of time machine?¡±


    ¡°Uh, only in the most literal sense, but actually, no,¡± Wisdom replied. ¡°Let¡¯s just assume you have two consecutive days. Right? Then you can go inside of the daymaker and create as many days in between those consecutive days as you want, anywhere in the world. So, Sis enters it, has a bunch of days in there, and returns with a flask full of tears. It can even be used as a teleporter if you go in there, exit somewhere else but don¡¯t make a new day with it. All clear?¡±


    ¡°No,¡± Teresa said, watching Wisdom pour the contents of the flask into the basin, then peeked back at the daymaker. ¡°Wait so, she goes in there, spends weeks in some other plane of time?¡±


    ¡°Are you even listening to me? It¡¯s not another plane. She just goes in there and comes out, no planes involved at all. She isn¡¯t even flying. But yeah, sometimes she goes in and makes weeks. Sometimes just hours. Sometimes months.¡±


    ¡°Look at how many tears you just poured in,¡± Teresa said with a gloomy voice. ¡°That¡¯s not months. It¡¯s years. She was in there for years.¡±


    Wisdom looked at her beat. Then, nodded sadly. ¡°Yeah, I think so, too.¡±


    ¡°And, I mean,¡± Teresa continued, ¡°Where was she even? Like, some kind of war? It¡¯s crazy. She goes in there, to a slaughter, all alone, for years?¡±


    ¡°I mean, she¡¯s not going to bring you along to a war. She takes you with her for the tame, pretty things,¡± Wisdom explained as she started walking back up to the bathroom.


    ¡°What in the world could be worth all of this. Why would she do any of it. I don¡¯t get it.¡±


    Wisdom cleaned her face with water, then she removed her bloody top and placed it into a pot that was filled with water. ¡°To make it short,¡± she said, ¡°There is a person living in our world who is deeply, deeply bored. Someone who is trapped here and thinks this place has too many flaws.¡±


    ¡°Okay,¡± Teresa responded to that ominous opening, while she followed Wisdom back to her room where she quickly picked out a new blouse.


    ¡°When the Future was born, she inherited a fate. A task. A task to get that person, who is so terribly bored, out of this world. But she¡¯d been running away from that task. It was a task she was not ready to accomplish. So instead, the Future tried something else. She tried her damn hardest to remove those flaws, those blemishes, from the world, to make it a place where that bored person was happy to live in. And in doing so, she wanted to end an old conflict, a war, that is raging in her family.¡±


    ¡°Wanted? Past tense?¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± Wisdom replied bitterly while pulling a hat over her head and putting on shoes, as Teresa was wrapping a light scarf around her neck. ¡°She failed. Or rather, she gave up. I don¡¯t know exactly why, I just know it was a terrible thing that happened in January. I never asked her about it and she never told me. It was about some concert or so. Her will was broken, so now, instead of trying to make the world better, she is trying to complete that task. Well, stubborn as she is, she is actually trying to do both at the same time. And that¡¯s why she¡¯s gathering those tears.¡±


    She opened the entrance door, took Teresa¡¯s hand and went outside.


    A few kilometres away, the Future opened her eyes. It was bright in the white hospital interior, so it took her a moment to see all the tubes extruding from her body.


    She was in a post-anaesthesia care unit; green curtains had been drawn around her segment and beeping sounds emanated from around her. Pulling back her blanket, she examined the result of her treatment; her leg was wrapped in an orthopaedic cast, she was wearing a hospital gown and nothing underneath except for large amounts of bandages and compresses around her abdomen and chest, as well as one of her arms.


    Raindrops were hitting against the small window next to her in the wall.


    It took her a while to remove all bandages and tubes that impeded her movement. Every now and then, footsteps appeared from behind the curtain, and when she was done, and had waited for the appropriate moment, the Future slipped through the cloth, looked left and right, and immediately weaved through between the nurses and doctors in a moment when nobody paid attention. On her bed, she left behind a small heap of bloody binds.


    Limping through the corridors of the hospital she finally reached a changing room for the nurses, and after making sure nobody was around, the Future headed inside, found a blue tunic to put on herself in a locker and with that, removed the rest of her remaining bandages from her arm as well as removing her leg from the cast and pulling out an infusion needle that had remained in one of her veins.


    Right as she finished her shoddy transformation to a nurse, another nurse entered the room, but the Future passed her by with confidence and left through the corridor she had come from.


    This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.


    She took the stairs to walk down a few levels, then walked through a bridge of glass connecting this wing to another, and finally found her way to the apothecary. It took her a few minutes until she found a good timing to enter the compartment used to synthesize medication. First, she washed and disinfected her hands for several minutes, before entering the storage for medicinal ingredients. Two people passed her by at that point, but neither of them seemed to take note of her.


    Bright lamps shone down on the cupboards containing all kinds of different substances. She opened several of them, one by one, looking for things she could use, until she had finally found everything she required and walked into the next small hall that looked like a sterile kitchen.


    She poured powders and liquids from small white plastic cups into a mortar to grind them. After a while, she added that mixture into a small machine containing a metal plate with many small notches.


    Half an hour, and a dozen steps later, she had finally finished her creation, and held in her hands a small cup filled with green pills, that she took with her as she left the apothecary. At that point, someone called after her, but she ignored him and took off her nurse gown in the staircase, going back to look like a patient. Then, over the next ten minutes, she made her way to the other side of the hospital, to a wing made for long-term care.


    It wasn¡¯t hard to imagine that the longer she had to stay in a hospital, the worse the Future was about to feel, due to some memories associated with these places that were hard for her to forget. Nevertheless, she pushed through, with a focus on her upcoming task in every gesture she undertook.


    Finally, she arrived at a door to a patient¡¯s room, and froze.


    The ambient noise continued unopposed; the voice announcing things through the speakers, people passing by behind her, some faint mumbling in the distance; Although none of this seemed to get through to her at all, as she just stood there, in front of the door, holding her hand up, as if to knock.


    But she didn¡¯t knock, and instead, her fist just trembled faintly. It looked as though she was going to turn around and walk away any second now. Her heartbeat was so strong it made her thin hospital gown quiver in front of her chest.


    Finally, after what felt like a small eternity, she knocked on the door, and then entered the room without waiting for a response.


    Inside was a single bed, surrounded by a gathering of all kinds of different medicinal devices, all connected by cables and tubes to a young man.


    His respirator weighed on his face, with his eyes weary as they darted to the girl who had just entered his room. It was hard to focus on anything other than his pain, and yet, she caught his attention. She looked, for lack of a better word, roughed up.


    His glimpse caught her oddly bent leg, which then immediately gave way and caused her to trip after her second step, dooming her to fall. Her head crashed against an iron cupboard, as its edge cut itself into her skill. Blood started oozing out.


    In shock, his eyes lit up, as he took off his respirator by reflex to shout something, but instead he just let out a worn out cough.


    July 28th, 2016


    ¡°Geez, Aaron, you look awful,¡± Chris ¡ª Aaron¡¯s colleague and friend ¡ª shouted right after joining him. He had strong arms and a thick beard, wore glasses and looked a lot beefier than Aaron did, despite them being the same age. The site foreman had apparently tasked Chris to help Aaron with raising the murals on the west side, since that had to be done within the next two days.


    Distracted by that, Aaron peeked out from behind the gigantic disc saw he used to cut a few bricks. He lifted the diamond wheel to get the latest brick out and then placed another one in position.


    ¡°Yeah, it¡¯s because I¡¯ve been up all night,¡± he said, grabbing the back of his sweat-drenched Shirt and flopping it back and forth a few times to let some air in. His eyes looked dangerously close to just falling shut and letting him fall asleep. ¡°You can distribute the plaster onto them if you want,¡± he then said, absent-mindedly, ¡°I¡¯ll just finish cutting these.¡±


    ¡°You sure? I can do that if you¡¯re not feeling well.¡± Chris had a slightly concerned look on his face.


    ¡°Man, stop worrying. It¡¯s just cutting rocks. I¡¯m not that terrible¡­,¡± he said, and before Chris could protest, he added: ¡°Also, I¡¯ve already been stacking bricks the entire day. So you do that, I do this.¡±


    ¡°Fine,¡± his colleague answered, turning around to his work, although he still ended up talking to Aaron during the moments the cutter wasn¡¯t running. ¡°What is it you ended up doing all night, then?¡±


    ¡°Oh well, you know what I did. My dad is drunk all day. So I told my brother he can move into my apartment. So, I gotta do more chores.¡±


    Chris, who had just removed his muscle shirt as it was getting too hot, raised his eyebrows. ¡°¡­ And so what?¡±


    Aaron scoffed. ¡°And I have to help with homework and buy groceries. Don¡¯t you get it?¡±


    ¡°You want to tell me you¡¯re helping with homework and getting groceries all night?¡± Suddenly, Chris halted. ¡°Wait, did you find someone? Are you in a relationship?¡±


    ¡°What? No, god damn it.¡± He looked frustrated. ¡°I work at night, okay?¡±


    ¡°So, what do you work on at night?¡±


    Aaron shook his head. Why did Chris have to be so damn nosey? ¡°I ran the numbers okay? How much money I need to reopen my dad¡¯s shop, so he can work again, and not feel miserable all day. And as things are, I might be able to save enough to even quit this job here.¡±


    ¡°Wait,¡± Chris said, as it dawned on him, ¡°Are you telling me you¡¯re working on your puppets at night?¡± It was a hobby he¡¯d had since he was a teenager. All Chris had known was that he sometimes sold them off over the internet.


    ¡°Yeah.¡±


    Chris sighed. ¡°You¡¯re clearly overexerting yourself, though. And stop worrying about your dad. Everything that happened to him, he did to himself, didn¡¯t he? And made your brother suffer through it.¡±


    ¡°Sure, he made his mistakes, but¡­¡± Aaron sighed. His breathing became a bit shallow and unsteady. He clearly wasn¡¯t doing well. ¡°And the puppet stuff is going well. The only reason I¡¯m not already quitting here is because it¡¯s not as steady an income as I need, especially when taking care of a kid. Soon, I¡¯ll have a contract with the local theatre¡­ They want me to make some marionettes.¡±


    Chris just shook his head. Part of him was probably annoyed with Aaron leaving the workplace they shared, but on the other hand, he was truly concerned for the well being of his friend.


    Meanwhile, Aaron started the cutter again, and in that moment, the energy seemed to leave his body. Chris just saw him lose consciousness and fall forward, as the disc cutter immediately halted due to the safety mechanism, and then, Aaron fell to the ground, hitting his head on a rock; an impact that left a dent in his helmet.


    August 21st, 2017


    Shocked, Aaron looked at the girl on the floor and watched the pool of blood circle outward from her head. In total disarray, he searched for the panic button, but couldn¡¯t find it, and then, he saw her twitch. Slowly, she stretched out one of her arms, then the other, and crawled across the ground towards the bathroom, smearing her blood over the floor in the process. She slowly dragged herself up the sink and washed her face. When she limped back out of the room, her head didn¡¯t show any injuries anymore.


    ¡°Don¡¯t¡­ scare me like that¡­ girl,¡± he whispered weakly. ¡°Is it¡­ Halloween¡­? I lost¡­ track of time¡­¡± Taking another deep breath, he added: ¡°Wrong room¡­?¡±


    The Future moved a chair to the side of his bed and sat down. Then, she took an orange from the fruit basket Chris had brought 2 days ago.


    Aaron gulped as he watched her peel a part of the fruit¡¯s skin. She broke out a slice of the flesh and held it towards his lips, as if she tried to feed him. He took it in and started to chew on it slowly.


    Finally, after swallowing it, he said: ¡°It¡¯s you.¡±


    She closed her eyes and turned her head away. Now, he was certain.


    ¡°It is you. You¡¯re¡­ the one who took my dad¡­ to his next life¡­ I¡¯ve been¡­ wanting to thank you.¡± After a moment of hesitation, he continued, ¡°That orange you placed¡­ next to him¡­ it must have meant a lot¡­ On that cold winter night.¡± He showed a faint smile. ¡°He loved oranges¡­¡±


    He looked at the Future intently. ¡°You must be an angel of death¡­ Helping people as they die?¡±


    The Future turned back towards him, her gaze darting around the tubes emanating from his body.


    ¡°They don¡¯t know what¡¯s wrong with me,¡± he mumbled. ¡°They only know I¡¯ll be dead soon¡­ All this¡­ just to treat symptoms and pain.¡±


    He took a moment to collect his energy. ¡°They have these gigantic devices¡­ And years of experience. One of the tests they can make is called a full body scan. Imagine that¡­¡± He spoke these words carefully, in careful veneration. ¡°They can do that, and an MRI, and stuff like that¡­ Look at every part of you.¡±


    He slowly raised his hand and pointed to the Future¡¯s head, then downwards her body. ¡°Every part, and yet, they might not find out what¡¯s wrong¡­ Funny, isn¡¯t it?¡±


    He rested for a few minutes, slowly breathing up and down, looking at a fixed point on the ceiling. ¡°There was so much I still wanted to do¡­ My father is dead, I¡¯ll be dead, and my poor little brother will be the only one left. He needs someone¡­ been stuck with a group of people for a while who weren¡¯t good for him at all¡­ I don¡¯t even know where he¡¯s at now.¡± He closed his eyes in defeat. ¡°You know¡­ You always think ¡®It¡¯ll go on. This will pass. There¡¯s time.¡¯ But, the truth is, nobody wants to admit it, but¡­ at some point, you¡¯ll see the end was in sight the entire time¡­ and then, all of a sudden, it hits you, and you¡¯ll know: Oh, this is it. This is the end.¡±


    He shook his head, and with a weak gesture, whipped his fist onto his blanket. His voice was getting weaker, as if it was about to break any second now. ¡°Can you do me a favour¡­ and help my brother? Just a bit¡­ So he can stand on his own two feet¡­ So he won¡¯t make as many mistakes¡­? Tiberio is his name¡­ One last favour, please? A parting gift for me, as you had one¡­ for my dad?¡±


    As he said that, he started crying.


    Meanwhile, the Future tried to peel the rest of the skin off the orange, but her fingers were too weak and tired to remove it ¡ª instead, they just spread blood all over it. Finally, she gave up, and just bit into the orange, chewing on its flesh and skin for a while. Then, she just threw back the rest of the orange into the basket where its juices oozed out.


    After getting up with some peril, she took the cup with her newly made medication out of a small pocket on her patient gown and placed it on the small platform attached to Aaron¡¯s bed. Then, she opened one of the drawers on the wall next to the bathroom and took out a small pipette from it, to gather one of Aaron¡¯s tears that had already made its way down to his neck. Next, she opened the cup containing her medication, took out one of the pills, and placed it on his lips. He swallowed it.


    With an emphasized gesture, she placed the other pills in front of him. It had a crooked label sticker slapped onto it, one that had apparently been scratched off from another container and then reattached, and on the label it says, in a nurse¡¯s handwriting: ¡°2 times per day.¡±


    Aaron¡¯s eyes turned wide. ¡°This means¡­¡± he whispered, ¡°You¡¯re not going to take care of him for me¡­ you¡¯re saying¡­ Do it yourself¡­ Ahh¡­ thank you so much¡­¡± Looking at the label, he made a weak, but genuine smile. As he was starting to get dizzy, he pushed his respirator back onto his mouth.


    The Future left the room, closing the door behind her. Her hand remained on the handle for a few seconds longer. She exhaled, as if a weight had been lifted off her.


    ¡°Hey!¡± She suddenly heard a familiar voice. Turning around, she saw Wisdom waving at her at the end of the corridor. ¡°There you are! We¡¯ve been looking for you for ages¡­¡±


    Then, the Future¡¯s gaze found its way to Teresa, who, in relief, approached her with large steps. Her eyes seemed somewhat bloated and red. She was clearly about to start crying. The moment the Future was in reach, Teresa wrapped her into a careful but firm hug.

 Chapter 13: A Day Gone By

    November 18th


    November brought the first snow. Teresa by now had stopped counting the times she thought she was ¡®finally getting better¡¯ only to fall back into old habits one or two days later. Overall the only improvement was that nowadays, she didn¡¯t spend all her time lying in a bed next to mouldering leftover food because she didn¡¯t have the energy to get up, because Wisdom made this kind of behaviour impossible.


    Not just Teresa was influenced by November¡¯s melancholy though. It was, surprisingly, also I who, in a moment of weakness, took an action I promised myself not to ¡ª by meddling in my sister¡¯s affairs, putting my small nose somewhere it didn¡¯t belong.


    It happened on a Saturday, after I had talked to Time. Each encounter with her made me feel a certain kind of longing; She made me have a bad conscience for being wasteful with my life and caused me to want to take action, in a way.


    Teresa was spending her morning on her bed in my sister¡¯s home. Her alarm had rang a long time ago, but today she wasn¡¯t scheduled to be out with the Future, so she¡¯d ignored it.


    It was nearing noon, and while she had woken up hours ago, she also had no reason nor motivation to get up, until she heard the person who had spent the night with Wisdom leave the neighbouring room. After waiting a few more minutes, Teresa slowly dragged herself over her mattress and left her room. Without knocking, and still wearing her night shirt, she entered Wisdom¡¯s room, who was lying on her bed in her underwear, reading a book. For a moment, Teresa found solace in the thought that Wisdom, too had trouble getting up, only to realize that that woman had probably already eaten breakfast, woken up the Future and had sex today.


    The moment Wisdom saw Teresa, she smiled and sat up arching her back to present her new cream-coloured lingerie with carmine embroidery, ribbons and flowers.


    ¡°Pretty,¡± Teresa mumbled sleepily, opening the big wall cabinet taking up a big portion of the room. Wisdom had cleared a section of it and put some of the Future¡¯s clothing in it for her to wear.


    Teresa felt ashamed for it. Because¡­ Teresa had never actually officially moved in with them. She maintained that she didn¡¯t want to take the stuff from her home here, because then she¡¯d feel like a parasite, but at the same time, each evening, when she was trying to get herself to return home, it would just take a little bit of convincing from Wisdom and she¡¯d end up spending another night with them anyway.


    Wisdom had at first offered her own clothing, but it didn¡¯t fit, as Teresa was taller but thinner. Thus, for weeks now, Teresa had almost exclusively worn the Future¡¯s clothes, most of which were old and worn.


    ¡°I¡¯ll leave soon, by the way,¡± Wisdom said. ¡°You¡¯ll have the house for yourself today. Enjoy!¡±


    Teresa couldn¡¯t help but feel a bit relieved. Being alone for a while was destressing. After finding a set of clothes to wear, she went to the bathroom to brush her teeth. Should she take a shower? On the other hand, it seemed like a waste of energy if she was just going to lie in bed all day anyway.


    Procrastinating on the decision, Teresa went back to her own room, lied down on her bed and started doomscrolling on her smartphone. Twitter showed a bunch of depressing takes, she skimmed through some new studies, checked weather forecast and changed the status on her messenger, which for weeks had been ¡®just let the world end¡¯ to ¡®Saw my roommate in her underwear today, and now I feel like jogging but it¡¯s too cold outside, fml.¡¯


    She didn¡¯t do any of that with any enthusiasm whatsoever. It just served to distract her from her thinking too much, which almost always led to depressing results.


    In the end she just threw her phone into a cushion, turned around with a wail and glanced at the wall clock. With a little shock, she realized it was already 4 pm.


    She was still wearing her nightgown. She had forgotten the little stack of new clothes for today on the small chair in the bathroom.


    Outside, dark clouds obscured the sky.


    She was alone in the house now. She hadn¡¯t actually noticed the Future leaving, but with how immersed she¡¯d been in her phone, that wasn¡¯t a surprise. She also hadn¡¯t eaten anything today, so she decided to walk down to the kitchen.


    For a second, she considered actually making food, but then just opened the closet containing all the sweets and pulled out a bar of chocolate, only to notice it was coffee chocolate which she hated, so she threw it back in. After opening a few more places, she found vegan melt chocolate in the Future¡¯s baking drawer and ended up feeding on that.


    It was already so late in the day¡­ The decision she had postponed earlier about showering seemed pretty much made now. It¡¯s not as if she was going to do anything productive today anyway, right? Instead, she imagined herself loafing around on her bed for the rest of the day, too, but¡­


    As she chewed on the chocolate void any sense of enjoyment, she suddenly realized that her bed offered her nothing, and even walking back up there seemed like a waste. No matter what she did or where she was, she¡¯d feel empty and bored beyond relief anyway.


    By now, she had almost gotten nauseous from the amount of tasteless, brittle chocolate she¡¯d devoured. She got up and walked around in the empty house, entering all the rooms and finding nothing of note. On good days, she¡¯d lie on the couch in the living room, reading. It was a comfortable place ¡ª the heart of the house. One time, she had plunked around on the grand piano that was standing next to the glass wall, however, the sound it made was incredibly loud. Even though nobody ever played on the instrument, it was always clean and dusted, and sometimes, she¡¯d see the Future tuning it.


    The desk of the Future hadn¡¯t changed over the last few months either; the only update was that by now, Teresa suspected all the diagrams and drawings to be blueprints of the Future¡¯s daughter. The daughter¡­ it had been a while since Teresa was in the basement¡­ turning around, she left the living room and took the stairs down.


    It was very cold in the cellar. Teresa¡¯s thighs cooled down quickly, as she hadn¡¯t even gotten dressed yet.


    The room still inspired the same awe in her as it had the first time. To be honest, the effect only increased, as now, the basin was almost completely filled. The countless tears shimmered in the refractions of the low ambient lights.


    The Future was still gathering her materials, but as things went, this wasn¡¯t going to take much longer, Teresa reckoned. Soon, the Future would start compiling the body itself.


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    As she fell into thought beholding the amazing work of the Future, Teresa started shivering. The cold crept further and further into her body.


    It was depressing. Each and any of these tears contained the Future¡¯s blood and effort which she was tirelessly spending to one day reach her goal. And¡­ a while ago Teresa had even arrogantly calculated how impossible the task to fill the basin would be¡­ She cringed at herself.


    She wondered: If she wasn¡¯t this worthless, what could she have done in that whole timespan? Instead of sitting around, pitying herself, doing nothing at all. But instead she was hiding from this world, hiding within all these empty minutes of her life. Hiding from this world she could neither change nor accept.


    ¡®Oh, whatever,¡¯ she thought, slapping her open hand against the cold stone wall. Her feet were burning from the cold. How comfortable it would be to now go back to her bed and bury herself under three blankets¡­ But as she went back up and eventually entered the floor in the first stock, she hesitated as her gaze fell on the open door of the bathroom.


    Undoing her nightgown, she walked towards it, threw the piece of clothing to the ground, locked the door from the inside behind herself and turned on the shower to wait for the water to warm up.


    In the meantime, she let water from the tap to clean her face. The mirror reflected her tired gaze that was squashed by her own apathy and her dry lips. Even though she barely left the house, her skin had kept a darker teint. Her black, curly hair frizzled around her face in a ridiculous fashion.


    A while later, without closing the tap, she turned around to enter the shower, as the water burned along her chilled muscles. She liked the feeling, even though it hurt. For minutes, she just stood there. Eventually, she got dizzy from the heat, so she sat down on the floor of the shower cubicle, where the water was marginally cooler.


    She let out a big sob. At first, she wasn¡¯t sure what was happening, but then, as she rubbed one of her eyes she realized she was crying, her tears being washed away by the droplets of the shower.


    This was the only place where she could. The Future wouldn¡¯t suddenly appear and rob her of these tears, and nobody was there who could take notice of her chagrin.


    She sat there for a long time without even gathering a single clear thought. Some distant clank from far outside finally brought her back into reality. Only now she actually recognized where she was. The water still ran down her body, but the room was filled with complete darkness by now.


    ¡®I should go home,¡¯ she thought. She got up, washed her hair and body, and only then actually felt comfortable in her skin again. She felt a bit lighter.


    She blow-dried her hair, got dressed, even put on some make-up. Now, she actually almost resembled the accomplished person who had given lectures at university until over one year ago.


    As she left the bath, it was already almost 7 pm. In Wisdom¡¯s room, she got her mantle, and she saw a light blue bobble hat. She still missed her knitted long beanie that had gotten lost on the school yard back then, when Wisdom had allegedly ¡®saved¡¯ her from that mysterious small girl. Now, she had to make do with this other hat.


    After she had also gotten herself a scarf, she left out into the bone-chilling cold. Immediately, she buried her hands into her large mantle pockets. Buried beneath that many layers of clothes, she felt like a small fortress marching through the snow.


    Walking down the street, she thought about whether she should take the bus or walk. But at the stop, she realized she would have to wait for fifteen minutes, so she passed on that. She had no interest standing around doing nothing in this cold air.


    That walk soon left her no choice but to face some uncomfortable thoughts she normally banished within her subconscious. How much longer was she willing to be a burden to Wisdom and the Future? The only reason she hadn¡¯t long-since left was that the both of them treated her staying at that house as the most natural thing in the world. But¡­ it wasn¡¯t.


    One thing Teresa did was to regularly hide money in a rice glass jar in the kitchen of the Future. Of course, Teresa had tried giving it to Wisdom personally, but she¡¯d declined.


    What exactly caused those two to take care of her?


    As she thought about how little she had to offer, Teresa got a bit more depressed, but this time, she was at least sad, which to her was an upgrade to her usual complete apathy.


    Eventually, Teresa arrived at the multi-stock apartment building she lived in. The stairs inside had been overhauled and renovated since her last visit. Teresa wondered if they had, on that occasion, just renovated away her apartment as well.


    Immediately upon entry, Teresa was greeted by the catastrophic chaos inside her flat which now already started at the corridor. The garbage now seemed a lot more disgusting to her after not having seen it for so long.


    She climbed over the clothes, half-emptied cardboard boxes, unsorted documents, letters, magazines and other stuff she had used and then discarded wherever.


    In the living room, on the ground in front of her bedside cabinet she saw an uncorrected batch of student tests as well as an open pill box whose insides had sprinkled over the carpet and partly into a heap of clothing. She banished the thought of visiting the doctor again as soon as it came.


    Walking through her flat, she picked up all the pieces of clothing on the ground she liked to wear, to take them back to the house of the Future. She had come to the conclusion that she was going to feel like a parasite regardless of whether she decided to move her stuff in with them or wear the clothes of the Future, so she chose the less pathetic option and just gathered some of her stuff.


    She dumped all these clothes into her washing machine and ran it. Now, all she had to do was wait. Maybe it would have been better to wash the clothes at the Future¡¯s place, but Teresa had not yet found their washing machine and Wisdom always did all the laundry herself. Maybe it was on one of the lower floors in the Future¡¯s shed? Wisdom couldn¡¯t possibly wash everything by hand, right?


    Now she¡¯d just have to carry the damp clothing to their house somehow and then hang it to dry somewhere¡­ While having these trivial thoughts, Teresa¡¯s gaze fell upon a row of framed documents hanging on the corridor wall between kitchen and bathroom. Her high school graduation certificate, her degree certificate, the record of her finished doctoral dissertation, as well as her habilitation certificate¡­ And until not too long ago, as an act of swagger, Teresa used to sign documents with her full name, which also hung on the wall in golden letters:


    PROF. DR. RER. NAT. HABIL. TERESA RAPHAELLA MARGOT SELENE HARGROVE


    Teresa laughed as she looked at this comically large monstrosity. She hadn¡¯t seen her full name in months. Nowadays she just used T. Hargrove wherever she went.


    Suddenly, the sound of her doorbell disrupted her train of thought. For a moment, she just stood there, who it might be that could attempt to visit her on this day at this time, but then came to the conclusion that the only way to find out would be to answer.


    ¡°Yes, please?¡± she asked over the intercom, but she didn¡¯t get a reply. It dawned on her who it might be, so she just pressed the button to open the door and opened the door to her apartment a slit wide and went back to her living room. At this point she wondered how the Future and Wisdom used to be able to just enter her apartment at will¡­ did they have a key? It wouldn¡¯t surprise Teresa if the Future had stolen her key on some occasion. Either way, it wasn¡¯t like any of that had ever concerned her in the first place, and now it didn¡¯t matter anymore.


    For a second, she contemplated whether she should attempt to tidy up her apartment in a desperate attempt before the Future arrived, but¡­ that really didn¡¯t seem necessary at all.


    As you can probably imagine from the way I¡¯ve been writing, it¡¯s not the Future at all who eventually ended up entering Teresa¡¯s apartment. I slowly pushed open the door and trampled over all the things on the floor, then turned into the living room, eliciting a short, muffled scream from Teresa as she unexpectedly saw me, and I made her regret her choice of not tidying up when I wrote onto my chalkboard:


    THIS PLACE IS DISGUSTING.

 Chapter 14: What Might the Future Hold

    Teresa looked down in embarrassment, but she didn¡¯t answer. It didn¡¯t even occur to her to remind me that I was literally living in a burnt ruin.


    Instead, she was puzzled over why I was visiting her. That she spent too much time with my sister and wisdom was evident from the fact that she didn¡¯t simply ask me about it.


    It would have been tedious to explain my request on a chalkboard, so I had written it in a letter. She took the envelope between her fingers gently, handled it with a lot of respect. Then she sat down on a pile of laundry and began to read.


    Dear Teresa,


    I must first admit that it is very unpleasant for me to approach you with this matter. It is only unfortunate that you are the only one who is freely going in and out of the Future¡¯s home at the moment ¡ª with the exception of so-called Wisdom, of course. However, she is nothing more than a lapdog of my sister and therefore not capable of independent thinking.


    Be that as it may, the request with which I approach you concerns the daughter of the Future. If you have been as attentive as I have been in counting the tears the Future has so far collected as material, you will know that at any moment she will have enough of them at her disposal to begin the actual work creating the body.


    The consequences that follow from the awakening of the child have been brought more deeply into my consciousness after a conversation I had recently with a person dear to my heart. The daughter will receive her powers as soon as she learns her true name. Since the Future will probably not be able to pronounce it, my suspicion is that this task will fall to Wisdom.


    To say this with unmistakable clarity: In the interest of all, the daughter of the Future must not awaken to her powers.


    Therefore, I would appreciate it if you would see to it that Wisdom is occupied as soon as the Future has completed her work. I will then take care of everything else myself. You will, of course, be informed about the exact timing.


    As you can probably guess, I cannot tell you who the child is, nor what abilities it possesses, as we cannot take any risks. At the same time, if you do manage to find out the daughter¡¯s name, please don¡¯t talk about it to anyone. It would also be a bad idea to try to guess the name and share your guesses with others.


    I would be unthinkingly indebted to you if you should agree to assist me in this matter.


    With former regards,


    the Past.


    Teresa¡¯s brow furrowed increasingly the more lines of my letter she read. Upon reading the last lines, she rolled her eyes.


    ¡°That¡¯s a strange way to end a letter,¡± she said, ¡°and¡­ um¡­¡±


    Teresa looked at the ceiling and thought for a few seconds, then she shrugged.


    ¡°Look, I¡¯d really like to help you, but unfortunately¡­ I understand the risk and all in sharing too much info, but at the same time, would agreeing after reading this not just make me a pawn? Well¡­ I guess since I¡¯ve been doing the Future¡¯s bidding without knowing anything for so long now, I¡¯m already a pawn, maybe¡­ But¡­ I mean, what if the daughter of the Future is called World Peace? Or what if she¡¯s Friendship? ¡­ Hope? I¡¯d understand your concern if she was the Goth Fashion Police.¡±


    STOP GUESSING!


    She fell silent but continued to look at me expectantly while I racked my brains about what was wrong with my style of dress. Meanwhile, I wrote:


    WE BOTH KNOW THAT THE FUTURE WILL NOT BRING FORTH WORLD PEACE.


    Teresa¡¯s shoulders sagged. ¡°Can¡¯t you at least give me a tiny hint as to who she is? How am I supposed to decide whether to help you if I don¡¯t even know what she¡¯s going to do?¡±


    I CAN¡¯T TELL YOU ANYTHING MORE. WHAT IF YOU SET HER OFF YOURSELF?


    ¡°Aha! So you don¡¯t trust me, but you want me to trust you. So that¡¯s how it is.¡± She gazed into my eyes, pretending to be disappointed. ¡°Even though I wanted us to be friends¡­¡±


    I eyed her and had to stifle a smile. After realizing that I wanted something from her, her entire respect for me had evaporated. I thought for a while about how I could make her believe that I was serious. Then I wrote:


    IS THERE ANYTHING IN THIS WORLD YOU HOLD DEAR?


    The image of the future lit up in Teresa¡¯s mind¡¯s eye. Wisdom stood in the background, waving at the camera. Teresa bit her own lower lip at the admission that she kind of liked her.


    ¡°Yeah.¡±


    IF THE FUTURE IS IMPORTANT TO YOU IN ANY WAY, YOU SHOULD HELP ME.


    ¡°I really can¡¯t figure you all out,¡± Teresa muttered. ¡°I¡¯ll think about it. Just give me some time. I know where you live. I¡¯ll write you a letter then.¡±


    I recoiled a bit.


    NO. NO LETTERS. GIVE ME YOUR ANSWER IN PERSON.


    ¡°¡­ Do you want me to run all the way to your place then or what? I¡¯ll just write to you.¡±


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    I vehemently and in big letters spelled:


    NO.


    Teresa laughed in disbelief. ¡°Can you not read?¡± she mocked me. I got up angrily to leave the house.


    ¡°Wait a minute,¡± she called after me. ¡°Since we first met, I¡¯ve been thinking about something Wisdom told me.¡±


    YES?


    ¡°She said that, technically speaking, you¡¯ve existed as long as all living things combined, because you know all their stories.¡±


    Teresa tugged nervously at her trousers.


    ¡°If that¡¯s true¡­ then surely you can tell me what there¡¯s more of. Is there more good or more bad? If you add it all together¡­ which side wins out?¡±


    I¡¯ve been through a lot of things, but that moment was one of the few that gave me goosebumps. My hands tightened around my blackboard and I accidentally broke the piece of chalk between my fingers.


    I can¡¯t recall the unimaginable amount of time I spent going through and cataloguing my archives to get a definite answer to this very question.


    Of course, it¡¯s not as if I ever really had to count. I had always known the answer, and Teresa knew the answer, too. Nevertheless, I decided to take the time to ask her for a pen and a piece of paper to write down my answer for her. She watched me curiously without allowing me to read along, and it took me almost half an hour in total.


    When I finished, I looked at the written pages indecisively. I struggled with myself for several minutes as to whether I should really give it to her. I was a little surprised that I had written down another story at all. Before I finally gave the paper to Teresa to read, I wrote on my board:


    SEE THAT I WON¡¯T REGRET SHOWING YOU THIS.


    Somewhat astonished, Teresa then took the text and began to read:


    Dear Teresa,


    I don¡¯t want to deceive you. You are a scientist, and I respect that. An individual case says nothing about what the objective truth looks like, but I would still like to tell you about an event that I witnessed, just as an illustration. You will get a concrete answer to your question later.


    The story goes like this. Once, on a pleasant late summer evening, I was a small deer. Together with 29 others of my kind, I had been crammed into a makeshift stable made of wooden slats, which stood together with dozens of others in a clearing that was festively decorated.


    One of the two people who had driven us here was closing the swing gate, preventing our escape. I could not see the men, but was stirred by their presence as their voices drifted muffled inside the barn.


    ¡°Heavens, there are many of them,¡± one commented.


    ¡°Yes, and there¡¯s another group coming from Halmen. Madness, if you ask me, Konrad. Absolute madness.¡±


    A laugh. ¡°Yes, the king really wants to please his son. Who ever heard that before? So many deer on a feast hunt? I mean¡­ that¡¯s going to be another three hundred or so, isn¡¯t it?¡±


    ¡°Well, it was obvious they¡¯d come up with something big for the last day. But it¡¯s crazy to think that those eighty sows yesterday weren¡¯t enough already.¡±


    ¡°What can you do when young Heinrich likes deer best of all. Apparently they don¡¯t even want to eat or sell the animals. He had some other ideas. Wanted a spectacle.¡±


    Eventually the voices died down, but it took a long time for the barking of my fellow animals to subside as well. The stress of the transport still burned in our limbs, but eventually I sat down and chewed some grass scraps I had gulped down at a brief stop a few hours earlier.


    I still smelled the presence of people in the clearing, but even if none of them were there anymore, their smell would continue to cling to the built facilities. Beside them, the air carried the easily discernible urine of dozens of roebucks, spreading scent trails to mark their territory despite these unnatural circumstances.


    I felt the warmth of the other animals I was stuck here with. Hour after hour, all night long. At one point, an old animal in front of me gave birth to a small fawn. She spent an hour eating the slippery amniotic sac and licking the baby clean. She stalked unsteadily between the legs of other deer as she learned to walk.


    Finally, the next morning, when the sun had already been flooding the world with light for a couple of hours, the fresh stench of a human once again crept into my nostrils as the first drovers came back into the clearing and slowly opened one of the stalls after the other.


    Again I became terribly uneasy. Soon the barking of another kind of animal mingled with our exhortations, and when the wind told me of their arrival, every muscle in my body tensed and I readied myself to jump.


    It was dogs. A pack of foxhounds that I couldn¡¯t yet see, but I could smell and hear. Dozens of them.


    The door to the barn opened and a couple of the front deer immediately jumped out. I ducked to the ground under the cover of the darkness of the barn, but when one of the humans came in to flush us out, I jumped up and hopped out into the fresh air. Immediately I recognised the dogs on the other side of the square rushing in my direction. Beside me, several deer jumped to the other side of the square, where an escape route was visible ¡ª a grassy aisle leading through the forest, lined with walls on both sides.


    I ran with the flow. Some deer tried in vain to jump over the walls into the thicket of the forest. Looking for cover, the others kept running straight ahead, but the path was long and the grass was short.


    I jumped forth in panic, slamming my hooves into the ground so hard each time that little shreds of plant matter flew around in the air.


    Eventually more people on big horses closed in on us, making noises to egg us on. I had hardly any strength left. Some of the dogs had caught up and now buried their teeth into the thighs and bellies of the deer they managed to grab, only to be whistled back by the humans.


    Completely out of breath, I finally recognised the rescue: a river that was at the end of the cutting, flowing along with a strong current. As I got closer, I already saw hundreds of other deer swimming in it, next to several boats with people in them.


    The water splashed around me as I, with weakest limbs, hopped into the river and was immediately pulled along by the strong current of the water. Slowly I realised the spectacle that was taking place here. A little further upstream above the water was a large stone bridge from which dozens of people looked down and cheered. In the boats around me sat men in elaborately crafted clothing.


    Below the bridge, secured by ropes, five huge deer hung on display with a few bullet holes attached to their antlers, bleeding out.


    Downstream hung a large net stretching across the whole body of water, catching everything that was carried along by the watercourse.


    A man¡¯s strong hand grabbed me by the back of the neck and then lifted me out of the water. He placed the tip of his knife against my stomach and then pushed it in.


    A squeaking sound escaped from my throat. It felt like a heavy punch. Soon I felt blood and parts of my body oozing out of me.


    He pushed the knife into me once, twice more ¡ª I couldn¡¯t make it out exactly. My body twisted in pain and he let go of me, causing me to fall back into the water and float powerlessly down the current. I drifted into the net where several others were already trapped and slowly dying from their injuries.


    I could no longer see anything, squeezed between other deer bodies, and after a while I was pushed down. My lungs filled with water and felt like they were going to burst.


    It took too long for me to die.


    Behind the net, the blood of the animals coloured the river deep red. This trail was visible so far that it became a spectacle that could be watched by curious people many kilometres downstream.


    The showcase hunt was so powerful and successful that it was repeated annually from then on.


    That is how this river got the name ¡®Doefill.¡¯


    Teresa had finally finished reading and looked up with an expressionless face and cramped hands. She crumpled the paper a bit when she folded it. I wrote on my board:


    I WAS EACH OF THESE ANIMALS.


    I WAS EACH OF THESE LORDS.


    I WAS EVERYTHING.


    I COUNTED IT ALL.


    Teresa¡¯s back slumped.


    NATURE IS CRUEL.


    SUFFERING WINS.


    ¡°¡­ Is that why you are so sad?¡± she asked and gently put my story down again. I tapped the chalk against my board but wrote nothing.


    For a while we just sat there and finally I decided to leave. Teresa stood up to offer me a hand to help me. I accepted the offer. We hugged briefly as we said goodbye.


    She seemed a little lost in thought and, after I had left the flat, set about clearing her clothes out of the washing machine until she returned to the house of the Future later that evening.

 Chapter 15: Great Weather and a Charming Plus One

    Back home, Teresa was greeted in her room by a grinning Wisdom. She put the wicker basket containing her frozen clothes down on her bed.


    ¡°I¡¯ll dry them for you later,¡± promised Wisdom. Teresa noticed her room looking a bit tidier than before she¡¯d left; apparently Wisdom had cleaned it. ¡°But before that¡­ There is something to celebrate! In fact, there are two things to celebrate!¡±


    ¡°Did I forget your birthday?¡±


    ¡°No. But today marks the first day you¡¯ve gone out ever since you came here. Congratulations!¡±


    ¡°What?¡± Teresa took a careful look at Wisdom to make sure she was still sane. ¡°That¡¯s not even true. I leave quite often.¡±


    ¡°Well, yeah. You go out when others make you. Like when you go with the Future. But what I meant is that you were out all on your own today, for the first time.¡±


    As she went over the last few weeks in her head, Teresa couldn¡¯t refute that.


    ¡°Oh well¡­ What of it? I just went back to my home for a second. Please don¡¯t make a big deal out of it¡­ You know, all of you come to me with all that weird stuff today¡­ Just imagine: I go home alone, tell nobody about it, and still the Past found me to recruit me for some kind of sabotage mission.¡±


    ¡°Oh, so she did find you! She was here earlier and asked for you. I gave you some pointers on where I suspected you might be. So she went to recruit you, huh? Very interesting¡­¡±


    Teresa got a little annoyed at how transparent she seemed to be and decided to change the topic.


    ¡°The past mentioned something in passing about how the Future¡¯s daughter will have some kind of ability. And well, I know the Past has an ability as well. So I guess the Future would have one too, right? An ability that lets her do what she does¡­ Something like¡­ Scrying?¡±


    ¡°Yeah,¡± Wisdom said, brushing her green strain of hair out of her face. ¡°She has an ability. It¡¯s not scrying though. Wanna see it? If so, we¡¯d have to go to her shed.¡±


    As she said that, she got up, beckoning Teresa over, who was wondering right about now what it was within that place full of junk that she¡¯d missed last time. While they went out, Wisdom started explaining: ¡±So, sis doesn¡¯t have quite as amazing an ability as the others from her family. The Past, for example, ¡®archives¡¯ every event that ever happens, like in a movie, or in a text within a library. And then she can look at all of these events within her mind, as many times as she wants, without it costing any time at all. I think I told you about that before.


    Her brother is a person without any width in time. They exist within a single frame of their choice at any given moment, however, it¡¯s not possible to find traces of them. They cannot appear in secondary sources like texts or pictures, and they don¡¯t appear in the Past¡¯s archives either. You can meet them, but you will only remember your meetings while you are wearing their fish bowl.


    And then, there is one of the mightiest people in their family; a person who exists everywhere and anytime at once. A single entity stretched out to all of existence. She¡¯d already know today what you are going to tell her two years from now. And while we are at it, that person¡¯s mother is even more ¡ª Ah never mind, here we are!¡± she finished, opening the door to the shed. ¡°Well then,¡± she said, gently pushing Teresa inside. For a moment, Teresa couldn¡¯t see a thing, until Wisdom turned on the sparse light of the shed made up of a few light bulbs scattered around within the junk.


    ¡°Let¡¯s see¡­ where are you, little one¡­?¡± Wisdom wondered, until she finally saw the paper dragon which Teresa had already seen last time. ¡°Maybe it hid because it knew what I¡¯m about to do to it¡± she said sheepishly and gathered a few stools, stacked them up to an incredibly unstable construction and then easily and quickly hopped onto them to fetch the dragon from its vantage point.


    Teresa carefully glanced up, getting a little nervous looking at Wisdom¡¯s wobbly endeavour, eventually making a step towards her in order to stabilise her hips.


    ¡°Oh!¡± made Wisdom when she felt the touch. ¡°Haha, that I¡¯d see the day!¡±


    Teresa ignored the comment and then heard some rustling from above. Wisdom flinched a little.


    ¡°Okay,¡± she finally said, ¡°So, the Future¡¯s ability is that she¡¯s able to remember every single thing she ever learns. It¡¯s like an absolute memory.¡±


    As she said that, she brought down the dragon and gave it to Teresa. ¡°Be careful, it bites.¡±


    The paper felt incredibly thin and light; almost as if it had no actual thickness. The dragon was made up of a myriad of folds, much more complex than any work of origami that Teresa had ever seen. It was also covered in countless small symbols. Wisdom skillfully jumped down and grasped the roots of the dragon¡¯s wings with her hands.


    Teresa let go. For a moment, it almost seemed like the wings were flapping. They were much bigger than she would have expected.


    Now that Wisdom held it, Teresa saw how all the little segments that made up its back and tail were independently movable. It was a marvellous construction.


    Then, with the sound of tearing paper, Wisdom dragged the wings apart.


    ¡°The one who built it was the Future¡¯s grandmother.¡±


    In between the wings, where the back had been ripped apart, Teresa could now see the true nature of the dragon: It was made up of sumless folds and creases.


    ¡°You can extend it as far as you want. It¡¯s infinitely large. But it doesn¡¯t like being unfolded. Typically it resists.¡±


    ¡°What¡¯s written on it?¡±


    As Teresa looked closer onto the parts that Wisdom had just stretched out, she could make out lines that weaved together into many nodules, some of which had letters next to them of an alphabet she had never seen before.


    ¡°Is that a map? Or¡­ a family tree?¡± she asked.


    ¡°Exactly,¡± responded Wisdom. ¡°This is a map describing everything any person has ever done, is going to do, or is doing right now. Their entire life. For every person to ever exist. We refer to this little cutie here as Fate.¡±


    Having whispered these last few words, she now made a pause for dramatic effect. Apparently revealing this to Teresa was a lot of fun to her.


    ¡°The further you open it, the more details it will give you. On a person¡­ or an animal, for that matter. I once managed to open it to about just a few seconds of detail. You¡¯d be able to even see the fate of individual fingers of a person, and all the kinds of things they do to other people¡­ hehe. I didn¡¯t open it more than that, it was too hard. I even pulled a muscle. Future claims that opened further, it is able to show the fate of individual cells, atoms and even smaller parts. Quite something, right?¡±


    Teresa couldn¡¯t really make out anything when looking at all these symbols.


    ¡°What you see here is the fate of long forgotten peoples. Fate uses their original language, where possible. If you open it far enough, you might find a translation. Here, take it.¡±


    As Teresa took it over, she immediately felt the strong pull the dragon exerted as it tried to get its wings back together. It must have taken a lot of effort from Wisdom to keep it open for this long. Teresa kneeled down to pull the right wing further apart, but the dragon started to thrash around in protest.


    Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.


    ¡°By the way, Fate reads a bit different for each person looking at it,¡± Wisdom mentioned as she was glancing over Teresa¡¯s shoulder.


    ¡°Makes sense,¡± she replied. ¡°Since it probably can¡¯t show you your own fate, right?¡±


    Teresa figured it would cause a lot of issues if that was possible.


    ¡°Yea,¡± Wisdom nodded and started petting the dragon gently.


    ¡°But,¡± said Teresa, ¡°what does this have to do with the Future¡¯s ability? Didn¡¯t you say this dragon was created by someone else?¡±


    ¡°That¡¯s right,¡± said Wisdom. ¡°What it has to do with the Future¡¯s ability is quite simple: She sat down, read all of Fate, and memorised it. That¡¯s why she knows what¡¯s going to happen and when; however, since you can¡¯t read your own fate, she only knows things as long as she¡¯s not personally involved.¡±


    ¡°But she changes people¡¯s fate, right? So what¡¯s written here isn¡¯t set in stone?¡±


    ¡°Mhh, yea, something like that. Fate is more or less just a suggestion. A blueprint. As soon as you change a person¡¯s fate, their notes in here will be updated.¡±


    ¡°That sounds a bit creepy,¡± said Teresa as she let go of the dragon. ¡°Doesn¡¯t that mean you can do whatever you want to a person when you know what their fate is? You change someone¡¯s fate, then you read the update, and if it¡¯s not the result you want, you just do it again? ¡­ Wait, is the Future turning people into their little marionettes? Am I one!?¡±


    Wisdom laughed. ¡°Well, it¡¯s not that easy. See, when you change a person¡¯s fate, it will become part of your own fate as well.¡±


    ¡°Oh¡­¡± said Teresa. ¡°And that would cause it to become unreadable to you.¡±


    ¡°Exactly. Though there is always some leeway. Like, you can¡¯t read details any more, but the general direction their life is headed might still be visible to you. It also depends on how much time you spend with them. And, if you continue to stay away from them, then eventually your reading of their fate will again become clearer. Although it can potentially take years, or even decades, until it becomes as clear as before. That¡¯s why sis doesn¡¯t always know about what¡¯s going to happen to people after she met them, and she can¡¯t be sure she actually accomplished what she set out to do. She sometimes revisits people she met, just to see how they are doing now.¡±


    With that, Wisdom¡¯s gaze fell into a slight sadness. ¡°Well, at least that¡¯s what she used to do. She hasn¡¯t done it since the start of this year.¡±


    ¡°I see¡­ so that¡¯s how she does her thing,¡± Teresa said.


    ¡°Yes. That¡¯s how. So, does that answer your question?¡±


    ¡°Probably.¡±


    Teresa watched Wisdom put the dragon back onto a shelf on the other side of the shed; the place where Teresa had first seen it months ago.


    ¡°I¡¯m going back,¡± Wisdom said. ¡°If you want, you can stay here and look at all the stuff. Oh, by the way! Before I forget. I did mention there were two things to celebrate, right? Well, the other thing is¡­ The Future is finally done with gathering her tears. A few hours ago, she started working on manufacturing her daughter!¡±


    That evening, Teresa couldn¡¯t fall asleep. There was too much going on in her head. Finding out about Fate did further her understanding of this entire situation a little, but many questions remained open.


    Of course it was still possible ¡ª and, in her mind, very likely ¡ª that all of this was simply an elaborate hoax and they all spent an enormous amount of resources to make fun of her. However, Teresa decided to reject this notion on principle. She simply wanted to believe all of the things that were shown and explained to her, even if just in a metaphorical sense. But the longer Teresa stayed awake in her bed that night, trying to make sense of everything, the less she was able to.


    One particular question kept echoing back in her mind.


    Why was she still here? Teresa had assumed that the Future would eventually come for a tear of hers, as well. But now, all the tears had been gathered. Teresa¡¯s tear was no longer necessary. Be that as it may, there was no need for the Future to invest several months into a single tear in the first place when she could gather most of them in a matter of minutes.


    So¡­ what was the point of Teresa remaining here? Wasn¡¯t she completely unneeded at this point?


    In that moment, Teresa remembered the words that child on the school yard had uttered to her:


    ¡°What is the purpose of that entity identified as Teresa R. M. S. Hargrove?¡±


    She tossed and turned in her bed for a long time, until her blanket slipped within its cover, making it unusable. Angrily, she got up to fix it. As she did that, she figured she could also fetch her lip balm from the drawer on her night stand. Her mouth had again almost completely dried up.


    Her room was only illuminated by the small charging light on her phone and the distant street lamps scantily shining in through the window, so she could barely see anything while searching through her drawer.


    But then, she saw something shiny in there. When she took it, she realised it was that pearl she had gotten when she¡¯d first met the Future. Next to that was a little piece of paper. She turned on the lights to read what it said.


    It was a ticket to a planetarium¡­ but not one that was very close by. In fact, it was in a coastal city almost 100 kilometres away. The date was January 12th.


    That¡¯s still a while away, she thought after glancing on her phone for the date. Apparently, someone wanted her to visit that event in particular.


    November 29th


    ¡°Well,¡± Wisdom revealed a week later, ¡°and that¡¯s why we¡¯re now going to visit an aquarium, sweetie! That said, to be honest, considering your background I would have assumed she¡¯d send you to an observatory or something, but oh well, you never truly know her ways, right?¡±


    Teresa wasn¡¯t going to mention the ticket she had found in her night stand.


    ¡°Anyway, what¡¯s important is simply that you start crying, so it doesn¡¯t really matter where we go.¡±


    The two of them were sitting in a train, and for some reason, Wisdom had been excited like this all day long. Teresa couldn¡¯t share her enthusiasm. ¡°Anyway, why do you act like my tear still matters? The Future is done with gathering her material, right?¡±


    ¡°Oh dear, it¡¯s not like she does all this just for the tears. She also wants to help the people she makes cry, you know?¡±


    ¡°I see. So you think today is going to be my big day?¡± asked Teresa.


    ¡°Precisely. What else? Just imagine¡­ the romantic blue lighting, the cute little critters, an amazingly charming plus one, and¡­ boom! You won¡¯t even know what hit you!¡±


    Teresa couldn¡¯t help but reciprocate Wisdom¡¯s smile. It was just too contagious.


    ¡°Ah, and the weather is amazing, too, isn¡¯t it? The sun hasn¡¯t shone this brightly in weeks. There isn¡¯t a single cloud in the sky!¡±


    ¡°Then maybe we should have gone to spend the day outside?¡± asked Teresa. ¡°Those fish tanks are all in dark corridors., right?¡±


    ¡°Oh, whatever. It¡¯s all about the feeling, you know. The feeling of knowing the weather is great.¡±


    Teresa had to listen to nonsense like that for the rest of the train trip. Apparently, the Future had recommended this aquarium visit and asked for the both of them to go together¡­ Teresa had stopped second guessing the Future¡¯s machinations and learned to just roll with it, so she just leaned back with closed eyes and let Wisdom¡¯s sweet chit-chat rain on her until they arrived at their destination.


    ¡°Wow, a deep sea anglerfish!¡± Wisdom shouted when they walked past a leisured specimen in a dark passage. ¡°This is an entire tank full of lightfishes! How did they even get them here? How can they even keep them here? Oh damn, aren¡¯t these places wonderful?¡± Wisdom asked, spinning around with stretched arms, in full marvel. Then she turned back towards the anglerfish and walked along it, staring at the animal with utter adminaration.


    Teresa glanced at Wisdom¡¯s face gleaming in child-like wonder as a reflection on the glass, as it just so happened to exactly overlay with the face of the anglerfish.


    If you ask me, it made the fish uglier.


    Teresa herself couldn¡¯t help but feel happy for Wisdom, even though she herself opposed holding animals confined and couldn¡¯t find a lot of value in places like this.


    It took almost an hour until Wisdom was done marvelling at the lightfishes, but eventually they left the area and went to look at parts of the building housing other sea fish. There, Teresa saw a knot of people standing in a circular recess of a tank. They were listening to a woman giving a museum tour, watching a large fish that was slowly swimming along the curved glass wall.


    ¡°¡­ Which is how it came to be known as one of the most popular examples of a Lazarus taxon. They belong to the Osteichthyes ¡ª also known as bony fish ¡ª and live hundreds of metres deep.


    According to reports, our Melody here was one of the first coelacanths that were ever rediscovered. Before she came to us, she was in the care of an old travelling animal merchant. That said, the credibility of those reports is disputed, as it is somewhat unlikely that she would have survived in his tenure for long.¡±


    The fish she was talking about was probably about two metres wide, had meaty fins and a very pronounced armour of scales. It had a grey, greenish colour with some dots scattered around its body that where much brighter.


    ¡°I can¡¯t believe it,¡± muttered Wisdom, who slowly walked towards the fish. Teresa sneaked after her, until the both of them stood directly in front of that big creature, only what seemed like a very thin thin glass wall between them. Wisdom placed her hands on the pane as if she wanted to touch the coelacanth¡¯s fin.


    ¡°That big meanie!¡± she whispered and turned around to Teresa with eyes wide open, biting softly on her quivering lower lips. She was clearly about to cry. ¡°I thought all this was about you!¡±