A loud melody stirred Brent from his sleep. He attempted to tune on the melody by rolling over, but something inside his brain told him not to sleep. Brent grunted and reached for the source of the melody with his eyes still shut. He could feel the flat surface of the windowsill as he carefully patted it, feeling for the source. The song that played brought to mind one of his past experiences, He grabbed the phone and answered the ringtone. “Hey it’s me, are you coming to the meeting? It’ll be starting here pretty soon.” came the voice from the other end.
“Yeah.” He yawned, gently rubbing his eyes. “Give me a few minutes. I’ll be right there.” Brent said, planting his feet on the carpeted floor at the edge of the bed. Brent stepped into the hot shower, letting his mind race. He searched the darkest depths of his memory to try to figure it out. What time in his life was this? What was the meeting for? Once he finally turned the water off and finished getting ready he finally figured out the first answer. He sat on his bed for a moment, trying to gather his thoughts. He grabbed his phone and looked at the time on it, taking off the second he realized how late he was. His instinct alone helped him figure out where to go.
“What took you so long?” Came the familiar voice that he’d recognized as the one on the other side of the phone. ”The meeting is just starting.” Brent slammed the door of his car and stuffed his keys in his pocket. The voice had come from his co worker, who was spitting smoke and knocking the ashes loose from his cigarette.
“Traffic!” Brent replied, stepping up on the curb and stopping in front of Matt. “What’s this meeting for anyways?” Brent asked, scanning the house in front of him.
“They’re introducing the new Manager.” Matt Replied before taking a drag of his cigarette. ”This one is younger than I am.” He continued with a chuckle.
“See you inside.” Brent said, waving off Matt. The pieces were starting to come together. Brent recognized the building almost instantly. The view from the inside confirmed his suspicion. The tables in the kitchen of the group home were pushed together and all of his co-workers sat there staring at him as he walked through the door. He scanned the row of familiar faces before he came to focus on the unfamiliar face. She had long blonde hair that came down past her neck. Cherry red lipstick painted her lips, Black eyeliner brought out her blue eyes.
Brent had pulled his attention away from the curvy blonde haired Stranger for long enough to find a seat. He let his thoughts as a woman about the same age as Matt started to speak. Matt had sat down next to him at the table. Brent had managed to tune out most of what the lady was saying lost in his own thoughts. Trying to figure out where he was in the timeline of his own life. The blonde, Matt, His apartment that he had moved into not long after splitting up with Katie. He cycled through the names of all of his exes, before he finally came up with it. “So without further ado. Allow me to introduce you all to. . “ Maria was the name of the blonde and Brent had mouthed her name around the same time the lady had. “Right? Have you two met before Brent?” The lady asked him with a confused look.
“No! Just a wild guess” Brent said, trying to bare a sincere face to cover up the shock that struck his mind. He shot Maria a glance, before focusing on the paper that had been laid out in front of him. Brent glanced down at the pent he was holding between his fingers, using his other hand to pat his leg down for the bottle. He leaned back and examined his pocket for a second. The bottle was pressed against his leg, buried deep inside his pocket. Brent would spend the rest of the meeting, trying to think of everything from that time that he could try to change. His gaze seemed to gravitate toward Maria from time to time, though he tried to refrain from it. He stopped to talk to Matt on the way out, who was lighting up another cigarette for himself and the lady that had hosted the meeting.
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The time was as good as any. Brent left the group home and took off for his apartment as soon as he could.He wasn’t one to draw any sort of attention to himself So taking out the pill bottle in the middle of the living room was out of the question. Brent scurried off towards his room, strictly for privacy from his other roommates. He removed the bottle from his pocket and shook it frantically. He needed help and Dr. Love was the only one that might understand his plight.
Grains of sand broke off from the outside of the castle. Swirling around like a small cyclone along the floor of the castle, the sand began to take the form of Brent. This time, unlike before Brent stood alone in the middle of the Castle. Brent stood in amazement, taking in the sight of this magical realm. The walls of the castle gave off a beautiful golden glow. As his eyes surveyed the walls they fell upon a reflection. Something was off about this reflection though. The face he saw in the golden walls was indeed his own, but the rest of his body seemed different. It seemed older and more mature. He tilted his head for a moment and stared. The reflection didn’t move, it just stood there with him. An itch tickled the tip of his nose and he wasted no time in scratching it. Though as his fingers pulled away from his face, His gaze fell back to the reflection which seemed to have been scratching its own nose. Brent’s curiosity took over and he lifted his hand slowly, his focus on the reflection.
“I see you’ve discovered the trick to these walls.” Aeryn asked, with a lighthearted chuckle. “What you’re seeing is yourself. The walls of the temple of time show you yourself at different ages. Some will show you as a child. And some will show you as the person you used to be.” The long blond haired man stood at the bottom of the stairway and smiled at him. “Though I don’t imagine you’re here to play. So please, tell me how I can help you?” asked the Dirty blond man in the long golden colored robe.
“Doctor Love. How did I get here?” Brent asked, turning to face the man that had appeared from behind him. “You said we were to use these time capsules to try to fix past relationships. Maria strung me along for months, but we never dated.”
“Simple Mr. Moore.” Aeryn replied with a smile. “What I said is that these time capsules give you a second chance. A chance to find out what would have happened if those moments of grief could have been averted. If you have found yourself back in this situation, it’s because somewhere in that mind of yours, you have always wondered what would have happened if you hadn’t been caught.”
Brent fell silent for the moment while letting his thoughts gather in his head. “Why this part though Doctor? Why was I brought to the first meeting?”
“Because this is where it all began, my boy.” Aeryn said with a brief smile. ”A relationship is not necessarily defined as love between two people, but a bond. A bond formed between two people. I have studied this timeline of your life. I designed this time bottle and it’s traits to take you back to the most convenient time within the conflict. I know quite well what will happen soon after you return to the mortal world. Maria will text you and you will make the decision to make one of many jokes that will catch her attention.” Aeryn brushed his fingertips across the gold colored walls of the Time Temple. As he did Brent watched his reflection play along quietly showing the sequence of events through Brent’s life that led up to the night that they were caught.”These events that you are watching unfold each hold significance. From your first sneaking trip to her house, to the night you decided to go to her house and treat her to that dinner that you cooked for her. Now go ahead and take a capsule. Return to the text messages that started this relationship.”
Brent paused to reflect on things. There were many places to begin. Brent had to carefully consider where the best spot was. The process took what seemed like several minutes. Once he finally came to a conclusion he removed the time bottle from his pocket and popped the capsule between his lips. His form began to collapse, like sand blowing in the heavy currents of the time realm.
