Brent opened his eyes slowly, the faint sound of a voice touched his eyes drums but he couldn’t make out the source of it. His vision was blurred and his head felt light. He brought his fingers to his forehead and began massaging his temples. He brushed his hair back with his fingers but found something different. His hair felt shorter. He shook his head and tried it once more to find the same result. He forced himself to sit up in his bed. He let out a deep breath, the blur of his vision started to reform. The scene in front of him slowly taking shape. The room he was in looked familiar, but it wasn’t the room he remembered falling asleep in. His sight set on the bottle of capsules, grabbing them instantly and scanning them. The rainbow colored glow that the capsules gave off had dimmed a little, but it was still there. He pressed his hands against the mattress and curled his fingers into a fist. The texture felt different. His memory returned to him a moment later. He didn’t recall falling asleep in a bedroom of any sort last night. He could still remember the dimly lit living room of Jeff’s apartment. He looked around the room once more. his favorite show was on, but something was different. The athletes on his wrestling show were younger.

  Suddenly it dawned on him where he was. This was the room he lived in when he was living with his brother. His thoughts began racing. He brought the bottle up in front of his eyes and shot up to his feet. His room was always a mess back then, piles of clothes scattered all over the floor. Video game cases littering the floor. It made the scramble to find his light switch all the more perilous. He stepped on a pile of candy wrappers and papers and stumbled over, barely catching himself on the wall. He managed to turn on the light to see if he could get a better look at the bottle. The bottle gave off an even brighter glow as Brent spun it between his fingers. There had to be some kind of instruction or someway to get back to where he came from. “Come on. . . there’s gotta be something on here about going back. . .”

  The frustration washed over him like a tidal wave. Fingers curled around the bottle and his hands. He began jerking the bottle up and down. The room began to blur again almost as if it was starting to shift. The rainbow colored glow grew at a rapid pace as if it was spreading like fire. Burning away at his surroundings. The room had been replaced by another surrounding. He glanced down at the bottle and shook it more and more. Moments later his surroundings had changed again. He looked around in awe. Something strange was happening and he couldn’t put his fingers on it. He recognized the series of clocks and grandfather clocks around the wall. It

  

  looked just like the ones he’d seen in Dr. Love’s office. He couldn’t see the front desk though. Nat was nowhere to be found, neither were any of the others that he remembered meeting. He whipped around to see if he could find the Elevator, but all he saw was a doorway. Brent began making careful steps toward the door. It seemed like the only place left to go. The closer he got the more he could see beyond the bright glowing light that emanated from the doorway. He tucked the bottle back into his pocket and continued. “Don’t be alarmed Brent Moore. Come I’ll explain everything to you.” Brent recognized the familiar voice and picked up the pace. The corridor seemed long and winding. The seemed to twist, though it straightened out the closer he got.

  “Dr. Love? Is that you?” He asked with a hint of trepidation. “Where am I? What is this place?” He asked as he finally reached the doorway.

  “You’re in the realm of time. Brent.” The Doctor said, casting a half smile at the mortal man that stepped through the doorway. “Relax yourself. Nothing will happen to you as long as you keep that prescription with you. It acts as a sort of protective anchor.”

  “An anchor?” He asked as he drew closer to the doctor. His outfit seemed different than Brent could remember. The sleeves of what looked like a robe draped low hovering only a few inches off the ground. “Like in water?”

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  “Something like that.” He replied, his hands gently gesturing to the background. “You see? Time is a lot like a river. It’s flow is rapid and it moves with no end.” The doctor said, removing a small blade of grass from his sleeve. “If you see Natura, don’t tell her I did this.”

  “Natura?” Brent asked with a confused look. “Whose Natura?” Brent asked, still scanning the realm with his eyes. The floor he was standing on looked narrow and seemed to go on endlessly. He glanced back behind him at the doorway only to see what had to be the largest clock he’d ever seen. The floor he stood on was gold colored.

  “You know her? The Redhead that you met at the bar.” Dr. Love said to a very puzzled looking Brent. “The one that showed you where to find me.”

  “Wait, that’s her. . “Brent was dumbfounded and utterly baffled. “I remember hearing in History class when I was in high school, that Natura was a name that was used to describe Mother Nature. Does that mean. . “

  “Yes, that’s correct.” Aeryn replied, fiddling with the blades of grass between his fingers.”Nat is the name that she likes to go by with mortals such as yourself.”

  “But she’s sooo. . “ Brent scratched his head, glancing back at the doorway and shifting his gaze to Dr. Love. “She’s sooo. . young and beautiful.”

  Aeryn let out a chuckle. “Nature is beautiful isn’t it?” He said brushing the hair from his eyes. “At least to you it is.”

  “Well yeah.” Brent paused for a moment to recall Jeff’s voice telling him about how he’d only seen what sounded like a very plain looking girl. “Ohhhhhhh so that means Jeff doesn’t . .” Brent was taken back, shooting Dr. Love a Bewildered look.

  “Yep.” Dr. Love said, nodding and holding up the blade of grass. The long blonde haired doctor bent over and set the grass on the ground. “Watch.” As soon as the grass touched the ground the green hue began to fade. The tip turned to a beige color in a matter of seconds, breaking off and dissolving in the current. “You see? Anything that isn’t anchored in this realm is forced into the current of time. It accelerates in age and withers away, eventually becoming part of the current.

  Brent was awestruck. He opened his mouth to speak but couldn’t push any words out. Brent stood in silence for a few minutes just trying to take it all in. ”So what does all this have to do with why I’m back in the same place I was when I was 23?” He asked, finally finding the words to speak up. His gaze settled on Dr. Love.

  “Look at yourself Mr. Moore.” Aeryn replied, holding up a large clock and angling it just enough for show Brent's reflection. “You aren’t just back in the place you were at the age of 23. You are 23 again.”

  Brent stared at his reflection in the glass shell of the clock. His eyes widened, holding up his hands and wiggling his fingers. He ran his hand through his short hair, lost in the reflection, dumbstruck by the sight of himself in such a young form. “But why? . . How?”

  “An idea I had.” Dr. Love replied, holding up a bottle identical to the one that Brent had tucked away in his pocket. “Each capsule in this bottle serves as a rewind of sorts. It takes you back in time to fix your mistakes. A second chance if you would. Tell me? What were you thinking about when you took that first capsule?”

  “I was thinking about an ex-flame of mine.” He said, taking the bottle from his pocket and looking it over. “I was thinking about Jodi Weaver.”

  “Correct.” Aeryn said with a nod. “You were thinking about an ex you had when you were 23 years old and you swallowed the capsule. You see? This is what I meant when I told you I could give you a second chance. You have the chance to go back and fix your mistake. Jodi was someone you cared about. And now you have the chance to make it so that you never had to let her go.”

  “Oh” Brent replied, looking up at Aeryn. “But Jodi lived somewhere in California. Are you saying there could have been a chance that she and I could have been together?”

  “I’m saying that if two people really want to make something work, Nothing can stand in their way.” Dr. Love replied, taking out a small hourglass and emptying some of the sand onto the palm of his hand. “Now think long and hard about this Mr. Moore. What could you have done to prevent her from leaving with that piece of her heart?”

  Brent curled a brow and paused at the sound of his words. He stood there baffled at the answer to give the doc. This was a question Brent had visited in his brain quite often. He never thought he’d have to answer it. He revisited the whole story over and over again in his mind. “Maybe if I had taken her back instead of Ash. . “ Before he could finish his thought, Aeryn pressed a finger to his lips to silence him.

  “Don’t say it out loud.” He said calmly, bringing the sand up to his lips. “A good artist never reveals his masterpiece before presenting it to the world.” With the gentle air from between his lips, Aeryn sent the sand puff to Brent's face. The sand glimmered and caused the man to vanish. Washing him away with the current of time.