A story exploring time travel and societal issues in the wake of 9/11. This is chapter 3. See previous posts for chapters 1 and 2.
The trio spent weeks making art and talking. With T2's records of the future, Thomas won thirty million dollars in a national lottery. They split the money three ways, with T2's third going into a new LLC. T2 joked about naming the company Facebook but no one got the joke so he decided to call it Network Insight Systems instead. August said the name creeped her out. Thomas thought it sounded about right.
They bought a commercial building between a coffee shop and a glass blowing studio for the company headquarters. There was an apartment on the second floor, above the offices, which was part of the reason they chose the spot. T2 moved in, giving Thomas and August some much needed space. After spending a few days apart, T2 got them all cell phones -- painfully expensive, clunky things -- and delivered them to the couple's apartment.
After handing out the phones and showing how they worked, T2 noticed that his younger self appeared ready to say something. "What is it?" he asked.
"Okay," said Thomas, hesitating. "I mean, we've been talking, and are we just supposed to be your assistants now or whatever? Like what we want doesn't matter? And where's your August? We never asked, but did something happen to her?"
T2 smiled. He'd been waiting for something like this. "It will take time to set up the rest of the accounts I need, but after that, I should be able to operate somewhat independently, at least for the next year or so," he said. "Give me sixty more days, and then you two can travel for a year. Go anywhere. See everything. How does that sound?"
"Like you've spying on us and knew what we were going to say," said August.
"I don't need to spy to know you, remember," said T2. "I'm telling you that you can tour the world's ancient sites like you always wanted. Giving you two the opportunity to do this is actually one of the things I was most looking forward to, planning my trip here."
"I still want to know what happened to me," said August, not entirely mollified.
"Alright, I guess it's time to tell you," said T2. "Thomas, there's a reason, beyond the headaches, why I've been on you about your drinking and diet and health in general. I have something called bipolar disorder. Now, forget everything you imagine you know about this disorder, and I'll tell you how it happened for me."
"Okay," said Thomas unsteadily.
"When I was a year or two older than you, after months of eating wrong and drinking too much and managing my headaches poorly, I just stopped sleeping one day," said T2. "After a few days of that, I became unhinged. It was a classic manic episode, but I didn't have healthcare and I was afraid of the mental health system, which totally sucks in this era."
"So what happened?" asked August.
"We split up and I spent the next couple of years in a nightmare," said T2. "I was locked up, hospitalized, and worse. Eventually, I recovered, but that time scarred me deeply. Anything I can do to spare you that, I'll do. Including bringing you to an AA meeting tonight if it turns out you've been unable to continue abstaining from alcohol these last few days while I haven't been around."
"Fuck," said Thomas. "Like ... fuck."
"That actually makes sense," said August slowly.
"I should also share that I've had only two manic episodes of that severity in my life," said T2. "That first one, then another in my thirties, which wasn't nearly as damaging. So the disorder doesn't have to run your life. If you make better choices than I did, and develop better habits, it may never even manifest at all."
"I think you should listen to him," said August.
"While we're on the subject, there's another piece of this that's more delicate," said T2. "Involving unprocessed trauma from childhood. Thomas, I know you think you have a handle on the stuff that happened to you, but you don't. If you can't start talking about it, healing from it, this stuff is going to keep festering, eating at you, making everything harder than it needs to be. August is here for you. I'm here for you. But it's up to you to decide whether to trust us with it. It's safe for you to trust us fully, but it's got to be your choice."
"What am I supposed to say to that?" asked Thomas, suddenly defensive. Angry. "How the fuck am I supposed to react when you just show up, ready to be the new boss of my life? So I had a few beers last night. So what? Suddenly I'm just going to quit living my life on your say so?"
"It's perfectly natural for you to avoid the issue," said T2. "This is hard shit."
"You got drunk and punched out a window last night," said August quietly. "I think the problems he's talking about are real. And they're serious."
"Maybe, but none of this even feels real," said Thomas. "Like, did I die, and this is some weird afterlife where I have to finish all of my unfinished business from when I was alive?"
"That feeling of unreality you're experiencing is a protective mechanism," said T2 gently. "Your mind wants to disassociate to avoid painful truths. It's okay. Just stay with us, here. Focus on your breathing. Breath, fueling life, is as real as it gets."
"Whatever happened to you, we'll get through it," said August.
Tears began rolling down Thomas' cheeks. "I don't get it," he said to T2. "You fucker. If you had the power, why not go back to before it happened and stop it? Like, I can accept time travel. All of it. Fine. Whatever. But you had the power to stop it from happening and you didn't stop it. So you let it happen. I mean, what the fuck?"
"The way the multiverse works, there are versions of me who did stop it," said T2. "And versions of us where none of it ever happened. But the reason I chose this era was that this is the time in my life when I recall needing the most help and not being able to find it. I came back here to be that help for you."
Thomas closed his eyes and shook his head. He felt unworthy, and didn't recognize that that's what he was feeling. August hugged him. T2 hugged him, too, and realized that this was the first time he'd actually hugged his younger self.
"You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to," said August. "But you can. We're here."
"And one thing to consider is that it's far more common than people in this era imagine," said T2. "Being an abuse survivor is pretty much the least unusual thing about me."
"There's no way what happened to me -- er, us -- is common," said Thomas.
"All over the world, from Australia to the UK to the States, pedophile rings have preyed on kids forever," said T2. "The Catholic Church is filled with pedophiles. Not to mention the American Boy Scouts. Our abuser was part of a smaller network based in Germany, which used the German Boy Scouts, or Wanderfogel, as cover for its activities."
"Are you fucking serious?" asked August as she put together who the abuser must be.
"I don't know if I can handle this," said Thomas.
"To be honest, I'm kind of hoping you'll help me to go after the fuckers," said T2. "In my timeline, by the time I got around to doing this, too much time had already passed."
"Go after?" asked Thomas.
"Not kill," said T2. "Go after legally. Maybe socially or in media. The powers that be probably wouldn't be much help. No surprise there, since government officials end up deep into kiddie porn, at the Pentagon and elsewhere."
"I'm going to have to think about that," said Thomas, turning the idea over in his mind.
"Take all the time you need," said T2. "The offer is on the table."
(Feature image from Pixabay.)
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