Drowning

My heels click-clicked against the tile-covered sidewalk, the rhythm matched perfectly with my long, even strides. The wide summer sky above me roared with the busy sound of airplane engines.

I was a tall man, and my form was unusually angular. I had a large, low nose, a long face, and a wide mouth.

I wore a black T-shirt and a baggy pair of black slacks. Black fingernails matched the black lacquer on my long, straight hair.

The man beside me was wide and paunchy and wore his hair stylishly. Half his forehead was occupied by a fashionable pair of glasses. A sport jacket covered his wide torso.

I followed the man's line of sight, and my eyes narrowed with suspicion. He was obviously interested in that little old lady—the one with the parasol.

I stalked across the street and up to the old lady.

She was bent over, the grey fabric of her wide skirt making it look like she was a forward-leaning tree. It looked comical, and I laughed a bit.

"Hm? That's a cute parasol," I murmured softly.

My voice caused her to glance up at me. Her toothless smile exposed two rows of nice-sized teeth.

"Yeah," she replied, smiling a bit shyly. "It's my mother's."

A wide-rimmed hat covered her head. She wore sunglasses. A pain in the ass, her eyes were swollen and puffy.

"Nice," I said. "When I was a kid, I always wanted a parasol like this."

I stopped beside the old woman's small body and placed my right hand on the fabric. My fingers splayed a bit.

The woman's eyebrows knitted, drawing together to make small wrinkles.

"I'm sorry, but I wasn't talking to you," she said coolly.

I froze.

"Now you've done it."

My heart sank in my chest. I was the only person in the world who could see the past. The other people who lived in this world were asleep or dead. If I didn't make a good choice… I had to make a good choice.

"I'm sorry," I muttered.

I dropped my hand and fled away. I called my secretary.

"J, I think I made a mistake," I said. "Could you please talk to me and tell me what I did wrong?"

I stood in my office, running my fingers over my face. I weighed my options.

"Okay," I whispered. "Let's see if time is up."

I pushed the button to start the clocks.

"I went out with a beautiful woman last night."

"Well, well," my secretary said. "That's a good thing, right?"

"No, no. It's not."

"Uh…" she said.

"I pushed her to a ledge."

"Well, that's…" my secretary started.

"Yeah."

"So, meaning—"

"Meaning she died."

"We could make that clearer. How about 'she died of a broken neck and you got caught for attempted murder '?"

"Right," my secretary said. "That's it."

"Yes, that's it. I want to go back in time to before she died."

"And…" my secretary said.

"And I want everyone in this country to be asleep at 10:00 tonight."

"Okay."

"I don't want anyone to know about this."

"And…" my secretary said.

"And also, I want everyone to be asleep at 9:00 tonight."

My secretary giggled. "Cutie," she said. "Yeah."

That was the last thing I wanted. I nodded and hung up the phone. I put on my nerd-glasses and drove to the airport. The tickets cost a wad of cash but that was okay.

The flight was brief and uneventful. Sometime after the plane had landed, I silently creeped out of the airport.

I let out a long sigh and relaxed.

I was here. I dropped my head back and looked up at the stars. I was finally here. But how was I going to…?

That was a good question. I lifted the brim of my glasses and my eyes scrunched up.

I wanted to find my lover. I wanted to find her and convince her we had to be together.

I held my head back and screamed.

"I can't live without you! I want to give up. Do you want to spend the rest of your life in the past? I want to have a future we can spend together."

"You're seeing a ghost."

I took off my glasses and looked at my secretary in astonishment.

"You didn't bump into me," she said.

"You aren't my secretary."

"No, I'm your geeky, book-loving, weird friend. Since you're here, why don't you come back to your apartment and shower off?"

My secretary looked like she was going to say something else. I held up my hand and shook my head.

"No," I said. "I'm going straight home. I'm tired."

School was going to start soon. It was going to be a tough day.

"Good idea," my secretary said. "See you later."

I flipped her a thumbs up and took off my glasses.

Painting

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