Nano Bytes

Only one came today, the old man. I stood back, not getting too close, not wanting another death on my conscience. He smiled at me, but it was not of joy, his eyes showing a deep pain. I asked him who he was, where he came from, what the light was. But he did not, or could not, answer.

Slowly he lifted his arm holding out an object to my face. In a clear container, made of the same material as his visor, was a dogeared, battered book. I stared in wonder, slipping my hand into the waistband, pulling out the book's twin. I held up the journal and he smiled; the understanding hitting immediately.

His crooked smile; his grey eyes, flecked with blue; the scar above the left eye where as a child he had fallen while stealing apples from old Bernard's orchard. He did not just hold up my journal - he also held his own.

My mind tumbled in confusion and realisation, fighting to comprehend the incomprehensible.

I stumbled forward and stood millimetres from his/my face, angry tears welling in my eyes. He did not move, he knew what happened next, he had of course, been through this before. I screamed at him, wanting answers he obviously could not give, wanting to know why if he knew the future, he did not stop the previous days tragedy. Why he had let the girl die when he already knew her fate.

He lowered his head, a tear rolling down his wizened cheek, shaking his head. He turned, head still bowed as the fissure appeared, and I knew this would be our last encounter.

He paused before his last step, looking towards the west and pointed. In the distance a fiery speck shot across the sky, a smoke trail splitting the evening sunset. The old man nodded one last time and disappeared into the light.

July 23rd

I sit in a Mars rescue shuttle, still numb from yesterday's encounter. They think it's the shock of being alone for so long; how can I tell them the truth. In some ways I still don't believe it myself and the doubts continue to hover in the corner of my mind; just mad thoughts from a deranged mind. But we shall see. If time travel is possible I shall make it my life's work to discover the answers, I shall not rest until I find a way to undo the hurt I have done.

I must stop my past and future.

This short story was kindly included by permission of bobjan70, and is included in his collection of short stories A Little Known Fact About Ducks on his profile.

Claire Chilton Icebound

Chapter 1

A single snowflake floated past the windowpane, and Thea Jackson knew that it was the end of the world. They’d had warnings for decades, and they knew it was coming. No one had reacted the day the methane clouds had hit the atmosphere. No one questioned the turbulent weather. No one had taken notice of the change in the jet streams, and this was the result.

She stared down through her closed window at the street below. People were running from the apartment complex, some loading up their cars and others flagging down air taxis.

We knew about it, but we didn’t believe it.

When the reports had come in about a glacier here or a drop in temperatures there, none of it had seemed real, not when she was sitting in the centrally heated offices of Devlin Corp, working her way up through the ranks for all the wrong reasons.

She’d been as blind as everyone else had, and her agenda had all been for nothing.

It feels real now. We’re screwed.

She closed her eyes for a moment. Her life was a mess of secrets and lies, but none of it seemed to matter anymore. Why should it on the day the world ended? Nothing mattered anymore.

William…

Her heart ached at the thought of him. Where was he now? Was he running for the borders too? Was he clawing his way through the crowds, trying to escape the inevitable?

She brushed a stray tear away from her cheek. She’d lost him the day she’d been sentenced. Fear had kept her silent. It was fear that had driven him away in the end, the fear that if he knew what she’d done, he’d forget that he ever loved her. She wanted to speak to him now, one last time before it was too late. There were so many things that she hadn’t told him, so many things that he didn’t know.

She shook her head. She couldn’t wallow in regret right now. It was not the right time to lose it.

Watching the crowds below, she realized that there was enough insanity outside without her joining the ranks of crazy people. The concept of human decency seemed to evaporate as she watched a young couple mow down an old woman on their way to their car. They looked like a perfectly respectable couple. They probably thought they were, judging by their designer clothes and perfectly coiffed hair.

Not so respectable now that the world is screwed, are you?