Rose

Alex blinked, the bright sunlight making him squint his eyes shut again. He rubbed his eyes, and looked around.

Where am I? He was apparently laying on the sidewalk of a very familiar, yet very different street.

Could it be…? It looked to be the street that he lived in, and he was lying right in front of number 4 (which was his house address), but it was so different that it couldn’t be. Mrs. Gardner’s overly neat and tidy flowerbeds weren’t where they were supposed to be two doors down, and the ugly, rusty old truck Mr. Hickman had next door that Alex’s dad always complained about wasn’t in his driveway either. He couldn’t see the playground at the end of the street, and every single house looked as though they were occupied by very different people than they were supposed to be. He slowly got up to his feet and looked around, utterly confused.

What in the world is going on?

The street was completely quiet and lifeless, except for a woman in the distance walking on the opposite side of the road in his direction. Great, he thought, I’ll just ask her what’s happening right now. Alex started walking towards her, and halfway down the street, she started crossing the road to get to his side of the sidewalk. At that exact moment, a bright red car suddenly appeared and sped down the street towards the woman, with no signs of stopping. It’s gonna hit her, he thought in alarm. The woman didn’t seem to notice the car at all, as she was staring quizzically at Alex’s panicked face. Alex was taken by how familiar she looked to himbut immediately snapped out of it and yelled “HEY! BEHIND YOU!”

The woman turned, confused, and her eyes widened at the image of the oncoming car. She froze, unable to move in shock, and Alex ran the last few feet to her as fast as he possibly could. He dragged her to the side of the road. The car whizzed past, its driver showing no signs of apologizing to them for speeding and almost killing that woman.

“Hey, are you alright?” Alex asked, doubling over to catch his breath.

“Yeah. Yeah, I’m fine. You saved my life,” the woman breathed. As soon as Alex heard her voice, he froze. It can’t be. He looked up at her face, and his breath caught. Her eyes were a clear shade of blue, exactly like his. She had the same wide eyes, the same complexion; the same chocolate-brown hair, even the same crooked smile as he did. That face was the loving face in the multitude of picture frames lining the walls of his home. The face he hadn’t seen in 12 years.

“Mom?”

~~~

“I’m sorry?”

The woman looked confused, uncertain.

“I mean, sorry. I’m just really confused. You look a lot like my mother who died in a car cra-“

Alex stopped abruptly. No way. “What year is it?”

“What?” the woman was looking at him like he was crazy.

“I said, what year is it?”

“It’s 2002. Are you okay?” she asked, worried.

“2002?” Alex asked, shocked. That was the year his mother died, when he was six years old. “What’s your name?” he asked urgently.

“Rose. Rose Tyler,” she said hesitantly.

Alex clapped his hands over his mouth, stifling a shout. Rose Tyler was his mother. Rose Tyler died in a car crash in the street he lived and grew up in, 12 years ago. There was no way Rose Tyler could exist. But here she was now, standing right in front of him, completely okay.

“B-but you-“ he couldn’t even finish his sentence. She looked at him questioningly, imploring him to continue speaking. “Y-you… you should have died. In that car crash. That’s what was supposed to happen. I- I don’t-“

“Excuse me?” she asked nervously, back away slowly.

“N-no, that’s not what I meant! I’m sorry; I didn’t mean to scare you. It’s just… you have a son named Alex, don’t you?”

She nodded apprehensively, but had stopped backing away.

“How do you know?”

Alex didn’t know how to even begin to explain. He barely knew what was happening himself.

“Okay, how do I say this without sounding completely crazy. Um, I’m your son. I’m Alex Tyler. But I think I’m from the future. It definitely wasn’t 2002 where I was from. I think I was sent back here to save you from that car crash. Which I did. And now everything will be different. This’ll change everything.”

Alex had always wanted his mom back. He had always wanted to feel what it felt like to come home to a warm, motherly hug, have home-cooked meals every night, seek advice about relationships from his mom, and just generally having her around as he grew up and faced the toils of being a teenager and young adult. And now she was.

Alex grinned. He looked at his mom, her face still young and beautiful, albeit extremely confused and doubtful.

“You know what, forget it,” he said, beaming happily. “Just forget everything I told you. All you have to know is your son loves you very much and he cannot wait to spend his life with you.”

Rose, her bewildered stare softening slightly as she smiled, said: “I know.”

Alex gave her one last glance before turning around and walking away, not looking back. His whole life had changed, because he saved his mom’s life. Everything would be different from now on. His childhood wouldn’t be a constant craving for a mother’s presence and care. His life would be a whole lot better, that’s for sure. He smiled that peculiar, crooked smile to himself, as Rose stared after him, and he disappeared into the distance.