The October Amaryllis

Chapter 96 - ????

As we arrived in Byzantine, I noticed just how depressing the place looked. Shades of dull gray were everywhere, and I saw graffiti that said We're Nobody's Slaves in crimson paint on one wall. I figured that the graffiti was done by the Androids who were tired of serving humans.

"So what do we do now? I honestly never expected us to get this far," I asked Audrey.

"Now we find a way to start all over. I've lived most of my life bound in chains, but now we finally have a way out," she replied with a small smile.

And it was all my fault...

"And what will happen to Arcadia then?" I asked curiously.

"It will get a new beginning someday; for now, it's just a painful reminder of the past. Don't worry; everything will be okay."

Will it be, though? What if I create another event like this?

We walked through the town, and as we wandered around, dozens of Androids said hello to us and congratulated us on escaping hell. In a way, it made me sad since I knew it didn't even have to exist, to begin with. If they knew that I was responsible for it all, they'd be filled with pure hatred instead of joy.

"I always knew it would fall someday," an Android named Layne told us. His name reminded me of Layne Staley, the former lead singer of Alice in Chains. The Android even looked just like Staley; it was so eerie to experience.

"How did you know?" I asked curiously.

"Nothing bad can last forever; that's just how it's always been and always will be."

That is so true.

"So, what do you think of getting some food?" Audrey's husband asked.

Despite not being hungry, I agreed to eat to distract myself from negative thoughts.

We walked around town for a few minutes and found this one place called Ranger Peyton's. We walked inside, and an Android led us to our table. To my surprise, they had black forest scorpions on the menu. I knew that I had to try it as I'd never had it before. Yeah, I hate arachnids and all, but come on, wouldn't you want to try it out of curiosity?

While I was waiting for my food, I heard the restaurant's radio turn on, and it started playing an oldies station. I found it amusing how it played Kill Em With Kindness by Selena Gomez. It was an old song from their timeline, but it was hardly five years old from mine. That song is one of my favorites, by the way.

"So, what was your life like before you lived under fascism?" I asked Audrey as I remembered her mentioning that she lived most of her life under bondage and not all of it.

"It was so much better. We had this one president named James Carlyle, and unlike Maynard, he didn't force his views down everyone's throat. He created the first nuclear cars, and I remember we were all in awe when they revealed them. Unfortunately, he was assassinated during his third year in office; his killer never even gave a motive. All he said was that the president deserved it."

"How old were you at this time?" I asked curiously.

"I was only around seven at the time. Seeing the news broke my heart, I remember. After that, things only got worse and worse."

After Audrey finished speaking, my scorpion arrived, and I took a bite out of it, expecting it to be horrible. To my surprise, it tasted a lot like beef jerky. I enjoyed it a lot, honestly. I finished the rest of it greedily and felt satisfied once I was done. My favorite part was definitely how crunchy it was; it was like a potato chip.

"How was that scorpion?" Audrey's husband asked.

"Superb; how long have they served insects in Byzantine?"

"Ever since there was a food shortage ten years ago, people had nothing to eat, so they started eating insects. The idea took off from there."

At that moment, I felt myself blank out deep into my thoughts, and this time it concerned reversing everything that I had ever done with the timelines. I suddenly knew how to change all the mistakes that I had created. I have no idea how the thoughts appeared in my mind, but at that moment, it was as if everything finally made sense. I felt I could actually change things around for the better.

"I'll be back," I said as I left to go to the bathroom where I planned to time travel.

"Okay," Audrey replied.

Once inside, I willed my body to time travel using all of my strength. It worked, but the road there was filled with pure agony; my heart felt like it was going to burst, and I had the worst headache. I hallucinated countless tanks pointing their cannons at me on the walls, and swarms of insects started crawling from the walls over to where I was. Every time I crushed them, more would appear. There was a moment where the walls filled with what looked like jelly and then popped, unleashing a horde of insects that crawled towards me. Eventually, I gave up trying to brush them all away, as I knew that more would keep coming my way.

Then I finally time-traveled back to the day Malcolm killed himself.

Now it's time to make things right.