Where Time Begins [Complete]

4

"You know Emma's son studies here, don't you?" I ask Conrad when I find him having breakfast at the teachers' cafeteria.

It's the first time I'm awake at this early hour where I don't have to rush to class. In fact, I could barely sleep last night. All I could think about was Flynn. Then, I wanted to confirm that he really is Emma's son. 

Conrad knew Emma. That day, he came to her office a few seconds late while I was kneeling by the bloody and lifeless body. He didn't ask any questions and took me home. Later on, he came to my room where I was sitting alone in the dark for hours, then told me everything about the oracle's existence. He said he'll let me choose what to do next. Either he deleted that day from my memory. I would forget Emma's death and all the things he just revealed to me. Or I can keep my memories, but it will be hard to return to my normal life because of the trauma.

I wonder what would have happened if I chose to forget. I wouldn't have had all those nightmares. They lasted for months. I wouldn't have had to lie to mom about me not knowing the real cause of Emma's death, nor about my vision. Maybe I wouldn't even have seen this second vision telling me that I am next.

"First of all, good morning to you too. And second, was that supposed to be a secret?"

He takes a mouthful of his waffle, then stares back at me with an innocent look. One more thing about Conrad, he hates secrets. He thinks people should never feel guilty or embarrassed about the truth. It's like his life motto. I sigh and sit in front of him. I knew if I asked or if I even shared my doubts with him, he would have told me which doesn't make it easy to be upset. He finally smiles and slides his plate in front of me. Lindsay is nowhere to be seen, probably hard to wake up in the morning like me.

"How did you find out?"

"My roommate, Ness. She's his sister"

"This isn't a secret either"

Secret or not, that doesn't change the fact I should avoid both. It won't be difficult. I hardly talk to Ness and with Flynn, it's not like we were a thing. 

A few hours later, I don't have lunch in the students' cafeteria and come back to Conrad instead. He doesn't ask me why. Lindsay neither. She seems even happy to see me. And once again, I got plenty of anecdotes from their teenage years.

My last class for today is the one about the future. I've been waiting for it the whole week. The library books didn't really teach me much. Most of them, the ones I took from the oracle section, only detailed what Conard already taught me about their special powers. The other sections have normal books like a real library in a normal high school. I don't know what I expected. But surely not the amount of the normal things this school seems to have.

"There's no beginning and no end. Only variables. This is how time works" the teacher starts as soon as he steps in the classroom and while walking to his desk where he drops his suitcase on his chair, then faces the students.

He looks around fifty, maybe actually younger, but the large brown suit and the glasses make him look more mature. I overheard while taking a seat earlier one of the students nicknamed him as mister Destiny.

"The future is not predefined. There's a myriad of them, sometimes similar, often completely opposite. Nothing is written yet. However, among these multiple destinies, some are more likely to happen than others." He continues his introduction before he pulls a book out of his suitcase. "Today's class will be about the legend of oracles, rather it will be about the truth behind the legend mortals know."