Strings Of Time

III

"Water..." she tried to speak. "Water... please..." she tried to get up but she was too weak.

Luckily her nurse returned and saw the struggling Elise. "Miss, you have to lay down. You're too weak."

Elise looked at the lady and mouthed the word water. The nurse nodded and got her some water. As Elise drank the whole glass, she laid herself and wondered her eyes again.

"Um, Miss, where am I? Is my family safe? A-are they here as well?"

The nurse scrunched her eyebrows and cocked her head sideways, "I uh, I'm not sure I understand."

Elise swallowed a lump in her throat and said in a rattled voice, "W-we were attacked a-and... I... I... think I escaped b-but my family... are they alive?"

"Attacked? What do you mean attacked?" asked the nurse with a perplexed approached.

Elise's tears came down and tried to explain again and again. Her mouth was shaking and her words started to break. "My older brother and sister... My mother and father. The Sumerhalls. Please, tell me if they are okay? There was an attack, the ground was shaking and we're in our bunker. We're all there... we're all there embracing each other. Please you have to tell me if they are okay... Please, Madam."

The nurse placed her hand on the distraught girl's shoulder, "Miss you have to calm down."

"No, you don't understand! Just tell me where my family is and I swear I'll be good. I'll drink my medicines and I'll get better."

The nurse was speechless by the young lady's behavior as she kept blinking her eyes, she thought that the girl was playing a trick or was totally insane. "Okay. Why don't we start with your name?"

"My name is Elise Summerhall and—"

Elise's introduction was cut short when an older lady entered the room with a surprised look on her face. She watched the younger nurse write the patient's name on the records.

"Summerhall..." the older nurse muttered. The younger nurse handed her the patient's records and slowly took it as she narrowed her eyes on the young lady who's lying on the bed. She read the name again and again. "Would you please give us a minute?" said the older nurse to the younger nurse. The younger nurse nodded and left the room. The older nurse approached Elise with teary eyes and said, "What was your name again?"

Elise looked down and fiddled her tag, "Elise Summerhall."

"Where are you from?"

"Ashton..."

"How old are you?"

"I'm nineteen years old..."

"When is your birthday?"

Elise looked at the old lady for a moment as she studies her expression. She suddenly looked around and realized that everything was different. It was all estrange. "I was born in August 7, 1929."

"How is this possible?" the older nurse whispered with astonishment.

"Madam, my family... I need to see them."

Suddenly, the doctor came in together with the younger nurse.

"Listen to me. I need you to shut your mouth and let me do the talking. I need you to trust me okay? I need you to get better... and when you're better I'll..." the older nurse looked down with gloomy eyes and continued, "...I'll take you to your family. You understand?"

Elise nodded without asking a question.

Later on, the older nurse explained that the young lady was traumatized and was lost for many years. She also stated that the girl was from her town and she knew her family. They believed the old lady's tale and was amazed by her story. It's as if they read it on a book somewhere.

Eventually, Elise was released from the hospital and the old lady offered to bring the young lady to her home. The both of them became close and Elise trusted every instructions she gave. Though, the old lady would not reveal her name, she assured the young lady that all will be disclosed in time.

"So, when are you going to tell me your name?" asked Elise as she gets inside a 1954 chevy. "You specifically told me to never call you granny or auntie. So... I think it's time for you to tell me who you are."

"Alright..."

They drove for hours and the old lady was silent and Elise was starting to worry about their destination.

"Where are we going?"

The old lady stayed quiet and gave a very deep sigh as her eyes started to tear up. "Elise, I want you to prepare yourself from what I'm about to tell you. I know who you are, I know who your parents are, I know where you lived, and I know everything about you. I was just 3 years old when my family moved in Ashton. I was your neighbor. I would always hear you play the piano and hum the songs that you composed. I would come in for your mother's cookies and ask your older sister Nina to teach me how to dance like a ballerina. I would sometimes sit on your multicolored sofa that you embroidered with your mother. I knew your father, he was the greatest tinker of all time. He even fixed your granddaddy's famous gramophone. I knew Christopher Carlisle as well, he was your lover."

The stories that the old lady revealed surprised Elise and little by little she was starting to get the hint. The car stopped in front of a destroyed house. Elise noticed that on every house there were pictures on a wooden pedestal. When she looked closer, it's what would the house looked like if it wasn't destroyed.

"You said you were three years old when your family moved in Ashton." stated Elise as she walks pass from house to house, looking at each pictures. "You said you were my neighbor... Your mother's name was Quinn Johnson, she's a house wife and she takes care of you when you were little. Your father's name was Donald Clyde Johnson, he was a business man, and he would travel across the country for a big break. A month before the attack, your family moved to another town far away from Ashton because your dad finally got his big break. And you..." Elise stopped at a house and turned around to face the old lady, "I called you my little Cindy. Cindy Johnson." said Elise with teary eyes with her mouth shaking. She looked down and closed her eyes as she turned her hand into a fist. "Cindy, where am I?"

"This is Ashton Town, dear... and over there... that's your house..."

Elise looked to her right and saw the ruins of what's left of what used to be her home. "What happened to my family?"

"They're gone, Ely. They're gone... I'm so sorry..." said Cindy as she hugs her old friend to console her. "When we heard the news, I begged my father to come back here to volunteer and help those people who were still alive. When we got here, everything was destroyed. I immediately looked for you but all they recovered was your family's bodies. I was just ten years old back then... I even saw a little boy asking for help. He was wounded and he was looking for his parents. I tried to calm him down but I couldn't... I heard all sorts of cries and woes. It was heart breaking... That's when I decided to become a nurse..."

They both started to walk until they came to the memorial of all the people who died on that day. Elise traced the engraved names on a large square marble, "Cindy, what's the date today?"

"It's September of 2014..."