Back To 2014

Chapter 5 - Explanations

I look at him with wide eyes. "Wait, what?" - yeah I'm a little slow. I look into his blue eyes for any sign of joking or teasing me. Nope. He's completely serious. "What??" I repeat, this time with more force. He stares into my eyes, giving me chills, and reminding me of Seth in a way.

"Everything you told me back there, it was all familiar. I knew what you were talking about with the time travel." He explains. I'm shocked. "Then why did you act like it was all new to you?" I say. He shrugs. "I wanted to hear more about you. I wanted to know if I could trust you or not, and I guess I can."

"Well you've probably figured by now that I have no clue what I'm doing here." I laugh nervously. "Yeah," He says, "I've noticed." I look around, embarrassed. "So, uhh, what now? I'm guessing you're some kind of amazing time expert who can just zap me back home and save the future?" I ask hopefully.

Jack chuckles. "Well, it's not that simple. I wish it was." All of a sudden he gets up and walks towards the door of the restaurant. I throw my hands up in the air and roll my eyes. "Again with the running out the door?" I mutter as I reluctantly get up and follow him out. I always feel like I'm chasing this guy.

I walk out of the door into a thick crowd, which I was not expecting. I look at my watch. Wow 5:00 already? Well since Jack basically just walked out on me for no reason, I have now officially lost him. I look through the crowd rushing past for a head of black hair, but I don't see him. I just stand there stunned. Why in the world would Jack just leave me sitting in Subway? Once again, he's being mysterious Jack.

All of a sudden I feel a large hand grab mine and pull me sharply to the left. I follow, trying not to trip and fall on my face. I can't see who's pulling me because it's so crowded on the sidewalk, but I'm assuming it's Jack. Actually, I'm really hoping it's Jack. I'm pulled quickly to the left, into a little opening between two buildings. I look up to see Jack's face, looking like he was trying to act exasperated but was really having a fun time.

"Keep up, will ya?" He says as he pulls me away again to a less crowded sidewalk. "So where are we going this time, Mr. Mysterious?" I say as I follow him.

"I thought we could just hang at my apartment." He responds, giving me a small smile.

I stop right in my tracks. "Woahh woah woah... Wait a minute. You're supposed to be able to help me get back to 2064 as soon as possible. We can't just waste time "hanging"." I say with my best sassy face and arms crossed.

Jack lifts an eyebrow. "You assume I'm just gonna save you from a mess you put yourself into in the first place?" I sigh. I can see his point. "Well no, but at least you could help me."

"What do you think I've been doing this whole time?" Jack says as he starts walking again. I follow him but don't say anything. It's true, I mean he has been helping me, but not helping me save the future. Basically just buying me food, which, don't get me wrong, I absolutely love food and I'm grateful he did that. But if he's really from the future, why doesn't he just help me back?

We finally reach a brown brick apartment building, and go to the second floor. "Home sweet home..." Jack mutters as he unlocks the door and opens it to reveal what looks like an apartment of a typical guy; clothes on the floor, unmade bed, pizza box on a dresser, some kind of electronic games that say "xbox" on them are scattered here and there.

"Sorry 'bout the mess," Jack apologizes as he kicks a sweatshirt out of the way, "I wasn't exactly expecting company."

"Oh it's alright." I say as a smile and awkwardly look around. Jack goes over to a medium sized fridge and pulls out two cans that say Coca-Cola on them. He almost tosses one to me before he remembers the Orange Mush - er, I mean Orange Crush incident. "Oh yeah, you don't like pop." Jack says as he reaches in for a water bottle.

I stand in his kitchen while he runs around his apartment "cleaning up", but really just stuffing things places. Finally he's done, and asks me what I want to do. "Well, I don't know... I kinda just want to go to 2064, but looks like that's not gonna happen..." I say sarcastically.

Jack lets out a big sigh. "You don't understand." This annoys me even more, especially since I know it's true. I raise my voice and my anger takes over. "Well MAYBE I would understand if you actually told me anything about yourself! About time travel! About the future! I literally know nothing. I'm separated from my family and my whole life, I'm lost in the past, with some mysterious guy I don't even know," I gesture to him.

Jack flops down on his couch and covers his face with his hands. That reminds me of Seth this morning. I still can't believe that was only a few hours ago. A few hours and half a century.

Jack sits there for a few minutes and I feel like I've broken him. I have finally broken through his mysteriousness. I actually feel a strange feeling of pride, as if I have accomplished something. He rubs his eyes and looks up at me, patting a spot on the couch next to him, implying for me to sit next to him. I eagerly sit down, knowing he's finally going to tell me. He can't run away now, can he?

Jack starts. "Let me tell you a story about this guy I used to know. It was about year 2070. Well this guy was just another officer in a group called the Restorance, which was a rebel group going against the Time Force.

The Time Force was initially a group of scientists in the early 2060s, but once they mastered time traveling, it formed into a group which promoted "the good of humanity, throughout the centuries." Their main goal was to undo horrible things that happened in history.

It first started with small crimes, like for instance, robbing banks. They would travel back in time and stop the criminals from taking the money before it even happened. However, every change you make in the past affects the present. Whenever there is a change, it ripples through time and has an earthquake effect."

I gasp. "So that's what that earthquake was?!" I exclaimed.

Jack nodded. "But only people who are out of place in that era can feel it. That's why we could feel the earthquake and normal citizens of 2014 didn't notice anything." I was in shock and nodded for him to continue.

"Well anyway, soon the Time Force was making big enough changes that it was effecting many people in their own time. Some people just vanished from the face of the earth because the Time Force accidentally changed it so they were never born in the past. Things were changing so fast people couldn't even keep up.

Soon a group formed which was smart enough to know that changing history would ruin the world. That was the Restorance. They wanted to restore time to what it was originally. The Time Force's next plan was to stop Hitler from becoming ruler. While a lot of people thought that would be a wonderful idea, the Restorance realized the huge effect it would have on the modern world.

The Restorance time travelers were basically just chasing after the Time Force, erasing all their mistakes and changing history back to what it originally was. However, the Time Force had the support of the government of the U.S., which was a huge advantage. Therefore, anyone who revolted against the Time Force was to be arrested.

Well, the guy I was talking about before, (an officer of the Restorance) ended up getting caught by the Time Force while on a mission. His punishment was to be frozen in one year for the rest of his life."

I was so interested in the story I didn't even realize my mouth was hanging open and my eyes were huge. "So what year was the guy stuck in?"

Jack looked me straight in the eyes. "Riley, I'm that guy."

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Did you guys expect that???? ;););) I hope everyone liked this chapter!! This chapter is dedicated to mpz1023 because she's not a silent reader and she's just awesome! :):) Sorry I haven't updated in a while, it's hard during the week. I'll try to update every weekend at least, maybe more. Well pleaseeee VOTE, FOLLOW ME, and ESPECIALLY COMMENT!! I love to hear what people have to say, good or bad! :) It only takes a few seconds so DONT BE A SILENT READER! :)