Back In Time

Chapter 1

The wind was rustling the trees outside, every so often a branch taping on one of the windows of the pub as the windows got pelted with the harsh rain. The storm had only started about 10 minutes ago but already it sounded like it was at it's peak.

What was strange about this storm was that none of the weather channels mentioned it. Everything called for blue skies, maybe some cloud coverage with slight rain during the night but certainly nothing to this extreme.

"Hey Billy, did you hear anything about this storm? I thought it was suppose to be a relatively clear night." I voiced my thoughts as I did the dishes, one glass slipping my fingers and hitting the sink with a loud clink. "Ah shit."

I heard some rustling coming from the pantry behind me before he spoke. "Nah, I didn't hear anything about it. Though seeing as we have no customers and we will most likely not be getting any I'm gonna close down. I'd loose money if I were to stay open."

Billy owned the good old pub I worked in, Murphy's. It was a quaint Irish place sitting in downtown Carmel California, also known as Carmel by the Sea. Population size didn't even reach 4,000 and I could probably walk from one end of Carmel to the other in under an hour. Obviously it was a very small place to live in, the people who do live here have been here years.

We only ever get our regulars with a few tourists coming through our small town. Obviously none had dared to adventure out in the dreadful weather tonight.

"Yea that sounds good. I wouldn't mind going home early. Make sure Cam and my mom are okay." Cam was my younger sister, she was 15, only 6 years younger than me.

"Why don't you head home now, before the storm gets any worse. I'll close everything up." His old green eyes looked down at me through the curls of his aging hair.

"Billy you don't have to do that. I don't mind staying a little later to help you out." I put the last of the dishes away before standing up to face him.

"Oh nonsense. I live right upstairs I'll be fine." He started to usher me out the door after throwing my jacket right in my face. "Now go, and call me when you get home safe."

Shaking my head I followed his orders. "Alright alright I'll go. I'll see you tomorrow." Then I walked out the door, purse in my left hand while the right one desperately clung the hood of my jacket to my head.

Billy was like the father I never had. My sperm donor left right after my younger sister was born, my mother never told me why. I think she was always just to heart broken about it. Not to mention I was practically the spitting image of him. Our light brown hair and greyish blue eyes were nearly identical in colors. Even the way my nose had a small curved tilt at the nostrils was his. The only difference between us was how I had a pinky pale skin tone while he was as tan as an Italian. 

I grew up watching the way it broke her. The women who once was so vibrant, who would sing random tunes from just being so happy turned cold the day he left. Her once bright blonde hair, hair that was brighter than the sun started to grey year after year until there was no more wisps of that golden color shinning anymore. Her ocean blue eyes sulking down until not even a flashlight could make them glow.

It's only ever gotten worse. Last year, she was diagnosed with Leukemia. Her already broken body started to frail like a dead flower, just touching her wrong would make her shatter. It's why I was always working at the pub, saving everything I could for my family. Especially since Cam wasn't old enough to work yet. The good thing was that doing as much work as I did kept me toned and very lean.

Everything I did, everything I do, it's all for them. They're all I have in the world. I have a good friend, Brooke, but while I decided to skip college and go straight to work, she went off to Harvard. We never stopped being friends though.

I came out of my thoughts when a sudden gust of wind blew a leaf right into my face. The wet, soggy thing sticking to my rosy cheeks.

"Oh dear god. What the hell?" I pulled it off, the drops of rain rolling down my face.

I could barely see in the storm, my head facing the ground in order to protect it against getting pelted. Which is why I didn't realize when I had made it home and ran straight into the door.

I stumbled back, my hood falling off as my hand flew to holding my nose.

"Fucking hell!" I felt no blood trickling down my face but I could tell there would most likely be a bruise there tomorrow.

As the rain drenched me, making the hair on my head stick to my skin, I clumsily opened the door to my house. Cursing once again when my dog, Sniffles, ran out the door.

"Sniffles!" I shouted into the wind. "Come back here!" I had to cover my eyes with my hands, the rain making it nearly impossible to see where she went.

"Sniffles!" I tried once again, however my pleas were getting lost in the storm.

It was too loud, too chaotic to try and call her back. So with a heavy sigh and my bags dropping by the now closed door, I ran out into the downpour. If that dog got lost and I didn't find her, my sister would kill me. That dog was her best friend.

I heaved myself through the woods by my house, knowing she went off somewhere in that direction. By the time I got to the tree line, the rain was coming down harder, little protection coming from the branches and leaves above me.

"Sniffles! For the love of God please come back!" I felt myself shivering at this point.

I looked behind every bush, every rock I could for the small thing, calling out her name when she wasn't there. By the time I was out of the forest and to the beach, I realized I most likely would not be finding her. I was easily out in the storm for an hour, clumsily wandering around and looking like a homeless girl covered in mud and twigs.

I was just about to give up and go home, praying that Sniffles was back there by now when I saw something small move right by the water, the waves almost crashing over it and taking it away.

It had to be the damned dog.

"Sniffles!" I shouted one last time.

I ran as fast as I could, the wind biting my cheeks and the rain blinding my eyes. I saw Sniffles less than three feet away from me, shivering quietly by a shell.

Just as I was about to pick her up, something came from nowhere and hit me in the back of the head.

Next thing I knew I was falling towards the sand, my feet floating in the ocean water behind me.