Sandstorm {Discontinued}{Rewritten}

Interlude #4

Daren would just ruin it for her. He'd want to come along, too, and he'd just bug her the whole time. (He'd been very annoying since their parents had split up, always begging for attention like some lost puppy.) Besides, that was more than likely the first and last trip she'd ever take through time. Anita didn't need her brother messing it up with a bunch of stupid, annoying questions. It would be best if she just didn't tell him, Anita decided.

Her father would have gotten home from work an hour ago. He wouldn't think anything of Anita not getting off the bus with Daren. They'd both probably just assume that she had stayed after school to work on some student council project or band practice or something. (Anita had signed up for a lot of extra curricular activates, so it wouldn't be too much of a stretch.)

Other than that, there was really only one thing to be concerned about. Anita frowned, squinting at Oculus, as she adjusted her glasses. (They'd gotten a bit crooked as they'd landed.) "What about that meta human that was chasing you? You said you were going to stop him, but you never did."

Oculus flinched, letting out a long, drawn out hiss, as if those word physically pained him somehow. "You're right. I forgot..."

Anita snorted. "You forgot about the dangerous meta human trying to kill you?"

"Well, in my defense it's been several weeks since we've been in this exact time and place," Oculus said. He glanced at his watch, trying to hold back his own laughter. "And it's been a whole three hours, since we were last here. He's probably forgotten all about me, too."

Anita nodded, feeling a few giggles rising up in her belly. "Yeah, or maybe the Flash caught him."

Oculus made a face. "I still don't know who that is."

She stared at him, sure that he was just messing with her at this point. "We were just in a museum dedicated to him and his heroics a few weeks ago." When he shrugged, apparently sticking by his act of ignorance, Anita rolled her eyes. "Whatever. I guess, I'm going home now. Thanks for the time traveling and junk."

He nodded slowly. For a moment, he shifted his weight from foot to foot, frowning as if deep in thought. Then, he broke out into one of those huge, dorky grins. "Well, maybe we'll do it again sometime. Go on a trip, I mean. When I figure out who I am."

Anita blinked, sort of shocked that he would even ask. She'd been sure that this would be the end of their traveling together. "Wait. Really?"

"Yeah, why not?" Oculus said. "It was fun." He made a face. "Oh, but of course next time we'll have to ask your parents. You can't just going running off with strangers, you know."

Anita rolled her eyes. She had already gotten that speech from her parents years ago, so she really didn't need to hear it again now. "Whatever, dude. I'm going home, now. Bye."

"Goodbye, Anita."

{~}

B

eing a sixteen year old black boy in a vastly white school was a bit of a hazard to say the least, especially in 1945, Landon found. It basically made him stick out like a sore thumb, making him an easy target for prying eyes and gossipers. (Usually racist things he tried not too pay much attention too.) The second world war had just ended, and millions of families, including his own had migrated west, hoping for a new start in the land of opportunity. (Instead, they'd all ended up in the United States.) That would have been bad enough, except whenever he closed his eyes to sleep he had really strange dreams.

Sometimes he'd see himself, albeit much older, dressed like an Egyptian Pharaoh, other times Landon was in the nineteenth century get up or wearing some cheesy fairytale sort of costume. (He was usually always wearing some old fashioned trend, making it look as if he belonged to another time all together. He'd even been a cow boy once.) Sometimes Landon was alone, traveling the world like he had always wanted to do. Other times he was with a woman. But it didn't matter if he was alone or with the girl, he was always on the move. He'd be running frantically, trying to hide from something...or someone. Landon could never remember which it was when he woke up.