"...I was born in London, you know? A really fine place it was and it still is, I believe. Haven't visited for quite a long time. My father, Mr Adam Scott, was a man of an elegant stature. He was tall and a little plump. His brown hair was always combed to the side in a very fashionable manner and his eyes were green, just like mine and like you, my dearest Eliza. Your grandfather was a man of huge respect. He was a merchant back in his times but then there occurred great losses in his business and he...drowned. First in drinks and then in a lake. His body was later found after quite a search. There were stones in his pockets.
"My mother, Eleanor Scott, was quite the opposite of my father. She was a round, active lady and wasn't gifted with an attractive face but her smile...her smile had owned my father's heart. She had a kind look that always tinkled in her eyes. Her blue eyes. Her features were blunt and you might think of her as the average English woman of her times. Your grandmother was greatly devastated after my father's death; she loved her beloved husband. The ring that you wear William? It was given to my father by my mother. She adored him and the loss of him made her distant and she didn't even take notice when Andrea, my sister and her youngest, fell sick. She didn't get the treatment she needed because we were short of money and two months later, the weather was sunny and bright...very contrary to the fact that I was attending my sister's funeral.
"We were now poorer than ever for mother was getting sick herself and couldn't work anymore. The responsibility to pay our rent was brought down on my shoulders. I was seven, an illiterate boy who was in search of work, and one day while doing that, I landed upon the feet of Charles Jones.
"Ah! I remember that day like it was yesterday. I was sitting near an antique shop, waiting for someone to pity me and throw some coins. People did and I took them, stopping them to say a small thanks but ended up returning their coins for my ego wouldn't allow me to take it, even though I needed them desperately. I had my best clothes on, which were the only pair I owned then; the colours were fading but one could easily say that they were the finest piece of linen once. You see, being poor hadn't made me forget my manners and my onlookers were rather impressed by my behaviour and it was then that Mr Charles Jones stood out of the crowd. He was a tall and handsome man, around the age of thirty. His blond hair was cut short and he had a gentle smile on his moustached lips. He came towards me and knelt to my height.
"He asked me who I was and my dear children, I have to say, I was very talkative at that time, not like what you see in front of you now. So, I talked. I was nervous but I talked and talked until I had told him the entire story. He showed me sympathy and asked me to show him to my shelter. I did. I took him to my old house which consisted of one room with a bed and kitchen stove, smaller than what you have now, my dear William.
"As soon as Mr Charles saw my mother, he gave a soft gasp and the moment she looked at him, she did the same. They both didn't say anything and instead threw themselves in each other's arms and my mother cried. She cried while I stood confused.
"You see...this man, Charles...was my mother's foster brother, one her family was kind enough to take. My mother lost her parents at the age of fifteen, their wealth dying with them, long before she married my father and unknown to him, she had been in a relationship with her foster brother. They split when Charles went to pursue his career with the funds his parents left him and my mother was left broken, until my father showed up at her rented house, the rent of which was paid by Charles.
"Charles was overwhelmed when he came back and found my mother gone. She hadn't left her address and he searched for her everywhere, until he saw me and found my features resembling his beloved foster sister. He introduced himself to me after having shared my mother's grief. He asked me and mother to come with him and just like that, we were in his house and I was admitted to one of the finest schools to get my education.
"Fate is crazy. Ain't it? Charles and my mother got married and a few months later my mother was diagnosed with second stage breast cancer. Charles was once again devastated and a few years later, my mother was dead. Charles appeared distant for a while but then...he took particular interest in me.
"He saw me more invested in the subject of Science and since he himself was a researcher, he took it upon himself to educate me and fulfil my mother's dreams through mine. We spent lots of time in his laboratory where he taught me hundreds of theories and fascinated me with all kinds of stuff that was almost deemed impossible. However, the most particular of them was the subject of 'Time Travel' that gained my undivided attention. I used to spend hours and hours thinking about the topic. The only time my attention drifted a little was when Lorna Diaz, my classmate, would come to study with me. I had a thing for her, I won't lie, maybe I still do but now she is so far gone that I have lost her for good.
"Anyways, that's how I used to spend my day. When I turned twenty, I met your mother. Cassandra Jones was a law student. She had skipped two years of classes for she was so bright and went to college without attending high school. Ah! My lovely Cass, my heart and soul with bright grey eyes and a voice that demanded attention. I met her at an auction on our college campus and the moment I saw her, she became the first person to erase Lorna away from my mind and we became friends and soon...we were lovers. However, her parents loathed me because of my status. That wasn't their fault though. I wasn't a Darcy at that age.
"I loved my Cass. Talking about her aches me to this day. My sweetheart, the love of my life, gone at such a young age and all because of me.
"Charles died after he crashed his car, drunk in grief. He died on my twenty-first birthday and I was left without a family...again.
"Cass was always there during the times of my grief and she consoled me. I proposed to her that very night to marry me and she was so happy that she threw herself in my arms and cried and cried while I held her, promising to myself that I would never let her go.
"We got married a month later. My adoptive father had left me with quite a fortune and I was rich but all these riches made me feel sick so I donated them to charity in the name of my mother and got a job, in the very school where I was once a student. Cassandra had by now become an attorney. Three years after our marriage, we were happy and blessed with a nice home and enough money to survive. Cassandra earned more than me and sometimes we used to fight over that little fact but at the end of the day, all was fine.
"Yes. Fine. Everything was fine until Edmund Dawson showed up.
"No, Eliza, he wasn't related to James. He was my student, a boy of seventeen. He was a charming lad with kind, soft features. His green eyes always shone with curiosity and I saw myself in him. He was fascinated by the strange facts of Science like I had been and he would often ask me questions while the other students shrugged and mocked him. He was a calm and quiet boy, my favourite. One day, he came to me and told me about this theory he had been working on. He gave me his diary and asked me to take the time to read it. That night, I read it. Guess what his theory was? He deemed Time Travel possible and was asking me to help him test it. I agreed instantly and that Eliza, was the biggest and greatest mistake of my life.
"Over the next two years, we worked on our theory. Yes, 'our' for I had made some modifications to it. I was a little more focused by now and unknown to myself, had started neglecting my wife. She would often wait for me till late while I worked with Edmund in our school laboratory. I used to come home and find her asleep. The next morning, I would be gone early before she even woke up. Your mother once tried to convince me to have a baby for she thought that it would give me a sense of responsibility but I didn't listen to her nor did I tell her what I had been up-to.
"It was my twenty-sixth birthday when our project was complete. It looked nothing like one would imagine. What took two years to make was just a small black box that contained within it the powers of time travel.
"I was late, again, and I wanted to go home. Now that I had completed my work, I wanted to go back to my wife but Edmund had other plans. He wanted to test it, test the device right then and there. Before I could stop him, my curious student had already started the device and right in front of my eyes, he disappeared into thick smoke.
"I was shocked and stilled. Anxiety ripped through my veins because the device was lying there, in front of me, on the floor where Edmund had vanished. The device didn't travel so how was I supposed to bring him back?
"I panicked as time ticked by. I picked up the box and began to work on it, to find something that we missed. Anything to bring that lovely boy back and I did. I succeeded in bringing him back but when he got back, he fell on the floor. His eyes were open but he wasn't blinking. He was rigid and I checked his pulse. It was working and he appeared fine but his eyes...God...his eyes told me that something was wrong.
"I rushed him to the hospital after having closed his eyelids. I informed the doctors that the boy had fainted and needed urgent help. They treated him but it was after a long examination that they came out and told me that they had to stop his treatment and why he needed to die. I was devastated and asked them why. They informed me of the one thing that sent shivers down my spine. The one thing that I feared. I brought Edmund back but I only brought back half of him. He returned brain-dead.
"That was the last straw. I returned home that day and cried in my wife's arms. She didn't know what had happened but she held me and comforted me. The next morning I attended another funeral of my life and I prayed to God for it to be the last one. I left my job after that and apologized to Cassandra. She told me that I had made the right decision and she was proud. I asked her if we can still have the baby. She laughed and said 'Yes'.
"We lost our first child and Cassandra was in grief while I was in legal trouble because of Edmund's unnatural death. However, my name was cleared and everything seemed to turn out fine. Cassandra was twenty-eight when she found out she was pregnant...with you and I was happy. I disposed of every bad omen of my past. The laboratory, the theories, everything but I couldn't get rid of that pathetic device because I feared that if I broke it, it would lead to something bad and worse than what had already happened. I kept it in a drawer, in my study, forgetting all about it until it took my Cassandra.
"Happiness and grief are sisters, one follows right after the other. I was happy, Cassandra was happy. I looked after her with utmost care. I cherished every moment I spent with her and she watched me proudly, all the while oblivious to the fact that her husband was hiding secrets. She was eight months in with you when the most devastating thing happened. She walked into my study in search of one of her medicines which she had misplaced somewhere. I usually always kept the door locked but that day, as pitiful as my luck is, I didn't. I didn't lock the door and she went in and while searching, she found the box. That damned box!
"I was in the garden, planting rose bushes for her when I heard her scream. I rushed in and as I stepped into the room, I saw her disappearing in thin air, wisps of smoke swallowing her whole. I stood frozen, not being able to move and when everything settled, I slumped to the floor and tears filled my eyes as I realized that my wife was gone. I don't remember how long I sat there in that rigid posture until I decided that I still had a chance to get my beloved back. I stood up and took that box and began to work on modifications. It took my nervous hands a week to get it done.
"I brought Cassandra back and as soon as she was back, she fell in my arms and I figured she was in labour. I rushed her to the hospital while she kept on asking me to bring her a lawyer. She didn't say a word to me about the entire incident; she appeared to have finally given up on me. I brought her the lawyer and she made him write a will. She said that she was going to die and she wanted her daughter to have everything of hers.
"My Cassandra didn't even look at me and I never heard her say my name again as the doctors gave her anaesthesia and performed a cesarean. You were born, Eliza, and your mother was gone the very next second. I never saw my Cassandra's bright eyes again and my hope of redemption died with her. The only thing that horrified me more was the fear that my daughter had travelled through time even before she was born and I feared the repercussions of that.
"The moment I saw you, I chose to take you away from that wretched place which gave me nothing but sorrow. I brought you here, on the outskirts of London, in this small but kind town. It was surprising for me when Lorna followed too. She had chosen to support me in times of distress, oblivious to my story. I disposed of that bloody, murderous box. I stuck it to a mason jar and filled the jar with fireflies to hide its murderous past and then gave it away, never to see it again.
"That object destroyed my life and therefore it stays where it does before it can destroy anyone else's. I can't help you, William, because I fear to destroy you too. I can't be a murderer of yet another soul.
"I'm sorry, son and I'm sorry, my dearest daughter but this is my tale of woe and now you are free to judge me for yourself."