How To Go Back in Time Book One: Chapter Ten

THE PAST
ROSA DELGADO
“Rosa!” Paul barked from inside his office.
She sat up and peered forward. “What’s up?”
“There’s domestic dispute on Thompson. Can you handle it?”
Immediately, she began grabbing her things. “Yeah, I sure can.”
“The address is 2032.”
“Got it.” She said, and headed out the door.
And as she drove, she felt that the address was familiar. Maybe it was a house next to it. Or
behind it. But someone had called before, perhaps for the same thing.
Domestic abuse cases were always the same. Man and women have problems they don’t talk
about. This leads to miscommunication. That leads to resentment. If they don’t break up something
eventually boils over and one of them gets hurt.
Rosa pulled into the driveway. The curtains were closed, but they obviously weren’t blackout.
You could see from the shadows alone that people were arguing. Then Rosa finally heard the screams.
She hammered at the door and broke off the lock. “Beldad Police Department!” She yelled.
The air went silent, and she heard the sound something dropping. The door was opened, and
there stood a towering giant with yellowed teeth, and wide eyes. He was shirtless, and had a full body
of hair. There was a stain on his shoulder. “What seems to be the problem?”
Rosa cleared her throat and said, “I was called here by someone. Dispatch said it was a
domestic abuse—mind telling me?”
“Nothing’s going on here.” He said, licking his lips. His eyes kept the same, cold stare.
“Then can I talk to your wife?”
She watched that question wash over his face. From behind him, he was frightened. Though he
tried not to show it. “Sure. She’s sweet—you can talk to her.” He brought his burly hands up and
grabbed his wife by the shoulders. He dragged her to the door, and stepped back.
“What exactly happened?”
“Just arrest him.” She whispered.
“What?”
“Please, just arrest him.”
Rosa nodded. She grabbed her gun, and pointed it at the man. Stepping forward she said, “Sir,
you’re under arrest for battery of your wife.”
He blinked and reached for the knife.
Rosa winced, aimed, and shot. It hit the knife, and it ricocheted off the wall. He dropped to his
knees, and allowed himself to be arrested. He did not cry. He did not say anything. It was just a quiet
surrender.
He was dragged to the car, and Rosa threw him into the cell. It would be three days until he was
processed and sent to County Jail. The man would later get three years in prison. The wife moved out
of town (thank god for that), and eventually got put into a witness protection program. After that, I
don’t know. I haven’t checked it out.
Thirty minutes went by, and Rosa’s report was finished. She could now write a single page in
eight minutes. All of those years of typing had paid off. Her next errand, was to visit her husband in the
hospital.
She arrived and found the parking lot to be empty. The sky was completely slam-packed with
clouds, creating a screen over the entire sky. And there stood the luminous building. All alone.
A nurse immediately recognized her, and told her Marco would be in room 2B. She came out
the elevator and the door was right there. Peering through the cracks, she could see Marco lying in bed.
He was sweating, and from the look in his eyes, deathly sick. From the side, the ventilator hummed.
And with a deep breath, she pushed the door open. “Rosa, you’re here” Marco said.
She pulled up a chair and brought it next to him. There was a bright smile on her face the entire
time. Rosa touched his neck and felt all the scruffy bits of hair. “When’s the last time the nurses shaved
you?”
“Are you kidding? I’m not letting a nurse do that.”
“Then let me do it. I’m your wife.”
He growled and turned to the door. “Check the hallway—are there any nurses?”
“I’m not giving you a cigarette.”
“Listen, I know I’m not in the best of health, but—“
“No! I’m not killing you faster!”
Marco paused and moved back. “Well, how are things at the station?”
She sighed, “Had to deal with another abuse case.”
“Father and son?”
“No. Mother and father.”
“You know I never liked the fact you were a police officer.”
“Well, it pays the bills.”
Marco laughed and that turned into a cough. “Obviously not enough for these hospital bills!”
He yawned and pulled the blankets up. “I’m tired now.”
“Well, then I’ll sit here with you.”
“Thank you.”
* * *
THE PRESENT
Irwin opened his eyes, and a ray of sun directly illuminated his face. He rolled over to the side
and tried to go back to sleep. Though he found he was already past that point. Instead, he just stared up
at the fan as it spun cold air.
He felt the same nauseous pull in his stomach, and raced to the bathroom. When that was over,
he got to making his cure, and stood outside as he drank it. The air in Beldad had taken on a different
shape. The energy was calm and collected. There were even people walking around, all with smiles on
their face.
Now, when you’re in the middle of nowhere, there’s a few things you can do to cure boredom.
You could drive around—explore back roads. You could get stoned or drink, and then maybe drive
around. Perhaps you could get drunk with friends, at the bar. Or you could get stoned and watch
television. Maybe you could drink and then relax. You know, maybe…
And Irwin did just that. He sat down on his bed and flipped on the television, beer in hand. The
only thing that was on was a shitty soap opera about magic and faeries. Once he got bored of that, and
saw the main character’s tits, he decided to go for a drive.
Thirty minutes later, and Irwin pulled into a dirt spot. He faced the highway and watched as
cows grazed far off in the distance. Sunlight shone onto the stop sign, therefore reflecting onto the
asphalt. Mountains and deep rocky canyons surrounded him. It was hot as hell.
In the car, with the air blowing, Irwin suddenly remembered my presence. The dreams he was
having. He called out to me and asked, “Are you real?”
I descended a sudden silence into the air. The grass stopped blowing. The flies stopped
humming, and the cows stopped turning. That was his answer.
Though he didn’t know why, Irwin cracked a smile and put the car into drive. He came off the
dirt lot, and headed into town.
* * *
A car suddenly pulled up and the window was rolled down. A woman stuck her head out and
called Irwin’s name. Upon some squinting, Irwin realized it was Rosa. “Hey!” He said, walking up to
the window. “Why are you here?”
She smiled and said, “You’re leaving town soon, right?”
He nodded.
“Well, hop in. We’re gonna have some fun.”
Irwin paused for a moment, thinking. He didn’t know what he was getting into, but it was better
than sitting in his motel room. He got in on the passenger side and was instantly shook by the music.
Loud, pounding drums. Noisy guitars. Vocals that switches from melodic to screaming.
“Where are we going?” I asked.
She turned down the music and said, “Oh, it’s this area out of town—no one goes out there. Just
a bunch of dirt roads and hills. Sometimes I’ve seen cows!”
“So… we’re going offroading?”
“Uhuh!”
“Can we do that in a police car?”
She shrugged. “I do it all the time, and Paul never cares.”
“So it’s against the rules but nobody cares.”
“Exactly.” She said, then went back to lip syncing the music. “But we did a pretty good job,
right?”
“justin hasn’t been tried or convicted of anything, it’s not over yet. It’s only been a day.”
She chuckled and said, “Well, it’s over to me.”
“Hey, where are we even going?”
“There’s a batch of dirt roads just out of town, goes all over the place. There’s a few houses out
there too, pretty cool.”
Irwin nodded. “I remember doing this when I was, well, young.”
“I’ve lived here my whole life so… I remember doing this my entire life.”
They made it down the hill and into a canyon of little farm houses and other little paths. There
were even streetlamps, for once. Then they went around the curve around the mountain, and came to a
vast expanse of dirt.
Rosa forked a right and traveled down a wide road. The dirt was flat but the constant tires on it
made it bumpy. Hadn’t been maintained in a while, no biggie. The road turned left so Rosa turned left.
Then it curved right. And they came to a road, about the width of a quad, the led past a tree and finally
had yellow grass growing out of it. Rosa pulled off the road, into the shade of the tree, and parked.
They got out and Irwin stood against the tree, cool from the shade. “Where are you going after
this?” Rosa asked.
“Home, to Seattle.”
“And after that?”
“Eh, wherever I’m called too, I guess. I don’t have control over it.”
“What’s the best place you’ve been too?”
“Northern California—fuckin’ beautiful place. Southern part, well that’s a different story. I
wanna check out New York.”
“And see all the tall buildings?”
“Yeah, maybe live in one.”
Birds flew out from the tree and squeaked. They swirled past Irwin and then up into the sky.
The sun rested precariously over the horizon, making everything just a tadbit more yellow.
I went in for the kiss. She looked shocked but nevertheless gave in. I wrapped her thighs around
my legs and gently carried her to the ground. The rhythm of her breathing became faster and deeper.
Like a pant. A rush washed over her and she sighed. Her nails dug into my back, and then she let go.
I rolled over onto the side. My shirt was half a foot away from me so I didn’t grab it. I thought
to myself how nice that was, with a tinge of ego mixed in.
“This isn’t a serious thing. You know that, right?” She said.
I laughed. “I feel like I should be the one saying that.”