How To Go Back in Time Book One: Chapter Five

My eyes glazed over as I drifted on the way to Birdland. Something about this Podunk desert
town made me sleepy. Most of it was just empty space. Vast mountains. Rolling hills. And up in the
sky, surrounded by shades of indigo, a thin moon hung. It was evening.
I had kinda of already figured it out. Gabriel would confirm Justin’s alibi. Either because he
lied, or it was the truth. But with the video tape, Justin would be convicted and sent to prison. He had to
have done it, so I couldn’t yet figure out why I felt sympathy for the kid. It didn’t make sense.
But what had surprised me was how the body was placed. Not at night. Not in the early
morning. Right there, in broad daylight, with a witness watching. And Justin didn’t have a car parked in
his drive way. How did he transport the body? Was Gabriel his accomplice?
My mind shifted back to the possibility of a second killer. Each crime scene was different. What
if I was about to meet him?
As I got on the dirt road, dust flew up behind. And just a little farther up was Gabriel’s house.
Wide backyard with another trailer on it. A white house painted blue on the sides, with dusty awnings
and weeds growing between them. A house fit for a hobbit.
Climbing up the rickety steps, I knocked on the door and it opened. A fat guy in a basketball
jersey stood there. The door was slammed right on my foot and I yelped in pain. “I’m not here to arrest
you!”
From behind the door, “You aren’t?”
“No! Why’d you slam the door on me?”
“Because I thought you were gonna arrest me! Are you?”
“No. I’m not. Can you take the door off my foot?”
The door was moved and he stepped out. From a crack I could see a television playing shitty
infomercials. Every now and then the signal would be blocked and it’d distort. “Was Justin here
yesterday?”
He nodded. “Yeah, he was. We just played on that TV, and got a little stoned.”
“Do you understand we’ve found a video tape of Justin committing a murder yesterday?”
Gabriel’s jaw dropped, though he tried to conceal it. “Are you lying to me?” I asked.
He shook his head. “N-No. Not at all.”
“Did he leave around three P.M.?”
“No, he stayed til four.”
I stepped back. Did Justin pay him to lie? What was going on here? “Is that the full story? Let
me see your ash tray.”
Gabriel paused for a moment and then retreated inside. He returned with an aluminum can that
was cut in half. I reached inside for the roach and grabbed it. “I’ll be taking this, alright?”
“Alright. Have it if you want, I guess.”
What a weird day, I thought. All this asking and wandering had gotten nowhere. Sure, his alibi
had been confirmed, but video showed otherwise. Maybe it’d hold up in court? I didn’t think he did it.
And as I stepped out I noticed a lady staring at me. White hair, wrinkles, and wearing a gray
dress. She stared at me for a moment with eyes that could penetrate steel. Something about her was off,
though. It was her energy.
“Hello Irwin.” She said, waving.
“How do you know my name?”
“I know many names. You’re here to question him about Justin, aren’t you? Well, I myself am a
witness.”
“What can you share?”
“I’ll speak about it inside. Too many eyes here.” I watched as her gaze was directed to a
window.
I followed her inside and she immediately got tea ready on the pot. Her yard was an overgrown
jungle, but the inside was perfectly clean and perfectly placed. It seemed untouched. For a second, I
didn’t wanna sit down as I felt I’d disrupt the purity.
But I did and she came out with tea. “So, what do you wanna know?”
“I wanna know what Justin was doing yesterday.”
“He was over at Gabriel’s—my neighbor. You just met him.”
“…And did you see him?”
She smiled. “Yes, I did, in fact. He waved hi and I waved back, and then he went inside. Didn’t
come out for a few hours. He’s a nice boy.”
“Are you aware that he’s been caught on video tape committing a murder, at the same time he
was supposedly here?”
She paused for a moment. I watched as her eyes traced down the carpet. “I didn’t know that. But
that’s not true. I saw him, I swear it.”
I let out a grumble and chose silence. Then she looked at me with twinkly eyes and asked me a
question. “Irwin, do you ever feel alone?”
“Pretty much all the time, yeah.”
“Ah,” She said, “Then I have to do this.” She went into the kitchen and came back with candles
and salt. She cleared off the table and brought the flame to the candle. With the lights turned off, and
the curtains closed, the room was a dim orange. Then she took the salt and poured it in a circle,
drawing lines through it. The salt took on a pinkish hue, and the shadows began to move.
“These are their names.” She said. “These beings are made to make sure you’re never alone.”
I suddenly got the feeling that I was being watched. That I was not alone in this room.
“Now, I want you to stare at them.”
“Stare at them?”
“Yes. That’s how you meet them. By standing up and looking at them, they decide whether or
not they want you.”
I sighed and stood up, pacing around. And the more I looked the more I realized that the salt
was their bodies, and the lines were their faces. I became overwhelmed with a giggle fit and just felt the
most intense euphoria ever. I liked them, and they liked me. There was four.
But the more I walked, the more I felt protected. Then loved. And then, with a scary under bite,
I felt seen.
“They like you.” Gretchen said. “In fact, one of them likes you.”
“What? Which one?”
“The girl one.”
“Oh.” I giggled and said, “This one just likes doing his own thing. That one likes music, it’s
pretty cool. And the girl, well, uh…”
“Good. You’re seeing their personalities.”
“Is the ritual complete?”
She nodded. “Yeah. They claimed you.” She went to snuff out the candle and found that the
flame stayed. She tried again. But still, the flame would not go out. “Turn the fan on.” She said. And I
did, but it still wouldn’t go out.
“I don’t get what’s happening.” Gretchen mumbled. “It’s not going out. Grab a pot of water!”
I began pouring the water and brought it over. “It’s not going out?”
“Yeah, dump it.”
I did and the light was vanquished. The shadows took over the room.