How To Go Back in Time Book One: Chapter Eighteen

Down the canyon and in the grass where insects circled, I laid down. The pain in my knee was
bad, to say the least. The old lady could definitely kick. When it happened, I felt the shock and almost
passed out. Now it was turning shades of green and purple.
“Looks like you took a pretty bad fall.” James said.
“Not a fall. She kicked me.”
“Need help getting up?”
I swatted his hand away. “No. I don’t.” I tried to get up and stand on my legs, but they felt
unusually weak. I fell.
“He’s gonna need to go to the hospital.” Paul said.
“No, I don’t need too!” I yelled. “I just need to be picked up and then I can walk.”
Paul sighed and looked over to James. “Take him to the hospital. Me and Rosa will put out an
APB—we’ll hunt Gretchen.”
James nodded and practically carried me to the car. When I got in my seat, I crumpled. “I
should be the one out in the field. I mean, fuck, I’m telling you that they have no idea what they’re
getting into.”
He scoffed. “I don’t know how many times I have to tell you this, but your knee looks bad…
dude. You can’t do anything. Let Rosa and Paul figure it out. They’re experienced. They got this.”
I decided to stay silent. There was a disconnect between me and these people. They wouldn’t get
it. And if I tried to explain, I’d be branded a crazy drunk. Well, I am that—but that’s besides the point.
These people would never listen.
The tires skidded as we pulled out
of the parking lot. We went up the road. “I had a crazy dream last night, you know. Felt like it was
telling me something.”
“Yeah?”
“Basically, I was in this hole. Like, an actual black hole. No light could be seen. Actually, I
think there might’ve been a candle, but it was dim and went out rather quickly. And, um, I was in this
black hole for what felt like forever. It reminded me of my college days. And I just sat there and
thought and thought, and kept on thinking.
Like, hell, man, I just thought about everything. All my screw ups, all my failures, all the good
things! And then, suddenly, there was light. And then I realized there was light because I had dug and
stayed there until there was light.”
* * *
AND NOW,
A HOW TO GO BACK IN TIME SPIN-OFF
ROSA AND PAUL
The both of them arrived at Gretchen’s trailer at dusk. Cicadas and grasshoppers chirped. In the
overgrown field that was her backyard, bees circled. And in the ground were little holes for the little
gophers. Turquoise charms and wind chimes hung up on the porch. They swayed in the evening wind.
The two of them arrived at Gretchen’s trailer right as it had turned dusk. There was just the
faintest spot of light above the mountains. Probably from the Earth swallowing the Sun whole. A dance
of transformation through suffering.
With a flick of the wrist, Paul opened the door. He stepped inside and did a double-take. It
seemed that everything was left untouched. There was no dust on the ebony coffee table. The coasters
were perfectly straight, and the curtains were all the same length.
Paul grabbed a piece of paper from a dresser, and his energy shifted. “Lysergic acid
diethylamide, phencyclidine—oh my god…” He sighed and turned to Rosa. “This is a sheet of drug
orders.”
“Drug trafficking? Here?”
“Yes, Rosa. Gretchen has been drug trafficking. There is drug trafficking in Beldad.”
“But it’s just psychedelics. Wait, you don’t think she could’ve had access to the water plant,
right?”
“Think about it.” Paul said. “Has anything been normal during this investigation? Or has
everything just changed?”
Rosa sighed. “That’s what she was doing. Poisoning people.”
Just then, the floorboards creaked. Their heads turned, and they saw Gretchen standing in the
doorway. She cracked a smile and stepped through. “Detectives…” She said, giving a little bow.
“Do you have any idea what we just found here?” Paul asked. “Why show up? Why?”
She shrugged and sat down on the couch. “I don’t know.”
“You got cocky, Gretchen. Don’t you know what over confidence can lead too?”
She smiled and placed her legs on the coffee table. “I guess I don’t.”
“You’re being arrested.”
“Stop! It’s not gonna be that easy!”
“And why’s that?”
From behind her, Gretchen withdrew a gun. Paul stepped back with frightful eyes, and Rosa
didn’t move an inch. “I got a thing I wanna do, so you can’t take me in yet. Either way I won’t survive
—but I don’t care. Keys, now!”
“…”
“KEYS!”
Paul grabbed the keys from his pockets and tossed them at Gretchen. “There ya go.”
“Well, thank you for cooperating—it’s much appreciated. I shall be leaving now!”
Without a word, the gunshot rang and caught Gretchen in the arm. She gasped and fell back
while blood spattered the wall. A yelp, and then she grabbed her arm and full-force sprinted to the car.
Paul launched forward and out of the door, firing. But all the bullets did is puncture little holes in the
body, while it took off. Rosa had been the one to shoot first.
* * *
Night time swept the sky. Leaving tiny white pinholes in the black fabric. They were following
a trail of blood.
“She’s wounded.” Rosa said. “They couldn’t have gone far.”
Paul thought for a moment. “I don’t know about that. She seems stronger than we think—she
took out Irwin.”
The trail they were following was leading them deeper and deeper into the desert. They had to
step over cactus and break off branches of Palo Verde’s. Around them was no light. Just the distant
warmth of their flash lights.
“Over here.” Rosa called out. The trail of blood suddenly shifted to the right. They followed it
and came to a set of train tracks.
Following the tracks, they fell into a silence. The hike was quiet and long, as they were
overwhelmed with unease. In the distance, the bushes rippled.
A shot came out, and Rosa turned to Paul. “What was that?”
“Sorry. Thought I saw something move.”
The train tracks suddenly stopped as they came to a row of dead bushes. However the blood led
into them, and they had to follow it. Peeling back the leaves, they heard the sound of labored breathing.
And then a whine.
Rosa stepped through and gasped. Gretchen was on the ground panting. Blood dripped from her
shoulder. She raised her hand and moaned, “Help me! I’ve been wounded. I’ve been hurt.”
Paul sighed. “Well, we got her.” He radioed for paramedics just as the handcuffs clinked around
her skinny wrists.