TIME MACHINE

A #HumansOfTime Story

I woke up coughing. Deep, wracking sobs that shook my entire frame and made my back bow off the ground. I could smell smoke and when I tried to inhale, the cough wracked me again.

Wait a minute. The floor? Why was I on the floor? I could feel hard packed earth beneath me, nothing like the soft carpet in my room or the cool tiles in the living room of my sister’s house. Even on nights when I stayed out partying and partied too hard, I always ended up in either of these rooms. This floor felt very unfamiliar.

Oh no! What had I done? Did I go home with a stranger last night? It wouldn’t be the first time but ever since I met Malik, I had resolved to put that behind me.

The thought of Malik and how he would feel if my fears of my current predicament proved true made me quickly open my eyes in panic but I could see nothing. At first, I thought I was still dreaming so I closed my eyes and opened them again but everything remained pitch black. The darkness was thick and complete, almost palpable.

What tha?!

“So you are awake?”, came a voice from the darkness.

I quickly twisted my neck to the left where the voice had come from to ascertain its owner but I could see nothing. The darkness was complete. I tried to strain my eyes to make out even a shape of the person but it was fruitless.

“Don’t bother straining your eyes. You will see nothing”, the voice said again. A female voice.

How did she know what I was doing? Could it be that she could see me and I couldn’t see her? Were there others in this darkness as well?

“How do you know what I am doing? Can you see me? How can you tell I am awake?”, I quickly asked.

“I have been where you are now. I also tried to strain my eyes when I first got here and I have seen enough now to know it doesn’t work. Do not worry, they will put on the light soon, they only allow it to remain dark for like two hours or so. I cannot be sure as they took my watch but I am fairly good at estimations” she said. Her voice was raspy, like a chain smoker’s but it sounded unnatural, the rasp. I could not focus on this oddity or how I came to know her rasp was unnatural, but I couldn’t focus on that just yet

“Where is ‘here’? Who are ‘they’?”, I asked again. I needed information and I needed it quickly!

“I don’t know where this is. They are murderous deranged people who have killed five girls while I have been here. Why they haven’t killed me yet, I do not know”

What?!!

The fear I had been trying to keep at bay now sprung forward to claim a tight grip on my throat.

“DID YOU JUST SAY THEY KILLED FIVE GIRLS?” came my shrill request.

“Sssshhhhh! They will hear us. You do not want them to hear us, believe me”.

“How do you know so much about these people?” I asked quieter

“I have been here many days and many nights. I cannot tell how long for when they take us out, they blindfold us. I do know they speak a language that has close similarities to the Maneti language and I come from a branch of the Maneti’s so I can sometimes understand them”

“That is crazy! This is a dream! It must be! This just cannot be happening!”

“It is happening but hysteria cannot help you. You must calm down” she said.

“What is your name?”, we had been talking for almost 20 minutes and I had no idea what she looked like or what her name was.

“Caroline, and yours?”

“Catherine”, I responded morosely

At this point, the thought of my sister, Anita came to me and I knew she would be beside herself with worry and it made me start crying. I also thought of Malik who I had met two months ago and I wept harder. My family would worry and they would have no idea where I was or how to find me. My chest shook as I heaved.

“Calm down”. Caroline urged in a desperate tone. “You mustn’t carry on so. It makes them angry when we cry and they beat us. Tell me instead what makes you cry and who will be looking for you so that we do not think of this nightmare”

“I cannot think of anything else!”, I wailed anew

“Tell me of the ones you love and who love you. Your hobbies and your interests. That will be a shining light to take us away from this crazy reality”, she almost seemed to be pleading now.

“Okay”, I sniffed

Then I told her about Malik and my parents and my friends.

I met Malik at the Jabi shopping Mall two months ago. My shopping bag had been overfull and when an item fell over, he left his own shopping cart and chased me to the checkout counter to give it to me. He was so nice and we clicked right off so I gave him my number and he promised to call. He did call the next day and we went out to see Captain America on our first date. I fell for him quickly. He was smart, a veterinarian and very ambitions, not satisfied with stagnant success and always wanting to do more, achieve more. He had schooled outside the country and he promised me he would take me to Paris for our first vacation. I was giddy. He made me laugh and we had such great fun together. Now, all of that was no more.

“Describe this Malik to me?” Caroline said

“He is tall, slender and likes afro haircuts”

“Does he have unusual eyes?” she questioned again.

“Yes, his eyes have a speck of green in the brown. He got it from his parents. How did you know that?”

“I know him. However, he introduced himself to me as Lekan at the park one day and we were dating before I came here. He is one of their recruiters”

“Recruiters?” I did not like the sound of that.

“Yes. Recruiters. The ones who find them the girls, they have about three of them.”

I was right. I really did not like the sound of that!

Malik recruited me for these people? How? Why? I loved him and I thought he loved me?

Something niggled at the edges of my memory. I looked for it and found it.

It was a memory. A scene from earlier in the week. Malik on his knees proposing. He did not have a ring. He proposed with a flower because he said I was always different and he wanted to do something different for me. A recruiter would not propose. Who was this woman and why was she saying these things?

“I know you’re lying”, I told her, my voice stony. “Stop lying to me”

The room was silent for a few seconds, then she asked in a sinister whisper ,” What did you just say to me?”

“I said, stop lying to me!” I yelled at her.

There were many things I expected her to do then but what she did do was not one of them. she burst out laughing.

I snapped, “What is so funny?”

“Nothing. Everything. This is amazing”.

She was making no sense but before I could question her, I heard movement and the room was suddenly flooded with light.

I blinked and focused on her. Caroline, if that was her real name and I seriously doubted that, stood across from me in a tiny oval chamber. She wore a long plain gown that was designed like a robe with no ornamentation. She had no earrings, no bracelets, no necklace. Just plain. She didn’t need any of those though for her face was amazing. She had beauty like I saw in the models on the cover of my magazines. I also knew that face. I met her at a bar last night and we had bonded over tequila. I could recall nothing beyond that.

I was too busy staring at her and so I did not notice she was opening the door until the men came into the room. Two men. Big and brawny. Sort of like weightlifters or bodyguards. They listened to her and then came towards me. I started fighting when they picked me up but it was like I did not even exist because my struggles did not faze them at all.

They carried me into an adjoining room that I hadn’t noticed.

The first thing to hit me as we moved into the room was the smell. It smelled so bad in there, I wanted to throw up. There was blood everywhere and in the middle of the room stood an awkward construction. A squat metal entrapment with a large round opening and even more blood pooled on the floor inside of it.

“This is our time travel machine,” Caroline announced “I designed it myself and these people are my loyal subjects. We can travel back in time with this machine. I just don’t understand why our subjects keep dying. Maybe we were looking for the wrong people. You, my dear are different! You could tell I was lying. This has never happened before. I used to play poker with some of the world’s best poker players and I know my bluffing skills are world class”

“What do you want with me?” I could not stop staring at the machine in horror.

“If people are dying, don’t you think you should stop and fix your machine first?” I asked tremulously.

That was when Caroline transformed. If she was amazingly beautiful before, she quickly turned terrifyingly ugly for her true craziness now manifested.

She flew across the room and smacked me hard across the face.

“I will not stop! I must find a way to go back and save them! My husband, my babies, they are waiting for me”

My face hurt. This woman really packed a punch into her smacks. Wow! And she had such dedication to her branch of craziness.

“Put her in the chamber, let us begin” she ordered now.

“No! No! No!” I yelled at them as they tried to move me into the chamber. I started struggling anew. They were going to kill me, this crazy woman and her gang. They were clearly mad. All of them.

Then we heard the commotion. People shouting, screams and gunshots.

We all paused!

“Go find out what’s going on”, Caroline snapped at one of the men holding me as she ordered the other to put me in the machine. Then she went to a panel on the wall and starting turning knobs and pressing buttons. Suddenly, static electricity began flaring inside the chamber as Brawny number 2 dragged me closer and closer to it. No way was I going into that thing. I fought harder and tried to bite the man but I only managed to slow him down a little as he kept pushing on.

“Let me go!” I yelled at him.

He might as well have been deaf for he paid me no mind.

“You heard the lady. Let her go”, came a new voice. I knew that voice. I loved that voice. I turned to see Malik standing in the room, unarmed but standing tall.

I felt joy. Then I felt fear. Mind-bending fear

“Baby! What are you doing here?! You have to go. These people are dangerous. They have killed people. Look at all the blood. Go now!”

“No, they haven’t. They have just killed a lot of animals here. This isn’t human blood”, Malik replied, not taking his eyes off Brawny number 2.

“Huh?”

Animal blood? I looked at the floor and really couldn’t tell. It all looked the same as human blood to me.

“Yeah. We found a lot of animals being mistreated in this camp. The police and animal rights are here rounding everyone up and moving the animals which are alive to safety”

Suddenly, Caroline lunged for a drawer and I saw someone else who just entered the room tackle her to the floor.

Anita!

Oh my God! My sister was here. My family was here.

Then just as men in police uniforms flooded into the room, my senses overloaded and I must have slumped.

I woke up briefly later to find myself cradled in Malik’s arms. “How did you find me?”, I asked

“Your phone’s GPS. You never came home. I went to the bar you like reading at. Heard you left with 2 big men and a woman who I’d never heard of and that you appeared to be unconscious because you were carried out. All very red flags for me, so I quickly alerted your phone company so we could track you. Dele, my friend works there and pulled strings for me to make it happen fast. I was here 3 hours ago, saw what was going on, took photos and went back to get the police.”

“Thank you baby”, I murmured weakly

Malik soothed,” I’ve got you. We’re going home. I’ve got you”. He said

And so I closed my eyes again and rested.

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Time Machine is the second story in my #HumansOfTime series, a challenge which I up with on Facebook.

Here is a link to the first story… “Dream Play” https://medium.com/@Nuyo/dream-play-8ebe3f6710

Time Machine is dedicated to Usman Abdulazeez for the month of June. Next installation is for July. Keep reading ☺