• Tminus

    T - 10 seconds, just then I knew this was it, it was now or never, I knew I had to tell her, Bonnie Jenson; I had to tell her how I felt before I left.

    T - 9 seconds. I remember the first day I met her, it was a hot summer’s day in the small town where I grew up and like most country kids there was only one place to hang out on a hot summer’s day, the pool. My friends and I walked in and scanned the grass for a nice shady place to sit and relax, after we found it and placed our stuff down half of us jumped in and the other half, me included went to go get drinks. I was only fifteen at the time so girls were the only thing on my mind, as I passed each of the little groups I checked out the hot girls in there skimpy swim suits, it was great being alive, I thought to my self hoping for the off chance to see something I shouldn’t. That’s when I noticed her, a new face, sitting next to another girl that I had seen around.

    As I walked past she briefly looked up and smiled at me, that beautiful smile could turn the hardest man into the softest pile of goo in microseconds, I melted just a little then a lot as she looked back up at me as I was walking away.

    We got the drinks and went back to sit down, as we walked past the place she and her friend were sitting just moments ago she was gone so I just continued to walk with the two friends I had come with.

    I dived into the water and swam a little under the water, as I surfaced I heard someone calling me from the poolside, as I looked up I noticed Jen, one of the girls I had come with. Calling me,
    “Toby, come here” she called as she motioned me to come closer so I dived down and surfaced next to where she was standing,
    “What’s up?” I asked as I rubbed water out of my eyes and hoisted my self onto the pool edge,
    “Zoë was just here asking about you,” She smiled and then sat next to me, “She says that her friend was asking if she knew you and stuff.”
    “Zoë?” I asked emptying the water out of my ears,
    “Zoë,” she pointed at the girls from before, “you know Zoë.”
    “Ahh Zoë, yeah,” I trailed off a little, “I think”
    “Anyway, her friends new to town and there going to the Kyle party and want to know if you wanted to come, “She smiled sheepishly,
    “No, I don’t want to go to my brother’s party at my house,” I smiled back,
    “Yeah I said you wouldn’t be able to make it,” She laughed a little, stood up and walked back to our shady place.

    T - 8 seconds, The announcement broke me out of my trance, it had only been a second but It felt like an eternity in my mind, I touched a button on the view screen ahead of me, “Call Bonnie Jenson” I said to which it happily obeyed.

    The night of the party was normal, living with my brother had its advantages like he was young and nearly every Saturday night he would find a reason to celebrate, tonight’s was a legitimate reason, it was his girlfriends birthday. My friends and I sat about with my older brother, his girlfriend was talking to her parents so he came and sat with us, now I know what you would be thinking about a guy who loves to get drunk but no, everyone in town loved my brother because he was one of the most successful people in the little town, he was the type of person that you just had to be jealous of, great girlfriend, great job and a great life. He excels at everything he did and the worse part is that he didn’t even need to try, I couldn’t complain though, I had everything I needed and he always helped me out when I really needed it. Our house was big and decked out so everyone loved the parties.

    As we were all talking about the most random of stuff I felt a nudge from beside me and when I turned to look I saw Jen looking towards the door so I followed her gaze and that’s when I saw them, Zoë looked happy but her friend looked a bit down then she turned to walk out but Zoë grabbed her arm and said something to her. My brother saw both Jen and I looking at the door so his gaze followed, I looked at him and saw the large grin on his face, I knew what he was about to do,
    “So, Zoë or her friend?” He asked Jen,
    “How the ********, why dose everyone seem to know this Zoë chick and I don’t?” I asked,
    “I dated her older sister in school dipshit” he replied as he stood up and walked over to them, I tried to hide behind my glass only to have Mark, Jen’s boyfriend and my best friend take it away from me, “Grow some nuts dude,” He said as he sat back down,
    “Ha,” I looked back to the door just in time to see all three of them walking over, the girl seemed to be a little happier, not overly excited but happy none the less.

    “Everyone, you all know Zoë,” my brother started to which I noticed everyone sitting around the Table nodded a hello, “This is Bonnie, she just moved here from the city.”
    Everyone in turn introduced them selves until it came to me, “and this is my little brother Toby,”

    The rest of the night was spent talking and dancing, I got to know Bonnie more and after I walked her home.

    T - 7 Seconds, The phone rang. The following week we hung out some more just Bonnie and I as Zoë had to go away for a week; I found out that they met at school and became best friends nearly instantly. More time was spent at the pool; we sat around watching every one playing and splashing around. I lay down and looked to my left where she was sitting, I watched her as she watched everyone else. “Toby,” She looked at me,
    “Yeah,” I asked as I sat up,
    “I have to tell you about something,” She seemed slightly distant,
    “Yeah, go ahead” I replied,
    “I have a boyfriend who is coming down for the weekend, do you think you can show him around,” at the word boyfriend my heart sank a mile and I slightly felt sick,
    “Uh yeah I guess” I said as I laid back down and looked up at the tree,
    “Great,” she said quietly, she then stood up and went to the side of the pool before diving in.

    T - 6 seconds. “Hello,” A voice came in on the other end. That weekend was like the worst two days of my life, I would like to say that he was a jerk and that he hit on every girl in town but I can’t, he was great, hell I liked him within the first hour of us walking around, he was ok looking I guess, I can’t really judge a guy, he was smart and loved computer games just as much as I did, and he was great at them to boot.

    We got on like a house on fire, we went back to mine and played Counterstrike and Unreal all day, Bonnie was helping her parents before she could go to the weekend party, we played games and had a laugh, watched a couple of movies and laughed some more. I knew I had lost this battle and couldn’t do anything to break these two up, not if I wanted a chance anyway, he was too much like me and I thought I could since that he felt the same way because every time I mentioned Bonnie he would seem to get possessive, not really noticeable but it lingered there non the less.

    The night was cool, strange due to the heat wave we had suffered that very day, the stars were bright and there wasn’t a cloud in sight as the party raged on into the early hours of the morning. My thoughts were all about the same general subject, Bonnie, Why had she asked about me if she already had a boyfriend, was she just trying to make friends or was she trying to find a guy for her boyfriend to hang out with? These and many more questions swirled around endlessly through my head so I turned in early, that and the fact that I couldn’t stand to be there while Bonnie and Rick sat around all over each other, I didn’t think it was fair for me to bring down the mood of the room as everyone could sense my discomfort, they were being overly nice to me. I think even Bonnie could sense it as the later it got the more she would look at me and smile almost like she was saying sorry.

    I sat in bed and listened to my music which was slightly louder than usual to drown out the music from the party, I heard a faint knock at the door so I laid down and pretended to be asleep, the door opened and I heard footsteps,
    “I’m sorry, I should have told you about him sooner.” The voice continued, “Please don’t be mad at me.” After that Bonnie walked out and closed the door behind her. All that was left was the subtle thumping sound that was the party music and my own.

    T - 5 seconds, “Hey it’s me, Toby”. The following week was the last of the school holidays. I spent most of it at home playing online. I didn’t see Bonnie much, I saw her at the shops and we exchanged a meek greeting but that was about it.

    There was no party that weekend as my brother had to go away on a business trip, I was glad, I didn’t feel like seeing anyone.

    T - 4 Seconds. “Toby, I have to tell you something”.

    She moved away about two months later, she moved in with her dad. But about three years later after I had moved away I came back for a holiday to see all the old friends who had stayed around.

    It was another hot day so I was at the pool and as I walked up to buy drinks, two hand covered my eyes, “Guess who” the voice asked,
    “Bonnie” I said and turned to see her, she hadn’t changed much she was still a thing of pure beauty, I fell in love again from that smile, she hugged me and we sat down and caught up on old times. I found out that she was still with Rick and they were engaged to be married. I told her about the project I was involved in, a new experimental space craft that can theoretically travel at the speed of light or explode into a huge nuclear fireball. I was to be a fighter pilot fast tracked from the academy because of my great grades and the fact that my brother was the captain helped a lot. The best thing about this light travel as apposed to what you may have heard about was that instead of actually speeding up time locally it tore a hole in space and was instantly teleported to where it was supposed to go or so the theory goes. Or it could just do what you see in movies and speed up time locally so that one minute ship time is three months on earth.

    T - 3 Seconds. “Toby, I, I L…” before she could finish the sentence the comm.. went dead and was replaced with a message, ‘We are sorry for the inconvenience but due to faster than light travel all comm. Lines have been shut off.’

    T - 2 Seconds. I had heard from a friend of a friend that Bonnie and Rick had split up but you know you can never really trust gossip.

    T - 1 Second, Engines at full, faster than light travel has now been initiated. Please enjoy the ride.

    After that there was nothing, a flash of bright light and then nothing.