• tab The crisp, cold wind chills my spine, reminding me that the conversion from Winter to Spring is not quite finished. Should've brought my sweatshirt or something...I mean, I would've, if I knew I was going to go on this insane time traveling adventure.
    tab And of course Tom was going to pick a park to go to. Isn't that what a quiet place always is? Gotta say, though. It would be pretty cool to just run here. Lush, green open field. Rolling hills. Feeling the wind make a tornado out of your hair...I mean, if I actually had two working legs to do it with. The fact the one of my legs is broken left me on this bench with Tom, this guy I hardly even know about, but apparantly, he knows everything about me.
    tab "It's so...quiet." I snap back out of my braching thoughts as siib as Tom's voice starts to echo in my ear. "Makes you almost forget we're on a mission to save a suicidal girl's life." I sigh, digging my chin into the palms of my hands.
    tab "Do you have to make every moment we sit down a reflective speech?" He looks at me, gives a weak smile, and says in a loud kind of whisper,
    tab "Huh...Sorry." We don't say anything or a few seconds. I take this as an oppurtunity to ask some questions. It's what I do.
    tab "What are we doing here anyway?" Tom hunches forward, crosses his arms, and replies with a simple and incredibly general answer,
    tab "Thinking."
    tab "Yeah, ok. What are we thinking about?" Tom shrugs, and says with this clueless face on him,
    tab "I dunno." Oh, yeah. Well, thanks a lot for the decisive answer.
    tab "You 'dunno'?"
    tab "Well, I know what I'm thinking about, but not you. So, therefore, I don't know what we are thinking about, as long as that we includes you." Way to take my question as literally as possible.
    tab "Uh-huh. So what are you thinking about, Cap'n Smart Alec?"
    tab "Oh, stuff. Lot's-a-stuff. The mission, mostly." I groan.
    tab "Who would've guessed." Again, Tom looks at me, his cold, solomn eyes piercing into me, already bracing me for the next question.
    tab "What, do you not care? Do you not care that a girl is going to comit suicide by the end of the week?" I nod, but maybe not the most sincere nod as I roll my eyes.
    tab "Oh, I care. But I just don't think about it all the time. You wanna know what I think about?" Tom doesn't respond, so I go on,
    tab "This time jumping business. When's it going to end? When am I going to be able to run again? Am I going to die? The mission is the least of my concerns right now. Right now...I just...miss...I just..."
    tab "Home?" Tom finishes for me. "You miss your home? Living in the high life, no worries?"
    tab "If you want to word it that way, yes. Why, something wrong with that? Being homesick a sin?"
    tab "Oh, nothing like that. But sometimes...You gotta step down from the high chair. Humble yourself. That's the only way you can become a better person." Temper is always on a short fuse for me, so as soon as he says the word, "person", I shout angrily,
    tab "Become a better person? Honestly, I'm not some sort of jerk. And it's not like I've been taking the easy road all my life. I think spending six years in some crap orphange is enough humbling and more than makes up for the rest of my high chair in life." Tom just stares at the ground, and says a slow, calming voice,
    tab "Tim, I have no doubt you had hardhips. I told you earlier that I researched your background before saving you. Your father...your parents...they left you when you were six, didn't they?" I stop. For once, I don't have a come back. For once, I'm not going to make a smart retort.
    tab "Tom, I need to know something about your parents..." I don't reply. Just stare out into the rolling fields...Try to wish myself somewhere else.
    tab "I need to know if--"
    tab "You need to know something from me?" I finally reply. "Is that the secret of why you brought me? So you could fish out my life story?"
    tab "Tim, I don't mean to--"
    tab "Well, forget it, then! I'm not telling you anything!"
    tab "Tim...Why?"
    tab "My secret's my own. Right, Tom?" I snap, trying to make it sound as ironic as possible. Tom opens his mouth to speak, but a different set of words come out than I expect,
    tab "We need to move."
    tab "What?"
    tab "Someone's watching us."