Memories from a Different Future: Jump When Ready, Book 2 (5 page)

“Are we talking about quantum physics?” Henry asked.

“Sorry, not following,” Jamie said.

Nikki had never been much of a science person either, but
evidently Henry had learned more in school than she had. But, of course, he’d
gone to school decades later. “I don’t know much about that either,” she
admitted.

“What Henry is saying is that, in his last life,
scientists started to gain an understanding of how time really works as well as
its relationship to space. For example, how a particle can be in two places at
the same time. Or how, if you could manage to travel fast enough you could bend
time. Some of it was based on scientific experience and some purely on theory.
Not that it matters. Experiencing time as we do here is out of the question on
the other side. All they can do—all they can ever keep doing—is to look for
clues.”

“But you’re saying we can we can see the future,” Jamie
said.

Martha turned to him. “Just occasionally. That can only
happen when a Transitioning event will affect someone you’ve known in this
realm. And you’ll only be able to see the future up to the moment of that
event. So, for your group this is the first possible time. Hopefully, there
won’t be many more instances of this as you all prepare to move forward. In
fact, it’s considered to be a very unfortunate occurrence for your
development.”

Nikki wondered who could possibly consider this more an
“unfortunate occurrence” for them than for Curtis. There were times when she
felt glad not knowing whoever it was Martha knew. She wasn’t entirely sure she
could have restrained herself from slapping them.

“Can you see more of the future than us?” Henry said.

Henry’s expression told Nikki he was going on a hunch.
Evidently, a good one because Martha nodded and said, “A little. Like
everything else in this realm, it’s a matter of degrees. I can a see a bit more
than you. Others I know can see more than I do. Before you object, just realize
I’ve been here much longer than you. Hundreds of years, if we were to measure
time using that term.”

Nikki didn’t care anymore. What did it matter how time
worked—how this entire realm worked, for that matter—if life in the other realm
remained continually unfair and cruel? In that moment, it didn’t matter to her
how much more time Martha might have experienced or might be able to see. And
who cared about the invisible people she knew who none of her group had met
yet? Screw them, if they didn’t have the time or interest to talk to her
directly.

“It’s not fair,” Nikki said. “Curtis is happy these days.
He’s really happy!”

Martha looked down at the coffee table, where all of
their hot chocolates had been forgotten. After a moment, she raised her eyes to
meet Nikki’s again. “I realize it seems unfair but there’s so much we don’t
know. Remember, in the big picture what we might see as tragedies are just
small moments in time. And you know, either way, the person you knew as Curtis
will be okay. Whether he ends up back here with us or somewhere else, he’ll
still be fine.”

Nikki jumped to her feet. “Will he? How can you promise
that when you only see so much yourself? You know it’s true, Martha!”

Nikki knew better than to accept that Curtis would be
okay once again on this side. Sure, here you still thought, lived and breathed.
You even had fun and got to spend time in your garden, library or favorite
pond. You got to hang out with your friends and do pretty much whatever you wanted.
But did that make you okay? No, it didn’t. It just made you safe for a while,
then you had to try again. You had to change and grow. You had to fall in love,
hold a baby in your arms. You had to help children grow up. Eventually, you had
to grow old and die. You had to pay that price if you truly wanted to
experience life. That much Nikki knew and she’d almost been ready to take that
risk. Almost.

As always, Martha remained calm, but this time Nikki saw
confusion and pain in her eyes too. In that moment, Nikki knew Martha wanted
the same thing, for Curtis, now Ian—to experience a long, happy and full human
lifetime.

Nikki perched forward on the couch, looking back and
forth between them. “How do we change this?”

Martha shook her head, almost imperceptibly. “I don’t see
how you possibly could. What you just told me means that your world and Ian’s
have already started to intersect.”

Nikki stared at her. “But it hasn’t happened yet, not in
Ian’s world.”

“That’s true. In Ian’s physical experience the event
hasn’t yet taken place.”

“Then we need to stop it from happening.” Nikki looked to
Henry, then Jamie.

Martha noticed their exchange of eye contact. “I know
what you’re thinking. But this isn’t like before with Henry’s sister. At least
that time you were only attempting to alter the outcome of something currently
happening. I would have to guess it’s nearly impossible for you to keep
something from happening in someone else’s future.”

“You said ‘nearly’ impossible,” Henry said. “Not totally
impossible.”

Martha thought for a moment. “That is what I said. To be
honest, this is a first for me too. I’ve never tried myself, nor have I known
anyone who has.”

Henry’s eyes briefly met Nikki’s. She’d seen that look in
his eyes before.

Jump Forward

Nikki, Henry and Jamie drifted in
the air as Ian trudged through pouring rain, backpack slung over his shoulder
and the hood of his jacket pulled over his head. From above, he could have been
anyone, just another student among hundreds making their way across the
University of Washington campus.

“This so totally makes me miss going to school,” Jamie
said, turning to Henry.

A moment passed before Henry responded. “Yeah, I know.
But I was kind of looking forward to checking out high school.”

“Seriously?”

“Kind of.”

Nikki held back from commenting and felt thankful that,
for once, they didn’t include her. The fact was, not long ago—at least from her
perspective—she’d also been looking forward to attending a new school. That
she’d died shortly after gaining acceptance to a school for the arts had left
her bitter for a long time. She’d been so excited at the prospect that she’d
been thinking of little else at the time. In fact, she’d only been half-aware
of her surroundings on that day when she’d veered her bike—

“Anyway, what do we do now?” Henry said.

Which was one of the things Nikki loved about Henry—he
only looked back when it mattered. Other than that, he pushed on.

“Well, Martha did mention that it happens three days from
now,” Nikki said. “She also said we could possibly see some of the future.”

Neither Henry or Jamie responded as they continued to
gaze down at the students slogging through the rain. Was it the girls holding
their attention? Nikki wondered how that was possible given you could barely
make them out through their coats, hoods and umbrellas. She darted ahead of
Henry and Jamie. She threw out her hands. “So, here’s an idea. Why don’t we
figure out how?”

Henry and Jamie hit the brakes and stared back at her.

“Should we have asked Martha?” Jamie said.

Henry shook his head even as Nikki said, “Well, she can
be kind of conservative on these matters.”

“As in, she totally tries to stop us,” Jamie said.

“With our own best interest in mind,” Henry said. “Pretty
sure on that one.”

“Totally,” Nikki said. “Sometimes I get the feeling they
only tell her so much.”

“Who’s the ‘they’ and why don’t they tell her more?”
Jamie said.

“I don’t think we’d understand,” Henry said. “Not yet.”

“Why?” Jamie said.

“Maybe because we’re stupid?” Henry said.

Jamie laughed and Nikki couldn’t help laugh too. The fact
was, she’d been on this side long enough to know she barely knew anything.
Looking back to her last life, it amazed her how many people thought they’d had
the whole thing down when they’d barely scratched the surface of life, love,
commitment, any of it. Both realms were completely different but they
definitely had one thing in common—just when you thought you understood how it
worked, you were sure to find out you were mistaken.

Ian entered one of the buildings below and they followed
as he walked down a hall, climbed a flight of stairs and took a seat in a
classroom. They waited as more students drifted in and the room continued to
fill. Finally, a woman took her place in front of the class. She was slim and
fit, probably in her late thirties, with brown hair to her shoulders. Nikki
wasn’t sure where she’d seen her before but she seemed familiar.

“Good morning.” The professor smiled as she looked out at
her students. “I have complete confidence that all of you will do well on the
exam today. This has been a great class and I want you to know how much I’ve
enjoyed the semester.”

Suddenly, Nikki realized why the woman looked familiar.
It didn’t seem possible, but a glance at Henry told her this wasn’t some sort
of illusion.

“Wait, isn’t that Bethany?” Jamie said.

Henry took another moment to recover. “Yes,” he said, his
eyes starting to fill. “That’s definitely Bethany.”

Nikki wasn’t sure what had made Henry finally decide to
stop crossing over, but she knew he’d stopped checking in on his sister—as well
as his parents and brother—at some point. That choice had been hard for him but
he’d wanted them to keep progressing with their lives without feeling his
presence.

Jamie spoke softly. “She looks great.”

Jamie was right. Nikki could hardly believe that the
young woman she’d last seen recovering in the hospital was the same woman now
standing confidently in front of this class. Time had been good to Bethany. She
exuded health and happiness that showed in the shine of her eyes. Nikki
wondered how Henry felt seeing her now that she was nearly forty, while he
remained just shy of his fifteenth birthday.

If that part bothered him, it didn’t show. He smiled
proudly, gazing down at his sister. “She really does,” he said. “She looks just
like I’d have expected her to.”

“Do you think it’s a coincidence?” Jamie said. “I mean,
that she’s here in Seattle and she’s Ian’s professor? What are the odds of that
happening?”

When Henry didn’t say anything, Nikki reached over and
touched his arm. “Are you okay?”

“I’m good,” Henry said, his gaze meeting hers. “For now,
we need to focus on Ian. At least, I think that’s the best way to go. We can
talk about the rest later.”

They watched as Bethany instructed her students how to
log in and access the exam while Nikki wondered what they were supposed to do
now that they were in this realm again. How could they even attempt to impact
Ian’s future? Under the best of circumstances, they could barely be noticed on
this side and, even with their abilities, usually only by those who had a
certain level of sensitivity most didn’t possess.

As if in response to her moment of doubt, a feeling
suddenly came over her—a sense of certainty she hadn’t expected.

“Martha said we’d be able to see some of Ian’s future,”
Nikki said. “We need to jump forward. We need to experience what’s going to
happen.”

As if he’d woken from a dream, Henry turned to face her.
“How?”

Nikki reached out instinctively and took hold of his arm.
She did the same with Jamie. “Hang on while I read him. I can’t explain it. I
just have a feeling. Trust me on this, okay?”

Nikki closed her eyes and merged her mind with Ian’s. She
tried to ignore his present thoughts and concerns, willing herself to project
his consciousness forward in time while taking hers along with it. Soon she
felt a sensation almost like wind blowing past and she envisioned a tunnel of
swirling light. Nikki held on, trusting her instincts, until the sense of
motion bumped to a stop and the lights she saw inside her mind dimmed.

When Nikki opened her eyes again, their surroundings had
completely shifted. Ian now walked with Lisa through an airport terminal, the
two of them holding hands as they made their way through the bustling crowd
catching flights for holiday destinations.

“Where are we?” Jamie said. “He was just in that
classroom.”

“I think the question is,
when
are we?” Henry
turned to Nikki. “Did you just jump us forward?”

Nikki nodded, not sure what to think. Still, she felt
pretty sure she’d accomplished exactly that. She’d never done anything like it
before. All she knew was that she had to stay centered on Ian’s mind, reading
him in a way she never had anyone before. Nikki just barely let herself break
off concentration, fearing she might disrupt a type of connection she’d never
established before.

Jamie picked up his pace, following after Ian, at times
walking directly through people in the airport terminal. “Seriously, we’re in
Ian’s future?”

“I think so,” Nikki said, trying to avoid what Jamie
barely seemed to notice. She couldn’t just pass through someone without a
moment of connection. Sometimes good, sometimes not. Either way, too
distracting. “Let’s just watch and see what happens.”

“What are we watching for?” Henry said.

Nikki had to admit it was a good question.

“Something bad,” Jamie said. “That’s my guess.”

Simply put but definitely true. Nikki didn’t know any
more than that either. “I guess so.”

Jamie pointed. “Who’s the girl?”

Right, they hadn’t been dropping in on Ian.
Spying
,
as Jamie had put it. Nikki’s face grew warm. “Ian’s girlfriend. The
hand-holding might have tipped you off. Just saying.”

Jamie laughed. “I guess it just sort of surprised me to
see Curtis with a girlfriend. He was always such a loner.”

“But Curtis isn’t Curtis anymore,” Henry said. “He hasn’t
been for a long time.”

“Crossing over always messes me up,” Jamie said.

“As opposed to spending twenty years playing video games
and skateboarding?” Nikki said.

Jamie shrugged. “Yeah, exactly. But that’s Earth time so
don’t judge.”

Fair enough, but Nikki wasn’t about to concede so she
kept walking. They followed as Ian walked Lisa to where the halls split off for
departure gates. Ian wrapped his arms around her and the two of them closed
their eyes, then kissed.

“This is just weird,” Jamie said.

“Yeah, maybe a bit voyeuristic. Plus, I’m not getting
that anything is wrong here. Stay close.” Nikki grabbed onto Henry and Jamie
again. A moment later, they hovered in the air as Ian parked his car in front
of a house on a tree-lined street.

“Very impressive,” Henry said.

Nikki smiled. “Thanks. It seems I might just have a knack
for this.”

They watched as Ian entered his house and called out a
hello. A moment later, he hugged his parents in the front hall and his sister
tromped downstairs, realizing her brother had come home. They continued to
watch as Ian spent time with his family, gathering in the kitchen and catching
up on each other’s lives, setting the table and then sitting down to dinner.

Nikki sensed that Henry had something on his mind. “What
is it?”

Henry continued watching Ian’s family, a smile spreading
across his face. “Curtis told me about his parents on the day he jumped back in
again. Josh and Clara. They were really young then—not much older than Ian is
now. They seemed so happy to have found each other again. You could totally
tell they really loved each other. They still seem that way, all these years
later.”

“That’s really cool,” Jamie said. He waited a moment
before adding, “But I’m thinking this is safe, unless the house gets hit by a
meteor or something.”

For Nikki, it wasn’t just that everything seemed safe for
Ian. You never knew, of course. A house could catch on fire, someone might trip
down a flight of stairs. More, she
felt
it somehow—everything was fine
here. “Agreed,” she said, reaching out to signal that it was time to move on
again.

This time, Ian sat in a restaurant sharing a pizza with
the two guys Nikki saw that night when she’d made her presence known through
the Ouija board. Thankfully, Jamie spared her any more feedback about her
little stunt while she told them what she knew about Ian’s friends.

“Ian’s life really seems to be going great,” Henry said.

Silence followed between the three of them as Henry’s
words resonated.

“Which is exactly why we’re here,” Nikki said. “Let’s
keep moving.”

Another sudden shift—a gray morning as Ian crossed
through the doors of a shopping mall, the inside brightly lit and decorated for
the holidays. The cheerful, familiar music contrasted totally with the chill
Nikki felt rippling up the back of her neck.

“I think this is it,” she said. “We need to pay
attention.”

“It looks like he’s just shopping,” Jamie said. “Not
likely he’s going to—”

“Just watch.” Nikki glared at him.

At the same time, she suddenly found it harder to hold
the three of them there. She felt like, if she broke her concentration, they’d
be pulled right out of there again. As if the connection she’d established was
ready to snap. She thought about what Martha had said before—that they’d only
be able to experience Ian’s future events up until the moment of his death. She
checked to see if Henry and Jamie had picked up on anything like the buzzing
tension she felt vibrating through her but clearly they hadn’t. If anything,
they seemed slightly bored, looking around at the people shopping.

A moment later, Nikki recoiled against the ear-splitting
wail of an alarm going off. Like everyone else, Ian stopped in his tracks to
see what was happening. Within seconds, a kid raced around the corner—dark hair
and eyes, legs pumping as he bolted toward the doors Ian had just crossed
through.

“Stop!” Behind the kid, a security guard struggled to
keep up. He barked something into the radio on his shoulder.

The doors behind Ian opened and a cop ran inside, gun
drawn. He spotted the kid immediately. “Police! Stop now!”

The kid stopped running, head swiveling as he searched
for escape, his eyes full of panic. Nikki saw something else in his eyes—a
complete lack of hope, as if he’d known all along this moment would come.

“Drop your weapon!”

It all happened so fast. Nikki just now saw the gun in
the kid’s hand.

“Drop it! Do it, now!”

Nikki had no idea what set Ian in motion. But something
compelled him to run directly into the line of fire. In that same instant, the
kid raised his gun.

A blast clapped like thunder. People screamed.

Ian catapulted backward.

The connection broke.

~~~

Nikki, Henry and Jamie stood in front of Halfway House, eyes
wide, breathing hard, as if collectively waking from a nightmare.

It took a moment before anyone spoke. Nikki’s legs
trembled, like she might drop to her knees. Finally, she found her voice.
“Please tell me Ian’s life doesn’t end that way!”

Jamie shook his head, disgusted. “It’s just so unfair.
How old is he now, maybe nineteen?”

“He just turned twenty last month.” Nikki couldn’t bring
herself to tell them that she’d actually witnessed Ian’s birthday celebration
with his friends—another time when she’d crossed over to reassure herself that
Ian’s life remained a happy one.