“I have something to tell you, and you’re probably
going to think I’ve completely lost my mind. You can’t say anything to anyone
about what I’m going to tell you.”
“Okay.”
“Let’s get back to my house and get into some dry
clothes first. I suspect you’re going to need a drink when I tell you.”
₪₪₪₪₪
It’s about my dreams. They’re…” Ethan broke off as Ryan
suddenly appeared out of thin air.
“What the…”
“Oh shit!”
Jordan and Ryan exclaimed simultaneously before
Ryan disappeared again.
Jordan sat there open-mouthed as Ethan handed him a
glass of water. “What the hell just happened?”
“Well, I was about to tell you that my dreams
weren’t dreams. They actually happened. That was Ryan, the man from my dreams.
He’s from the future.” Knowing that Ryan would do something to prevent him and
Jordan from ever meeting Ethan told him everything starting from when Ryan
first appeared in his shop.
“He walked into the shop and introduced himself
then said that he found an old keepsake box and wanted to know if I could restore
it. Get a double grip on yourself. The antique he gave me was the keepsake box
I’d given your sister on her thirty-fourth birthday.”
“What? No way. It had to be some kind of
reproduction or something.”
“That’s what I thought at first until I saw the
inscription. It was the real thing, but hundreds of years old. I asked him
where he’d gotten it from and he told me he’d gotten it from a place downtown
called the Antique Emporium.”
“There’s no such place.”
“That’s what I told him. He said there was in his
time. Chris and I just about fell over. He told us to sit down before we fell
down and that he had to go but would be back later to explain everything, then
disappeared like he just did.”
“I think I’m going to need something stronger to
drink than just water.”
“Tell me about it.”
“I thought you were bullshitting me or something.”
“Believe me, it took me awhile to get my head
around it. There was just something about him. It’s like he knew everything
about me. Maybe he does. I don’t know. All I know is that I’ve never felt like
this with anyone else. He treats me like—I don’t know—the most precious thing
in the world. It’s like he has some power over me. Don’t roll your eyes,
asshole. I’m not being melodramatic. He can do anything he wants to me and I’ll
let him.
“Did I tell you I let him bareback me and let him
come inside me?”
“Way too much information, Ethan.” Jordan shook his
head.
“That’s what I mean. I’ve never allowed anyone to
do that to me since Patrick infected me. Afterwards I kinda started freaking
out. He told me he was clean. I practically yelled at him that I was not. It
didn’t seem to faze him one bit. He just held me. It was incredible. I got to
the point where I found myself thinking about him all the time.”
“You’re starting to sound like one of those ancient—what
did you call them—romance novels.”
Ethan grabbed a pillow off the couch and threw it
at him. “I’m trying to be serious here. I couldn’t wait for him to pop in.”
“Literally, it would seem.” Jordan commented. “If
what you’ve told me is true,” he held up his hand as Ethan started to bristle, “and
I have absolutely no reason to doubt what you’ve told me, I’d really like to
meet him and thank him for curing you.”
“This is what I can’t get my head around.”
“What can’t you get around?” Ryan asked, suddenly
appearing in the middle of the room, causing both men to jump out of their
skins.
“You scared the crap out of me. You need to warn a
guy when you’re about to pop in.”
Ryan grinned, unrepentantly. “Where’s the fun in
that?” Turning to Jordan he introduced himself. “I’m Ryan. I’m really glad to
meet you.” He said, extending his hand.
Jordan just stood there in shock. Just as Ryan
started withdrawing his hand thinking he’d gotten the ancient greeting wrong,
Jordan shook himself, then shook hands with Ryan, just as freaked out as the
last time when Ryan appeared then immediately disappeared.
Ethan grabbed Ryan by his belt and yanked him down
onto the couch next to him with a firm, “Sit down, jerkwad.”
“Jerkwad?” He asked, raising an eyebrow.
“It’s an archaic expression. I don’t know for sure
what it means, but it sounded good. Anyway,” he addressed Jordan, “this is what
I don’t get. Technically, Ryan didn’t cure me. I cured me. I’m not sure if I
can explain it. Apparently, he came back in time to give me the medication that
made it so the medication could be created from my blood.”
“In my job, we call it a causality loop or
pre-destination paradox. What that means, and I’m not sure I can really explain
it, is that something happens before whatever makes it happen happens.”
“I think I heard some kind of argument about that
from an old 2D vid Ethan had me watch. It was something like someone goes back
in time, kills his grandfather before he’s born. Um, how did they say it? If I
go back in time and kill my grandfather before he got married, I’m never going
to be born, and if I’m never going to be born how can I go back in time and
kill my grandfather.”
“Stop! You’re making my head hurt.”
Ryan addressed his next words to Jordan. “You’re
describing what we call the grandfather paradox. It’s only theoretical. They
don’t happen. Temporal causality loops are completely different, and a royal
bitch to find and fix.”
“So this causality thingy is what happened with
Ethan.”
“Yeah it takes some getting used…” He suddenly
disappeared in mid-sentence.
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