A stalker and not a hero is what I had become of late on this completely different earth, in a completely different timeline. Time is such a bitch. 31 days on an earth where no one knew me. I had been stalking Maria Garfield, the lookalike of Talia on this earth. What else could I have done. Amazingly there was no concept of money on this earth, everything was dealt in the amount of hours you worked multiplied by your efficiency level. Damn! That took some time to digest in my mind. Wish on my earth, things were the same. We definitely needed it.
So, there I was in the darkness of the night stalking Maria’s window from a distance as she sang a lullaby to her children. I was powerless and with no plan to return back. I had gone to the nuclear facility a few days back. I met Roma Nair, only she was 66 years old and married to a 70 year old. I could not even help Bin Qureshi. Luck had started to run out and time, well it was definitely on my side. Maria gracefully patted her kids as they fell asleep drenched in her lullaby. I climbed down the waterhole where I was taking shelter and found myself lost in the crowded street. Maria had changed her clothes swiftly and was walking towards me. Somehow, she had lost much weight also and she had a smile for me on her face.
Pow! My head banged against something metallic from behind. My eyes closed slowly, with Maria’s face, no it was Talia..Maria..Talia what the fuck? And then darkness embraced me.
I woke up in a thatched roof hut to find Maria.
“I am not Maria, alzador. I am Talia.” She said. I was still under the impact of the head bang.
“I was the one who sent you those earrings. I needed your help.”
“How did you even come here?” I asked.
“Well, remember, when you were trying to catch my hand when the nuclear blast was following me?”
“Yeah” I said.
“What I am going to tell you might slightly disturb you or offend you, but I had to do it. I am not from this time, alzador, not even this earth. I am from 1982. During a nuclear breakout, the space time continuum was broken and I was sent to your time. I had no other way of going back to my time but…”
“But..”
“After I came into your time, I devised a plan of going back, but I needed someone who could handle so much energy physically, and yours was the only DNA match I got. I followed you, made you fall in love with me. Every night, I was genetically altering you to handle so much energy. As a side effect, you developed those powers of transferring emotions. Before I could use you, the nuclear blast happened. I had almost grabbed your hand that day but you were not ready yet to handle so much energy surge. It needed a year more. When I held your hand, I was sent back here. I have been using pulses of time to reach to you, I needed your help.”
“How selfish can you be? I thought you loved me.”
“I never denied that…” she whispered.
I got up ignoring the head bang on my head. My entire life was a lie. I was being used by the person I loved the most.
I thought time is a bitch, but so is love.
To be continued…
Also Read Alzador Chapter 8
Priya Ravinder
Walking Dead
