Stealing Time part 3

Sunday Scribbling prompt “covert” and Tell A Tale Contest “Childhood Dream” and not the words but the spirit of Carry on Tuesdays

Cassie got up and walked to the shelves. She picked up the picture gently and turned back to Kell.

“I used to have dreams when I was a kid. They weren’t little girl dreams. Sometimes they were scary.Sometimes confusing. The only constant was the face of a person I had never seen.”  She began.

“In all the dreams I was drawn to that face. It made me feel safe and it felt important somehow.  As I got older, I found myself scanning crowds, looking for that face. I was just waiting for something to happen. Then I saw you.  I was walking past the Community Center and saw you standing near the window. You were smiling and talking to an elderly lady and you carried a box out to her car for her. I started walking near the Center everyday after that.”

“So you knew the future before it got here?”  Kell asked.  “Now you’re telling me that you can move through time and see the future?”

“The future isn’t set.” She said.  “When the past changes the future is affected. This is one possible future. ”Cassie sucked in her breath and waited for his reaction.  She watched him covertly trying to read his facial expression to get some hint of how he felt.

Kell walked to the window and looked out. The sun streaming in fell around him and Cassie felt like everything she cared about was wrapped up in that bright glow.

His thoughts were so scattered.  He needed time to figure out how he felt about all this, about Cassie, and about his life. His life was gone now wasn’t it? His old life, that is. Yesterday he knew that he loved Cassie, though he hadn’t told her yet. He was pretty sure she knew it. They had spent almost every free moment together and right from the start they could talk for hours.  It was like they had always known each other. Maybe they had.

“Cassie, I need you to tell me about what happened yesterday. I trusted you and walked away knowing people I cared about might be hurt or dead.  I did nothing for them and I feel like it was my fault. ”

“Kell, I would never have asked you to leave if there was anything we could have done.” Cassie explained. “I know how important that Center is to you. No one was hurt badly and emergency people were already there. Besides, there was only one person who was supposed to die yesterday.”

Kell and Cassie had talked about his dream of making the Community Center into a place that would help everyone who lived in that area. Cassie knew Kell’s heart.  She had looked for him for so long and then when the face she had searched for turned out to be this person that she admired she started to feel like she had been given a gift instead of a curse.

All of a sudden Cassie’s words sunk in and Kell whipped around startled. “Me?” He asked.

“There was another face in my dreams. I could never see it clearly but I saw his eyes. Sometimes when I saw your face, I had a feeling he was watching you, too.” Cassie replied.

“Cassie, who is he?”

“I don’t know Kell, but I know he was responsible for the explosion yesterday.”

As Cassie spoke, she rubbed her fingers over the back of the picture frame she was holding.  It was thick in the middle.   She turned it over and eased a fingernail under the brown paper cover.  As it peeled off, a letter dropped out and Cassie and Kell stared at each other.

If you enjoyed this you may want to read parts one and two.  Thanks for visiting.

17 thoughts on “Stealing Time part 3”

  5. Carry On Keith

    I love the way that you are managing to work the Carry On Tuesday prompts into your great story. I can’t wait to see what you come up with next!! Thank you so much for supporting my fledgling prompt site.

  14. missalister

    This is tight. Everything makes sense to me. And it reads very, very well. It feels under your control and therefore I feel on solid ground in my role as reader. Maybe that’s only because this is a respite for the characters. Whatever the cause of this result, feels good. And you’ve added an intriguing new factor: the eyes that were also watching Kell. This story could go all over creation now, and we fussy readers just love to wonder and speculate. Plus you’ve fixed us good and left us in another position we love to hate: hanging from a cliff. Excellent!

  15. Dee

    I so appreciate all the comments. It gives me confidence to keep going on as well as absofreakinglutely terrifying me that I might get hung up at some point. I am so new at this so it is fun, scary, humbling, exhilarating – of forget it, it is just making me nuts!! There are some of you who write words that leave me speechless and every single last one of you lovely people have been so encouraging. I’m feeling mushy and gushy – thanks! I have two days to finish the end of the school year and then maybe I can give this more time. I am totally hooked and there ain’t no cure!

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