Paid In Full

Kyla woke to Bridger opening the shop. She rolled out of the bottom bunk, trying not to wake her baby brother Evan. Slipping bare feet into her sneakers she rushed downstairs to start the day.

Kyla began her morning tasks of cleaning and repairing their equipment. They can’t afford to lose either the solar or hydro system, as those are what keep the plants alive and the lights on.

She paused in the shop window, quite taken aback. She was an exhausted mess. But Kyla was lucky, she had two jobs, and someone to watch after Evan; Bridger’s wife Amie was a strict woman but Kyla couldn’t imagine where they would be without her.

Kyla ducked her head down and quickly made it across the shop to hide in their utility room. It was filled with an apothecary table, work bench, and random bits and bobs which Amie acquired during her bazaar trips.

Using the utility room sink, Kyla splashed cold water on her face, trying to wash away what felt like years of exhaustion. Standing there, she wondered to herself: When will it end? The hardship, drought, fires, and floods. The war. Evan’s illness.

Kyla turned abruptly on her heel to walk out of the utility room when thud. She looked down and saw a chest she was positive she had never seen before. Is Amie making trades again? No...surely she hasn’t traded since before we got here. Kneeling down to examine the mystery chest, Kyla was awestruck at it’s ornate beauty. Scrolling calligraphy etched around its edges, and corners encased in gold. It was made of real wood, too, and Kyla had never seen real wood before.

The chest opened effortlessly but at the bottom of this chest was only one thing: a little black book. Kyla gently picked it up, afraid her breath alone would cause all the pages to fall out. But it was sturdy and offered a sense of support Kyla hadn’t felt in a long time. Kyla turned the book in her hands when she found a pen tucked inside the front cover. It had a sharp metal tip and its handle was filled with black liquid. So I guess old-earth script was an important class to take; you win, mom.

“Kyla Charlotte-May what in heaven’s name are you doing back here, sulking in the utility room?!”.

Although she was small of stature and soft-spoken, Amie never ceased to scare the living daylights out of Kyla. Kyla jumped and the book and pen dropped to the floor. Time began to flow normally again as she scrambled to pick up her new found items.

“What have you found there? Never mind that, save your doodling and daydreaming for after work, huh? ”.

Amie was gone just as quick as she had arrived. Kyla tucked the book and pen into a front pocket of her smock and went on with newfound excitement.

Some hours later, Bridger locked the shop door and threw his smock on the counter.

“Another day, another byte, right KC-May?”

But Kyla barely heard him, she had already plopped onto one of the chairs by the coffee counter, pulling out her book and pen.

“Kyla,”

Bridger’s tone hit her differently this time. It was somber and serious, something she hadn’t heard from Bridger since her and Evan came to him last year, after their parents died in the war.

“What is it, B?”

“It’s your brother. Amie says he’s gotten worse, when did you see him last?”.

Kyla got still as her brother’s illness weighed heavily on her. “It was only two days ago, I spent the morning with him. He seemed quiet....” I should have known...

Silent tears filled her eyes as she realized life was not a fairytale filled with mysterious chests and magic books. Her innocent, 7 year old baby brother was a victim of past generations’ selfishness and greed. For a long time it was unheard of to get cancer, until children began falling ill from toxins which had become part of the human genome.

She sank like an anchor into an abyss that she knew she could not swim back from. Was she supposed to sit idly and watch as he withered away, organs failing, crying out in pain? No. I will fight for him with every breath I have.

“We have talked, Amie and I, and we agree that you should spend some time with him. It might lift his spirits to see his big sister some more.”

“But what about our faire? And the bills?”

“Nothing is more important than being with those you love, we will always find a way.”

With that Bridger patted Kyla on the back, stood up, and walked up the staircase leading to their apartment upstairs.

Kyla sat there for a moment, trying to come back from her despair, mulling over ideas in her mind of how she can come up with $20,000 to pay for Evan’s treatment.

It doesn’t matter how much, the fact is I have to do this. I have to save my baby brother. She thought this matter of factly to herself, as if it was an easy everyday thing to do. She opened the journal and paused, pen in hand, as black ink dripped from her pen onto a crisp page. Kyla watched as blackness slowly sank into white. And then disappeared.

Astonished, Kyla looked over the pen and pages. But then it happened. Script began to appear on its own.

To be a Creator you must pay the price of Time.

Kyla stared at the book, awestruck.

She re-read the lines over, trying to make sense of them. Kyla had never thought about creating anything before. She lived in a world where doing so had strict limits and harsh punishments for overstepping one’s allotted creative freedom.

Let’s start with something simple.

Hot chamomile tea with honey

“Nothing is more important than being with those you love, we will always find a way.”

In the blink of an eye Bridger was back with her, then walked to the staircase just as he had done earlier in the evening. Kyla was so surprised she didn’t even try to stop him.

And there was her tea. Chamomile with honey, right in front of her on the counter.

“...You must pay the price of Time.”. In that moment it all made sense to her.

Oh the possibilities were endless! The first thought that occurred to her was to go back two days to when she spent the morning with Evan. She sat on the couch for what would have been all night, slowly rewinding time and living the last two days in reverse. By the time she got to the right day the counter held many cups of tea.

Kyla finally closed her book and walked upstairs, leaving the shop, customers, and the life she knew, behind.

Opening the bedroom door Kyla went quickly to Evan’s bedside, ushering him to stay still and let her come to him. As happy as he was to see her, it was to her dismay that going back in time did not reverse his illness. Evan was, in fact, getting worse.

She hugged him tight, holding him to her as though her love alone would save him.

Fighting tears, Kyla put on a bright face and suggested maybe they just talk. She layed in bed with him, still holding on tight, and asked him about everything she could think of. They talked until they both fell soundly asleep.

Kyla woke in the evening and slipped downstairs to make Evan some dinner and to talk with Bridger. This was a past timeline, afterall.

“What can I do for ya, KC-May?”.

“I’m worried about Evan, would it be alright if I take some time to be with him? I need to find a way to get him that treatment, I worry he’s running out of time.”.

“Do what you need to do, your father wouldn’t have had it any other way and I won’t either.”.

With a nod and a thank you Kyla went back upstairs to bring Evan his dinner. They played a game before he went back to bed and Kyla receded to her barstool downstairs to do more thinking on how to get $20,000.

It was less thinking how to get it, but more of what the ramifications will be.

$20,000

There it was, plain as day on a stark white page. The ink seeped down, becoming one with the book.

Nothing happened.

No. No, no, no, no!

Kyla was frantic. This was her only hope of saving Evan. Without the money he couldn’t get the treatment. He would die.

He was going to die. And she was out of time.

Kyla was hysteric at this point, so she tore the shop apart. Dirt and debris was strewn across the room, she hadn’t slept in days, and hadn’t bathed for longer. Kyla felt true hopelessness wrap its icy fingers around a lump in her chest. So she cried; she cried for her dead baby brother. And her parents. And her home. Kyla mourned what the world had become. She didn’t need the book to make time stop, her broken heart held her there, hostage to her failure.

All she wanted was to hold him for as long as she could. She would hold him tight as his illness raked through him and took his life. He wouldn’t be alone.

So up the stairs she went.

Kyla slipped through their bedroom door, once again, and stood for a moment staring at Evan. He was skin and bone, his eyes were sunken with dark circles and his breath rattled in his chest.

Oh, what have they done to you, my poor baby boy.

Kyla wasn’t sure if she slept that night but upon waking she found that Evan was gone, his innocent soul had been released from this cruel place once and for all.

The day went by in a numb blur and Kyla couldn’t have cared less about anything. Bridger and Amie. The shop. The war. It was all nothingness to her.

That evening she pulled out the book one last time to say her bitter goodbyes.

This is goodbye. I’m sending you back to where you came. There is no room in the world for hope or magic books. All the power in the universe is at my fingertips, yet all I want is what cannot be had.

Good bye.

Kyla walked from the counter back to the utility room and knelt down to open the mysterious chest she found but days ago. Placing the journal and pen ever so carefully back into the chest, she silently closed it, walked out of the room, and went to bed without a glance at what once held so much hope for her. Her bedroom seemed gigantic and empty. She climbed into Evan’s bed and held onto his pillow, drifting into a fitful sleep.

Kyla opened her eyes to an empty bedroom to start another day. However, upon walking through the doorway to go downstairs she found herself not where she expected to be. Instead, she was walking into the shop utility room.

All she could see was the chest. Her heart was pounding. What could this mean? Running, she threw herself to her knees on the ground and flung open the lid.

This time there were two items: a note, and a bag filled with beautiful, life saving coins. Kyla didn’t even have to count, she knew how much was there. She looked up at the open door she just walked through. On the other side was her baby brother. Alive, and sleeping soundly.

She was shaking, tears running down her cheeks. Maybe there is still hope. She held the note in front of her and read:

There is nothing more important than being with the ones we love.

You have paid the price.