Amy In Time

August 5, 1996

Tears of joy blurred the vision of Aleen Dillinger as she cradled her newborn baby boy in her arms for the first time. Their eyes locked and the infant who was crying calmed down realizing that he was in safe hands.

Dr. Briton took the baby from his mother and handed him to his father. “Have you thought of a name?” asked Dr. Briton.

Oliver looked into his eyes and smiled. “Damian”, he said. His own voice breaking when he whispered the name that would carry their boy into the future. “His name is Damian. Damian Dillinger.”

Damian, with eyes wide open, reached up, touched his father’s face, and smiled. It seemed as if he liked the name and was giving his approval. Tears of joy flowed as they welcomed their baby boy into the world. —7 pounds, 8 ounces, 20 inches long.

In the back of the room stood a nurse no one had noticed until then. Her name was Amy McNeal. She was in her late twenties and very beautiful. She asked if she could hold the child. Being a nurse, the Dillinger’s had no problem with it. As Amy held Damian, she bent close and tenderly kissed him on his forehead. He smiled. In a very soft voice, she whispered a promise meant only for him: “I’m going to marry you some day.”

Oliver was a little disturbed at what he thought he heard. He was sure that he heard it incorrectly.

“What did you just say?” Oliver asked.

“Oh! I said that he looks like Marian Anday.”

It was a quick cover-up. As it happened, his first cousin’s name was Marian Anday, the son of Oliver’s sister. He had been born at that very hospital just one month earlier.

“Wow!” Oliver replied. “That’s his cousin. Did you help with his delivery?”

“Of course. I help with everything baby.”

The conversation continued as the doctors took Damian to monitor him. While Aleen rested, Amy spoke with Oliver. They both watched the baby through a viewing window. Amy’s attention was caught by a strange man who entered the area but quickly left.

“OK,” she said. “It was nice meeting you. Take care of that child and your wife. They’ll both need your support.”

That was the last time they saw Amy. In time, they forgot she ever existed. But that was not the last time I saw her. My name is Damian, and the next time I saw her—or rather, the first time I remember seeing her—I was in third grade, and both of us were eight years old.

When Amy McNeal transferred to my class, the teacher sat her right next to me. She turned to me and smiled. I think it was the smile that did it. I knew, even before she spoke, that I was sitting next to the most beautiful girl on the face of the planet. Even her voice was magical to me.

“Hi!” she said. “I’m Amy.”

When she turned toward me, her red hair waved as if it were speaking too. I was hooked.

Amy and I became best friends. Wherever I went, Amy seemed to be waiting. The movies, the carnival, even a trip across the ocean to Hawaii—there she was, smiling as if the world had bent itself to keep us from being apart.

At first, it felt like coincidence. As if we just had that much in common. Later, I realized that it was something much more. Everything changed the day my life came to a crashing halt. Literally.

I was twelve years old, and my family was traveling home from another vacation. Of course, Amy and her mother were there. I was jarred awake by a sound like the sky tearing open. The plane shook violently— so hard my teeth clacked together. It lasted only a moment. A few seconds later, it felt like turbulence would shake the plane apart. A scream—maybe mine, maybe someone else’s—was drowned by the thunder of engines. I was looking out the window when the right wing broke loose.

My mother told me to tuck my head into my lap. pressed my head down, her palm steady against the back of my neck. “Don’t be scared,” she said. “Everything is going to be alright.” It was a lie, and I think she realized that I knew it, but her words wrapped around me like a final lullaby.” Her voice, her words are forever ingrained in my mind forever.

I woke up in a hospital somewhere. I still don’t know where it was—or even if it was a hospital. I wasn’t surprised to learn that Amy was in the room next to me. I was a little more banged up than she was, so it was her who came to visit me. She was the one to give me the sad, sad news that our parents had not made it. She was incredibly strong about it. She had always been stronger than me.

A few days later, my uncle and aunt came to get me. I didn’t know them well, but I knew they were family. My father always talked about his brother. They didn’t have children, but the couple next door was taking care of their niece. I’m sure you already know who she was.

When Amy saw me, she pulled me inside as if something was wrong.

“Damian!” she said. “I have to tell you something.”

She didn’t have that same magical voice she normally had. Her voice trembled like what she had to say was the most urgent thing on earth. Her eyes held mine with a weight I couldn’t escape.

“I’m not who you think I am. I’m not even from now. I’m a time traveler. My mother and I were sent from the future to protect you.”

Normally, I’d believe anything Amy told me. But I was not prepared for this. The words were absurd, impossible—but the look on her face stole my laughter before it could rise. My chest hurt. My head hurt. My parents were gone, and now my best friend was telling me she was from the future. I wanted to call her a liar, but deep down, I couldn’t.

“Protect me?” I asked.

“You will one day save the world. But some people don’t want that to happen. They want to kill you before you ever get started. The plane crash was not an accident, it was sabotage.”

She paused, looked to the front, and then continued with greater urgency.

“Oh No! They’ve found us. You have to come with me.”

While she was speaking, there was a knock at the door.

“It’s them,” she said. “Quick—come with me.”

I couldn’t hear the conversation her uncle had with the men at the door. I just knew he didn’t let them in. Amy opened the basement door.

“You’ll need this,” her aunt said as she slipped a device into my pocket. “For tomorrow.”

Amy repeated, “For tomorrow,” then rushed me down the stairs into what I thought was just a closet. She pulled a similar device from her pocket, pressed a few buttons, and in the blink of an eye, we were somewhere else. All at the same time it felt as if every atom in my body was ripped apart. I thought that my head exploded and then reassembled. My world was spinning, my ears were ringing, and my eyes were flashing.

I screamed. I was too shaken up to form actual words.

“What, when, where, how—We. Now. What!”

“Calm down,” Amy said. “We’re not out of danger yet.”

“Calm down? Danger?”

She grabbed my hand, and we took off running. We were in the middle of a beach. The setting sun on the water was beautiful—or it would have been if I’d had time to notice. In the distance there was an old shack. That seemed to be where we were headed.

“Stop. Wait,” I said. “What’s going on?”

“I’ll explain in a few moments. First, we have to get out of the open.”

The shack was empty. Amy put her hand on what looked to me like an ordinary wall. The floor began to drop. The bottom must have been ten floors underground. The space was much larger than the shack above, but just as empty.

My heart was pounding a thousand beats a minute. Amy was still holding my hand. I yanked it away from her.

“Amy” I said! “I’m only twelve. My parents just died—or were killed—in a plane crash I somehow survived. Now you tell me people from the future are after me because of something I haven’t done yet! Don’t you think I deserve an explanation?”

“OK,” she said. “In 2035, you invent a machine that eliminates air pollution worldwide. It’s powered by what you call the reverse fuel-cell generator. Long story short, it runs on water. The exhaust is water. Clean, inexhaustible energy. That caused the oil industry to collapse, leaving billionaires and trillionaires losing fortunes. Even at twelve, I think you can understand how that made them upset.”

The funny thing was, I had already started working on designs for an air purifier and generator. Living in Houston, Texas—one of the most polluted cities in America—you dream of cleaner air.

“What now?” I asked.

“First things first,” she said. “We need rest. Then, we’re going to save our parents.”

The underground shelter was cold, metallic, and hard. We slept on thin mats. I knew I wouldn’t get much rest, but at least I calmed down a little. Amy, on the other hand, slept like a baby.

When she woke, she smiled at me.

“OK,” she said. “Let’s get started.”

She placed her hand on the wall again. This time a control panel opened. Her fingers flew over the buttons.

“Just to warn you—we’re about to jump again.”

She hit one last button, and suddenly we were back on the airplane. But time was frozen. The warning helped, but it was still disorientating. Amy said that I’d get used to it and walked over to me—or rather, the me sitting next to my parents. Whatever she did, I could see what looked like a force shield surrounding me. I then understood how I survived.

Before I could think, we were back in the shelter. “When do I get used to it?”

My parents were with us this time—frozen in suspended animation.

“Are they OK?” I asked.

“They’re fine. But we’re not finished yet. We’re going after the people who did this.”

She handed me some kind of futuristic gun.

“You’ll know when to use it,” she said.

I dropped it. “I can’t kill anybody. Why would you give me a gun?”

“It teleports them to the prison in the clouds.”

“What?”

“No time to explain.”

Once again, we were on the plane—this time before takeoff. My mother, or at least the double we placed here, had just helped me with my seatbelt. While time was still paused, I saw a man placing something under my parents’ seat. I thought he placed something in the engine as well. He was the same man who had shown up at Amy’s house.

I called Amy, pointed the gun at him, and fired. I missed. I hit a kid’s teddy bear instead, which vanished on contact. The man saw Amy and bolted. We chased him, but he was too fast. Luckily, Amy’s parents appeared at the back of the plane.

“Damian,” Mr. McNeal called. “Would you like the honor?”

Without hesitation, I fired. The would-be saboteur vanished. The devices under the seat and in the engine were recovered. The four of us returned to the shelter.

My parents were reanimated. The moment their eyes opened, I ran and hugged them. The sobbing tears of joy confused them, but my parents were alive. Alive. Their warmth, their smell, even my father’s scratchy beard— it was all there. For one impossible moment, I had them back. For one impossible moment, I was whole.

I told them everything. They found the time-travel story hard to believe—until the name Amy McNeal reminded them of a young nurse on the day I was born.

The problem was that my parents needed a normal life. With them knowing about time travelers, nothing would be normal.

“Damian,” Amy said, “take the device from your pocket.”

I already knew what it was for.

“Do I have to?”

“It has to be done.”

With the press of a button, we were back on the plane. My parents had no memory of what had happened. The plane landed safely. Life went on. I had to live the rest of my life keeping this secret from them.

A few days later, Amy came to my house.

“Do you still have the device?” she asked.

“Of course.”

“Take it out and hold the button for ten seconds.”

I complied and again, I was teleported somewhere.

“Are you sure that I will get used to this?”

“Welcome to what we call Cloud City,” she said. “We have to make it official.”

I was struck by a beam of light that burned a mark onto my chest. A crest. My insignia.

“You are now a Traveler”, Amy said. Her voice was steady, solemn. The title settled on me like a crown too heavy for a twelve-year-old boy to handle.

“Your first assignment will come soon.”

In that moment, I understood—my childhood had ended.