Pearl harbors past

The more I go back in time the more I feel myself fading away. But they tell me what I have is a gift and I’ll live more in my short years than anyone living a long happy life. No one asked if I wanted “normal” when they found me. They just assumed that leaping is the only thing I’m good for. That’s what we call it. Leaping isn’t a gift. More of a curse. We age faster. Especially if we go back too far. We couple die in another time if we aren’t too careful. There’s only a handful of us. There’s about 2 of us working for the government. The others hide from us. Maybe living their lives in an other time. I would know. I work in New York , under the city. The tunnels they don’t tell you about. I don’t know the half of it. I am only allowed in one part of the tunnel system. Zone Z. We are asked to mostly “glare at the past” which means we don’t leap. We just look. I can see what happened 5 minutes ago in my neighbors apartment if I wanted to. But he’s a middle age man who just got a divorce. Probably not the best idea. But not the point, I was just giving you an example. I’m not the smartest of men. I broadcasted my travels on the internet and they found me faster then you can say “hi, who are you and why are you at my door?” They pretty much promised me a luxurious life of riches and no worry. “Just come work for us” they said. “It will be fun” they said. But little did I know they meant give my single mother that too good to be true of a life and all the riches. And who could say no to that. They mostly ask me to spy on phone calls anyway. They’ve never asked me to leap. And they haven’t asked the other guy either. His name is Paul by the way. We haven’t talked much. He brought me cold coffee once. I just don’t think he wanted to throw away the coffee he got for himself, forgot about and didn’t want to leave the room to throw it away. Our room is a single desk with all white walls. We get a piece of paper and are told to speak what we see after we glare back from the commands on the sheet. No one else is in there with us. So pretty much they are spying on us all the time. This morning I find myself feeling like I’m 30 rather than a 21 year old. I started getting back pain in my last glare. They told me to look back to 1941 on December 7th. If you don’t know that Pearl Harbor. The massacre caused by Japan. Now yea it was awhile ago. But they believe it’s more than that. They think it was set up by a higher official on our side. I only know this because of what I have seen so far. But I can’t see as much as they’d like with glaring. So doing little pieces at a time. I think there’s a piece of information they need for this time. I feel like an investigating cheat. I don’t have to do much investigation to see. All I need is a picture of the person or the place and I just feel the time. It’s like someone who has perfect pitch. They just know how to work a piano. I just know how to work time.

This morning is dull. The clouds outside are gray and it looks like it’s gonna rain. The only window in my apartment is above my sink in my kitchen. And I keep hearing the drip drops of my faucet into my steel steep sink. I hold a hot cup of coffee and careful to sip. Taking my time before I take the secret passage to the under city tunnels. It’s only a block away. And I won’t leave till about 6pm tonight. It’s about 7:15 now. Wait, 7:15?!

I’m late.

I toss my hot coffee down the drain and pull on my jacket to face the newly cold weather of fall. Pull on a hat and walk out the door. When I walk outside the streets are crowded and smells of hot dogs and sweat. Good morning!

I walk into a plain building with what it looks like low security. His name is bob. Bob sits at the front desk and always looking at the screen. But on that screen if you can get past him is over 1000 security camera screens. I’m not kidding. He has some crazy super vision or something. But I walk past him and go to the elevator.I press floor 1 then 2 then 0 that’s the code to zone z. I sigh before I walk into my “office” but when I go in Paul isn’t there. But there’s 2 pages on the white desk. I walk over to my page and only one request is stated.

“Leap to Pearl Harbor, Hawaii 1941 December 3rd. Find Daniel burks” That’s days before the attack and who is Daniel Burks? The back of the paper holds a picture of a old cafe called “o’Hana cafe”

My breath stops and I feel my heart drop down to my feet. The other sheet that’s next to me for Paul, it’s looks familiar. I look closer and I see it says the same as mine. I rub my temples stressed beyond belief. If I leap that far when I come back I’ll be an old man. I’m not positive that I would be but I will age a lot. I could die.

I think of my options. I can run and hide, but they will find me and probably make sure I can never hide again probably make my mother pay the price. I could leap and maybe come back an old man or die. I have no clue. I’ve never leaped that far. The farthest I have leaped is to the 90s to see my dad before he passed away. But I only stayed for an hour. But I’ll tell you about that later. No time to talk about that.

I know I have no one’s to go to to ask questions about this paper. I haven’t talked to anyone in this building since they first found me and gave me my instructions on a day to day.

I almost forgot what it felt like to leap. I haven’t done it for so long. My breath is frantic. My fingers going into fists and unraveling repeatedly. I turn the page over to look at the cafe for one last time. I blow out my breath hard through my mouth. close my eyes tight, scared out of my Witt’s. I bring back the feeling of playing with time. My heart beat plays in my head, hands and feet. My blood rushing through my veins like a fast sound of a zipper.

Then.

Quiet. Slowly introducing the sound of birds singing and wind blowing past my ears. Instead of a still steadiness of the room. There’s a slight warm breeze moving my hair. My heart rate lowers. My hands relax and my breath simplifies.

Oh boy. I’ve always known to do things without thinking. That’s how I’m here in the first place.

I open my eyes and see the neon green of the island. The dirt road that takes you to the cafe and the mountains surrounding me.

“Wow” I say to myself.

I don’t want to waste anytime but at the same time I do. Let’s save the people of pearl harbor.

To be continued…