Elastic Mind

I was staring down the side of a rocky mountain cliff. Everything appeared to be fuzzy as my thoughts wandered out of my control.

"Hey, Burns!" A voice yelled from behind.

My vision became clear, and my thoughts stalled, as I was brought back into reality. I took a few steps away from the cliff then turned around to see my partner, Lyle Weston, walking my way.

"What were you doing over there, you doin' ok?" Burn's partner asked.

I gazed at my partner for a quick moment as he stood in front of me, and then forced a small grin.

"Yeah. Yeah, I'm good to go, I was just clearin' my head. So, what did our witness have to say?" I asked skeptically.

Lyle reached down into his left side overcoat pocket to pull out a half-full carton of cigarettes.

"She said she has no clue what happened. She said she didn't see the commotion until 6:30 the next morning." Weston said as he exhaled smoke.

I nodded my head subtly in reply to Weston's statement. I walked over to the site of the scene a hundred feet or so from where Weston and I stood. As I walked, I realized how big the property really was. The report said it was approximately 30 acres of land, and the house was around 5,000 square feet. Being here made it seem like a castle on a forgotten mountain cliff.

As I stood looking at the body print of a dead man, I began to try to piece it together in my head.

"We have everything we need here, Burns. Come on let's head back over to the office." Weston said as he walked up to me.

I looked over at my partner for a brief moment before turning my gaze back towards the scene.

"We are missing something, Wes'. I can't help but think there is something here still to uncover."

Weston breathed out quietly, standing behind my right shoulder.

"There's nothing else here. We have all the evidence bagged with us, and the witness didn't have anything to say. It's late, Burns." Weston said softly.

I could tell by the tone of his voice, Weston was restless. But I couldn't leave just yet.

"Yeah, it is late. You head on home, I'll take the evidence we got bagged here back to the office. I'll see you in the morning," I said with a wry smile looking back at my partner.

Weston looked at me quizzically for a moment.

"If you say so, Mark. Although I wish you'd just give it a rest for the night." Weston said as he turned to make the trip back to his car.

"See you in the mornin' Burns, and don't be too long," Weston yelled as he got further away.

I took off my hat and scratched my head in the hope of a sudden epiphany. I walked around the rocky terrain, puzzled. I was still feeling fuzzy from earlier. In my overcoat pockets, I had a couple of bagged evidence items. Wes' and I both thought these pieces might be helpful if we brought them back to the scene for our own evaluation.

I reached in my pocket to pull out a bag of evidence that contained two items; the first item was a well-worn pocket watch. The bronze-colored coating was rubbing off, but barely visible was an engraving on the watch's backside. The engraving read, "Time's Sphere." The meaning behind it appears obvious, but maybe it's deeper than I think. The other item was a paper-wrapped charcoal pencil. I couldn't make anything of it.

I stood at the scene for what must have been at least an hour after Weston had left. I had no idea what time it was. I put the evidence bag back in my pocket, after examining the items for some time. I began to slowly turn back in the direction of my car, sensing I wasn't going to get anywhere. Before I got turned around completely, something caught the corner of my eye. At the very edge of the scene, there was an ever so slight black bump in the rocky ground. I walked over curiously, rubbing my eyes to make sure I wasn't just hallucinating.

Sure enough, I crouched down to find something tucked underneath a tree stump size of a rock.

"What the hell is that," I murmured aloud.

I pushed slightly against the rock to leverage it up, while I tugged the black object out from underneath with my opposite hand. With my bare hand, I brushed off what looked to be a small black notebook. How did this get missed I thought. I stood up and analyzed the outside of the notebook. There were no patterns or engravings.

I opened up the book, unknowing of what to expect. I flipped through the first pages, and there was nothing there. I kept flipping slowly, examining each page intently being sure not to miss anything. Finally, at about halfway through I saw one sentence written in the center of the page. The words said, "Time will tell, you will See". I continued flipping through the pages but found nothing else written cover to cover. I thought for a moment about the written words, hoping for some kind of connection. Then it came to me.

I looked back in the book, then flipped through it until I found the page. I touched the letters on the page hoping I was right. I then looked at my fingers which were now softly powdered black and realized it was charcoal. That's when everything started to click. The pen was found on the body along with the pocket watch that read, "Time's Sphere".

"T.S. the words reflect each other!" I exclaimed with building intensity.

I quickly began to stand eager to notify Weston of my discovery. But before my legs straightened, I felt a hand softly press on my left shoulder to keep me down.

"Don't move son," A gruff man's voice said from behind me.

"You're a clever man, but it stops here." Said the man.

I was fearful, not knowing if the man was armed or not, but my curiosity was in control.

"Who are you?' I asked softly.

The man breathed out heavily as if he were short on time.

"Son, I can only offer you this once. $15,000 right now, if you stop pursuing this. This is a life-changing amount of money for this time, I know that" The man said with a pressuring tone.

I was still, unmoving from my crouched position. So many things ran through my mind, one definitely being the money. But two things came to me so clearly, I could practically see the words form in my head. Why is this so important to him that I stop, and what the hell did he mean by, "amount of money for this time." I swallowed hard before answering the man.

"What happens if I say no?" I asked.

"What's the last thing you remember before you got to the scene here today, Mark?" asked the man.

My eyes widened when he said my name.

"I was... I grabbed..." I mumbled, realizing I couldn't recall where I was.

My body started to tremble as I forcibly began to grab at my head. My thoughts began spiraling out of control not knowing what to do.

"Weston... He'll know!" I spat out.

I stood and turned around as fast as I could in an attempt to get to Weston as quickly as I could. But, when I turned around there was not a man behind me anymore. I was no longer in the dark, on a gravel-covered cliffside.

I was sitting down in a pearl white room, forcing my blurry eyes open. My mind could not piece one thing together, while my heart was beating at a dangerously high speed.

I noticed a door in a straight line from where I sat, now realizing I was restrained to my chair with my hands, and feet. Just before I finally was coherent enough to let my first words spill out, the door opened. A young woman walked in through the white door, dressed in a grey jumpsuit.

"Where am I.." I barely crackled out. "What's going on?"

The women walked up to me, then stopped a few feet before reaching my chair. She pulled out a set of keys on a ring and then proceeded to unlock my feet, and hand restraints. I immediately went to grasp at my wrist with my right hand but realized I was holding something. The black book from the scene was clenched in my right hand.

"I'll take that," The women whispered.

She pulled it out of my hand so quickly, I had no time to react.

"Excellent work, as always," The woman said with a satisfied smile. "Here is your payment."

She slapped down a clean white envelope on my left leg. I looked up at her feeling more confused than I thought possible. I looked down at the envelope, then opened it to see a check worth $20,000. I gazed at the check for a moment, then looked up to see the women all the way back at the door.

"Wait!" I yelled frantically. "Please just tell me what's going on."

The woman opened the door, then looked back at me before she left.

"You're the best Memory Runner in the business," she said. "Don't worry Mr. Weston, your memory will be clear in a short while..."