I'm Nine Again

My right leg bounced up and down as I nervously sipped my coffee whilst out of the corner of my eye, keeping an eye on Mai Lui, or rather, Julia Lysenko as she sat with Mai Lui"s parents, conversing with an aeros.p.a.ce software engineer across the table. The man was very interested in listening to everything she had to say, even at times trying to rebut some of her arguments, but she always came out ahead. Everyone at that table was smiling with intrigue. Her parents were dressed in ill-fitting, neat clothing as they watched in awe as her daughter spoke with such confidence about subjects that they didn"t understand.

"Waro es roneh?" Alice asked, speaking the language we had invented together.

"I"m not too sure about this whole plan," I said, continuing to speak in the language we had created.

"What are you thinking?" she asked.

"Grey was really light with the details and now that we"re here, how are we supposed to convince them to come with us when we intercept them as we"re leaving the café?" I asked.

"I was thinking about that too, but I"m a.s.suming we elude to the fact we know who she is," Alice said.

"Yeah, that will get her on side, but she"s in the body of a 12-year-old girl," I said, "How the h.e.l.l are we going to convince her parents to come with us to the speed boat?"

"To be honest I thought Grey was going to brief us last night or this morning but when I tried to call him, he didn"t answer," Alice said looking concerned.

"I thought our first real big mission, we"d have a lot more details," I said.

"I agree," Alice said nodding her head, "I know that Grey"s keeping a lot of the details from us because he doesn"t want the timeline to change but the fact we are here today means that we"ve changed the timeline already. How can he be sure that we"re going off a bunch of irrelevant information right now?" she asked.

"I"m guessing he"s going to be right in the big events, such as if a war breaks out or in this case, the doctor over there," I said, "But small things, I"m pretty sure we"ve changed a load of small things in this timeline that might lead to something bigger."

"What are you thinking?" she asked.

I nodded my head in the direction of a black sedan parked outside the café on the other side of the street.

"That car across the street," I said, "Don"t look too obviously."

Alice pushed a fork off the table and laughed at herself, "Oh clumsy me!" she said in English. She reached down to pick up the fork and took a quick look at the car before sitting back up and looking back to me.

"What about it?" she asked, reverting to our language.

"I"ve got a pretty good view of it," I said, "And it"s currently in a no parking zone. It rocked up about three minutes ago."

"You think that might be the New World Order?" she asked.

"I hate to bring this up," I said, "But what if that man you killed in Sydney, what if that pushed forward the New World Orders plans to take the doctor?"

"That man," Alice said, "He was supposed to be pretty high up in the New World Order."

"That"s what I mean," I said, "What if by killing him, you accidentally set off a chain of events where instead of catching the doctor after she left the café, instead they invaded the café with the intent to capture her inside?"

"That would be brazen!" Alice said.

"The man you killed," I said, "He might have been the voice of reason within the New World Order that opted for a more peaceful approach."

"That man was a piece of s.h.i.t!" Alice said.

"Be that as it may, I"m really concerned that-" I started to say, but that"s when I took notice of a young couple entering the doors of the café. The man was dressed nicely in a pristine suit and the woman had long flowing blond hair.

"You have got to be kidding me!" I said.

"What is it?" Alice asked as she turned to look at what I saw.

"Travis!?" Said the woman with long blond flowing hair, "Travis is that really you!?"

"Is that June!?" Alice asked.

"I"m going to kill Grey!" I said, "How could he not tell me this!"

June ran over to the table, "Oh my G.o.d!" she screamed as she wrapped her arms around me, "Travis it"s really you!" Alice"s eyes went wide as some of the other patrons of the café started to turn to see the scene evolving before their eyes. June pulled back from her embrace and kissed me on the cheek before returning to hug me. The man that was with her, I recognized as Anthony, the man she was living with after my mother was murdered. He strolled over to the table.

"Where did you go?" June asked, "Matthew told us that you guys ran away from home! We"ve been looking for you for years! We"ve never stopped looking for you!"

Matthew and Rachel would have lied to June. It was probably a smart decision at the time, but the dynamic of this entire mission changed.

"June," I said, "I"m sorry that we ran away but I really don"t have time, please!" I desperately tried to say.

"Laura is here too," Anthony stated as he stood tall above us all. Alice looked up at him with worry in her eyes. Our entire mission had gone completely head over, "What have you two been doing these past five years?" he asked.

"Um," Alice stuttered, "Um, we really don"t have time. You guys need to leave here now!"

"Ali- Laura is right!" I said, "June you"ve got to go, you need to get out of here right now."

By now everyone in the café was looking over at our table as June still had her arms tightly wrapped around me. It had even caught the attention of Julia Lysenko"s table. I tried to push June away, but it only made her hug me more tightly.

"Sean!" Alice said.

I looked up and she was pointing out the window as two men had emerged from the car and they were starting to cross the road, dodging their way through the traffic as cars tooted their horns at them. With a strong push, I managed to push June backward.

"JUNE YOU NEED TO GET OUT OF HERE!" I yelled

"What do you mean?" she asked with tears in her eyes.

"SEAN THEY"RE COMING IN FAST!"

I jumped up off the chair and ran over to the table where Julia Lysenko and Mai"s family were sitting with the other young aeros.p.a.ce software engineer.

"Julia Lysenko!" I said with a quick breath. The young girls" pupils dilated as she heard that name. Her father wrapped an arm over her shoulder, her mother clutching her purse in shock.

"You go away back from my daughter!" said her father in broken English. "Julia Lysenko!" I said once again, "Your life is in danger, I need you to come with me now!"

"Dad!" Julia said, "Dad we need to go!"

"Don"t worry Mai," he said, "I not let this crazy boy hurt you!"

"Travis, what are you doing?" I heard June"s voice call to me from behind.

Julia pulled herself from her fathers" grip and slid away from the table grabbing at his arm.

"No Dad!" she said, "We need to go now. We need to run!"

"Why are we running!?" her father demanded to know angrily.

"SEAN!" Alice yelled across the café.

I turned to look at her as I saw her violently rip out a submachine gun from one of the bags we had resting by the foot of the table. She clicked back the detachable stock and raised the gun to her shoulder, kicking over our table.

"SHE"S GOT A GUN!" Someone called.
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"EVERYBODY GET DOWN!" I yelled, my squeaky voice beginning to crack.

I helped Julia down to the ground as I caught a glimpse of a man outside the window with a shotgun aimed directly at me.

RATATATATATATATATAT!

The submachinegun that Alice held started to fire, the sound of the gunshots echoing throughout the store. The gla.s.s window behind the table Julia"s family sat at, shattered as the bullets penetrated the gla.s.s and pelted into the man standing outside. His shotgun fired as he dropped to the ground, sending pellets flying through the café. People started screaming as the sounds of gunshots and shattering gla.s.s filled the air.

I looked back to Alice who had ducked down behind the table. She was reloading her gun as she looked up to see me staring at her. She reached into the bag and threw a handgun to me. It slid across the floor and broken gla.s.s. I reached over to pick it up and just as I retrieved it, bullets started pelting the area where my hand had just been.

RATATATATA

I turned my body to see that the other man had entered the café and was now firing his weapon at me. Alice stood up from behind the table and started to fire her weapon at him.

RATATATATTATTATT

He dropped into a heap on the ground as the screams only continued every time there was more gunfire. People were running for the front exit as well as the people on the street who were running away from the café. I leaned back over to Julia.

"We need to go now," I said, "If your parents don"t come then we need to leave them!"

"Okay," she said, shaking but rational.

I crouched low and ran over to Alice who was again, reloading her weapon. Behind the same table crouched June and Anthony.

"What is going on Travis!?" June asked with tears in her eyes and blood dripping from her cheek.

"What happened!?" I asked.

"She was. .h.i.t by a shotgun pellet," Alice said, "Just a graze, nothing too serious."

"We"ve got to get Julia and get out the back," I said.

"We know that there is NWO outside the back though," Alice said.

"Exactly," I said, "We know they are there. They don"t know that we know they are there."

"Travis, Laura!" Anthony shouted, "What are you two doing!?"

"No time to explain Anthony," I said, "Sorry, you weren"t supposed to get involved in this."

I felt a tug at my jacket and turned around to see Julia crouched behind me with her mother and father.

"Where are we going?" the father asked, more cooperatively this time.

"We need to go out the back door," I said, "But we need to be careful, there might be enemies back there."

"Who is the enemy?" he asked.

"I don"t know," I said to try and avoid the conversation in this moment of high tension.

Alice grabbed at my other arm and pulled me to stand up. Alice, Myself, Julia and her parents all stood up. Julia and her parents moving themselves to stand behind Alice and me.

"Okay," I said, "Stay behind us, and let"s go!"

We all started to run towards the counter and though the kitchen. The back door was on the opposite wall.

"June wait!" I heard called out from behind me. Turning, I saw June following us.

"Travis you can"t just leave like this, not after all these years!" she yelled, "Tell me what you"ve been doing? Where you"ve been? Why you"re running around with guns!"

She ran fast to catch up to us as Anthony stood up and quickly followed.

"Now really isn"t the f.u.c.king time June!" I snapped.

A man stepped out in front of me with a kitchen knife in his hands. He was a worker at the café who was trying to stop us.

"I won"t let you get past me!" he said, shaking as he stood in front of us to block the way.

"MOVE!" Alice yelled raising her gun at him and walking heavily in his direction. He started to step backward but Alice persisted, with an aggressive look in her eyes.

"DON"T BE STUPID!" she yelled, "GET THE f.u.c.k OUT OF OUR WAY!"

The man continued to step backward and dropped the knife to the floor as he got to a corner and bench and stepped around it, out of our way.

"Sorry!" he said, "Please don"t shoot me!" he begged.

"Pathetic," Alice spat.

"Alice!" I said. She turned and I motioned towards the back door. She positioned herself behind the door. I nodded my head and ran through the door, clearing to the left to make sure there were no enemies on that side.

"Travis please tell me what is going on!?" June said. I turned to see that she had followed me through the door. Behind her stood a man a shotgun raised at her, about to pull the trigger.

"REWIND"

I turned back around and started to step back through the door, hearing June reversed speech as time then started to move forward again. I was halfway through clearing the left side of the doorway when I swung around to see June standing behind me with the man behind her starting to raise his gun.

"Travis please tell-" June started to say.

BANG! BANG!

I fired my weapon twice and the man behind June dropped to the ground. Another man had his weapon raised and was about to start firing.

"Time Stop"

The man stood there, motionless as I shifted my aim towards him.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

I fired my weapon three times as he stood motionless. After a few seconds, my focus on my power had faded and the man dropped to the ground.

"TRAVIS!" June yelled, "Travis you just killed these men! Please tell me why you are doing this!?"

Tears poured uncontrollably from her eyes. Everyone else ran outside the back door into the alleyway as well. Anthony wrapped his arms over June"s shoulders as he caught up to her.

"Just what are you kids mixed up in!?" Anthony asked with fear in his eyes.

"You guys are serious right now!?" Alice said pushing past everyone to get to the front of the group, "You are not going to get a f.u.c.king encyclopedia on what it is we are doing, whilst we are in the middle of a firefight!"

"What do you think?" I asked.

"We steal a car and gun it for the river," Alice said.

"Makes sense," I said.

"STEAL A CAR?" June said, interjecting again with nothing useful.

"Hey June, honey," Alice started to say condescendingly, " I know that this whole situation is shocking at all, but lets be shocked later yeah?" she asked, "We don"t have time for this, if you"re going to follow us you need to do exactly what we say, otherwise, you and Anthony can find a place to hide and wait for the police to get here."

She snarled her lip at June as she turned to walk up the alley with her weapon raised to her shoulders. I shoved my pistol in between my belt and my waist and reached down to pick up the rifle off the man who I had shot first. I check the safety and c.o.c.ked the weapon to chamber a round and turned back to the group of five standing behind me.

"Let"s go!" I said.

Julia"s lip trembled as she swallowed deeply and nodded. We all started running through the Alley, Julia and her parents running close beside me.

"How do you know who I am?" she asked.

"I"m from 2019," I said, "And that girl Alice is also from 2019."

"So, I"m not the only one?" she asked.

"No," I replied.

I couldn"t tell whether anyone else heard us or let alone really understood what we were talking about. We just continued to run through the alley. This mission really didn"t go the way we had planned it, and now we had to take care of five people while making sure Julia stayed safe.

I know that Julia is supposed to be the top priority but even in the middle of this mission, my mind keeps drifting back to June. Why was she here, and if Grey knew she would be here, why didn"t he tell me? I didn"t want her to be in any danger.