Carnelian (24 page)

“Seth?” Sim asked, wiggling her eyebrows.
“Have I met him?” she asked. “And is he cute?” I rolled my eyes at
her. Was Seth cute? That was the understatement of the century.
Like she didn’t know. She was always eyeing him over behind his
back.

“You know Seth, my boyfriend,” I answered,
trying not to stare at her. Was she playing a joke on me? Sim
wasn’t really a morning person. I doubted she’d be playing jokes so
early. This morning was just getting more and more strange.
Something was completely off.

“You have a boyfriend?” Sim replied
excitedly. She set her bags down and started to put things away.
“See what happens when I go home overnight. You get a boyfriend,
and I’m not here to meet and assess him. I told my mother I didn’t
need to go back his weekend, but she insisted. I’m not leaving you
alone for another weekend. You might just run off and get married
next. Well, I need to meet him ASAP and make sure he’s okay for
you.”

I wasn’t sure how to reply. She didn’t seem
to be joking at all. “Sim, you’ve met him. You don’t remember Seth
Sangre, football quarterback?” I asked. This morning was getting
stranger by the second. And why would she have gone home? The CRUSH
party was last night. This wasn’t adding up, and I was rapidly
getting concerned.

“Someone new for the football team, too?
Man, I miss so much when I’m gone for just a night. I’m not going
back the next time my mom calls,” Sim complained. I looked for the
joke coming, but she just continued to put her things away.

“Sim, are you saying you don’t remember Seth
Sangre at all?” I asked suspiciously. Sim was good at jokes, but
she was not good at lying to your face. I watched her
carefully.

“No, sorry, I don’t,” Sim replied, her eyes
pleading for me to forgive her. “There been many guys that hit on
you; I can’t really keep them straight.” Sim wasn’t lying. I
searched back in my mind. Everything was a bit hazy. I could
remember being hit on, but most prominently I could remember Seth
and the smell of clean linen that went with him. I could remember
the feel of his dark, almost black hair as I ran my fingers through
it, and I could feel his rock hard arms beneath me as we made out
last night. Those memories were more in the front over the haze of
additional memories.

Why did I have two sets of memories for the
same day? Was something wrong? I took a deep breath as I felt
myself drifting into panic mode. Something had to be wrong. Could
they be gone? My pulse was racing, breathing was getting more
difficult and tears were on the brink of turning over the edges of
my eyes.

“Do you remember Ty?” I asked. Did she
remember any of the three guys?

“Is that another one of those guys that
asked you out? I really am sorry I can’t keep them straight. Maybe
we should make them wear name tags, that would help,” Sim joked,
but stopped when she saw my face. She didn’t remember him. My worst
fear was coming true. They seemed to just be gone from her memory.
“Mari, is everything okay?” she asked, dropping her stuff and
coming to sit beside me.

I slowed my breathing to as
normal as possible before I had a breakdown in front of her and
nodded. If I told her the truth, I’m sure they would be locking me
up.
I met this cute guy from the past and
fell in love with him, but now he’s gone back to his own time. He
isn’t imaginary, but no you can’t meet him. Yep, everything’s fine
here except for that.
“Yeah, just a long
night,” I lied, hoping it would be good enough for her.

“Did this Seth guy do something to you?” she
asked, looking me over for some sign of physical trauma.

“No, no,” I shook my head. The only thing
Seth did last night was make me feel safe and loved every moment I
spent with him. “I think my thoughts are still all jumbled in my
dream.”

“Okay,” Sim replied, not standing yet. “If a
guy ever does something you don’t want him to, you know you can
tell me. You’re my best friend now.” She hugged me before
tentatively standing. I nodded and that seemed to reassure her
more.

I joined her by the side-by-side closets and
pulled out some clothes. “I think I need to go for a run,” I said
to her. I hurriedly threw on some clothes and pulled back my mess
of hair. Sim eyed me over one more time after I got dressed.

“Are you sure you’re fine?” she asked.

“Yes,” I replied. “Some fresh air should
help clear my head from that dream. I guess it was too real
feeling.” Sim nodded and went back to putting things away. I hated
to lie to her, but I had to. I made it out of the dorms before the
tears started. This was the day I was dreading. The day Seth
disappeared.

It wasn’t
intentional
, but I ran over to their
house. Seth couldn’t be gone. It seemed impossible, but also
probable at the same time. Sim’s reaction and my hazy memory as to
how I got home were beginning to make sense if I wanted to admit
the truth. I knew he was gone deep down, but I couldn’t accept
that. Seth wouldn’t leave me. We were meant to be together. We
still didn’t even know why they came to find me in the first place.
I stopped in their driveway. There was a car there, but it wasn’t
theirs. Could Seth, Ty, and Dee really be gone? I walked up to the
house. A man I didn’t know was standing in the doorway.

“You must be the girl Seth told me about,”
the older man said. “Curiously, Seth told me you’d come looking for
him. That would have to be a first for me.” I nodded as the tears
came full force now. “Come in out of the cold, child.” The man
opened the door. I had no clue who he was and I didn’t look
closely. He knew Seth and that was all I needed to hear.

The man led me into the living room. While
it appeared the same as before, same color, same furniture, even
arranged the same, I noticed small differences. The guy’s shoes
that were always stacked in the corner of the room were gone. Dee’s
game station wasn’t attached to the TV. Ty’s books weren’t stacked
on the coffee table. The blankets I had cuddled in the night before
with Seth weren’t thrown on the floor by the door.

“Are they really gone?” I asked, sinking
into the familiar couch with the unfamiliar man watching me.

“Yes, their time was up. They were called
back,” the man replied. He sat down with a stiffness in his back
that fit in with his impeccably-styled, greying hair.

“And just like that, they’re gone, and no
one remembers them?” I wiped the tears that kept coming. The man
reached over and handed me a handkerchief to wipe my eyes.

“That’s how it works. They’re not from our
time, therefore they are easily forgotten. That way the pain of
their loss is less,” the man replied from the chair across from
me.

“Then why do I remember them? Why do I get
to feel all this pain?” I desperately asked. I didn’t honestly want
to forget Seth, but I didn’t want to face reality without him.

“Because you’re connected to time, like my
family,” the man answered. Though I had no clue as to who the man
was, he knew me.

“You’re like me?” I asked, with hope that he
could help me get Seth back. I was sure he could teach me how.

“No,” the man answered, crushing my hope
with him. “I guess Seth never got around to telling you who I am.”
I shook my head. I didn’t even know what this man’s name was. “I am
the gatekeeper. I facilitate those that travel between times. I
maintain three separate lives in three different times where I help
those that arrive and set them on their goal. At a set time each
day, I go to another time and proceed on with my life. Seti, Nadim,
and Taraq came through time to this time period, and I helped set
them up on their path. It was easiest to just call them my adopted
children as their time here would be longer than most. They weren’t
even legally adults in this time when they arrived.”

“You’re Mr. Sangre?” I asked. The
button-down shirt and jeans guy sitting before me was the
multi-millionaire who owned several thriving businesses? He didn’t
even remotely seem like a businessman. He nodded.

“And you are Mari, the one Seth was meant to
find. The goddess said it would take them time to find you, but I
didn’t know they had. None of the boys mentioned it until I got the
call last night,” Mr. Sangre assessed.

“Because Seth didn’t want to go back. He
wouldn’t let them tell you,” I answered. Seth had already told me
he forbid Dee and Ty to tell Mr. Sangre. “But it didn’t matter, did
it?”

“No, I’m not the one that sends people back.
That’s the choice of the goddess.” Mr. Sangre watched me take in
the news.

“The goddess already knew. She’s known for
over a month. Why did she send him back now?” I asked. Mr. Sangre
looked surprised. Even the goddess didn’t mention it to him. He
obviously hadn’t been informed of what people knew and was used to
knowing everything.

“Only she knows. All I know was last night
she told Seth he had to return to his time,” Mr. Sangre composed
himself from his shock from lack of knowledge.

“Seth knew?” I asked.

“She was at some party and told everyone
that their time was done. Seth was told to finish up any loose
ends, and they would be gone.” I remember Dee’s friendly, excited
mood from the party. Seth must have known by then. Then I
remembered the sparkling costume girl that talked to Seth. I didn’t
see the face, but now I knew it wasn’t Melissa; it was the
goddess.

“She said their mission was complete. I
don’t know why the boys were sent here and seldom do I know the
details, but they were finished. I assumed it meant they found you.
Last night Seth called me to tell me your name was Mari, and that
he left a letter. He was afraid it would disappear with everything
else. I came here personally to get it for him. In my hands things
don’t disappear, but everything else does.” Mr. Sangre held out an
envelope. Seth’s fine printing was on the cover.

Mr. Sangre handed me the envelope. I took it
tentatively.

“They just disappear?” I asked in shock more
than anything. Nothing was left of them. Not even a photograph.

“Yes, anything more would upset time too
much. People mainly travel between times to learn something. The
majority travel a few decades back or forward in time at the most,
and many travel to find some long lost relative. Each person has a
mission to accomplish and when it’s finished, they head home. I am
sorry,” Mr. Sangre added. “You can go upstairs to his room to read
the letter if you’d like privacy.”

I looked down to my hands and nodded. I
doubted that this was something I wanted to read in front of
someone I just met. I stood and climbed upstairs. We had just been
here the night before, but now the house didn’t look lived in. I
walked through my fog, my feet taking me on autopilot to his room,
and I stood outside the door waiting. I tried my best to picture
Seth in the room. I wanted this all to be a lie. I hoped if I
thought hard enough, I’d find him standing there when I opened the
door. I wanted him back.

Slowly, I pushed open the door and my heart
sunk. The light blue bedcover was gone. Everything was as white and
sterile as the guest room. Seth was completely erased. He had gone
home without me.

Chapter 12

Love Across
Time

Tears began to
flow again as I numbly stumbled to the bed in
Seth’s room, letter in hand. He was gone. He was really gone. I sat
down without actually feeling the bed beneath me. It felt like the
world was crashing down around me. I was prepared for him to go,
but I kept thinking that for some reason he was sent to me. I had
hoped that he would stay with me forever. I had hoped he would take
me back with him. We were meant to be together.

I opened the crisp sheet and unfolded the
letter at the crease. His tight, clear penmanship glared back at me
from the page. This was the only proof that I had that he even
existed.

Mari,

I hope someday you will be able to forgive
me for leaving. At the party last night the goddess came to us to
take us home. I asked her to let me have one more night with you,
and she agreed. I tried several times to tell you last night, but I
couldn’t find it in myself to do so. I couldn’t even find enough
courage to tell you goodbye, and I hope you will forgive me for
that also. I guess we will never know why I was sent to find
you.

I never knew what it meant to be in love
until I found you. I do not regret being able to meet you, and I
hope you do not regret it either, no matter the pain we feel now. I
will do everything I can to return to you. I asked the goddess if I
will ever see you again, and she told me it would take a change in
the future. Please find your dreams and live them for the both of
us, and I will return to you as soon as I am able. One kiss from
you is enough to last me a lifetime. I will never stop trying to
find you, Mari. Please stay safe and be happy. Even though
centuries separate us, I love you now and forever. –Seti

I read the words a second time and then a
third. The tears just didn’t stop coming. Seth was gone. The
reality I never wanted to be was here, and all I could do was cry.
It didn’t help anything, but I couldn’t stop. I didn’t know when or
how, but eventually I curled up into a ball on Seth’s bed and fell
asleep from the exhaustion. In my dreams even, I could feel Seth. I
couldn’t just let him be gone. When I finally woke, it was late
afternoon. Mr. Sangre was standing in the doorway.

“He’s not coming back, is he?” I asked as
reality sunk in.

“Not that I’ve been told about,” Mr. Sangre
replied. “Though the future always changes.”

“And I’m to just move on with life like he
never existed.” I tucked the note back into the envelope.