Page 14 of Only Time Will Tell

He glanced across the room at the mirror hanging above the fireplace and caught a glimpse of himself. His fingers traced along his sunken cheeks, and when the shock registered, he began to cry. “Now I understand what happened to my father.”

“What do you mean?”

He held up the watch. “This, Alex. This is the source of information, it’s also the cause of his death.”

I reached for the watch dangling between his fingers, but he pulled back. I grabbed at it, our hands met as the dial on top turned and the pin depressed. He tried to pull the watch back and as he screamed, “No!” the distance between us increased, Charlie and our living room faded away…

Chapter Four

Charlie

I screamed at the top of my lungs, “Alex!” but only the sound of my voice echoed through the empty street.

The scent of saltwater permeated the foggy evening air. My knees met with the dampened cobblestone pavers as I looked around, taking in the unfamiliar area that surrounded me.

Shit, we’d traveled further back in time than I’d dared to go.

“What have I done?” I bellowed, catching the watchful eye of the constable walking down the street. Down boy don’t draw unwanted attention. Lay low, find Alex and get the hell out of here. This was the time when people were locked up in sanitariums for something as simple as talking to themselves.

I stood, brushed off the knees of my jeans, and tried to get my bearings. Thankfully, I didn’t vomit like I’d done the first couple of times I’d time traveled. The constable eyed me curiously, before we exchanged nods and he continued along his patrol route. Realizing I was still in Seattle, historic Seattle at that, I hightailed it toward the waterfront. I assumed Alex had been dropped into the same era and location as I was, but never having traveled with anyone else, I wasn’t sure what to expect. Technically, he should have landed right beside me, yet he wasn’t here.

A newspaper fluttered by in the wind and I snagged it. The headline read:

“Seattle wins the Stanley Cup!”

My eyes froze as they read and re-read the year at the top. “Holy shit! Nineteen-seventeen!” We’d traveled a hundred and nine years back in time. I pulled the watch from my pocket and saw that during our struggle we’d somehow managed to spin the dial a full turn and landed on four seventeen—nineteen-seventeen in military time.

I tossed the paper down and groaned, we were seriously fucked. How could I have let this happen? How could I have been so careless? Alex had no clue how special the watch was. He’s probably freaking out right now. I had to find him, and soon before he wound up in jail.

I searched and searched for several painstaking hours but found no trace of him. Beyond exhausted, both mentally and physically, I laid down beneath a pier for a nap.

The sounds of steamship horns blaring as they entered the Sound startled me awake. Shit, sunrise. So much for a quick nap. Seeing the water of the Sound so clearly without multi-story buildings blocking the view took my breath away. Sometimes, progress made us forget what we once had, took it away, so to speak. Shaking off melancholy emotions for times past and things I couldn’t fix, finding Alex is the only thing that mattered now. I stretched and caught a glimpse of my clothing. That explained the strange looks I’d received. Period clothing was a must if I expected to fly under the local radar.

I walked along an alley way and found clothes drying on an outside line. No human in sight, I snagged what I hoped would fit, then headed into a nearby grove of trees and changed. Sad to know that the groves within the city I now saw were removed in the future to allow for development. Granted, outside of Seattle there were still plenty of wooded areas, but within the city it’s pretty much all buildings now.

Through the thick of the trees, I spotted a building. The closer I got I noticed it was an abandoned warehouse. Lucky for me, there was no one around, so I crawled inside through a broken lower-level window. It had definitely seen better days and even in the light of day, it was difficult to see it all. With the train tracks close by, I thought I’d run into vagrants camping out, but for now it appeared to be devoid of human life. Unfortunately, I couldn’t say the same for the rats scampering by. The smell of urine and feces was powerful.

Disgusting as it was, this would be the best spot to lay low in. After stashing my clothes, I set off in search of food and Alex. My stomach immediately growled when the scent of baking bread hit me.

The bell overhead jingled as I entered the store. “Excuse me, sir?” I asked the baker behind the counter.

“What can I do for you, son?” He glanced up from the cake he was decorating.

“I’m new in town and in need of work and food. Do you have any use for me?” I inquired.

He sized me up, hopefully my disheveled appearance didn’t cause him to say no and tell me to move on. “I can’t imagine you can lift heavy sacks of flour, but if you’ll sweep the floors and put the trash to the curb, I can pay you in baked goods until you find a suitable job in town.”

“Thank you, sir.” He pointed at me in the direction of the back room before tossing me an apron and broom. “Name’s Thomas,” he said, extending his hand and I shook it.

“I’m Charlie. Nice to meet you, sir.”

The bakery was on the east corner of what appeared to be the main thoroughfare in town. The glass front made it an ideal location for people watching, hoping to spot Alex. After my shift was over, I’d planned to hit the local tavern’s first. Not for a drink but for any leads. It wasn’t likely he’d be there, having never been one for the bar scene, but I had to start somewhere, and those types of establishments were notorious rumor mills.

Before I could cut out, Thomas called me up to the front. “Where are you staying, Charlie?”

“Um, not sure.” I didn’t want to admit that the place I’d found to sleep in was the rat-infested warehouse I’d broken into.

“There’s a cot in the loft upstairs you’re welcome to use.” He handed me a skeleton key.