1927: Redemption

Photograph Captured!

“I'm selfish, impatient and a little insecure. I make mistakes, I am out of control and at times hard to handle. But if you can't handle me at my worst, then you sure as hell don't deserve me at my best.”

-Marilyn Monroe

21 DECEMBER 2021- MIAMI, FLORIDA

The storm was slowly escalating, making the situation more problematic because of low lighting and the speed of the wind. Without wasting another second, Adeline wandered her eyes in search of an object to dig a hole beside the arrow on the bench’s leg.

As if luck was on her side tonight, she located an axe and a stick behind the bench, she strolled around the corner and picked up both the things that had been sunk into the ground. She took an incredulous look at both the stick and axe in her hands before tossing the stick on the ground.

Raising an eyebrow before the bench, while breathing out, she raised the axe and attacked the ground with it.

After ten minutes of continuous attacks on the ground, Adeline had dug up the ground, and now she was standing in the place she had dug up. But till now, she got nothing valuable.

Halting for a moment, gasping the air like a donkey, Adeline took a break to catch her breath. When her hair laid like a second skin over her cheeks and she looked as if she was just caught in a sudden storm, well she was caught up in a storm.

She let herself step off the exercise machine- yeah digging up the ground was kind of an exercise machine to her.

Today, she was capable of doing this much work out due to her fair share in the gym. At that time her legs used to feel empty and there was a rising feeling of nausea from her stomach. It never ceases to amaze her that the muscles that were working so hard only seconds ago now struggle to hold her weight. She always staggered to the mirror to gawk at her sweaty form, her achievement, a visual that calms her fear of being not able to defend herself again. She saw muscles and bones that not so long ago were buried. This was the new her, the one who laboured to keep it off instead of consoling herself.

After hearing the ripples of thunder in the sky, Adeline held the axe again and proceeded to attack the inside of the hole with the axe.

Now, after half an hour of continuous labouring, the hit on the ground made a sound of a metal and she finally saw an opening down there.

“Ha!”

She immediately got down on her knees and started removing the unwanted black soil over the hard substance that she discovered under the ground. Pacing the process, she finally found a metal box. It had a thousand butterflies made of a strong and shiny metal, and behind only a few were keyholes. It appeared that the box opened not in one place but many, and the place of opening changed the perception of the contents. So, thought Adeline, finding the right key mattered.

Keeping the thoughts of opening the box to the unread corners of her mind, Adeline ushered it inside her bag instantly and tried to get out of the ground that she dug.

Uh-oh!

Yes, did you realise what went wrong?

Of course, you didn't, but Adeline did, she was five feet in the ground with wet and marshy soil around her, abstaining her from moving out of the hole.

Just what she wanted!

But, there was something special about tonight’s moon, it had to be special or if it was not James would have not chosen this twenty-first of December in 2021.

Think Adeline, think! There's got to be something.

Saying so, she registered the change in the weather around here, it was calming down. The light of the moon was slowly paving its way all through the yellowish clouds of this scary dimension.

Looking up at the sky above which was still darkening from the eclipse, yes the eclipse was happening, underground, and then she was shocked out of her wits when- Adeline saw a masked man who was sitting on a rock beside the bench, he was the same man, something was really dangerous about him because this time what she saw shook her. His eyes were completely red, his skin had blisters as if he got burnt.

And, the hole she dug was directly under the eclipse so the light would pool through.

He was staring at Adeline who was standing directly under the light, he was chugging the rest of his green drink from a very dirty bottle, which looked like a beer bottle to her.

The unknown man sat his bottle down, and rubbed his hands together, getting up from the rock. Adeline did not make any sound, just maintained her ground, looking at him with patience and confidence which she really needed right now.

He walked over to Adeline, under the direct light of the eclipse. “Let’s not get awkward. I have been waiting for you for years.”

Adeline looked up at the scary guy. “Who are you?” she asked, keeping a stoic face.

“You sound like a rough day, huh, Adeline? Sorry. Manners. I'm Ty. Nice to meet you.”

She just stared at him, weirdly shocked.

How the hell did he know her name?

He sat beside the hole in which Adeline was standing and took out a bag of pork rinds. Ty was now sitting on the ground and munching on pork rinds whereas she was standing close, clearly irritated.

“That is gonna have to stop.” She commented. On the front, she looked really tough and all, but inside, our dear girl was freaking the hell out!

Amusement flickered in his red eyes when Ty said. “Oh, you think this is annoying? Hmm.”

“So you've been following me?” She asked.

“Of course I have. You are the closest thing I have right now. I mean, you're not "Friends," but...Remember "Friends"?”

“No, I do not.”

“Oh. Oh, girl, you got to watch it. You like comedy, like...laughing till you die?” He asked, arching a non-existent eyebrow at her.

“This has been a monumentally bad day in a sea of bad days, so I'm gonna need to know who you are, what you're doing here, and how it relates to me, or I'm gonna rip your throat out, and trust me I will.” Threatened Adeline.

Giving out a badass chuckle. He started, “Temper's gonna get you in trouble, Adeline. Trouble has already driven everything away from you how many times? Oh, oh, oh, wait. I know countless things.”

Seeing the guy’s condition, Adeline knew he was no competition to her, and his personal comments kind of drove her angry, very, very angry.

Thrusting her leg into the marshy wall around her, she was successful in making a space for her foot, where it could be treated as a state to her. Same with the other leg, Adeline was able to make it two holes and with one and two she super seeded out of the hole.

Strolling in Ty’s direction with a glare on her face, she held him by a collar. “You think my temper is bad right now? Well, news flash, it is not because out there I have everything that I need, you not so much.”

Woah! That was the kind of attitude she needed to possess to handle every hurdle in her way.”

“Ok. Ok. Sorry. Seriously. I'm just kind of rusty on face-to-face type human interactions.” He said, his voice sounding a bit shaky.

Was that an act?

Leaving him, “Answer now.” Demanded Adeline.

He stood up, his face looked like he was genuinely scared of her, he started saying, “For starters, I don’t actually know you, just heard you saying ‘Think Adeline’…”

“Well, that’s a relief.” She said with a phew, “continue.”

Nodding, “Second, a few days back I was at this forest in Miami and suddenly got transported here. I think I am- Ah!”

An arrow zipped out of nowhere and caught him in his stomach, he got knocked back, Adeline was taken by surprise and the bottle fell with Ty. She whirled to see none other than William himself standing with a crossbow pointed directly at her.

“Never listen to your killers.” Adeline stared at him incredulously.

“What?” She asked.

“Did you really think he would try to help you and not kill you before?” Asked William, walking towards her.

Adeline looked back at Ty, who was grunting in pain.

“Because I had–” he reloads his crossbow, “lots of times, lots of encounters with them.”

Ty yelped as William shot out the arrow at him and stabbed him with an arrow, Ty grunted in pain, while he tried to take it out. He was bleeding out, as he crawled and laid still like his life left his body completely.

Adeline was quite confused about what was happening right now. Because she just stood there like a statue while William held the steering of getting out of this portal.

“Where is the box?” He asked.

Adeline reached out towards her bag and took out the box, which was taken by William instantly.

“What the hell is going on? Care to tell me?” She asked, who got ignored by him totally.

The eclipse was fully overhead.

“You took your time, now it’s time to go back.” His eyes shone as he held his hand out.

The moment she held his hand, the same feeling of being electrocuted flooded through her being, making her knees jittery. William speeded Adeline until they were underneath the circle of light from the eclipse. When they get there.

“We need your blood.”

Her eyes widened when she exclaimed, “What? Why?”

Holding her glance, “Trust me.” William used the sharp side of the box to slice into her palm, she then dripped the blood onto the small hole on the box at the top.

“Okay, it hurts. Now what?”

She looked up at William, who was staring. She breathed hard and she looked up at the blue eclipse light, she shut her eyes and began to chant in her mind that they would succeed this time. And Suddenly, the box clicked and opened. William and Adeline started hopefully at each other.

“Now, It's time, Adeline Martinez.”

He said and a big smile broke onto her face, he held her close to his chest with his black looking at the moon, while her eyes found half-dead Ty.

“DON'T!” Ty screamed. The box untwisted and clicked in William’s hand.

“Don’t leave me here.” The box twisted one more time, a definite click.

“NO! You are the key-”

And that was it, they were brought up into the light, and with a flash, they were gone. The only thing left was the mysterious box, which shattered as it hit the ground. Ty screamed furiously. And Adeline smiled, knowing they made it.

Life finally left from Ty's eye as he crumpled to the ground, letting out a grunt of pain. And suddenly, everything was silent.

Why did they leave him behind?

Why was William so hell-bent to kill him, instead of saving him?

Of course, these questions rummaged through Adeline’s mind, but she also trusted William and he did what he did, it might be important and needed.

In a flash of light, they were out of the portal in the fresh sunlight of earth’s morning where they found Ace doing jumping jacks, well it was kind of funny to see him like that.

“You okay, Ace?” She asked.

Ace turned, stared shocked, not quite believing his eyes.

“Adeline Martinez?”

Rolling her eyes, moving away from William’s grasp towards Ace. “Yep. In the flesh.” But then she smiled.

“How am I seeing you right now?” Ace’s face became serious like it was serious enough.

“Because I'm not dead, Arris Jonathan. I mean, the stuff you take is good, but it's not "I see dead people" good. Heh.”She slowly walked toward Ace. Face serious.

Ace was in a daze, eyes wide and red, rimmed with tears.

Tears, TEARS!

“Hey. It's not like I was gone for years or something or worse, dead, but….I'm back. I'm back.”

Ace reached out and touched her shoulder.

“Yeah. You are behaving real stupid right now, what happened?”

When Ace's face scrunched up as if he was about to cry, he pulled Adeline into a hug. A tight one and she wraps his arms around him as well.

“You are an i***t, Arris Jonathan. I'm back, safe and sound.”

Ace held tight onto Adeline, eyes scrunching shut-in repressed emotion.

While they were having their moment, William opened a very old looking envelope that he along with Adeline carried out of the portal into the real world.

Opening the envelope, he found two photographs of two different personalities of the 1920s. They were none other than Issac Sylvester and his brother. Their names were also written at the back of each photograph for Adeline to recognise who was whom, it was the plan of her grandfather James.

But, William had something else in his mind. He used a remover, erased the names from the photographs and kept them inside the envelope, just like it never opened before and behaved as if nothing happened.

Why the hell did he do this?

Why make the already difficult task more difficult?

Was William really on Adeline’s side?

Let’s see, but one thing was accomplished for sure. They got the photographs with a new set of questions in Adeline’s mind.