Justin Time (Chapter 17) An Original Novel

                                  

 

Link to beginning of story:

  https://steemit.com/fiction/@justephen/justin-time-chapter-1-an-original-novel

Link to Chapter 16: Professor Time

https://steemit.com/fiction/@justephen/justin-time-chapter-16-an-original-story

Chapter 16 Review:

Justin Time is now 25 years old and is a professor teaching at California Institution of Technology. He has written a book on how time travel is possible. During his book signing debut, he meets an his old girlfriend, a strange skeptical scientist and a strange lady with a letter that Justin must open secretly.

Chapter 17: The Letter

When Justin arrived home, he was greeted by Katie, his chimpanzee, who ran to him with open arms.

"I had a very strange day Katie."

Katie, who was fluent in sign language gestured that she was very hungry.
"Okay Katie. I'm not hungry, but I don't mind cooking. How would you like me to make your favorite dish? Strawberry Waffles?"

Katie jumped up in down in delight.  As Justin was cooking he was reviewing the recent turn of events in his head.
'Why was this scientist so upset? He almost looked like a mad man. This man was talking to me like he knew me personally, but for the most part was tongue tied for words.'
'Then Kirstin approaches me, and like an idiot, I just sign her book and let her walk away. She was the only girl I ever had strong feelings for. Why did her parents have to leave to England. I had no way of contacting her and she never contacted me. But she is here now and I doubt she waited in line to have me sign a stupid book. I can't believe I just let her walk away. Stupid. Stupid. Stupid. I wonder if she is back permanently? Where is she staying? How do I find her? I can't go looking for her, she will think I am some sort of a stalker or something. It doesn't matter anyway. I am so busy. I couldn't treat her with the attention she deserves anyway. She is better off with someone who can treat her like a princess. What am I even talking about? She just said 'hi'.  She probably already has someone. A great catch like her could never be single. Okay..I will stop thinking about her. 

I will think about...hmm..that envelope!  I need to open that envelope. I wonder. That lady said don't deviate from the instructions? There are instructions in that envelope? Who is giving me instructions? Why should I believe this lady? This stranger. My mom told me to never listen to strangers, but that was when I was a little boy. She was just protecting me. They never caught that man who entered my bedroom. I remember most of the events. I still see his face. Dirty and intense. Boy..I am getting hungry now. I think I will have some waffles with Katie too.

After Justin finished preparing the waffles, he and Katie sat at the kitchen table and ate. Katie was enjoying them tremendously as she was making yum yum sounds. She learned those sounds from Justin when he is enjoying his meals. Justin, however was still in deep thought throughout the meal.

"Okay Katie, after I clean the dishes, I will go up in my room and open the envelope."

After Justin finished the dishes, he walked up stairs, sat on his bed and then opened the envelope.  Inside was just one piece of paper. It read:

As you can tell, this letter is written by you! The handwriting is unmistakable. I don't have time to go into much detail, however, I can tell you that you were somewhat successful in your time travel. Although you have accomplished time traveling, you had made several mistakes. You designed this letter to yourself to rectify those mistakes. If you do not follow the instructions exactly, the damage will be irreversible. It is important that you do not discuss nor show this letter with anybody. In your basement, you have a safe. There are a series of envelopes. It is very important that you open the envelopes in ascending numerical order starting with number one. They must be opened in numerical order, but only after you completed the instructions on the one prior. Do not deviate from these instructions and do exactly what you are told to do. Do not do anything else or ad-lib. Once you have 100% completed an envelope, then you can move to the next one. The importance of your success is beyond your imagination and everything is at stake! Go to your safe and open it when you are mentally prepared, but you must do it within three days.

Justin sat on his bed in amazement. 'Wow...I discovered time travel. Oh my god! I screwed things up. Blair kept on warning me about the dangerous path I was taking. I wondered what I did wrong? Maybe if I don't go to the safe, I won't have an opportunity to screw anything up. I can just drop all my research on time travel and everything will be okay. But, maybe I screwed up things in the future? Okay. I wrote this letter to myself. I must of known what I was talking about. Damn...I always seem to be getting myself into trouble. I thought I was past that phase.

Justin spent much more time reviewing the behemoth sized event that took place today. Finally, he started getting tired and decided to brush his teeth and head off to bed.

It was Saturday morning and Justin decided to make plans and have breakfast with Blair.  They would often have breakfast together on Saturday or Sunday. They had a favorite local diner called Peter's Pancakes. They had a full menu, but specialized in pancakes.

"So Blair, are you feeling a little better?",asked Justin.

You mean about Lisa? Oh. Although it has only been about five days, each day gets a little easier. I understand why she broke up with me and it does hurt. It makes me wonder if I picked the right career. I don't know if this career can be compatible with a wife or family. As you know, we had started a really interesting case a couple weeks ago and it is, to a certain degree, consuming me. I am not allowed to go into details on what it is about as you know, but..."

"But I am sure you will tell me everything anyway." ,interrupted Justin, "Because you tell me everything."

"No I don... Well I shouldn't, but I guess you always pull it out of me." ,acknowledged Blair.

"I don't have to work that hard at it. You need to get it out of your system and you know you can trust me."

"Very true. So, we have had reports from a variety of people throughout the U.S. who have had their credit cards, debit cards and bank accounts compromised. That is not unusual in itself, what makes this unusual is that even after they are through reporting the incident and their accounts are closed, the new account that they reopen, gets compromised again. It gets compromised even if they switch to another bank with a completely different account number. Getting a new social security number doesn't remedy the problem either. We currently have no answer for these people. They need to 'cash' their work checks because it would disappear in their bank account. From the best we can tell this is all being done through cyber technology. It is hard to know who is responsible for this when we don't even know how it is being accomplished."

"Have you boys decided on what you want to eat today?" ,interrupted the server who was a grayish bluish haired older lady.

"I'll have the usual.”, said Blair. "So, how did the book signing go?"

"And you too honey? ,asked the server speaking to Justin.

"Just this coffee is fine." ,said Justin.

Justin first took a sip of his freshly brewed coffee and then said, "It was an overall success, however a few events added quite a twist to the evening."

"Oh really? How many people showed up?"

"There was about a couple hundred."

"Not bad. What made it unusual?"

"Well first there was a scientist who was so upset at me, he started yelling and telling me how bad my theory was. But that was only the beginning. Guess who I saw there?"

"Um..I don't know. Who?" "Kirstin Reynolds."

"Wow. Really? Is she back permanently? Did you get her number? What did you do?"

"I signed her book and handed it back to her" said Justin somberly.

"What? What else do you talk about?"

"That was it. I didn't ask her how she was doing. I didn't ask her for her number. I didn't ask her anything. I didn't even say it was good seeing her. I froze. My head started going numb."

For a moment Blair didn't say anything. He didn't know whether he should feel sorry for Justin or give him a dunce cap. Justin started feeling even worse, so he started to change the direction of the conversation.

"That wasn't even the strangest part of the evening."

"Really? What could be worse?"

"I said strange, not worse."

"That's what you said, but I have a feeling you mean both strange and worse."

"Maybe I do. I was approached by a 50 or so year old lady. She hands me an envelope and tells me to open it alone and not to tell any..."

Justin coming back to his senses realized he was already break a rule. No one else was suppose to know.

"Not to tell anyone?" interrupted Blair. "Like your telling me right now? Just like I am not suppose to tell you about my investigations?"

"This is very very different Blair."

"Here's your food honey; scrambled eggs, bacon and french toast.  You really need to try ordering something else. We have a full menu here and our pancakes are spectacular. Can I get you boys anything else?"

"No thanks.", said Blair.

They were quiet for a few moments as Justin started thinking to himself. 'I know I told myself not to speak to anyone about this. But I always tell Blair everything. When I was writing this letter to myself, I would of specifically mentioned not to speak to anyone including Blair. Therefore, it is okay to speak to Blair.' Justin wanted to tell Blair so badly, he had just convinced himself why that would be okay.

"Okay Blair, I will tell you, but not here. Are you available tonight?"

"No, but I can see you on Sunday. Why the secrecy? Is it that important or private?"

"Yes and yes. So you know, telling you may be the biggest mistake of my life."

"Come on. Are we exaggerating just a little bit?  But I am very curious.", said Blair.

Blair was running late and finally arrived at Justin's home on Sunday evening.  Katie greeted Blair by giving him a big hug when he opened the door. Blair had a key and was welcome to come and go as he pleased. Justin was pacing back and forth from his family room to the kitchen with a letter in his hand.

Justin looked up. "Finally. What took you so long?"

"Sorry, I was delayed.", said Blair. "You look terrible."

"I haven't slept since we had breakfast together. Here. Read this.", said Justin handing Blair the letter.

Taking the letter from Justin, Blair began to read silently. "Really? Are you sure this isn't a joke?"

"I wish it was. This is not a joke?", replied Justin.

"How do you know someone isn't playing a joke on you?"

"This is in my hand writing.”

"Who gave you this letter?" ,asked Blair."

"Just some lady. I don't know who she is and I don't think I have ever seen her before."

"Well, she obviously knows you."

"I have kept racking my brain trying to figure out who she is. Maybe she is someone from the future? I don't know?"

"Well, whoever it is, let's go down to the safe right now and see what mess you got yourself into."