Time & Space: Chapter 4

Seth’s alarm had been going off for an hour. It wasn’t until the ninth iteration of Led Zeppelin’s The Rain Song reached its crescendo did it finally break through to his dream laden consciousness. He had picked the song to wake him because it did the job gently, building from soft strings to crashing cymbals over the course seven-and-a-half minutes. This time, it had been too gentle to pull him away from his subconscious.

His night had been restless. He had dreamed of cold, dark streets. He had felt afraid and yet powerful. He had seen flashing lights and remembered a sensation of soft warmth. All of it had felt unbelievably real and familiar, but somehow disconnected and impossible. The longer he stared at the ceiling the harder the images were to recall and eventually they had faded altogether. His wakefulness suddenly dawned on him.

He dug frantically through the folds of his bed sheets for the source of the music that had roused him and found it curiously near his knees. The screen flashed causing him to squint at its intensity in the dark bedroom.

4:28 pm, Dec. 25th

A notification popped up below it

5:00 pm, WORK

“Shit!” he cursed as he threw the covers off of him and sprang out of bed. Running the few steps to his small bathroom he found himself face-to-face with his haggard eyes, tousled hair, and thin-but-pudgy bare torso. He splashed cold water on his face, running his hands through his greasy half-curls. His mind was briefly transported back to an image from his dream and in the same instant it was gone.

No matter how quickly he tried to move, his mind kept running off toward memories of his strange dreams that never fully materialized for him no matter how hard he strained. By the time he had finished brushing his teeth and applying deodorant he had wasted another half-hour staring off into space.

Susan is going to kill me, he thought. He stepped carelessly into his pants, shaking off another sudden flash, and threw a shirt over his head. Making for the door now, he scooped up his keys and shoved his feet into two different shoes that happened to both be laying next to each other near the door. The door slammed behind him as he sprinted down the stairs and out into the cold.

The chill cut through his cloth t-shirt and drove the warm breath from his lungs. He had left his jacket somewhere in his untidy apartment, no time to search for it. Seth turned and ran toward the nearest subway station that was a few blocks from his apartment. Traffic was heavy for a holiday and he easily dodged the stationary car fenders as he crossed jammed streets.

Reaching the turnstile at the station, he checked his jeans pockets for his MetroCard and found nothing. His wallet must have fallen out of his pocket when he disrobed the night before. Damn it, why now?! he thought to himself, looking around for a plan B.

The older woman behind him began to look increasingly perturbed as he turned to her and said, “Excuse me ma’am, I can’t find my wallet and I’m late to work, could you pay-” The woman pushed passed him, scanning her card at the turnstile and muttering something unintelligible under her breath.

He frantically began making the same plea to anyone nearby who would make eye contact with him.

“No, way dude.”

“Sorry, man.”

“No puedo, sorry.”

“Fuck off.”

Right back at you, he thought, and Merry Christmas.

He gave up, deciding he could make it back to his apartment in the time it might take him to find someone generous in the train station. Propelled by his swelling frustration and rising adrenaline, he was back in his apartment in minutes and looking everywhere for his wallet.

By the second time he had tossed his dirty clothes out of the hamper and onto the bed, he felt a soft thump on top of his foot. The wallet lay open on the floor. For maybe the first time in his life, he cursed himself for his lack of organization.

Being more careful this time, he checked to make sure his MetroCard was where it should be and even quickly counted the few small bills folded inside for good measure. Grabbing his coat which he had found in his search draped over the back of his armchair, Seth made the now all-too-familiar sprint back to the train station, MetroCard in hand.

Waiting behind two other commuters, he checked his phone again.

5:45 pm.

His shift had started 45 minutes ago and his commute would take at least another 45. He pushed through the turnstile and flew down the grimy terracotta steps, squeezing through the train doors just as they began to close. He inserted himself into a vacant corner on the crowded train, leaned against the sticky plastic wall, and sighed.

Maybe this is what finally gets me fired, he thought. He felt sick to his stomach, not at the thought of losing his job, but that this would probably come down on Donnie too. That bald-headed fool had worked for the hospital for 15 years, losing the job would crush him. Seth had been planning on quitting for months now, he welcomed the idea of leaving on whatever terms. He could only hope that he wouldn’t be needed until he got there, or else one of the nurses would surely call Susan to inform her no one had showed up.

He reached into his front pocket for his headphones and once again came up empty.

Of course, he thought.

*****

Left alone with only his thoughts, the 30 minute train ride seemed like an eternity. By the time he had reached the station and began to walk the last couple of blocks to the hospital, he had already crafted his “you know what? I quit!” speech.

Reaching the employee door in the alleyway, he looked at his phone again and took a deep breath, wrestling with himself over what he hoped to find on the other side. It was 6:57pm and he would be two hours late by the time he punched the time clock.

As he reached for the door, it suddenly and violently swung forward, swatting his hand away. A small head wreathed in golden hair collided with his chest as its owner screamed.

“What the hell?!” Raychel yelled, dropping what was in her hand and pushing away from him.

“I-I’m sorry, Raychel!” Seth cried, startled almost as much as she had been.

Realizing who he was, her soft, frightened features turned suddenly hard and judgemental.

“Oh my god, where have you been? We haven’t been able to get a hold of anyone today!” She collected herself and bent to pick up the orange biohazard bags she had been carrying.

“Yeah, I know,” Seth mumbled. “The subway was crammed. I missed a couple of trains,” he lied, scratching the back of his head and trying hard not to look at her too long. Now that he was up close, he realized she was more beautiful than he had ever thought. Her angelic hair was pulled into a tight bun save one strand, which he had likely knocked loose during their collision, and now hung down in front of one of her piercing blue-green eyes. She looked both alluring and dangerous.

“Yeah, well, you’ve got work to do,” she said, thrusting the bags at his chest. They smelled like death. “I’m almost off my shift anyway.”

“Yes ma’am - er- I mean yeah, sorry,” he muttered, taking the bags and turning to place them in their designated bin.

She turned and was gone as the door slammed behind her.

What an idiot, he thought to himself. He now realized that getting fired was not the worst case scenario. The worst case scenario was making himself look like a complete fool in front of the most attractive woman he had ever seen, and he was living it.

He pulled the heavy door open and stepped into the warm, stale hospital air. He half-jogged down to the break room dodging nurses and gurneys, and finally skidding to a halt just before the break room door.

Standing in the door frame was a hulking, beardless, and very angry looking Santa Claus.

“I’m supposed to be at my own Christmas party right now,” Susan grumbled, crossing her arms across her jolly, velvet-clad chest. “Donnie, of all people, is at my Christmas party, and I am here. Why is that, Seth?”

“Susan, I’m-”

“You’re fired, is what you are.”

Seth thought about breaking into his pre-planned speech, but Susan’s cheeks were turning red and there was nothing rosy about them. He decided she was angry enough.

Wanting to at least dignify her anger, he tried to look disappointed, hanging his head and whimpering, “yes ma’am, I’m sorry.”

She let him pass and watched him meticulously as he pulled the few spare clothes and backup toiletries out of his designated locker and stuffed them into a small duffel bag. Glancing once more back at Susan, he hesitantly spoke up, “Please don’t take this out on Donnie.”

She looked at him with a wild frustration in her eyes and said, “Donnie will be taking his shift back, and I will be returning to my party.”

Just then he noticed a glint of gold move past the door out of the corner of his eye. Susan opened her mouth to say something final when he interrupted, “Merry Christmas!” and bolted out into the hallway, chasing after the one thing he would actually miss about this place.

Rounding the corner, he saw Raychel’s near-perfect bun disappear out the side door they had entered just a few moments ago. With a rush of adrenaline and an unfamiliar sense of freedom, Seth resolved then and there that he was no longer a slave to the mundane, but that he was a man of action. He was going apologize to Raychel. He was going to tell her how beautiful she was to him and what he admired about her. He was going to tell her he wouldn’t be coming back here, and then ask her if she would like to get coffee sometime or go see a movie this weekend.

Taking a deep breath, he sprinted towards the door, pushing through it slowly as to not bowl her over if she had paused on the other side. Stepping out into the still biting winter air, Seth was met with an empty and dark alleyway.

Damn it! Did I miss her? he thought. She can’t be far.

He bounded down the loading dock stairs, skipping most of them and scanned the alleyway in all directions. What he saw caused his breath to catch in his lungs.

About 20 feet from him, a tangled silhouette wrestled against the weathered brick of the hospital’s exterior. Seth could hear muffled cries and an inaudible but threatening voice.

Seth knew immediately that Raychel, his secret angel, was in danger. Had this been any other moment Seth might have talked himself out of being a hero, but he had only just started living his life free of inhibitions and this was his chance prove it.

Before doubt could creep in, Seth lunged forward. His legs exploded into motion, burning away his years of feeling worthless as though they were fuel. With each step he felt his subconscious freeing itself from a decade of acquiescing to life’s challenges. As he sprinted towards this confrontation, he felt himself change.

He was about 5 feet from what he could now see was a man with long dark hair who had Raychel’s face clasped behind a large, gloved hand, when the figure noticed Seth hurtling towards him. Raychel’s eyes were wide with both fear and determination. She saw him coming too, and shifted her weight to try and maneuver her captor into Seth’s path.

That’s when he saw it.

Seth’s heart stopped when the pistol came into view. He could not do anything to stop his body, but his mind immediately knew the danger that both he and Raychel were in. This would likely be the last thing he ever did. The world moved in slow motion.

He took his last stride, closing the distance between them, eyes locked on the pistol’s lethal shape. It began to turn to face him, the cyclopean eye of the barrel staring right back at him. Seth clenched his teeth as his outstretched arm made contact with the cold steel of the gun. He wrapped his fingers around it, trying to twist it away from both himself and Raychel.

There was a moment of unnatural and absolute silence that seemed to last an eternity. Then,

POP!

There was a flash of light, and Seth’s vision went white.

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