Coma (Paranormal Romance) (31 page)

“Wow,” I breathed, looking down. We were
higher than I have ever been in my life. The air below was all
rainbows as far as eyes could see. I didn't notice before, but now
it was apparent that none of the buildings had normal, straight
shape. Everything was curvy, and irregular, bouncing light
everywhere. Each greenhouse on a balcony had a focused sunlight
aimed at it. Breathtakingly beautiful.

Zack kissed the top of my head, saying, “I'll
get that breakfast now,” he smiled and disappeared inside.

Oh, how I wished my parents could be there to
see I was alright, and to share the wonders of that new world. My
heart sunk again. It was time to brush my teeth.

~*~

“I was thinking,” Zack said when I walked
into the kitchen. He was still in his boxers, waltzing between the
table and a stove with plates in his hands. His masculine
appearance owned that room, and it was darn sexy.

“About what?” I asked, sitting down,
entertaining a couple of impure thoughts that involved his
body.

“How open-minded are your parents?” He
stopped moving, staring closely into my eyes, breaking my train of
impure thoughts.

“Pretty much. Why?” I tilted my head,
suspecting a devious plan based on his mischievous smile.

“After last night––” He clasped the back of
his neck. “I feel like breaking some rules.”

“Come again?” I gawked, wondering what the
hell was he up to.

“If we take some pictures of us here,” his
eyes gleamed with some unknown fire. “And put them along with a
letter from you explaining where you were and why––” He paused,
running fingers through his uncombed hair. “Do you think your
parents would believe you, and keep that info to themselves?”

My heart quickened. “I think they would. But
I'm not hundred percent sure.”

He bit his lower lip, smiling. “Shall we do
it?” His brows shot up, eyes shimmering with excitement.

“Can we get in trouble?”

“Oh, yeah!” He chuckled. “No-one can ever
know about it. We'd be in shit-load of trouble.”

“What if they don't believe the letter? What
if they tell someone?”

“I'll check the ripple effect your letter
will create, and if they react badly, we'll change history.”

I swallowed a knot. “But Zack...we're TGA. We
don't mess with changing history.”

“I know,” he ran his fingers nervously
through his hair again, sighing long. “But I'm not sure what to
believe anymore,” his eyes latched onto mine. There was a lot going
on in there, I could see he was debating something. “Before I met
you, my world was simple.”

“Great,” was my snarky remark.

He smiled, “I was sure about who I was, what
I believed in, what was right, and what was wrong. Heck, I followed
all our rules to the T. But now...Feeling your pain, knowing what
you had to give up––” He let out a painful sigh, “I'm questioning
everything, you know?” He looked at me as if I was supposed to
understand what he was questioning. Sadly, I didn’t, but I did see
he was highly conflicted. “Was it really necessary to keep your
parents in the dark?”

“Look,” I said, taking his hand in mine, “You
know how much I'd love to tell my parents, but if it'll make Zoe go
all Wolverine on us––”

“––Wolverine?” Zack chuckled, staring at me
eyes wide.

“Yeah,” I giggled, “The movie. X-Men?”

“I know that. It's just...It's ancient
history for me. It's been awhile since I heard anyone reference an
oldie,” he chuckled again.

“An oldie.” I repeated, smiling to myself.
“Anyway, let's not get sidetracked––”

“I hear you,” he jumped in, “And that's what
I'm sayin’. Both sides have rules. We have ours, Elders have
theirs––and neither break them.”

“Duh! Aren't rules supposed to be followed?”
I chuckled.

“Yeah, but if we never question them, how do
we know they're right? Maybe those rules are making us blind?
Maybe, by following them, we forgot the difference between right
and wrong.” He placed a plate in front of me.

“Which rule are you referring to?” I narrowed
my eyes, sensing he was talking about something quite
particular.

“We blindly follow
no-changing-no-interfering-policy. Elders blindly follow
to-change-to-interfere-policy. This might be a perfect opportunity
to test those rules ourselves,” he put two glasses of juice on the
table, and sat down.

“Hmm. Things are rarely black or white,” I
scratched my chin, “It makes sense to find the gray area.”

“Exactly!” He took a sip of his juice, “As
soon as you join one of the sides based on your initial belief, you
start to follow all these rules. You defend them as if they were
your own, and never question their validity. It just can't be
right! There has to be an exception to the rule. It's common
sense!”

“I agree. Come to think of it, that’s exactly
what I did by joining TGA,” I let out a nervous giggle, feeling a
bit stupid. “I took your word for it.”

“Oh, baby, that’s not what I meant,” he
reached for my hands across the table, “It’s what we all did.
Everything sounds logical, and you inherit the rules with the
story. There's so much to digest, and rookies get confused.”

“I know. You got your story from your
handler; he got it from his, and so on,” I said, understanding his
point of view, “Tell me...if my parents do play along, that's not
really changing history, is it?”

“No. But it is interfering. It’s extremely
forbidden to reveal the truth like that. You have to eventually be
dead to your loved ones, no exceptions. We're not supposed to tell
anyone under any circumstances about time travel.”

“If Zoe finds out––”

“––Death Squad,” he finished my sentence,
glancing at me from under his brows.

“Hmm. So Death Squad doesn't kill only
morally corrupted, but also the rule breakers?”

“Before I met you, I didn’t think there could
be another side to this. The first time I doubted our ways was when
I realized I wasn't allowed to come and live with you. I confronted
Zoe about it, and that's the first time I heard that Death Squad
could be sent if I disobeyed. You see my point now?”

“I do. But I have to admit, it sounded
logical back on the plane. With Michael trying to kill me and all,
I was glad there was a death Squad. But now...When it might be
us...And for nothing more than a letter––”

“Yeah,” he breathed, nodding. “Michael wasn't
all that bad, you know. He loved his wife. He didn't want to lose
her,” he bowed his glance, folding a kitchen cloth on the table.
“I’d lose my mind, too...Um...If I were in his shoes.”

“But you’re not,” I said, slightly
absentmindedly. “Michael did make a fatal mistake, though,” Zack
picked up his glance, his dark green eyes looking at me confused.
“He wanted to come to TGA, right?” Zack nodded. “Well, that's just
flipping the coin to the other side. Not changing anything. He
didn't look for the gray area.”

“He didn't have time,” he gazed at me with
sadness in his eyes. “And his wife wouldn't listen to his
reasoning. She was an Elder to the core.”

“Well, I’m listening to yours.”

His eyes sparkled, and a huge grin covered
his face. “My wife,” he whispered, barely audible, grinning ear to
ear.

I felt my cheeks flush, and my heart skipped
a beat, so I quickly moved our conversation forward, “Could it be
that both sides are like cults––deluded with dogma, forgetting
common sense?”

“That's what I realized last night. But,” he
came around the table next to me, cupping my face, “They are highly
intelligent, informed, and skilled. And that makes them dangerous,”
his gaze was serious, sending a shudder down my spine. I wasn’t
into dangerous and scary stuff.

“Then we'll have to be smart about it,” I
said, locking my arms around his waist. “No memory sharing with
Zoe,” I chuckled, nervously.

“Actually,” Zack flashed a wry smile, “That
could be our secret weapon.”

“How?” I tilted my head, looking up at
him.

“I have a trick to share what I want,” he
said, mysteriously smiling.

“I know,” I giggled, “And so does Zoe. She
told me about it.”

“Yeah, but she knows
you
can't,” his
eyes widened, brows shot up. “No-one else can. It's my
specialty!”

“How does that help us? She’ll see in mine
what you omit.”

“What she doesn't know is that it can be
taught,” he chuckled, winking.

“Oh,” I chuckled, as well. “So, you'll teach
me, and she'll trust my memories thinking they couldn't be tampered
with?”

“Exactly,” a devilish smile crossed his face.
He kissed me softly, “Now eat. You have a letter to write,” he
winked, and crossed back to his side of the table.

“What? This is food?” I looked at him in
disgust. A square of unrecognizable something was in my plate.

“Yes,” he chuckled, “It's all nutrients, no
waste. Try it. It doesn't taste bad.”

“It looks like a sponge,” I frowned looking
at the alien in my plate.

Zack laughed, shaking his head. He took a
bite of his sponge, then said, “You'll get used to it.”

“I doubt it. Don't you have real food?” I
sliced a piece of my sponge, carefully bringing it closer to my
mouth, sniffing it first.

“We grow fruits and veggies in our
greenhouses. But it's for personal indulgence, not sustenance,” he
said, looking quite amused by my facial expression.

I took a bite, pleasantly surprised by the
taste. It was sweet and melted inside my mouth. I expected it to be
more sponge-like, and hard to chew, not disappear like cotton
candy. “It's not bad,” I said, “I'm afraid to ask what's for
lunch.”

Zack choked, then sputtered, “A bigger
sponge.” My mouth dropped causing another wave of laughter from
him. “You see that piece of appliance behind my back?” He motioned
toward something I previously thought was a stove.

“Yes.”

“We use that to make all meals. Just enter
the amount of nutrients you need, and it comes out as a sponge,” he
emphasized the word sponge, obviously amused by the term I used for
it.

“How will I know how much goes into
what?”

“I pre-programmed it, so you can choose
breakfast, lunch, and dinner from the menu,” he was done with his
sponge, so he stood up, and took his plate to the sink.

~*~

“
Appear weak when you are strong,
and strong when you are weak.”

–– Sun Tzu, The Art of War

Staring at the blank piece of paper, I
wondered how to begin.
What do I tell them? I'm leaving you
forever, but don't worry, I have great sponges for lunch?
I
sighed out of desperation, twirling a pen in my hand. How do I tell
them everything in a way that it doesn't sound crazy, and that it
gives them some comfort?

“
Dear Mom and Dad
,” I scribbled, and
then my mind went back to blank. I sighed again, lowering my
forehead on the table. This was harder than I thought it would be.
I glanced sideways, eying a pile of papers. Zack went through a lot
of trouble to get them. Paper wasn't that common in his time,
but...
What the heck
, I thought,
I’ll go with whatever
comes to mind first, and throw away if it sucks
. I closed my
eyes, and imagined talking to my parents face to face, and then
started writing what I’d say:

I love you, and I hope you’ll understand.
I’m not dead, nor am I missing. I live in the FUTURE, a hundred
years from now, with my husband, and I will never age.
A
husband. Writing that word felt strange, but good. My eyes wandered
off toward Zack. Peacefully slanted in a chair, he was going
through some notes. He must have felt my gaze, because his eyes
picked up, and he flashed a big smile. Yap! My wonderful husband. I
felt warmth fill my chest, and went back to my letter.

I know how it sounds, but this letter is all
I can give you, and I’m breaking a whole set of rules by writing
it, so I’m trying to keep it concise.

I want you to know that I’m happy, and I
hope that you’ll have an open mind about this. I’ve included
several pictures of me in the future so you’d know it’s true. If
you can keep this a secret, I might be able to sneak a couple of
more letters over time.

I wanted to tell you the truth at the
airport, but as you can see, the truth isn’t that simple to tell. I
had to choose between you and my soul mate. By now, my choice is
obvious, but I want you to know that I didn’t come to this decision
easily or quickly. It was the hardest thing I ever had to do. If he
weren’t from the future, it wouldn’t have come to this. I hope
you’ll understand that I couldn’t handle losing him, and this is my
attempt of not losing you either.

I love you and miss you terribly,

Lyra

I lowered the pen and read the letter. It was
good enough. I spun in my chair, and smiled at Zack, waving the
letter.

“Done?” He asked, half grinning. I nodded,
biting my lip. “Will you hold it up so I can take a picture of you
with it?” He pulled out the tiniest camera I’ve ever seen.
Ridiculously small.

“Sure,” I grinned wide. Zack came closer,
taking a macro-shot of the letter and me. I hoped that my happiness
at that moment would somehow be visible on that picture.

The rest of the morning, we kept snapping
pictures of me next to things that would blow my parents’ minds.
Heck, some of those things blew my mind, as well. We had one chance
to make them believe, so I reached for another mini camera on the
table, and took a shot of my lunch, planning to write “
Can you
believe they call this lunch here?
” on it. That should give it
a splash of my personality they too knew well—whining over
food.

Zack chuckled, shaking his head.

“What?” I looked at him sideways, timidly
smiling.

“You really hate the sponge that much?” He
asked, grinning over my lunch photo session.