Love Me Tender

[Elvis’s POV]
“The future?” I asked tentatively, “How could that be possible?”

“Frandy – she – she made a machine. Oh God, how could I have forgotten her?” she replied, a sad expression playing across her soft features. I didn’t like that look on her face. I didn’t like it at all when my woman was sad.

“What does this mean?” I asked, and while the words left my mouth, I was afraid of the answer.

“I don’t know, El.” She looked down at her lap, and it was then I knew what she needed to do. This just might kill me, I thought. I took her hands into my own and said, “we need to get you back home to your family, baby.”

“No, no, no,” she said, a scared expression replacing the sad one,

“I don’t want to leave you. I love you, but, oh God… what if I’ve messed up the whole space/time continuum?”

“Baby, I don’t know what those words mean, but I’m sure your family’s been missing you something awful.”

She looked at me with sad eyes, but in them I could see a world of knowledge, “I have to go. Not for me, but for you.”

Confused, I asked, “What do you mean?”

“I’m messing up your life by being here. This isn’t how it’s supposed to be… I’m not the one… I can’t say anymore. I have to go back.” Almost frantic, she stood up and began making her way outside. I followed her, even more confused by her words.

She turned to face me, flashed me a sweet smile and then closed
her eyes as if in deep thought. Slowly, something big began to appear behind her. It was boxy in shape, but tall, like some form of a booth. As she opened those green eyes of hers, the one’s I loved so much, the object solidified. There were knobs and levers and lights all over it.

“What IS that?” I asked, disbelief audible in my words.

“The machine.” She replied, simply.

She ran to me and threw her arms around my neck, and hugged me with all the strength her small body could muster. I hugged her back, slipping my arms around her slender waist, and held her to me. I could feel the tears spilling onto my cheeks. She was leaving, and it felt as if she had already gone. The pain in my chest was too much to handle. I released my grip on her, and I kissed her gently on the mouth. She was crying just as hard as I was.

“You need to go now, before I carry you back into my house and never let you go.”

She began sobbing, “I love you so much.”

“I love you too, my darling. I love you more than anything.”

“Please don’t forget me, but promise me that you will allow yourself to be happy once I’m gone.”

“I promise, sugar.” I watched her step into the machine, the pain throbbing inside of my heart.

She looked at me with a tear-stained face and smiled gently. Just like that, she was gone. Here one moment and gone the next. I wept like a child and sank to my knees in the grass, and I screamed to no one and everyone all at the same time, “She’s gone.”