The Time Travel memoirs: Lost And So Alone

A firework hit the black void high above us and lit up the whole of the area. The night sky looked beautiful, but the girl who clung to my steady arm outclassed it. I had once heard that Iliana meant ‘beautiful light,’ her eyes confirmed this, both eyes were immersed and captivated and made them look brighter than the stars themselves.

A firework zoomed skyward and we both turned our heads to watch the engrossing sight. The firework exploded and turned the dark night sky from a blank canvas to a colourful masterpiece. Iliana and I walked toward the sound ahead of us, it sounded like a party, but on a huge scale. I knew where we were and I knew what it was. It was a carnival.

We walked along a path which was slightly above a long twisting river. The lights in the night sky looked stunning on the water. We passed a bench and I noticed that a newspaper was emerging from the bin which stood next to the bench. I reached over and took the newspaper out of the bin. “Do you want to know where we are and when we are?” I asked Iliana smiling. She shook her head with a playfully cheeky smile. I kissed her on the head, barely aware of what I was doing.

“Too bad, vote overruled.” She laughed and put her hands on her hips and raised an eyebrow. I looked down to the newspaper amused. “January 25th 1985, can you guess where we are?” Iliana frowned and shook her head. I grinned and took her hand. This night was cheerful and warm, I hadn’t felt like this before, I wanted to see it through till the end. In fact, I didn’t want it to end.

It was odd being back in 1985; this was a year that I was supposed to have lived through normally. Indeed Damian had changed things for me. I couldn’t feel angry at the demon anymore; I was having such a damn good time. I might technically be a tourist, but I’ve seen more than any other human being that I had ever met.

Iliana and I stopped at a road, where the river met a bridge. People walked with friends drinking and dancing. Their dress was eccentric, colourful dresses, suits and masks. Iliana took in a surprised breath and began to laugh shakily, a tear met her eye. “George, is this a carnival?” I smiled widely. Yes it was, probably the biggest and notorious in the entire world.

“Welcome Iliana Black, to Venice.” Iliana laughed merrily and wiped her eyes. “God, I’ve wanted to come here since I was a little girl.” I let Iliana wander forward and I followed her slowly. I took in the air, I could smell the burning chemicals of the fireworks and I could smell fresh food being cooked. I looked around the area of space which resembled a market place. Stalls were erected all around the market, each one of them selling some food pr drink product.

The atmosphere was jolly; I released some tension and fear that my body had been holding. I followed Iliana and laughed quietly. Who the hell wanted a normal life when there was this? That was the moment that I changed. That was the moment in my life that I said farewell to the conventional life at home. I wanted more, I wanted this. I wanted to grasp the moment and find something new every single day.

Iliana and I bought some candy floss and walked hand in hand. “So who are you Iliana?” Iliana giggled, her laugh was almost musical, and it made me smile. “Now that’s a funny thing to ask on a first date George.” I grinned shyly and looked at her hopefully. “I live in the middle of London, but I came to that graveyard to put flowers on my mother’s grave. She died on Halloween. What about you, Mr. Enigma?”

I raised my head and laughed under my breath. “My name is George Carter, I’m from Chelsea and I’m from the year 1985, this is my year. I can’t imagine what it was like to live in 2003.” Iliana looked amused. “1985, wow, that time doesn’t look too groovy.” I shrugged my shoulders, “nothing has really affected me, I studied and neglected to find a job, there was nothing I wanted to do.”

Iliana looked at me interested. “Is there anything you want to do now? What about when you get back, what will you do then?” I took a deep breath and that promise filled air filled my lungs once more. “Even if this curse is lifted I’m not going back Iliana, I don’t want to go back to my old life, and it seriously sucked.” Iliana looked stunned. “You prefer your life as a cursed man; you prefer to be chased by the devil himself?”

I told Ileana what the whole curse involved. I hadn’t earlier, she had been left with the information that she had heard discussed between the devil and I. She looked at me with a stunned look on her face. “God, that’s just awful.” I shook my head, “it’s kind of fun actually, I just hope I can stay sane.” She shook her head and looked at her as if I were mad. “If the devil put this curse on you, don’t you think that the idea is pretty flawless?”

No. The idea wasn’t flawless, for one reason. “It wasn’t the devil’s curse, it was Damian’s.” Iliana seemed to take this all in and she smiled a small smile, she yawned and raised her arms above her head in a tired gesture. I couldn’t help notice that this did very interesting things to her body. The fabric of her shirt put emphasis on the shape of her breasts, which quivered slightly as she brought down her arms. She noticed me looking and smiled, showing her teeth. She pointed at her face, “face is here genius.”

We decided to find a hotel room, but it was carnival time and they were pretty much all filled. The grass was dry and the sky was beautiful, we lay on the grass staring up at the infinite void with the stars winking at us. Iliana rolled on top of my body and kissed me. We kissed for a long time, I lost track of time because I wasn’t keeping it. The taste of her lips stopped me caring. Iliana bit my bottom lip; I will always remember how sexy that felt.
That night was filled with ecstasy. We had forgotten about everything and ignored the world, because everything was so beautiful and inspirational. When we both fell asleep, we neglected to say our goodbyes.