The Time Travel memoirs: Lost And So Alone

I lay panting in the small disabled toilet in the hospital. No one had noticed my huge struggle to get out of my bed. The hardest thing was walking. After a year it was near impossible to get up and walk again. My legs were numb, whenever I put pressure on them to walk, I simply couldn’t control them, they wobbled and I would topple to the floor. After about half an hour in this toilet practicing, I seemed to be getting the hang of it again. That was a big relief. Many people who have to walk again when they emerge from a coma usually have to go through rehabilitation. Not me, I’m special, I used to be a captain.

I raised an eyebrow and giggled. Had they had me on morphine or something?
I gained my breath once more and pulled on my tattered black shirt and my ripped and charred black jeans. I felt like myself once more. The jeans were slipping down considerably; I had lost a lot of weight in hospital. It was only natural; being tube fed a diet of liquids. I shuddered. I wanted to get out of here, the smell was killing me. I picked up a belt I had taken out of the cupboard. It wasn’t mine, but I was going to need it. My reflection was certainly a surprise. I was on Earth and I had stopped aging. Whenever I had came to Earth after the curse I had aged horribly. Now that Beelzebub had perished, the curse was gone and I wouldn’t look a day over thirty, ever it seemed.

I opened the door to the bathroom and simply walked out of the ward. I almost got out of the main ward but I heard steps behind me and a woman, who looked in her late forties, put her hand on my shoulder. I sighed, I knew who this was. “Matron, how are you today.” She made a disapproving noise and turned me to face her. “Mister Carter, you are a patient recovering from a year in a coma, you cannot just go strolling out whenever you feel like it.” I smiled at her, as if she were a child.

“See, matron, the way I see it is, I’ve had a years rest, now it’s time to go, I’m all well now.” She shook her head and gestured to a young doctor. The young doctor came over, looked at me and began to perpetrate. “Billy, look after Mr. Carter until I come back.” Billy looked at me and let out a shaking breath. “Yes matron.” The matron departed and I looked the doctor firmly in the eyes. “Look kid, I’m discharging myself.” Billy shook his head quickly and tried to hold me from moving. “Please, don’t do this sir, if I let you go the matron will kill me.” I smiled an unfriendly smile, holding my stump of a hand close to me. “Billy boy, I’m a bad man and I’m in a bad mood, so move.” He sighed, “Sorry sir, just wait until the matron gets back and we can all have a nice chat about your future.”

So I punched him in the face with my good hand, hard. What? I told him I was a bad man, but did he listen? No. God, students, I’m sure some of them are on lower levels of intellect than chimps. When the guy hit the floor he was out cold, I sighed and felt a twinge of guilt for the little guy. I winked at the receptionist who looked at me with wide eyes and blushed. I ran down the stairs and literally jumped towards the front entrance. Problem was, I didn’t know where to go.

That was when the formal black car rounded the corner. I didn’t catch the make, I’ve never been a car man myself, no interest in them what so ever. The door opened and I stood gawking at the man approaching me. He wore sunglasses and a pinstriped suit. His node had been broken at least three times. He looked at me with pure hatred on his features. I immediately reached for my weapon. That was the moment I began to miss the trench coat, lots. I missed the weight of the coat and I missed my captain’s pistol housed beneath it.
I stepped back slowly, but it was broad daylight and this guy wanted me and didn’t care who saw him get me. I tripped backwards onto the pavement and slammed my head off a nearby metal lamppost. “For the love of god...” I whispered to myself.

I looked up to see the gentleman’s poker face once more. He reached his hand into his own jacket and instead pulled out a syringe. He pushed a little liquid out of the syringe and walked over to me and casually stuck the needle into my skin. Not a word was exchanged. The man bent down and picked me up. I was glad; my limbs were beginning to feel very heavy. He was my savoir. I giggled. “Oh prince charming, what big teeth you have!” After that I was out, I don’t know how long it was, but when I woke up, I wasn’t where I was expecting to be.

My suspicions were that I was going to be locked in some sort of vile, dark warehouse, chained up by the arms with a large, butch man waiting for me in the corner and holding some sort of sharp threatening weapon. My fears weren’t so. I woke up in what looked like a hotel room; the bed was one of the softest I had ever slept in. The room was lit with a mid morning glow which made my eyes sting. At the end of the bed was a large oak wardrobe. It reminded me of the one in the orphanage, all of those years ago. Clean clothes sat on the end of the bed folded neatly. A white polo shirt and some blue jeans. My eyes still hadn’t left the wardrobe though. My smile had awoken. On a coat hanger on the handle of the wardrobe was a new trench coat.

The coat was different to my old one. My old one was bought from a strange antique shop many years ago, in the eighties on planet Earth. I could tell by the equipment, the televisions and the decor of the room, which I was in the twenty first century. I was most likely a time around 2015. The new coat was a very dark shade of green, olive green I’d say. This coat smelled much better than its predecessor and had more pockets. As well as gold buttons, wow this coat must have cost the buyer a fortune. But who was the buyer, they had had me kidnapped violently off the streets, it must be an enemy. I put on the clothes and the trench coat. I felt very comfortable with the weight the trench coat offered me.

I had decided that whoever had me kidnapped, probably wasn’t an enemy. If they were, they were an idiotic one. Inside the coat I found an almost exact replica of the old captain’s pistol. This pistol was quite different; it was a much newer model but kept the look of the old pistol. It didn’t take ammunition, much like the last one, it simply overheated if it was fired too much. The pistol had been put there for a reason. Was it to signify peace and friendship perhaps?

I walked over to the door and opened it. The long wooden doors opened to a hotel living room, very much what you would expect in a hotel room which is well paid for. What waited for me in that sitting room was more than I could handle. Zach Olson, Lloyd Stark and Susie Lou were seated on various seats all around the room. Tears flooded to my eyes, “this is a dirty trick, you’re not real, you all died.” I backed away and Lloyd smiled. “Shut up sir and have some muesli, it’s early.” My eyes were wide now, I did what Lloyd said. Susie practically jumped me and we hugged for a hell of a long time before we parted. “Hello George Carter.” I smiled and wiped my eyes. “Hello Susie Lou.”

Zach rolled his eyes. “Will you get a goddamn room?” I laughed and looked at him with wonderment. “You’re dead.” Zach nodded. “Officially, but so are you.” I shook my head muttering. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Zach pick up a brand new modified sniper rifle and sit it on his knee. I poured some muesli into a white bowl with some milk and sat down on a comfortable chair near Lloyd. Everyone smiled like a maniac. Tears wouldn’t threaten Lloyd’s eyes any more, but he had a strong paternal look on his face.

“We never thought we’d ever find you again sir,” Lloyd said. Zach shook his head and looked at me in bewilderment. “Coma patient, what shit these doctors on this planet make up. Isn’t that right Lloyd?” Lloyd shook head, patience strong in his eyes. “You’ve got to remember son that the doctors on this planet don’t understand what has happened to him. They wouldn’t believe that he just fell out of the sky.” Susie nodded smiling, “literally.” Lloyd smiled, “yes dear.”

I crunched on the cereal and fruit, listening to their conversation. “Sorry about the mercenary boss, we had to get you somewhere safe quickly, in case you did harm to yourself or slipped away from our grasp once more”, Said Zach. “What do you mean slip from your grasp?” Zach cleared his throat. “Well, you have been moved from three different hospitals, we’ve had a hell of a lot of men in there to try and pull you out. The first time the mercenary almost succeeded, but he was apprehended by a police officer as he was trying to push your trolley out of the entrance.” I licked my lips. “So I’m guessing that after that they put tighter security around the place?” Susie exhaled, “damn right they did Georgie, not even visitors were allowed in. We came to see you once when you went in. That was before we found Zach.”

I held up my hand patiently, I did this often; I liked to keep control of a conversation by asking all of the questions. “I want to hear everything, start from the top.” Lloyd frowned, “the top sir?” “Yeah, from the moment the Majestic was blown to smithereens.”