Stopping the World

“I’m glad one of you finally woke up,” I heard distantly, not sure where it was coming from. I felt myself awakening, but it was a very slow process. As I was coming to, I heard another person speak.

“What in the hell is going on? Don’t tell me there’s another... ‘government’,” I heard Michael say.

“Not exactly,” I heard in response. A woman’s voice, I depicted. “It’s more like two different sides combined into one whole government. But I must stop before I tell you too much.”

I slowly felt my eyes start to open. My head was down, and I noticed I was sitting in a chair like I had been before, except this time... I wasn’t tied up. I looked up and around to notice near the same surroundings we had been in before, except with these surroundings, something seemed... off. Different. I think it was the fact that this place seemed a lot brighter. Whether it was figuratively or literally, though, I wasn’t sure.

“What’s going on?” I mumbled, looking up to see a woman standing in front of us. I noticed Michael just to my left.

“Ah, Marley. I see you’ve finally awaken,” the woman in front of me said, backing up slightly. “I wasn’t sure how long it was going to take for you to do so. I told Darwin regular procedure, but... if you couldn’t already tell, he has his own way of doing things. So, the sedatives he gave you could’ve lasted longer, depending on how much he gave you. I wasn’t exactly sure, but it looks like for the most part he actually listened to me for once.”

“That didn’t answer my question,” I said to her. “What’s going on? And who are you?”

“You can refer to me as Galilei,” the woman said, to start. “And as to what’s going on, well... you already know that. And it deals with stopping the world, Marley.”

“Okay, so... what do you want with us?” Michael asked for me. “That Darwin dude already gave Marley and me the lecture, so... what more do you have to say or do?”

“Well, I’m here to correct everything,” Galilei stated. “And to inform you what’s going to happen when the world starts moving again.”

Something suddenly came to mind. “Wait... do you have Nick? Darwin said he didn’t have him, so does that mean... you have him?”

“Funny you should mention him,” she stated, though her expression didn’t actually show that this was funny at all. “Yes, we have him. And we have Anna now too. They’re both in a separate room from you two right now.”

“Where is he?” I immediately stated, standing up. I wobbled a little seeing as this was the first time I was walking since two knockouts ago, but I would manage if that meant finding Nick. “I want to see him.”

“Whoa, hold on a minute,” Galilei stated, before motioning for me to sit back down. “Nick is fine, alright? You don’t have to worry about him at the moment. Besides, I have to inform you of some things before you can go see him. Things that he and Anna can’t know about it. So sit down, and give me a few moments with you two.”

I unwillingly obliged, but only because I didn’t know where Nick was. This place was foreign to me.

“Okay, first of all... the earth,” she started, getting to the bottom of things. “This happened before, and Marley, even though you didn’t know about it... it’s still a big deal. Because not only was when Michael stopped it the first time it was ever stopped at all, but when you followed it some time later, in the same family nonetheless, makes it an even bigger deal. And to be quite frank, I’m not really sure how to handle this.”

“What do you mean?” I asked her, not really sure what this meant. She shrugged.

“Well, normally, the earth would be taken from you as it was with Michael,” she started. “But, in order for that to happen, there has to be another descendant. But there’s only the two of you, and I suppose we could go outside of your immediate family, but that would just break the traditional order of things. Plus, your dad’s side of the family is so limited... I believe you’re the last youngest descendant. The rule is, the earth keeps passing from each descendant, if cases like these ever happen, until it reaches the one that follows the rules with the earth. From oldest to youngest. And seeing as you’re the youngest...”

“I have to keep it,” I finished. She quickly cut in.

“Yes, naturally. But you having made something as big as this happen... I’m just not sure I should leave it at your hands, Marley,” she finished. “Who’s not to say something like this will happen with you again? And still not in earth’s benefit?”

“Wait, do you mean if I did this to help the earth, I wouldn’t have gotten in trouble?” I asked. Galilei waved it off.

“You didn’t, so it’s not important,” she stated. “But I guess I don’t really have a choice. You can keep the earth, Marley, but not without a strong warning. If this does happen again, without their being a strong explanation, I will have to take it from you.”

“I understand,” I said. “Anything else you have to tell us? Or is that it?”

“Actually, yes. This is the more important part, and I’m not really sure how you’re going to react, but... here it goes,” Galilei said. “You’ve let... too many people know about the world Marley. Nick, your friend Rachel, and it’s just... something needs to be done.”

My nerves started to go on edge as soon as she said this. “What needs to be done?”

“Too much time would be rewound if we went back to when you first told Rachel about the earth,” Galilei stated, “for you and for you too, Michael. I’m not about to scar you and send you back to right before you first told her. There would be so many years for you to relive and plus, you would essentially know of things before they happened, whether they dealt with you personally or on a world-wide scale. Life’s about learning from your mistakes and things happening, sadly, before they can be prevented. But essentially, you learn from everything. Anyhow, getting back to what I was saying, it would go too far back in time to rewind to the moment before you told Rachel, so... we have no other choice but to go back to the time to before Nick first started to suspect something off about you. Because even then... while he didn’t exactly know about the world you had, he did know something weird was going on.”

“You can’t do that,” Michael objected for me. I couldn’t speak at the moment, seeing as I realized what this meant. “You can’t take the love of her life from her. That isn’t fair!”

“Life isn’t fair, Michael. I would’ve thought you’d have realized this by now,” Galilei intervened, silencing him. “Besides, do you not remember what happened before? With you? When you stopped the world, your mother came to me and defended you, sure, but we still went back to the moment before the world was officially given to you. To prevent it, from happening again. This is what we need to do to make sure Marley doesn’t want to do it again. Except this time... she keeps the world, but is heavily on guard.”

“Will I remember everything? Or will I forget everything too?” I asked, hoping it was the second one. Galilei frowned, knowing what I hoped for.

“You will remember everything,” she stated. “That’s part of learning from what you did. Nick won’t, though. I apologize, because I realize it’s going to be hard for you.”

“Understatement,” I mumbled, before Michael spoke up again.

“You just want to see her in pain, don’t you?” he said to Galilei. “You can’t do this.”

“I admire your brotherly essence, Michael. You’re lucky Anna didn’t find out about the world until it was actually frozen. You’re lucky your relationship built up before that, not after. Because we both know the same thing would be happening to Anna, too,” Galilei stated. “But it’s not. You’ll just go back to the time before that, and everything will be pretty much the same for you.”

“How come you let my mother remember?” Michael interjected again. I was so angry at him and the situation. Why was he still defending me? Wasn’t he happy that he got to keep what he had? I didn’t, and he did. He didn’t realize how lucky he was.

“Your mother defended you. She needed to remember what had happened so that one of your parents knew that they needed to take the world from you,” she said. “Look, I’m generally not as evil acting as Darwin is, but c’mon. You had to have seen this coming, Michael. And Marley, you had to realize you wouldn’t have gotten away with this without something bad coming from it.”

I didn’t say anything, because really... if I had known all of this would happen, I wouldn’t have ever stopped the world in the first place. It wouldn’t have been worth it. To build something up, but then just have it taken out from under me. As soon as it happened, I would have the wind knocked out of me, I knew it.

“I get it,” I said to her. “I really do. But can I please see Nick now? I don’t know why we’re wasting our time discussing this and trying to fight for something that’s clearly not going to happen... when I could be talking to him right now. And spending some final time with him.”

“I understand,” she said to me. “I’ll give you each five minutes with Nick and Anna. But then... it’s time for things to go back to the way they were.”

“Not nearly enough time,” I stated angrily. “But I’ll take what I can get.”

“Will our parents know about this?” Michael asked. I rolled my eyes. That was one of the last things I cared about right now.

“Seeing as there would be too much to try to explain to them, no,” Galilei answered. “But if it happens again, yes.” She looked pointedly at me.

“Just tell us where they are,” I nearly shouted, fed up now. She led us to the room.

>>------------------------------------------------>>

When the doors opened, I spotted Nick, and ran into his arms.

“I’m so glad you’re okay,” he said to me, before giving me a kiss. I wanted to cry just for being in his safe embrace again. “I didn’t know if you had gotten away or not, unharmed.” He was speaking of the moment he was caught. When we realized we weren’t alone, even though the earth was frozen.

“I missed you,” I said to him, holding on to him tightly. “God, I can’t believe this is happening. This isn’t fair. I don’t want to lose you.”

“What are you talking about?” he asked, getting me to look at him. “Marley?”

I looked over at Galilei as she started to leave the room. “You didn’t tell him?”

“I thought I’d leave that to you,” she stated, before finally leaving. I looked back at Nick.

“Marley, what’s wrong? What’s going on?” he asked, confused now. I shook my head. I wasn’t sure whether I should tell him or just enjoy this last moment with him.

“Nothing, it’s just... I’m so angry that I’m just now getting to see you,” I said, which wasn’t a lie. I was angry that it took all of this time to figure out where he was, and that I was just now getting to see him. And only for five minutes, too, when it should’ve been a lot longer considering what was about to happen. “Just... promise me something, please?”

“Anything for you,” he said, and it just made me want to break down. I gave him a sad smile, all the I could muster up.

“Promise me that you’ll never forget... this,” I said, gesturing between the two of us. “And that you’ll never forget this time we had together, no matter what happens.”

“I’ll never forget,” he promised, even though he didn’t know it was pointless. “Marley, is something wrong? You’re acting weird.”

“No, nothing is wrong,” I denied. “What we have between us is right, even if no one else realizes it.”

“That’s not what I-” he started, but I cut him off by kissing him again.

For that split moment, all I thought about was us, in this moment. Not what was going to happen, not what all had happened to get here... just us. And that was the only thing that kept me sane.

The moment couldn’t last forever, though. Sooner than I wanted, Galilei reentered the room, with a look of determination on her face.

“Okay, so... here’s how it’s going to work,” she stated. “Marley and Michael, follow me. Nick and Anna... you stay in here.”

“Wait... what? No, I’m not staying here. I’m going with Marley,” Nick objected. I looked back at him. He was going to make this even more heartbreaking.

“No, Nick, you... you have to stay here, okay? It’s for the best,” I said, lying at that second part. It wasn’t for the best; not in my book.

“No. We’re not going to be separated again,” he said. “Not when I just got you back.”

“Nick and Anna, you are staying here, and that’s final,” Galilei stated, as she noticed Anna didn’t want Michael to leave either.

“Look, just listen to her,” I said to Nick, not wanting to, but knowing that I had to. “Just stay here and remember what you just promised me, okay?”

He nodded, but I knew he didn’t want to. I caressed his face one last time before being escorted out the room.

“Let’s just get this over with,” I stated to Galilei. She nodded.

“It’s already in progress. The next time you’re conscious, you’ll be where you were at the beginning of September of last year.”