The Time Capsule

Selena

My parents could definitely see a change in me once I reentered the house. Neither bothered to ask about it, though I’m pretty sure they had a good idea of what happened. At least my mom did. I didn’t care though, I just wanted to get through the next few months and move back down to Florida. I ultimately wanted to forget this whole trip ever happened.

But sometimes you’re not supposed to forget things, and it has an obvious way of showing you so. Ambers constant nagging about if I’d read the letter yet was my sign of not ever being able to forget James Watson. If nothing else, Amber would always be there to remind me.
Her and Greg were doing great. There haven’t been any kidnappings or anything else dangerous happen to her since moving to California which is good. I don’t know what I would do if I lost her just after becoming friends once again. But I trust Greg to keep her safe; I know he’d definitely do anything to save her. The example at his house was a good example of that.

At the airport, waiting for my flight to my layover in New York to be called, I finally open up the letter. Amber had been bugging me about it for long enough and I figured I could just tell her that I did indeed open it. Reading it though was something that wasn’t going to happen anytime soon. At least I didn’t plan for it to happen. But once I spotted my name written in the first sentence, I couldn’t help but become curious.

Dear Future James,

If you’re not married to Selena Lawrence, with kids, and living in an actual house by now I’m going to have to travel to the future and beat the shit out of you. If you’re not with her, that means I’ve done something stupid and I really don’t want to have done something stupid.

Honestly, I can’t put to words how I feel about Selena. It scares me shitless and that’s why I’m afraid I’ll screw things up. She just brightens up my world. And it sounds so dorky. I’m the bad boy, she’s the good girl. Logically it doesn’t work. But I just can’t seem to give her up that easily. I won’t go down without a fight, at least I hope not.

So if you have lost her. If we did screw up and she’s out of our lives then I hope that my life sucks in the future. There’s no way I could be happy without Selena by my side. I don’t know who I’d be without her, she’s the one constant person in my life. So many girls are around for no more than a week, but Selena is always there. And if I do anything to hurt her, I know for a fact it’ll hurt me.

There’s not really anything else to say. Selena is pretty much my whole life. If she’s not in it in 16 years then please, I beg you to go find her.
And Selena, if you’re reading this, I love you.

-James



I wipe away the few tears that spilled out of my eyes. James had so much to write about and instead he just wrote a love letter about me. Fourteen year old James, the guy who couldn’t keep a girlfriend for more than a week, had an overly-cheesy romantic side. Should I let him read it? I don’t know if I want to. This will just motivate him more to chase after me. But if he shows me mine I guess it’s only fair to let him read his.

“Flight 329 to New York City is now boarding.” I fold back up the letter and grab my bag, heading to the line.

The three hour flight seemed short and didn’t compare to the hour layover I had in the airport. That felt longer than it should have. And what didn’t make it better was an announcement that decided to come onto the loudspeaker “All flights will be delayed due to a nearby snowstorm.”

You’re kidding, right? I’m stuck in New York City with nowhere to be except for the airport.

Well, there is James. But I couldn’t just show up on his doorstep and expect him to just greet me with a smile. It’s not like we parted on good terms. I grab the catalogue by me to distract myself from James, I didn’t need to think about him right now.

As I flipped through the pages, slowly becoming more and more bored of the advertisements, I flip past an advertisement for a house. Almost passing it, I turn the page back to examine the picture more thoroughly. My eyes widen when I recognize the small house to be the same one that was my dream house. I pull out the old picture from my purse to make sure, and indeed, it’s the same house.

Then it hits me, it’s for sale. I could finally live my dream. I could have the house and job in New York City, just like I planned as a little kid. I rush out of the airport and get a taxi to the address. Might as well check out the place if I’m going to be stuck here for a couple hours if not days.

The taxi-driver dropped me off and drove away before I could ask for him to wait just one minute. I guess I could just call another one when I’m ready to leave and hopefully whoever currently owned the house would let me in since it was freezing out here.

When I turn to face the house the first thing I notice is the car in the driveway. It’s the exact same car that I remember James wanting as a kid. He’d always point them out on the street when he’d see one. I walk up to the door and knock, since there was no door-bell, and got no answer. I knock a second time, hoping that someone would be kind enough to open the door. When no one answered again, I decide to head around to the back, since they might just be in the back of the house.

The closer I got to the backyard the louder a very distinctive grunting sound became, along with the sounding of chopping wood. Once I rounded the corner my life seemed to freeze.

Because the person I ran into, standing there chopping wood, was none other than James Watson himself.