Before the Teardrops Fall

6: In time, On time

I woke up, this time, on a soft motel bed. The room was decent with clean sheets and simple decorations of a glazed vase and purple pink orchid painting above the bed. I continued to lie down for a while and let my head spin its way to normalcy.

I had turned the dial to 5 years before, so this should be in....19..85? I sat up and spotted the desk calendar near the window. I reached for it and checked that it was indeed 1985, in the month of May, but there was no indication of the date. The room was completely unfamiliar and I do not remember being in a motel like this before. Had my life been changed because of what I did in the time loops? My head started aching again as I soon as I tried to bring back memories but nothing of this room surfaced and I was left in a pack of pain.

After the pain subsided, I took towards the window to pull back the curtains and let the sun in. The momentary flare blinded my eyes. While I let my eyes slowly adjust to the light, I reached into my pocket for the pocket watch and the Moonlight Disco flyer I picked up. The pocket watch dials were pointed to "1, 9, 8, and 5" and nothing else seemed out of the usual.

I unfolded the flyer and laid it out on the table. The flyer was dated 1977 so that would be 8 years ago. I wondered if the nightclub was still in business. As I looked out the window, I could see that I was not in my home town. The area resembled the town where Elena had resided with her aunt. Through the misty windows, I could make out the town's old landmarks in the distance. It appears that my location had not changed during the time loop and I was in the same area as I were the last time I spun into 1990.

Elena must be around the area and I must find her quickly. I grabbed the pocket watch, flyer and room key as I went out the door. Outside the motel, it was a sunny day with bright blue skies and white clouds. The roads looked busy with city buses and motorbikes squeezing between brown and blue Toyota Crowns. All around, people were chatting, laughing and exchanging bargains, just on and about their daily businesses. The colourful street across the road looked familiar and I remembered I had walked through it while searching for the Moonlight Disco.

I crossed the road briskly, snaking through the maze between cars and tyres. On these streets, colourful signages hung overhead. There were convenience stalls selling snacks and drinks, fashion boutiques putting up the styles of the month, and coffeeshops bustling with crowd and the aroma of coffee. I made my way through the streets and found the alley I was looking for. As I walked in towards the night club at the end of the alley, it was just preparing to open for business. One of the hostesses was setting up the table outside the door and I set out to approach her.

"Hi, Hello, I'm looking for someone who works here..." I stated from behind her back as she was busy fixing the table setups. She spun around in a startle "OH! You scared me. Hi sir, yes, who are you looking for may I ask?"

"I'm sorry. Would you happen to know Elena? Elena Lin" I asked.
"Oooh, yes, Elena" the lady's voice was shrill, and I tried my best to avoid wincing at her voice "Sorry dear, Elena has stopped working with us. You should have come last week, yesterday was her last day! She is getting married."

My heart sank when I heard that. As if she could read my emotions, the lady chipped in "Don't need to be sad! We have many other hostesses here, you will have company."

"Erm, no actually," I gave a faint smile, "I am her old friend from her home town. I thought I could find her here as I have something important to let her know. Would you know how I can contact her?"

She passed me a number and said I could page Elena so that she would contact me. I thanked her and set off to find a nearby telephone. I needed to see Elena soon in order to find out who she was marrying. I remember there were public telephone booths in random spots during the 80's. I have to find one soon before my time runs out again. I headed towards the nearby coffeeshops and found one right there. I dropped a coin in and dialled the number the lady gave.

I heard the beep, signalling that I should start my message for Elena. I cleared my throat "Ahem.. Hi Elena, this is Ron, ahh.. I need you to call me back as soon as you can. There is something important I need you to know. Please, Please call me back...I am staying in the Motel 'de Tanjong a few streets down from Moonlight Disco. Please call me..." I left my number and hung up.

As I hung the phone back down, I could feel my heart hanging heavily too. I could not help but feel that this was a lost cause from the beginning. Perhaps there was no way to change a person's fate, even if we tried. What would I say to her even if she did call? That she might end up in bruises from her future marriage? How could I explain it logically? I must be insane.

I went back to the motel room and crashed on the bed feeling tired and weary. All the different scenes and memories from the time loops started to weigh down on me and I felt like a huge wreck. Nothing had changed from when I discovered that I could manipulate the rims on the pocket watch. So what if I found out what happened to Elena, could I stop her marriage?

My mind started racing with thoughts and doubts, hopes and uncertainties. I was lost in my thoughts when I heard the knocks on the motel door. I opened the door and saw that it was my mother. "Mum, wh-..." before I could say anything, she ushered herself into the room and put down her bags like she had been staying here with me from the beginning.

She handed me a few name cards and sat herself down the couch, fanning herself with her hands while drinking from a bottle of mineral water. "Mum, what are you doing here?" I started.

She swallowed the last gulp and gave me a hard stare, "What do you mean by that? Hey, look at all the errands I did for y'all. You should be grateful" she chided, "Look at the name cards there, go check which ones you like, there's not much time left you know".

I glanced down at the cards she handed me. They were services for wedding gift cakes and boutiques. Wait, what? Were these for me? Before I could ask more, my mum stood back up and headed for the door. She pointed to the bags on the floor and said "Remember to give these to Elena, I need to go back now. I'll page you dear" and left.

I stood dumbfounded by the revelation that I was the one whom Elena was about to marry. My head started aching again when memories started flooding in waves. The shock was tremendous for me and I sank into the couch, eyes still looking down at the cards my mum gave me.

What was happening? Had I been the one I was looking for all along? Was I the one who made Elena suffer? No! Was it me? I doubled down holding my head in my hands. The pain was too much, in the head and in the heart. Elena's face flashed through my mind and tears started trickling down my face.

And then, the tick-ticking of the clock hands began, and the sand started shushing down as if mocking me for my suffering. I cried even louder and the world around me darkened into a spin.

At that moment, someone knocked at the door.