The Clockmaker's Shadow | ONC 2021 | LGBT

Green Flash - Bonus Chapter

Originally written for Ooorah, Best of TevunKrus 2023 – Multiverse, this story describes Rik's first encounter with the Multiverse.

Green Flash

The first time Rik saw the green lights inside his head, he passed it off as his imagination. But when, a few months later, he'd experienced two more episodes within days of each other, he hurried off to an ophthalmologist, terrified he'd damaged his eyes. Was he going blind?

Reassured on that front, he was left with the unexplainable.

What was he seeing? Was it something real or just his imagination going off on some weird tangent? Just as he'd work out a theory to test, the episodes would stop, only to eventually start up again, after he'd almost forgotten about them.

It was only a month or so before his eighteenth birthday that he began to gain some control over the episodes. The green lines developed into something resembling the pages of a book, giving fleeting glimpses of the illustrations within. Were these snapshots of the past or, even more thrilling, the future?

Once, he leaned forward, trying for a closer look and scared himself silly. He jumped back, instinctively, breathing hard. For a moment there, he was certain he'd been falling, sucked in to... wherever. He'd only just pulled back in time. He stopped invoking the phenomenon for a whole week after that, before temptation rose up and overtook the fear.

He was going to try that again, but this time he'd be ready. He put a bottle of water, a couple of apples and his camera into a small backpack, and dressed in boots and a warm jacket, just in case the falling sensation was real and he ended up somewhere - or somewhen - else.

His brother, the only other person he had ever told about his visions, was there too, his face eager, jumping from one foot to the other in his excitement.

"What do you think it will be like? Will they speak English? Will you have to learn to fly a spaceship?" Then his face had clouded as he thought of something else. "It will be safe, won't it?"

Rik had grinned and thumped his shoulder. "I'll be fine. I'm just going for a quick look around. I'll be home in time for dinner."

He smiled again at Jaxon, squared his shoulders and closed his eyes, then stepped forward between the pages.

When Rik opened his eyes a moment later, the house and everything he knew had vanished. He was standing in the open air. Tall grass brushed his knees and trees he didn't recognize stretched into the distance. The sky was blue and empty above his head. No power lines or glimpses of the tall buildings which would have been visible from his home. No vapour trails. He could hear the chirp of crickets and the occasional bird call. Nothing else.

Had he gone back in time? Prehistory maybe? He looked around fearfully. Fascinating as dinosaurs were in theory, he didn't want to meet one in the flesh.

He turned in a circle and stubbed his boot on something hard. Looking down, he parted the grass and saw a large stone. Despite being old and chipped, the edges were straight, forming a rectangle. Who was it who had said there are no straight lines in nature? This must be manmade. His interest piqued, Rik explored further and soon uncovered the remains of a low wall. Definite signs of civilization.

A twig snapped in the woods.

"Hello?" His voice sounded thin and scratchy, even to his own ears and he cleared his throat and tried again. "Hello? Who's there?"

Then he saw it. A deer, staring back at him with wide brown eyes. It studied him a moment longer and then went back to chewing the undergrowth. Seemingly unafraid.