Futureless

Your Life's Not Futureless Anymore...

Two months later...

December 2015

"Andrea, aren't you going to join us for lunch later?" asked one of her classmates, "It has been ages since you ever socialized with anyone."

Andrea looked up and saw that it was her African-American classmate, Lucy Bloom.

"I'm sorry Lucy, but I don't feel like mixing with anyone now," said Andrea in an emotionless tone, "I've got to get back home early."

She got up and walked away from Lucy in a sad manner.

"Andrea," said Lucy, "Come on and join us. You've been trapped in this state for the past two months."

Andrea turned back and stared back at Lucy.

"I know that Bridget's death was shocking," said Lucy, "But you can't live in mourning forever. You need to move on."

"It's hard for you to say Lucy," said Andrea, "Bridget was my best friend."

"But no one knows how she died," said Lucy, "Are you seriously telling me that you're going to relentlessly pursue her cause of death?"

"I might know more than I should," replied Andrea.

**********************

Andrea walked home sadly as she dragged her feet with her. Whatever Lucy's saying is right. But Bridget was never supposed to die. The entire journey was to reclaim my existence, not to kill Bridget.

"Probably I'm never going to meet Dr Khan again," Andrea muttered to herself , "I don't think anyone would have done as much as he would have."

*******************

Andrea entered her apartment and looked around it sadly. All of the happy memories with Bridget was gone now. Sure, it wasn't fair to blame herself for Bridget's death, but Andrea thought, if I had never brought Bridget there, she would have survived. And I would still have a friend.

Tears began to roll down her cheeks as she flopped on the sofa.

Suddenly, Andrea heard a voice from inside the apartment.

"The Andrea who I met wouldn't have cried like a baby."

Andrea immediately turned behind. She recognized that voice in an instant.

"Your life does have a future, and you need to ride it."

Andrea knew the person was behind her. And in a jiffy, she turned behind and saw that it was him; Dr Gabriel Khan!

"Dr Khan!" yelled Andrea, "You're back!"

And sure enough, the man known as Dr Gabriel Khan stepped out of his hiding place in Andrea's apartment. Andrea was overjoyed to see him. She immediately embraced him tightly. Suddenly, tears began to flow out of Andrea's eyes again.

"Why the emotions?" asked Dr Khan, "You unhappy to see me?"

Andrea bit her lip. She struggled to answer the question.

"No its not that," confessed Andrea, "Its just that... just..."

She burst into tears again. Dr Khan was perplexed by Andrea's actions. The Andrea Walker who he had met had displayed so much strength and courage. In fact, he thought, she was the driving force behind everything. But now, it was as if the entire time-travelling journey had changed her. She was so raw and vulnerable.

"I still can't believe that Bridget's dead," confessed the teary-eyed Andrea.

"Come on Andrea," said Dr Khan, "I told you not to get emotionally invested into anyone. Now look at what's happened to you."

"But Bridget was my friend," said Andrea, "Don't you know what's its like to have any friends? You care about them."

Dr Khan appeared offended at Andrea's statement.

"There's a lot you don't know about me Andrea, but that's not the focus here," said Dr Khan, "The point is, you need to move on."

Andrea listened to Dr Khan's views.

"Go and interact with people. I understand that you're sad that Bridget's dead, but if you keep on wallowing and thinking that it was all your fault, you'll never find closure."

Andrea realized that he was right. She stared at Dr Khan.

"Fine," she admitted, "I guess you're right."

"Death is the hardest to go through," said Dr Khan, "I know it's tough that both Bill and Bridget are dead. But people die every day, and if you really want to worry about that, you're going to kill yourself."

Andrea suddenly hugged Dr Khan and thanked him for his wise words. They were locked in an embrace for almost thirty seconds before Andrea broke away from him.

"How did you even come here? I thought that the TiMo was destroyed," said Andrea.

"It was never destroyed," said Dr Khan, "It never went to 2115. Besides Andrea, there's one thing you never noticed. You and I live in the same universe."

"What do you mean?"

"Whenever you want to find me, I'm in the same laboratory that you found me in," said Dr Khan, "I guess I should be heading off now."

"Wait Dr Khan!" said Andrea.

Dr Khan turned back and stared at Andrea.

"Thank you for helping me," said Andrea, "You're really a nice person."

"Don't be a nun," said Dr Khan, "We had a common motive and that's why we worked together."

"Ryan," said Andrea and Dr Khan nodded.

"Will we be seeing each other again?"

"Who knows? Probably we have to," said Dr Khan with a laugh.

"Just like Doc and Marty," said Andrea.

Dr Khan then proceeded to walk towards the door of Andrea's apartment.

"See you again Andrea," said Dr Khan. Andrea reciprocated with the same greeting.

She then walked to her room to continue doing her work. All of a sudden, she heard Dr Khan's voice and turned towards the door.

"There's something I forgot to tell you," said Dr Khan.

Andrea looked at him.

"Your life's not futureless anymore."