When Time Collides ★ [2] ✔

The Seeds of Evil

Jazz music played. Bottles of champagne popped open. Laughs reverberated around the dance hall. The flashes of cameras snapped. Dancing couples graced the floor. The air of joy wafted and floated.

I walked down the steps and touched down onto the floor of the dance hall, dressed in my army uniform, medals and badges displaying my rank.

I knew straight away I was way out of 2015. This was the '40s. But how did I get here?

My heart raced faster and faster as I walked through the hall. I saw men fighting. My eyes strayed to two laughing, one collapsed on the floor as the other dabbed the wine stain on his shirt.

And then everything slowed. Women were lifted by their partners in slow motion. Punches were thrown sluggishly. The music was slurred.

"Are you ready for our dance?"

I felt her hand brush my shoulder. I turned to face her. Peggy.

My heart ached terribly, breaking at the sight of her. I was speechless. I felt tears fill my eyes. My mouth opened and closed in confusion and heartbreak.

"The war's over, Steve," Peggy cooed. "We can go home. Imagine it!"

I turned away from her, and then everything was gone. The hall was empty. The laughs. The music. Peggy. They were all but an echo of a past long gone.

I stood there. Alone. Like I was during the war. Like I was in the future. Like I'd always been. Completely and utterly...alone.

"Help...me."

I turned to her voice. Andi stood before me. She was battered and bruised. She was bleeding from cuts and scratches on her flawless face and on her arms. Her expression was agony, blood mixing with tears. Her green eyes were filled with absolute pain, reaching out for help, piercing my soul.

"Andi?"

"Help me, Steve," she wheezed. "Please. Help...me."

She gasped, an expression of shock ripping through her agony.

"No!" I tried to run to her, but I hit an invisible wall. "Andi! No!"

Her knees buckled. She fell onto her side. Her eyes were wide open as she lay lifeless on the dance hall floor, her blood pooling around her. I gazed up at the dark figure who'd murdered my best friend.