A Life Rescued

The Nightmares

The first chapter or two of this story is not relevant throughout the majority of the story and has to do with some science fiction aspects so feel free to skip it if you like.
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Warning: This story is rated T for teens, it is not really suitable for children. Chapter 1 contains references to substance abuse, a brief but moderately descriptive scene of tragedy, and self-murder. Please be aware that this is only fiction: do not read on if you think you might be disturbed or offended.
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He awoke in the middle of a full-fledged night-terror, the same one he'd experienced almost daily for eighteen years: Leslie Burke was walking casually towards the rope over the creek, PT following closely behind. Running next to her, Jesse Aarons was pleading, begging, crying for her to turn back. He tried to grab her arm but his ghostly existence would not take hold of her flesh: he was unseen and unheard. As in all the other times, he stood screaming for her to stop, but she continued forward. Picking up the long branch hidden in the brush, she hooked the end of the rope and stepped up onto the log, preparing to swing. PT jumped into her arms and she leapt up and onto the rope.

Knowing what was about to happen, Jesse closed his eyes, but the dream forced them open to witness it all over again. As Leslie and PT's full weight came down on the rope, it snapped. Because she was leaning back at the time, Leslie's body continued in its motion, turning her over in a half back-flip. It happened in a fraction of a second. Only inches above the swollen creek, she landed head first, her body following into the murky waters. Then, as she was about to disappear, what he could see of her body shuddered, convulsed, and limply disappeared into the water. Through his tears, Jesse jumped down into the raging creek and tried, as he had thousands of other times, to pull her up. But it was the same ending.

A face floating up through the murk, blood-stained hair shifting in the current, a dead look in the open eyes, and the voice: Where were you, Jess?

His screams filled the empty bedroom.

Dr. Janice Trefry
Prince William County Mental Health Clinic
Gunston Hall Office, Gunston, Virginia
Transcribed "Patient J" (Case 2311457) Notes for period February 3, 2024 through June 22, 2025

Patient J was a 30-year-old male who was well dressed, presented a well-organized and succinct history, and said he was unsure if he could "manage to survive" a few more months. He reported being profoundly depressed, sad, hopeless, and apathetic for several months, probably years. He had no history of psychiatric problems and reported a normal childhood, supportive family, and successful academic and occupational history, until recently. He said he drank heavily starting at age seventeen, did not smoke but had begun using drugs (type unspecified but not Marijuana.) He also described treatment for severe headaches. Before this episode, he claimed no prior suicidal ideation. Other records later showed this to be inaccurate.

For a good portion of the last eighteen years of his life, Jesse Aarons had studied math and physics. The fact that he hated both subjects probably accounted for much of his reclusive existence, as the time he would have otherwise spent socializing was used to keep his grades up - and his hope alive. Hope was an important aspect to the little project he pursued, because until the year 2023 no one worth a fat rat's behind, in any branch of Physics, from super-string theory to basic wave analysis, believed that time travel was possible. Actually, that wasn't completely true. Traveling forward in time had been proven in the late 1960's and early 1970's when the Apollo astronauts, traveling at great speed away from the earth, aged a fraction of a second less than their Earth-bound counterparts and thus – again – proved Einstein correct.

But, while an interesting part of relativity theory, going forward didn't help Jesse at all; he needed to go back in time. And the longer it took him to find a way to do it the further back he had to go. He wasn't certain if this was important, though it did seem logical.