139 Years to the End of the World

The Healer, Part One

I was made a suit while I slept, which was one of the many perks of now having a glass door instead of being stuck in a metal can. Though the idea that people watched me while I was unconscious had a certain level of creepiness attached to it, it was more unsettling for me to know that someone actually came along and measured me for a suit without my knowledge. Scarier was that the suit was a perfect fit, which begged the question of how they measured me within a sealed container.

"You look good," Joan commented when I met her again in the lobby after changing. She had changed into a green cotton dress and heels for the occasion of Leila's graduation. For me, seeing her wearing anything outside her tomboyish ensemble was a rare and beautiful treat.

"I always look good," I joked and adjusted the knot on my bow tie. "But seriously? I didn't know bow ties still existed."

She walked up to me and flattened the creases in my shoulder. "Of course they do. Bow ties are awesome." Our eyes met and the years between us felt like days. She placed a gentle hand on my cheek. "You're so young."

"Not as young as you," I said and kissed her forehead.

The last time we met, she was but a hologram. Now, in the flesh, I could tell she wore her age nicely. Her wrinkles barely showed, and her hair, though faded slightly was still a definite black in shade. At forty six years in age, Joan would be considered as starting her golden years by the lifespan of people of our time, though she seemed healthy enough to continue living for decades more.

From behind me, the familiar voice of Professor Leah Hullway called out, "Milton! You're awake."

I turned to see her walking calmly across the empty hall towards us, wearing her lab coat over a yellow-themed babydoll dress. It was at that moment I concluded she was simply addicted to the colour yellow.

"Oh, Leah," Joan greeted with a wave. "We were just about to leave for Leila's graduation."

"I know. But I need to borrow Milton for awhile."

I asked, "Can't this wait? I mean, it is sort of my day off," I ended jokingly. Joan nonetheless nodded in agreement.

Leah clapped her hands together in a friendly plea. "Just for a few minutes. The skies are clear over the portal and it would be much better to show it to him while its active."

Joan looked visibly disappointed, a rare frown on her otherwise bubbly face. But she agreed to let Leah take me. "Fine. Just get him down in half an hour or we won't make the ceremony." Her allowing me to go on such an important day in our daughter's life told me how important the 'portal' had to be. "I'll see you later Mil."

I waved her goodbye and followed the professor to the lift lobby. I reiterated how empty the building seemed as we entered the elevator.

"It's the weekend," Leah told me as she selected the 5th floor from the column of buttons. "Plus, there's a new movie out today that everyone's been dying to watch."

Suddenly, I felt out of the loop, as if the entire world had an in-joke that I was not a part of. "Right. Right. You know, this is my forth day as a...whatever it is I am. Sometimes I forget that the world around me continues to move, even if I'm not in it," I unintentionally confided my feelings on the matter as the door closed behind us. "I don't know if I should be happy or sad about it."

Realizing that I was basically pouring out my personal emotions to a person I've known for less than four days, I tried to apologize, but was cut off by her reply. "It must be weird for you, isn't it?"

Going with her flow, I replied, "Yeah. A little." I felt at ease in her presence, feeling more like a friend who was just meeting up to hang out rather than a terminally ill, time travelling, stranger from the past.