chapter thirteen|yellow flicker beat

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Chapter Thirteen

yellow flicker beat

Magnus and I took off as soon as we got out of the cave. The early morning sunrise was beginning to filter through the trees. I found it difficult to believe we had been out that long, but time passes differently when you find yourself in another decade.

I was still struggling to comprehend what I had just seen. For four years I had been searching for answers even though my mother told me there were none. Now I had the answers, but I didn't have the closure. I just had more questions.

How did he end up in 1986?

Where has he been for the past four years?

Who did this to him?

How did Magnus and I end up in 1986?

How do we explain this?

When we reached the meeting point, I was surprised that only Martha and Bartosz were waiting for us.

"Where are Jonas and Franziska?" I asked, slightly out of breath

"They went home." Bartosz answered, annoyed. "Where were you guys? I swear if you were making out behind a tree. This was your idea for heaven's sakes!"

"Bartosz!" I cut him off "We have to show you something. Something you wouldn't believe if we tried to tell you."

Magnus and I guided the other two back over a well-worn path of broken sticks and fallen branches that we had darted over what had seemed like only minutes before. I knew that if we tried to explain the entire time travel cave concept, they would have laughed us out of the caves. Accused us of being on too many drugs.

"Just trust us." Magnus pleaded, reaching for Bartosz's wrist

"I swear to god, if you're messing with us I will slap you into 1987." Bartosz threatened as we neared the caves

Ha. I thought. That's not too far off.

"It's just inside the caves, you wouldn't believe us if we didn't show you." I said, pushing a branch out of the way so we could walk into the clearing in front of the cave.

"Who the fuck are you?"

The four of us spun around to spot three unfamiliar boys in the clearing, anxiously digging into Erik Obendorf's drug stash.

"Who the fuck are you guys?" Bartosz scoffed "Seriously, is this what you guys wanted to show us? Three new kids? That's not going to help get my murder charge lifted, in case you forgot!"

But none of us heard him. We were too busy scrutinizing the three boys.

"Magnus," Martha murmured "Is that dad?"

"Dad?" The brunette slumped in the yellow chair scoffed "Please, Katharina said she doesn't want kids!"

"So you DID make a move!" The boy in the dark brown leather jacket shouted

"Not the time, Beck!" Another boy scolded. Another boy I recognized from pictures in the garage.

"Uncle Zacharias." I breathed

"What the hell is going on?" Bartosz asked.

"Uncle? Are you guys travelling hippies or something?" Beck laughed, pointing at the zip-lock back the Ulrich was holding "Are these your drugs?"

It took everything in me not to scream my lungs out. There was no way that any of this was possible, but here we were, talking to past versions of family members. Like I said, it should be impossible. Listening to them argue with each other was giving me a headache.

"Shut up! All of you!" I shouted, hands on either side of my head "Sit down, and we can talk about this!"

Zacharias laughed "She's hot, and she's got a mouth on her! Which one of you is she macking?"

God, I wish he hadn't said that. For multiple reasons.

"Hey, don't talk about my girlfriend like that!" Magnus shouted, pushing his way past me and Martha

I pushed my arm in front of the blond boy, hoping to still is movements and dissipate some of the rage "Magnus! Sit down. The group of us are going to have a very long conversation."

Ulrich laughed "About what? Turning the group of you into the cops? For all we know, you killed that mystery guy in the caves yesterday!"

"Wait, somebody else died?" Martha said, fear creeping into her voice

"Ulrich Nielsen, if you know what's good for you, you'll sit your ass down." I said, getting up in the brunette's face

The Nielsen patriarch's face faltered "How do you know my name? You some sort of witch or something?"

"Or something. Now sit the hell down."

Once tensions between the men (read: boys) had calmed down, Magnus and explained what we had seen in the caves. How we had come out the other side in 1986.

"Wait, so what year is this?" Beck asked

"2019" Magnus answered, voice clipped. He was still mad at Zacharias, and I really couldn't blame him. As a teenager, I was learning, my uncle was a real jerk.

"You're messing with us. Give me some sort of proof."

Scoffing, I reached into my back pocket and pulled out my cell phone to show the boy the date. All three teenagers were mesmerized by the small black device, screen lit up with a picture of me, Magnus, Martha, Franziska, Bartosz, Jonas and Heidi at last years Oktoberfest.

"What the hell is that?" Beck murmured, taking the iPhone from my hand

"That, is a phone." I said pointedly. "But it's also a camera, a Walkman and a computer."

"You're shitting us." Ulrich said simply

"No, we're not." Martha said, clearly annoyed at the boys and their disbelief.

"If all this is true, how are we all related to you guys?" Zacharias asked as his brother passed me back my phone.

"Beck is my father." I said, showing him a more recent family photo

"Who's your mother?" Beck inquired

"Lea Scholl, why?"

"Dude, you get the girl for life man!" Zacharias shouted, slapping his brother on the back. "Nice job, mate!"

"Dude, that means that you just flirted with your niece." Bartosz pointed out

Zacharias paled "No. No, please God no. Oh God, I feel like such a creep."

I shook my head "Already forgotten, man. But you did go missing four years ago."

"So that was my body that we found."

"Sorry."

"So how much do we actually know about this time travel stuff?" Beck asked

"Jack shit." Magnus spat

I stood up "Maybe youguys could help us out with that."

𝚆𝙰𝙸𝙳𝙼𝙰𝙽𝙽𝚂 𝙷𝙴𝙸𝙻 ,, magnus nielsenWhere stories live. Discover now