Series Wednesday: Timetopia Page 2

                  As I get my bearings I start to look around the fast moving van. I see long dark hair in the driver’s seat. I see my mom fading farther away into the distance, I have always thought of myself as unemotional but I start to cry at the thought that I won’t see her again. I look at my arm and I see a huge piece of glass sticking out and I’m still losing a lot of blood. I’m starting to not feel so great. “You hold on back there!” is the last thing I hear before I shut my eyes. 

                “Wake up Ava! Open your eyes!” I feel someone shaking me. I look and all I see is long dark hair. I sit up and look around. I am in someone’s home. My arm is bandaged up and this girl is just sitting here watching me. “Ava I need you to speak.” She say as she flashes a little light into my eyes. “Who are you?” I push her hand away. “Good you’re up. You need to eat, you have been out for two days. You need to regain your strength if we are going to make it to your grandma’s house.”  In Timetopia we are taught to never be violent or untrusting. If someone was these things they would be erased. So most of us have little to no scars, but this dark haired lady who conveniently didn’t answer my question, had lots of scars. “I’m sorry I must’ve missed the part where you said who you are?”  I stand up to look her in the eyes. She leans past me and pulls a huge knife out and puts it in her back pack.  “I’m sorry where are my manners? I’m Rev, nice to meet you.” She continues packing her bag.  “Hello Rev nice to meet you as well.” I stop and it finally hits me she said we are going to my grandma’s house. I wonder if she means the grandma that my parents swear I look like. “Did you say my grandma’s house? Would this be my mother’s mom?” she turns and smiles. In a way I have never seen anyone smile before in my life. That’s when I notice her teeth are crooked, so I know that means something is wrong with her. I step back away from her. “Your teeth!” I can’t help but shout. “Oh right I forgot, you all get braces at 12. Freaks!”  She is packing food and blankets now. “First, what is a freak? And it is a law, everyone must get braces at age 12. We have to do this, it’s not a choice. So why are your teeth crooked?”  She sighs so loud and drops the back pack. “Do you know why they make you get braces!? Why they make all of you get braces?? And why they make all of you stay within 20% body fat.”  She says this like we weren’t all taught this in school our whole life. “We are all made to look our best. So that there is no jealousy or insecurity. So we can focus on the really important things. Like the well being of the earth and each other.” Rev is shaking and I’m not sure why. Something I’ve said is clearly upsetting her. “NOO, wrong! The Five just want to be sure that you never do anything to stand out or be different. To think for yourself or question anything they tell you.” She is shouting now. I’m not sure why she is so angry.  “The Five stepped up after the war. They lost everything, the Five’s families were murdered. So they built the time machine to save millions from the war but when they changed one thing, their families were never born.” I sound like my teacher in history. Rev is now pacing back and forth. “When was this war?” she says as she rubs her hands on her face. “I’m not sure because it never happened.” Rev laughs at me out loud. “The war is still 100 years from now. I’m sure your history classes forgot to mention that. The Five went back 300 years.” Rev tilts her head at me like she just said something completely new to me. “What does it matter when it is? The point is they fixed it.” I’m not sure why I am standing up for the Five but it seems like I am. “Get rest. We are going to have to go soon.” Rev hands me a blanket. I head over to the bed very confused.

                “Ava get up we need to go. Do you hear that?” Rev say as she shoves everything into the last bag. “Yeah it sounds like a motorbike in the distance.” Rev is running back and forth to the van throwing the bags in. “Yeah, it’s the police and they don’t sound too far away. We have to go now.” Rev keeps saying things I don’t understand. “What are police? And they are probably wellness checkers. Why do we have to run? They are just coming to ensure that I am okay. I did get hurt a few days ago.” Rev is still running back and forth very quickly. “We are 300 miles from your home. There is no way they know you are hurt or that you are here. If we don’t run they will erase your mom.” I’m not sure why but I trust Rev. I get in the van and we drive away. I’m not sure what is happening or why we are running but I know I don’t want anything to happen to my mom.