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spidermalpractice · 12 years

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The Greatest Gift of All: me, as a son

today is my mom’s birthday and i’m really high so i wrote this story for her, which i will print out and give to her at some point during the day. preferably when there is family around. also i made her a denim jacket/long dress ensemble out of old jeans that i cut up with scissors, but anyways back to the story.

Kara's Birthday: The Novelization

Kara glanced up at the clock once again, the third time in less than 10 minutes. Quarter to 5, almost time to head home. She went back to messing with her wedding ring, barely a month old now; she still wasn't used to it being there. 4:52 now, almost there. Running out of things to think about. 4:55, great. Wonder what we're gonna do this weekend. 4:54 now, wait what? That can't be right. Weird- Oh well, almost time to get off work at my job as secretary or something(?). “Hey Larry, the clock is broken,” she called out to the other end of the office. “Don't care, it's Friday!” a distant voice called back. Eh, he was right. She rose from her chair and grabbed her things before making a beeline for the door, pausing briefly as a strange sensation came over her. This felt wrong, but not guilt- she didn't like her boss that much. It was like she wasn't supposed to leave, like it wasn't meant to happen.

Shaking off the light nausea she stepped over the business threshold... and immediately collided with a random passerby. “Ow, I'm so sorry, are you okay?” she asked the man as he helped her up. “I'm fine, it was you who ended up on the ground,” he replied quickly. “Ha ha, funny,” she thought to herself. The man spoke again, “Kara, exactly who I was looking for; come with me.” Without waiting for a response he grabbed her hand and took off running with Kara in tow. The initial shock from the grabbing wore off and she tugged back and forced the pair to a stop. “Now wait, who are you and why-” *BOOM* An explosion and a bright flash of light had completely obliterated the spot on the sidewalk where they had been standing.

Kara attempted to take off running, but the taller man restrained her with a grip on her coat. “Nope, you're with me as long as they're after you.” “Who's after me?!?” she exclaimed. Now that she had had some time to think her questions had started and they wouldn't be stopping anytime soon. “And how did you know that we had to run? You knew the spot was gonna blow up or whatever happened? And also, who are you?!” The stranger, not even pausing to think for a single moment, replied, “Bad guys are after you, because that's where you were gonna be at that moment, and I'm a Time Agent.” “I'm sorry, a what?” “A Time Agent. Protector of history, stopper of bad guys...” he looked down at his watch then back up to her, “...and if there's one thing you have plenty of right now, it's bad guys.”

On any other day she'd have been the first one to laugh a story like this off, but today was different. After almost being exploded by a crazy light she would believe anything, and for some reason this Time Agent guy seemed like he was telling the truth. “So what's your name?” she asked, her curiosity piqued. “That's not how this works,” he replied matter-of-factly, “I'm here to make sure you stay alive through this. No matter what.” The oddly dressed guy was giving commands like he was in charge, but his tone wasn't threatening. He was there to help, and had an honest voice. He continued, “The ones who are after you, they aren't really after you. Per say. They're after your son.” “But I don't have a son. Are you sure you have the right person?” He sighed before explaining further, “Not now, later. Your future son.” “I'm having a son!” The agent rubbed his eyes and shook his head. “There's no easy way to explain this, I swear. You're gonna have to trust me.” Kara thought for a second. “Alright. You saved me back there so I guess I can believe that I'm in danger.”

The agent started walking down the nearby alleyway and Kara followed closely behind, much more cautious of the shadows now that she knew someone was after her. But why? Nothing particularly special had happened lately. The man seemed as if he could sense her questions before she said them. “In the future, your son makes some very powerful enemies. Dangerous men and women who all want him dead, and they're willing to do it any way they can.” “So he fights bad guys too? Just like you do?” “Exactly. Where I'm from they've figured out time travel, with plenty of restrictions of course. But sometimes the technology gets into the wrong hands, setting some of the most dangerous people back with knowledge that can destroy the course of history. Imagine, someone going back a week with lottery numbers. Not that bad but then imagine that they go back a few generations, help out their family with some investment tips. Now suddenly the family is worth a billion dollars, and the history the should have happened never will.”

He continued, “Imagine every individual with time travel access, from its invention on til the end of time, trying to go back and change history for their own benefit. The universe can't handle that kind of warping and shattering of supposedly fixed events. Our physicists, the ones who founded the technology, left us with a grave warning: reality doesn't like people messing around with it. One hypothesis is that inevitably, after a certain number of time jumps, the universe will simply fail and collapse in on itself, unable to repair the holes in space time. My job is to prevent that from happening, for as long as possible. The event may be a certainty, but when it actually happens is up to how well we can protect time from abuse.”

“So it's like Terminator?” Kara had taken the news surprisingly well. “No, not at all like Terminator. Jeez you guys don't even have the good one yet...” “Okay so what happens now? Do I just run forever?” He said, “No, you'll be fine. Because I'm going to stop the ones after you.” “How?” “I dunno- guns, bullets, handcuffs, maybe a knife or two. Probably a weapon of sorts.” “No I mean how exactly are you going to-” “Relax, I've done this before. Just follow my instructions and you'll be back in your normal life by the end of the night.” He pulled down a fire escape ladder and started to climb. “Wait, I'm afraid of heights. No way I'm climbing that.” “I'd be more afraid of what'll happen if they find you back here because you wouldn't climb a 10 foot ladder. Now come on.” Kara slowly started to pull herself up the metal bars. “So how did the people who are after me know where I would be on the sidewalk?” she said, remembering the explosion. Once again he answered with, “Because that's where you were going to be.”

“I assume it has something to do with time travel.” “You'd be right,” he replied. “But wait, if they knew where I was supposed to be then how did they miss?” “Because I was there to make sure you weren't in that spot. I knew where you were supposed to be, so I made sure you weren't there.” “This is all giving me a migraine.” “I can imagine, but right now we need to hide. Regroup,” he said as he kicked through the 3rd floor window and brushed away some of the glass. He reached through the new opening and unlocked the latch. As the pair stepped inside the apartment they found themselves in an empty hallway. The time agent walked straight to a door, the last one on the left, as if he knew some secret hiding spot just from the quick glance at the hallway he had taken. “So, how did you know which door to take? Some secret time knowledge? Radar technology?” “What, no. I just picked one randomly.” He reached for the knob and Kara jumped as electricity began coursing through the agents body. As he screamed and slumped to the floor an unseen person came up behind her and threw a bag over her head. As Kara was lifted over the man's shoulder she realized that this weekend was about to take a sharp turn downhill.

After having been set down and tied to a chair for a few minutes, the kidnappers finally removed the hood, flooding her eyes with light suddenly and without warning. “Where am I?!? Where's the-” “Shut up!” the nearest thug yelled. On the other side of the thug was the time agent, her protector, tied up as well and still unconscious from the booby trap. Or at least I thought he was unconscious. “Open your eyes, we've got your vital signs up on the screen- your heart rate is a little high for someone who's supposedly been asleep for all this time.” The snarling voice came from up above, in this old abandoned warehouse.

The agent opened his eyes, his trick had failed. “Oh well, you can't blame me for trying. So how did you guys know which door to electrocute? Her history changed when I grabbed her hand, there's no way you could have re-calibrated and tracked her down again in such a short time...” The voice from above, who Kara figured was the boss, chuckled to himself. “Her? We were never after her, we've been tracking you this whole time. The agent looked shocked for a second but then things started making more and more sense to him. “Oh... my timeline would have led you right to the door. Set in stone, a perfect map to set up an ambush. Clever.” Kara yelled over to the other side of the room, “Wait I don't understand. So they weren't after me? They wanted you?” “Apparently so,” the agent said with some resignation. “Then why am I still here?” The agent was silent for a few seconds, longer than I had ever heard him doing so, besides when he was knocked out. “You were the bait,” he replied.

“So this was all a plot to grab me. Pretend like you're going after her to get me out in the open. The old bodyguard assassination trick- you know I'm pretty sure I invented that one...” “You aren't gonna be able to talk your way out of this one buddy,” the boss called out from the dark. “I wasn't planning on it,” my failed bodyguard replied. Suddenly a commotion in the rafters above. I counted 6 men, all dropping from the shadows and using CQC (close quarters combat) moves to dispose of the thugs. All in perfect unison. “Friends of yours?” Kara called out to her protector. “Something like that,” he replied as he effortlessly broke the ropes that held him in place.

With all his men disarmed and incapacitated the boss put his hands in the air. The game was up and he knew it. The sly grin never left his face as he realized what had happened. “You set a trap, within a trap, while pretending to completely oblivious the whole time.” He pointed at the agent and let his hand bounce back and forth. “You're a smart one kid, that's why you were always the biggest thorn in my side.” The agent walked over and cut Kara's ropes, and as she surveyed the room her face went white. All of the commandos that had dropped in to save them, they were all the same agent! Her agent! He sensed her confusion and started explaining. “Well I knew that this was a trap from the start, and also that I needed some backup. So I figured the best person to help would be... well, me.” “But how did you-” “Time travel.” He pointed to the first commando. “That's me 20 minutes from now.” He pointed to the second one. “That's me in an hour.” He pointed to the sixth and final commando in the room. “And boy do I feel bad for him, he's been here all day already!”

The agent turned back to Kara. “And this is where we part ways. My job here is done.” She was flabbergasted. “But wait I have so many more questions. None of this makes any sense!” He laughed and said, “Nope, and it probably never will. But still, that's how this works. Go back to your regular life, start a family. You've got some great years ahead of you.” She thought for a second about the night's events. “Wait,” she pondered out loud, “How did they know that you specifically would come for me? What if the agency had just sent another person to deal with it?” The stranger looked at the ground, silent once again. Unnerving. “There's no such thing as a time agent, is there?” “Not exactly.” “So you're just a sort of concerned citizen?” He smiled. “Something like that.” “Well can I at least know your name before you go?” “Not how it works...” he said mostly to himself as he pressed a button on his watch and he and all his copies disappeared in a flash of white light.

A pale-looking Kara looked down at her watch. 5:40. “Maybe I'll just stay in tonight...” she said quietly to herself as she headed for the warehouse doors.

The End

Kara will next return in...

Kara's Birthday 2: Dream Warriors

#happy birthday #mom

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