I’m Nine Again - Chapter 6 Loneliness

“What happened to you?” Alice asked again. She stepped forward, carefully placing her hand on my face.

“The body that I was transported into,” I said, “It’s an abusive family. My mother was an alcoholic. She doesn’t work. I managed to get her to stop drinking but then last night my father.”

“The father of your body did this to you?” she asked.

“Yeah, he did. He got angry because my mother poured all her alcohol down the sink at my direction,” I said, “I thought I was doing a good thing, but he wasn’t happy. He cared about all of the money wasted and started throwing things and hitting everyone.”

“Why?” she asked, “Why didn’t you ask for help? Why didn’t you try to leave as soon as you arrived?”

“I thought I could change things,” I said, “Maybe I could change the future for my mother, and for my aunt. I was trying to do something.”

“You’re not going back there, are you?” she asked.

I shook my head. Alice took her hand away from my face and looked at me with empathetic eyes. It was a strange feeling. The Laura I had been speaking to for the last week, and now Alice, seemed like completely different people now that I knew the truth about her. Now that I knew she was also from the future. From the same year as me too. It was not like I was talking to a smart child anymore. I was speaking to a peer. Someone on the same level as me.

“Where are you going to go?” she asked.

“I don’t know,” I said, “I’ve got $10,800 from today’s race. My plan tonight was to get a hotel room.”

“Who in their right mind would rent out a hotel room to a kid?” she asked, “come on Sean use your head a bit. If you tried to get a room, the cops would be called, and you’d be shipped off back to your parents.”

“I didn’t think of that,” I said looking to the ground.
for visiting.

I really didn’t plan anything out. I just left in a rush when I woke up this morning. I just really wanted to get out of that situation.

“Hold on, let me talk to Rachel,” she said, “If I tell her what’s going on, you might be able to stay at their house.”

“Your parents are nice,” I said, “But are they really going to take some kid in off the streets?” I asked, “That’s a lot for them.”

“I’ll convince my mother, and then she can convince my father. Beside the point, they think that we are both genius kids. I’m sure that will weigh into their decision.”

Alice turned to walk away, “Stay there,” she said. She walked over to her mother’s car and started to talk. They talked for a while and then eventually the car engine stopped running. The sun was slowly dipping beyond the horizon at the end of the street as Rachel stepped out of the car and with Alice walked over to me. When she got to me, she knelt down and looked at my face.

“My got Travis,” she said, “Your father did this to you?” she asked.

“Yeah, it knocked me out,” I said, “when I woke up this morning he had left.”

“We have to call the police,” she said.

“No,” I said, “It would be too much of a hassle for my mother and aunty who still need time to run away. Besides, the police would probably shove me into child protective services. That’s not much better.”

“Laura told me everything,” she said, “You’re more than welcome to stay at our home until we sort things out. We are going to need to contact the police, but that can wait until tomorrow. As long as you are okay.”

“I’ll be fine,” I said, “It’s just a few bruises. More importantly, I don’t want to be putting you guys out by having me stay. If it’s going to cause you trouble, I’d rather try my luck elsewhere.”

“Don’t be an idiot Travis!” Alice said.

“Laura!” her mother scolded.

“Seriously, use your brain, you have one!” Alice continued, “What are you going to do on the streets?” she asked, “Are you going to walk caf to caf and ask people to put horse bets on for you?”

“Laura, calm down!” Rachel said.

“No Mum, he’s being an idiot,” she said, “You talk about putting us out, but you don’t know a single thing do you?”

Alice was breathing heavily, panting with tears again welling up in her eyes. She was clearly trying hard to hold her self together.

“After all of this time you are the first person in the world I’ve met that is exactly like me, and you’re just going to what, run away?” she asked, exasperated, “That’s what is going to put me out, you idiot!”

She stepped forward, almost pushing past her mother and grabbed the front of my hoodie at the chest and pulled me in close to her.

“You have no idea how lonely I have been for the longest time, never really getting along with any of my peers, living what is essentially a lie. Finally, I meet someone who is on the same level as me! Someone who can relate to what I’m going through and how I feel and instead of working together you just want to run away!?”

“Laura, calm down,” her mother said, “He’s clearly injured and shaken!”

“No Mum!” she yelled, “You don’t understand either. No one does! No one but Se,” she paused for a moment, “No one but Travis understands exactly what I’m feeling!”

“I’m not trying to run away,” I said, “I’m just not exactly sure what it is that I can do! I don’t have any options!”

“We’ve given you an option!” Alice said, “You just need to swallow your pride or your fear or whatever it is that’s holding you back and take it!”

There was a long pause. Alice’s arms were shaking as she held my hoodie. The tears she had been holding back started pouring forwards.

“Please,” she begged, “Please don’t leave me. I don’t think I can do this on my own.”

She dropped to the ground, pulling me down softly with her as she cried into my shoulder. Rachel took a few steps away, obviously respecting her daughter’s privacy.

“I just found you, after so long,” she cried quietly so that her mother wouldn’t hear. “Please don’t leave me, Sean. I’ve been so lonely.”

I reached my arm around and comforted her head into my shoulders as she cried.

“I’m so desperate,” she cried, “I’m so desperate to stop my self from going insane. I feel like I’m going insane every damn day that I spend here.”

“I’m sorry,” I said, “I had no idea.”

“No one does,” she said, “But you do.”

“I’m sorry Alice,” I said.

“You being here,” she went on, “It helps me feel like I’m not some batshit crazy child with an overactive imagination!”

I helped her back up to her feet and wiped some of her tears away with my sleeve. She let out a few more tears before regaining her composure and standing up straight. I turned to Rachel who took notice that our conversation had ended.

“I’m sorry Rachel, I didn’t realize that by running away on my own, that there would be people who would get really upset,” I said, “If that offer to stay with your family is still open, then I’d like to accept if that’s okay.”

Alice looked up at me and smiled. Rachel walked back over with a sad look in her eyes.

“I’m sorry,” Rachel said, “I’ve never seen Laura like that before, I didn’t know what to do. And yes, you’re more than welcome to stay with us. Don’t worry about it. We’ll sort it all out tomorrow.”

After the hours I’d walked this morning, it was a bit of a shock for the car trip to only take a short 10 minutes to get back to Alice’s house. We all walked inside, her father wasn’t home yet. I went to take a seat on the couch as her mother started to bring some stuff in from the car. Alice stayed next to me the whole time. I don’t remember falling asleep, but then again no one ever does remember falling asleep. One moment I was on the couch, the next I was having vivid dreams of the night before. Dreams of cooking extravagant feasts. My father throwing all the food against the wall. My mother drinking alcohol from the bin that she’d thrown all the bottles into. Pulling out each bottle and desperately trying to savor the last few drops that remained. June was sitting on the couch, crying as my father kept throwing me against the wall. Pushing my head so hard into the wall that I broke the wall. He would pick me back up and slam my head against another section of unbroken wall until it broke and repeat the process.

I sat up quickly in a cold sweat breathing deeply and heavily. Light streamed through the windows into the living room. Behind me were a few pillows that my head had been propped up with. A blanket covered my body. I clung tightly to it for a moment before looking around. Birds were chirping in the trees outside the window. The sound of shower water echoed down the polished wooden floorboards from somewhere down the hallway. Matthew was sitting at the dining table, typing away at a clunky old laptop. Although remembering my situation, it was probably one of the more modern laptops of the time. He looked over to me, noticing that I had woken up.

“Ah, Travis,” he said, “You were asleep when I got home.”

He took his glasses off and stood up walking into the kitchen to get a glass of water before coming back into the living room and placing it on the coffee table in front of the couch.

“Don’t worry, Rachel told me everything that happened,” he said, “She’s just in the shower right now. Laura is still asleep. I’ve taken the day off work.”

“I’m sorry, I don’t want to be the reason you miss work,” I said.

“Well,” he chuckled, “I’m still managing to get some work done from home. And don’t worry about that anyway, your situation is more important than work.”

“You look after a lot of peoples money,” I said.

“I’m not the only one,” Matt said, “I only hire the best to work underneath me. I’m confident in their abilities to carry out the days work with me acting in a limited capacity. Drink, you need to keep hydrated.”

I took the glass of water and started drinking. To my surprise, once I started, I couldn’t stop. I continued gulping down the water until there was none left and took a big gasp of air as I placed the cup back down on the table beside me.

“So before everyone comes out for breakfast,” Matthew started, “Laura told me that you also won a bet on that horse race yesterday. Is that true?” he asked.

“Yeah, I did,” I replied.

“That is an extremely weird bet. Both Laura and yourself came to the same conclusion of how it would play out,” he said, “If you don’t mind me asking, what made you come to that bet?”

“Well,” I started thinking quickly, “I went into the caf to see if I could get some food, and I was reading the sports magazine. I saw that there was a little bit of light rain and that a few horses had slipped at around the last 200-meter mark. As I was looking at the horses for the main race, I noticed that number 4 and number 10 were known to take the outside of the track if they were trying to gain some ground. I thought that if number 1 was going fast around that corner, with the wet ground then he was sure to slip and cause a holdup. If number 4 was close to the front, then it would slow him down but being on the outside would save him from stumbling. That means that if number 10 also took the outside like he usually does, then he has a good chance at making first place this race. I was originally going to ask the caf owners to bet on number 10 winning but if number 10 was going to win under the circumstances of a fall in the first place, then number 4 would be the only logical answer for what horse would come in second place.”

It was one of the more elaborate lies I had told, but judging by Matthew’s face as I was speaking, he seemed to believe me. He even seemed impressed. He shook his head for a moment.

“I can’t believe it,” he said, “Laura told me pretty much the exact same answer.”

“She did?” I asked. Of course, I knew she would have. Alice would have also had to lie about why she wanted this specific bet placed. I was surprised her parents let her place a bet though. They seemed very straight edge.

“Yeah, she was trying to convince us for a few days to place that bet for her. She told us about weather reports and the different horses in the race. I was against it, but Rachel decided that this would be a good lesson for her. She would let Laura gamble her pocket money on a losing bet so she could see that gambling was a waste of money. It was all down to chance,” he paused for a moment before continuing, “Then she went and placed a $500 bet and said she’d see us after school.”

“$500!” I said, “Then that means she would have won-.”

Mathew interjected. “$100,000,” he said, “Our little girl just won $100,000 on a horse race.”

“That’s insane,” I said, “I only got $10,800.”

“That’s a lot of money for someone your age,” he said.

“I guess so,” I replied.

“You don’t think so?” he questioned.

“Well, it’s a lot of money, but for an adult, it would only cover about a 3rd of a years living expenses,” I said, “And cause I’ve run away from home, I need all of the money I can get.”

“Wow,” Matt said, “You’ve really done your maths on this.”

“I guess so. I was running away from home, I needed some form of a plan,” I said.

The sound of the shower stopped. Shortly after, Rachel walked out in a dressing gown as she was drying her hair. The smell of the soaps and body washes that she was using wafted down the hallway. She saw Matthew and I sitting on the couch.

“Oh Travis, you’re awake,” she said, “I’ll go and wake Laura and then we can all sit down around breakfast and talk about what to do next.”

She turned back down the hallway and left for a few minutes. She returned and then a few minutes after her, Alice walked out of her bedroom, fully dressed in casual clothes with her hair brushed. We all sat around the dining room table eating cereal and fruits with and both Alice and I had coffee. Rachel protested that decision, but Matthew let it slide.

It felt like a comforting family meal, something I hadn’t had in a very long time. It was peaceful and relaxing. That was until the serious conversation started halfway through.

“Now,” Matthew started, “Rachel, your mother,” he reiterated for Laura, “Rachel and I have decided that it’s important to have you two sit in on this conversation, especially considering it has a great deal to do with you Travis,” he said looking at me. Rachel swallowed a gulp of her coffee and took a breath in before speaking.

“So, we’ve decided that the best solution, for now, is to call the police.” She said.

“But I said last night-” I started.

“I know what you said last night Travis, but I need you to let me speak okay. I need you to hear me out. Can you do that?” she asked.

“I guess so,” I said.

“What the plan is,” Mathew continued, “Is that we will call the police and tell them what has happened. They will come over hear and take a statement from all of us but especially you Travis. Your statement will be important for the police to do their job and help your mother and aunty.”

“Has she ever hit you?” Rachel asked.

“Can I lie?” I asked back.

“If that’s what you want to do, and if that’s what you feel will help the police do their job properly, then it’s your prerogative if you want to omit some facts from your statement,” she said.

“What will happen to Travis’s mother and aunt?” Alice asked.

Matthew answered, “The general procedure is that they will be placed into witness protection services,” he said, “And you might be able to go with them to Travis.”

“I want them to be safe,” I said, “But I don’t want to go with them.”

“Well, in that case, we are going to have to have a long talk with the police about that one,” Matt said, “Our main priority is that your mother and your aunty are escorted safely away by the police and that your father is arrested. Once the police take your statement, they should have no choice but to arrest him.”

“Travis it’s really important that you agree with this plan,” Rachel said, “We don’t want to be going around behind your back and doing anything that would upset you. That’s the last thing we want.”

“Okay,” I said, “It’s not a bad plan. I just want Mum and June to be safe, that’s all.”

“They’ll be fine,” Rachel said, “We just need to let the police do their job.”

* * * * * *

The police came by the house later that day. They were shocked when they first saw me. Suggested that Matthew and Rachel take me to a hospital if the swelling doesn’t go down by tomorrow. Everyone was questioned and asked to give statements. The police tried to talk to me like the child who’s body I was in, but I didn’t want to have any part of that. I gave straight answers. My father beats my mother, my father attacked me the night before. My mother and aunt have nowhere to go. The policeman assured me that they would be placed into protective care and that everything would be alright. They took some photos of my face and stomach making sure they got clear shots of all of my cuts and bruises.

“With everything that we have here,” the police said to us all at the end of the questioning, “We should have more than enough evidence to make an arrest and hold him in remand. We’ll update you on the details.”

The rest of the day went by relatively slowly. Alice an I sat on the couch watching the news while talking to each other.

“So how long have you been here?” she asked.

“About two weeks,” I said, “One moment I’m going to sleep in my own bed, the next, I wake up in a strange room, bare of much furniture and a noticeable difference in my body.”

We spoke quietly, sometimes in whispers so that her parents couldn’t hear us. Matthew stayed home for the whole day while Rachel left for an hour to do some quick work at the local newspaper office.

“What about you?” I asked.

“Six months,” she said, “I was out with some friends, partying. It was my friend’s bachelorette party. I remember getting really drunk and then waking up in Laura’s bed with her alarm going off and no hangover.”

“I thought it was a dream,” I said.

“I didn’t know what to think,” Alice said, “I stayed in my room all day, hoping that I was just seeing things. Maybe I’d taken some weird drugs, like LSD or something.”

“Imagine that,” I joked, “One hell of a trip where you are running around the club pretending that you’re a 9-year-old kid.”

We both chuckled, “Don’t say that!” she said, “It might just be the case.” “I’ve never taken drugs,” I said, “So that’s how I knew this wasn’t some drug-induced hallucination, as I said I thought it was some weird dream till I woke up the second day and realized that it was real.”

“When was that?” she asked.

“My second day was when I got into a fight with Davin and the other kids,” I said, “Then I got suspended.”

“You bully!” she joked, “You beat up a bunch of kids. How could you?”

“Hey, it was an even playing field. And besides, that fat one packs a hard punch,” I said.

“You can’t call him fat!” she said shocked.

“Why not?” I asked, “He is fat. He’s a big fat kid!”

Again, we both chuckled. Our conversation was on and off as we switched between talking and paying attention to the news.

“What are you going to do?” Alice asked, “You know, with all of the knowledge.”

“I am 100% putting all of my money in bitcoin when it comes out and then I’m going to sell it at the top in 2017,” I said, “I’m going to be a rich as hell millionaire.”

“Really?” she asked, “So you’re going to be rich, that’s it?”

“Hey,” I said, “You just grabbed $100k from a horse race. You can’t tell me that money isn’t on your mind as well.”

“You know about that?” she asked.

“Yeah, Matthew told me you put a $500 bet on,” I said, “So there you go, I’m not the only greedy one out of the two of us!”

She laughed and then pushed me to the side. I pushed her back and we both started laughing. It felt good being able to talk to someone and not feel like I was lying the entire time. Matthews phone started ringing and he answered it.

“Hello, Matthew speaking,” he said.

“So,” Alice continued, “How about this, we make a lot of money, and then we use that money to change the future!”

“Yes,” Matthew said in the background, “Yes that’s me.”

“What are we going to change?” I asked, “It’s not exactly like sums of money is going to stop the Iraq war from happening. There were so many UN officials who said that Saddam didn’t have WMD’s and we invaded anyway. Money won’t fix that.”

“It doesn’t have to be as big as stopping something like a war,” she said, “But we could lobby the government, influence policy, that kind of thing. We could invest in our manufacturing industry and stop it from dying out.”

“Or,” I started, “We could buy a private island filled with lots of booze and pretty ladies.”

“You’re an idiot!” she said.

Matthew’s voice cut cold through the room.

“I don’t understand, what do you mean deceased?”