SUMMARY: Submerge in a fictional, thrilling story as you follow Katie in her journey through time to discover the truth about what she's being told…
________________________________________________________________________________________
What was there to say about Katie? A brilliant, pretty, and loving girl who always poured her heart out to make people happy. No matter how much work she had or how tired she felt, both emotionally and physically, she tried to maintain that positive attitude of hers.
Nevertheless, there were days where you couldn’t even guess if she was okay or just pretending. Still, there she was: lying on her bed and holding back all those tears once more.
Besides Katie’s bed, there were multiple shelves filled with books and a desk with a computer on it. There was a distinct object beside her computer that Katie treasured the most: her grandmother’s picture frame.
Her grandmother had died when she was just a girl. Still, she had meant the world for her. The moments she had spent with her left her many teachings that would remain in her heart forever. We talk not only about basic, educational stuff like having good manners and being polite but also about betrayals and how some people could not be trusted in life.
Katie loved to see her grandmother recline on her favorite chair and recount her old, yet great little stories while she usually sat on the fluffy living room’s carpet and did nothing but listen. The way her grandmother told the stories made Katie feel as if though she had been living or watching them live from a third person view.
“Curious little things I’m telling you, my dear Katie,” her grandmother narrated, “that can leave you vulnerable or turn you into a stronger person. Those who smile in the most suspicious ways can hide unwanted truths, and those who you give all your heart out can have the power to crush it in seconds.”
We must daresay that sometimes Katie didn’t fully understand everything her grandmother was trying to tell her, yet that didn’t bother Katie for she thought one day everything would make perfect sense to her. She thought it was intriguing and fascinating to work out everything through the course of life, obviously without getting hurt at all during the process.
Yet, years passed by and as Katie grew into a beautiful young woman, her grandmother became old and sick. It was a matter of months before she passed away in a nearby hospital.
That very sad day, Katie was beside her grandmother’s bed, holding her hands with tearful eyes as she listened to her very last words.
“Katie, my dear, don’t be sad,” she said. “As one life ends, another one just begins.”
“I don’t want you to leave me, Grandma,” Katie whispered as one tear fell to the bed’s blanket, “you mean everything to me in this world.”
“As you do to me,” her Grandma replied, “as long as you think of me, I will be there by your side. I am not really leaving, you see?”
She gave a faint smile and then her eyes slowly closed down forever.
Katie won’t ever forget that last moment. She always had believed in her grandmother’s words and was happy when she occasionally dreamed of her.
The picture frame also helped her in many ways. Just by looking at her grandmother’s photograph made her feel as if though she were watching her even at life’s most vulnerable moments.
It felt good to remember those good childhood memories with her.
Yet, that Thursday night, something had hit her very hard in her heart.
Over a week ago, Katie’s boyfriend, Leo, had broken up with her. The surprising reason was that her best friend, Rosie, had told her she had seen him going out with another girl for the past couple of weeks, kissing and hugging her altogether. Katie didn’t believe her at all but was merely surprised when one day Leo came up and told her straight up he didn’t want to continue their relationship for now as he wanted time for himself and his studies for a while.
Yet, he told her he wanted to stay in contact with her.
Three days had passed, and he had by then posted on social media he was now in a new relationship with another girl Katie had had none previous knowledge of.
How rude, you would say, or maybe not? Could his reasons be forgiven by Katie?
Katie was more than devastated. Two years had suddenly gone to trash in a heartbeat. She tried to continue studying, and she tried to leave her room, but the only thing she could think of was about the breakup situation.
She felt hurt. She didn’t want to lose Leo but couldn’t bear seeing him with another girl.
She didn’t believe what her best friend had told her. How could he have been cheating on her for the past couple of weeks?
- - - KATIE - - -
Katie moved sideways on her bed and with tearful eyes turned to look at her grandmother’s picture frame lying on her desk. In it was her Grandma sitting on her couch and looking straight up with a reassuring smile on her face.
“I want to know the truth,” Katie whispered. “Please tell me why this happened, why did he do this?”
When she had finally found the strength to get up, she put on her slippers and walked towards her bathroom.
Seeing that her tears were making her pillow damp, she went to wipe her face clean and search for another pillow to replace it.
“Your friend is right,” a sudden strange, yet familiar voice vibrated across her room.
Katie gave a startled jump and ran towards her phone to turn it off in case a video had accidentally played. She knew she mustn’t make noises at that time of night. Her parents were fast asleep.
She put her hands up across her chest in relief when she confirmed that nothing had apparently turned on in her phone.
“Oh dear, you still get those little cute scare jumps, right?” the voice giggled, “no one will wake up unless you speak loudly.”
“Gran… grand… Grandma…?” Katie’s voice trembled yet was drowning in more upcoming tears. “How can I hear you?”
“Katie, dear,” Katie’s Grandma calmly replied, “it is a true disappointment how that boy of yours behaved. You shouldn’t feel sad about this, but relieved!”
Katie frowned and turned to look everywhere around her while holding her dampened pillow, trying to search for the voice’s exact source location. She must have gone nuts.
“I told you I would never really leave you, right? You asked me a question and here I am replying it to you,” the voice stated.
“You’re telling me I’m dreaming about all of this?” Katie asked.
“Dreaming, not likely. Thinking, less likely now from what I sense. I would say the 21st-century type of communication,” the voice giggled. “But Katie, I came here to help you. I can’t bear to watch you a single more day like this.”
Katie turned to look back at her Grandmother’s picture frame and there she was: speaking to Katie as though it was the most common situation in the world.
“So, you’re telling me now you were always watching me like this, Grandma?” Katie exclaimed, hurrying to a nearby mirror and looking at her red-eyed face with horror. Confusion drowned her brain. “I didn’t know you could actually watch me through that picture! Now I am truly concerned about cybersecurity...”
“These past two years since I left this world I have always been watching you,” Grandma’s voice explained, “you have that spark in your being, that happiness that echoes wherever you go. I couldn’t leave you by yourself at this vulnerable age.”
“But Grandma! I have missed you oh so much!” Katie’s voice had become raspy. “You should believe I have thought about you every single day since you left!”
“Of course, I do. Calm down, my dear.” Grandma’s voice soothed her. “But Katie, you must put a stop to this pain. Believe me, I saw all that happened, and you should believe your friend.”
“I don’t say I don’t believe her, Grandma,” Katie rolled up her eyes and sat on her bed again, “but it seems so, so… unbelievable. Leo and I were like bread and butter, like the night sky with stars, like the…”
“Oh, stop it, dear!” Grandma’s voice snapped. “Let me show you everything myself right now.”
“Right now?” Katie asked curiously.
“Yes! Right now. Get my picture frame at once. That’s where my voice is coming from.”
At her Grandma’s command, Katie leaned over her bed to pick up her Grandma’s frame, and there she was. Grandma looked at Katie from inside the picture frame. She couldn’t believe what kind of magic she was witnessing at that moment.
“But Grandma…” Katie started, “it’s 2 o’clock in the morning right now. Where could you possibly think we could go to right now? I should better get some sleep.”
“Where the three disgraced clue events happened, of course.” Grandma’s voice replied confidently. “As long as you hold my picture frame, you will not be seen by anyone, it will always be daylight, and you may go wherever you want to.”
Katie gasped at what her Grandma had just told her.
“The three disgraced clue events?” she asked.
“Where he is caught being unfaithful of course, at least from my eyes, my dear. The coffee shop, the concert stadium, and the school’s library,” her Grandma answered.
“The coffee shop…” Katie wondered, and her memory came back to her at once. “But Grandma! I was at those three places with him! Nothing could have possibly happened. I always trusted Leo.”
“Fact which makes this even sadder, unfortunately,” her Grandma concluded, “let’s go, and remember to always keep a hold of the picture frame. We wouldn’t want yourself to get stranded outside at this hour of the night, or even get lost, for goodness’ sake!”
“Isn’t it dangerous?” Katie wondered.
“Isn’t life dangerous overall?” Grandma simply replied.
- - - 1 - - -
Okay, Katie thought, what had just happened the past hour?
She had just been crying about Leo and now she suddenly had her dear deceased grandmother talking to her again as if she were standing right beside her for real. She wanted to know the truth about what had happened in her relationship, but to be honest she was more excited to hear her grandmother’s voice one more time at last.
She held tight to her picture frame, gave a faint smile and proceeded to get properly dressed to go outside.
Those three distinct places. She remembered them as if they had just occurred yesterday. Katie thought of all the moves Leo had possibly made, but could not remember by any means any sign of a potential cheating case. In fact, that was the last thing she could think Leo capable of doing. These past two years had been like a dream to her. She had always loved him. This could not be possible.
When Katie had finally dressed up with a simple hoodie and some jeans, she turned to look at her Grandma smiling as usual from the picture frame.
“I’m ready,” Katie sighed. She took hold of her picture frame.
Suddenly, the whole darkness of her room and outside her window vanished. Daylight streamed in and the Sun’s rays hit her face from across her window.
Was she teleporting by any means?
“The first place we are going to go is the coffee shop,” Grandma said, “it would be wise to go there now.”
Katie nodded and quickly went to open her bedroom door. She headed downstairs and saw to her surprise that nobody was up. The living room clock marked 2:15 a.m., yet daylight streamed through the windows everywhere. She got out of her house, shut the door, and turned to look at the street.
Empty. Not a single person to be seen.
“Grandma…” Katie frowned. “Why are the streets so utterly empty?”
“Oh, dear…” Grandma replied. “You wouldn’t expect everyone to hang out at this time of night, right?”
It was very disturbing to see the streets so empty with such daylight above.
As Katie walked street after street, she was astonished to not see a single soul out alongside her. One could even notice that even the dogs were asleep. How weird.
After having walked for about 10 minutes, she finally reached the city’s beginning outskirts and could see to her surprise that the coffee shop she had gone with Leo was working perfectly alright. One could see through the windows that they did the service as usual and that people were sitting and chatting everywhere like nothing was out of the ordinary.
Katie opened the door and entered, never letting go of the picture frame. She walked alongside some boys and shyly sat at one of the nearby empty chairs.
“Now what do I do?!” she whispered nervously.
“Turn around,” Grandma replied.
But before Katie could turn around, she saw that one waitress had just stumbled and fallen to the floor, sending the cakes she had been carrying flying, almost hitting Katie. How strange. A sudden déjà vu hit her head. Hadn’t something similar to this happened before somewhere?
Katie finally turned around and almost got an authentic heart attack.
She had just seen Leo! HER actual Leo! And wait! Besides him sat no other than her true self, staring at him as she drank her coffee with dreamy eyes.
Leo had stood up to kneel and help the poor waitress. Now Katie knew the event had also happened before.
“So this picture frame lets me go to the past!” Katie almost shouted.
“No,” her grandma corrected her, “but watch it again from another perspective. No one can travel to the past.”
“This is awesome!” Katie beamed. “It’s like Leo and I never broke up!”
“That’s not the point of this visit, Katie,” Grandma snapped, “you better look closely at Leo’s actions if you please.”
And Katie obeyed her Grandma without further due. She watched her coffee date with Leo attentively. She even smiled when she remembered all the beautiful things that Leo had told her in those precise moments.
Nothing seems to go wrong… Katie wondered. Everything seemed to go by just perfectly.
The date went on with no major events, and then it came time for both of them to go home. Katie remembered that Leo had asked her to wait for him outside for a few moments. Her other self nodded and went to the exit with no hesitation.
As Katie watched herself exit the coffee shop, she then turned to look back at Leo with a frowned face. She wondered, what had he done in those last fifteen minutes she had waited outside?
Leo took out his cell phone and typed some messages. Some moments later, the shop’s waitress appeared from the cashier machine and gave a winking stare at Leo.
What in the world? Katie wondered, as she stood and approached the scene. Apparently, the picture frame allowed no one to see her at that actual time.
Leo gave a gasp and smiled back at the waitress whilst lifting his eyebrows. His stare told Katie that he knew her from somewhere before.
He then went to greet the waitress, and she took Leo’s waist and looked into his eyes. Then they talked, from which Katie couldn’t hear a thing, yet mere whispers.
They remained together for about fifteen minutes, time after which the waitress slightly grabbed Leo’s face and dared almost kiss him. Leo hugged her, kissed her hand, and waved goodbye, just to pace quickly to catch up with old Katie outdoors. Old Katie of course had been completely unaware of anything that Katie had just witnessed.
“This is insane, Grandma!” Katie whispered, a tear threatening to come out of her eye. “Are you sure this is the real truth?”
“Sadly it is, my girl,” her Grandma sighed.
What infuriating thoughts had just reached Katie’s head at that precise moment! She couldn’t believe it. After 2 years, she had seen Leo flirting with another girl, a random coffee shop waitress?
Had she looked through the window for once, she could have seen the event happening in real time. She wouldn’t have let things go on just like that.
Katie tried to catch up with Leo’s quick paces but ended up reclining hands-on the shop’s window, watching as he greeted her old self, put an arm on her waist, kissed her, and walked off with her towards home.
Katie sat on the couch watching them go away and then turned back to look at her picture frame. Something determined her to know the final truth of everything now.
“Where are we off to next?” she asked, a serious stare forming on her face.
“The concert festival,” her Grandma replied.
- - - 2 - - -
Katie closed her eyes and grabbed her picture frame hard. A few seconds passed by, and she felt a swirl of air. She opened her eyes and appeared at the concert stadium’s gates.
“Wow…” Katie gasped. “I didn’t know the picture frame could also teleport me, Grandma. You should have mentioned it before.”
“I simply wouldn’t have made you walk over a 100 km in the middle of nowhere,” Grandma replied.
Having arrived at the stadium immediately gave Katie so many memories and nostalgia. She had always wanted to go to an electronic music concert before. How could she not remember one of the most exciting days of her life with Leo? Their first concert together. Leo had been even more excited than she had been. It’s important to say that they both shared an equal love for electronic music altogether.
Katie was now making her way through the crowd. Even though she was just living right now through an illusion, everything felt so real, as if though she was living that day of her life all over again.
She crossed the main ticket line and approached the main entrance door. She put one hand up and touched it as if expecting it to be merely clouds. Nope, it was hard metal. She couldn’t go through it.
That’s when she suddenly had an idea. She turned to look at the gates beside her.
“Would it still be illegal to climb the gates at the other side of the stadium right now?” she asked. The last thing she wanted now was getting in trouble.
“Do what you have to do,” Grandma answered.
That was when Katie felt an incredible feeling of adrenaline. She would, at last, be able to climb over some gates like in one of her favorite video games! And the best part of it all was that she would not be arrested at all!
She ran to the nearest gate, a little distance away from the policemen so she wouldn’t feel so guilty whatsoever, and proceeded to climb the gates.
Everything was going perfectly well until she noticed a small yet little big problem approaching her as she climbed the gates. How would she get down? The pavement was the only thing that could be appreciated from that top perspective.
The picture frame shined.
“Grab on to it fiercely,” Grandma instructed.
Katie fearlessly did so. The picture frame lifted her up and let her glide all the way down so that she could safely land on the floor. What truthful and magical moments she was living right now, she thought. It was as though a leaf had been her parachute and she hadn’t weighed a gram.
After having landed, she saw to her surprise she was standing near the backstage areas of the stadium.
Wow! She could even perhaps find her favorite singers and look at them closely!
What Katie didn’t know was that sometimes things that seem unbelievably perfect at first can become utter nightmares in seconds…
She saw one girl approaching the backstage holding a very familiar black & dotted apron. Where had she seen something like that before?
The girl loosened up her hair from a ponytail and took out a red lipstick. She moved her head sideways and her hair fell lightly into place. Such lovely hair she had, the kind of hair famous people always had perfectly well taken care of.
As the girl turned around, Katie immediately gasped.
It was the waitress girl! But, as a singer?
Katie hid against a trailer and waited, seeing as the waitress girl had just entered hers to change clothes. When she then came out and walked past Katie, Katie immediately recognized her in that black gown of hers: she was the girl that Leo had been most excited to see that day at the concert. The curious singer nobody knew except all the boys around the block. She was from that green and white band that always went live on television.
No wonder why he had actually been so excited… Katie murmured, thinking determinedly.
Some minutes later, music could be heard from the nearby stages. The concert had begun. Just in time as the sky turned into a sunset.
Katie made haste to reach one side of the stadium in order to find her old self and Leo. It didn’t take much time before she found herself, on top of Leo’s shoulders; such a visible figure from afar. Her old self moving her arms excitedly from side to side.
People were pushing Katie everywhere. She didn’t care. Everyone was running to the stage. She remembered how happy she had felt whilst not knowing the hidden truths.
Katie climbed into one stadium pole and grabbed fiercely to it whilst holding the picture frame. Then she watched.
What did she watch?
She watched how happy she had been at that concert, how she couldn’t stop smiling. Leo seemed happy too, holding Katie with both arms as they moved to the music’s rhythm.
Yes, knowing the truth now was hurtful, but reliving happy moments made her feel better in a way.
The sun was going down, making the sky turn into various warm, beautiful colors. Yet as it turned darker, the music turned more hype and lights were shining everywhere. Moments later, her old self had climbed down from Leo’s shoulders and was now jumping happily as she grabbed Leo by the waist.
Now Katie was just reclining against the stadium pole, embracing how lonely she felt that moment whilst looking at her memories.
As the sun went down, her favorite part of the concert had begun. Oh, how well she remembered that part!
The music slowed down, and a ballad had begun. Everyone took out their cellphones and turned on their flashlights. Couples hugged each other and raised their phones sentimentally.
Katie saw how Leo was grabbing her old self by the waist while kissing the top of her head. She was almost crying whilst holding tight to him. The stars shined on top. Sparks burst on the stadium’s stage. A quite beautiful scenario to imagine, truth be told.
That’s when Leo had turned to look at her. He gently grabbed Katie by the chin and gave her a long, romantic kiss.
Katie, holding tight to her picture frame, couldn’t stop tears falling through her eyes. It was like watching a movie she didn’t want to finish. How could you change the movie’s end? An impossible circumstance to modify.
“How could I believe something was going wrong at that moment, Grandma?” Katie asked. “You are seeing right now how lovely he was treating me. It’s kind of obvious that he was in love with me, even I can feel it from a third person perspective.”
“At that precise moment, nothing was going wrong Katie. You see yourself thrilled at that moment. It’s not your fault what was happening behind your back, but his fault,” Grandma gently replied.
“I guess this teaches us we have to enjoy the little happy moments while they last…” Katie sighed.
“Exactly. You didn’t know what was happening. I’m sure that if you had known, you wouldn’t have let it continue this way. Happy moments are great and acceptable, but only while you are truly valued for who you are. He wasn’t being faithful to you, you know?” Grandma concluded.
Suddenly, the music was interrupted by an instantaneous shift in itself. It was a mere matter of seconds before a girl protruded into the stadium jumping like crazy with a microphone.
The crowd went crazy and the stadium’s lights shined up green and white colors everywhere.
Katie rolled her eyes up. The girl obviously had to ruin the perfect moment, right?
Which girl? The waitress girl, obviously.
The rest of the concert was boring and tedious to watch, now that Katie knew the truth. All the boys had gone crazy for the green and white colored band.
Yet old Katie was still enjoying herself with Leo, whose eyes were shining so bright whilst he was jumping like crazy.
Katie had never gone jealous over any girl because she had trusted Leo with her heart about her being the only one that truly supposedly mattered.
Amazing how the truth was now changing everything that she had previously believed about him.
“Okay Grandma, I think I have seen and remembered enough by now,” Katie said, rolling her eyes up.
“Indeed, you have,” Grandma replied.
Then as soon as Katie was climbing down the stadium pole, she felt a slight rumbling and she felt herself almost stumbling down to the ground. She grabbed tightly to the pole to maintain balance, but to her horror saw that her picture frame had slipped off her fingers, falling to the floor below her.
“No!” she shouted, as she let go of the pole to try to catch it.
No success.
She felt herself falling a great height and moments later crashed down into some sort of tent. The tent lightly submerged to the floor and luckily cushioned her fall. Everything became quiet.
“Grandma?” Katie panted. No answer.
She looked up to the sky and saw a starry quiet night above her. She tried to untangle herself from the tent and when she came out she saw to her surprise that four men were picking up her picture frame and analyzing it from some meters afar from her.
She was still at the stadium, but outside her fantasy reality created from her picture frame. The stadium was completely empty and bits of trash and leftovers flew from here and there.
She was living her true present life at the moment, yet she kind of felt as if she was still in the fantasy.
“Hey! Hey!” she shouted, not minding that she didn’t know the four men at all, or who they might be. The four men stopped as she quickly stood up to run and catch up with them.
“Sorry, it accidentally fell off of me. It’s mine,” Katie said, but as soon as the four men turned to look at her, she stared at them in complete horror.
The four men had disgusting dirty faces with serious expressions drawn all over them. They were at least a head and a half taller than Katie and much stronger than any average man you could commonly find.
The strongest man took a step closer to Katie and grinned.
“That’s terrible luck for you then,” he uttered as he turned to look at the other three men. “It’s very curious to find such a girl out here at night on our territories, right?”
The three men nodded and grinned whilst turning to eye Katie as if she were a piece of meat. One man lifted his whiskey bottle and drank its last gulp.
Katie’s mind was suddenly coming to its senses as each second passed by. She was about to be kidnapped in the middle of the night! Or worse…
“I honestly just want my picture frame, please…” Katie said with a still confident voice.
The three men laughed hysterically. “She just wants her picture frame! Ha ha ha!” one of them shouted. “Like we are just going to give it to her!”
“No one commands us here, girl. You entered our territories and won’t get out of here that easily,” the strongest man answered sternly.
Suddenly there was a strong gust of wind and Katie’s hair flew back behind her ears. A worried look showed on her face. She had no way out of this one, not until she recovered her picture frame.
Katie ignored the warning and tried to snatch the picture frame from the man’s hand. Instead, she received a strong grip on her wrist. Silence came next among everyone.
“Where do you come from, girl?” The man examined Katie by the face. “I must admit that I admire your courage for acting this way with me,” he exclaimed, with a curious expression on his face.
Katie turned to look back at the man and panted. They both stared at each other for a few seconds. The man smiled a suspicious grin.
Suddenly, the strangest thing ever happened. Katie looked up to the sky and saw it has just begun to snow. What a perfect moment it was for such an event to happen, she thought. Yet, it was still October.
Then out from behind the four men, a strange silhouette appeared from the darkness far besides a tree. It lifted a bottle of wine and threw it beside the four men. Katie couldn’t see who it was or its face but gasped as the bottle broke into a thousand pieces near her.
The men turned around and shouted at the silhouette as it was just about to throw another bottle at them.
Katie took the chance and kicked the man’s leg with all her strength. He cried out in pain and fell to the floor, letting go of both Katie’s wrist and the picture frame, which fell to the floor beside him.
Katie ran, but tripped to the floor, extending one arm to desperately grab the picture frame. Another bottle had been stricken to the floor. The three men ran like savages to where the silhouette stood, leaving Katie behind.
She crawled and touched the picture frame just in time before the man could almost grab her by the ankle. Katie completely disappeared in front of the man’s eyes.
“What in the world…” the man whispered, as he struggled to stand up and face his surroundings in search for Katie. Obviously, he wouldn’t ever find her anywhere for now.
- - - LEO - - -
Leo ran with all his strength and might. He could hear the men’s footsteps running all around after him. He had to make a plan to save himself before he would get kicked and slapped, or something worse, by that rebellious gang.
He hopped across some bushes and almost tripped as he ran as fast as he could back to the party.
As he approached the house which was surrounded by a tall fence and high-security cameras, he quickly unlocked the door, entered the territory, and closed it behind him.
The three men arrived at the house, but as soon as they saw the high-security cameras pointing their red lasers at them, they decided it would be best to leave the situation for another time.
“Look, John! There is also a police car just around the corner!” one of the men said. “That boy is not worth it.”
“Master won’t be happy about this, but you’re right. We should return to our lands and maybe we’ll find that boy later. Now I understand why I have seen silhouettes making noises from here and there at this time of the night,” another one replied.
As soon as this conversation ended, the three men made haste and unsuspiciously walked back to the stadium where they hoped their leader, the strongest man, remained to wait for them.
Leo, still blindsided by what had just happened a few minutes ago, rubbed his eyes and gave a few steps towards the house’s back garden, where all his friends should still be drinking at the ongoing party.
Was it a house, or more like a mansion? Leo always thought. A wealthy territory one would say.
As he made his way towards the garden, he turned on his cellphone to check if there were any new messages. There were at least a hundred… from Jessica. She had again gone crazy about where he had run off again.
“Not again…” Leo thought as he rolled his eyes up.
He waited up for a few moments, just to hear Jessica’s voice echoing from the garden.
“Leo? Leo?! Have you at last arrived?!” she shouted.
Without any doubt, Leo turned backward and hurried to the back pool. He locked his phone and left it besides the house’s main porch. He gave a jump and let himself fall into the pool, clothes and all included.
Jessica appeared from the garden’s back door and looked at Leo lying on the pool. She approached him quite disgustedly.
“Is this what you do when you get so drunk, Leo?!” she exclaimed.
There was no answer.
“Ugh! Leo! You are my boyfriend! You are supposed to be with me all the time! What do you think you are doing swimming in the pool at these hours?”
“I fell,” Leo calmly replied, closing his eyes as he did so.
Jessica sighed and raised a wine bottle as she said, “We are waiting for you at the garden.” She turned around and left.
Big dramas all the time, Leo thought. He didn’t want to emotionally drain himself with those topics at that precise moment. Katie mattered more at the moment.
What had she been doing around with that gang back there at the stadium? And particularly inside that stadium? That’s too weird about Katie, to be honest. She is way more normal than Jessica and her friends. I never used to drink when I was with her. She also used to care a lot more about me and was never bossy, less ever shouted at me.
Now that I think about it, I wish I were with her rather than with Jessica right now. I would want to at least make sure she is unharmed by that gang at least.
Should I have called the cops before I had thrown those bottles at the men?
Leo dived to the bottom of the pool and swam for a little while to try to relax a little. It was too obvious; he wanted to run away from Jessica and be as far and free as one could be.
A few moments passed by before his cellphone began to ring like crazy again. Leo emerged from the pool and jumped out to only see that Jessica was calling him again for the hundredth time.
Leo answered the phone, just to get more angry reclaims from his girlfriend. He ignored them as he turned around and finally went to meet her at the back garden where everyone was drinking and smoking worse than a dozen locomotor trains at once.
- - - KATIE - - -
- - - 3 - - -
Katie fell into a dozen books lying on the floor behind some bookshelves. She opened her eyes filled with relief to see that she was no longer hanging around at that stadium. She was apparently now inside some kind of… library?
Katie touched her wrist where the strong man had held her. She still felt the strength of his grip as if though it were still present. What a scary, almost deadly moment she had just lived!
“You must be more careful, Katie my dear!” Grandma’s worried voice appeared again out of nowhere.
“It wasn’t my fault, Grandma! I never intended to let go of my picture frame,” a tear fell off Katie’s eyes. “If it hadn’t been for that mysterious silhouette that threw that bottle out of nowhere, I don’t know what would have happened then. Did I really get out of that fantasy world for real just because I let go off the picture frame?”
“Yes, you did, dear. Those are the clear dangers that exist when using the power of the picture frame to travel to watch memories,” Grandma replied.
“Did you see who was that silhouette?” Katie asked Grandma.
“Maybe yes, maybe not, dear,” Grandma replied. “I do not consider it of relevance, other than it really gave you luck with saving your life.”
Katie nodded. Maybe it had just been mere luck. Had it been, perhaps, another gang rival trying to get some kind of revenge against the four men?
Katie now focused on where she was right now.
“I’m in some kind of library, right Grandma?” Katie asked curiously.
“You are, my dear. In your local public community library to be exact,” Grandma said.
And indeed she was. Katie picked up a book beside her and turned it around. William Shakespeare. Her favorite author. In fact, all the surrounding books were about him.
I remember this day, Katie thought. I was looking for ‘Romeo and Juliet’ by William Shakespeare. I wanted to read it once again so bad. I couldn’t find it because it was a very requested book, and it was usually out of stock in any library.
Moments later, her old self appeared in front of Katie. Katie didn’t see her obviously, because she was holding her picture frame and was therefore invisible for her, but there she was, doing the same actions she had done that day in the past.
Katie stared at her as her old self was searching the library bookshelf whilst wearing headphones and listening to her favorite electronic music bands. She extended one arm and tried to touch her, only to realize that she came across her like a ghost.
How curious. Apparently, the picture frame let Katie feel all physical things except human beings.
Katie stood up and went through old Katie to get outside that bookshelf row. It was such a weird action to do, going through another person like a ghost, knowing that she was always careful with not bumping into other people. She turned around and saw Leo.
Leo was on the other side of the library. Picking out books for himself to study for later at school. But he was not alone: a girl was reclining against a bookshelf watching him.
Katie paced quickly until she stood beside a nearby table and stopped. She glanced at both Leo and the girl in front of her. Jessica. It had to be Jessica, right? Now that Katie focused on the situation, she had multiple thoughts.
Overall, looking at all this mess and the situation concerning her relationship, was it really the girl’s fault she had lost Leo, was it Leo’s fault, or was it the fault from both in all?
“Such a quiet and lonely place, the library is, am I right?” Jessica asked in a flirty voice to Leo.
“Yes, Jessica. But from all places, we must be quiet,” answered Leo.
“You’re afraid that your pathetic girlfriend will catch us here alone. If she weren’t here, you’d already be kissing me by now,” Jessica stated.
“This is not right to do, Jessica. Something inside me tells me this will all end wrong.”
“Would you mind if I changed that thought of yours for once?” Jessica approached Leo more closely.
Leo’s heart sped up. A confused stare showed up on his face. Was it fear or was it confusion mixed with denial?
A moment later, Jessica almost threw herself to Leo and kissed him right in his lips. Leo grabbed her by the hips and held her tight while losing himself to her.
Footsteps could be heard from behind Katie as she witnessed this scene with horror. Someone stopped right behind her and let some books fall to the floor, landing beside Katie’s feet.
“How could you…?!” A voice squealed.
It was Rosie, her best friend.
Leo opened his eyes in shock and stared in horror at Rosie. Jessica couldn’t keep her arms off of him. Leo lost balance and fell to his back into a pile of books. She fell on top of him.
Oh god, Katie thought. She was just watching the same scene Rosie saw from her own eyes which she hadn’t believed before.
Jessica turned around and saw Rosie. She glanced at her with menacing eyes which made Rosie get even more shocked than before.
“Rosie, it’s not what you think it is…” Leo said in a low voice, to which Rosie completely ignored, turned three steps back and flew away from the scene to the library’s main entrance whilst immediately taking out her cellphone.
Having left the scene, Jessica turned to look back at Leo.
“Poor Katie when she gets the news… Don’t you really think Katie should deserve something better than this? Anyway, you can’t deny that you have feelings for me, Leo,” Jessica concluded.
Katie was filled with rage. Jessica literally had Leo all brainwashed, she thought. Yes, it was also his fault for letting himself get manipulated by Jessica, but still…
Katie kicked the books on the floor, bent to pick one, and just as she was about to throw it to Jessica, a cellphone rang bookshelves away.
It was none other than her cellphone, her old self’s phone.
Rosie had called her straight away after the incident, not knowing old Katie had been all that time searching for books while listening to music during the scene. She remembered that she had not heard her cellphone, and she had left the calls to answer them for later that evening.
Anyway, she wasn’t supposed to make noises in the library and she wouldn’t have believed her after all.
My fault, Katie admitted.
“I guess it’s time for you to go home, Katie my dear,” Grandma’s voice echoed from the picture frame. “You now clearly see that Leo is not worth it.”
“I guess you’re right, Grandma,” Katie sighed. “I need a break. I think I’m gonna walk towards home from here.”
“Don’t forget to hold tight to the picture frame! Remember what catastrophes can happen if you let go of it.”
And indeed Katie knew, or did she know? She walked toward the main library entrance and into the street. She knew her old self hadn’t been at all conscious of what scene had happened. She remembered that she had just been searching for books and Leo would come around some half an hour later after he let his Jessica go home.
Katie took some steps forward and dared to cross the street. Poor senseless Katie, for she didn’t take the time to turn around and look…
A car was just about to hit her at full speed. There was a loud honk and Katie screamed as she saw with horror what her faith laid for her. She covered her face in shock, and just as she closed her eyes with fear, she felt that her picture frame had just slid off her fingers.
Less than a second passed and she was now in an empty street, with no daylight, and with no cars. Something splashed below her.
She glanced downwards just to see that her picture frame had fallen down through a street drain.
“Oh, no!” she cried, but it was too late. The picture frame was completely unreachable and probably broken and wet by now.
What a misfortune! A tear fell from her eye.
She had no other choice but to walk home from there through the dark.
Just as she turned to look out from the drain, two gunshots were heard from a near distance. Their sharp distinguishable sounds echoed through the night.
Katie got startled and turned her head all around to see where the sound had come from. Her breath sped up, and the wind blew against her face.
She turned around and ran through the street, following the usual path she always took from the library to get home.
She hoped to not catch up with anyone at that time of the night, least from the person or people who had just shot the bullets.
As she turned around the nearest corner, she noticed something shocking and thus almost shrieked in horror.
There they were: Leo and Jessica getting surrounded by the four previous men that Katie had encountered before in the night. They were getting closer and closer to them both as Leo was shielding Jessica with his arms.
The strongest man, the man who had previously grabbed Katie, was holding a gun and looking at Leo with menacing eyes. Katie hid in a bush behind the four men. Leo literally didn’t stand a chance against the four men, neither did Jessica. They were obviously angry at him because of the previous encounters with the bottles and because he had apparently entered their territory multiple times.
The neighborhood was quiet. It was probably still about 3 A.M. It was dark at night and they were alone. No car drove by and only the streetlights illuminated the road.
Where was the police when needed!?
The strongest man looked at his gun and sighed.
“Now we finally know who has been messing around in our territories,” the strongest man started. “It’s a pity that we get to find you defenseless in front of our presences.”
“We were just walking!” Jessica shouted. “You have no right to do this to us.”
“As neither he had the right to disturb us and throw away our precious wine bottles,” one of the other men simply replied.
Katie could see that Jessica was secretly taking out her phone and typing in some random numbers. Her fingers were trembling as she had a bit of a difficulty with holding her phone.
“We will have to finish this once and for all,” the strongest man echoed and concluded.
Katie couldn’t witness such a thing. She wouldn’t let anyone in the world hurt Leo. She couldn’t deny that she still had feelings for him after all. Maybe they wouldn’t ever fade away, apparently. It was a kind of love that would never vanish no matter how many experiences, circumstances, or years went by. She didn’t have much choices.
The three other men stepped back and grinned at each other behind the strongest man. He, on the other hand, took a step forward and glanced at Leo with a malicious smile on his face.
Just as he was about to pull the trigger, Katie jumped from her hiding spot and ran with all her might to place herself in front of Leo’s place. A loud gunshot was heard. The bullet had already left the gun and flew towards its aim without interference.
Jessica shrieked as she saw with horror what was just about to happen and who had just appeared out of nowhere in the night.
The three men opened their eyes in full surprise to see that the foreseen event was just about to dramatically change.
The bullet flew straight into Katie’s chest and the impact pushed her back a little. Leo caught her in time before she had fallen to the floor. A horror look portrayed on his face as he realized that Katie had sacrificed her life for him.
“NO…!” Leo screamed and tears filled his eyes as he looked at Katie’s inert body on his arms. But it was useless. Nothing could save Katie now.
“You killed the wrong person!” one of the men screamed at the strongest man. “We will not risk our lives in jail for this!”
The strongest man was speechless. He turned to look at his gun and then at Katie who lied lifeless on top of Leo.
Jessica, with an almost faint look on her face, grabbed her phone and turned around to run for her life. She left the scene, act to which no one apparently cared about.
A few moments later, there was complete silence between everyone present, except Leo who was crying as if there were no tomorrow.
“You sacrificed yourself for me,” he sobbed, “you didn’t deserve me for how I treated you.”
And so she didn’t. Such an innocent girl with such a big future ahead of her destroyed in a matter of seconds.
Leo learned and comprehended what he had done. How he had lied behind Katie’s back and cheated her with some other girl. He didn’t take Katie’s feelings into account; he didn’t foresee how deep someone could fall in love at all. Katie was now dead and he would never stop feeling regretful in life.
He was now angry. He was angry at how he had managed life, at how he had acted, and most importantly: he now realized the feelings he had had for Katie and how he had pushed them aside. He felt as if though he had literally thrown a piece of gold into the trash. What was now to do?
“Well, now that will teach everyone not to mess with us,” the strongest man broke the silence as he lifted his shoulders and turned to look back at his men.
Leo turned to look at the man with such menacing eyes. He was full of rage and clenching his fists together. He knew he wasn’t a match for him, but at least he felt he could get some kind of revenge. Nothing could fill the emptiness in his heart again.
Just as he was about to stand up and try to fight the man, some sirens could be heard from some blocks away and the sky got lit up with blue and red lights.
The police.
How had they known someone had been killed? Had it been perhaps the sound of the gunshots that had blown off some minutes before? Or had it most probably been, the secret cellphone call that Jessica had possibly done?
Whatever the reason it had been, Leo felt a huge relief in his chest. He now just held tight into Katie’s body. The police had arrived, yes, but a little too late.
The three men turned to look at each other with serious glances on their faces. Without a doubt, they took off running and disappeared as fast as they could, followed by two police cars who appeared a minute later from out of nowhere behind Leo and Katie.
The strongest man remained in its position without escaping. Three police cars arrived a minute later and surrounded him at the scene. He grinned and held up his hands without hesitating. He moved crazily in circles whilst looking at the policemen who had just got off from their vehicles everywhere.
One policeman turned to look at Leo and Katie’s body and then pointed a gun at the strongest man. Immediately two policemen from behind threw themselves at him and grabbed him with all their might to arrest him.
And there they lay, Leo with Katie, watching how the policemen took care of the man in all.
- - - LEO - - -
The following days were difficult and dark for both Katie’s family and Leo. Leo couldn’t stop thinking about Katie and regretting everything he had done. He didn’t know if Katie would have forgiven him. He wouldn’t ever know.
That same night he had gotten a call from Jessica, explaining that it had been her who had called the policemen for aid. He had then told her he was eternally grateful for her action and that he wouldn’t ever take it for granted.
It wasn’t a big surprise, on the other hand, that he had immediately told her he wouldn’t want to date her anymore. Not Jessica, not anyone for the following couple of years to come.
The day of the funeral, Leo was in his room getting ready and wearing a black tuxedo. His long hair fell beautifully upon his shoulders as he turned to look at his reflection in the mirror. He couldn’t prevent tears from coming out of his eyes as he thought about where he was just about to go, and about how his life had changed.
The funeral of the love of his life. Yes, he now thought of her that way.
Had Katie really been the love of his life? There was a spark in his soul that made him feel she had truly been.
Nevertheless, he had lost her.
As he stared into his reflection, he saw from behind him that something had moved from a certain picture frame that lay on his bureau. He immediately turned to look back and stare at it more closely.
It was an old picture of both Katie and him that he had found a day before as he was cleaning his room. In the picture, from about some six months ago, they were sitting in front of a big tree in the grass at a nearby park. They were smiling happily, not knowing about anything that was about to happen in the following months.
Leo grabbed the picture frame and touched Katie’s face with one finger. He knew the memories would haunt him forever.
“I will always love you, Katie,” he said, “I’m so sorry for everything.”
Katie’s head tilted to one side. She smiled. Leo stared at her wide-eyed in awe and opened his mouth in shock. She had just moved.
“What disastrous reminiscences you have created, Leo.”
