“Hey.”
The voice entered the room sideways, circling around her and swirling before dissipating into air stale with old coffee and florescent light.
“Hey. Hey, Anita.”
Words penetrated her brain finally, breaking her concentration as she looked up from the computer to see a freckled face with a grin so wide she thought her roommate would run out of face if it got any bigger.
The sky visible through the bay window behind Will was already inky darkness. She blinked dry eyes, and dragged a weary hand across her face. “What time is it?”
His grin could get bigger after all, it seemed, but cut off with a wince. Could you pull a muscle smiling too hard?
“It’s any time we want.”
Anita stared at him. Seconds ticked away as she felt her face go numb. “You did it? You did it!” Jumping up, she ran around the dining room table and grabbed him in a hug.
He stiffened in surprise, and she let him go, taking a quick step backward. “Wow. This calls for a celebration. We don’t have anything fancy. You want to go out? I can text the others and tell them where to meet us.”
“No.” He shook his head, smiling with more caution now. “I don’t want to wait. I want to go check it out. That darn monkey was all excited about something.”
“You used Wilbur instead of the camera this time? You must have been confident.” She grinned at him so hard her own teeth hurt. “I’ll pack you a bag with a sandwich and a bottle of water. Just in case.”
She flicked the back light on as he crossed the yard, back to his workshop in the barn. The commute was a pain some days, but worth it to be able to experiment without the neighbors complaining when one of the scientists in their group exploded something. And it’s not like a former research monkey was easy to explain. No, it was better not to have neighbors, and to keep their roommate pool to the university.
Anita turned back, making sure the door remained unlocked for when Will came back with his test results.
“Time machine,” she said as she settled back at the dining room table with her laptop. “Who’d have ever thought that would work.”
She was engrossed in the code again when she realized something smelled burnt. Wrinkling her nose, she turned. Will was behind her, emaciated beyond the hour-long test he’d been so excited to try. Scorch marks streaked torn and grimy coveralls. His hair was wild, and grease covered his face. He held a handle from his machine in one hand. The other was hidden behind the wall as he staggered.
“I’ve destroyed it,” he rasped. “It’s done.”
Anita opened her mouth, but nothing came out. She coughed at the acrid char in the room. “What?”
“They killed Wilbur,” he said. “My poor rhesus.”
“Who did?” She gripped the armrest, her legs too leaden to stand.
“Anita, the future is…” Will trailed off, his jaw trembling. He rubbed the stubble covering it. “He wasn’t excited when he came back from the test, he was terrified. And I dragged him aback there.”
She saw fire behind him, sparking through the darkness. “You burned it?”
“Everything,” he said. “Every scrap of data. It was all in the barn. Except this. This is the last of it. Had to get the prototype from my room.” He waved the handle.
“Will, why?”
He looked at her with haunted eyes, and she closed her mouth on a million questions. No, she didn’t want to know what was behind his haunted eyes. The twinkle was gone, replaced with warring, whirling shadows of terror and despair.
“Why don’t we talk in the morning,” she suggested in a low voice.
He lifted the time machine’s handle in salute. “Thanks. I have to go tend the fire.”
Will paused as he walked away. He hefted the object in his other hand over his shoulder, black metal barrels gleaming in the dim hallway light. “If they followed me, I’ve got it covered. But I don’t think they did. I’ll lock the door though, so you’re safe.”
The door closed with a gentle click, with the lock turning louder a moment later. Anita stared after him, uncomprehending but still unable to move. It took a few moments before her shock wore off. Shoving back from the table, she stumbled to the bay window and watched a moving shadow silhouetted by the fire.
She sat there a long time, watching shadows flit within flickering shadows, wondering what she was waiting to discover as the fire burned to ash.
Carl woke her the next morning. Her neck burned from where she’d fallen asleep on the window seat. The smoke of a smoldering bonfire still lingered, stronger than it had the night before.
“Anita, I have some bad news,” Carl said, pulling out a dining room chair and sitting down. His face was grave. It didn’t differ much from his usual expression.
“If it’s about Wilbur the monkey, I already know,” she said. “Will was pretty torn up. Spent all night burning his work. Said it wasn’t worth it.”
“That’s not all he did, Anita.” Carl looked down and cleared his throat. “We found him in the barn this morning.”
She whipped her head back to where the firepit still smoked, halfway between the lawn and the barn. The room swirled. She gripped the cushion as everything went out of focus.
“I’m sorry. You were probably closest to him,” Carl said. He stood. “I’ll get you some coffee. The police will be here soon.”
This week on Odd Prompts, Kat Ross and I traded prompts. She delighted us all with the return of the murder chicken, and challenged me to tackle a working version of HG Well’s time machine. I wasn’t satisfied with this story, but my awesome husband suggested a different direction that prompted Version 2, which you can read here.
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