Lewis E Aleman - Faces in Time: A Time Travel Thriller

L ewis A leman

Megalodon Entertainment, LLC.

Chester has watched the whole thing unfold since the media were leaked the information. Sensationalism has exploded out of all media outlets, interviewing everyone from Rhondas former costars to childhood friends and expert plastic surgeons. The same pictures are recycled every half an hour with minor updates, eclipsing all other news of national and world significance.

The television is a flickering tormentor, basting him in a painful glow like a live bird in an oven. It slides over him, slowly burning up all of the fluid of life left inside.

He has remained in shock, having trouble believing that this would be happening to her. For nearly his whole life, he had known that Rhonda and he were supposed to be together. Somehow with her face gone now, the dream has floated away from him.

When he was in college, he imagined they would meet when he moved out to L.A. Hed be a famous television writer, and they>d be at the same party. He would know what to say that none of the others could imagine. He would know the one thing that would make her cling to him as if all of her future happiness were within his mind.

But, time passed.

Then he imagined hed meet her in his thirties. By that time, shed be bound to be divorced, and he could make her believe that she could love again. Hed be the only one with the right words.

The next decade crashed quickly, just like most of his experiments had, taking his credibility along with them. Thats when the solution presented itself. Thats when his hope was rekindled. Thats when people stopped calling him eccentric, and thats when they began to look sad whenever mentioning his name.

Her life has been documented on his walls. Pictures and articles have formed a homogenous collage tinted with loneliness. Even in his worst mental trials, he could recall her birthday, her most embarrassing moment, her first acting job, and where she met her first husband.

Surprisingly, Chester never tried to contact her; he never wanted to be one of those crazy fans that only made her shake her head and want to hire more security. He wanted his opportunity to be untainted without a pathetic, fanatic past. The only letter he ever sent her was an anonymous one following the death of her son. He wrote the kindest words he could envision, but he didnt want to attach his name to them. Not until she knew him for real. Not until she met him the right way.

So, he waited.

Dreams turned to the vision of spending their middle aged and retired years together. He knew her everyday activities; he knew they would get along well. His work could be ignored if it were for her. And, her company would be enough to entertain him. It would be a victory over the last two decades of his life. A triumph over every harsh word that had been thrust upon him.

But, all of the dreams of being with her in the future have crumbled away with todays unusual surgery.

Now, he knows he has to complete his project. The one that placed him in a straight jacket for several years of his life. The one that estranged his own mother from him. He let it go for himself. Now, hell pick it back up for her. God help us all.

Chester knew how to beat the paradox all along. The never-ending war of the physicists debating over defying the laws of conservation of matter, the arguments of the philosophers worrying about losing continuity, and the theologians warnings of treading on Gods domain; he knew he was the one to prove them wrong.

He knew it long ago, since the first truly lonely day, and he knows it still.

The only paradox that he cannot overcome is that, if he succeeds completely, no one will ever know he has done it. His name will never be in history books. His work will never be studied by those to come. But, right now he doesnt care about posterity or proving to the harsh world that he is indeed genius.

Like his hero, Nikola Tesla, his key work will be hidden from the masses and repeated by none. Perhaps its best that no one can duplicate his hazardous feat. But polar to his role model, he chooses to sacrifice his work for love.

The last few days have been a flicker of things that he has never wanted to see. Dreams being defiled rips at a persons fragile inner fabric, but it also frees that person to act boldly and unfettered by the fear of having something to lose.

The media has gorged itself until bloated on the story of a downtrodden starlet whose life has become so grim as to sell her own face to sustain herself. The same images of the ordeal have been regurgitated and reconsumed in a vicious cycle. One would blame the networks, but if the ratings didnt support the inordinate coverage, they would move on to another story.

The first picture of the actress, with the highest bidders face attached where her famous countenance used to reside, was treated with the importance of the moon landing or a worldwide armistice. It almost made him laugh in the middle of his preparations when it was announced that the picture was a forgery. The security at the French hospital had made several dozen arrests of members of the press trying to catch her in their lenses. Thankfully, no one breached her room as she recovered.