NOT A CHAPTER. I was writing, but then an idea for a different story came into my head. I had to write it down. Would love an opinion. Do you find it intriguing? or just Cliché? I urge you to read till the end though, it’s only 1.4k words.

If however you can't be bothered, you can skip it. Here is a link

Do also note that i won't work on this until Zulu is finished.

I look down to my watch. 18:43. the meet up time was meant to be 18:30.

“Hey, Violet!”

“Hello”

“Sorry for being late, train delayed a bit….Did you wait long?”

She looks at me whilst tilting her head.

“Nope…only just got here myself.”

“Ahz, that’s good to hear…Well then shall we be off?”

I move in a motion that indicates her to follow. We’re meant to go out for dinner tonight.

“The restaurant shouldn’t be too far away. Maybe a ten minute walk.”

She doesn’t reply and I don’t look back.

“A few of my friends recommended it to me, so I’ve been wanting to try it for some time now”

“Hmmm”

“The best dishes are its pastas and I heard that their desserts are to die for”

I’m not dating this person, though I’ve always had feelings for her.

“When will you be heading back?” I ask her.

“I’ll be leaving in 3 days.”

“Three days hey? I see.”

She doesn’t speak much at all. So this is a bit awkward. I wonder if I should just stay silent till we get there.

“When are you leaving?” she asks me.

“Leaving? I doubt I’ll ever get the chance to work in another country like yourself.” I shrug pretending I don’t care, but she knows I do.

“Hmm”

“I’ve never been as good as you in public events, it’s only natural.”

We are almost at the restaurant. I still don’t look back, I haven’t looked at her since I said Hello.

“…Sorry” she says.

This time I don’t reply.

“Hello” a waitress says

“Hi, we had a table for two, Under the Name Daniel”

“….Yes, right this way please.”

I follow the waitress up the steps. But still don’t look back to Violet.

“Right here please sir, mam.”

“Thank you” I say to the waitress as she leaves us with the menus

“You don’t have to apologies…You didn’t have a choice in that matter” I say to Violet.

Still avoiding contact with her face I look through the menu.

“It would’ve turned out this way anyway.”

“…Sorry”

“Stop apologising” I say in a slightly irritated voice.

She doesn’t say another word.

“Are you two ready to order?”

“Hmm, give us a Margherita pizza, one carbonara fettuccine, one Penne all'arrabbiata and 2 glasses of your finest red wine.”

Handing back the menus to the waitress I finally look to her.

“So, it’s really been 5 years since last we met.”

“…Yeah”

“You still trying help those that despise you?”

“…Yes”

“You still trying to do what you hate?”

“…Yes”

“You still happy being a lapdog?”

“……”

“I don’t know why you do what you do”

“……”

“But I won’t tell how to live”

“Your wine sir, Mam. 15 year old Cabernet Sauvignon.”

The waitress pours us a glass. I swirl it, sniff it and take a sip.

“Thank you.” I say to her, and she smiles then leaves.

“Remember high-school? All those times where we were oblivious to what was happening in the world?”

“……”

“I really do miss those times. Rachel, Jack, Katherine, Alex, you and me”

“……”

“Have you seen the others recently?”

“…No”

“Will you see them?”

“…No”

Looking to the wine glass, I go quiet.

“Are you still….by yourself?” she asks me.

I look up to her. Her face is kind of sad.

“Your dishes Sir, Mam. Carbonara fettuccine, Penne all'arrabbiata and the Margherita pizza.”

“Pizza in the centre please, Carbonara mine and the Penne is hers.” I say to the waitress

Once they are placed we begin to eat.

“Remember when we use to always eat together?”

“…...”

“All six of us.”

“……”

“Jack was always next to Rachel, Alex next to Katherine, and you opposite to me.”

“…I’m sorry”

“Why did you want to meet up?”

She brings out and envelope and hands it to me.

“What is it?”

“It’s something you need to see.”

I express an irritated face.

“I was kicked out of the program. I shouldn’t be getting this.”

“…Sorry”

“I said stop apologising”

Looking back to the envelope I take out its contents. Pictures drop out to the ground. Pictures of blood, decapitations, mutations and a single picture of a destroyed city.

“What is this?”

“We received that batch last week.”

“What does it have to do with me?”

“...Do you recognise the city?”

I look back to the destroyed city.

“It seems to be a remodelling of this city, or what an aftermath of this city would look like from an attack.”

“It was mailed to us….From you.”

“What are you on about?”

“We were hoping you could tell us that.”

“Well I definitely did not send this…and the date in these pictures state it’s from 5 year from now.”

“We weren’t taking it seriously, but, we found signatures of you on it and…”

“You had to see if I wanted something?”

“We’ve been getting pictures like these once a week for the past few months.”

“All from me? 5 years in the future?”

“Each more gruesome and ghastly then the last.”

“It wasn’t me”

“Then how do you explain that!” Her voice goes cold as she points to the corners of each of every picture. “You are the only one capable of doing that”

The corners of the pictures are blurry, but clear. It grows old, crumbles then comes back to be new and continues to do so. It’s unnoticeable unless you were looking for it.

“I did not send this” I state it in an angered but hush tone.

“How was your dishes? Would you like dessert Sir, Mam?” asks the waitress.

“They were lovely” says Violet.

“Give us the house special for dessert please” I say to the waitress.

She smiles, clears the table and leaves.

“I did not send it” I state again to Violet.

“Then how do you explain that?”

“Someone else has finally found a way to do it!”

“No one else has the capabilities to do so!”

“Then do you think I sent an image from that time to now depicting what I’ve done? Why would I do that, why would I try to get myself caught if I did? It’s not even possible to do so!”

“……”

“Reply”

“……”

“Reply god damn it”

“……”

“REPLY!” I slam my fist on the table.

“…We’ve found bodies…”

“Your dessert Sir, Mam. The house special, chocolate cake surrounded by the secret murky water, with floating bananas and special cream.”

“Thank you” I say to the waitress

We don’t speak for a time.

“And that is why you think this is now real?”

“…Yes”

We eat the desert in silence, but I catch red and blue lights in the window.

“Sirens? Aren’t we in a safe zone?” I ask Violet.

She looks worried and gets up fast.

“We have to leave” she says just as the ground shakes and half the building we’re in falls down. People are running to shelters, I too start running.

“Violet. What’s happening?”

“…The treaty has been dissolved.”

“Why hasn’t the public been told?!”

“How could we tell them? If we did everything everybody knew would be gone.”

“Everything everybody knows is gone!”

Another shot lands, making me stumble, another building falls.

“Why was it dissolved?!”

“…The pictures weren’t only sent to us…”

“What?!”

“Every country, every body of government got it.”

Another shot, another stumble, another building.

“And they are all from me?”

“…Yes”

“This makes no sense!”

Another shot lands, but this time it hits close to us. We both go flying. I stretch out my arms. Grab Violet. Hug her and slow us down, but I get hit hard by another projectile and hit the ground. Blood pouring from my body. Looking at the sky from my back. The blue that was once there, no longer is. Clouds of black are everywhere. This place looks just like the picture, but only half way there. I look down to Violet. She seems safe and crawls off, stands and looks at me.

“Remember the time when we were in high school?” I say to her.

“…the times when we didn’t have to care…” she says looking up

“…Those were good times…”

“…I’m sorry…” she says as I close my eyes.

“You should be, it was your fault.” I say as tears roll of the side of my face.

“…I’m sorry…” she says as the sound of a falling projectile approaches.