15. SECRETS REVEALED

I open the door to reveal the dark little room on the other side. Brent walks closer to look into the room. He takes a small light from his pocket and shines the light into the small room.

He gives a small chuckle. I turn my gaze to Brent. Of course, it doesn't seem like a great option because it is only a small undecorated room. I do not know how to explain anything to him, so I will have to just show him.

I walk into the room and turn in the middle to look back at Brent. I wait for him to join me.

He smiles and walks into the room. He is clearly humouring me. The expression on his face is somewhat animated.

"Little sapling. This seems like a worse room than the one we just came from." He says as he comes to stand next to me.

I take the few steps to the door and close it. As soon as I close the door, the door on the other side of the room appears. I walk past Brent to the other side of the room and place my hand on the shiny doorknob.

Brent's expression has changed. He has a look of surprise now. His eyes are wide and his mouth is partially open. I have a feeling of excitement in my chest. He takes a few steps closer to me and comes to stand next to me.

"It may be bright outside." I tell him as I open the door a crack.

Very bright sunlight shines into the small room. The light is almost blinding to our eyes. I have not seen sunlight in days.

I open the door a little further and peek out the door. I am still not sure how all of this works and I do not want to risk being seen by anyone. Apart from feeling like a criminal, I would just not know how to explain anything.

I step through the door and stand just outside the small building. Brent follows me out. There is a look of sheer amazement on his face. He switches off the small light in his hand and comes to stand next to me. I close the door of the small building and look at Brent.

"My mind is really trying to make sense of everything I am seeing right now." Brent states in a dry tone. "I have to be absolutely honest with you. It is very difficult."

"I know. I do not have any answers to any questions you may have. I have only come through once. All I know for sure is that we are now about thirty years into the past." I look at Brent and wait for his reaction. There is none.

"I came here a while ago and explored a bit. There is a bus stop just past these bushes. Then there is a small town up the road. The day I came was a Sunday and there was a flea market next to the road. A lady sold me a vase." I stand again, looking at Brent. Still no reaction except for the slight lift of his eyebrow at the mention of the vase.

He turns to look at the way I pointed when telling him about the bus stop. He turns back to me. The expression in his eyes have softened. He is clearly the master of his own emotions.

"I have to tell you, Lubelle. I have heard of this before but didn't really trust the source." He looks around again, his hands in his pockets. "I don't think anyone would believe it if they didn't see it with their own eyes." Brent trails off when he hears a car passing on the road.

"May we have a look around?" There is excitement in Brent's voice that excites me. Exploring this place alone was a bit frightening. Exploring with Brent would be an adventure.

"Of course," I laugh nervously. "As long as you remember that buying a vase in the past makes it disappear in the future." Brent laughs and holds his hand out to me. I take his hand and we start walking towards the bus stop. Before we pass through the bushes, I look over my shoulder at the small building to make sure I closed the door properly.

It takes only a minute for the next bus to arrive. I look at Brent when I see it approaching.

"Do you have old money?" I ask Brent just as the bus comes to a stop in front of us.

"Oh!" The whole concept dawns on him. You cannot use newly printed money here. It would upset the balance of the worlds. Brent digs into his pocket and takes out a hand full of coins.

Two of the coins are old enough to use. He gives the coins to the driver of the bus and whispers something in his ear. The bus driver nods and takes the coins from him. Brent helps me up the steps of the bus and helps me to a seat in the middle of the bus.

We sit next to each other.

"What did you tell the driver?" I ask Brent as the bus pulls away.

"I told him that I am a bit short on the fare but I will make sure he receives what I owe him in future."

"And he accepted that?" I am still amused at how trusting people are here.

"Well, you said we are thirty years in the past and back then people still kept their word and trusted each other." Brent explains softly.

The bus stops in front of a small diner in town. We get off the bus and Brent holds his arm for me to hook into. We walk to the ATM next to the small diner.

As Brent takes out his wallet all sorts of thoughts start crossing my mind.

"Well, this is going to be interesting." I tell him, trying to keep the laughter out of my voice.

"I have to tell you; I am absolutely bargaining on the fact that technology was terrible thirty years ago." Brent smiles at me as he takes his bank card from his wallet.

"Although this specific card was not functioning thirty years ago the bank account was in fact active." He smiles and there is an excitement dancing in his eyes. "In theory, the information to access the account would be the same, it now just depends on the system."

He slides the card into the slot and wait. The system is a lot slower than modern day ATM's

The prompt comes up to ask him for his pin code and he enters it. It works!

He draws money and puts it into his jacket pocket. He turns to me and smiles. He looks like he won the lottery.

"Did you just draw your childhood savings?" I ask him as his excitement burns like a bright flame.

"Yes, I did! And now I am going to take a girl out to lunch!" He slips his arm around me and we walk to the diner.

The diner isn't very busy. There is a couple sitting at the counter, eating burgers and drinking soda. The rest of the diner seems empty.

Brent leads us to a booth at the other corner of the diner. The music playing in the background is soft and gives the diner a nice vibe.

A young blonde waitress comes to our table.

"Can I get you anything?" She asks while chewing her gum.

"I would like a large soda, please" Brent tells the waitress as he takes the menu from her hand.

"I will have the same, thank you" I tell her also taking the menu from her.

She turns and leaves without another word.

Brent looks through the menu. He gives a soft laugh.

"Look at the prices on the menu. Everything is ridiculously cheap."

He is right. The prices on the menu are very low. In thirty years, everything has gone up so much it is almost impossible to make sense of it.

We order burgers and eat until we are full. I cannot remember the last decent meal I had. Since the power went out the only hot sustenance, we were able to have been coffee and tea, made on the gas stove in the basement.

"I wonder how big the impact of us being here really is" Brent tells me when he finished eating.

"I was thinking about that same thing" I set my napkin in my plate and push the plate away a bit.

"I do not want to upset the balance of life. I have to tell you, it scared me to realise that just by buying a vase from a street merchant caused it to disappear from your very secure residence. What if bumping into someone on a corner causes him to miss a bus and not meet the love of his life." I look at Brent with worry in my eyes. I do not want anyone to get hurt because of my curiosity.

"Ah little sapling. What if, by bumping into someone causes him to meet the love of his life" he smiles at me. "We do not determine other people's futures. Some way or another life will lead where it should."