3.

Not being far from his thirteenth birthday Ollie and other kids his age from his neighbourhood made their way into town on a warm and bright summer's day. They would spend an hour skating at the ice rink before heading to the town cinema.

He was there at the ice rink. The same man who Ollie had first talked to when he was just six years old. One moment the man would be standing in a dark corner, the next he would be sitting at a table and in another moment, he would be standing next to the ice. He was in no way hiding or disguising his presence. Ollie noticed him on a number of occasions but done no more than glance over to wherever he was at that particular moment.

'Who is that man? He looks like he could be your father' asked Jean, a girl from the group of friends, a girl who had recently turned thirteen and lives a few doors down from Ollie. She had skated up alongside Ollie having noticed Ollie glancing towards the stranger. To Ollie that man, of course, was and is no stranger.

'My father is dead; he died when I was one.'

'Oh, I am sorry, I didn't mean any ...'

'I know and it's alright' interrupted Ollie.

'So, who is he?'

'He is no one, besides you wouldn't believe me if I told you.'

Ollie began to skate a little faster. Jean picked up speed to move alongside him again. He looked over at her and smiled.

'That man over there, he is me when I get old ... or older I should say.'

Jean stopped skating for a moment. The speed she had been skating at kept her gliding on the ice, but she was falling behind. She began to skate again and pulled up alongside Ollie for a third time.

'You are having me on, right?'

'I told you that you wouldn't believe me.'

Ollie was about to pick up speed once again, so Jean grabbed him by the arm and the two came to a halt on the ice.

'OK, if he is who you say he is then why don't you go over and talk to him?'

'Ah, I am not sure if I want to hear what he has to say if he actually has anything to say at all.'

'If and I do mean if he really is you, then he must have a reason for being right here right now.'

'Maybe, I am sure if he does have something to say then I will find out soon enough.'

No sooner had Ollie finished speaking that last sentence he disappeared, vanished right in plain view of Jean.

'What the hell?' she spoke looking around.

It clearly seemed that Jean was the only person who had seen Ollie vanish, well maybe there was one other person who had noticed what had happened. She wanted to scream but managed to hold it in. Jean quickly made her way over to that one other person in the building, a person who could possibly answer her questions and that would obviously be the apparent other and much older Ollie.

'What happened to my friend? You know where he is right?' asked Jean.

'Well, kinda and not really' responded the man.

'Which is it? Kinda or not really?'

'It is like this Jean. I know what has happened; I just cannot remember where I went at that moment.'

Before Jean could either comment on the fact that this man knew her name or comment on his choice of words, a hand from behind her was placed on her shoulder. Jean turned. It was Ollie, the Ollie she knew and once she had turned, he was just standing there right in front of her as if he had never vanished at all.

'Where ...? ... What ...?' Jean turned once again. The man she had been speaking to was nowhere to be seen.

'That man, he really is you, isn't he?' asked Jean turning back toward Ollie.

'Yeah, he is indeed. I guess he was here for your benefit.'

Whether it was from all the turning or from her confusion or a little bit of both Jean fell to the ground and passed out.

4.

Jean woke up on a hospital bed. Ollie had been sitting in a chair at her bed side and he stood when he noticed Jean wake.

'Where am I?' asked Jean.

'It's alright, Jean. You fainted and you have a bit of a bump on your head, so you were taken to hospital. Doctor says you'll be fine.'

'I fainted? I feel so silly now.'

'Don't. It is very understandable knowing what happened earlier. You know though that we are friends, right? I am here because I want to know that you are alright, that is the main thing. I also need to know you won't tell anyone about what really happened earlier on.'

'Ollie, I am not even sure I know what happened earlier, and I am sure if I even try to make sense of it or try to tell anyone else of what I think actually happened then they would keep me in here.'

The two laughed.

'Your parents are here. I am sure they are dying to see you so I will leave you guys to it, and I will see you later, yeah?'

'Yeah sure, but I am not letting you off the hook. I want to know everything when I get out of here.'

'Yeah sure, I will tell you all there is to tell but only as long as you promise not to faint on me again. Later.'

Walking not far from and toward his home, Ollie noticed that there was a police car on his street. This made him slow his walking pace for a moment. He began to run when he realized that the police car was actually outside his house. The front door was open. There were two police officers in the house hallway. Ollie's aunt Vicki was sitting on the stair steps with her hands over her face.

'What is going on?' asked Ollie.

'We will give you a moment' spoke one of the officers directing that comment toward Vicki.

'It's your mom' said Vicki to Ollie as the police officers went out into the garden.

'What about mom?'

'She was attacked earlier at an ATM machine. She didn't make it.'

Vicki looked away and began crying again just as she had finished speaking.

'What do you mean she didn't make it? You mean she is dead, right?'

Vicki could not bring herself round to look directly at Ollie. A moment passed before Ollie made his way past his aunt moving on and up to his room.

'I will fix this' he spoke as he passed his aunt.

Ollie locked his bedroom door and Vicki remained sitting on the stairs in disbelief hoping that there was some sort of mistake. If Jackie was to walk through the front door right at this moment, then it would be clear that there was an obvious mistake but that was not about to happen.

Ollie would receive a visitor to his room.

'So, when are you from?' he asked, not that the answer would particularly matter.

Ollie just wanted his mum back and he was determined to make that happen as well as being determined not to get all too upset. If he can fix it then his mom is not really dead at all.

'From a little over twenty-five years from now' the reply came whether young Ollie wanted to actually know or not.

'Why do you change your appearance so much? Sometimes you have a beard, sometimes you don't, sometimes you have long hair, and sometimes it is short.'

Inside, young Ollie's anger was building, and he was not far away from feeling like he was going to explode though he still tried to remain somewhat calm.

'My appearance does not matter, but what you feel like doing does.'

'So ... what? Are you like here to tell me not to go save our mother or something like that?'

'You know that you have no control over when and where you travel, but there will come a moment where you will be faced with making a very difficult decision. You will see mom at that ATM machine. You will see her attacker approach her and you are just going to have to ....'

'What? Stand there, watch, and do nothing? Is that what you are trying to tell me?'

'I know that is not what you want to hear. I just wish I had of had this when I was your age, when I found out about mom, I did not have a visitor in my room like you do now.'

'What? You are saying that this moment did not happen for you? How is that even possible?' Young Ollie may not quite be thirteen yet, but he did have a good understanding of what was happening to him as in regard to his 'gift' or 'ability'.

'Yes, and because of that, when the moment came, I intervened. It will be a little over five years from now when you will be faced with the moment I was faced with.'

'What happened?'

'I saved her. I saved mom. Things weren't right. Everything went wrong and I can only put it down to having saved our mom. Everything happens for a reason. If something changes then the universe will adjust forcing new changes.'

'You saved mom, then why isn't she here? Where is she?'

'Listen to me for a moment. Having saved mom meant that Aunt Vicki dies before her time. You know your girlfriend, Jean? She dies too before her time, and you cannot go and save everyone.'

'Girlfriend? She is not my girlfriend and why can't I save everyone?'

'This is why I am here ... to tell you why not. Every action has consequences. We can't just go around making changes to suit ourselves.'

'You still have not explained why mom is not here right now if you indeed went back and saved her.'

'Don't you watch movies? Of course, you do. I know you do because I am you. I had to do the right thing. I had to put things back in place. In the future having saved our mom, well she lives in a home, and we put her there. She couldn't handle losing Vicki. She drank and drank a lot. That is not the mother you want to see. It even gets so bad that she does not want to see you, her only child. She hates how she became so much that she doesn't want us to see.'

Young Ollie took in a deep breath. It was a lot to take on board. There was a knock to his bedroom door.

'Are you alright in there, Ollie?' asked a female voice that sounded a lot like his mother, but it couldn't have been her could it? It must be his aunt Vicki.

Older Ollie at this point was no longer in the room.

'Yeah, I am alright; I just need a few minutes.'

'Ok honey. It is just that I thought I heard you talking to someone'.

That time Ollie was sure that it was his mother speaking from just outside his room.

'I was just talking to....' Ollie quickly unlocked his door and opened it '... myself'.

Ollie's voice had quietened upon not seeing anyone directly outside his bedroom door. His Aunt Vicki was still sitting on the stairs.

'Did you just say something?' Vicki asked.

Ollie moved to sit next to his aunt.

'We will be fine, won't we?' he asked.

'This is going to be so hard, but we will get through it.'

Vicki broke into tears once more and Ollie now couldn't help but do the same.