Young Writers Society

Bo hadn't slept at all. He didn't expect to, but when the sun came up he was still irrationally angry at it for being so bright. He closed his eye and opened it just fraction, letting his eye adjust slowly, or as much as it could without burning unbearably.

He decided it was time to get up when he heard Julian stir near him, but he did it slowly. He sighed as he sat up and stretched some but not enough when he got to his feet. He was rubbing his eye and stumbling on sleepy feet over to where Alex and Julian were gathering with others. He could smell the coffee. Though he didn't normally drink it, he felt like he might need it for this.

He came up beside Alex, yawning.

"How'd you sleep?"

I woke up before Kirux did that morning - just in time to see Bo, Julian and Alex gathering together. I wasn't sure how long I had slept, but any amount of sleep was good right now. I needed a clear head if I was going to figure out how to fix what Carter had done.

I glanced over beside me.

Kirux was sound asleep next to me. His arms were wrapped around my waist even after I sat up. It wasn't until I gave his shoulders a rough little shake that he finally opened his eyes. He look around us with a dazed look to his eyes, almost like he was still partially asleep. Then he caught sight of the trio gathering a short distance away, and he immediately shot up.

He mouthed something and gave me a big wave. Even without being able to read lips, I had a pretty good idea of what he was trying to say - he was saying good morning.

(Or something like it, at least.)

"Morning," I replied. When I started to get to my feet, he followed my lead. And when I started heading over to the trio, Kirux quickly fell into step behind me. He watched everything with wide-eyed wonder.

We came to a stop next to Bo.

"Morning," I repeated.

Beside me, Kirux gave a wave - only to falter when he took a sniff of his clothes. His grin turned into a frown, and he took a step back from the rest of the group.

"I saw Louis this morning," Alex said. "I'm not sure where he went though. I'm not sure if he lives here or not. He talked about joining some guys in the afternoon."

"Oh," said someone else at the fire. "A few of us are going to amusement park later. That's probably where he's going. It's Saturday and the work's been slim lately. Do you have pocket change? It's 15 cents for admission. I'm bring a dollar, in case you want to buy food and anything extra. Up to you."

Just then, Alex looked in her pocket. She had a dollar. "You know, I have a dollar to spare."

What game was the Librarian playing?

Bo patted his pockets. He had a crumpled up dollar and some spare change. That would be more than enough to get by.

"I can come too," Bo added with a little smile. "It sounds fun."



Carter woke up mildly damp, like the rest of the grass around him. He'd slept fine, but apparently a little too fine. When he looked over to the area the others had been sleeping they were all up already.

With a grumble he got to his feet and padded over to the others, standing behind them. He wasn't able to see over their godsdamned heads. He sighed.

Queenie rolled out of bed and stretched.

"Oh, are you up already dear?" she heard Mrs. Crowley call from the kitchen. The woman herself, a wrinkled old lady who walked on shuffling feet with the help of an elegant cane and dressed all in black with gold buttons, attire a century out of date but which she wore with all the grace her failing body would allow, walked into the guest room balancing a tray of food with her one free hand.

Queenie got up and took the tray from Martha, who was staring at the air beside her, "Thank you honey," she said, "You're such a nice girl. Not many nice girls like you about nowadays." She gave a shake of her head as she shuffled past, her cane tapping out of rhythm on the planks of the floor.

"Thank you 'mam," Queenie said, helping to guide her to the bed, where she sat down.

"You know, when I was your age," Martha began, and Queenie sat down, resigned to listen to the blind old bat's ramblings until Martha got bored or decided it was time to go do something else in this big empty house.

In the meantime, Queenie pulled her still-damp hair over her shoulder and busied her hands twisting it into a braid. It always took at least a day or so to fully dry anyway, and it was heavy and irritating enough dry.

By the time Martha's stories - all of which she'd told the night before as well - were finished, they'd both finished an entire pot of tea and the sun was just starting to rise.

"I really would love to stay," Queenie said before Martha could start the story about her dad's cows again, "but I have to meet my friends this morning or they'll leave without me."

"Oh! Is it that late already dear?" Martha said and chuckled to herself, "Well, don't let me keep you. Do visit me again sometime, sweety."

Call me 'sweety' one more time and I swear to the gods- "Of course, Mrs. Crowley. I'll be sure to come back again." She almost felt bad for the lie, but a few final goodbyes later, it bought her a few cents for a ride back to the tent city (which she certainly didn't need, but she wasn't going to refuse), and a chance to actually leave the house.

About an hour later - she'd stopped to get something to eat - she joined the group at exactly the place she'd left them.

Julian gave her an odd look when she walked up to them, but quickly looked away. So they still weren't talking.

Later that morning, Anna's mom had ended up giving them both pocket change for the amusement park and bus fare to get there.

It was to be an hour long ride, but "it's worth it," Anna said once they were on the bus. There were only a few other people on the bus, but Anna explained others would be meeting them there.

Anna was very talkative, and Mary grew to like her. She talked about school, about how she liked History and English and wanted to learn French. "I'd love to go to France one day," Anna said. "That's where all the writers and painters live. I'm not artistic but, I would just love to sit on a sidewalk café, you know?" She looked out the window. "Maybe one day, when all of this over."

"Do you think it will be?"

Anna looked over at Mary. "I know it will be. There's so much I still have to do. And I want to believe my children will have a better future too."

"That's a ways off, isn't it?" Mary said.

"Not really," Anna said. "Ruth and I used to be friends with this girl. Lily. She's married. She has a daughter. She's seventeen."

Younger than Mary. That was hard to wrap her head around. "Don't you think there's more to life than just... being a wife and mother?"

"I don't know," Anna said. "Does there have to be more? I'm not some crazy suffragette. I just want to move somewhere nice. By the beach maybe. Have a husband that loves me. Raise my children. Teach them to be good people."

Mary felt a lump in her throat. The truth was that one day she would have all of those things except the last. And she couldn't say anything about it right now. "If that's what makes you happy."

"Oh," Anna said. Her eyes lit up. "I found something out this morning. Louis works at Milton's diner downtown. His last name is Whitman. Ruth thought she recognized him before."

Mary took a deep breath.

"Anna Joan Whitman," Anna said with a smile on her face. "What do you think? My last name is Hughes. But I like how Anna Whitman sounds."

Mary nodded.

"I like the name Susan for a girl. And Jay for a boy."

Mary looked over at Anna. Maybe it was best not to question, but she still was curious. "Why Jay?"

Anna shrugged. "Jay Gatsby? I don't know. It's a nice name."

Mary simply nodded. She didn't have anything else to add. By then, they were at the park, and Anna's face lit up. "You are going to have so much fun." She took Mary by the hand and they got out of the bus and towards the ticket counter.

**

The bus for the amusement park was to leave at 11am. Alex immediately got in line when it arrived, figuring if the Librarian had left money in their pockets, it was for a reason. She didn't wait to find out if anyone else would be going with her.

She did know Louis said he would be showing up later. Maybe she could do something to stop this if no one else wanted to.

When I checked my pockets right before the bus arrived, I discovered I had a dollar on me, too. I didn't have a good grasp of what American money was like, but I had a sneaking suspicion that a dollar wouldn't get me far if this wasn't the present day. Still, I only needed fifteen cents to get into the park, and I was pretty sure a dollar covered that - as well as the money Kirux needed to get in.

I wasn't really sure Kirux knew why we were going to the park. I didn't want to explain it to him - besides Bo, his opinion was the only opinion I cared about here. Anyways, Kirux looked excited at the thought of going to an amusement park. He kept eagerly looking out the window when we boarded the bus.

Queenie had been gifted a new set of clothes by Mrs. Crowley, "My grandaughter's old things," she'd said, shaking her head, "They've been here for years and that child won't bother to come this way to pick them up." Queenie had become fairly certain that said-granddaughter had died of pneumonia in her late teens by the time she'd finished snooping through some of the old letters and paperwork the old lady kept in a series of drawers and boxes all over that big empty house.

It was in the process of changing that she discovered that the money she'd been kidnapped with was still in her pocket, and that her outfit had pockets. She'd split the bill into smaller bills and coins - ones with serial numbers that fit the decade and that wouldn't have a suspicious date stamped on them - and left her initial twenty-dollar bill in place of the money she took. Mrs. Crowley likely wouldn't notice the difference. She was half-blind, anyway.

With this money, she paid her way onto the bus after Kirux and Skull. She took silent note of when Julian got on. Just because I need to keep track of the people in this dumbass situation with me. Even she didn't believe that argument.

She ended up next to Skull, much to her annoyance, but after a moment or two of awkward relative silence, she realized she didn't really know where he stood on the whole 'Doing as the Librarian pleased' ordeal.

"So," she said, "you still pissed at me?"

I glanced over at Queenie.

Of course she was next to me. Why couldn't I have been smart and squished in between Bo and Kirux?

I looked away.

"If you're asking that question," I said, crossing my arms, "I think you already know the answer."

She pulled her braid over her shoulder and coiled it in her lap, methodically arranging it to keep her hands busy and to keep it out of the way of the people next to her.

"Why?" she asked. She knew the answer perfectly fine, she just wanted him to say it out loud. "Why are you so mad at me for doing what I did?"

I turned and gave her a look of disbelief.

"Why?" I repeated. "By killing Jay, you killed Esther. And if you're smart enough to scheme up the perfect opportunity to kill him, I'm sure you're smart enough to have realized getting rid of him would also be getting rid of all of his kids - including his son, who I'm pretty sure you hung out with for a bit."

I leaned back and stared at the front of the bus.

"If that wasn't bad enough," I said, "which it is, by the way, you didn't just kill Jay's entire family tree. You got us into this whole little mess. I don't want to play matchmaker when it's obvious that Louis and Anna are going to get together anyways - we know Jay's Anna's kid, and he and his dad share a family resemblance."

I thought for a moment.

"I'm currently more mad at the librarian and Carter than you," I added. "Since the librarian got us into this in the first place and could care less about Esther's life, and Carter's the reason we have to go chasing after Louis instead of going home. But you're definitely still on the list of people I hate right now."

She raised an eyebrow. "You done with your little tantrum yet sweety?" She didn't give him time to respond before continuing. "What I did was remove a selfish, life-ruining prick from the timeline, saving his future harem from falling into his trap. And his kids? Esther eventually committed suicide at a pretty damn young age. Adam was miserable because of her death and because of who his father was. It's not like I shot them. They never existed in the first place. They might not have been bad people, but they were side effects of a truly horrible situation, just like Jay is, will be."

She watched for Skull's reaction, looking for any sign that his punk-ass-bitch facade didn't actually blind him as to why setting up this series of terrible events would make them all awful, awful people.

The amusement park wasn't exactly Disneyland, but it was fun. Quieter than Mary would expect an amusement park to be. Because of this, it felt a little bit eerie. But less crowds meant less lines.

They went on a rollercoaster and the Merry Go-Round and Go-Karts.

It was while Anna and Mary were eating a hot dog and cotton candy lunch that they saw Louis with his friends. The rest of the group Mary had come with behind them. She wasn't sure how long they'd been here.

Anna looked away and blushed.

"Talk to him," Mary whispered.

Anna stood up. "Didn't expect to see you here."

"Do you want to go on the Ferris Wheel?" Louis asked. "I have a lot to apologize for."

Anna nodded. Mary gave her a look that told her it was okay. The conversation was made awkward by the fact that at least a half dozen people were watching.

Still, they walked off, and by time they were out of anyone's eye line, they were deep in conversation.

Mary saw the annoyed, frustrated looks the others were shooting at her. She didn't have time to respond before the rest of the scene faded away.

**

It had all happened so fast. The prison was cold. It had all been for naught, and Alex remembered everything. The time travel. Her life before.

Had that all been a dream? It had to be.

She stared out at the prison bars.

She didn't know if she would ever get out, but maybe that's wasn't what her dream had been about.

She didn't love Jay anymore. She hadn't in a long time. Esther was six now, and Alex hadn't seen her since the day they were all arrested. What did she look like now? All Alex wanted to do was convince her family to her hold her daughter.

She could work at that.

**

The next thing Mary knew, she was standing at at the beginning of a queue. In a spaceship themed building, surrounded by other park guests. She could tell from their clothes and hers that she was back in her time.

"Single rider?"

It took a moment to register that they were talking to her.

"Single rider?"

"Oh," Mary said. "Of course."

She saw a handsome man her age with dark hair and blue eyes sitting in the back of a roller coaster car. Beside him was a six year old girl who looked so much like her mother.

Mary got in the front.

"Are we ready?" The man said to his younger sister.

"Hi, I'm Mary," she said.

"Adam, and this is Esther."

Mary smiled as the Disneyland cast members pushed down their safety bars and the rollercoaster took off.

She remembered everything, and smiled at Adam. As annoyed as she was with the Librarian for bringing her here, she had to appreciate that she had brought Mary back here.

To the start of the story of their life.

Kirux blinked, and then he suddenly found himself back in Radiant Gardens. Naminé was right where she had been yesterday, drawing the same thing he was pretty sure she had been drawing, too. He had been really focused on drawing his own picture, so he wasn't entirely sure.

Naminé didn't seem to have even noticed he was gone - she was humming as she colored in the Xion-shaped person next to her. Or maybe it was the Kairi-shaped person. Kirux wasn't good at telling the difference until Naminé colored the two of them in.

Without giving Naminé any kind of warning, he pulled her into a hug. The crayon almost drew a line across the page as Naminé stiffed - startled by the sudden embrace - but Naminé lifted the crayon just in time.

"I went on an adventure!" he excitedly signed as he finally pulled away. "I went to another world where I couldn't use my keyblade, and there weren't any Heartless or Nobodies except me, and Riku wasn't there, either. I was there for awhile, but it's like I never went anywhere!"

Naminé put her drawing to the side.

Kirux put his to the side, too.

They spent the rest of the afternoon talking - or, in Kirux's case, writing, signing and occasionally drawing things when he couldn't describe them with words - about the mini-adventure he had gone on.


One moment, we were at the amusement park. The next, I found myself standing around the makeshift camp Asmira, Natty boy and I had set up in the woods what felt like an eternity before. I was leaning up against a tree on the very edge of the clearing. When I glanced down, they were my clothes again.

For some reason, I didn't feel at that relieved.

Asmira was off getting firewood. Nathaniel was tidying up our packs. I watched him from afar a moment, trying to forget about what had happened in what must have been just a second now. My brain didn't want me to forget. It liked to cling to all of my worst memories, and this one being fresh certainly didn't help.

Asmira returned with the wood just as Nathaniel closed up one our bags. Nathaniel looked like he wanted to reprimand me for not doing anything - I saw the way his face contorted into a look of annoyance - but he didn't end up saying anything. He faltered for a moment, shared a look with Asmira like he always did, and went to help her with the firewood.

I ate my dinner in silence. I barely said anything as we went to bed, even when Asmira and Nathaniel started having a conversation nearby. I stared up at the stars and waited for sleep to overtake me.

It never did.

Queenie was back home. In her room. In her bed.

She reached up and felt cold metal around her neck. Her heart steadied its beat.

Does Julian remember?

Her heart sped back up as she tossed her blankets aside and rushed to her phone.



Julian blinked in the suddenly dimmed light. He was at the fair, walking, and then...he was here? He shook his head. No, no, he was in the dance studio the whole time. He must have just fallen asleep or something. Taken too much of his anxiety medication or something.

His phone buzzed from its spot on the floor next to his duffle bag, and he went to check it.

A text from Queenie.

U up?

He checked the time. It was six in the morning. Of course it was. He chuckled at his own stupidity. He was always at the studio by five-thirty on weekends.

Yeah, why are you awake, he sent back.