The Time Travelling Boy and His Lover
Why don’t I fast-forward through all the boring bits?
Note: This is the revised version of “Some Weird Story.” The plot is still the same, but the sentences are cleaned up. For “Some Weird Story,” I had to write a story within 30 mins in The Kraken Lore’s Medium Day writing challenge.
Silently, Dessl winds his way through the corridors of ice. He’s about to meet his lover in — what time?
And what year is it?
Dessl glances about at his icy surroundings. Somewhere in the distance, he sees a woolly creature — a mammoth? — lumber by.
The “superpower” they gave him isn’t as amazing as it seems. At least, he hasn’t mastered the art of time travel yet.
Dessl digs into the snow, and is stunned by how deep he can go without hurting his fingers. Perhaps his new power is more than just time manipulation. Then he has a flash of inspiration. Why don’t I fast-forward through all the boring bits?
With that in mind, he zooms through the digging, still with no frostbite on his fingers. Soon, he hits a huge, underground cavern. There’s a whole network down here, stretching as far as the eye can see. Which isn’t very far, since Dessl is nearsighted but the time travel didn’t bring his glasses along.
After a while of gaping at the icy tunnels, he gets frustrated and impatient. He wants to see his lover, now! Naturally, the only option is to fast-forward again.
Oops.
He fast-forwarded a bit too much. He must have been in the Ice Age earlier. But now…is this the Victorian era? The people around him, sauntering to and fro across a town square, certainly look like they’re from the 19th century.
Nearby, a gentleman wearing a fedora climbs into a carriage. The horse gallops, and away they go into the distance.
Someone taps him on the shoulder. It’s a middle-aged man with black hair and a prominent moustache. “Sir, are you looking for a carriage?” He gestures at his own horse-drawn vehicle.
Dessl slaps his palm against his forehead. “No…I mean, no, thank you. I’m just waiting for someone.”
The man raises a bushy eyebrow at him and frowns. “Sir, you look like a man whose lady love is about to jilt him. Don’t bother with her.”
Dessl doesn’t want to correct him that his lover isn’t a woman. He just nods politely, mutters something, and shuffles away from the driver.
After a prolonged bout of walking, with his knees complaining from the pain, he arrives at a tavern. He plops down at the nearest table, intending to order ale or something, and hoping he would have the coins in his pocket. He just wants to sit down and rest his legs regardless.
The next thing he knows, he’s actually not alone at the table. On the chair opposite him, is a small bassinet, with a baby sound asleep inside. Dessl is alarmed, as he’s always been afraid of children, especially babies.
He glances around for their parents. After a long time, no parent appears. Dessl is surprised that none of the servers bothered to ask him what he wanted to drink. In fact, nobody pays him much attention at all.
Dessl sulks. He would rather get negative attention than to have nothing. For some strange reason, he feels sleepy, and he dozes off.
When Dessl wakes up, he’s tucked into a peculiar bed. How peculiar, he cannot say. But the walls, the furniture, everything feels wrong. When he reaches to open the door, his hand goes through it as if the door was made of jello! He can walk through the door, and even the walls.
Is it just him, or is he starting to feel like a ghost?
Surely he can just rewind the clock. He’ll get home, collapse back into the arms of his beloved. So Dessl takes a deep breath, and rewinds.
When he opens his eyes, he gasps as the cold floods through his body. He’s back in the Ice Age! But this time, he’s not alone.
He lies in bed, a bed made of ice and snow. Wrapped all around him, is his beloved’s long tail. A snowy, scaly tail. His eyes are purple crystals as he blinks at Dessl, and winks.
The snow dragon puffs a breath on his cheeks. “Missed me, partner?” he coos.
His lover’s breath warms him from the inside out, and something in him begins to melt. He slumbers with absolute peace, not needing to worry about anything ever again. Humans were overrated.
This story was written for Jonathon Sawyer’s Mega Mashup prompt:
Writing prompt:
Character gains a superpower (2 pts)
Dessl gains the power to manipulate time. And maybe turn into a ghost.
Constraints:
Extinct animal makes an appearance (1 pt)
Mammoth appears
Baby in a bassinet (1 pt)
A random baby was in a bassinet in the Victorian tavern.
Hardcore constraint:
Harsh or extreme environment like desert, volcano, undersea, space (2 pts)
Ice age glacial place. Also this weird jello/ ghosty place. And the general
time travel mayhem.
Literary device:
plot twist or twist ending (5 pts)
Dessl's lover is a snow dragon, and he reveals that he's not into humans.
Tallied my own points (1 pt)
Total pts: 12 ptsIf you love stories about LGBTQ+ experiences, psychology, art, and culture, consider subscribing to my Ghost newsletter!