Green Flash

An M'Verse story by elveloy

The first time Rik saw the green lights inside his head, he passed it off as his imagination. But when, a few months later, he'd experienced two more episodes within days of each other, he hurried off to an ophthalmologist, terrified he'd damaged his eyes. Was he going blind?

Reassured on that front, he was left with the unexplainable.

What was he seeing? Was it something real or just his imagination going off on some weird tangent? Just as he'd work out a theory to test, the episodes would stop, only to eventually start up again, after he'd almost forgotten about them.

It was only a month or so before his eighteenth birthday that he began to gain some control over the episodes. The green lines developed into something resembling the pages of a book, giving fleeting glimpses of the illustrations within. Were these snapshots of the past or, even more thrilling, the future?

Once, he leaned forward, trying for a closer look and scared himself silly. He jumped back, instinctively, breathing hard. For a moment there, he was certain he'd been falling, sucked in to... wherever. He'd only just pulled back in time. He stopped invoking the phenomenon for a whole week after that, before temptation rose up and overtook the fear.

He was going to try that again, but this time he'd be ready. He put a bottle of water, a couple of apples and his camera into a small backpack, and dressed in boots and a warm jacket, just in case the falling sensation was real and he ended up somewhere - or somewhen - else.

His brother, the only other person he had ever told about his visions, was there too, his face eager, jumping from one foot to the other in his excitement.

"What do you think it will be like? Will they speak English? Will you have to learn to fly a spaceship?" Then his face had clouded as he thought of something else. "It will be safe, won't it?"

Rik had grinned and thumped his shoulder. "I'll be fine. I'm just going for a quick look around. I'll be home in time for dinner."

He smiled again at Jaxon, squared his shoulders and closed his eyes, then stepped forward between the pages.

When Rik opened his eyes a moment later, the house and everything he knew had vanished. He was standing in the open air. Tall grass brushed his knees and trees he didn't recognize stretched into the distance. The sky was blue and empty above his head. No power lines or glimpses of the tall buildings which would have been visible from his home. No vapour trails. He could hear the chirp of crickets and the occasional bird call. Nothing else.

Had he gone back in time? Prehistory maybe? He looked around fearfully. Fascinating as dinosaurs were in theory, he didn't want to meet one in the flesh.

He turned in a circle and stubbed his boot on something hard. Looking down, he parted the grass and saw a large stone. Despite being old and chipped, the edges were straight, forming a rectangle. Who was it who had said there are no straight lines in nature? This must be manmade. His interest piqued, Rik explored further and soon uncovered the remains of a low wall. Definite signs of civilization.

A twig snapped in the woods.

"Hello?" His voice sounded thin and scratchy, even to his own ears and he cleared his throat and tried again. "Hello? Who's there?"

Then he saw it. A deer, staring back at him with wide brown eyes. It studied him a moment longer and then went back to chewing the undergrowth. Seemingly unafraid.

Smiling in relief, Rik took out his camera and snapped a few pictures, glad now that he had decided not to bring his phone instead. He was pretty sure there was no Wifi here!

Had this area become a nature reserve? The stones looked like they had been exposed to the elements for a long time. Perhaps this was the future, instead of the past.

He walked through the grass across to the woods. The trees were packed closely together and it was difficult to see where he might get through. He circled around the clearing searching until he came to the place where he had seen the deer. Although the vegetation was gradually encroaching, he could still see traces of asphalt or something similar on the ground. The deer had vanished and Rik made his way cautiously along the remains of what must have been a road.

After he had gone a few hundred yards, the path began to climb. Rik knew there had been a hill at the far end of his street. His stomach gave an unpleasant flip. Had he moved at all when he stepped between the pages, or had he arrived in exactly the same location, in place, if not in time? If so, it was likely those stones were not a wall but the remnants of his own house. He gulped.

How far into the future had he travelled?

He kept walking, searching for answers, the sun beating down from a cloudless sky.

Eventually Rik reached the top of the hill. He gazed around, stretching his neck to try and see above the seemingly endless trees. He ate an apple and took a sip from his water bottle. To be honest, now the initial buzz had worn off, he was starting to feel a bit disappointed. He'd been hoping for something more exciting.

If he couldn't have any space-age tech, he deserved some clue, at least, about how much time had passed, and what had happened to his town. So far, he hadn't found any sign of human habitation at all, which, given the speed the population had been expanding in the 21st century, was alarming.

Had there been a war? A plague?

All the dystopian films he'd seen, seemed to feature abandoned cars and looted buildings scarring the landscape, but so far the only sign of remnant civilization he'd found had been the road. He pressed on, hunting for the shopping centre which used to be at the crossroads further along. Perhaps he'd find some answers there.

The building loomed up through the canopy on his right, but it was far from the shopping centre he'd been picturing. Curved like a huge upside-down boat, this building was made of wood. The roof had partly collapsed, and the large door at the front was warped and gaped open on one side.

Rik walked up to the door and paused. "Hello? Is anyone here?"

Silence.

"Hello?"

He had to go in, this was too good an opportunity to pass up. The door was jammed tightly in place but Rik was able to squeeze through the gap. Coming out of the bright sunshine, he struggled to adjust to the dim light. His eyes were drawn upward to the broken roof and then to the interior, which he could see was empty of furnishings, except for a series of wooden benches around the walls. Two rows of supporting columns, whole tree trunks, divided the space roughly into three. Several had collapsed. The floor appeared to be covered with piles of debris, half obscured by shadows.

Rik studied the damaged roof again. He really wanted to explore inside but he didn't want to be crushed by falling timber. After a few more moments where nothing moved, Rik decided it was safe enough for a quick look around. Besides, he could see a beam of sunlight glinting off an object in the middle of the room, making it shine.

He picked his way carefully over the floor, heading toward the small item. It was hard to weave a path through the debris without stepping on something. His boot crunched unpleasantly and he froze. He stared down at long shards of white bone. Rik swallowed. An animal. It had to be an animal which had come in here to die or perhaps found itself trapped inside. Gingerly, he lifted his foot and placed it carefully in a clear spot.

Not far now. He'd just grab that shiny item and get out of here.

It was a drinking horn, the sun catching on a silver band around the lip. Reverently, Rik picked the horn up, marvelling at the workmanship. Wasn't this something used by Vikings? Maybe he had gone back to the past after all.

He placed it carefully in his back pack and turned to leave. Future or past, he'd been here long enough. It was time to go home. He could hardly wait to tell everyone what had happened and now he had the horn to prove it.

Once outside, he took a couple of deep breaths and closed his eyes.

At first everything was black inside his head, then, as he concentrated, green lines began to appear, becoming three dimensional like the pages of a book standing upright. Falling open. Rik searched for the image of home. The pages were moving faster, he had to choose quickly. There it was, that one.

A moment later he reappeared outside the familiar shopping centre. Relieved despite himself, Rik strode off up the road to home. He grimaced as he drew near. He hadn't realized how faded the paintwork was. Maybe he'd talk his Dad into letting him and Jaxon give the outside a fresh coat, even a different, more modern, colour.

He fumbled with the key but the front door didn't open. Now that was weird. Perhaps the key had become warped, got slightly out of alignment.

Then the door opened and his mother stood there. Except... this woman was at least ten years younger, with her hair styled differently, and most significantly, she was holding a little girl on one hip and her stomach bulged with pregnancy.

She stared at him with growing impatience as words stuck in his throat.

"Yes? Can I help you?"