4.

I sit at a small table inside the main rec cabin of the fishing vessel I so happened to have gained a position on, a position I now know to be a mistake on my part as my future counterpart more than suggested I make haste in getting off of.it. This rec room is no bigger than an average box room within an average house and this room would be something a little all the more ominous as with leaving it, there is little else to head off to.

Being in here with the captain and three other crew members who all, in this moment, seem as suspicious of me as I am of them, is something I had not previously envisioned. One of those crew members stares at me while tapping on the table with an index finger and smiling away with a most annoying looking grin on his face. He is a small man, a fair bit older than me and has a beard which looks like it hasn't been looked after in at least a couple of years.

'Are you missing something, friend?' he asks me.

'Pardon me?' I reply.

'I asked as to if you are missing something. You either look lost or look like you have lost something, you can't be lost on such a small place even if you feel you may not belong so I guess you must have lost something.'

His words have thrown me. I know I shouldn't judge a book by its cover, but this guy doesn't look like he even knows how to turn a computer of any sort on let alone actually own one of his own though I can't help thinking that he has the memory stick and has viewed it already.

There is also the other thought that maybe; just maybe this man is one of the people I have been warning myself about in those videos, maybe he is the reason to why I warned myself to get off of that fishing vessel. Doubtful he is a time traveller, he certainly doesn't look like one, as if I knew what one would actually look like.

Sure, if the average time traveller does their homework, I guess they could blend right in anywhere.

'Well actually I have misplaced something, you wouldn't happen to know where it is, would you?'

'What exactly does this something look like?'

I pause for a moment looking around the table, trying to gauge the expressions of each of the four men I share the room with.

'It is a small plastic component that can be plugged into a laptop.'

'A small plastic component you say.'

'Don't be playing around Alex' speaks the captain, 'if you have what the man is looking for then return it to him.'

'Unfortunately ... I do not have anything of the sort, I only noticed how the young man was acting, and that's all.'

This proved not to be an accurate statement for after we had eaten, I stand at the ship's stern, looking out to sea only to be pulled out of my daydream by that gravelly and annoying voice which had been taunting me only moments earlier and this voice would speak to me from fairly close behind me and it had come to taunt me once more.

'Hey boy, is this what you were looking for?'

I turn to see this Alex person holding the memory stick in the palm of his outstretched right hand. I could not see anyone else within my line of sight.

'You lied' I tell him.

'Well yeah, I tend to do that every once in a while.'

'If you don't mind, can I have that back?'

'Thing is that I do mind, and besides you did not say please.'

'Alright then, please.'

'Please what?'

I am not in the mood for this, and I don't take to bullying too kindly. I try with great difficulty to restrain myself, especially with the thoughts of the last time I viewed that video still fresh on my mind.

'Look friend ... I only want what is mine, I don't want any trouble.'

'Too late for that' speaks Alex as he flicks open a pen knife, 'and I am not your friend.'

He comes at me with the pen knife; we tussle for a bit. I am younger, bigger and stronger than this guy though I wince at the thoughts of hurting him. I am not an aggressive person, but I am on the defensive here.

As he does indeed come at me, I manage to take the memory stick from him, though as I do take what belongs to me, he cuts me on my left cheek with that knife of his. I grab his wrist and whack his elbow against the side of the boat, ship, or vessel or whatever this is I happen to be on, and he drops the knife into the water below.

There had been a crack when I attacked his arm, so this fellow clearly does not get away unscathed, he now has either a bone broken or his elbow joint will be out of commission for some time to come. Come at me at your peril ...

I had come aboard to avoid confrontation and trouble though that is exactly what I had come to find and now I know where that scar comes from too. This kerfuffle however causes my unusual and peculiar foe to fall right into me, headfirst into my mid-section. This knocks me overboard and into the water.

The other members of the crew including the captain soon come to peer over the side of the vessel and I hear the call of man overboard though instead of helping me to return to the vessel I am thrown an already inflated inflatable dinghy. It is a struggle, but I manage to get onto this dinghy.

My belongings are thrown to me, and I could only watch as the fishing vessel I had briefly lived upon moves away leaving me to wander aimlessly a long way from shore. Lived is the wrong word as my time there was minimal, the initial thought was for to be there for a much longer period of time.

I guess in a matter of jump or be pushed, the decision had been taken away from me and not for the better either. My face stings, and all the more so having spent a few moments in salted waters.

After what felt like a very long time but probably would have been not much more than seven or eight hours, I was to pass out though when I was to wake, I would clearly see that I was no longer be on that dinghy.

When I do indeed wake, the first thing I see is a white ceiling so straight away it is more than obvious that I am no longer at sea, my next thought would be ... where the hell am I? Looking around would answer that question. I am in a hospital. There is a cotton patch dressing on my left cheek. I guess that facial wound has been treated though I know it is going to leave a scar. At least I have one question answered.

Another thought would come after a realization. I am lying on a bed, so I remove the sheets. I am wearing hospital clothing so where the hell are my clothes? More importantly where the hell is the memory stick? There is a long locker like metal closet to my right side as well as a small wooden bed side locker. I attempt to get out of the bed on the right side when I realize that there is an intravenous drip going into my left arm, so I get out of the bed on the left side.

I walk around to the right side of the bed and find the clothes that I had been wearing are folded on a shelf in the longer metal locker. As well as that they are dry and apparently clean too. My bag and its contents including my laptop are in the smaller locker all dry too though I am not so sure it will work properly now since it did get wet.

I am sure that there must have been some sort of water damage. Thing is though; I can't find the memory stick. There doesn't seem to be any sign of it. A nurse, an older lady comes into the ward.

'Sir, sir ... I really don't think that you should be out of your bed.'

'It's alright ma'am, I feel fine.'

'It is not a matter or question as to how you feel, sir. You are a patient and should remain in your bed until a doctor comes around.'

The nurse gives me a horridly stern look, and she is somewhat intimidating, so I did what I was told and got back into bed, but I really do need to know where that memory stick is. I am also still quite worried as to if it can still function, as it, like my laptop, must have suffered some water damage. After a few minutes alone with my thoughts in the bed that I had awoke in, a much younger and I must also say quite attractive nurse approaches.

'I hear that you were up and out of your bed not long ago' she says.

'Yeah, well I was looking for something.'

'It wouldn't so happen to be this, would it?'

She holds out her right and clenched fist, turns it palm up and opens to reveal the memory stick. I am somewhat surprised.

'Yes, that is it.'

'Must be something important?'

'Why do you say that?' I ask.

'Because when you were found you were holding it so tightly that it had to be pried out of your hand.'

'It is important to me and fairly useless to anyone else, I'd imagine.'

'Do you wanna see if it and your laptop still work?'

'Yes indeed, you read my mind.'

She smiled and looked so pretty doing so that I couldn't help but smile too, and I bet that my smile only left me looking rather silly especially with me having that patch on my face and at that, it hurt like hell for me to smile. She handed me the memory stick, and her hand lingered by mine for a moment before she would speak again.

'Right, I will leave you to it.'

She turned and began to walk away.

'Thank you' I called after her.

'Not a problem', she turned her head to the left to look back at me and once again she smiled.

Despite what had just happened I was still quite eager to get to that memory stick or more so to see if both it and the laptop worked. They did so it was time to see if there was a new video and indeed there was. The video would once again be brief and one of warning though it was not as short a video as last time, and as with every prior video, ...obviously enough ... it is an older version of me which is about to speak.

'I am speaking to you quietly as I am aware that there may be others close by so listen, they have found you, I don't know how, but they have, two men are in the hospital right now and will be up by your bed in less than two minutes. I do not have to tell you, but I will anyway, take evasive action, ... now.'

Aw hell.

I get dressed as quickly as I can and get my things together as well as remove the needle that connected the intravenous drip to my arm though it would become apparent that I was not quick enough. Two men are arguing with that intimidating nurse outside in the hallway.

If anyone can stick it to what I presume are two not so nice men from the future, then I am sure that it would be her. The young beautiful nurse comes into my room, and she is aware that something is up.

'I can't be here; seriously need to leave. I need a way out of here.'

'Why? Have you done something wrong?' she asks.

'I haven't no, well at least I don't think I have, or maybe that should be will instead of have.'

'What?'

'No time to explain.'

Those two men are about to enter the room, and I am still there. The nurse who is with me points to another bed. I move over to it, and she pulls the curtains. The two men stand by the bed I had been in, one man either side of it.

'Where is he? He should be here' one man tells the other.

'The man who was in this bed, where is he?' the other man asks the pretty nurse.

'He checked himself out' she responds.

'How long ago?'

'Oh, about five minutes or so ago.'

'Then he can't have gone very far' speaks the first man.

The two men leave and when I am sure that they are gone, I come out from behind the curtain.

'Thank you' I tell the nurse though when I get out to the hallway, the other nurse tries to get me to go back to my bed though she was not going to get me to do so this time.

I wasn't having it this time though surely, she'd still be ever so difficult to get away from, the more friendly nurse creates a distraction and I'm off making for the nearest stairwell I can find. Yeah, stairwell instead of elevator. Some of those things need keycards though besides that, I can see more of what would be around me, from any position on a stairwell.

Speaking of which, I can't help but look over my shoulder as I move, fully aware that my heart is pounding, half expecting those two men to reappear at any moment in attempt of pre-empting my movements.

My sense of panic heightens, for the layout of the hospital resembles something more like a labyrinth though that's probably more because of my need to get out as quickly as I could rather than taking the time to check and follow signage. The stairwell I used only went down one floor and it more than appears that I am more than one floor up.

My perception of the layout actually works to my advantage for as I search my surroundings, a nearby trolly filled with bed linin directs my attention to a door marked staff only. If I think about it, I guess I am involved in a chase through time and surely my pursuers won't think of following me in here, or maybe they will, though hopefully not.

I pause for a moment against a cold concrete wall and take in my surroundings. Three floors of laundry rooms and storage areas of cleaning materials, with machinery to booth, and I can access all three floors from where I am. Plenty of staff near though I throw on a long white jacket hanging next to where I stand then appear to oddly be accepted as a member of staff free to move without being questioned as to why I am where I so happen to be ... patched face and all.

On the bottom floor I find an emergency exit and I push it open without hesitation, through which I am freed to the great outdoors. The smell of the night air never felt so good ... so pleasantly ... fresh. A not-so-distant church bell rings out the top of the hour. It's late but not so late where I can't find somewhere to spend the night, sure, or as sure as I can be, that I can rest for a while.