My name is Ali Reddick. My age? Well, I'm a lot older than I look.
We were on our way to our grandmother's house when it started for me. We were driving down the interstate, the four of us: Dad driving; Mom riding shotgun; my younger brother, Devon, sitting behind Dad; and me behind Mom. We thought we'd be giving Grandma and Grandpa a surprise.
Well, they got one, alright. And so did we.
We were halfway upstate when it happened. Mom and Dad were talking, but I don't remember about what. Maybe they were complaining about the slowness of the vehicle in front of us, a truck hauling logs.
I don't know exactly what caused it. All I know is, a chain gave way, and the logs came tumbling off the truck bed. One log bounced off the road, and right into the windshield, on the driver's side. It went through Dad, then Devon.
As I screamed, I thought, Please, God, make it not happen.
And then it got weird.
The log raced back through the windshield, which repaired itself. The logs bounced back onto the truck bed. And the car went in reverse. As this all happened, my perspective became lower. I realized that time was moving backwards, as I had asked.
When time started going forward again, I yelled, "Daddy, stop the car!" not sure why my voice was higher.
Devon saw why, though. "Mom! Dad! Ali's turned into a kid!"
And he was right. There I was, a 9-year-old girl, dressed in a 14-year-old girl's clothes.
It got Dad to pull the car over, though.
Once we stopped, Dad asked, "How could this happen?"
"I don't know," I replied. "There was this accident, it killed you, then things went backwards, and now I'm like this."
When I finished, we heard crashes and screaming. "What kind of an accident?" Mom asked.
"The log truck. The logs came off. One killed you and Devon." Whether from the memory, or my regression to Devon's age, or both, I started to cry.
Mom consoled me.
******************************
So, that's how it began.
Over the past thirty-plus years, I've figured out a few things about this wild talent I have. I can turn back time, which can be useful in putting some things right. The downside, for me, is that turning back the clock makes me younger. So, instead of being a crazy cat lady, I'm once again a high school sophomore. Devon's got a talent, too, which keeps him perpetually young. We're currently being looked after by longtime family friends, while Mom and Dad are in an old folks' home, with something I never heard of before: Alzheimer's disease.
As for my life, it looks to me like I'll never have children. It's not that I'm infertile: rather, so far, whenever I get pregnant, something happens where I need to use my powers, and my unborn baby gets un-conceived.
But right now, I'm a high school student, hoping that I'll be able to graduate this go-around.   indicates the next chapter needs to be written. |
| Members who added to this interactive story also contributed to these: |
<<-- Previous · Outline  · Recent Additions © Copyright 2024 BeeJay (UN: bartfargo at Writing.Com). All rights reserved.
Scifiwizard Retired has granted Writing.Com, its affiliates and syndicates non-exclusive rights to display this work within this interactive story. Poster accepts all responsibility, legal and otherwise, for the content uploaded, submitted to and posted on Writing.Com. |
View Portfolio
Visit Notebook
Send Gift Points
Awards
Badges
Send Email
Community Newsfeed
General Discussion
Sponsored Items
Book of Trinkets
Static Items
Books
Groups
Interactive Stories
Audio
Campfire Creatives
Community Notes
Crossword Puzzles
Documents
Folders
Images
In & Outs
Madlibs
Photo Albums
Polls
Product Reviews
Quizzes
Survey Forms
Web Pages
Word Searches
More by this author