Choices

“That choice that you are thinking about, rethink it.” This woman stepped out of the alley and warned me. I was walking down the street, minding my own business when she approached me. I looked at her and wondered if I was being set up. Maybe this was some kind of prank reality show set up. “Divorcing Richard is a huge mistake. Sure he cheats and sometimes goes days without taking a shower or getting dressed but it’s not as if you are an angel. Need I remind you of that young college boy you picked up when you went out with ‘coworkers’?”

“I don’t know who you are or what you want but you need to leave me alone. I have a gun and I am not afraid to use it!” A crowd was gathering around me and this lady, I was growing uneasy. When I dropped my threat, a murmur went through the crowd. Any minute the police would be showing up and there was a good chance that I would be arrested. “Please whoever you are I don’t have any money and I really need to take care of some business.”

The woman turned to the crowd and raised her hand and slowly brought them back down. I caught my breath as I realized that there was something familiar about her but I couldn’t place where I knew her from. She obviously had done research into my life, not many people knew about my one night stand. “Don’t worry everyone; this woman doesn’t have a gun. She has a lighter that is shaped like a gun to ward off robbers. It works. She would never kill another person, well another grown person.”

“Who the hell are you? I don’t know you and I don’t want to! You make all of these insinuations about me but you know nothing!” I tried to catch my breath, and hold back the tears that were forming. After my fling with the young stud, I had found myself pregnant. I hadn’t wanted children and certainly not with someone that I wasn’t married to, so I made the choice to not go full term with the pregnancy. It was a decision that haunted me.

“I know you. Your name is Rachel Simons nee McNeal. You married Richard Simons out of a need to be rebellious against your parents and in a moment of heat because you thought that you loved the man. You do love him. He has cheated on you multiple times throughout the marriage and you have cheated on him one, with the aforementioned college guy. You are currently seeking a divorce from him which is not a good idea. That man that you think will come into your life and make things all better, the one who promised you love and marriage will not give you what you want.” The crowd around seemed to double in size as my head began reeling. I closed my eyes and thought of Johnny and the promises he had made me. He promised me that if I left Richard, we could be a real couple, get married, and there would be no cheating.

“You still haven’t answered who you are yet.”

She grabbed my hand and led me through the crowd. Everyone seemed to be as confused by what was happening as I was. After catching a whiff of her perfume, I tried to place where I knew that smell. Maybe this woman was right, maybe I should call off the divorce and stay unhappily married to Richard.

I sucked in a deep breath as I imagined my life without him in it and then with him in it. Neither seemed to be a great choice, I thought of killing myself. Something whistled behind me and I turned to see what it was. A metal container landed where the crowd had once stood, where I had stood. Before I could say a word, the woman threw herself over me. All I heard was a loud crack and then an explosion.

The body on top of me was lifeless. I could feel it, I knew in my heart that this woman who had known all of my secrets had died. With all of my strength I pushed her up and was surprised to find her still breathing, and looking different. Her hair which had a touch of grey in it before was now fully grey. “Don’t be afraid, every choice has consequences dearest.”

“Why is this town, a place that nobody knows exists being bombed?” Another bomb was dropped from somewhere above us and landed at the exact spot the other one had landed. I scrambled to my feet and ran as far away from it as I could.

“In this timeline people do know, Johnny overthrew the government after you dumped him and is now planning on killing you and Richard.” Tears flowed from my eyes but I didn’t bother to wipe them, it made no difference. It was obvious to me that I was going to die, nothing was making sense any longer and bombs were exploding near me. Divorce was my only option.

Suddenly I was in a dark, damp room. A single light bulb hung above my head and it flickered. The woman, who had been with me earlier, was sitting across from me. This time her hair was blond and cut short. “In this timeline you divorce Richard but your affairs come to light, and you are accused of his murder. I’m your attorney.”

“What the hell is going on?” I rubbed my temples, cinfused. I had left the office for lunch and had been through a civil war and now I was accused of murder. Worst of all I still didn’t know who this weird woman was. “Who are you?”

She fiddled with the pen in her hand, “I’m you honey. Don’t you recognize yourself? Or have you become such a stranger that you don’t even recognize you?”