THE ROOM APART FROM TIME

“A ROOM APART FROM TIME”

I found myself in a room apart from time. 

Past, Present and Future sat at a table.

Off to my left was Past. Frowning and regarding me with eyes so blue I would have sworn she was staring into my soul that very moment. She had green-tinged skin and snow white hair that hanging straight and long seemed to enhance her youthful appearance rather than offset it. Leaning forward, elbows on the table and fingers stitched together I had the oddest sensation that she was suspicious of me.

Though what I might have done to offend her I hadn’t the foggiest.

Present seemed to be the youngest of the three. She sat atop the table, her legs dangling over the sides and not nearly reaching the floor. She had a broad smile on her face and innocence in her eyes.

She had all the colour and dimension of a page in a child’s sketchbook, yet I instantly sensed she was the kindest of the three.

And Future off the right seemed to be made of what I can only transcribe now as starstuff.

Rather than take up space as Past and even little Present seemed to, Future seemed to create it.

A gap in the physical world and a portal across the Universe in the guise of a woman’s figure.

I felt, if I were to attempt to shake hands with her I would fall through to infinity.

Indeed I couldn’t look at her head on for very long without getting dizzy.

Though I thought I made out a slight smile on her face.

“What now?” I wondered aloud.

Past scoffed. “A pitiful initial query indeed! You are permitted to ask each of us one question for which we will each provide you with as honest an answer we can give.

And yes you just received my answer.”

(That had in fact been my next question.)

“Really Past, there’s no need to be finicky!” Present interjected.

“If you’re wondering why I’m so small it’s because I don’t get to spend as much time with you as my sisters do. And don’t think about that one too much or you’ll prove my point!” She winked at me.

It took me a moment to realise Present had volunteered the information pro bono and was still waiting for me to ask her my next question. I wondered if Past noticed the trade-off in idiosyncrasies. But she’d adopted an air of stoicism and one glance back told me that when it came to her I would be receiving no further information.

“I would genuinely like to know where I am right now.” I admitted. “You’re clearly the Tenses and I’ve been tasked with seeking your counsel but what is The Room Apart From Time? Has time stopped? Is it still going? Could I stay here and live forever?” Past growled at this and I realised I’d been rambling. Present giggled.

“I gather your meaning. Well, The Room Apart From Time is exactly what it sounds like. My sisters and I have to live somewhere don’t we?” (I hadn’t thought about it to be honest.) “Your great-great grandmother could pay us a visit tomorrow and we may just as easily have seen your twenty-two year old grandson a few hours ago.“ 

(I decided to ignore that last bit. I was twenty-three. And there would be no discussions about children, much less grandchildren today thank you very much!) And yes I suppose you could stay here and maintain immortality. but I guarantee you you’d find it unbearably boring. Time is precious you know.”

“How cliché.” I muttered. Present flinched and I had the dignity to look ashamed.

“Well,” she mumbled and I appreciated her docility “I suppose you’re wondering now how much time will have passed when you go home and all that stuff -it’s okay everyone does.” Present was laughing again. (I noticed she didn’t seem to stay bothered by anything for very long.)

“Now you could go back anywhere from five minutes before or after you got here or five trillion years give or take. Time Travellers need a permit of course. But we tend to send everyone on their way as if no time had lapsed at all.

Nothing lost, nothing gained as they say.

We messed up once and sent someone a quarter of a day into their future and February still hasn’t recovered!”

The way she said February made me think of a dog or cat and I was tempted to ask if the Tenses kept months as pets, but Present had been more than generous. As she seemed to be done talking I wasn’t about to make the same mistake with Past, especially not now. I gulped, turning to yes, “Face the Future” (roll your eyes at me all you want, I’ll wait.)

Future herself chuckled. But it was in a kindly manner.

She spoke for the first time in a voice both deep and melodious.

“Before you inquire anything of me, let me impart this to you. I can answer your question. Love, Success, the day you’ll die.

But many who seek specificities are driven mad trying to undo them if they do not receive the answer they’re craving.

So choose carefully, young vagabond.”

I imagined knowing all of that and grew faint all over again.

Between that and the celestial void that danced beyond the silhouette of Future’s wavy hair and hourglass figure, I did find myself leaning against a wall for support.

“How do you do it?”

I asked meekly. 

Future smiled.

I got the sense that she was impressed with my choice.

“I do it, because it is who I am. Who we are, there is no separation between what Infinity is to me than what breathing is to you.

Present claimed earlier that you spend little time with her in comparison to Past and myself. This is true in a sense that moments are fleeting and while the same can not be said for our youngest sister, Past and I accompany vagabonds beyond the farthest reaches of your imagination.”

(Apparently “vagabond” was Future’s term for “human.” Or maybe it was the Tenses choice term for anything possessing mortality.

I returned my attention to Future’s voice before I got dizzy again.)

“Past is alive in the books you read that your mother loved.

I exist in the impossible ambitions and resilience of minds determined.

A name you learnt yesterday, that you remember now with every intention of incorporating into tomorrow’s conversation and you meet the three of us together again.

But perhaps you were asking how you do it?”

Future wasn’t prone to winking like Present but I thought I caught a smirk and even the quirk of a would-be-eyebrow.

“Certainty or uncertainty? Which is a greater burden to bear? You have the fortune of not needing to trouble yourself with the choice.

For all that a future may exist that is not to say you cannot and have not shaped it as far as it is willing to be malleable. And if you doubt that Truth and Flexibility can coexist I’m sure Present would love to tell you about February again.” Future cocked her head at her sister as a giggle crept into her voice.

I smiled.

Many truths.

And many paths.

I still wasn’t quite sure what would happen if Future had told me I’d turn left and I decided to turn right.

If I knew anything about human nature I couldn’t imagine someone hadn’t already tried this.

“Did it create a chain reaction?”

I wondered.

“Maybe the left turn was reserved for a future Future left turn?

Or maybe it turned out like one of those splits in the Multiverse Theory I’d read about where the left turn happened anyway even though it didn’t.”

I smiled to myself.

I was avoiding thinking about Future’s comment on madness though I knew somewhere in my heart it must also be valid.

Did we not drive ourselves mad every day even without clairvoyance? I thought of the many times I’d tried to halve a paper more than seven times over, solely because I’d read that it couldn’t be done.

As long as facts existed there’d be people who revelled in breaking them, if only to attempt putting them back together again. I knew I was one of those people.

Hopefully I could make that a good thing. Time would tell.

“I think facts need room to be flexible. As far as they’re willing to be malleable anyway.”

Future smiled now and embraced me.

“I think you may be onto something.”

Her voice faded and for a moment I was riding on starlight.

Then a story needed to be told. Of the day in which I found myself in a room apart from time.

©️~Belle Emilie Gold