Chapter Text
Allow me to briefly introduce myself. My name is Steven and I am a music education major with a double minor in English and Humanities at a college in North Carolina. I am also student teaching at a high-achieving, top-100-in-America ranked high school (grades 9-12) near my college. I was only 10 months old when Columbine occurred, so I grew up in a post-Columbine world. I never saw myself having anything to do with Columbine until that fateful day in December of 2020.
*Thursday, December 3, 2020, 7:00-9:00ish PM*
I clocked out from my part-time job at Bed Bath and Beyond at exactly 7:03 PM. My 11-7 shift had been wrought with Karens refusing to wear their masks and the usual frantic holiday shoppers trying to snag their Christmas décor and stocking stuffers. More questions about vacuum cleaners, crock pots and Keurigs than you can count. Over 150 online orders picked up by cranky soccer moms in their Tahoes, Suburbans, Explorers, Sorentos and XC90s. It had been a long day, but I was grateful to head home and start my 3-day weekend.
I slid into the driver's seat of my Volvo S60, pulled off my mask (hanging it on the windshield wiper control) and promptly cued up "Megalomaniac" by KMFDM on my iPhone 11. I needed the electronic edge of the KMFDM song to help keep me awake for my 35 minute drive home. I nudged the Volvo out of the parking lot and onto New Garden Road as the song filled the car. I had made it through "Megalomaniac" twice, and was starting "Encoder" by Pendulum when my phone rang. My mother's name appeared in the car's infotainment display.
"Whaaaaaaaat?!" I sarcastically sneered through the phone. "Steven, where are you?" Mom's tone immediately made me realize that this was a serious call. "I'm on Friendly Avenue, fixing to turn onto the I-73 beltway now. Is everything okay?" "Yeah, everything's fine. We got a call and you got a really official-looking letter a little while ago from the U.S Department of Physics. They need to speak to you as soon as you get home. They're waiting on you to call tonight" she said. My pulse began racing. "Mom, open the letter. NOW. Tell me what its about" I said with a bit of a nervous edge. She opened the letter and began reading.
"Steven,
The confidentiality of this letter is of utmost importance. You have been recommended by your collegiate professors, mentoring teacher, and supervising colleagues at Bed Bath and Beyond as a prime candidate for our Time Travel initiative beginning in February, 2021. We have spent the past twelve years perfecting this science under utmost secrecy. We can now transport people and vehicles throughout time safely with minimal side effects and no danger whatsoever. We will be contacting you via telephone soon to set up training interviews...." Mom's voice trailed off as we both tried to process what we were both experiencing. My hearing began to go into "tunnel-ear" and I damn near crashed the car. I put my emergency blinkers on and pulled the car onto the side of the I-73/I-840 beltway to pull myself back together.
"What (and I cannot emphasize this enough) the FUCK is going on? I left work a normal, broke-ass, gay college kid, and now I'm somehow the chosen one to jump on the government's TARDIS and go gallivanting through time??? No, this has to be some fucked up prank..." I mentally mused as I tried to pull my shit together long enough to get home in one piece. Mom was equally as dumbfounded. "Steven, you okay?? Can you get home?" I pulled myself together well enough to halfway convince myself it was some kind of joke. "Yes mom, I can get home. Let me get off here and get back on the road. Love you" I said like a zombie. "Love you too son. Drive safe."
The phone clicked off and "Encoder" resumed streaming through the speakers. I turned off the blinkers and swung back onto the beltway. Soon, I was merging onto I-85 South at 75 mph, my mind still racing. I swung across all five lanes into the left express lane and set the cruise control at 84 mph. 18 miles of "get the fuck outta my way you slow ass hoes" later, I pulled off I-85 onto the Lake Road exit. I guided the car down the county roads as I neared home, still doing a solid 55-60 mph on the two lane, 45 mph roads. I swung into the driveway, shut the car off and ran into the garage. Mom opened at the top of the garage steps and I damn near ran into her as I bounded up the steps, my heart pounding and nerves screaming. She handed me the letter.
I read past the first part she had already read out loud. The letter mostly contained pleasantries and other form-letter mumbo-jumbo, but I reached the bottom to find a handwritten signature from Nancy Pelosi and the phone number of the office I needed to call. Tentatively, I pulled out my iPhone and dialed the number. Three rings, and the other end picked up.
"Hello, this Steven Davis. I needed to call this number?" I said nervously. The person on the other end said "Ahh, Steven, thank you for calling! We've been expecting this call." I instantly recognized the voice as "Mayor" Pete Buttigieg, who ran for the 2020 Democratic nomination. With the Trump-Biden transition underway, Buttigieg had been appointed to a high-ranking position on the Cabinet.
I damn near dropped the phone. This was no joke. This was some real, legit shit.
I somehow managed to hold the phone and stay upright for the remainder of the conversation. I can't disclose all the details here due to confidentiality, but a meeting time and place in nearby Greensboro was decided upon for December 10, 2020. I was strictly forbidden, under penalty of law, from disclosing any of the details to my friends until the all-clear to do so was given.
The call ended with pleasantries exchanged and reassurances from Mr. Buttigieg that this was indeed legit. I put the phone down and slowly sank into the La-Z-Boy in the den, my mind whirling with the same questions as earlier. "Why ME?? Is this still a joke?" I must've zoned out and swam in my mental mess for a while, because it was suddenly 10:00 PM. I begrudgingly pulled myself out of the chair and made my way to prepare for bed. "Surely this is all a joke" I thought to myself, praying that I would wake up the next morning to find my world back to normal.
Spoiler alert: It wasn't a joke and my world was no longer "normal".