Baby… Oh, baby… My sweet baby… You’re the one…

To understand the way forward, the road to the future, one must go back in time…

It can be said that love can sometimes be strange as it can also be said that love is eternal though what can be stranger or more strange than anything ever associated with love is to be caught in a loop with a part to play to keep love in order, for one particular relationship to ever come about or to even move forwards, one partner will need to go back in time to ensure that the other initiates anything at all.

Almost like tying a shoelace, one relationship needs to be looped twice so it can be tied together as one. Love, on this occasion, is certainly a game of two halves. Yeah, if a present-day relationship continues in the past or a present-day relationship starts over in the future then where does it truly begin if in each edition of the relationship is brand new for one and a continuation for the other?

Sylvia stood in her spot like a statue, and she may as well have been just that to Mick for he just walked right by her without so much as a flicker. It is as if he knows absolutely nothing of her, as if she is invisible too, and on top of that how young he looks to her is almost surreal, it all is surreal for it has worked. The saying Love at first sight has a brand-new meaning right now for she is in love with him, and he has barely taken notice.

In a way, she had doubted and believed both at once and now if he is to have any kind of doubt or lack of belief then she has to convince him otherwise.

Mick hadn’t completely ignored her. He saw her and something had… Clicked. He both knows nothing of the lady he just walked right past and feels that she has always been there, not so much in the spot she so happens to be standing in but rather in his life that is.

Still, as she watches him move on, she speaks to herself, ‘It worked, it really worked.’

This place Sylvia stood in, appeared to be a restaurant area of what perhaps was a much bigger building, a hotel perhaps. The device she had used is more or less a homing signal which could locate someone in time so its wielder could be brought right to such a temporally located person. This is the first time she has used such a thing and she did so in such doubt that she is amazed it could actually work, though work it apparently has. This is unbelievable, frightening, and awesome too.

How does she know it worked in not only special terms but temporal too? For one thing, Mick, the guy she came to find, looked so much younger than she had ever previously known him to be, and on top of that, the Mick of her time was no longer in the land of the living. Right here, he is alive and well.

The revelation the device has brought home is an overwhelming bundle of emotion, something Sylvia was most definitely not prepared for. Indeed, she had not believed this miracle device she has used would work but now that it has, she is open for so much to hit her. This particular restaurant is currently serving carvery lunch and from where Sylvia is, she can see Mick choosing a meal for himself.

Once his food has been chosen and paid for, Mick takes a seat and a seat in a position where he can see the very lady, he had passed by standing almost still. Now Mick did not do this on purpose. Ordinarily, if he had come so close to someone like he did her, he would have apologised for infringing upon personal space, and he did not get to do this.

In this moment he has no idea who this lady is though he had indeed noticed her just as he was passing her by. Thankfully, he did not see her arrive for if he had then it would have appeared that she appeared out of thin air, and having not seen such a thing take place makes what is to come all that much easier. As it is too, something has clicked.

From his seated position he can see her as she is apparently lost, confused, and upset and being who he is, he can’t just let this be, so he gets out of that seat of his and moves towards her.

‘Miss’ he says, ‘are you alright?’

‘I will be... I hope.’

He takes a moment and thinks about what he is going to say next.

‘I am actually on my own and about to have lunch, if you would like to accompany me for something to eat, I will happily treat you to it.’

This is perfect. This is better than perfect for not expecting to be here Sylvia did not prepare any kind of plan. She had no idea what to say or do to ensure that things go her way, now in a way she is halfway there or at least she is in the door, so to speak.

‘Thank you very much’ she says as gracefully and as calmly as she can.

She chooses her lunch, joins him at his table and they both eat in almost silence.

‘I have so much to say to you. I don’t know where to begin,’ she says before the emptied plates are cleared, not wanting to wait too long to make it known why she is here.

That was it, a moment with which he feared might come. She did look a bit odd no matter her beauty and demeanour, at the same time he was oddly alright with the possibility of such a moment coming.

‘Excuse me?’ he asks.

‘I’m sorry, this is going to be extremely strange, but I would never forgive myself if I don’t put this out there...’

‘Alright, we are here right now. I am in no rush to be anywhere so, no harm in talking, right?’

‘Exactly, Mick, you see, I know all there is to know about you. Where I am from, you are my life, you are my world and I have... I have...’

Eyes have welled, and tears begin to flow, she is clearly a little choked up, more than a little choked up in fact. He hands her a serviette and takes a moment before speaking.

‘Wait a second, Miss. It is alright, take a moment for yourself if you need to. You know, we never introduced ourselves, how do you know my name?’

‘I know a heck of a lot more than that honey,’ she says, and this makes him smile.

He should be feeling confused, weary, and perhaps a bit scared, but he is as calm as calm can be.

‘I know where you went to school’ she continues, ‘I know what your favourite subject was, I know who your favourite musical act is, who and what your first pet was, what teams you support...’ she begins listing off things about him as if they were common knowledge.

‘I... I...’ at a loss is what he is.

‘I look older than you, right?’

‘I suppose you do, yeah.’

‘When we first met you were five years older than me.’

He begins to look down towards the area he first saw her standing which in itself suggests he wants to say that they only met a few minutes ago and she can’t help but laugh. Again, he should be freaked out, but he isn’t. whatever had clicked with him is probably trying to tell him something.

‘Okay, tell me everything...’

So, she does, and he oddly believes her. She has travelled here from eighteen years in the future where they had spent five years together as lovers. She debated telling him how he is or will be in eighteen years’ time but tells him anyway. Illness has or at least will run through him one day, taking him from this world. It happens so quickly that she cannot deal with it. In her despair, an offer was made that came with no financial price.

A woman unknown to her had herself an invention and needed to test his item and in Sylvia, she found the perfect test subject. She could locate Mick, Sylvia’s Mick, in the past and she could send her to him. Without thinking she agreed to be a test subject and now here she is.

Eight years Mick spends with Sylvia. This is crazy but a crazy he most certainly can get with. On the day of the eighth anniversary of this meal, they agree to go and recreate their day somewhat. He waits for her then disaster strikes. He watches from inside the restaurant as she makes her way across the street outside. Indeed, disaster strikes for she does not make it across that street. An out-of-control vehicle hits her, and she is killed instantly.

As unbelievable as her initial story was there must be some truth to it for if it is not then how did she know all that she knew. He knows there is something to it, there must be something to it for if she felt a fraction of what he now feels then he clearly can see why she did what she did.

One thing on his side is that he knows the when and the where she is originally from, she had informed him, armed him with all the important details and he has five years to wait, five years that feel like a lifetime. The years pass. Then he sees her and it is indeed all true.

His heart pounds, his eyes well and the mother of all lumps gather in his throat. She looks fantastic, she looks amazing, she looks so young for she is back in his world, she is his world, she is his everything and as faith would have it, she notices him in his full-on distress and there he has it, a starting point.

‘Sir... Are you alright?’

The future has become the present, the present has become the past and in time it will begin all over again, a future will come where she will have to go back in time, indeed love is strange, love is eternal. Thing is now, does Mick warn Sylvia of her future within the past. Sure, she must have known already for wouldn’t she question the whereabouts of her other self. For if she does go to the past then there should be an alternate version of her.

Then again, Sylvia was surprised that the device she had been given had actually worked. Perhaps he, she, or them both could go see out this lady but at that, wouldn’t that change what already is? And isn’t Sylvia going to meet that lady anyhow?

These are some of the questions brought about by going back in time...