JAA Ch. 04: Lives of John Abernathy

The man lays still, the bullet having pierced his body, ricocheted off the floor reentering his body again. Michelle hurries out of the room. Once in the hall, she slows cautiously, looking up and down the hall. Not seeing anyone, she hurries to where John is lying. Pressing her fingers to his neck, she feels for his pulse. Panic starts to fill her mind as she feels around. A sigh of relief escapes her lungs as she finds his pulse point. His heartbeat is strong.

Sighing once more, Michelle slides down the wall to sit next to John's head. She places her hand on the back of his head.

"You'll be okay dear," she whispers.

"I know," John croaks, coughing.

"Don't talk, just rest. Susan should be here soon," she tells him.

"I'm sorry," John croaks.

"It's not your fault, dear."

"I know."

"Then shut up and rest," Michelle says softly, cradling his head.

John woke a smile on his face as the memories drift by only to disappear. When they were all back behind whatever curtain hid them, John moaned and sat up. Opening his eyes, he looked around in amazement. He was not in a cell, his cell. He was even more surprised that he remembered the cell.

"Hello," John said tentatively.

"Hello," said a voice from the speaker next to his bed.

"What's going on?"

"A determination has been made."

"Really, so when is my last supper?"

Laughter echoed from the speaker. "John, you will be briefed at ten hundred hours."

A noise across the room drew John's attention toward the table there. A tray was in place there, steam rising from the contents.

"Eat. The conference room is three doors down to you right as you leave the room."

"Ah, thanks, I think."

"See you in an hour and a half. Clothes in the closet, underwear, and socks in the chest," the voice told him.

Nodding John rose and went to the table. Spread across the table, it was a large table, were five newspapers. Each called the Tribune and each had the same date, yet each was different. In the upper left corner of the first page were two numbers. The first number was one through five, the second was four digits long. As John looked at them, they were each one of the lives John had already lived or was going to live.

As John ate, he read each paper. John gleaned nothing from any of them. Each was different, yet they were exactly the same. In each, the names of places were the same, yet in each, something different happened there. The people's names were the same, but the actions are taken differently. The view expressed in each was the same, yet subtlety different. When John finished reading them, he was completely confused. Shaking his head, he headed for the shower.

Now dressed, John stepped out into the hall and turned right. Three doors down, he entered the conference room. Four men were already there. When John entered, they all rose.

"Mister Abernathy, it is a pleasure to finally meet you," the voice said. The man sticking out his hand was the voice. "My name is Michael Williams."

"Ah Mike, good to meet you also," John replied sticking out his hand.

"The others, Doctor Floyd Becker, Doctor Allen Shaffer, and James Alanson," Mike introduced the rest of the men.

"Nice meeting you, I think," John tells them.

Mike laughed as he sat down. The others chuckled. John sat opposite the four men, waiting.

"Mister Abernathy...John, from what we have discovered in your files, it has been determined to allow you to continue on with...whatever is happening. We don't know how you...get to each...life, but we are willing to allow you to do what it is you do."

"What do I do?" John asks in all seriousness.

"You, John Abernathy, set things right or try your damndest to. We, the Doctor's here, have not been able to figure out exactly how you accomplish what it is you do. We will be watching you, monitoring you as you blunder along and do what you do. Then when you feel you have accomplished your self assigned mission, we will see you here to talk some more."

"I hope you won't be keeping me in the prison cell," John tells them testily.

"Ha-ha, no John, we won't be keeping you in the cell." Mike laughs.

"Good, 'cuz you know I almost had it figured out," John chuckles.

"I'm sure you did. It seems you are quite resourceful when you need to be."

"Thanks. How is this going to work? I go to sleep and wake up where I'm supposed to be?"

"No, actually, you will step through a portal similar to the one you stepped into when you came here."

"I didn't step through a portal of any kind before I came here. I just faded away, blowing up a good portion of Washington D.C."

"Ah, yes, from your perspective it would seem that way."

"Oh...well then, when do I leave."

"Are you in a hurry?"

"Not particularly, but I will have to leave here before I die."

"Yes, that would be best. Are you going to die soon?"

"I am quite old, I have no plans to die for the near future, but at my age, you never know."

"You will not die while you are here, your age has been arrested somewhere in your fourth decade. So unless you walk in front of a bus or commit suicide..."

"I see. So I could live a lifetime here and still go on to live my other two lives? Do they still have buses here?"

"Yes, yes you could," Mike laughed, "and no there are no buses here."

"I think I best get on with my lives," John says.

"Well, if that's your wish, but I must tell you the Doctors, along with Mister Alanson, would really like to talk about the three lives you have experienced already."

"I see. Sure, I guess I can hang around for that."

So, for the next three weeks John met with the three men, sometimes Mike was there also, answering their questions. Towards the end of the third week, John was feeling a bit antsy and told Mike. The next day, Mike took John to a room he had never been to before. Inside, the room was crammed with electronic equipment. In the middle of the room were two curved beams about twenty feet long.

"What's this?" John asks.

"This is the portal. You will step through that and find yourself in whatever life you should be living."

"Will I remember this?"

"No, you will have no memory of being here while you are living your next life."

"Well then, I guess this is goodbye until I get back?"

"Yes, it is. It has been my pleasure," Mike says sticking out his hand.

"Mine too," John says taking Mike's hand in his.

A loud whine draws their attention to the portal. It is now glowing and sparking.

"That looks a little dangerous," John says.

"It will settle down in a minute," Mike says.

Shortly the sparking stops and the space between the curved beams is glowing softly, then it settles down into a flat smooth green.

"It's ready," Mike says.

"Ah, does it hurt?"

"You won't remember," Mike tells John.

"I see, so it does hurt?"

"Nobody knows," Mike whispered.

"Ah, okay, see you," John says walking toward the softly glowing green portal.

Mike smiles as John disappears through the portal field. He wondered how long it would be until John returned.