The Time at the Beach

This one is not my usual sex-fest, time loop stuff that I wanted to write, hope you find it fun.

Like all of my stories, they follow their own reality. I know things don't go the way or as quickly as I write about but it's my story, my reality and in here, it does. All straight sex, no anal. all over 18.

I'd only been dating my girlfriend, Clara for about ten months or so. She was amazing, fun personality, was amazing in bed and was just stunning in every way. She was tall, with shoulder-length brown hair that curled naturally and had the most beautiful blue eyes to go with her beautiful face. When she smiled, it made me smile too and every second I was with her was like a dream. We'd met at a training conference and quickly fell in love with each other. She moved into my house with me after just two months and we were soon enjoying our lives like we'd been together for years.

I was with her when she got the call, the man just said in his broken English through his tears 'she is gone' and we were driving to clean out her house. We didn't even get a service to say our goodbyes, just a call from a country neither of us heard of saying she was gone. It took weeks for the State Department to issue a death certificate after an investigation. I looked over at Clara, all I wanted was to take her pain away.

"Please watch the road my love, you've drifted lanes a few times now. I'm okay," she said, touching my arm.

"Sorry, I just see the sadness in your eyes and wish I could take it away," I replied.

"I know, you can hold me when we get there."

Her mom lived in a pretty small apartment. Clara told me she traveled a lot and didn't want to spend money keeping up a big house when she wasn't there most of the time. I hadn't even met her, she was off on one of her travels the whole time Clara and I dated. The apartment manager stated there were just a few boxes worth of personal things and some old furniture but it would all fit in my box trailer. When we pulled in, the manager handed us a set of keys and let us in and I just held Clara to let her sob in my arms for a while.

"If you could put all the dishes and stuff in the donate boxes please my love, I'm going to go through her clothes and see if there's anything I want to keep. Please be careful with her trinkets. She'd bring home little things from everywhere she went. I'm sure there are a few photo albums I want to find too," said Clara after wiping her eyes.

"Okay," I replied.

Clara stopped to look at a picture, it was one of her and her Mom, she looked pretty young.

"I barely saw her after this, I just turned 18, was at college and she said she was going to be traveling a lot now that I was grown. We'd take trips to this beautiful little resort in Mexico before it got too dangerous but she was always so at peace there," she said.

"She's beautiful, I can see where you got your looks from," I said, smiling at her.

Clara put the picture into one of the boxes and then went to the bedroom. It didn't take me long to pack her kitchen, she perfected the minimalist lifestyle but with the trinkets around the room from places I'd never heard of, I understood. Clara came through at one point and picked up the set of keys she'd put on the table and left the room again, when she came back, her face was white. She had a photo album in her hands, one of those old-looking ones with a small lock on it but her eyes were wide open and she was staring at me.

"I.... I don't understand. There's no way. Look, it's you!" she said, pointing at an old picture.

"Holy shit, he's my double. Who is that?" I replied.

"The note says, 'My darling Marcus, likely the night Clara was conceived'. There are more, your birthmark on your ribs, look! It's the same!"

The guy in the picture was holding her Mom, just as beautiful as Clara, around the waist as she laughed. They were at a beach party or something by the background and with them all in swimwear but as we looked through the pages, more and more pictures of them in various throes of passion then a few more with him touching her pregnant belly as they gazed at each other. The pictures were all about 30 years old.

"That is nuts, it almost could be me but I'd be 60 by now. He looks just a little older than me," I said.

"How do we explain this one then? That cut on your forehead when you hit it fixing my car, it's there too on his head. In the same place! It hadn't even healed yet. This is freaking me the fuck out, Marcus," she replied.

"I didn't even notice that. That is pretty crazy, same name too?"

"It is you, Marcus! Not someone who looks like you. I asked my Mom, years ago, what my father looked like and she described you. When we met, I felt I knew you but it was because she'd put the picture of you in my head and that's why I fell in love with you so hard so quickly. She'd never tell me where he went, how they met or why he wasn't around. This whole time, I think I've been making love to my own Father who is the same age as me. This is like one of your silly shows that we make fun of, time travel, paradoxes but it's not real, it can't be real."

"Was there anything else, something to explain this maybe?"

I looked through the book and sure enough, we found a few pages of writing; it seemed it was just a diary of sorts. Clara quickly read through the pages but wouldn't let me read them. She had tears running down her face. Before I could stop her, she had put the pages into the sink and set them on fire, setting off the fire alarm.

"What are you doing?" I said, fanning the smoke away from the detector.

"I want you to know, I love you with all my heart and soul. I hope you can find a way back to me, I don't think I can love anyone else how deeply I love you," she said then walked out of the room.

I tried talking to her through the door she'd locked behind her but she wouldn't reply. I was confused and really curious about what was written on the pages she'd burned but they were gone with no way of reading them. I felt it best to give her space and carried on packing the trinkets into the boxes. One thing I picked up was fascinating. At first, I thought it was a big pebble but as I brushed the years of dust away it glistened and almost seemed to glow from the inside. I don't remember much else after that.

When I woke up, I was lying on a beach, face down, with the waves splashing around my legs. I felt like every muscle in my body was on fire and I was exhausted. A group of people were walking and laughing together and one of them spotted me and ran over to me.

"Oh my gosh, are you okay?" she said, helping me sit up.

I tried to reply but just coughed up seawater and was almost sick.

"John, go and get the manager or something, I think this guy just washed ashore!" said the woman helping me.

One guy, John I presumed, ran in the direction of the complex as the others fussed over me.

"Do you know what happened, man? Were you in a plane crash or shipwreck or something?" said one of the guys.

"I... I really don't know. I think I was somewhere else," I replied, my head was killing me and everything was fuzzy.

"Do you think he has amnesia? That cut on his head doesn't look fresh though," said another woman.

"Do you know your name?" said the woman who'd helped me.

"Marcus, Marcus Black," I replied.

"Well, Marcus-Marcus, I'm Lorraine, this is Gina, Steven, Maya and John has gone to get help. Where are you from?" asked Lorraine.

"I don't remember," I replied.

I looked down at myself and my clothes were all torn and falling apart. I wasn't wearing any watch or jewelry and my shoes were missing.

"Where are we?" I asked.

"Mexico, just over the border. We come down here a lot to chill out and party," said Lorraine.

John came back with a Mexican lady, she took one look at me and freaked out. She was ranting in Spanish but only John could speak the language. He asked her a few times to repeat, she said a few more things then left after gesturing to all of us.

"We uh, we have to leave. She said he's wrong and will bring nothing but pain," he said.

"I, I barely remember my name and have no clue how I got here," I replied.

The Mexican lady was coming back but this time was flanked by a couple of really well-built guys. We took the hint.

"Take him to the car, I'll talk to her so we can get our stuff but get him out of here. We can sort it out back home," said John.

The rest of the group helped me walk to their car, thankfully a pretty spacious minivan and John came out a few minutes later with a couple of bags.

"So glad we travel light, we can't come back here though, she was pretty freaked out by our new friend here," he said.

"He looks pretty fucking normal to me, man. Let's just go home and try to work out where he's from," said Steven.

I was surprised when we were able to just drive back into the US without passport checks and searches but I discovered why a little later. Everything looked off to me though, like I was watching an old movie but was in it too. We drove in silence for a while then John turned on the radio. An ad had me confused.

"Why did the radio say 'new for 1993', what year is it?" I said.

"It's 1993. January 8th. Boy you really did get a smack in the head, didn't you," said Lorraine with a smile.

I shouldn't have been there, as I was in 1993. I was born on January 2nd, 1993, that I remembered. I was 30. Not 6 days old.

"Shit man, where's he going to stay, my parents would freak out if I took him home," said Steven.

"I'll take him with me, there's something about him," said Lorraine.

"Won't your sister get pissed?" asked Gina.

"No, she's too stoned to give a shit about anything these days, it'll be fine."

"Well, I still have my ex's clothes, he was about his size, I'll drop them off later," said Maya.

John dropped us off a little while later and Lorraine led me into her apartment by the hand. A woman about the same age as Lorraine was sprawled out on the couch, her breasts barely contained in her tank top and looking like she was stoned out of her head.

"Who the fuck is he?" she said, sitting up.

"We found him on the beach, he needs some help," replied Lorraine.

"Oh. Did you bring pizza home?"

"I've been gone two days, Lisa. I wasn't meant to come home for another week but we got kicked off the resort."

"Told you that lady was a bitch, she fucking hated me."

"You tried to set fire to her bar, Lisa, if we hadn't built her a better one, we would have got our asses kicked. Put some fucking clothes on, I can see your pussy."

I hadn't noticed but Lisa was wearing a pretty loose pair of shorts and no underwear.

"Come with me," said Lorraine.

"Why are you doing this? I'm a stranger to you, are you not worried I'm some escaped convict or something?" I said with a smile.

"I may be a little smaller than you in stature, Mr., but my father taught me how to take care of myself. He taught hand-to-hand combat in the Marines and made sure Lisa and I could handle anyone twice our size. Besides, you have a deep kindness in your eyes, it's hard to explain but I see things," she replied.

"Well, I hope I won't be a burden, I do appreciate you helping me."

I watched her as she moved around the kitchen, she was very beautiful. She had the most amazing blue eyes that were a stunning contrast to her tanned skin and dark hair. She gave me a glass of water and then checked my temperature with a thermometer under my tongue. She gave me a couple of pills to swallow with the water.

"You have a bit of a fever, you should take those, they're just aspirin. Once you've finished the water, you can shower and hopefully, Maya will have made it back with some clothes for you," she said.

"Thank you."

I enjoyed the shower and the throbbing headache I had faded once the pills kicked in. I wandered out to see if I had clothes to wear.

"Hey, bad news my friend, Maya called me, her mom threw the clothes away just last week. I can run to the thrift store and find you some," she said to me.

"Thank you," I replied.

"Well, I'll try to be fast, you should hang out in my room though, Lisa will probably try and fuck you then call her boyfriend to cry and confess. She's a mess but I love her."

"Your room sounds great."

I wasn't sure how long Lorraine was gone. I was looking out of her window as I glanced through a newspaper and hadn't noticed my towel fall off. I jumped when I saw Lorraine standing in the doorway, grinning at me.

"Sorry, I couldn't help but admire the view," she said.

"Oh fuck, sorry," I said, finally noticing I'd lost the towel.

"It's fine, I'll call it a thank you for your rescue," she said with a laugh.

Lorraine handed me a paper bag after I put the towel back around my waist and I took out some clothes.

"The underwear and shoes are new, the rest is from the thrift store," she said.

"This is great, thank you," I replied.

She left me alone to put clothes on then came back to see me. I was sitting on her chair, wondering how I came to be in the past. I told her what I knew.

"So, you believe you're from the future, not even from the same town and you don't know how you got here?" she said.

"Yes," I replied.

"There's more you're not telling me but everything you said is the truth. People have these things that show when they're lying, my mom taught me how to spot them. Makes winning poker so easy but holy fuck, 30 years? I just turned 30 too. What are we going to do with you?"

"I don't know. Your friends were not worried about me at all, you were all so nice to me."

"It's why they're my friends. We grew up seeing so much hate in the world, we help people who need it, without question."

"I wish there were more people in the world like that."

"We can keep you safe until you start remembering things."

"Are you sure I won't be a burden?"

"Positive. Look, if we take you to the Feds or something, they'll take you away from me. There is something really special about you and I'm not about to let that go."

Lorraine set up her spare room for me to sleep in and made me feel at home. She cooked pasta for dinner and she told me about her life.

"I've enjoyed learning about your life, I wish I could remember enough to tell you about mine. I remember some things, I know what I did for a living, know some great recipes to cook but no idea where I live or if I'm married or something," I said after listening to Lorraine talk for hours.

"So, are you an accountant or something?" she replied with a smile.

"I work with computers, mostly repair but some software stuff too. I like to repair broken electronics but everything I've seen here looks so old. I am so thankful you are helping me and don't think I'm crazy." Clara laughed.

"Well, the smoke from Lisa's pipes and bongs makes everything look dirty but the TV is less than a year old, same with most of my stuff. Our parents got us most of it as a moving-in present, I think they were glad we moved out again."

"I didn't mean that to be insulting. From my perspective, your TV is old technology and you can't even buy those anymore."

"No offense taken. We should get some sleep, it's pretty late and you look wiped, mister."

I slept well that night, I had vivid dreams about a woman who looked a lot like Lorraine. She was beautiful, tall with dark hair and the same bright blue eyes as Lorraine but it wasn't her. I put it down to just my brain giving me messed up details from my day but I woke up refreshed and it took me a few minutes to remember where I was.

"Morning, sunshine," said Lorraine with a smile. She handed me a mug of coffee.

"Oh, now this I remember I like," I said.

"I like good coffee, it's the one thing I'll spend money on buying the best rather than just the basic. I know my apartment is pretty basic but I see my home as a place to shelter, I need to be outside with my friends, not sitting like Lisa, stoned all the time and just watching the world go by."

"It's giving me a roof over my head, your place is awesome."

"So, you said you can cook? How about you make us breakfast? I know you're a guest but the cafe I waitress at was looking for a cook, could maybe see if we can get you a job."

"Sure, but we should try and find out more about how I got here at some point."

"Are you in such a rush to leave?"

"It's not like that, I can't help the feeling that I don't belong here. You have been so good to me, you've known me less than a day but you've already bought me new clothes, fed me and gave me a safe place to sleep. There's something so familiar about you but I know we've never met before."

"I have that same feeling."

"Just tell her you want to fuck her and get on with it, giving me a fucking headache with your yapping, both of you," said Lisa as she walked into the room.

"Well good morning to you too, Lisa. Run out of weed or something?" replied Lorraine.

"I'm getting more today, thank you. Just can't sleep with you two talking nonstop."

"Well, maybe you can clean up your mess before you get too wasted. I swear, if I come back from work and it's still in this state, I'm smashing your bong."

Lisa just glared at Lorraine and then walked back into her room.

"I am easy-going but that stuff has made her such a slob," Clara said to me quietly.

"Not really a fan myself. So, breakfast?"

Cooking felt natural to me, I made us both a platter of breakfast food and we both enjoyed it. We made a plate for Lisa and then put the leftovers away. Lorraine drove us to her work and introduced me to her boss, the owner of the small cafe she worked at.

"So, you don't have any papers, no ID or anything but you tell me you can cook? This is our menu, anything on there you think you'll have trouble with?" said the woman.

"No, Ma'am, I grew up eating great food like this," I replied with a smile.

"Lorraine can find you an apron, you start now. Carl in there can follow orders but will burn toast in an automatic toaster. He can help you with how our customers expect the food though. If you work out, I'll have you back."

"Thank you."

Lorraine took me to the kitchen and got me an apron. I looked at the kitchen, had a chat with Carl then started cooking as the orders came in. I got a little backed up with the lunch rush but I got plenty of compliments from the customers. The night cook came in and took over from me when Lorraine's shift was over, she took me back to see Gina, the owner.

"So, I watched all the plates coming back into the kitchen, pretty much all of them clean. I even had a few customers tell me their food was amazing and I'll be honest, that don't happen often. Here's your pay for today, keep cooking like that and I'll be happy. Happy Karen is always a good thing," she said with a smile.

"Thank you, Karen, I appreciate the opportunity," I said.

"Same time tomorrow?"

"I'll have him here on time!" said Lorraine.

I didn't even open the envelope, I handed it to Lorraine when we got to her car.

"What, no, this is yours," she said.

"You've given me everything I currently own, Lorraine. If you and your friends hadn't picked me up on the beach, who knows where I'd have ended up. Please, take it," I said to her.

"I'm putting it in a jar in my room to save for you. My tips were amazing today thanks to your food so you already helped me."

Lorraine and I soon got into a routine. She kept me busy with her friends and I almost felt relaxed after just a few weeks. We all went out one night and Lorraine kept me close to her, she was pretty drunk but we were all having a good time, posing for pictures and laughing. We were sat alone at one point and Lorraine took the beer from my hand and straddled my lap, put her hands on my cheeks and kissed me. I was a little shocked at first but I enjoyed it. She had an almost sheepish smile on her face when she stopped and just gazed into my eyes.