When You Were Young

"Who are you? How do you know my name?" she said.

"It's me, Wendell. The stowaway."

She looked the little boy over, raising an eyebrow in confusion. "You? Mrs. Bloom said you almost killed her. But you couldn't have. You're too small."

"This may be difficult to accept, but until this morning I was twenty years old," he said. "Reverend Crane poured water from the Fountain of Youth on me and this is what happened."

"Young man, this is no time for such nonsense. We have to get you back to your parents." She stood up and then took Wendell by the arm. "Did you happen to see anyone else in the forest? A group of older men perhaps?"

"No, but Prudence there is still a chance to save your husband. If we hurry and find them-"

"What do you know about my husband?"

"Reverend Crane is going to kill him. He and Mr. Pryde are going to turn the fountain water against your husband and the others. If we reach them first, we might warn them."

"Why would Reverend Crane want to harm Rodney?"

"I don't know. What I do know is he's going to kill your husband and then do to everyone else what he did to me."

"You're lying. I don't have time to listen to such foolishness. When we get back, your parents can punish you."

She dragged him away a few feet until he squirmed free of her grasp. "I'm telling the truth," he said. "I can prove it."

"How?"

"Before you woke up in this place you had a dream of the future. Three hundred fifty years into the future. There was a town built here called Eternity where you and I lived with a group of other children and Reverend Crane. There was a girl named Samantha who was your best friend. And you and I-"

She slapped the boy across the face, sending him tumbling to the ground. "How do you know about my dream?"

"Because it isn't a dream. It happened. I can't explain how or why, but somehow we came back in time to this moment."

"No. You're lying. It's not true. It's not true!" She sank to her knees, her entire body shivering with fever.

"It is true, Prudence."

"No, it can't be. It can't be!" She looked up at him with tear-filled eyes. "If it is true then that means he dies."

"He doesn't have to," Wendell said. "We can stop Reverend Crane. We can make things right this time." He offered his hand to her. "There's still a chance."

She took his hand and followed him deeper into the forest.