By Lauren
So I'm in Hobart now (which is amazing), and the other day we went to this cafe on the water that we were told had the best range of ice-cream flavours.
I'm not quite sure how this idea came to me, but I think it was the range of ages in the cafe, or maybe the fashion from different times? I don't actually know. But anyway, most of my story ideas start pretty strangely, sometimes with a sentence, or scene, or title or something and I go from there (why I recommend six-word stories as writing prompts). Anyway, for this one, the sentence that started it was, "If you saw you from ten years in the future, would you recognise them?" which is crazy confusing, so I hope it makes more sense in the actual story.
(P.S. I took the photo for this one, which I was super proud of. All the other images have been just stock photos and stuff, but I'm going to try to make them as much original pictures as I can)
If the you that you are now were sitting in a café, minding your own business, when the you that you will be ten years in the future walked in, would you recognise yourself?
I didn’t.
It wasn’t until ten years later that I understood what had happened then... sort of. Even now the whole idea makes my head spin.
thirteen years ago, when I was twelve, I was sitting in a café in Hobart, Tasmania. I was there with my parents and my older sister, Marcy, who was fourteen at the time. It was winter, and it was freezing. I was drinking a hot chocolate, and Marcy was forcing down a coffee – I don’t think she actually liked it, but she was a “teenager” and wanted to make a point about how grown-up she was.
Anyway, I was drinking my hot chocolate, blocking out Marcy expressing loudly to the whole café how much she was enjoying her coffee and really loved how bitter it was, but could understand how some people who were less grown-up – “Like you, Alexis,” she’d said to me – might dislike it… yada yada. So, I was blocking all that out when a young couple, looked to be maybe in their mid twenties walked in. The girl was wearing a summer dress, and the boy a tank top and shorts. I thought their outfits were completely unsuited to the currant weather, but I mean you do you.
They both looked sort of familiar, the girl more than the boy. She was more the friend-that-you’d-had-years-ago-but-hadn’t-seen-in-ages-and-couldn’t-remember-their-name-familiar, whereas the boy was someone-who-lived-in-your-area-but-you-didn’t-know-and-had-never-talked-to-familiar. He had blonde hair and brown eyes, and a smile you wanted to see again. Once they’d ordered their ice-creams – which had also seemed crazy, it was way too cold for that – they sat down in the booth next to ours, the one next to the door.
When she went to sit down, the girl’s eyes met mine. She started and dropped her ice-cream on the ground. She didn’t seem to notice though, she was gaping at me instead. Then she looked at my family. Her eyes skipped past Mum and Marcy pretty quickly before landing on Dad, at which point her eyes filled with tears and she collapsed into a seat. I watched, confused, as the boy crouched down beside her. He touched her leg gently and asked if she was ok, but she just ignored him, still staring at me, with red-rimmed eyes. I stared back, confused.
The couple left the café soon after.
My life moved on, years went by, I started high school, Marcy got a boyfriend, Dad got sick, Marcy dumped her boyfriend. Soon I forgot about the couple in Café Timeless. Marcy graduated high school and moved away for College. She came back for holidays and the occasional weekend, but other than that I barely saw her. Then I graduated and went to college locally. It was there that I met Jordan. He had blonde hair and brown eyes, and a smile you wanted to see again.
Six months after we’d started dating, I got the call.
The call from the hospital saying Dad’s health had spiralled. That he’d had a seizure and was on life support.
Mum was with him when I got there and Marcy was on her way. Jordan had heard what had happened from my roommate and came to meet me there. Him and Marcy showed up at the same time and they turned off life support. Five minutes later my Dad stopped breathing completely, and it felt like I did too. Mum and Marcy were sobbing, but I wasn’t. I just stood and stared at my Dads body as the nurses pulled a sheet over him and I couldn’t see him anymore. Wouldn’t see him anymore, ever. I stood and stared and wished I’d see him again.
A year later, on the anniversary of my father’s death, Jordan and I were on holiday in Hobart, Tasmania. It was boiling hot, so we decided to get ice-creams at Café Timeless.
Ten years since I was here last, a year since my Dad died, I thought. We bought our ice-creams and went to sit in the booth next to the door. I looked at the family in the next booth along, they were drinking hot drinks and wearing jumpers and coats. Still the same unsuitable clothes and food.
I felt someone watching me and looked back at the family. My heart stopped. I was looking back at me… me from ten years ago, way back when I was twelve. But if I was here then… my gaze shifted to the others at the table. Marcy, forcing down her coffee, Mum, smiling silently at… Dad.
Tears filled my eyes and I sat down, no longer able to support myself. I stared at the girl… at me, so young and unaware.
I stared at Dad. And knew this was the last time I’d ever see him. In Café Timeless.