• tab "I don't...I don't understand what's going on..."
    tab "And I don't expect you to," Tom goes on, trying to converse with her as lightly as possible. "So I'm going ask you to leave. Leave, and forget any of this ever happened." There's a small silence, as the girl looked into Tom's eyes with trembling fear. Then she glanced away for a second, and whispered,
    tab "No." Tom is apparantly not expecting that reply, as he stubled through his next sentence,
    tab "W-what? No...no, you're going to--"
    tab "No," the girl repeats firmly, now with growing confidence. "You expect me to walk away after I just touched something...something that I couldn't even see? Yeah, right. Gimme a break." Her sarcasm was starting to bother me, but I guess I shouldn't be talking.
    tab Tom let goes of the girl. He seems to thinking about how to reply. What to reply. He opens his mouth slowly, and then says with bits of reluctance,
    tab "All right. Fine. Guess there's no point in telling you only half the truth." He takes a deep breath, and starts slowly an explanation very similar to one I remember still ringing in my head from the first time I learned about this time jumping thing.
    tab "Straight to the point I'm for year 2024. This here, Tim," he points to me, "is from 2009. I saved him from a life and death situation. Now he's joined me, and we're saving a girl, Mary Archibald, from commiting suicide by shooting herself in the head. Our mission consists of more dangers than just preventing this. Time jumping consists of two sides; us, the Guardian Angels, who attempt to protect innocent lives, and the other side, the Fallen Angels, which try to stop us to prevent us from altering the past."
    tab "Dumb names. Really stupid," the girl suddenly interjects.
    tab "Thank you," Tom retorts sarcastically. "Were you genetically born to be a complete pain?" The girl makes an exaggerated eye roll, and Tom continues,
    tab "Now, I'd like you to leave now. Leave, and don't tell anyone about this. Nobody. No exceptions."
    tab "Whatever," the girl says, starting to turn around. "Can't believe I was gullible enough to believe some idiot adult."
    tab "As I said, you can choose to believe what you want. After all, you wanted me to expla--
    tab "No," she quickly interrupts, "That's not what I--" She cuts off, and quickly says, "Ah, never mind." That piques my attention, so I decide to join in the conversation and say,
    tab "What? What did you mean?" She looks at me, a kind of disgusted look planted on her face.
    tab "Since when were any of us talking to you?"
    tab "It's a valid question," Tom defends. "So answer it." She fully turns her back towards us, and starts to slowly walk away, saying in a way that automatically made you know that the truth was the complete opposite,
    tab "Look, I said never mind. So just...stop, ok? What do you think, it's like something huge? Well, it's not, all right?" Right. Whatever you say.
    tab "You can't just walk away from this now, you know. Not after everything you learned. Not after everything we need to learn."
    tab "Yeah, I can," the girl counters. "And I am." I look up at Tom sympathetically, and ask that feared question,
    tab "Are you mad at me? For...letting her notice me." I wait for a couple seconds, but no reaction. Tom is staring blankly towards the end of the hall, so I have to say his name before he finally snaps awake and responds,
    tab "Oh...No. No, I'm not angry at you. You had no idea anyone would do that."
    tab "What were you thinking about?" I go on to ask. Tom gives me this blank, seemingly clueless face, with a question,
    tab "What was I...thinking?"
    tab "Just now, when you were staring off. What were you thinking about." He digs his hands in his pocket, and cranes his head to look at the ceiling, saying as innocently as he could,
    tab "Oh...That...It's nothing." Which, of course, meant it was something.
    tab Isn't that how it always works?