TWO SIDES OF TWO DIFFERENT COINS
by Nobo13
Copyright 2015 Nobo13
*****
Two Sides of Two Different Coins
When we first met, I couldn’t help but think we were two sides of two different coins. We both had a fake side to us. A façade we put up to fit in. We each had our secrets. A side we kept from each other. Except I knew his darkest secret from the very beginning. I knew it from the first time we met.
*****
Since I was five, I could hear the thoughts of others. At six, I could turn this off. At seven I was able to force my way into people’s minds and read their deepest thoughts. Even ones they themselves didn’t know about. I was a mind reader.
I kept this a secret from everyone. Even my parents didn’t know. The fear they had when I was growing up was more than enough for me to know, they didn’t want their son to be a freak or some sort of monster.
So I pretended. I pretended I was normal. I got them good grades by reading minds. I became a model citizen by reading minds. I became popular by reading minds. I was a modern hero, who cheated his way to the very top.
And it was around this time before leaving high school, when I met him. Lazy, completely detached from the world, yet mysterious and mature. I remember the first time we spoke.
‘Hey,’ he greeted me out of no way, ‘Here’s a question: if you woke up in your body ten years in the past, what would you do?’
I can’t even remember how I replied. Because there and then, I learnt his first secret. He was a time traveller.
*****
‘Hey Sigmund,’ he would ask every now and then, ‘What would you do if you knew people were going to die?’
‘Well, Johnny, I’d try to save them maybe’
‘Yeah, you would, wouldn’t you?’ he tried to smile
‘But’
‘But?’
‘I suppose it isn’t always going to be as simple as that, right?’
‘Yeah,’ he sighed, ‘You know, sometimes I think I can change the world. But sometimes I’m scared of what change I could make’
‘I suppose,’ I nodded in agreement, ‘Like, maybe if I knew about a terrorist attack, or a bombing, sure, I could save a lot of lives, but there’s got to be causalities no matter what. Save our people, and some other group will be killed’
Johnny nodded but didn’t look at me. Before I could comfort him anymore, the teacher came into the classroom and lesson started. During third period, a bomb went off in Lexton, south of us. We didn’t talk on the way home. All I could do was listen to the agonising screams in his head. He turned to me with a smile when we reached his house.
‘Sure glad it wasn’t us’ he laughed
‘Yeah’ I said under my breath
And that’s when I learnt his second secret. He had decided that day to not change the future.
*****
‘Hey Sigmund,’ he would ask every now and then, ‘What do you think of Mary?’
‘Mary?’ I blushed a little
‘Getting a bit red there, mate’ he smirked
I laughed. I was supposed to be the mind reader here. I nodded and told him the truth, that I was utterly head over heels for her. He nodded in agreement and said she liked me as well. For some reason, I was nervous telling him this. Despite me knowing his third secret. That he knew I loved her already, and that we would be a couple in the future. It was as if he wanted to set the future he came from into motion.
That day, I asked Mary out. We walked hand in hand as I felt so happy and so guilty at the same time. Because I knew Johnny’s fourth secret. That he was in fell with Mary as well.
*****
‘Hey Sigmund,’ he would ask every now and then, ‘If there was a situation where a lot of people would die, and the only way to save them is to give up your own life. Would you do it?’
‘No’ I answered clearly to him
He looked at me with a surprised face. One that smiled slightly. He quickly realised the face he was making before laughing it off.
‘Man, you’re one cold bastard!’
‘Come on, it’s not as it could happen!’
As we pretended to be joking around, I could only see darkness in his mind. I came to learn his fifth secret that day. That tomorrow there would be another bombing. That tomorrow I would die saving the lives of many. He wasn’t sad about my death. No, he was hoping I wouldn’t save them
We walked home as we chatted about pointless things, and about how it was going with Mary. But deep in his mind, he was breaking apart. He would lose his best friend tomorrow. He could stop it, he could save me, but instead he will let me die. Because from the first time I met him, I knew his darkest secret of all.
*****
I got the train as I shook nervously. Mary saw it and took my hand. She looked at my pale face and asked me what was wrong.
‘Johnny,’ I asked her, ‘What do you think of him?’
‘He’s pretty cute’ she teased
‘Ok’
‘What? You’re not going to get jealous?’
‘No,’ I turned to her, ‘Johnny’s a pretty decent guy. He’s probably my best friend, you know’
‘Well, the two of you are always together’
‘Yeah’
‘What do you guys talk about?’
‘Nothing really. Sometimes though, we’ll talk about the future’
‘Oh?’
‘He likes you, you know’
‘Yeah, I’ve caught on to that’
‘But he told me to ask you out’
‘Oh? I didn’t know that’
‘Because he’s a nice guy’
‘Yeah, he is, isn’t he? Oh, your train’s here’
I turned as the thing slowed past us. I looked at Mary one last time and kissed her. I kissed her for the very last time. I cried. I couldn’t help it. She laughed and said I was only going to be away for the weekend. I told her I loved her. She said the same.
I almost didn’t want to get on the train, but I had to. I really had to. You see, I could attack minds as well. So if I wanted to save everyone on this train, I had to get on. But it would come at a cost. I wouldn’t be able to move my body during my mental attack.
I walked over to the terrorist and sat next to her. She smiled happily as I smiled back. It was then I began my mental attack. Everyone got off the train, while my friend here saw nothing but an illusion of a train filled with people. As the train departed from the station, from Mary, I relaxed a bit.
‘Say,’ I asked the person next to me, ‘The train’s empty now’
‘What?’
‘Do you think there’s need to blow yourself up now?’
‘What’s happening?’
‘You know, I’d really like to live. I don’t want to die’
I saw the girl reach for her detonator as I attacked her mind again. A drop of blood fell from my nose as I grew weaker and weaker. I wouldn’t be able to stop her any longer. I laughed to myself as I remembered back to our first meeting.
*****
‘Hey,’ he greeted me out of no way, ‘Here’s a question: if you woke up in your body ten years in the past, what would you do?’
‘What?’ I stared at the boy in front of me
I stared long and hard as I fell deep into a mind that was a few thousand of years old. A soul completely tortured by the death of his friend. Me.
I was overwhelmed but I suddenly felt the need to stop him.
‘Johnny, is it?’
‘Yeah’
‘I wouldn’t change anything’
He looked at me shocked and scared at the same time
‘Even if you could save lives’ he exclaimed
r /> ‘No’
‘Even if you could save your parents? Your friends? Yourself?’
‘No’
‘You wouldn’t change anything?’
‘No’
‘You never change, do you?’
‘Excuse me?’
‘Sorry, a slip of the tongue’ he laughed
I knew then that Johnny had met me an infinity amount of times. He would always return to this time period, and he would always consider saving me. But I knew his deepest and darkest secret then and there.
His secret was Mary. He would go on to marry her. He would start a family with her. He would love her more than I could ever. He would make her happy.
They only got together after one event, my death in a terrorist bombing. She could go to him, and he would fix her broken heart.
For Johnny, he had to decide between a future with his love, or a future where his best friend is alive with his love. It must have been torture for him.
As I slowly lost my consciousness, I couldn’t help but think we were two sides of two different coins. But in the end, I was mistaken. We were just the same coin, spinning in the air, being toyed with by fate.
I said a tiny unheard goodbye to my best friend Johnny. Who cared enough about me, to return to this time again and again. To my best friend, who will suffer infinite tragedy for a chance to save me, If only he knew I was trying to save him.
###
About the author
“Hi, thank you for reading. Johnny and Sigmund are, of course, a reference to John Titor and Sigmund Freud.
Originally this was supposed to be about someone suffering from a reality check. They had a very long dream due to being in cold sleep for space travel, and awoke to find themselves in a reality crisis. Might try it again if I can write it better.
Also, hi Emily!”
For those who are tragically obsessed, Nobo13 was born 1987 in Cambridgeshire. He spent four years doing a Physics degree but spend most of the time doodling and writing. Currently he is somewhat of a teacher.
Nobo13’s pen name is derived from using his surname, just look above! His more unusual hobbies are collecting headphones, yoyos, staring aimlessly out the window (which consumes much of his time) and messing about with musical instruments- at the moment these are ocarinas and ukuleles.
Please check out my website and my other works, thanks for reading!
More from this author
Please check out the following links:
The Man in the Desert:
Lost in the Painting
Fixing Broken Promises
The Empty Necklace
Time left over
You can also search ‘nobo13’ in the iBooks store!
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