Chapter 15

Even as the changeling raced towards him, Robert could only see his wife. Even with her slitted, snake-like eyes he could not stop thinking about his life with her. The day of his marriage and Jennifer’s snow white wedding dress. The birth of their first child. Their anniversary when they went fishing. Robert stood frozen as nostalgia washed over him and he was sent reeling with memories.

“Do you remember me?” he asked.

Instead of a verbal reply, she held out her hand as she neared Robert. The yellow gem on the back of her left hand and the one on her palm glowed before the changeling was sent flying backwards with an invisible force. The world turned into a blur as he crashed into the wall to his back. Robert slid down from the gray interior of the warehouse before standing up, finding he had made a depression in it. Once he did, he got a better look at what Jennifer had transformed into.

Her skin was a deep blue that had a metallic sheen to it. Yellow, ringed joints decorating her arms that reminded Robert of bamboo. Purple wraps grew from her body to swaddle her in light violet sashes. However, her long red hair that had lengthened and adhered into a whip-like object that almost touched the floor. There was a yellow crystal in the center of her forehead as well as two on both sides of her hands. Two also grew from the top of her bare feet.

“Not going to fight?” she asked.

“No,” he breathed, shaking. “How could I? You-You’re…you’re everything I ever wanted…and more. I’d never dream of killing you. I-I’d never consider it!”

“Well I might just have to kill you if you don’t plan on fighting,” Jennifer said. “We need data from you ants.”

“Don’t you remember me?!” Robert shouted. “Don’t you remember who we were as a couple?! The fun we had?! The children we raised?! The memories we shared?!”

Her expression was as unchanging as stone.

“Jennifer!” he shouted. “Answer me!”

She held out her right hand as the crystals on it glowed yellow.

“So if you won’t fight,” she said. “It means you were bonded as closely to the subject, that being me, to not retaliate when threatened when faced with lethal force. It alludes to the idea there may be a soul in you.”

“I don’t know what they’ve done to you…” he said. “But you have to fight it! I have a soul and it remembers you vividly!”

“Let’s push that theory,” Jennifer said. “Shall we?”

The scenery around Robert changed. The gray interior of the warehouse disappeared in a wave of new color. It was almost liquid washing away the scenery around him to be replaced by a more familiar sight.

The sight of the warehouse bled away to the living room of his and Jennifer’s house. The wallpaper was a green and pink floral print with a red velvet carpet. And in between Robert and Jennifer an eight year old girl and ten year old boy were having fun. Their two children, Mila and Elijah, were playing with toy trains on the floor as they rammed the wheeled playthings into one another. It was a scene he recognized very well.

No…He breathed.

He turned around to see his nightmare was confirmed. A human Jennifer and Robert sat on the couch with the latter’s arms around the former’s shoulder. Robert’s sand-colored hair was cut short and his sun-tanned skin was visible from what his plaid shirt and blue jeans didn’t cover up. It was late at night and his wife was beginning to fall asleep. They both wanted to go to bed but Robert was too interested in watching his children play to retire. It was one of his most cherished memories.

“H-How-?” Robert said. “H-How-?”

He then turned back to the changeling that was Jennifer.

“What have you done?!” he shouted. “What-What illusion is this?! What-where-how…I don’t understand!”

“Oh,” the changeling said. “This is far from an illusion. You might even say it’s…time travel.”

His eyes widened in response.

“What?” Robert shouted.

“Go ahead,” the female changeling said. “Do as you wish.”

Robert looked around, unable to discern if this was a trick or not. He walked toward his former self to find that neither his wife nor his human self noticed him. His human self just continued to smile at Jennifer and tell her about how hard his day was at work. He turned back to the changeling.

“What is this?” Robert asked. “Who-Who made this-? Are we–are we really back?”

“What do you think?” she asked.

“Don’t toy with me!” he shouted. “Is this a trick?! Some kind of illusion?!”

“I told you,” the blue-skinned changeling said. “It is as if we were there on that exact day.”

He turned back to the couple who sat on the couch, a strange fear churning within him. The closest thing Robert could compare it to would be the regret of breaking delicate China or dirtying a clean river by stirring up mud. He didn’t want perfection to be spoiled.

But I can’t let this go…He thought. This is exactly what I’ve wanted. To return back to this.

He slowly approached the couple, inching forward with utmost caution. It was almost like trying to creep up on a wild animal as if they’d flee at the soonest touch. Then, once he was close enough, Robert stroked Jennifer’s vibrant red hair.

It was something that he longed to do for the time he’d lived under the Earth’s surface. He always loved her red hair, comparing it to a slow roasting campfire. And it was just as soft and smooth as he remembered it. Robert felt a nostalgia as sweet as chocolate wash over him at the fondling of her hair.

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But as soon as he touched her, she took notice of him. Jennifer turned toward him, looking up in surprise at the gorilla changeling. She covered her mouth as she screamed, horrified at what grasped her hair.

Robert let go as she stood up in shock and staggered backwards in terror. He watched as the rest of his family seemed to take notice of him. His children turned in the direction of their mother’s screams to jump in terror themselves. The human Jennifer rushed toward her children in an effort to protect them. She hugged both of them tight, covering Mila and Elijah with her body. This caused Robert a great deal of sorrow. It appeared that the three of them could not see Jennifer the changeling as the human woman cradled her children right beside the blue-skinned creature.

“No,” he said as tears welled up in his eyes. “It’s me…your husband.”

“Monster!” Jennifer shouted. “Monster! Get away from me! Robert! Rooooobeeeerrrt!”

The gorilla changeling turned toward his former self to find that the human was transfixed on the ape-like monster. Their eyes locked onto one another for a moment before Robert fell into a trance-like state. His whole body sort of relaxed, his muscles feeling almost limp.

No part of this state felt uncomfortable or painful in the least bit. It felt like the first time since Robert was taken away from his former life that he could unwind. There was nothing hard or disturbing about it, two emotions that had plagued him since he’d been turned into a changeling. Every second of his life since then was harsh and disturbing up until now.

“Who-?” the other Robert asked. “Are you? Why do I recognize you?”

I want it back. He thought. I want back what you have.

Robert’s relaxed state turned into a jealous rage consumed him as he fixed his eyes on the human. Anger filled him as he no longer saw the human as himself. It was another man living the dream life Robert had always longed for. He wanted that life back.

“Go on,” Jennifer the changeling said.

He turned to her to find that sick grin widening.

“Do what feels most natural to you,” she said. “I can sense it within you.”

Robert then turned back to his human self whose eyes were still transfixed on the giant ape. In that moment, when their eyes met again, a flash of light blinded Robert. He didn’t stumble back or felt disoriented. When it disappeared from his view he found that both of them were surrounded in a hazy, colorless light.

And in between them was a thin, translucent cord. It connected both of their chests, waving in the air as if a strong wind poured in. Robert wanted to call it string but that was out of the question. There was no way string could materialize out of thin air.

“What?” he asked. “What-what happened?”

“You saw your soul flash before you,” Jennifer said. “Even though you two are biologically different organisms, you still share a connection. It is something Fulir researchers have been studying for years. This connection that the same sentient has no matter where they are…there could be thousands of different versions of them for the reasons of them traveling to different eras of time…but as soon as one version comes in contact with another, something strange happens.”

“What do you mean?” Robert demanded. “What happens?”

“Their soul links them,” Jennifer said. “Fulir has found events similar to this happen with other test subjects. Even though you and the former Robert are two different versions, possibly two different creatures…you each only have one soul in between you.”

The changeling pointed to the clear rope in between the gorilla changeling and the human.

“That right there,” she said. “Is the best evidence scientists have for the evidence of a soul…the mysterious portion of a sentient creature’s existence. You may be temporally and spatially speaking two different organisms since you come from two different timelines…but there are not two different souls. There are two Roberts right now in terms of the material world…”

Jennifer then eyed the rope between them again.

“But only one in the spiritual,” she said. “Some scientists have speculated this…but this is the first time it’s ever been directly observable. Thank-you, Robert. You have given us valuable information on the soul.”

“What about you as a human?” Robert asked. “Why haven’t you got this soul connection or whatever?”

“Because I don’t willingly interact with this time,” Jennifer said. “The rules of this time warp are admittedly weird. In order for me to create it, we have to share a memory of something that actually happened and not a false memory. And in order to change the past we now inhabit, I’d willingly have to touch or speak to someone. But I don’t wish to do that so all they can hear is you speaking and not me. So it’s like you’re talking to yourself.”

“Huh,” the gorilla changeling said with a nod.

He then turned back to his human self who was staring blankly back at the changeling Robert.

“So what happens if this Robert disappears?” he asked.

“Exactly what you think,” she said.

Robert grabbed the human by the arms and pulled with all his strength. His human self shouted in pain as blood poured from the stumps of his shoulders. He fell back as the human Jennifer and their children screamed in surprise and Robert used his claws to slash open the human’s chest.

Organs and blood spewed from his soft, fragile body as the other Robert screamed in pain. After ripping his whole body open and slashing his throat, the human’s body went limp. After the human died, the cord of translucent light between them exploded in a flash of white that blinded Robert. He could see nothing except for a bright white for a moment as Jennifer spoke in the background.

“There can only be one soul,” she said. “We now know that for certain. What many Fulir researchers speculated has been confirmed. And if the past or future version of a person kills another time’s version of them…the killer will replace them because there can only be one immaterial existence we call a soul.”

After she said that, Robert found himself standing in the kitchen of a new house. It was a different one than before. It was a white tile floor kitchen with white plaster. Mila and Elijah were sitting at the table, doing homework. They were much older than when Jennifer sent them back in time. They both looked like teenagers.

Robert whirled around, looking at the unfamiliar environment to find a peculiar picture on the fridge. He found a picture of his wife taped to the front of the refrigerator’s door. She looked young enough to be at the age of when they were first married. Robert then turned to his children, a pained expression stricken across his face.

This must be the future. He thought. No…! The present! I must have been transported to when I killed my past self. We must have merged or…he must have been replaced. Elijah and Mila are still here because they weren’t taken by Fulir like Jennifer and I was. But that means…

“Kids…” he said. “Where’s your mother?”

They both turned to him, fear shooting in their faces.

“Dad,” Elijah said. “Are you serious?”

“Yeah,” Mila said. “Are you alright?”

“Um…” Robert said.

“She’s dead,” Mila said. “Died in a car accident, six years ago.”

“How could you not remember?” Elijah said.

He then turned to the picture and sighed deeply.

Jennifer’s still a changeling. He thought. They still have her…and altered everyone’s memories to believe she died. I guess I don’t have you…but I have my kids back. That’s something I guess.

“Yeah,” he said as tears ran down his face. “You’re right. She did.”