Friday Fictioneers — Fixing The Past

Genre: Time Travel
Word count: 100

~~FIXING THE PAST~~

“Have we met before?”

“I don’t think so.” Before and after, actually.

“You look so familiar.”

“They say that everybody has a double somewhere in the world.”  He shouldn’t remember me.  Have I returned once too often?

“I finish at nine. Perhaps we could have a drink.”

“Yes, why not?” That demon, alcohol. Why do I keep returning to this point in time? It’s too late to save him.

“I’m looking forward to it, babe.”

“Likewise. But I’ve an errand to run between now and then.” Off to locate that 12-year-old boy and lace his first alcoholic drink with purgatives.

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Friday Fictioneers: 100 word stories
Photo Prompt: image copyright © Roger Bultot

Author: Sarah Potter Writes

Sarah is a British eccentric who writes offbeat fiction, haiku and tanka poetry. When stuck for words, she sketches or paints instead. She's into nature conservation, sustainability, gardening, dogs, natural health, and reading. Her sociability is something that happens in short bursts with long breathing spaces in between.

41 thoughts on “Friday Fictioneers — Fixing The Past”

  5. Really enjoyed this little snippet. Guess because I’d love to go back to my past and give myself a few good smacks. 🙂
    But I wonder if the need to drink excessively is more psychological than physical — one purgative may not work.

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    1. I’m guessing that the need to drink excessively is a bit of both, but the woman in my story loves this guy enough to time travel repeatedly in the hope of finding a fix for his destruction of their relationship through his alcoholism.

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      1. The time travel adds an interesting dimension. Sad to say this situation is life for so many people. It takes a real miracle to cure alcoholism.
        My sister tried to fix things for six years, but when he started coming home drunk and choking her until she passed out, she knew it was time to travel. 😦

        Liked by 1 person

      2. It’s a cruel business. Alcoholics can often promise time and time again to reform themselves, and on each occasion they say it, they probably mean it absolutely, but then they succumb. It takes a strong person to kick the habit, but I’ve known those who have. So tragic for your sister, though. If there was repeat violence involved, then she had little choice but to leave. I hope she has made a new life for herself, and isn’t too mentally scarred by the ordeal.

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    1. Time travel is such a fascinating subject and can make one’s head spin thinking about it. If we could change the past, it might not have the result we envisaged and some people we know and love might never have been born or crossed our paths. Have you read Stephen King’s time travel novel titled “11.22.63”, all about someone travelling back in time to prevent the Kennedy assassination? It’s one of Stephen King’s less well know novels, but one of my favourites (that is, after The Stand and Dreamcatcher).

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  8. A purgative was one of my mother’s favorite cures for whatever ailed you. That and Cod Liver Oil. I learned quickly to not complain of illness. Her cures were far worse than any sickness.

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      1. A bit of both, I think.
        Although, I don’t ever remember her taking Cod Liver Oil. That is the most nasty stuff that ever touched my lips. One dose and I was cured for a lifetime. It took two weeks to get the taste out of my mouth.

        Liked by 1 person

      2. I hate the taste of cod liver oil. Krill oil tastes better, but no oil at all is better still. Only last year, so late in my life, I learned to swallow capsules and tablets without nearly choking myself to death. The answer is to turn your head to the side as you swallow. It opens the throat and hey presto, success! As a result, I don’t have to contend with nasty flavoured liquid medicines anymore. I think that even Mary Poppins’s spoonfuls of sugar wouldn’t disguise cod liver oil D:

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    1. Dear Rochelle,
      She’s desperate, so she’ll try anything to cure him, however unlikely it is to work. The nature of true love and all that…
      I’m glad you liked the story 🙂
      All best wishes,
      Sarah

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  10. This was a great take on the prompt and time travel… I can so understand her wish of changing the past but you that old time travel thing… the more you fix, the more you change; the more you change, the more you have to fix… and so the cycle continues…
    In the end, one just cannot mess with what is done, can one? Or…. can one?? 😀

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  12. Sad, but hopeful. Hope the protagonist can get a fix on time travel–or that he finds a way to deal with his own problems in the future–I have a suspicion that trying to fix his for him wouldn’t work in any time period! Interesting story!

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    1. I think that if we went back to a former time, armed with the knowledge of the consequences of ours or other people’s destructive actions, it would be very hard to resist meddling with things. The reliving thing would likely only happen if time travel undid your memories.

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    1. Yes, time travel is such a mind-bending subject. I’m still contemplating a rewrite of the first novel I ever wrote, which was a time travel one. Having left it to marinade for many years, I almost feel ready to grapple with it!

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  17. I would probably make a grand mess of a whole lot of people’s lives (including my own) if I was a time traveler armed with good intentions… Best to keep that technology far from me! 🙂 Great story and extra points for making me think of the Kinks/Muswell Hillbillies: “Oh, demon alcohol! Sad memories I can’t recall…”

    Liked by 2 people

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    1. Probably best to keep it from all of us. Perhaps it has already been invented and we’re here as a result of a time-traveller’s interference. Now that’s a thought! I just loved the Kinks, which now firmly places me in a certain age-group.

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