Time Heals

 Sarah’s son hadn’t always been a prodigy. When he was eleven, he had been failing quite a few of his subjects at school. It was always a struggle to get him to study, and he never passed an exam even if he did try. Sarah worried a lot about his education those few years.

But it felt like the moment he turned twelve, a strange change had occurred in the world. Liam, her precious birthday boy, had woken her up with a scream.

Her memory of that morning haunts her even five years later. After all, it marked the beginning of the most uncanny years of her life.

“Are you okay, sweetie?” She had whispered in concern, carding her fingers through his hair. He was shivering, even as bundled in his sheets as he was. “Did you have a nightmare?”

He said nothing. But the way he pressed closer to her was answer enough. Sarah hummed softly, continuing her ministrations until the boy had eventually fallen back asleep. It was a Monday morning, but with his birthday and this nightmare, she could afford to call him in sick for the day.

Sarah had assumed that he would feel better when he woke up, and she would take him to the zoo like he had been begging her to do for months. But even when he woke up, the look in his eyes was strange. He kept staring at her when he thought she wasn’t looking.

The rest of the day was spent the same way. Instead of having to chase Liam around as he darted from cage to cage, she had to gently coax him to leave her side to look at the lions and penguins. The weird shift in his behaviour only unnerved her further.

It wasn’t merely that day that his actions were strange. The first time Liam came home to show her a paper in which he had earned full marks, she felt like she was looking at an impostor. She had never even seen him study.

He never played anymore either. He never asked her to take him to the little football ground around the corner to join in on the kid’s games. He never went over to friends’ houses to hang out. He never even mentioned anyone in school anymore.

Sarah was scared. Her bright, bubbly, if a bit hyperactive little boy had seemingly disappeared overnight. And it had all begun with that nightmare on his twelfth birthday.

One night, she found herself standing outside the door to his bedroom. She couldn’t even explain to herself what hunch or sixth sense had brought her to that spot, but it did. And she thanked the heavens everyday for it. If she hadn’t been there, she was sure the next few years would have continued in the same way, and she would never have understood why.

It was a mostly quiet night, like any other. The faint honks of cars could be heard through the thin windows. An occasional howl rang through the night, the neighbor’s dog calling out to its friends.

The silence was broken by the sound of sniffling, muffled by the door. Sarah stood stock still as the sound of her son sobbing softly echoed around her. The very same sounds she had heard all those months ago, on his birthday.

She wanted to go in and comfort him, but she knew that would only make him grow more distant. So she resolved herself to help in any other way she could.

The very next morning, she talked to him about getting therapy. She didn’t know what had happened to him, and he didn’t tell her. But he should tell someone. It took a lot of coaxing and pleading, but he eventually acquiesced.

It didn’t help immediately. He never did go back to being exactly as he was. But he began to open up more.

He asked for small things he never would have spoken up for. He told her small stories about things that happened in class. They would go on walks together around the neighborhood. It wasn’t the same, but it was all Sarah wanted. She couldn’t help but feel pride at her son’s delicate progress.

The day Liam brought home a friend, she nearly burst into tears. The only reason she didn’t was because she didn’t want to embarrass her little boy in front of his first friend. But as he averted his eyes from hers to nod silently to something his gummy-toothed, fair-haired friend said, she knew that he knew what she felt.

The years flew by. Liam entered high school. She found smiles were becoming more common on her son’s face. Though he didn’t make many new friends, the few he had would stick with him through thick and thin.

Before she knew it, he was graduating and going to college in the summer. It was all she could do to resist the urge to hide him from the world and protect him forever. But she knew this would be good for him. He was no longer the same scared boy he was.

So when he sat her down to talk about something important before he left, Sarah gave a watery smile in response. She had a feeling she knew what he wanted to say. But even then, she wouldn’t have expected what he would say.

“Mom,” He started, taking a deep breath to gain confidence. “I’m a time traveller. From a future where the world ended in an apocalypse.”