Drift into the Past

[April 1st 2022]

It's 6:30 am. Harry's alarm clock rings out aloud. The disturbing noise wakes him up from his sleep. He turns around and hits the manual snooze switch and then turns back to continue his sleep. A few minutes later, the alarm starts ringing again but this time around, louder than before. He turns around and hits the snooze switch, then lays back on his bed, trying to catch a quick nap. Just then, the alarm starts ringing again but louder than the previous two times. He becomes very angry, grabs the "crazy clock" as he calls it and then smashes it against the wall. Alas he could now enjoy his lovely sleep.

His door opens slowly as someone creps into his room gently and carefully on the tip of her toes. She walks quietly as she approaches towards his bed. Within a short period of time, she was close enough to his bed. She drags out the pillow which he had laid his head on quietly and when it was completely out, raises it up hit it on him three times. "Wake up! Wake up day dreamer!", she echoes jovially. He didn't feel the first hit. The second hit made him mutter, "leave me alone!!!" in a sleepy voice but when the third but heavy hit landed on the back of his head, he felt it very well. This one made him jump up from bed. He screamed out her name as loud as he could, "Jules!!!!!." He grabbed the other pillow by his side and throws it at her but of course, she dodges it and tries to run outside but he stands up quickly and grabs the first pillow. He also chases her out of his room as they both run all the way downstairs untill they finally reached the sitting room.

"Mum, the boy is up," Jules exclaims loudly. His mother, Bexley turns around and looks at her son smiling. She becomes amazed at the gaze on his face. That was his first smile in a while. Both Jules and her mom bursts into laughter. He had been so quiet and moody ever since the incident from Nigeria. That was one of the reasons why Jules tried to cheer him up that morning. Within some minutes, everyone's laughter quenches when tears starts welling up his eyes again. He's been like that ever since he returned from the world of the dead. He'd smile whenever Jules does one funny thing or another and within a second, he'd also start shedding unnecessary tears. No one knew the cause of his crying and he also refused to share his pain with anyone. Within a glimpse of the eye, those tears gradually rolls down his eyeballs. This triggered his mom's own tears. She had always been emotional and couldn't bear seeing her son in that condition anymore, although it wasn't the first time.

He had always been a happy kid from birth although he's now an adult. The boredom killer of the family, was the name she called him frequently. He was well known for troubling Jules at home ever since childhood and the above incident was just a tip of the iceberg to what he had been doing to her. He loved his sister as much as he loved himself but preferred troubling her. A tragic turn of event indeed, all he does now is shed tears while drowning in silence. Even the well known psychologist, Dr Ben had been clueless on his case but everyone knew that Harry was going through a lot. Soon, Bexley's phone starts ringing. She moves closer to check who the caller was and discovers that it was Dr Ben. Dr. Ben was Harry's doctor and a psychologist. She picks up the call and quietly leaves the scene.

"Hello Bex," said the caller.

"Good morning Ben," Bexley replies.

"How are you doing today?".

"Cool", she replies

"How's he doing today?,"

"Same as before, but he smiled again few minutes ago,"

"Really? that's great news, i'd like to meet him today,"

"Today? I'm quite busy today but i'll try my best to bring him," whispers Bexley as she ends the call.

She goes back to the sitting room but Harry had already gone back to his room. "Mum, i gotta to go" said Jules just as she was still starring around the room. "Okay, my sweet angel," Bexley replies as she hugs her daughter and whispers, "Take care darling".

Jules replies her quickly,

"And you to mum."

She then straps her bag and leaves through the door. Bexley breathes heavily as she walks up the stairs to invite Harry for breakfast. She arrives at his door and knocks but he doesn't reply so she knocks again. After the third knocking, she grabs the door's handle and makes her way in. She finds him lying on his bed again. He's been like that for the past two weeks. He rarely ate anything and all he consumed was water. This was one of the reasons why Dr. Ben was paid to get him back to his senses. After some minutes of staring, she walks straight to his bed and sits close to him. She stretches out her hands and pats his curly rough looking hairs.

"Honey, breakfast is ready", she whispers but he shakes his head sideways and then digs his face into his pillow again. Just then, he starts muttering, "mom i'm the cause, i killed them all, i killed all of them." This had been the only words he's been speaking ever since he came back from the world of the dead. His mom had tried her best to discover what the problem was but he had refused to let the cat out of the bag. She becomes confused as usual but still tries to console her only son saying,

"Stop saying that son, you killed no one", but suddenly, Harry cuts in saying,

"But they wouldn't have died like that, they shouldn't have." She becomes more confused than ever but grabs the opportunity to figure out the course of his torture.

"What exactly happened to you?" She questions him. "I'm your mother and you are my son. If you can't trust your mother, who else would?". He stammers slowly in a low tone saying, "the multiverse....".

"The what?", his mother asks anxiously.

He pauses and then asks her a question, "Mum, have you heard about the multiverse?".

She becomes confused than ever, " the M-U-L-T-I-V-E-R-S-E?"

(Here's the beginning of the whole story. Everything that Harry ever witnessed started from the date below)

[ March 18, 2021~ Time: 6:45pm]

Harry is sitting on a sofa chair in the sitting room, chatting online with his friends on the Telegram while his sister and mum are watching Tv comfortably. Suddenly, someone knocks two times on their door. "Jules check who's knocking," said Harry hilariously. She persists but when the mother of the house insisted that she did so, she had no other option than to check it out.

"Dad!, good evening", she exclaims as she welcomes her dad inside. He was a dark, plump, tall and an handsome looking young man in his early forties. He was looking so pale and sad that day. His attitude made them realize that everything was not okay and indeed, everything wasn't okay.

"Dad, is everything okay," echoed Harry and sister. He nods his head sideways as he sits on one of the unoccupied couch. He then narrates the sad news to his family. He started with just four words, leaving his family in suspense.

"She kicked the bucket,"

"What??" Jules replies.

"Darling, i don't understand you, who kicked the bucket?," said Bexley anxiously. He stammers as tears rolls down from his eyeball, "my mum ..., she died last night," he exhales and continues, "she shouldn't have died now (sniffles), i promised.....I promised to bring her abroad (he starts crying) i promised". Bexley moves closer to him and takes him into her arms.

"It's okay", she says repeatedly as she consoles him. Everywhere becomes quite for a while.

Harry and Jules are left confused because they both didn't know who their father was talking about neither did they know what else to say. Both of them had never been to their father's land before except during their childhood, of which he couldn't recall anymore. They both turn around and looks at each other, exhales as they gradually stands up and departs to their various rooms. Alas, Harry breathes heavily and mutters, "so goes the life cycle". He was unaware of the consequences of his grandma's death.

One funny thing about Harry was that since he became a teenager, he began to look down on himself and his race. His ignorance made him wish that he was a white too. He always kept the company of them and whenever his dad mentioned about going home, he'd be the first to protest. He believed that he was a British by birth which wasn't a lie though but refused to accept the fact that he was also a Nigerian. Well, it wasn't all his fault for thinking in that manner. He was born in Greenwich, London. He was natured there and had lived one quarter of his life there as he'd always describe it. The remaining hours of that day seemed interminable. Both Harry and his younger sister Jules, gave their parents their space. Neither of them took dinner. They both stayed together, grieving. The crying also didn't let Harry focus on anything. Normally, he would have gone out to meet Ben since they were close by but Ben had been out of town for some days. If only he had the courage to ask them if she was the first grandma to die, he thought.

Truly, music was the only solution to situations like this, but Harry wasn't much of a music fan. Later that day, around 11:54pm, Harry just couldn't sleep. So many thoughts were running in and out of his mind so he decided to go clear his head in the sitting room. They all lived together in a bungalow but Harry's room was closer to his parent's than his sister. After moving a few steps forward, he heard his dad and mum's voice, discussing something seriously. Out of curiosity, he reversed from the direction that he was heading to and quickly crawled to his parent's room door, to eavesdrop. The door wasn't closed so he hear everything transpiring inside. He heard his dad saying, "she didn't even see her granddaughter." Harry didn't understand what they were talking about but guessed that they both were still mourning their loss so he turned around to move but strangely hears his dad's final sentence clearly.

"We should be present at her funeral," he mutters.

"So dad and mum are going on a long break?" He soliloquies.

Suddenly, his mum utters are own sentence, "we must return to Nigeria with the kids."

This one sounded like an hammer being struck on nail. He asks himself, "What do they mean?".

"So we'll be going to Nigeria? gosh, i didn't think of this shit." Harry became so furious with his parents plan but had no other option than to lay on his bed, pretending that he didn't hear what they said as the night passed by. Within the time interval of seven hours and a few minutes, he slowly gets up from bed. He had been well known in the family for his long sleep and only woke up with the help of his manual alarm clock. He barely talked to either of his parents that morning as greeting them seemed like a big deal.

Everyone asked him if everything was okay due to his mood that morning but he pretended like everything was just fine. He quickly grumbled his breakfast and then walked straight to the bathroom. He then took his bath as he dresses up to move quickly.

"Um dad...mum.... I'm off to see Ben"

"Harry, it's quite early to pay someone a visit." His mom replies him.

"Um, we got this scheduled for today, i can't skip it."

Jules cuts in, "but i thought Ben travelled?"

He looks at her in a funny manner and then replies her question saying, "Well, he returned last night."

"Harry, there's something we must discuss in union," his dad cuts in.

"Gosh! So they are serious about the traveling." He soliloquies.

They all sit around the dinning table while Michael, Harry's dad narrated his decision to everyone. "I and your mum has decided we all go together to your grandma's burial. So i decided to hear your opinions."

"A wise decision indeed, dad." Jules replies.

"So Harry, what's your thought about this?" Bexley asks her son.

He looks at her, asking himself, "why's mum focusing on me?"

He knew what the consequences would be if he had opposed the notion. He didn't want to be themed the black sheep of the family so he nooded, repeating the same words his sister said.

After the discussion was over, he ran straight to his best friends shop to clear his thoughts. "It's been his plan for me since i was a kid," said Harry while he narrated the incident from the previous night to his best buddy, 'Bran' at Bran's family cafe. Both him, Ben and Brandon made a good team. "Why must i go to a burial of someone that i don't know? It's a free world right? (He sighs and continues) I'd be eighteen in the next two months but yet, they keep on violating my human rights."

Bran replies him,"Harry listen, she's your grandma.... right?"

"According to them, yes!", Harry replies.

Brandon continues,"See, i'm not trying to say that they are right by making decisions for you without your consent but you're still under their care. You might even end up preferring there to here. Listen bro, it could be so much fun adapting to a new environment, meeting new people. Bro, it's a great opportunity", but Harry cuts in suddenly.

"Bran! Are you day dreaming? I can't believe that you are the one saying this crap!. Let's be rational here. I know that you are trying to be a good friend but put yourself in my shoes. I made a promise bro, i promised to take Blaire out this halloween. We have so much plans but now it's all ruined because of one old woman's death. Why must she chose to die now of all time?". But suddenly, Bran's dad cuts in.

"Bran! attend to the customers," he turns towards Harry.

"Hey kid, i know that you both are like brothers but there's time for everything. This ain't the time for discussions okay, time is money."

"Okay Sir" Harry replies as he stood up to leaves. He mutters, "I'm not a kid anymore," but Bran's dad heard him and asks again "What did you just say?"

"Nothing, i just said that i'd be 18 in two months," Harry replies.

"Well that ain't my business right?" Bran's dad asks again.

Harry nods in reply as he mutters saying, "yes, it's not your business," and then leaves. Bran's dad was a local wrestler during his youth but managed to open a local cafe close to St Alfege park. He was a tall and huge muscular man with bald hair. He had tattoos all over his body and looked like an ex miscreant. He always picked on skinny Harry thereby instigating unnecessary fear of him in young Harry. The remaining days of that week seemed like one day. Harry spent almost all the little time he had with his friends, telling them about the happening. His birthday was also approaching. Later that evening, Harry's parents came back with their flight tickets. It took them not more than three days to complete the required processes. Harry was in inside his room that cool evening, trying to catch a nap when suddenly, Jules bangs his door, "Harry! Harry! Open up," she echoes. He walks straight to his door, opens it and then asks her, "Hey, what's the cacophony about?"

She replied him in a cool but happy tone. "Guess what!?"

"What is it? you no that i don't do guessing," Harry replies.

"Okay, i'll tell serious guy. Mum and dad finally finalized our tickets stuffs. All of us would be leaving for Nigeria next week."