[ WP ] A time traveler who has no control over his abilities meets his friend , the immortal , for lunch .

There was a loud `` boom'' and a splitting pain inside my head. 
'' No!'' I frantically thought. `` No! Not again NO!'' 
 My vision went white and I felt dizzy, as if the world was spinning around me. I wanted to reach out and grab something, but my hand only grasped empty space. My breath was gone, I could n't breathe, my chest hurt and my eyes, despite being shut against the throbbing in my head, felt as though they were going to burst from my skull. 
 And then suddenly, everything went still. The pain subsided, the throbbing ceased, and I could breathe. I took a shakey breath, inhaling the scent of slightly burnt toast. 
'' Please, please... `` I silently begged, and opened my eyes. 
 The first thing I saw, as I realized I was looking down, was a faded multi-color braided rug. Cautiously I lifted my right foot, and saw the perfectly worn pattern that matched it. I knew automatically that if I had looked under the other foot, there would be a matching pattern for the left. My heart sank. So it had happened again, after all. My despair was interupted, however, by a rough, but familiar voice. 
'' Welcome back, John. Tea is on the table, and I just finished the toast. You'll find the tea is still hot. You take cream still, I assume?'' 
 I looked up from the rug and took stock of the room around me. It was a familiar parlor, with old, mismatched victorian furniture lining the room and various bookcases and curio cabinets filled with bric-a-brac of sorts. A fire was lit in a fireplace to my right, and there, on the mantle was a little gold aniversary clock, its weighted pendulums swinging back and forth. The time was nearly noon. Lunch time. Clock. Time. God, help me. 
 Again I was brought out of my thoughts by sound of a throat clearing, and the clink of glass on glass. Looking forwar was an entryway opening to tiny kitchen and in the center, an older gentleman, drinking from an antique cup. Before him, was another setting. For me, as always. 
 The mans name is Jeremy. He is what I considered to be an old friend, though, I do n't exactly know how long we have been friends. Because you see, I am a Traveler. As in Time Traveler. I look into a mirror and I have not the slightest idea how old I even am anymore. From the day after I started puberty, I have been thrust ahead into time, back into time, and it could be any number of time, not just years, sometimes minutes, days, I do n't honestly know anymore. But what I do know, is that there have only been two consistencies in my life; Jeremey, and this place. I have been so far back in time that once I was standing on dirt, but still, Jeremey was there, whether it was a cabin in the woods, or a clearing in the forest. He has always been here, as far I know, because Jeremey is immortal. 
 I took a few unsteady steps and settled myself into the creaky chair before my friend. The cup of tea was warm against my hand, but my hand was too weak to lift it just yet. A lump formed in the back of my throat as I studied the lines in the wood table. 
'' Jeremey,'' I sighed, and my old friend answered, his voice deep and rumbling as an oak tree, without needing to be asked 
'' The year is 2015, the market is good, people are fat, but healthy for the most part in the so-called `` developed'' world, war is ever a problem, race is ever a problem.'' His eyes, ever blue and sparkling, glinted with the grin at the corner of his weathered face. `` I suppose you could say nothing has changed at all!'' 
 He laughed lightly. Smiling. He was always this merry whenever I came to `` visit''. Yet I could not bring myself to smile. I felt sick to my stomach, and the lump in my throat burned until tears began to form in my eyes. Without any control, a sob shook my chest. Jeremey quickly set down his cup, his smile gone. 
'' My dear friend, what happened to you??'' 
'' Jeremey, I ca n't do this anymore.'' I gasped. Covering my face with my hand I wiped at my tears. God help me, I was trying to force back the misery in my chest as images flashed before my mind. 
'' Jesus Almighty, John, your hand! You've a ring on it! Do n't tell me you....'' 
 Anger shook me. Why was this life thrust on me! Removing my hand, I stood suddenly, the chair toppeling backwards to the floor. Grabbing the porcelian cup on the table, the threw it violently into the wall behind Jeremey, who, despite my sudden actions, did n't even flinch. Why would he? Not like anything could hurt him anyhow. Unable to supress the feeling any longer, I moaned. 
'' I was happy! Jeremey!! HAPPY!'' 
'' You did it this time, you married! How long were you there, John?'' Whispered Jeremey, his concern written in every line on his face. 
'' It does n't matter!! I do n't know! Damnit! I was in LOVE! Her name was Joy and she, she was my life! God... god damnit. I need to go back!'' 
 I had left the love of my life in the year of 1915, one hundred years ago in the past, alone. 
'' You know you ca n't do that, not knowingly --'' 
'' I KNOW THAT!'' I yelled. Of course I knew I could n't go back, I do n't control anything about time, no one does. But Joy, my poor Joy. What did she do without me? I had promised her my life, I had made so many promises to her, and I'd broken every one of them. We had been walking together down the city street, the Womans Sufferage had just allowed women to vote and she was going for the first time, she was so nervous but I told her I would be there, I promised. And then I had vanished. 
 I wiped again at the tears that had wet my face. The pain in my heart subsided slightly, and I righted my chair to sit back down. Jeremey was silent for a moment, then stood, stepped over the broken glass on the floor to bring another cup from the cupboard. He poured me another cup of tea. 
'' How do you do it Jeremey?'' I sighed. `` Just how? For all I know you're Methusulath himself, but you ca n't tell me you have n't ever been in love. `` 
'' Ah,'' he said as he sat down again. `` I'm sorry, John. I am immortal, far as I know, but I am, I believe, human, and I have been in love. How do I do it? What is it to watch the ones you love decay before your eyes? To watch as plague whispers through your village and leaves all, but you for dead? John,'' and he reached across the table to firmly squeeze my hand with his. `` I can tell you that I dont love any less than you, but what I would give to have the chance to perhaps see them again. You have that chance at least. It is a small chance, but for you, no one ever really dies, and for me, everyone eventually does.'' 
 His words hit me like stone. I had left Joy behind, but maybe not forever. In this time she might be gone. But I was a Traveler. For me Time had no start or end. It had never occured to me that perhaps Jeremey had suffered more, Time for him moved slowly ever forward, but for me, maybe not. I could always go back, I could find her again, maybe, one day.
