The Happy Haven by James Gerard (e ink manga reader TXT) 📕

“The photo…the photo is actually from the day I tested out the camera when we were all there, before Paul took off in the night for his last thirty day break.”

“Then where’s Paul?”

“Look closer Scott.  Look at the reflection.”

“Who is that?”

“They evidently didn’t check the camera beforehand.  They had to have believed they were looking at a photo taken whenever they sent the machine back, a time when Paul was on break and I was there.  In their zeal, they mistook the photo as the one the camera took back in time.”

“Wait, then there should have been two images.  Where’s the other one?”

“You were right Scott.  He didn’t let them do it—there’s not a second photo because the machine went back to nothingness.”

Scott grimaced then said, “I suppose he didn’t.”

“The machine worked Scott.  It did transport the camera back in time, but the camera didn’t capture an image.”

“That’s Paul in the reflection isn’t it?” Scott whispered.

“Yes,” Bill softly cried, “they now exist in nothingness.  But what I don’t understand is why did he allow the camera and the equipment to return?”

“Because Bill he’s not concerned about things.  He’s concerned about us—he loves us not things.”

“What happened to them Scott?”

“Do you have to ask?”

A fresh wave of tears streamed out of Bill’s eyes.  “This whole time we believed in a lie, in a sure failure,” he whimpered.

“From my perspective Bill, it looks like you were transported far, far away from where you started.”

Bill let the tears stream forth while Scott slowly sipped from the glass.  It seemed Scott had understood the whole time and had somehow already known what the results would be.  He had no further words concerning the failure. 

Scott then raised his glass and held it high and centered over the table.  “A toast my friend.”

Wine splashed out of the glass as Bill’s trembling hand grasped onto it and held it up high.

“To sweet savory failure my friend.”

The glasses clanked as they bumped into one another.

“Further Bill, let me officially welcome you to The Happy Haven where failure is not only welcomed, but preferred.”

In mid-chuckle, Bill instantly became curious as to why Scott’s eyes suddenly shifted from the toast and froze with a glaring stare.  The smile beaming on his face contorted into a serious expression.  The bar was silent except for the sound of metal tapping the bare tile floor.

“No,” Bill whispered as fear entered the mind.  He slowly turned around to confirm his worst expectations.  The man, the representative accompanied by two burly men, were moving in for the kill.

He turned back to Scott and whispered, “A new toast.  Here’s to death.”

Scott smiled.  “Relax Bill.  Let me take care of this.”

The clicking of heels stopped.  A familiar voice broke the silence.  “We took the hardware.  Now two questions: where are they and where is the hard drive?”

“They’re gone,” answered Bill.

“I know they are gone, but where?”

Before Bill could offer an explanation Scott spoke up, “It doesn’t matter where they went or what happened to the hard drive.  What matters most is that the project failed, nothing else.”

Bill heard the man softly scoff in response.  He looked at his piercing stare that seemed to not just dismiss Scott, but to thoroughly be disgusted by his presence as well.

The stare fell back on Bill.

He looked at the man standing there with a coy smile painted on his face.  The man looked down on him with a rigid posture that seemed to dictate complete control.

After seconds of silence, the man stated, “You violated the terms of the contract.”

“I….”

“Conditions,” Scott blurted out, “of a contract written under whose authority—you, or the men who employed your services?”

“Why you….”

Scott abruptly rose and wagged a finger in the man’s face, “Don’t forget who you are talking to.”

The bar erupted with screeching as the legs of stools were sent sliding across the bare tile floor.  Bill turned around to see all the men and women standing.  They were facing the direction of the booth as if poised to defend their friend at the slightest, threatening movement by the man and his two burly companions.

“Let me remind you,” said Scott, “that you are not one of us.  Just a simple lawyer right?”  He then reached on arm over and laid his hand on Bill’s shoulder and stated, “The men who employed you are us.  Just as my good friend Bill is.  So when you report to my father tell him this: The investment did not pan out as expected.  You have the machine, but let it be known that the project did not produce the desired results.  So tell him to take what’s left of the investment and count the whole venture as a loss.”

Without a word, the man turned and marched swiftly through the narrow gap of the men and women lining either side of the path.

Bill looked to Scott with a perplexing stare and wry smile wondering what in the world had just happened.   In a matter of moments, the sense of dread was overcome by the light hearted festivities that began anew. 

“They have the machine, but they’ll never succeed,” said Bill.

“It doesn’t matter.  They believe in a lie and nothing will ever convince them otherwise.  But in time,” Scott calmly stated, “who knows, maybe they will even see the truth.”

Bill chuckled.  “So, your father had his hand in all of this?”

“My father?” whispered Scott.  “Bill, my friend, our Father is in control of everything.”

Text: James Gerard Burch
Images: Right to use purchased from adam121-Fotolia.com
Editing: James Gerard Burch
Publication Date: 10-08-2015

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