CAST Name- Anastasia Marie Hensler DOB- October 4th, 1997 Age- 25 years Birthplace- Camden, London. Occupation- Scientist at LSE Behavioral lab of Teaching and Technologies Hobbies- Reading, Travelling Name- Arthur Steeve Azlart DOB- February 24th, 1889 Age- 31 years Birthplace- Haringey, London Occupation- Land Merchant and Mayor of ‘Haringey’ Town Hobbies- Horse riding, Writing
The Ephemera Love is timeless. Love is immortal. Even if you lose someone to something as permanent as death, the love you once had will never fade away. It will caress you every day, reminding you of the everlasting sweetness of love. By; Allan John 1940 She sighed smiling to herself as she closes the book she was reading. ‘The Ephemera’ is read on the title in deep crimson colour, she runs her delicate hands on the hard surface. A phone call snapping her out from her thoughts.
She quickly removed her glasses, keeping them on her coffee table and answering the phone. “Yes, sir”
“The model is ready for sure. I just have to run some tests and correct some details” “Okay, sir. I’ll make sure I submit the product within two days. Thank you”.
She groans deeply, throwing her head back in frustration. She walks into her lab eyeing her almighty creation. The Time Machine. Yes. As crazy it may sound, she had been working on this project for the last 6 years.
Her deep blue eyes staring at the metal body, which looked like a phone booth. “I need to get this done. Or they going to ban my whole six years hard work” she whispers to herself walking to her pc screen. Finally wanting to test it for the first time in these six years. She types her passcode ‘Anastasia Hensler; proceeding further.
It asks for all the details and periods including the century, year, the country which she’d like to go in. She randomly types the year 1960. The period of her stay there being 5 minutes and country being London, where she’s at the moment.
Anastasia takes slow steps towards the booth; her mind is a mess. It can be dangerous. She can be lost. She may get eaten by a monster. All the thoughts running in her head.
as she takes subtle steps and walks inside the Time Machine. Taking a deep breath, closing her eyes she presses the button which was in there.
“I love you, mom and dad,” she says, the light starts glitching, the machine starts shaking, her eyes still closed as she feels she’s on some sort of roller coaster. Still not opening her eyes, she’s thrown on the ground. Sharp rays of the sun hit her eyes as she tries to stand up, but ends up falling, the moment she opens her eyes. Her glasses cannot be found, trying to search for them, she runs her hands on the ground. Smiling to herself as she finds it and quickly wiping it, putting it on. She stands up looking at her surroundings.
It was a forest with long, huge trees and bushes, a little cold weather. She covers her ears when she hears a strong sound of a bullet, the birds panicking and flying away making another Big sound.
She flinches as she hears the neigh of horses, deciding to walk away as quickly as possible. Thinking about the cruel hunters, she speeds up.
Another shot and she freezes. A sharp sting in her left arm, looking down she sees blood running down from her forearm and the pain getting unbearable as time passes by. She falls, her head hitting a stone.
Losing her consciousness, darkness consuming her. “I should’ve been careful,” he said sighing, folding his hands as his secretary tries to comfort him. “Sir, it’s alright. It wasn’t your fault either. You didn’t mean to hurt her. It was an accident” David, his secretary said. Arthur nodded his head as their maid Sofia walked out with the doctor. “You don’t need to worry, Mr. Azlart. She’s fine, her arm is alright but makes sure you do her dressing daily with the medicine I prescribed”.
“Also, it’ll take some time for her to wake up as her head came in contact with a stone. There was a little wound that I treated. So, all you need is to wait”. Dr. Mendes walked out with David.
Arthur still being a little worried and stressed walked into Anastasia’s room, examining her There she laid with her eyes close as Arthur examine her.
For him she is in a different kind of clothing which he’s never seen “Never seen you before” he uttered as he walks out taking his blazer in his hands to his office.
Anastasia’s eyes flutter open as she tries to sit up, pain shooting her whole body. She hisses and looks at her wound on her forearm.
“Oh miss! You finally woke up!” Sofia exclaimed smiling at her, who has just walked in with a tray in her hands.
Anastasia furrows, examining the female in front of her “Who are you?” she asks in a small voice.
Sofia smiles as she places the tray on the nightstand “I’m Sofia. I work here as a maid. Sir told me to look after you” she says looking at Anastasia “Oh- can I ask you something?” she says.
“Anything” Sofia utters “Which year is this?” Anastasia murmurs in a Small Voice.
Sofia leans down, looking at her with questioning eyes “You don’t know, Miss?” “I- I don’t remember” Anastasia chuckles nervously making Sofia gasp.
“You don’t remember miss?!? Have you lost your memory?!?” Sofia yells mortified “Uh, no? Maybe”. “This is the year 1920!! You were found in the forest! Do you remember something?!” Sofia yells looking at Anastasia worriedly.
And there sat her, totally clueless and scared that her time machine didn’t work well. She was supposed to be in the year 1960 and here she is in 1920! And in a different town.
“What’s all these screams is about?” David comes running to Anastasia’s room “Oh- you’re awake” he mumbles as he walks out nodding his head.
“What’s your name, Miss? Do you remember it?” Anastasia is terrified already. She doesn’t even know where she is going to find the exit or how she is going to go back home. These people were already too weird for her. The dressing was weird as if everyone was going for a ball, like she used to read in her books.
“How do you feel?” she was bought back from her train of thoughts when she hears a deep yet soothing voice.
She quickly looks up to the voice as she sees a Greek God- The broad shoulders, the tuxedo hugging his manly body perfectly, his straight nose, his hazel brown eyes staring down at her. His aura being too intimidating yet calming to her for some reasons.
When she realises she was staring quite too long, which was considered rude. She quickly looks somewhere else fiddling with her fingers.
“How do you feel, Miss?” Arthur repeats in his honey deep voice “I- I don’t know,” she says in a small voice, now not being able to maintain eye contact with the male in front of her. “Do you remember something?” this time it was David. Anastasia shakes her hand as a No looking at David. Arthur standing there with his hand's fold, sighing. He walks out without uttering a word, David following him.
“What am I supposed to do now?” he says under his breath loud enough for David to hear “We need to wait until she gets her memory back again, Sir,” David says looking at his Master who looked quite uneasy.
“I should’ve been careful. If I was a little bit cautious and focused, I wouldn’t have shot her instead of that deer” he says mournfully, feeling guilty for hurting a women “Being a mayor of this town, I must protect my people from danger.
It’s not fair if the mayor himself can be a danger for the” Arthur says his head tilted down in depression “It’s alright, sir. It will get better” David smiles patting Arthur’s shoulders.
“Miss, Sir wants you down for having dinner,” Sofia says walking into Anastasia’s room with some clothes in her hands. Anastasia looks towards Sofia as she was staring out of the window for a long now.
“I don’t want to eat,” she says looking up at Sofia who has a confused look on her face “Pardon?” Sofia says. Anastasia curse herself in her head knowing that these people won’t even understand English slangs which is now used in 2020.
“I’m not hungry,” she says again giving a small smile. “I’m sorry, miss. But you have to be downstairs.
It’s Sir’s orders. Also, you haven’t eaten anything since morning. We don’t want you to pass out again” Sofia chuckles placing a white slick gown with lace around its neck. “I’ll help you change as we have to be careful with your wound”.
Anastasia nods her head as Sofia helps her wearing the nightgown, also helping her to walk downstairs and to the dining room She is impressed by the interior of the beautiful mansion. It was quite a masterpiece “This is beautiful and big” she murmurs making Sofia laugh.
“Of course! You’re in a mayor’s house. What do you expect?” Sofia says making Anastasia’s eyes widen.
“What? Mayor?!” she asks again to confirm whatever she heard was right. “Yes. He is a Mayor of this town and merchant as well, Miss” Sofia says guiding her to the dining hall.
“This is so dramatic” Anastasia snickers to herself looking at the huge dining table, with a lot of chairs placed around it and barely one person sitting at the end of the table. “Come here Miss” Sofia guides her to Arthur who was sitting at the end of the table as she makes Anastasia sit down next to him on his left hand.
Anastasia looks at her lap fiddling with her fingers as she feels Arthur staring at her “Does your wound hurt?” he asks softly.
“Not much. Just a little” she says in a small voice, her eyes still down on her lap “Do you remember something before you fall unconscious?” he asks again, his voice still being soft as ever. She shakes her head as a no.
“Look at me,” Arthur says, more like a demand than a request Anastasia slowly looks up, her blue eyes boring into those hazel ones “Here,” he says and slides a pair of glasses towards her “We found these broken on the ground. It has been repaired now; you can use it” he says as the maids bring in the food. They dig in, no more conversation between them It’s been two weeks or so, Anastasia has been staying here at Azlart's mansion.
She has learned a lot about the people living here. Sofia being a maid working here for the last 5 years and surprisingly being a similar age as her. She’s kind of funny and sassy. Also being way too loud for her good
David being Arthur’s secretary and also a good friend of his. She’s getting along good with David as he’s quite smart about random things and helping her to pass some time Arthur being the hardest one for her to understand.
She’s seen his furious side also his calm side. He’s usually calm but when he’s mad about something, then you should pray for yourself. More of the time, Arthur has been all good and soft with Anastasia, and this is what attracted her towards him way too much. She is starting to be afraid of herself.
Also, she has learned about the male is interested in writing and reading. Arthur has a huge library at the western chambers. Once he took her to his beloved library. Another reason for it being attractive to her.
“Who’s Allan John? There’s a lot of books of this author here” Anastasia asks as she takes one in her hands. “Is he your favourite writer?” she asks completely clueless “That’s Sir himself” David, who walks in says.
Arthur gives him a warning glare as if he wasn’t allowed to spill that information “Oh! So, it’s you?” she says impressed. “Yes, it’s me. That’s my birth name” Arthur says as he looks up from his book and pen towards Anastasia.
“Will you come with me tomorrow, Crystal?” Arthur says as they were walking around the mansion’s garden at evening time.
“Where to?!” Anastasia asks excitedly making Arthur smile endearingly “There’s a Grand Opening for a theatre in our town. Being a mayor, I’m invited. I was thinking that you’d come as you have nothing to do here either” he says staring at her face as she’s walking next to him.
“I would love to!” she smiles looking at him, making his heart flatter looking at her sparkly eyes. “Alright, crystal,” he says as they start walking further. Arthur started calling her crystal on the third day of her stay here. She never told her actual name to anyone.
Though she was called Crystal by one person who was Arthur. Others were ordered to address her as Miss.
“You look beautiful, Miss,” Sofia says as she dresses Anastasia perfectly with a beautiful gown frock with a piece of pearl jewel, and a beautiful hat to go with.
“Really?” she asks looking at her reflection into the mirror “Sir’s waiting” David barks into the room, peaking his head in. “Can’t you knock first?” Sofia says rolling her eyes as David shrugs walking away. Arthur watches Anastasia as she walks up to him with Sofia walking behind.
“Hello,” Anastasia says smiling as Arthur nods taking her hand, guiding her to the horse cart. He helps her walking up to it as a gentleman he is, making sure her dress is placed perfectly.
“Go, Taylor” Arthur orders as he sits next to her closing the door Taylor, the coach nods and goes on with his work.
They reach their destination as Arthur being the first one to walk down and again giving his hands to Anastasia for helping her walk down. These gestures make her heart flutter, but she quickly reminds herself that everything was temporary. She can’t fall for someone she has no chance with. Nor she wants to hurt Arthur in any way when one morning she’ll be nowhere to be seen.
The drama went perfectly as they both returned to the mansion. “It was fun,” Anastasia says making Arthur smile “I’m happy that you enjoyed” He utters looking at her. There was a little silence between the two. They were just staring at each other. No conversation between them anymore. Arthur gazes into her eyes, her face. Examining at how beautiful she looked “You look beautiful” he says mesmerised not noticing that he said that out loud “Uh, thank you” Anastasia says a red hue spreading across her cheeks as she looks down.
Arthur quickly clears his throat “Uh, I think you should get going. It’s getting late” he says making Anastasia nod as she quickly rushes to her chamber. “Did he just complimented me!?!?” Anastasia uttered under her breath as she lays on her back looking at the ceiling.
“Oh my God!” she squeals as she feels her cheeks burning again, she covers her face but soon stops when she realises something.
She’s falling. She’s starting to get attracted to Arthur. She can’t do this. She can’t do this to herself. She can’t do this to Arthur.
She has no idea when she’s been taken back to her real world. It can be anytime, anywhere. It even can be tomorrow or right now at the very moment.
“I need to get out of here,” she says under her breath, tears gathering in her eyes. She stands up, walking to her door. She walks down the staircase and opens the door. The huge door creating a loud cracking sound, making someone in the library stir cautious. She runs out as quick as she can without looking back. “I can’t hurt him! I can’t hurt him!” she chants as tears flow down her face, a heart full of sadness and love. Knowing she has fallen for someone who can never be hers'.
“Crystal!” she stops for a moment hearing that voice. She turns back, her eyes widening as she sees Arthur’s figure standing at the door. She shakes her head, running again “Crystal!” she hears again making her heartache, so badly wanting to stop, to at least hug him one last time. She turns her head while running, yelling a loud “no!” when she sees Arthur chasing her “Don’t leave, Crystal!” Arthur pleads. His voice sounding desperate more than ever. She never heard him pleading this way “Stop following me please” she says as she tries her hardest to run as fast as she can “You can’t leave me this way, crystal!”
She cries harder as she wipes her eyes with her hand. She runs and runs until she feels someone pulling her back and tightly back hugging her, stopping her to run any further. “Stop! Will you!?!” Arthur growls, his strong wrapped tightly around her “I can’t. Let me go pleased” Anastasia cries harder as she tries to free herself “Listen to me!” Arthur exclaimed turning her by her shoulders.
“You can’t leave, alright?!” he says looking into her eyes, his grip on her shoulders tightening. “No, no I need to leave! I can’t stay here-“ she’s cut by a soft pair of lips landing on hers. Her eyes widen, not believing whatever was happening.
Arthur pulls away looking at her “Don’t leave. Please” he says quietly. His eyes tearing. “I can’t lose you,” he says again holding her cheeks with both of his hands, connecting their foreheads. “I’m in love with you, Crystal” he confesses, and Anastasia cries harder “I love y- And that’s when it happens. Anastasia being surrounded by some sort of electric waves which throws Arthur towards the ground. He blinks his eyes and when there’s a flash that makes him cover his eyes with a hand.
When he opens them back again; His Crystal is nowhere to be seen. “So, you’re saying that your Time Machine was a fail?” the three males sitting in front of her asks “Yes, Sir. When I tested it, The Time Machine explode creating a huge mess.” Anastasia says looking down. “What a joke! Your hard work of six years just turns out to be a waste?” her boss says “I’m extremely sorry, Sir. I’ll work on a new project from now on”. “Yes, that’s what you have to do. We have another excellent scientist Mr. Steeve who is going to work on the Time Machine this time” the boss says, making her secretly roll her eyes. “Alright, sir. I’ll be taking my leave then” she says bowing down and leaving the office. She walks down the hallways, sighing. Everything turned upside down. Oh, so badly she was missing Arthur. She takes a turn bumping into a hard chest. Her handbag falling, as she bends down to take it. But the person she bumped into quickly picks it up and hands it to her.
She looks at the man and freezes. “I’m extremely sorry Miss,” he says in his honey-like deep yet gentle voice and walks away as he seemed in a hurry. “Arthur,” she says under her breath, totally stunned. Still staring at the walking male, whose back is faced to her.
Suddenly something rang in her head, which widens her eyes. She rushes back to her home and quickly runs towards her bookshelf. Her eyes start tearing as she reads the title ‘The Ephemera”.
She opens the very last page of the book. It read;
“The last two letters in her name were the first two in mine, a silly thing I never mentioned to her but caused me to believe that we were bound together.
Though lovers are lost, love shall not; And death shall have no dominion I love you. I’ll find you even if it means death and being born again”
By; Allen John 1940.
The End
By Fatima Tamboli.
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