By Ernest M. Judd

Anna could not hold back the truth any longer. She had been lying to John for years. The man she loved with all her heart. The man she loved, who didn’t even know who she was. Well, not the real her anyway. But did he really know she was not who she seemed? How could he not? Yes, she wore the clothes, the watch, learned the mannerisms, and read the books, but she never felt like she belonged. She was always a little… off. She knew it, how could he not? Perhaps she didn’t have to tell him after all then, maybe he already knew.

No, I must tell him. I must tell him today. Anna’s mind was racing as her slender hands trembled. She got up from the wooden chair, took a dignified exit from the women in the theatre changing rooms and left the empty venue for the darkness of the night. For reasons she did not fully know, she found herself running. Ten long years of marriage with John, two sons, but now she just had to tell him everything. Her long brown hair flapped in the air as she released it from its bun and picked up speed along the dark and narrow cobbled streets.

In truth she wasn’t sure where to even begin with the confession, or why the urgent need to do so had arisen. Should I start from the beginning? Or should I talk about the jobs? It’s not that she didn’t have a job, she had many. But Anna wasn’t really working. She was studying people at work. Being the resourceful woman she was, Anna was able to pretend to be a journalist, and had the credentials to prove it. She had visited construction sites, theatres, pubs, stadiums and everything that society had to offer. She had gained access to the construction of Tower Bridge and been inside a factory constructing automobiles. To John she worked hard, but to herself she only researched hard.

She found herself getting closer to home. Her dress was not easy to run in, and she didn’t want to be seen with her hair down. She struggled with remembering some customs, but Anna knew that would be too scandalous and distract her from the task at hand. This is it. It has to be now. Here it goes…

Her slender figure and trembling hands opened the front door as she saw the silhouette of her John, waiting to greet her. “John, I have something important to tell you!” Anna blurted out alongside her heavy breathing as she closed the door behind her.

John had just finished his cup of tea as twilight ended. He had been thinking all day. Though the thought had crossed his mind for almost every day over the past 10 years, it was only today that he felt the sudden urge to confess to his love, his Anna. Why did I lie to her all this time? This will end us. This will end me. John’s hands ran through his thinning hair as anxiety took its hold. Truth be told he never felt much anxiety before, considering his circumstances. He always felt out of place, like he didn’t belong here, but a side effect of that was never anxiety. He knew why he was here. He came to see them, to see how they lived.

Anna believed he had been working all these years at the scrapyard. It was an honest man’s work. It took grit and stamina. Or at least that is what John had seen. In reality he would walk to the scrapyard every day and before arriving take a detour to go other places that were of far more importance. The reason he came all those years ago. Family. Whatever the consequences, I have to tell her tonight.

John spent the next two hours sitting down on his wooden chair, briefly standing up and walking around, and then sitting down again. The pacing would have made any onlooker nervous. Their children would not be home until later, he had time to tell Anna after she had finished watching the show and writing about it. How did he manage to get a beautiful journalist to fall in love with him? Didn’t she know he was a fraud? Every step he took was odd. The way he spoke was different to others. He wasn’t meant to be around for long, and certainly not to have children. That was against the code. But love has a way of rendering codes useless. 

John had grown comfortable in his lies. Perhaps that happens to us all. The further into this life he found himself, the harder it had become to fix it. I don’t even wear the clothes right. Surely she knows something? John’s mind was accelerating about thoughts on the next few hours of his life, on how he was going to confess his sins, on how he had been living a lie. She will never forgive me. And yet John knew what he had to do. The shock to Anna’s system may be too much to bear but it was going to happen now. She was due back in an hour. Though he just wanted it off his chest now. Just as he stood up to do another unconscious lap of the living room he heard the door clink and the unmistakable sound and sight of his Anna breathing heavily in the moonlight as the door opened and closed. Anna wanted to talk to him. Anna knew.
John stared at Anna, startled. He was preparing to confess but didn’t expect to have to do it so soon.

“I have something very important to tell you too. I did not expect you home so soon. Please sit down while I tell you this, you will need a chair.” John replied calmly in a voice that didn’t seem like his own. Fear was behind it. He Knows. Anna thought to herself. She knew she had to talk first, whatever happened with John at the scrapyard didn’t matter, not today. It’s not a topic that should be discussed today. She looked into his brown eyes and remembered why she had fallen in love with him. Even though it had caused her to abandon so much else, it was worth it.

“No, what I have to say is so important. Please listen to me today my love. And sit down, you will need a chair.” Anna was scared, ten years of her life and the future depended on this.

John dismissed her and replied with similar words to the first time he objected. Whatever happened with Anna at the theatre today was not important. Not today. He didn’t care for the theatre, for John, 1886 was a boring year for talent anyway. A short tug of war began between the two lovers over who should get to talk first, both becoming more agitated as the other refused to give in. It was Anna who suggested the compromise.

“How about we say our important news at the same time.” John nodded in approval. Not that whatever he says could be anywhere near to equal importance as what I will say. Anna thought to herself.

John felt sweat coming down his long forehead and towards his long buttoned nose. He hadn’t gotten used to the summers in London, but this sweat wasn’t induced by the summer heat. “Okay. I will start a count down from three. On the count of one, let’s say it.” It better had been a good show to make her think she needs to tell me about it right now of all times. John thought to himself before unconsciously already starting the countdown.

“3…..2…..1….”

“I AM A TIME TRAVELLER”

“I AM A TIME TRAVELLER”

Their confessions echoed through the night.