This story is my first where time travel is concerned, and it's not even really time travel. Charlie remains in the present time but goes back to being a teenager despite being seventy years old in real terms. Probably a little wishful dreaming on my part, but whatever the reason I hope you enjoy this missive. The title sums it up very well I think. It is complete in seven chapters and a little more than 20,000 words and I would term it a love story..
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Fantasy World
Chapter 1
I woke up sitting on a toilet with my trousers and pants round my ankles, definitely not my normal sleeping place. I felt groggy and disoriented. Where the fuck was I and how had I got here? I checked I was clean and stood up, a little shakily I have to admit, but I pulled up my briefs, thinking they were a bit different to what I normally wore. Then I pulled up my trousers and that was when I realised. They were hardly what a seventy year old man would wear. Tight fitting, narrow in the leg, brushed denim, which I had to admit felt good, but looking down, there was no gut, I had been a 36 inch waist last time I looked, the same size as my hips, which meant I had to synch in my trousers tight to stop them falling down again. Now, these ones sat snugly on my hips, I could have managed happily without a belt, but the belt was neat, again hardly what I would wear. I looked at my shirt and felt it. Man it was amazing. It felt almost like fine suede, lined, that was crazy, I had never owned a lined shirt, but it felt so good. I opened the door of the stall and peered out. An empty toilet facility, next, I looked across the gap at the mirrors and basins on the opposite wall. What I saw made me fall down, literally, with shock. The face that had looked back at me had been that of a boy in his late teens I guessed. Very gingerly I stood up again holding on to the door frame for support and took another look. No doubt about it, I was looking at me, but more than fifty years ago. I couldn't get my head round this, it was too crazy. How often had I wished I was eighteen again, and here I was looking at me at eighteen?
`Get a hold of yourself Charlie, there has to be a logical explanation to this'. I didn't believe in ghosts, the supernatural or time travel, I was a level headed retired business man turned writer. I had worked all my life, starting from a lowly background. I retired to a villa in the sun with my yacht and my long term lover, so what the fuck?
There was only one way to find out what was going on. I opened the door and walked out into a corridor that had lockers along one wall and kids grabbing books and things, milling around or heading off for classes. I guess I must have looked a bit stupefied because a girl took pity on me.
"You look a little lost, can I help?"
Nothing for it, I had to start bluffing.
"Er, yes, I'm new and I don't have a clue where to go."
She pointed down the corridor.
"When you get to the end you'll see a sign that says `office', they'll tell you where to go."
With that she was gone. So I reported. The school secretary, a motherly woman, (so no change there, mine had been the same fifty odd years ago.)
"So, who are you young man?"
"I'm Charlie Watkins, ma'am."
She gave me an odd look.
"Well, you are an apparition, a polite student."
I would learn very quickly that school kids in 2020 were bloody rude compared with school boys in the 60s and 70s.
"Well Charlie Watkins, your uncle registered you so just finish filling in this form and I'll send you on your way."
That was handy, I got my home address from that plus my home `phone and cell numbers. I felt in my pocket and the cell was there with a set of keys and a thin wallet. I pulled it out and found my ID card with all my details on it, a credit card, drivers licence, car registration details and ten pound in notes. I wondered what car I was driving.
I had to wing it on some of the details because I hadn't got a clue, but my wallet answered the obvious questions like car registration number. All done and the secretary looked over the counter at me.
"You'd better go and get your gear and report to Mr. Richards in room 212 on the first floor."
I said, "Thank you ma'am," and took off towards what I hoped was the main entrance.
"If you go back along the corridor the door at the end will lead you straight to the student car park."
So I did. As soon as I hit the car park I pressed the open button on my key ring. Nice, the lights lit up on a very cool Audi convertible, I could definitely live with that. I had driven Audi's extensively in my younger days. Lying on the front passenger seat was a backpack that on investigation contained all the school supplies a new boy would need. I sat with it on my lap while I checked some details of my life. Date of birth, ok, I was eighteen, I guess that made me a senior, year 12 they called it now. Rummaging through the pack I came across my GCSE results certificate. Good, they were subjects I had studied for GCE a gazillion years ago. I checked the roster the school secretary had given me. I was in for subjects I would have chosen, except computing. Jesus, I hated computers, I was definitely going to be at a disadvantage in this subject. Then I sat back to take stock.
I was 70 years old, born in 1950. The year was 2020 and somehow I was now looking like a teenager. The whole thing was mind bending, but I was still the same level headed guy I had been and I still wanted to be eighteen again, so, I was going to run with this for as long as I could before flipping into insane mode.
Mr. Richards turned out to be a senior master about forty years old. He shook my hand and was very pleasant showing me on a school map where I needed to be and telling me about all the things a new boy should know. I left him and headed for my first class, Geography. Teacher was definitely young enough to be my daughter so I had to be careful not to call her sweetie or some other such name. I decided I was going to stick with ma'am and sir until told otherwise. Ok, I took some stick but it washed off me, a bunch of kids was hardly likely to faze me.
The morning went fine and at lunchtime, the same kitten that had helped me on my first entry to my new world took me in tow. School lunch was somewhat different to what I was used to all those years ago, it was like a cafe. I loved it and pigged on burger and chips. I knew I couldn't do that very often if I wanted to keep in shape. That was another thing. How did I keep in shape? What was I good at? When I was in school before I was a weedy kid who did no sport, but now, I could see I was very buff, I hoped I could get to the gym and find out what I reacted to before anyone asked awkward questions.
Well, I made it through my first day without too many problems, Zoe had kept the crowd off me at lunch time and when school finished I hopped in the Audi, programmed the GPS with my home address and took off quickly.
A man met me at the door, in his late thirties I guessed.
"Hello Charlie, how was your first day?"
He was grinning.
"Great, I've wanted to be eighteen again for about twenty years at least."
Sarcastic, no, not me, being dumped into a new world like this wasn't going to faze me, much!
"Now, would you like to tell me what the fuck is going on?"
"Come in then and I'll fill you in."
I settled into a big easy chair with this stranger sat opposite.
"Ok Charlie, I'm uncle Reece, I'm your dad's younger brother, he and your mother are dead.
"Really, Les and Bert would be in their nineties now and they were the only brothers my dad had, like to try again?"
"Nope, because this is your new world so listen and learn. You've been brought back in age, but not in time because of your compassion and desire to help kids less privileged than yourself. You are a black belt karate so be careful how you use that ability. You also have all of the knowledge in your head that you've gained throughout your seventy years. We haven't changed anything in your mental makeup, so, you're still gay. The country is more liberal now than when you were first eighteen but you still can't be open about it unless you want agro."
"I know that, I've got away with it for years because of my age, but I know for kids it is still fraught with danger."
We cooked dinner while we continued chatting. By the time I went for my shower and bed I was reeling under the knowledge I had gained. This could be fun for as long as it lasted, but it would take some getting used to, being eighteen again. Of course my language was almost foreign to the students I started mixing with. Many of them thought it was cute.
"Hey, you talk like my granddad," became a common comment. A few of the jocks made derogatory comments but no one tried getting physical. I started taking note of who did what, who were the bullies, etc. One boy in particular I noted because although he was in my class he looked too young. He also walked with a limp. He was a good looking kid, but he never appeared to smile, didn't appear to have any friends and disappeared straight after school every day. I asked Zoe about him as she appeared to have become my confidant and fount of all knowledge.
"We call him Tom Thumb because he is small, but his real name is Tom Hector He was involved in some kind of accident that left him with a limp. Don't know why he is so small."
I watched Tom a lot. He always sat at one of the corner desks so no one could sit with him. I moved around but tended to sit with Zoe a lot, she was my source of information.
My observation turned up a particularly nasty piece of work. One of the jocks, Lester Harold. He was sly, he never appeared to openly hit on Tom, but I noticed how he would get too close when he was passing him and give him a nudge or a little push to set him off balance, which usually caused him to fall. No one else appeared to notice. The nastiest attack was when there were a lot of people milling around the lockers, he would shove Tom against his, quite hard. I let it go on for a couple of weeks and then I reacted. After he had slammed Tom against his locker one day, I immediately slammed him against a locker and spoke to him as he recovered. I used a loud voice because I wanted everyone to hear.
"I'm serving notice on you shit head. The next time I see you shove, trip, push, or make any kind of contact with Tom Hector, I'm going to take you apart."
Then I turned and walked away. I heard him come at me and judged my reaction perfectly. I sidestepped his charge and helped him on his way. He must have cannoned another twenty feet on his face after passing me. I deliberately just walked over him instead of round him. The rest of the kids almost brought the roof down, laughing at my action. I knew I had made myself an enemy then, and I found out later at least one friend, Tom.
Tom followed me into my next class and looked at me directly for the first time. His eyes were amazing. Very dark brown, and so expressive, they were beautiful. I gulped and looked away quickly to calm down before looking back and seeing disappointment in them. I guess he thought I was rejecting him even though I had stood up for him.
"Why don't you come and sit with me Tom, I'm Charlie Watkins and it's time we met properly."
I slung my arm across his shoulder and I heard the sigh. He became my saviour on computing and I became his as his friend and protector. That state of affairs became obvious quite quickly, but it meant he was with me a lot of the time. I ended up looking out for my own back as well as Tom's. The bully boy was obviously going to seek a spectacular reprisal for me, still not knowing about my Karate skills. In the event I got it all wrong. He realised he could get Tom easier than me, but by hurting Tom he hurt me more.
I had stayed behind one afternoon to do some gym work. When I left, my car was the only one left in the student car park. As I got closer I noticed Mr. Nasty and three of his cronies coming out of the woods at the back of the park. They were laughing and joking and carried a bundle of what looked like rags, which I saw them dump in one of the trash bins before heading off home. I guess because I didn't trust them I decided to check on what they had dumped. I am so pleased I did because it was all of Tom's clothes and his book bag. I carried them with me and went into the woods expecting the worst and working myself into a right state. I was quite deep in the woods by the time I saw him. He had been tied to a tree, naked of course. I realised straight away that he would have probably been there all night if the boys didn't come back for him, which I doubted they would. That made me even angrier. He was sobbing his eyes out with his head drooping onto his chest. I wanted to cry as well. He was such a neat little guy, and now that I could see him naked, I realised he was perfectly proportioned. I could see the huge scar on his bad leg so I guessed he had been subjected to some serious surgery to put it back together after his accident. They had smeared his body with mud, just to add to his humiliation. I knew then that my Karate was going to get some serious use during the next few days. I was going to do some damage to the four with a particularly painful session with Mr. Nasty.
Tom didn't notice me until I was stood in front of him. I lifted his head and saw the look of complete devastation on his face. I wanted to cry. How anyone could hurt this gentle little boy, I didn't understand. I thumbed the tears away and spoke quietly to him.
"Everything's ok now Tom. I'm going to look after you."
I undid the restraints before picking up his clothes again.
"I'm not going to give these back to you yet, you'll only get them dirty. Let's sneak back to the showers in the gym and then you can dress. No one else will be around except maybe the janitor so it's only me that will see you naked."
He looked down at himself and the tears came again.
"They just humiliated me Charlie because I'm small."
I giggled to try to lighten the atmosphere a little. I looked at his groin as I did so and said, "Well, not everything is small."
He blushed then, and despite his muddy appearance I pulled him into a hug.
"It's ok Tom, you look pretty good to me everywhere."
Big baleful eyes looked up at me.
"Honestly, Charlie?"
"Honestly Little Man."
We walked back through the woods. The janitor saw us go into the gym block and followed. Tom took my shower gel and towel and hopped into the shower while I sat by the lockers. I told the janitor the truth when he came in.
"Don't worry, Sir, I'll look after him and sort out the bullies tomorrow."
The, Sir, worked as I knew it would and he left us to it. Tom came out of the shower looking clean as a new pin. I held on to his clothes until I had made him turn round. Devious really. I wanted to see the back as well as the front. He was seriously cute, and apart from the horrible scars on his left leg he was perfect.
"I just wanted to make sure you hadn't missed anything Tom."
He looked at me and then floored me with his comment. "I don't mind Charlie, I'll do anything for you."
My turn to tear up. The look on his face was of an angel. I knew then that I wanted a deep friendship with this boy, but how could I when I might be whisked back to my true self and be 70 again? This eighteen year old wasn't going to be interested in me then, besides, I had my soul mate to think about.
I took him home, impressing him with my Audi.
"My parents are dead, Tom, my uncle bought me this to try to cheer me up."
"I've only got a dad, Charlie. My mum was killed in the accident that crippled me."
"I'm sorry Tom, is there nothing more that can be done for your leg?"
"I have one more operation to go when they think I have stopped growing. They are pretty certain they can eliminate the limp by getting my knee working properly, probably with a plastic joint."
I was pleased for him and said so. I was sure that we were going to be good friends by the look he gave me. I wondered if I had been reduced to an eighteen year old specifically to nurture this adorable boy. If that were the case, I would be sad. Leaving him could be difficult, although I would still be able to see how he moved into a grown man's shoes even when I returned to my previous life if I came back to England regularly, which I knew I would.