Chapter Text
No.
This can't be happening again.
It was meant to be different this time.
It wasn't meant to end this way.
He needs to go back.
Needs to change Neil's fate.
He can't just die on him.
Not now.
Not again.
******
November 1996
When Andrew first found out that he had the power to go back in time using photos, he was turning 10 years old.
He had just been given a new camera from the foster family he was staying with. It was small and grey, but it was just the perfect size to fit in his pockets so he could take it with him when they went out.
Who knows why they decided to get him a camera. Most families don't get him anything. But then again, most of his other foster parents were just adult men looking for their own pleasure.
This family, however, seemed to be relatively sweet - better than some of the others. They had found that he had a strange obsession with sea life, so for his 10th birthday they decided, why not take him to the aquarium.
Andrew has been so excited, probably the most excited he had ever felt in the last few years. He couldn't wait to see all the different species in person.
When they finally got there and were let in, he couldn't believe it, there were so many there!
He had never been to an aquarium before, only ever seeing stuff on TV documentaries and on posters and book covers. Now he had seen it in person and it was so much better than looking at it second-hand.
He saw all the different ones, from stingrays to clownfish, turtles to octopuses, and they even had some of the smaller shark species there. But overall, the one he liked the most was the jellyfish.
He found them the most interesting and coolest to look at out of all of the creatures there. He liked how they could just swim around and look so peaceful for such a hated creature. He liked how some of them were so small he could just see them, while others were bigger than him. He even saw two of them get tangled together, which was kinda funny, but he also felt bad for them.
He had brought the camera with him and made sure to take many photos of them all, wanting to be able to look back at this moment when he was feeling down, he even got one of a fish that looked like it was smiling at him.
On his adventure, he wandered off back towards the turtle section. No one had followed him as they were all over at the café buying drinks, and Andrew didn't want to just stand there and wait.
As he was looking at them all, he noticed that one of them looked a bit different from the others, just sitting there much lower to the sand than the others, not actually swimming. Its eyes also looked slightly more puffy, and its shell slightly more yellow than the rest of the ones in the tank.
Was it sick?
Andrew wasn't sure what he was meant to do. Does he tell someone?
"Andrew!"
He snaps out of it when he hears his name being called, looking around for who called him but not seeing anyone yet.
"Andrew you drink is here!. Where did he run off to this time?"
The second part was quieter than the first but still loud enough to hear. "Coming!" yelling towards them as he started to walk back the way he came.
After a couple of steps, he stopped. What about the turtle?
He turned, looking back at where the turtle was. He just stood there for a second, thinking of what to do, before jogging back towards it and taking a quick photo of it just in case, before turning back and running towards the café.
By the time they left, he was feeling so much better about this family than he was before. He actually enjoyed their company, and this was probably one of the best birthdays he has ever had. Usually, it is only a few small presents, a cake, and then he chooses what they want for dinner, it has never been anything like this. Maybe this was the family he would grow up with the rest of his life. Maybe they wouldn't get rid of him after one incident. And maybe they would love him like his birth mother couldn't.
When they got home, he went straight to the computer in the study to transfer the photos he took onto a USB so he could print them out. He did need to go to the photograph shop to do this. So, he went into the kitchen to ask his foster mother if she could take him down there. She agreed, as she was going out to the shops to get food for dinner and said that they could stop by on the way back as long as Andrew helped her cook dinner when they got back.
So off they went, stopping first at the grocery store to get the last few ingredients for the carbonara that they were having that night. Then, on the way back went to the photograph shop. It wasn't a big shop, with only a few computers and printers throughout the shop, with lots of photos and posters covering the walls. Every other time he had been here, there weren't many people, but now there were actually quite a few. Maybe because everyone was finished with work and school for the day and everyone needed photos, but Andrew preferred when the shop was quiet.
It took longer than Andrew thought it would to get the photos printed with all the people there, but eventually they were on their way home.
When they got back home, Andrew went straight to his room and put the newly printed photos on the bedside table before heading back out to the kitchen to help make dinner.
That night, Andrew couldn't stop thinking about the turtle from earlier that day. He kept wondering if there was something he could have done to help it, should he have told one of the workers about it?.
'Well, there is nothing you can do now.' He thought to himself before drifting off to sleep.
All morning the only thing on his mind was if that turtle was alright. He didn't know much about them, but he knew something was definitely wrong with it.
Maybe he could do some research into them just to make sure.
Their local library wasn't too far from the house, only a 10 minute walk. Maybe he could start his search there for a book about them.
He packed a small bag with just his drink bottle, a few snacks for the walk and put all the photos he got into the small side pocket.
Andrew started his walk, mainly taking the back streets, not wanting to be in the main street. He didn't like it there very much, always so much traffic and people around who were just stopping to get food from the bakery. Andrew didn't blame them for stopping, they did sell great food. He just didn't like the crowd.
By the time he arrived at the library, it was just after lunch. Luckily, it wasn't very busy at this time of day. Though it usually wasn't very busy, it was just quieter than usual, which he liked.
He waved hello to the lady at the desk and headed off to the animal section. By now he knew the rough layout of the building, mostly from researching the layout and having also been here a couple of times before, so he knew where the section he was looking for was. Now his goal was to just find a book that would tell him about a turtle's health, easy enough.
He was wrong, though not entirely.
The library had lots of books about sea life, just most didn't have the information he was looking for. He had been looking around for about 10 minutes before he found a book to which the title seemed to fit what he was looking for perfectly.
MARINE HEALTH AND BIOLOGY, with an image of a clownfish on the cover. It was lying flat - unlike all the others that were up right - it must have fallen and no one had been bothered to pick it up. It had obviously been like that for a while as it had quite a bit of dust on the cover.
Surely this would have the information he needed to make sure that turtle was alright. He took the book back to an empty table in the back corner of the library, hidden away from the view of people. He placed the book down on the table before taking a seat and taking the pictures out of his bag and placing them next to the book. Before opening the book, he wiped his hand over the cover - removing as much of the dust as he could - then opened the book and flipped through until he found the pages about turtles. He was grateful that the book included pictures otherwise his mind would have probably overcomplicated the descriptions of all of them. He did a rough skim over most of the words, mainly looking for anything out for anything that would let him know what one would look like if it wasn't healthy.
Then, he found it.
The image on the page looked an awful lot like the one at the aquarium, with the same puffy eyes and tinted shell.
shit
So maybe he should have told someone that it looked like that and not just left it up to the matter of pure luck.
'Maybe it's not actually the same'
'Maybe I'm just imagining it and making it seem worse than it actually is'
Then he remembered that he brought the photos along with him, so he moved the book over to grab the photo from under the cover before putting it next to the one in the book. The photo had a little bit of dust on it from when he cleaned the book cover off, so he carefully wiped it off, letting it sit on his hand while he compared both of the photos.
Yep
They looked pretty damn similar
There is nothing you can do to change it now
It's too late
It wasn't technically his fault that it was sick, but he did feel guilty for not telling anyone about not telling anyone. He felt even worse now that he knew it was most definitely sick.
Taking the photo out of the book before closing it and moving it aside to put the photo down and looking at it, his mind started to go off
Surely I can still do something
Has anyone noticed yet?
What happened for it to get that bad and no one noticed?
While still looking at the image, he dusted off his hands, his mind still going off.
Should I send them a letter to let them know?\
The next thing he knows there is a bright light going off in his eyes. He tries rubbing his eyes, seeing if it will make it go away. The next thing he knows, he is back at the aquarium in front of the turtle, camera in hand.
'What the hell?!'
He looks around frantically, wondering if it is a dream and if he fell asleep.
He pinches himself on the arm.
"Ow..." he mutters under his breath.
Definitely awake.
So how?
What is he doing back here?
"Andrew!"
As he turns to look towards whoever called his name, he sees his foster mum walking around the corner.
"There you are. We thought we lost you."
"Sorry, I got bored standing in line", Andrew said in reply
"That's alright, just come back when we call you next time, alright? What are you looking at now?"
"A turtle"
"Okay well did you want to come and get your drink now? I think we are going to head off soon"
"Yes.."
They both start walking before Andrew stops
The Turtle!?
What if he lets a worker know now?
Maybe he could help.
"I'll be right back", he says before running the opposite way towards where he saw some of the workers before, hopefully they were still there.
"Wha- Andrew!"
He knows that this could get him in trouble by running off but he doesn't care. He has to let them know before it gets worse.
After rounding a couple more corners, he spots a group of employees talking about who knows what. Andrew goes up to the closest one and starts tugging at their sleeve, trying to get their attention - which he finally does - while startling the employee as he wasn't expecting a child to come and interrupt the conversation.
"What the- Oh, hello there. Can I help you with something? Are you lost?" The employee didn't look too old, maybe early 20s at the least. He had quite a bit of hair on his head, reaching down to around just past his shoulders. His hair was a light brown with the top half put up into a bun - most likely to keep the majority of it out of the way - and he had similar brown eyes with a pair of glasses.
"No, I'm okay, but I think one of the turtles might be sick, it doesn't look well"
"Really? Are you sure it's not just how it's meant to look?" He sounded sceptical, looking back at his co-workers. Sounding unsure if he should trust a random child that just came up to him, talking about the animals he was meant to be taking care of.
"Yes I'm sure, its eyes looked funny and its colour as well. I can take you to it so you can see it yourself. But I just wanted to let someone know just in case"
"Alright then," he said once again, unsure of what to do. "Show me what you're talking about, and ill double check for you"
Andrew didn't need it to be 'Double Checked', he knew for certain there was something wrong with it after checking that book. He's still not sure how he is back here, but at least he can do something now.
They both started walking back toward where the turtles were with Andrew leading a few steps in front. On the way there, they ran into his foster mum. "You need to stop running off like that, you could get lost or hurt and we wouldn't know"
"I'm sorry, I just had to show them the turtle"
"They work here Andrew, I'm sure they've seen the turtles hundreds of times" She sounded a little annoyed, but he had to show them.
"I know and I'm sorry but I think it's sick"
"Well.. Alright then. But be quick, we still have stuff to do at home"
Andrew nodded and started to walk once again back to the tanks, checking behind him every so often to make sure that the employee was following him.
Once they got to the tank, Andrew did a quick scan before his eyes landed on the one he was looking for. It wasn't too far away from where it had been when he walked away, but at least it had moved since then and not just stayed where it was. He lifted his hand and pointed it out to the worker. They moved closer to the glass, trying to get a better look at it before lightly humming under his breath. "It is most certainly now well. I'm surprised no one noticed it sooner..." he slowly turned back towards Andrew. "Thank you for telling us about this, we will make sure to get it treated. Oh, and also sorry for being so sceptical about it. Most people who say that the animals are ill don't know what they are talking about, but it seems that you have good knowledge about them"
"I just wanted to make sure someone knew about it, I would feel terrible if I didn't say anything," He replied, looking down at his feet, feeling more nervous than he was before now that the attention and praise is on him. "I do have to get going now. I hope it gets better."
"Okay, bye then. If you ever come back and I see you, I'll let you know how it's doing"
"That would be nice. Thank you" He turns, making his way back to the café, feeling more relieved than he felt last time he left.
Now to deal with the next issue.
How to get out of here and back to where he was before.
How did he even get here to begin with?
The only thing he can remember before it happened was the photos he brought with him, the book and a random bright light as it happened. What else happened? He did rub his eyes when the light appeared, maybe it was that. So he closed his eyes and brought his hand up, rubbing his eyes for a bit before slowly lowering his hands and opening his eyes.
He was still in the car.
. . . Damn it
If not that than what!?
He doesn't recall doing anything else to have made it happen.
Come on Andrew, think! What did you do before this happened? Think back. You were reading the book, you got the photo from under the book cover and wiped the dust off it, then you compared the photos, you took the photo out to close the book and were looking at the photo you took, then you dusted off your hands, then the light happened..
You dusted your hands! That has to be something to do with that!
Andrew looked down at his hands. Lifting them so that they were out in front of him, before bringing them together into a light clap.
He blinked as another light shone in his eyes, and as he opened them, he found himself back in the corner of the library, looking at his hands in front of him with a confused but curious look on his face.
"...What the hell just happened?"