Free We Are All Strangers by Nicole Sobon Page B

was stuck next to this guy for at least another fifteen minutes. I seriously needed to remember to avoid selecting the back of the plane next time I flew. It only meant delays in both boarding the plane and exiting the plane.
    I could always fast forward time, I thought. But then again, I wasn’t exactly in a hurry to see my family members. Seeing them would only serve as a reminder as to why I was here. And I wasn’t exactly prepared for that. Not yet.
    After fifteen-minutes, my row finally began to clear out. I grabbed my duffel bag from the overhead compartment, slung it over my shoulder, and slowly made my way down the walkway.
    “Have a great trip,” one of the flight attendants said I passed her by. I nodded and moved past her, through the walkway door.
    The crowd had thinned out, leaving me alone with two other stranglers: the creepy guy from my row, and an older woman who looked to be lost.
    Shoving my hands inside of my jean pockets, I hurried up the walkway, past both of the man and the woman, and searched for my mother and my aunt who were supposed to be picking me up.
    But it wasn’t my mother and my aunt waiting for me. It was both of my parents and my sister, and they all looked to be crying. Swallowing my fear, I strolled over to them and fiddled with the strap on my bag. “What happened?” I asked.
    “They admitted her to the hospital,” my father said, struggling to form a coherent sentence. “We have to go, Sophie. The doctor said it won’t be long now.”
    It was the news I’d been dreading this entire time, having only hours - if even that long - to say goodbye to my grandmother, a woman I’d never gotten the chance to know as well as I wished that I had.
    “Let’s go,” I said, doing my best to hide the tears that were trying to slip away.
    My father wrapped his arm around my sister’s shoulder and pulled her away, leaving me alone with my mother. “Sophie,” she whispered. “I know what you’re thinking, and I understand how you’re feeling, but you can’t do it. You know what will happen if you alter the time balance.”
    Screw the time balance. I didn’t care anymore.
    If extra time with my grandmother meant setting the rest of the world off balance, I didn’t actually care. My selfishness was overtaking my rational mind. I needed more time to say goodbye.
    My mother moved in behind me, pressing the palm of her right hand against the small of my back. “You can’t use your gift for something like this, Sophie,” her voice was low, and I could tell that she was biting back the pain that wanted so desperately to escape. “She wouldn’t want you to. You know that.”
    “No,” I replied. “I don’t know that.”
    “Sophie, please,” she begged. “You know what will happen if you do this. It won’t go unnoticed. The Time Jumpers will come in search of you. I won’t be able to protect you from them, Soph.” She led me towards the exit. “Grandma wouldn’t want anything to happen to you. Think of her, please.”
    The thing was that I was thinking about my Grandma. About how I needed to find a way to say goodbye to her. About how I needed to cope with the fact that within a matter of days – possibly hours – I’d need to say goodbye to her.
    I clutched my pocket watch that was hidden deep inside of my jean pocket. My mother eyed me suspiciously but remained silent. “I am,” I said. “I am, Mom.”
    We arrived at the hospital half an hour later. As my father pulled into the parking spot, my mother turned around in the passenger seat to face both me and my sister. “I didn’t want you to see her this way,” she said, and I could see the tears trying to escape out of the corners of her eyes. “But I can’t change that now. Just please,” she pleaded, “Don’t try to fix anything.”
    She spoke to both my sister and me, but I knew that her words were aimed at me. Kristina’s powers were beginning to come through, but she was nowhere near as good a Time