A bird birthmark

“I knew it was going to happen.” He heard the man over him say as he laid on the floor bleeding out. “Sorry you had to go through it but the organization won’t let me change things much. “

Mr. Eastriver blinked up slowly at the young man over him. Confused. What organization? What did he mean he knew it was going to happen?

“It’s a miracle they even let me attempt this.” The young man continued as he opened the forty year old man t-shirt. He looked and sounded so familiar but Mr. Eastriver could not tell how. It was frustrating.

“Who?” He tried to say but found himself coughing up blood. That Frank Montango had got him good. Shot him right in the stomach. The older man feared today was the day he died. He felt tears threatening to escape his eyes and down his cheeks. Everything was so confusing. Just this morning everything had been so awesome and great and normal.

His beautiful wife had kissed him goodbye before she headed off to work, same as always. Normal

His sons had actually been okay with him dropping them off at their middle and elementary schools and not embarrassed as usual. Awesome.

The school principal had called him in to discuss a salary raise this morning. Great.

And now….and now? Now he was on the floor bleeding. And some young man he had never met before was leaning over him talking about knowing things and some organization. Everything was so confusing. Why had Frank Montan bought a gun to school? How has no one noticed him taking it from his home? Or whatever he got the gun from? And who was this young man sounding and looking so familiar but yet not?

“This should not take too long.” The young man continued speaking to Mr. Eastriver, full name Adam Peter Eastriver.

Mr. Eastriver smiled, unsure of how to tell the young man he had no clue what he was talking about. Every time he tries to speak he coughs up blood. He feared Frank shot him in his right lung and not his stomach as he thought earlier.

“I will just move the bullet a bit and close the wounds with a gauze.” The young man said and Mr. Eastriver frowned. He understood that. His older sister was in the nursing field. He recalled her talking about gauze before.

As he watched the young man pulled out gloves from a bag next to him on the floor and placed them on. The older man had not noticed the bag before now he did. It looked like a doctor’s bag.

“It will hurt a bit but bare with me.” The young man continued speaking, pulling out what looked like tweezers. “They said if you had applied a bit of pressure on the wound before the paramedic got here you might have made it.”

He might have made it? Did he already die? Was this young man from the future? But time traveling wasn’t real. How would he know what the doctors would say? Was this a prank? Was Frank Montan pranking him? But why? Frank Montan had shot other people at the school besides him. So… not a prank then? Who?

As the young man bent over to pull the bullets a bit from his wounds, Mr. Eastriver noticed. On the young man’s neck was a birthmark. It was the birthmark of a bird. He knew of only one person with such a birthmark, Jacob John Daniels. A student of his from his next class, 6th period. No wonder he sounded and looked so familiar.

Mr. Eastriver wanted to laugh. One student brought a gun to school and shot up the place and him. One student grew up and time traveled to save him. How funny life was.

“It won’t be long.” Jacob John Daniels continued speaking and Mr. Eastriver could see and hear his younger self in the older vision. “I will just add the gauze and be on my way.” Jacob John Daniels said placing a clean cloth on Mr. Eastriver wounds. “ In 5 minutes the next period will start. I can’t be here when my younger self appears. Time distortion and all.“

Right. Mr. Eastriver, unable to speak, nodded his head. Of course time distortion. He had no clue what the young man, his student Jacob John Daniels, was talking about but that was okay because in the moment he was very proud of his student. Unlike Frank he had decided to go into a field that saves lives.

A/n: So i was going to enter this story into a writing contest but I wrote over the limit so I decided to just post what I wrote and write a different 499 words story for the contest. Sometime in the future I plan to make some artworks for it. Hope you all enjoy it.

Anyway thanks for reading humans and animals and have a good day.