Microstory 1255: Lita Prieto

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Angelita Prieto always felt like the world was magical, but she was still surprised that there seemed to be some literal truth to the matter. She first met Mario Matic in 1998 when he suddenly showed up, and warned her not to go out in the ocean. She heeded his warning, even though she had no reason to believe this random stranger’s claims that something bad was going to happen. It wasn’t like a Final Destination movie; no one died that day, so there was no proof that his caution was at all warranted. She felt like she could trust him, however, and she had to surrender to her intuition. He continued to appear throughout her life, giving her little snippets of advice, and making sure she stayed on track. Sometimes she could see the results of his interventions, like when he literally caught her after she tripped climbing up the stairs of a mountain, but other times she just had to have faith that what he was telling her was going to help. Between 2014, and most of 2017, he was nowhere to be found, until one day she saw him again. The funny thing was that he actually looked a little bit younger, a truth she realized when she made an inside joke to him, and he had no idea what she was talking about. In fact, he didn’t recognize Lita at all. This must have been in his past, before he started going through time, and helping her out. The interesting way that they met for the first time was enough to motivate them to stay in touch. She later learned that he was indeed a time traveler, but that he had no control over when and where he went. He had been given time off before to rest and recuperate, but never had he been allotted two straight years of vacation. This was long enough for them to get to know each other properly, and start a real life together. Like a gift, Mario’s time jumps began to be a little more structured. He still had no control over them, but the powers that be maintained a balance for him. If he spent two days at work in some other point in spacetime, for instance, two days will have passed for her in 2019. Lita was always waiting for him when he came home, just like anyone would for a globetrotting love interest. It didn’t take her long to get used to her new life. Lots of people didn’t see their spouses every single day. That didn’t mean they would grow apart, or she would start to resent that they weren’t in control of his schedule. They made it work. They would even call themselves happy. Unfortunately, their domestic bliss didn’t last forever. A vengeful time traveler took them from their lives, and marooned them on an island on a planet millions of light years from Earth. From there, things only got worse. Their daughter was taken from them to protect her, and it was a long time before either of them saw her again. The family reunion did not go as well as they had hoped either, and Angelita doubted that she would ever be happy again.