By this time the sun had begun to sink low in the sky. Rakib stood and tugged on Imran’s sleeve, “Chole jao,” he said. He hadn’t said a word this whole time and now all he has to say is Let’s go. I could tell he still didn’t believe me in the slightest but I didn’t know any way to convince him.
Imran stood and in Bengali told Ron that they needed to get home but that he would call him later. Ron and I sat for a moment longer in silence before he finally stood.
“I have to go home, my mom will worry,” he said slowly. “Where will you stay?”
“All I have is that car,” I said pointing to my beat-up yellow hatchback. “I guess I’ll sleep there.”
“It’s dangerous out here in the street. Bring your car to my home. My papa owns 4 parking sport but one of the cars is in the mechanic. You can park there.”
I was relieved I wouldn’t have to sleep out here. Beggars often flock white people here thinking that they’re rich. “Thank you,” I said. “Could you ride with me, I can’t remember how to get to Rankin street from here and my phone doesn’t work.” He nodded and we walked over to my car. I never thought I could drive in Bangladesh. The traffic is usually completely insane.
“You’re lucky its Friday. Most people can’t drive here in Bangladesh,” Ron said.
I nodded, “Yeah it gets even worse in the future.”
We made it back to my in-laws’ house, or what I knew to be my in-laws anyway, mostly unscathed. Security stopped us, surprised to see an American car. It took a lot of creative explaining on Ron’s part before they let us through. I parked on the lower level and Ron got out. “Will you come down tomorrow?” I asked.
“Yes, I’ll bring breakfast,” he said before closing the door and disappearing up the stairs.
It was quiet and dark and my head hurt. I wished it would all go away, wished it were all a bad dream. I crawled into the back seat and tried my best to get comfortable. I finally went to sleep with the hope I would wake up in my bed next to my husband and this would all be a funny dream I could tell him about.
I woke to a sharp knock on my window. I bolted up confused and startled. I looked around realizing with dread that I was still in my car in a dark parking garage. There was another knock and I turned to see Ron standing at my window with a plate of food and a water bottle. I unlocked the door to let him in. He slid in next to me handing me the plate and water bottle. I hadn’t realized how hungry I was until I now and ate without saying a word.
He spotted the padlock sitting on the seat beside me and picked it up. “Have you figured out what this could be yet?” he asked watching me eat.
I shook my head and swallowed, “No, I was kind of hoping you would know. You’re always better at these kinds of things.”
“I wish I did, usually in the video games the clues are just laying around,” he said staring at the lock intently. “We don’t even know what unlocking this lock would do.”
“I think it’s pretty clear we were meant to find out though. I mean it’s every fantasy game 101 right. Wake up in a strange unknown situation and solve puzzles to get to the end right?” I watched him think it over for a bit.
“The problem is,” he said slowly picking his words, “we don’t know what the end is in this case. This is real life, there’s no game over.”
“I suppose you’re right,” I said thinking about how much easier it was for him to speak English in the future. I guess I should have expected that but by the time I had met him he had already been living in the U.S for over a year. “So what do we do now?”
“For now I say we find a way to get you the things you need, starting with some clothes better suited for this weather. I asked my mom for some money so we can go get you some things. Well have to take a rickshaw though, the drivers would tell my parents that I was with a white girl and they wouldn’t approve.”
As he said this I realized I must look like a real mess. I pulled out my phone opening the front camera to take a look at myself. I was stunned, I looked nothing like what I had remembered. I was thin and my hair was cut into a fringe that fell across my face. I looked much younger than I had been. I hadn’t even thought of it but I realized now my age must have changed when I went back in time. That meant if the year is 2013 that made me 14 years old. I felt like the world was spinning but there was no time to be dramatic. Ron was already stepping out of the car.
“Are you coming?” He called before closing the door.