The man ran behind the old Army truck. I was in the back of the truck, sitting on piles of gray blankets with a bunch of other soldiers. Everyone else avoided his eyes as he panted behind us, holding his cap on his head and grasping a solitary book under his arm. With his cloak billowing behind him, he looked out of place. We were going to war. He looked like he was headed to university.

“Please, can you tell me where Luxton is?”

I looked around at the soldiers near me. No one else was fazed by his presence. I told him that he should’ve grabbed a map.

“I’m not from here. I’m traveling. Please. Help me.”

As I looked at everyone else, the realization of what was happening washed over me. They weren’t ignoring him; they couldn’t see him; he didn’t exist to them. His cloak and hat were out of place because he didn’t exist here. He was traveling in time and I was the only one to see him.

The truck sped up, faster and faster. The man seemed desperate. I reached out and grasped the man’s arm, pulling him into the truck with me. He fell to the ground, atop the blankets, and quickly opened his leather bound book. As I looked down at the loose leaf paper within the bond leather, I saw a detailed drawing of every street within our city. Even the water pipes were drawn and labeled. It was the most intricate drawing I had seen in my short life as a soldier in this post WWIII era.

The man pointed at an area of the drawing.

“Luxton was supposed to be here.”

As I studied the map, I noticed parts of the city that were not drawn on the maps handed to us by the militia. Trying to orientate myself, I saw on the map a bridge that I knew we would be approaching soon.

“You’ll have to jump off here. Luxton is four blocks away.”

The truck sped faster and faster, turning sleekly into a bullet train. We had reached over 200 mph. The man was still holding onto his cap to prevent the winds from yanking it from his head. I slumped back in the blankets.

The dream started to break apart. The man looked at me frantically.

“You can’t wake up yet! I have to get to Luxton! Please, stay asleep!”

The bridge would be approaching soon. The man prepared to leap off the train.

When I saw the bridge in the distance, I woke up.

I wonder if he made it.