By Mia Nieves Reyes
My head ached. The wind blew curls into my raven hair. I held onto the edge of the canoe, trying to keep my balance despite the waves rocking the old thing back and forth. The tide clashed against us several times for the past half-hour. The salt water kept seeping into my eyes before I got the chance to blink it away. I growled. I stared away from the mainland, towards my family’s favorite vacation getaway island. I sighed and turned to my husband, Yahir who for the past half hour of rowing the canoe, refused to meet my gaze.
I called out, “Congratulations, Yahir, our honeymoon is officially over. I hope you’re happy—”
“Mia.” Yahir scolded me.
“I just can’t believe we’re banned from the empire’s happiest vacation spot, just because you’re Jewish. I mean, this ought to be a crime!”
Yahir chuckled. “The crimes are the revolts happening back in Judaea. Just be grateful they asked us to leave and didn’t arrest us on sight.”
I scrunched up my nose. A large wave crashed against the boat, ocean water pooling at our feet. I raised my sandals up to where I sat with one hand, while holding tight against the edge of the moving boat with the other.
“Grateful? For what exactly? Grateful with the way that guard grabbed you by the arm or for this pristine mode of transport that they scrapped for us?”
Yahir blew out a deep breath and rested his arms from rowing. “As long as it gets us to the mainland I won’t complain.”
I huffed. “Well I’m complaining. I’ll be complaining to the emperor himself if I can.”
Yahir laughed. He shrugged his stiff shoulders before lifting the paddles and continuing to row. I moaned dramatically, staring towards the island we continuously moved away from. A suspicious dark cloud formed above its highest peak. The wind in my hair blew stronger, as if rejecting us from ever returning. The pain at the back of my head grew sharper.
“How strange.” I grumbled, though something inside me felt familiar.
Yahir hummed curiously.
I pointed at the sky. “The sailors on the dock assured us it wouldn’t rain today.”
“It isn’t raining.” Yahir assured.
I rolled my eyes. “Not here, on the island. You’ve been rowing for over half an hour, of course it’s not raining.”
“Yeah, yeah,” Yahir shrugged. “They were mistaken.”
The dark cloud swirled above the island, growing larger by the second. A gust of wind blew a feather into my face, sticking onto my lip. I flinched back in disgust and reached to pick out the feather, blowing raspberries into the air. When I stared down onto my hand, it wasn’t a feather that I picked out but a large and warm speck of ash.
“Yahir, I have a bad feeling about today. The world seems strange.”
Yahir sighed and dropped the paddles for a moment. He moved across the canoe to sit beside me. “Hey,” he spoke gently, reaching for my hand and intertwining our fingers together. I tore my gaze away from the island. Yahir gave me the smile that made me fall for him the day he asked my father for my hand in marriage. “When we married, I promised you happiness for the rest of my life. I will provide for you, for our family. Give you what you deserve and more. Our honeymoon will never be over, even if the city of Pompeii refuses us entry.”
I glanced at Mount Vesuvius behind us. The tall mountain was a hovering presence in the city and my favorite part of going to the island. My new life with Yahir has proven to be challenging since we married but for so sweet a life, sacrifices must be made.
I focused my mind on my husband and smiled back at him. “I love you, Yahir. I am devoted to you in whatever weather we face. Whether I am a wealthy Roman merchant’s daughter or a humble archivist. I will always choose you.”
We leaned into each other, exchanging a kiss before Yahir went back to paddling.
“So…” Yahir raised his eyebrows teasingly, “a humble archivist? You who despise the scriptures?”
I shrugged. “Maybe in a future life.”
Suddenly, a big explosion erupted from the island behind me. I whirled around. “Yahir?!”
Yahir left his oars and stood next to me in a matter of seconds. “Did you see that?”
My skin crawled. My head began pounding against my skull. I caressed the side of my head as I stared at the peak of Mt. Vesuvius. My vision began to blur.
“Yahir, I…” my voice spoke for itself, “I don’t think I’ll make it to the mainland…”
My body felt heavy. I closed my eyes and fell unconscious.
Flashes of white light made me want to open my eyes. I slowly opened them and found myself standing in a group of strangers. I couldn’t make out their faces, hidden behind cloth and goggles. Their entire bodies under long white coats.
The strangers led me to a door that radiated light. I felt fear. I hesitated until I felt a familiar hand hold mine. It was Yahir.
We smiled at each other and walked through.
I startled awake, heaving. Yahir held my side tightly, sighing in relief. We were surrounded by stone structures and sailboats. I shuddered.
“Mia,” Yahir started, “you’re finally awake—”
I cut him off, “Did we reach the mainland?”
Yahir shook his head. “We had an hour left on our journey and you needed medical attention—”
“This is good!” I shouted involuntarily. He gave me a look of confusion. I grabbed him by his shoulders and gave him a stern look. “Yahir, I remember now why we’re here.”
Yahir narrowed his eyes. “Because of our honeymoon—”
“Right…” I leaned away. “Something must’ve gone wrong when we made the jump. Our minds must’ve been so disoriented we took our covers as facts.” I explained more to myself than Yahir.
“Mia…” Yahir reached out, “you should lie down while we wait for a doctor.”
I shook my head. “Yahir, don’t you have a headache?” He shook his head.
I forced myself to stand. “We need to get as many people out of here as we can. The volcano is about to erupt.”
Yahir held me up, my legs too weak to hold my weight. “Volcano? What’s a volcano?”
I rolled my eyes. I slapped him over the head. He yelped. “We’re not from this timeline.”
“Timeline?” Yahir uttered. “What?”
I slapped him over the head again. “We’re from the future, sent to save as many as we can. We’re not married and you’re not Jewish.”
Yahir stared at me horrified. “What?”
“I know,” I pouted sarcastically. “Mexico doesn’t exist right now so the closest reason to explain your name was to give you the identity of a Jew but it backfired. Looks like the research team didn’t do a good job so now we have to pull their weight.”
Yahir shook his head. His eyes wide and mouth agape as a fish.
I chuckled at the sight. “Do you remember now?” I asked.
He rubbed at the back of his head. “No?” I slapped him again. He held my hand away. “Will you stop?”
I groaned. “We don’t have time for this so you’ll just have to trust me.”
We strayed from the original plan. Too many unforeseen circumstances.
The fishermen laughed at first when Yahir raised his voice. Many laughed until the ash began falling in earnest, until the mountain exhaled smoke thick enough to sting the throat. Some listened, but most didn’t.
“Take only what you can carry,” I told them. “No carts. No valuables. Children first.”
A baker with flour still clinging to his arms grabbed his daughter. A widow clutched a cage of doves to her chest. Two sailors untied a spare skiff. A scribe, barely older than a boy, hesitated, scrolls pressed to his heart.
“Leave them,” I urged.
He shook his head. “If the city dies, someone has to remember it.” I didn’t argue.
Behind us, Pompeii went on with its evening. Wine was poured. Dice rolled. We pushed off as the first scream echoed from the streets.
The mountain broke open like a wound. Fire split the sky. Ash fell in blinding sheets. The air itself turned solid, crushing, merciless. I counted heads in the boat. Twelve souls, trembling, coughing, alive. Better than none but never enough.
The sea rocked violently as the shockwave reached us. The widow sobbed into her doves. The baker prayed. Yahir held the oars with a steadiness that showed his training.
I didn’t look back again.
When we reached the mainland, the group ran up to the dock guards but Yahir and I slipped away. We reached our rendezvous point, a place hidden between stone walls near the docks. I watched the sky to get a sense of what time it was but the world had changed so much I stopped searching.
“So now we leave for the future?” Yahir whispered, already knowing the answer.
I nodded, I didn’t trust my voice to be steady. Not after what we survived.
Yahir sighed. “Did we do enough?”
I held back tears. I steeled myself. “You might not remember, but in training many ask the same thing on a daily basis. After every mission. Would things have been better if we tried a little harder? All this technology and what’s the point if we can’t save everyone?”
The silence enveloped us.
I felt tears trailing down my cheeks. I took in a deep breath and continued. “And the truth is, those who survive were always meant to survive. That’s why we do it. To keep history the way it’s always been.”
Yahir held my hand. “So, no matter what we change, our future stays the same?”
I nodded. “Yes, but the lives we saved today get to live and that should be enough.”
Yahir pulled me into a tight embrace. I began to sob into him.
A bright white flashed across us. A door of light opened inside a stone wall. Yahir helped me through and together we reached the 21st century.
References:
National Geographic Kids. “Pompeii.” National Geographic Kids,
National Geographic. “Pompeii Eruption: What We Know About the Survivors.” National
Geographic,
BBC News. “Pompeii: New Discoveries Reveal Life Before the Eruption.” BBC News,
PBS. “Jews in the Roman Empire.” PBS: The Roman Empire, n.d.,
The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. “First Jewish Revolt.” Encyclopaedia Britannica,
